KA | Chapter 10

Chapter 10. White Clouds and Rotten Mud

The huge LED screen at the front of the venue was scrolling through guest information, and Shen Yuesheng was in the first row.

His name floated behind him, his arm resting on the chair, as he looked at me with a faint gaze.

“Shen…”

Before I could finish greeting him, he suddenly turned his head, as if he did not want to have any connection with me at all.

The principal in the front seat asked, “Which school are you from?”

“I…” I had a flash of inspiration and said, “I am from Lanhai Business School.”

The summit was about to begin, and the guests were taking their seats one after another. Shen Yuesheng was here, so I could not swagger around in front of the guy in the front row and scam my way through, but since I had come, I could not leave without getting something out of it.

I could not lie to the front row, but it should be fine to go back to the rear seats and sign a few deals selling scrap.

I tucked my tail between my legs and rolled back to the back row. I found my seat according to the reservation form, and the girl next to me said irritably, “Isn’t this the guy from Lanxiang who drives excavators.”

Ah, it was the girl I had run into when I first arrived at the venue.

I grinned and shamelessly said, “The more skills, the better. After I finish learning to drive excavators, I still want to learn some other things.”

The girl sneered, “I teach ballet, do you want to learn?”

“Ah, so you’re a dancer, no wonder your figure is so good!”

I definitely could not learn ballet. She was clearly trying to pick a fight with me. As the saying goes, women dress up for those who please them. I had offended her earlier, so praising her a couple of times now could count as an apology.

Sure enough, after hearing that, the girl no longer kept a cold face and took the initiative to introduce herself, “I’m Sun Qiongyin, from Tiankai Art School.”

“Tiankai? The college entrance exam training school by South Station that has been open for more than 20 years?”

“Mm.”

“Teacher Sun, you’re amazing. What you do is a major project that can change college entrance exam scores and change the fate of countless students!”

My two lines made her beam with delight. “You’re so good with words, are you a tongue twister teacher?”

“You’re really flattering me.”

I was not a tongue twister teacher, I was just a cheap bastard who signed deals with a slick mouth.

The meeting began, and the host spoke on stage while the audience below was silent as a grave.

If I just sat there listening the whole time and did not hook a client, then would I not have come for nothing.

“Teacher Sun, let’s add each other on WeChat. If any kids from your relatives want to learn dance in the future, I’ll come to you!”

I did not have any relatives at all. Adding her on WeChat was just so I could send marketing messages in groups. Maybe sometime when Tiankai needed to recruit students, she would think of me.

We had met face to face, so she would definitely be embarrassed to delete me. After doing sales for so long, the only person who had ever blocked me after meeting me was Shen Yuesheng.

When it came to the award presentation, the host announced the list of winners, and Shen Yuesheng went on stage to receive the award.

A flash of inspiration struck me, and I snapped more than ten photos in a row, picking the most handsome one to send over.

「Full case planner Zhao Zhiyong: Materials for Mr. Shen’s Moments [photo]」

I waited 10 minutes, and Shen Yuesheng did not reply.

It looked like the plan to curry favor with the big boss and use the front row to chat up other big bosses had completely fallen through.

The host then talked about some of the new policies the country had issued this year. The country was vigorously developing vocational and technical training, and Pinsheng had caught a free ride.

Shen Yuesheng was just lucky. He had a father who ran a school, and he was also standing at the mouth of the wind, enjoying the dividends of the national education reform. He usually attended meetings to show his face, and when he had nothing to do, he would go skiing overseas. Rich, young, and good-looking, he was born already hitting the lottery, with all the luck gathered in one body.

A bottom-level workhorse like me could not be jealous. I could only keep my head down and work hard, running around for a living all day long.

During the break, I ran into a familiar face on the way to the restroom.

It was the lawyer who had helped me speak up when my mom hit someone with her scooter!

I immediately stepped forward to greet him, “Hello, I am Zhao Chuan. Last month my mom hit someone while riding an electric scooter. Thank you for speaking up for us.”

“Huh?”

The lawyer probably saw so many people in his daily life that he could not react for a moment to who I was.

I explained the scene at the time, “At the beginning of last month, there was a woman in her forties who came to my house, and I saw you in the video…”

A half-dead voice floated from behind, “He doesn’t even know you, and you’re still forcing yourself to lick up to him?”

Shen Yuesheng’s eyes were full of disdain.

I wanted to leave a good impression on the lawyer, so I hurriedly said, “I really know him…”

“Ning Shuo.” The lawyer extended his hand, clearly having remembered me. “I am Ning Shuo from Yingshuo Law Firm.”

I shook his hand and said gratefully, “Thank you so much that day.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Ning Shuo waved his hand and said to Shen Yuesheng, “Mr. Shen, about that matter before, the hearing is expected to be next month.”

Shen Yuesheng nodded and looked at me, meaning, Why are you still not scramming?

Normally, I had no friendship with the lawyer, and after thanking him I should have left, but Shen Yuesheng’s arrogant attitude made me very unhappy. I could not swallow it, so I just had to barge in and stir things up.

“Hello, Mr. Ning, I can do marketing planning for your law firm, so our lawyers can take on more cases.”

Shen Yuesheng frowned, his gaze icy, as if he was just one step away from opening his mouth to scold me for not knowing my place.

Ning Shuo, however, was quite interested and took the initiative to ask, “How exactly would that work?”

I had come to attend an education industry summit, but unexpectedly I ended up talking to a client in the legal industry. Luckily, I had signed a few lawyers before, so I was not unfamiliar with this industry.

