KC | Chapter 81

On the morning of September 7, 2023, the informant Xiaofang reported back: Mr. Xu had arrived; at noon the same day, another report came in: Mr. Wang had arrived.

On the afternoon of September 7, “good brother” Xu Dongxu reported back: the proposal had been submitted.

“Chenxi: Thank you, Brother Xu, fist-bump.jpg”

The contract-signing path for key clients was long, and it could not be handled without a few informants. Although Chen Xi had managed to get Xu Dongxu on board, Xu was only one of the decision-makers. Signing a key client involved many decision-makers. For listed companies, it involved shareholder voting. For private companies, most decisions were made after the boss and the project lead discussed it. At times like this, it all came down to which decision-makers would stand on his side.

Judging from the current intelligence, Gulin had three decision-makers: Xu Dongxu, Wang Yaohua, and “sister-in-law.” Xu Dongxu was one of their own, Wang Yaohua had a decent impression of him, and now only the “sister-in-law” who had never shown up was left.

There was no doubt that the “sister-in-law” had say in advertising placement, it was just that Chen Xi was not sure how much say that was.

Ever since he had turned down Lin Yiran’s lunch invitation on Monday, Chen Xi had not dared to talk to him. Luckily, Lin Yiran had not come to the company these past few days, so the two of them had not run into each other during the day, and at night he had not sent him any messages either.

These days, Chen Xi’s head was full of work. At night, he slept soundly, and not once had he thought of Lin Yiran. Right now, a key client had run into a problem, and he finally remembered he still had a master, and a boyfriend.

“Little White Rabbit: Brother Lin, what are you doing?(*▽*)”

Lin Yiran was in the middle of pitching to the client. Seeing Chen Xi’s message, he had no time to reply. After the pitch was done, he ate with the client, and while eating, his WeChat rang again.

“Little White Rabbit: Brother Lin, I miss you啦(#^-^#)”

At the table, the client was rambling to Lin Yiran about his startup history from all directions. Lin Yiran half-heartedly dealt with the client while typing in the chat window: I miss you too. His finger hovered over the send button, then deleted it.

You tricked me into eating, then secretly went to eat with a girl. These past few days you didn’t even send me a message, and just saying “I miss you” is enough to finish the job?

You suddenly looked for me during the day, so the client must have run into a problem. Since you needed something from someone, you should have lowered yourself by a bit. If you didn’t say something nice, why should I reply to your messages.

Little brat.

“Little White Rabbit: Brother Lin, have you eaten? I’m eating boiled fish with Brother Zhang, it’s so fragrant. (picture)”

“Little White Rabbit: Will you make squirrel-shaped mandarin fish this weekend, Brother Lin? I really love eating fish(*^▽^*)”

The client kept pestering Lin Yiran, and Lin Yiran followed along and praised him, not daring to neglect him. Chen Xi kept pestering Lin Yiran, and Lin Yiran sat there motionless, as steady as an old dog.

He had gotten smart, even linked up the objective thing “fish,” brought the topic toward “weekend,” and tried to use “weekend” as bait to get me to help you out?

Heh, connected events were not just “fish.”

“Easily Flammable and Explosive: Make it”

When Chen Xi saw the message, he failed to clip the fish out of the bowl, and his clothes almost got splashed with oil.

After last time being “whipped” by the leader, the king of gossip no longer dared to gossip around, especially under the miserable conditions of the end of the quarter with no performance. He was even less daring to put on airs. Zhang Yuanji kept his head down while eating, pretending not to see anything unusual.

Chen Xi tried hard to keep his face calm as he replied, but he had not hidden it completely, and his ears were a little red.

“Chenxi: Fuck me,please.”

About 5 minutes later, the other side sent over a picture, startling Chen Xi so badly that he almost dropped his phone. The unlucky phone hit the tabletop with a thud. Zhang Yuanji vaguely caught a glimpse that the person in the picture seemed not to be wearing clothes, and before he could even make out the face, the phone was quickly snatched up by Chen Xi.

