KA | Chapter 14

Last quarter, I couldn’t land any orders and was facing an evaluation; this quarter, I signed seven education clients and got on the express train to promotion.

Chen Xi smiled and said, “Congratulations on the promotion.”

Zhang Yuanji held his forehead. “It really is feng shui turns around , last quarter you couldn’t land any orders, this quarter it’s my turn!”

Lin Yiran said with a fake smile that wasn’t a smile, “Xiao Zhao is really impressive, keep it up, huh.”

Two-faced and sinister, I didn’t even know how he had become vice president.

Forget it, for Chen Xi’s sake, I wouldn’t bother with this old dog.

What has passed is all prologue.

Sales was just a hamster wheel, you had to keep running, always moving forward.

Q2 had already passed, and Q3 was about to start fighting again.

What made me happy was that, with the rise in my sales level, my base salary had gone up to 8000. Counting commission, after deducting the five insurances and one housing fund and tax, the money I got in hand could go past ten thousand. What made me anxious was that my sales target had been adjusted to 150,000 in gross profit, and it was even harder to finish.

The clients who signed up to buy junk couldn’t fill my performance gap now, so I once again focused my eyes on key clients who could keep contributing gross profit.

Although I had taken a loss on Pinsheng half a year ago, sales had to get more and more courageous with each setback. Chen Xi had even been able to run to Gulin 36 times for a contract, I couldn’t give up just because I had run a few times and still hadn’t signed.

Don’t do the easy thing, do the right thing.

Signing key clients was KA’s only upward route.

I contacted a few more principals of well-known schools who I hadn’t managed to meet before. The common trait of well-educated principals was that they never said things to death, they always left three parts for people to guess. In sales negotiations, you weren’t afraid of the client being troublesome, you were afraid of the client not exposing their needs. A principal who neither rejected, nor accepted, nor paid was practically a scumbag!

I just couldn’t figure it out. They all ran schools, so why couldn’t they be like Shen Yuesheng, and if there was a difference, just give me a clean answer, say clearly whether they would do it or not?

Dizzy, why was I thinking of Shen Yuesheng again.

I didn’t understand why I would keep thinking about a man, but there were a lot of things I didn’t understand, so I didn’t need to think so much.

I knew myself well. This was just like filling out volunteer applications, first choice Tsinghua and Peking University, second choice Yucheng Auto Repair. If I could get into the first choice, I had hit the jackpot. If I couldn’t, then I would honestly go learn auto repair.

Sleeping with a man was wrong in every way, whether in emotion or reason. If Shen Yuesheng gave money, then I would go along with the flow and do it; if he didn’t give money, then I could only hold it in.

I lusted after Shen Yuesheng, just like my mom lusted after pig head meat, if I couldn’t eat it, I would keep thinking about it, holding myself until I was restless and desperate, and then I would turn into someone riding an electric bike and running blindfolded.

Shen Yuesheng was the ex of a KA expert, the object of the KA top guy’s pursuit, the vice president’s love rival… he had a very deep connection with Lanhai KA. I also wanted our relationship to carry a different label, and I wanted to find a suitable reason for this abnormal feeling.

Since I couldn’t stop thinking about him, then I would shift my attention from “sleeping with him” to “signing him”, so I wouldn’t blindly run around and crash into people or make mistakes.

*

One afternoon in early July, I wore the casual outfit I had just bought with my salary, stepped into the white canvas shoes I rarely wore, had my hair cut and styled, and once again came to Pinsheng.

In summer, Shen Yuesheng had taken off his heavy suit and changed into casual business wear. The light gray fabric carried a faint sheen under the sunlight, giving off a cold and refined elegance. His fair forearm rested on the boss chair, two buttons at the collar were undone, revealing a delicate collarbone, making him look somewhat wanton.

When I entered, he was on the phone.

“…It has nothing to do with the IPO, even if Pinsheng doesn’t go public, executives still can’t sell their shares within six months after resigning.” Shen Yuesheng frowned slightly when he heard footsteps. Seeing that it was me, he raised his index finger to his lips and made a shushing gesture.

He didn’t directly kick me out this time, which meant my status in his heart had slightly improved, already changing from “get lost” to “can talk”.

I closed the door and walked over to the desk.

