The Early Spring - Chapter 87

Chapter 87 - Conflict 

Luan Nian felt that he no longer quite understood women, or perhaps it was because he had interacted with them too little in recent years. When Shang Zhitao made that phone call, she had sounded so sincere—so much so that he now felt her sincerity at the time was nothing more than an illusion.

Fuck.

Shang Zhitao was so goddamn infuriating that she made it impossible for him to sleep.

When he went to work the next day, his expression was still terrible. Meeting Shang Zhitao in the elevator bank, she greeted him just as she always had, but Luan Nian acted as if he hadn't heard a word. Once they stepped into the elevator together, neither spoke another word. Shang Zhitao wasn't actively rebelling against anything, but the hidden thorn embedded in her heart continued to throb and itch from time to time, and she simply chose to ignore it.

Luan Nian was wearing men's light cologne, and Shang Zhitao guessed he was going to meet a client today. He strictly adhered to etiquette, despising the idea of looking anything less than proper when meeting people. As they were stepping out of the elevator, the cleaner had just finished mopping the floor outside the entrance. Shang Zhitao's foot slipped, and her body tilted backward. Luan Nian pressed his palm against her back, pushing her upright to steady her: "Throwing yourself into my arms now?"

"The floor was slippery."

"If the floor was slippery, why didn't I fall?"

"..."

Choked by his retort, Shang Zhitao had no way to fire back, suffering a silent loss. On the surface, neither of them showed any waves, but inside, each harbored a fighting cock—neither willing to yield to the other, both feeling that sooner or later, they were going to have a massive fight.

Walking over to her desk, Shang Zhitao saw that Lumi had made an unprecedented early arrival, leaning back in her chair and sleeping with an immensely exhausted posture. She sat down light-footedly, booted up her computer, and began to work. It wasn't until her colleagues arrived one after another that Lumi finally opened her eyes.

Shang Zhitao asked her, "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't even get me started. My dad was taken away in an ambulance last night."

"What happened?"

"A stroke." Lumi spoke casually, but her deep annoyance was obvious: "I need to request a few days off."

"Is your dad okay?"

"Nothing major anymore. Though I don't know if that bastard Will will grant me the leave." Lumi frowned deeply, her mood thoroughly foul. Will was the new head of the Marketing Department, whose Chinese name was Tu Ming. He was a marketing expert Luan Nian had hired at a high price—a capable, talented young gentleman from a wealthy family. But he didn't get along with Lumi. Looking down on Lumi's carefree, slacking-off attitude, he had criticized her several times during meetings.

"Why wouldn't he?"

"Just yesterday he said I clock in and out right on the dot every day and that I'm irresponsible toward my work." Lumi stood up: "I'm going over now."

Shang Zhitao watched her stand up and walk into the office next door to Luan Nian's.

Lumi disliked Tu Ming. She felt he was an absolute nitpicker; she was content just coasting through her days without delaying her work, so what business was it of his? Who the fuck gave you the right to care what time I leave work! Looking at Tu Ming, sitting there looking as pompous and self-important as a middle-aged man, Lumi felt that a man in his thirties should be like Luan Nian—possessing a wild, beastly nature. Tu Ming had zero beastly nature; he just looked like an insidious, scheming hypocrite.

"Will, I'd like to request a few days of annual leave." Lumi stood in front of his desk. Her tall, slender figure standing there made quite an amusing contrast against Tu Ming's stuffy demeanor.

"May I ask the reason? After all, you still have several stops left on this year's roadshow that haven't been wrapped up."

"My dad was hospitalized."

"Oh. Then go ahead and take your leave; just hand over your work first. I hope your father makes a speedy recovery."

"Thank you."

Thinking to herself that he at least possessed a shred of basic decency, Lumi turned and walked out of his office. She packed up her things to leave, and Shang Zhitao accompanied her downstairs, asking, "Which hospital is uncle staying at?"

"Not telling you." Lumi looked at her with her bag over her shoulder: "No need to visit my dad. He just likes walking his birds, not seeing people."

"Are you okay, Lumi?"

"I'm fine."

"What about Zhang Qing?"

"Broke up with him this morning."

"Why?"

"I went home from the hospital early this morning to change clothes, and I saw that idiot kissing a girl near my apartment building! He had just come out of a nightclub, drunk out of his mind like a total scumbag. Fuck him, I gave Zhang Qing a beating."

Shang Zhitao hadn't expected Lumi to encounter something like this as well, finally realizing why she had looked so exhausted earlier, as if her soul had been drained out.