Zhang Yuanji: …Shirtless with a tie on, brother, your play is way too wild.

If he had been a little calmer, I would not have suspected that the person in the photo was you.

“Chenxi: Pervert, when did you take that, delete it, delete it![○｀Д′ ○]”

“Lin Dog: Fuck you,all the time.”

“Lin Dog: (picture)(picture)(picture)”

…

“Lin Dog: (picture)” red exclamation mark

Zhang Yuanji held his bowl and did not dare join in the gossip, only dared to eat fish, silently reciting in his heart: I don’t ask, I don’t listen, I don’t look. As long as I keep information isolated, the leader won’t kill the monkey in the melon field.

Chen Xi held up his bowl, trying to cover his little red face, and buried his head in a fierce eating spree. After just a few bites, his phone rang.

Zhang Yuanji slipped away like grease on the soles of his feet, and before Chen Xi answered the call, he quickly ran off. “Xiao Chen, I’m done eating, going to put a screen protector on my phone.” I don’t want to hear what you two are talking about, and I sincerely suggest you put on an anti-peep screen protector.

After saying that, he stood up and strode toward the restaurant exit with great momentum, like a wind sweeping away the remaining clouds.

Chen Xi looked at the fleeing back in panic and thought: Brother Zhang definitely found out o(╥﹏╥)o

Typing was too slow and inefficient. Lin Yiran told the client he was going to the restroom, then took the chance to call Chen Xi. As soon as he opened, he went straight to the point: “Which client ran into a problem again?”

When Chen Xi answered, he also opened with the exact same directness: “Are you a pervert! Don’t call if there’s nothing. Call again and I’ll block you!”

The two of them, speaking in mismatched rhythms, fell silent at the same time, then spoke again at the same time.

Lin Yiran: “Fine then, I’ll hang up.”

Chen Xi: “No, no, no, Brother Lin, I was wrong.”

“Heh.”

“I…” Chen Xi heard that the other side was rather noisy, and figured Lin Yiran was probably socializing, taking time out of it specially to call him back.

The humble Little Chen decisively lowered his head and licked the leader: “Brother Lin, I’m the pervert, I shouldn’t have blocked you. Don’t hang up, I miss you.”

The client’s issue was far more important than their bickering. A sharp glint flashed in Lin Yiran’s eyes, and with a slight raise of his brows and a smile, he went straight to the point and cut to the chase: “What blocking point did you run into?”

Chen Xi answered briefly and clearly: “The Gulin proposal was made according to Xu Dongxu’s requirements. It has already been reviewed several times, and there’s no problem with the logic chain. Xu Dongxu just said to submit my proposal, but the decision-making power is with Mr. Wang, and there’s also a sister-in-law whispering in his ear. I feel like relying on just one proposal to block them from winning the bid has a rather low chance, but I can’t think of a good method right now.”

“Have you contacted Wang Yaohua?”

“I was afraid it wouldn’t be good to directly go over Xu Dongxu. I haven’t contacted Mr. Wang since the last meeting.” If Xu Dongxu found out I contacted Wang Yaohua, he wouldn’t dare accept gifts or kickbacks, and then this whole thing would be ruined.

Lin Yiran nodded. “Mm, just keep single-line contact with Xu Dongxu. I’ll think of a way to create a chance for you to meet Wang Yaohua in person before Gulin pays the contract fee.”

“Wang Yaohua should be at Gulin today, but it wouldn’t be good for me to go directly to Mi Bai to look for him. Uh, Brother Lin, what method did you use to make the appointment, can you teach me?” If he could get an appointment with Wang Yaohua and fight for one chance, with the boss backing him up, the probability of blocking the bid would greatly increase.

Lin Yiran thought for a moment, then said, “The one who ruined the cooperation between Gulin and Tianyu this time was Zhang Guangming. Mr. Zhang might know something.”

