KC | Chapter 68

The white-collar workers who worked at Lanhai looked glamorous on the surface, but in reality, they all had pressure.

When Chen Xi was in college, he felt that in the future, how much money a job made did not matter, as long as it was enough to spend. Work could wear out the body, he could work overtime and endure hardship, but it could not wear out the heart, because pressure was the scariest thing.

But things went against his wishes, and he became a salesperson, a high-pressure profession second only to coal miners.

Under the pressure from clients and the performance pressure given by Lanhai, Chen Xi was physically and mentally exhausted. But when he saw Lin Yiran, he felt that he could still work harder.

Lin Yiran had more key clients than him, and he also had to squeeze out time to do management, handle system relations well, understand the market, make strategies… The weekend companionship used up Lin Yiran’s personal time. Chen Xi felt it was luxurious, and did not let him go to waste, yet he also felt guilty.

Chen Xi opened the computer to feed data into the Shanyao disc, and while making spreadsheets, he muttered softly, “I don’t want to do AI, I just want to make spreadsheets, work makes me happy, I love Lanhai…”

Halfway through the spreadsheet, informer Xiao Fang came to report: President Xu is here!

Chen Xi grabbed his power bank and rushed straight to Gulin.

He had previously squatted on Xu Dongxu for more than half a month, and with the principle of considering him, he waited bitterly until meal time before going to find him, only to end up not getting two sentences out of him. I’m just an idiot, as a supplier, isn’t it necessary to build presence in front of the client? If I come and squat on him and he doesn’t know, then wouldn’t I have come for nothing.

After Chen Xi figured this out, this time, no matter how busy Xu Dongxu was, he stood right in front of his office door building presence.

Squatting on Xu Dongxu did not take much energy, it just wasted electricity. He was like a money-dispensing machine, and once he returned to Gulin headquarters he wandered around everywhere. Chen Xi could not follow him around everywhere, so he could only squat at the office door. When he got bored from squatting, he had to play with his phone, so a power bank was a must for going to Gulin.

When Xu Dongxu saw Chen Xi, he was first stunned, then directly treated him like air, not even greeting him, and went to other departments. After a while, Xu Dongxu came back and saw Chen Xi was still at his office door. Frowning, he said, “I think last time we already made things clear enough. Gulin will not cooperate with Lanhai, this is Brother Wang’s意思, and it’s useless for you to come find me.”

Chen Xi smiled and said, “President Xu, you go ahead and do your work, no need to mind me. Gulin has good air, I came here to get a bit more cultural nourishment.” Translated, that meant: I’m just idle.

Xu Dongxu gave him a sideways glance and went back into the office to continue working.

Chen Xi was not annoyed either, and sat on the long bench in the corridor playing games.

The Moments Wang Yaohua posted yesterday showed him eating hot pot in Chuanshi, that fat guy was much more carefree than you. He probably came to headquarters only once a month when salaries were paid, and spent the rest of the time floating around outside. When you’re a leader, you have to give enough face. Going directly to find him last time had already crossed the line, this time it still had to start from you.

The advertising planning for Gulin was basically already settled. The top priority was to untie Xu Dongxu’s knot and push the cooperation forward as soon as possible. It was just that this knot could not be untied overnight. Xu Dongxu held a grudge against Lin Yiran for ten years, with deep frost frozen three feet not formed in one day, and it was absolutely not something that could be broken through in three or five times.

Chen Xi had already made the worst plan, focusing on a good mindset and thick skin. If three to five times did not work, then come three to fifty times, and he would definitely grind an iron pestle into a needle.

When Xu Dongxu came out of the office, he smiled along with him. When Xu Dongxu left, he continued playing. Xu Dongxu was busy for more than two hours, then drove away from Gulin. The moment he left, Chen Xi left right after him.

The face-saving show of building presence, since the main person had already left, what was there still to act out.

–

At night, Chen Xi was lying in bed when he received a call from Lin Yiran.

“What are you doing?”

“Lying down.”

“Listening to your voice, you sound really tired.”

“No, I didn’t do any physical labor today, I just played all afternoon…” games, and lost so badly it was frustrating.

“I just talked with clients all afternoon, so I’m a bit tired in the heart.” Chen Xi turned the words around. After all, Lin Yiran was his boss, he had to be soft when he should be soft, how could he dare tell the full truth.

“Oh.” The background noise on the other end was the recognition sound of a fingerprint lock and the sound of a door closing. Lin Yiran seemed not to have heard that he was slacking off at the end of the month, and asked, “How did the client talks go today?”

“Not that great.” Chen Xi rolled his eyes hard, thinking: If Gulin hadn’t once been heavily damaged by you, they would’ve almost signed with me after the last talk.

“About Xu Dongxu…” Lin Yiran wanted to analyze a couple things with him.

“Brother Lin’s previous information was wrong, that little crew cut isn’t what he used to be.” Chen Xi cut him off, thinking: You only know how to provide fake information and mess me up!

“Hm? They say you can tell a person’s future from when they’re three years old, I feel some character traits can’t be changed overnight. Also, everything I told you before was true, not a bit fake, heaven and earth bear witness.” Lin Yiran heard the meaning between the lines and tried to save face for himself.

“Xu Dongxu now walks like the wind with a slicked-back hairstyle, his words are full of barbs and very mean. Wang Yaohua’s office is now all rosewood furniture, and his words go around corners with a smile hiding a knife. Last time I was teamed up and mocked by the two of them, they said our Lanhai salespeople were all dogs.” The last sentence was made up by me for them, just to curse you. If you had even a little conscience, people wouldn’t have held a grudge against you for 10 years.

“Mm.” Lin Yiran said, “Last month I said Gulin was hard to talk to, but you insisted on going.”