"How about I go give Zhang Qing a beating too?" Shang Zhitao said with absolute earnestness.

Lumi burst out laughing: "Get lost! You? Try crushing an ant under the building first and let me see!"

Seeing her laugh, Shang Zhitao felt her heart ease slightly: "Is auntie doing okay?"

"My mom is keeping watch at the hospital. I'm going to relieve her and find a caregiver."

"Alright. Which hospital is uncle staying at?"

"Jishuitan."

"Got it."

After seeing Lumi off, Shang Zhitao felt a bit heavy-hearted, unable to imagine how miserable Lumi must truly feel inside. Men were truly absolute scumbags; cheating was as mundane to them as eating a meal. Shang Zhitao secretly mimicked Lumi and cursed in her mind.

She was preparing the documents for the workshop with their top tier client, filling her screen with problem identification, strategy analysis, and a mountain of background data.

Grace walked over to her desk and asked, "Are you running into any difficulties?"

Shang Zhitao nodded: "There are a few issues." Opening her notes, she continued, "First, the client's overall strategy this year is to focus on younger users and push into lower-tier markets. However, the online and offline advertising plans we drafted for them don't include third-tier cities and below, making market penetration impossible. Second, the execution ratio for their offline to online ad spend is set at 7:3, which contradicts the strategy we proposed at the beginning of the year. Third, the client now wants data across all platforms, but we haven't recovered the TV advertising data yet. So..."

Grace listened intently, giving Shang Zhitao a thumbs-up after she finished: "Flora, impressive! The three issues you identified happen to be the client's three core problems, which are precisely what we need to address first at the workshop."

"Really? Are there any other issues?" Shang Zhitao asked.

"None." Grace smiled: "Resolving these three is already amazing. The crux of the first issue is that the client refuses to allocate budget for third-tier cities due to their high counter prices, believing that demographic lacks purchasing power. This is actually related to the product itself and its unit price; I think the client hasn't grasped this logic. The second issue is that the client's mindset hasn't shifted yet—they fail to see the business opportunities brought by online ads, so we need to present industry competitor case studies. As for the third issue..." Grace thought for a moment and lowered her voice: "Let Luke handle it. He's familiar with the TV station side; him speaking up will be much more effective than us."

"Alright." Shang Zhitao nodded: "Then I'll draft the proposal first and send it for you to review once I'm done."

"Okay, I'll review it for you, and then you can go over it with Luke. Make sure he can't pick any flaws in it."

Shang Zhitao nodded and went back to diligently drafting the proposal. Around noon, she stepped out and headed straight for Jishuitan Hospital. She found a shop near the hospital to buy fresh flowers and fruit, then called Lumi: "I'm at the hospital. Which ward and bed is uncle in?"

"Why bother tossing around like this? Aren't you tired!" While scolding her, Lumi hung up the phone and came out to meet her. Seeing Shang Zhitao standing at the entrance of the inpatient building drenched in sweat from the sweltering heat outside, Lumi felt a rare touch of emotion despite her usual nonchalance: "It's so hot today, yet you still came all this way!"

"I had to see him at least." Shang Zhitao followed her upstairs. Lumi's father was staying in a double room, but the other bed was unoccupied. Shang Zhitao placed the flowers on the windowsill and the fruit by the bed, then pulled out the money she had prepared in advance from her wallet, handing it to Lumi: "I know you're not short on money, but where I come from, this is custom. Uncle is sick, so this is my token of care. Don't refuse it."

Lumi glanced at the stack of cash—it had quite a bit of thickness. Shang Zhitao was truly being generous. She wasn't usually a lavish spender, yet she pulled out two thousand yuan now entirely because she valued Lumi deeply in her heart.

Lumi didn't stand on ceremony with her and accepted the money. Shang Zhitao asked her, "Have you eaten?"

"Not yet."

"Then how about I treat you to a bite to eat? I haven't eaten lunch either, and I'm a bit hungry."

"Let's go. Though I don't really have an appetite."

Shang Zhitao and Lumi rode the elevator down. As the elevator doors opened and closed, Lumi suddenly burst into tears: "What kind of fucking mess is all this!"

Shang Zhitao hurriedly patted her shoulder. In a hospital, countless people suffered emotional breakdowns daily; as Lumi wept, others merely turned their heads to glance over without finding it strange. Shang Zhitao pulled Lumi's head onto her shoulder, blocking the gazes of onlookers. Lumi had already been remarkably strong—having her father fall ill and her boyfriend cheat on her on the exact same day, no one else could truly comprehend the anguish in her heart.