Chen Xi was a very simple person, if he had a goal and a method, he would act. His original intention in signing key clients was to make money. After locking down the list of key clients, he would spare no effort to think of ways to促成 signing. The workplace newbie had never considered why Gulin, after not cooperating with Lanhai for 10 years, suddenly openly recruited, nor had he thought about what Lin Yiran’s purpose was in clearly not wanting to sign yet still sending people to Gulin. He only single-mindedly threw himself into Gulin, poured everything into studying the decoration industry, and gritted his teeth to go head-on and handle the key people… Relying on a burst of fearless courage and wholehearted enthusiasm, he fought for a chance for himself, for Yucheng KA, and for Lanhai to cooperate with Gulin again in the face of adversity.

“Brother Lin, Gulin’s payment date to Tianyu is the 15th of this month. We only have one week. If it doesn’t work, then all our previous efforts will be wasted.”

Gulin’s payment date was like a knife hanging over his head. The closer the date got, the more anxious Chen Xi became. Since the two of them had messed around last Tuesday, Lin Yiran seemed to have opened up his Ren and Du meridians, and the three little figures had never appeared again. Chen Xi’s nervous system had been very calm all along. He rarely showed emotions to the outside world, but he was willing to gradually reveal his true self to Lin Yiran.

Lin Yiran said, “The chance to cooperate with Gulin was something you fought for. What you’ve done is already enough. Leave the rest to me, to Lanhai.”

“This deal will definitely be signed. What you need to do now is think carefully about what to say when you meet Wang Yaohua in person.”

“Baby, don’t be afraid. You’re not fighting alone.”

After ending the call, Chen Xi went back to the company and specially created a folder named “Gulin,” then reorganized the intelligence provided by Xu Dongxu and the information collected from meeting Gulin in person, sorting and storing it carefully. As the chaotic information was strung into a line, Chen Xi thought from Wang Yaohua’s perspective about the advantages and disadvantages of the advertising suppliers. He created a Word document listing the parts where Lanhai was better than Tianyu, imagined the questions Wang Yaohua might ask, and simulated the negotiation scene based on those questions. He wrote five different sets of wording, and the final focus of all of them was that cooperating with Lanhai had far greater advantages than cooperating with Tianyu.

Compared with anxiety, Chen Xi preferred to believe in Lin Yiran. Lin Yiran was his strategist, his backing, the only certainty he had about the confused future.

Late at night, after finishing a day of social obligations, Lin Yiran stood in front of the car. His figure was straight and upright like a green pine, and his broad shoulders could block out any storm.

After almost mobilizing all his connections to gather intelligence for an entire day, he finally managed to connect with Wang Yaohua’s bridge.

For Chen Xi’s sake, the proud pine and cypress lowered his head to this old chronic illness, and Lin Yiran dialed the number. “Hello, Mr. Wang, I’m Lanhai KA Lin Yiran. Mm, yes, introduced by Director Li, Mr. Zhang Guangming said you would look for me, but I felt it would be better if I looked for you instead.”

“I’m sorry for the past mistake…”

Thirteen years of sales experience had nearly worn away Lin Yiran’s edges. He wore a refined skin all day long, smooth and greasy toward clients. The more social experience one had, the more shackles one had, and the more one lacked the courage to stake everything. So the Lin Yiran who had clashed with Xu Dongxu could only have existed 10 years ago. Gulin was his old chronic illness, a failure the perennial winner did not wish to mention, while Chen Xi forcibly tore open his scar, new flesh grew over the wound, the stubborn ailment healed again, the past was no longer a failure, and the story from 10 years ago could be rewritten into a new ending.

Sales had talented people coming one after another, each dominating for decades.

Chen Xi was a barefoot soldier without fear, Lin Yiran put armor on him and became the sharp blade in his hand, and Lanhai was the tens of thousands of troops behind them.

To turn the tables against the wind, courage was needed. To sign under favorable conditions, strength was needed.

Right now, Lanhai was playing from a favorable position.

From top to bottom, Lanhai was fighting for Chen Xi’s final chance at negotiation. Success or failure would be decided in this one push.