“Cases that are set in stone usually don’t have a need for trial. They’ve already lost in the first instance, but they still want to keep appealing and make a fool of themselves, clearly they want to blow the matter up.”

Trial?

Oh, it was about what he had said to Ning Shuo last time.

He could let me hear conversations involving privacy, it seemed my status was even higher than I had imagined.

“If he wants to appeal, then let him appeal. I’ll stay with him to the end.”

Luckily I came early and heard the first few sentences, otherwise I would’ve thought he was talking about going to bed with someone else…

After Shen Yuesheng hung up, his tone was still light and airy, “Here to sleep with me?”

“I came to talk about proper business. Why do you never let me speak every time?”

A flash of cunning passed through Shen Yuesheng’s eyes, and he mercilessly exposed me. “I said the advertisement wouldn’t cooperate. You dressed yourself up like a decent person today, coming to see me, wasn’t it just for bed?”

Before, every negotiation was Shen Yuesheng holding the initiative. I didn’t want to be led by the nose, but I really did want…

Now our relationship was unclear. If I went to bed with him directly, it would be like admitting I had a good feeling toward him, and that I was doing free labor.

How could that be!

I said righteously, “Sleeping together can only give you temporary pleasure, but in the long run, it may cause damage to your physical and mental health. Maybe you have your own difficulties, if you really can’t control yourself and want it that badly, you can shift your attention to other exercise, like running…”

Shen Yuesheng cut in, “I shouldn’t have called a salesperson.”

“…”

No, how did going to bed have anything to do with my profession?

What did sales do to offend you?

I thought for a moment and understood what he meant. Oh, so you wanted to find someone who would bury their head and work hard, and you didn’t expect me to talk so much.

Shen Yuesheng took a White Rabbit candy from the drawer and put it in his mouth. He got up and was about to leave, but after taking two steps, his body swayed a little.

He hadn’t eaten lunch, and his blood sugar was low from hunger?

No wonder he ate White Rabbit.

I held his shoulder. He looked up, and a faint milk fragrance drifted from between his lips.

Shen Yuesheng wasn’t the kind of beauty that was flamboyant. Instead, he gave off a heart-stirring sort of charm deep in his bones, a low-key and restrained kind of sexiness.

The open collar clearly showed the thin chest beneath his collarbone, and the upturned ends of his peach blossom eyes drew out a milk-scented muddled soup.

I let go of him and took two steps back.

He chewed on the candy, speaking unclearly, soft and milky, “Think about it carefully, I’m going to a meeting first.”

The office door opened and closed. I leaned against the desk, and shamefully, I had a reaction.

*

I silently recited the Heart Cleansing Spell in the room, and after the agitation of mating subsided, I imitated the KA big shots and went downstairs to buy two portions of grilled cold noodles.

As the sun was setting, Shen Yuesheng finally came back.

I immediately tried to curry favor. “Do you want spicy or not spicy?”

Shen Yuesheng looked at the sticky lump and his face was full of disgust. “Even if I starve to death, I won’t eat this kind of thing.”

“…”

Fine, it seemed like “sincerity” didn’t work on every key client.

Shen Yuesheng put the MacBook on the table, opened the monitor, and said casually, “I thought you had left, why are you so persistent?”

“The client is God, everyone in sales is persistent.”

“Then what have you done for God?”

I counted on my fingers, one by one. “I helped clients assemble furniture, sent their children to school, accompanied their parents to the hospital…”

Shen Yuesheng tapped the desk and said with a double meaning, “You really are without principles, without bottom lines.”

I looked at the sinful desk and, with my head down, made a pale and powerless rebuttal, “…not exactly.”

Shen Yuesheng stared at the monitor without blinking, typed a few times on the laptop, and seemed to send a voice message to someone. After that, he said to me, “Your bottom line is tied to money. Before, when you were short of money, you sold. Now that you have money, you don’t sell.”

How did he know I had been short of money before?

He must have asked Ning Shuo.

No wonder he hadn’t driven me away these past two unsolicited visits.

Shen Yuesheng leaned back against the boss chair, his knuckles tapping on the edge of the chair lazily now and then. He looked very relaxed, communicating work on the laptop on one side while bickering with me on the other, completely treating me like entertainment.