By the time the two walked out of the hospital, Lumi's tears still hadn't dried. Knowing how painful it was for her, Shang Zhitao stayed by her side. She didn't know what to say either; in her mind, Lumi had always been an invincible female warrior who fought heaven and earth, yet today Lumi was as fragile as a child, her breakdown arriving unexpectedly.

Once Lumi had cried her fill, she wiped away her tears and asked Shang Zhitao, "Do I look hideous after crying?"

"Like pear blossoms bathed in rain, still just as pretty."

Lumi burst out laughing: "How did you become so smooth-talker?"

"Learned it from you."

Having visited Lumi, Shang Zhitao felt her mind settle slightly. After grabbing a quick bowl of noodles with her, she rushed back to the company. Upon returning, she buried herself back at her desk, managing to send the proposal to Grace before six o'clock. Grace reviewed it extremely quickly, offering a few revisions and asking Shang Zhitao to send it directly to Luan Nian once corrected.

By the time Shang Zhitao finished revising the proposal, it was already past eight in the evening, but Luan Nian had not left yet. She sent the proposal to him and said, "Luke, this is the presentation for the Green Orange workshop. Please take a look."

Luan Nian opened it to review. Shang Zhitao's presentation design was visually appealing, easily considered top-tier quality. Skimming through it, he said to her, "Come over for a moment."

"Alright."

Shang Zhitao walked into his office, and Luan Nian pointed to the chair opposite his desk: "Sit."

Shang Zhitao sat up straight, slightly lowering her head as she waited for Luan Nian to look up from his computer screen. They hadn't spent time alone like this for quite a while, and Shang Zhitao still felt uncomfortable. After Luan Nian carefully finished annotating her proposal, he picked up his laptop, stood up, and walked over to the sofa: "Come over here."

Shang Zhitao walked over again and sat beside him. The genuine leather sofa made a muted friction noise as she sat, causing a layer of goosebumps to rise on her skin.

Catching a glimpse of the goosebumps on her snow-white legs from the corner of his eye, Luan Nian stood up, grabbed his sleeping blanket, and tossed it to her. Shang Zhitao smoothly caught it and draped it over her legs.

"The standard workshop workflow begins with the client's presentation—their ideas and demands—followed by our proposed solutions. Finally, there's a open discussion. I've had the Marketing Department arrange a dinner banquet in Shenzhen." Luan Nian kept his eyes on the computer screen, but the gardenia scent drifting off Shang Zhitao disturbed his train of thought, causing his brow to furrow imperceptibly.

"Start presenting to me from the first slide."

"I'm presenting it?"

"Or am I supposed to present it?"

"..."

Having just finished the slides, Shang Zhitao remembered the general contents of each page, but she couldn't clearly see the detailed figures. She leaned forward slightly, drawing a fraction closer to Luan Nian. The tips of her hair brushed against Luan Nian's shoulder, stirring up a gentle, cool breeze, prompting him to shift a person's distance to the left.

Noticing his distant attitude, Shang Zhitao went quiet for two seconds: "On the first page, I made a summary slide. The strategy, conversion funnel, creative materials, and data overview are all reflected on this single page, with the content condensed while highlighting the client's three core issues."

Halfway through her presentation, Shang Zhitao heard Luan Nian taking a sip of water. The movement of his Adam's apple swallowing suddenly flashed across her mind, causing her to forget what she was supposed to say next.

Staring at the slides, her mind went completely blank.

Luan Nian reached out and snapped the laptop shut. Shang Zhitao looked at him in surprise.

"Is this how you plan to pause when you conduct the workshop?" Luan Nian asked her.

Shang Zhitao remained silent, offering no explanation. There was nothing to explain—she had just let her thoughts wander.

"Prepare the presentation section again. Come back in once you're ready."

"Alright."

Shang Zhitao let out a long sigh of relief; the strange thoughts filling her mind earlier had made it impossible for her to face herself properly. She took off the sleeping blanket, folded it neatly, and placed it to the side—still carrying her body heat—before picking up her laptop and walking out.

She sat outside for a while until all her colleagues had left. Unwilling to go back into Luan Nian's office, she sent him a message: Luke, I have something else to attend to. May I practice with you tomorrow instead?

Okay.

Luan Nian replied with a single word, then stood up to pack his things. Violent impulses to tear Shang Zhitao apart and devour her were surging inside his body, and he was afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself.

Luan Nian was well aware of his own laughable pride, just as he knew he had never been a particularly good person. He lacked empathy and despised trouble; through and through, he was an utterly selfish, refined egoist.

Which was why he had to break things off completely.