“Marketing has two major parts, offline and online. Offline is client meetings. Even if you plan that part into something dazzling, the marketing hooks are basically only a few kinds, so what I focus on is the online part.”

Ning Shuo nodded, signaling for me to continue.

“Take civil lawsuits for example. A lot of couples put on a peaceful face during the New Year, and after every New Year the divorce rate spikes. Some cases involve lawsuits, property division, and so on, and they definitely need a lawyer. What I can do for you is make sure people who recently have a need for divorce litigation can find our firm first thing.”

Ning Shuo should have understood online promotion before, and his words went straight to the point: “Through keyword search?”

“Keywords can only cover part of the target customers. There is also another group, potential customers who have the intention to divorce recently but have not taken action yet.” I said, “As for exactly how many people can be covered, and how much advertising cost will be spent, that has to be based on how many cases you receive every day.”

Ning Shuo thought for a moment and asked, “My firm has 20 lawyers, and each person needs at least 10 new cases every day. Can online ads achieve that?”

“Of course.” I straightened my chest and made a firm promise. “Does our firm handle civil lawsuits or criminal cases? Is the area for receiving cases Yucheng or the whole province? Is there someone answering the line 24 hours a day?”

“Yingshuo mainly handles civil lawsuits, we can take cases from the whole province, and the front desk can only answer calls on workdays.”

I thought about it and said, “There are more than a million daily online visits for civil lawsuits in the whole province. You need 200 cases a day, which is like scooping up one ladle of water from the ocean.”

Ning Shuo was surprised. “There are that many online visits?”

I nodded and reminded him, “However, if you want to make sure of case quality, I suggest first hiring an ad placement operator. With someone watching over the promotion plan, the results will be better.”

A flicker passed through Shen Yuesheng’s eyes.

Ning Shuo took the initiative to add me on WeChat and stuffed a business card into my hands.

「Director of Yingshuo Law Firm: Ning Shuo」

So he was the boss, no wonder he talked so crisply.

Looks like I had hooked a big fish today!

Ning Shuo said, “Like this, I will recruit first, and once someone is in place, you can come to the firm and talk in more detail.”

Maybe because he was anxious to use the restroom, Ning Shuo left after chatting with me.

Shen Yuesheng folded his arms and said coolly, “You’re pretty thoughtful, huh.”

Thanks to me barging in, otherwise such a good law firm client would have been ruined by him!

I said unhappily, “I was only stating the facts.”

“A sudden burst of conscience?”

“Sales is not necessarily just for making money. Even if he does not cooperate with me, I still have to explain the pros and cons of ad placement to him clearly.”

Shen Yuesheng came closer to me. “We’re both clients, why treat them differently?”

I took a step back and stiffened my neck. “We’re both sales, don’t you treat Chen Xi differently too!”

Neither of them had slept with me, so why delete my WeChat and keep his!

Shen Yuesheng said, “You and he are not the same.”

“How are we not the same?”

Shen Yuesheng thought about it and said, “I quite like him.”

I: “…”

Fine, the one he liked was the one he could not bear to block, while the one selling out there got blocked casually.

I kindly reminded him, “Chen Xi already has a boyfriend.”

“I know.”

“You know and you still…”

Shen Yuesheng’s tone was very light. “He has his, I like mine.”

I: “…”

You’re really generous, aren’t you!

Shen Yuesheng had very strong pride, he definitely would not like someone who already had a family. Besides, if he really liked him, he would definitely use the pretext of ad cooperation to keep dangling Chen Xi along, and would not have stopped cooperating with Lanhai.

A fox spirit did not have two honest words in his mouth, and before he still said he did not understand advertising!

I did not want to bicker, so I turned to leave.

He stopped me. “After the deal is signed, why didn’t you do a proper job for me?”

I stopped in my tracks. “Didn’t I give you the public opinion monitoring system? Once the product delivery was completed, that counted as execution.”

Once the money was collected, what was there still to contact me for. If there was really a problem, they would have found me long ago. Right now this was purely looking for trouble when there was none!

Shen Yuesheng suddenly said, “Ning Shuo is straight, he has a wife.”

Huh?

What did him being straight have to do with me discussing the deal?

I did not understand.

Shen Yuesheng still used that half-dead voice. “You were thinking of him so much just now, wasn’t that just wanting to lick up to him.”

Dizzy, he thought I licked up to everyone, what did he take me for!

I said righteously, “I was indeed hoping Yingshuo would get more cases, and I was also sincerely hoping Mr. Ning’s business would get better.”

“Because he has shown me kindness. As a person, one should repay kindness with gratitude.”

Shen Yuesheng’s gaze was dark, and he did not speak for a long time.

Just when I thought the conversation was over and wanted to turn and leave, he stopped me again.

I did not know what medicine he was selling in his gourd, and I felt uneasy.

Shen Yuesheng led me to the front row of the venue and said to the other principals, “This is a friend, he does advertising. If you have any student recruitment needs, you can find him.”

Many principals immediately said they wanted to add me on WeChat.

At that moment, the venue lights shone on my body, and for the first time I felt that standing in the center of a crowd really did make you shine.

The key client I had spent months and every trick in my book failing to connect with, Shen Yuesheng solved with a single sentence.

Those clients who had previously paid me no mind changed their impression of me in an instant through a single sentence from an industry leader.

Shen Yuesheng was the white cloud in the sky, and I was the rotten mud on the ground.

In the hardest years of my life, he had granted me a beam of light.