He was sloppy in life, meticulous with work, and when he got busy, he didn’t even eat meals. He must have been under a lot of pressure.

People lived on food, if he never ate on time, his body definitely wouldn’t be able to hold up.

I steeled my heart and threw away my pride. “If you have money, I’ll still sell. You shouldn’t keep being busy. Let’s find a place to eat, can we talk while eating?”

There might not be fancy restaurants around schools, but there would definitely be a snack street. A CEO worth over a hundred million dollars might not eat grilled cold noodles, but he would eat Shaxian Snacks .

I ordered a bowl of pork rib rice. Shen Yuesheng was very rude and ordered a bowl of chicken leg noodles, then ordered two cold dishes, and then looked at me.

He was waiting for me to pay.

Fine, I had even bought you a skateboard, it wasn’t like I was short of this few dozen yuan.

After the food was served, I chewed on a rib and only then realized belatedly, letting the one being sold buy the meal, he really had some nerve!

The body deal was just a gimmick to lure him out for dinner. Now that dinner had been eaten, work still had to be discussed.

I asked, “For recruiting students for Pinsheng beauty and hairdressing, how much money do you give the channel?”

Shen Yuesheng peeled off the chicken skin slowly, then gnawed on the chicken leg at a leisurely pace. Only after taking two bites did he say, “Don’t talk while eating.”

“…”

“Fine, if you don’t say it, I’ll say it, you listen.”

“I don’t want to listen.”

Dizzy, if we didn’t talk, how could we negotiate?

If you won’t let me speak, I’ll insist on speaking!

I swallowed the rib and started my brainwashing-style sales pitch, recklessly pouring it out in one breath. “You reject advertising because advertising has no channel and low student recruitment costs, right?”

“I checked. Pinsheng’s crash course is 3000, the advanced class is 10000, and ‘study until you learn it’ is the promotion for the 30000 continuing education class. The students aren’t stupid. Once they understand the course system, there’s no follow-up. The Slogan promotion you planned had no effect, so you just rejected the advertisement. That’s a bit too subjective.”

I looked at Shen Yuesheng and said seriously, “Most vocational training student recruitment gives channels 30 to 50 percent. If I redesign the Slogan and bring Pinsheng students for the advanced class and continuing education class, and make the advertising recruitment cost lower than the channel recruitment cost, do we have a chance to cooperate?”

Shaxian didn’t have air conditioning, and the old-style electric fan was turning in circles, making a creaking, creaking sound. Shen Yuesheng chewed on the chicken skeleton, and his mouth also went creak, creak, creak, doing everything he could to squeeze out the remaining value of the chicken, even chewing the bones to bits.

“A contractor that makes teaching aids found me and said they wanted to cooperate. Pinsheng’s teaching aids have been used for five years, they can be changed or not changed, but the dean of academic affairs strongly suggested replacing them.” Shen Yuesheng stopped here.

I added, “Just as soon as a salesperson found you, the dean of academic affairs suggested changing the teaching aids. How could there be such a coincidence, they’re definitely setting a trap for you!”

Shen Yuesheng said meaningfully, “Yeah, the salesperson selling teaching aids wanted to close the deal, so he slept with the dean of academic affairs.”

Why had it turned back to bed again?

Shen Yuesheng was willing to waste time eating and chatting with me, which meant he did have some good feelings toward me.

But even with good feelings, he couldn’t keep talking about bed in every sentence.

I wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to be free labor. I had already been squeezed dry last time, and now he still wanted to get it for free?

At this moment, I had completely forgotten that coming to Pinsheng was for “signing him”, and instead had one thought only, “sleep with him”, and I racked my brains trying to figure out how to do it in a way that would maximize benefits.

Sticking to the principle of “if the first choice can be got, then do it, if not, then go to the second choice”, of wanting money, wanting people, and not wanting face, I suggested, “You cooperate with the advertisement, but all the money goes to the company, and I won’t get much in my hands.”

“It would be better to just give the money directly to me, by the time, by the month, or by the year, all fine, as long as the price is reasonable, I’ll cooperate with any position, any request can be done, only things you can’t think of, nothing I can’t do, there are pre-sale services, and post-sale guarantees…”

“You keep me, okay!”