“It was me insisting on signing Gulin, I didn’t blame you.” Although to be honest, I really was a little regretful about taking on Gulin, but if I gave up now, then the month I spent before would all be wasted. I’m having such a hard time, so it’s because of you, I have to fire a couple shots at you to vent my anger!

“Hey, how did Brother Lin know I went to Gulin today?” I didn’t say what client I talked to today, and you asked about Xu Dongxu right away, that logic is wrong.

“I…” Lanhai employees had to use the company WeChat to check in and report when they went out. Lin Yiran had previously only checked attendance for some employees who were going to be assessed. Since he had not received any message from Chen Xi all day today and wanted to know what he was doing, he used his position to check up on him.

“I was guessing. You only have these two key clients, if not Gulin then it’s Shanyao anyway.”

“Yes, I have few clients so I’m easy to manage, unlike Brother Lin who has so much work. I’ll strive to take on some more next month.” When talking to a boss, you had to always express that you loved the company and worked actively. But then again, calling me in the middle of the night, could it be that you want to check my attendance for the day?

Lin Yiran would rather die than admit that calling Chen Xi was to hear his voice, to ask him why he had not sent a message all day. He wanted to chat with him about something else, but aside from work, they did not have much in common. The difference in their positions and status made it so that Chen Xi could not honestly tell him everything about work.

A top boss chatting about work with an employee at 10 at night would absolutely drive a wage slave crazy.

Lin Yiran had a cold, stern face toward the three pigs, but was outwardly fierce while inwardly weak toward the little white rabbit.

Since Chen Xi would not come clean, he did not press him either. But in order to help Chen Xi take fewer detours, what needed to be said still had to be said.

“Xu Dongxu pays more attention to details. If you make a big show of giving him a gift, he’ll throw the gift onto your head and tell you to get lost. But if you quietly give him something small he usually uses, he can still accept it. When I smoked with him before, I gave him a lighter engraved with his name. It seemed like I bought it for 10 yuan. He was especially happy, and after that he treated me like a brother.”

Chen Xi: He treated you like a brother, and you led your brother into a ditch.

But this lighter was really awesome. Engraving a name meant custom-made, respect, and it did not actually cost much. It also let him think of you every time he smoked. Brilliant!

“Chen Xi, if you want to sign Gulin, then you have to go there more and keep grinding. Xu Dongxu eats the soft-and-hard persistence routine. If he has fire in his heart, he might say a lot of ugly things. If he scolds you…”

“If he scolds you, then don’t make a sound. But I guess he’ll scold me more. If he scolds me, then you scold along with him. The enemy of an enemy is a friend, and after scolding for a while, you two will end up on the same front.”

Chen Xi: …

You’re actually pretty self-aware.

In order to help me sign the order, you didn’t hesitate to trash yourself. You’re weirdly nice.

–

The next day, Chen Xi once again received word from the informant that Xu Dongxu had come to Gulin again.

Chen Xi brought his power bank. Xu Dongxu’s face was still displeased when he saw him. “What are you here for? I don’t have time to receive you.”

“I came to breathe Gulin’s fresh air and wash my filthy heart.” Chen Xi put on a dead pig not afraid of boiling water attitude, acting toward Xu Dongxu like a scumbag harassing a virtuous woman, I’ll squat mine, you do yours.

“Ten years ago, Lin Yiran was just like you, squatting on me every day.” Xu Dongxu was a bit angry, “The salespeople at your Lanhai really have no shame.”

So you even saw through that, this shamelessness of mine was learned from him.

“Yes, yes, we’re all shameless, please don’t be angry.” The client torments me a thousand times, and I treat the client like my first love. You said one sentence to me yesterday, and two sentences today, so wonderful. Maybe next time you can say three sentences, let’s grind slowly.

Xu Dongxu slammed the door and went inside. Chen Xi got up, humming a little tune, and went downstairs to buy breakfast.

Probably because there was a lot of work at the end of the month, Xu Dongxu had been at headquarters these days too, so Chen Xi also ended up spending 3 days wearing down time at Gulin headquarters.

The turning point in the matter appeared on August 31, the afternoon of Chen Xi’s third consecutive day spent in Gulin.

That day Xu Dongxu was so busy his head was spinning, and at noon he had been in the office and never came out. Chen Xi was already so hungry his stomach was growling, and afraid of missing the chance to meet him at noon, so he kept wearing down time at the office door. By two in the afternoon, he was hungry enough that his stomach hurt a little, and he could not help going out to buy two portions of baked cold noodles.

At the end of the month, all departments had to report their performance to Xu Dongxu. In front of his office were the planning department, the marketing department, and the design department. These days Chen Xi had become familiar enough with all of them, nodding and bowing as he begged to cut the line. After the construction department left Xu Dongxu’s office, he pushed the door open and went in.

“Hey, Brother Xu, don’t glare at me yet. I originally wanted to say a few words to you at noon, but seeing that you never came out, I waited outside until I was starving. I figured you probably weren’t doing much better, so I went downstairs and bought two portions of baked cold noodles. Here, one spicy and one not spicy, take a look and see which one you want, I’ll eat the rest.” Chen Xi placed the two portions of baked cold noodles on Xu Dongxu’s desk.

In recent years, Xu Dongxu had been striving to build a fashionable white-collar image, and it had been a long time since he last ate baked cold noodles. The simple packaging, the cheap flavoring smell giving off an enticing aroma, the cheap food that did not match Xu Dongxu’s image unexpectedly stirred up his appetite.

Xu Dongxu took the non-spicy portion of baked cold noodles and said to Chen Xi, “There’s too much work today, after we get off work tonight, we can have a proper meal together.”