Hou Fei looked utterly miserable, like someone had just force-fed him shit!
He was late for work again this morning. Forget the traffic; after rushing like mad to finally get to the office, he found there were no parking spots. He circled the underground garage for what felt like an eternity, and by the time he parked and came upstairs, he was officially late!
Ever since he’d proposed to the HR department that they strictly enforce the attendance policy, he was the only person in the whole company who’d been late—and the only two incidents on record were both his.
Chen Xiao was late too, but he was an exception to the rule. They didn’t even track his attendance!
Hou Fei was incredibly resentful about this. He had originally proposed the standardized attendance policy specifically to go after Chen Xiao.
But unexpectedly, Feng Feifei had given Chen Xiao a get-out-of-jail-free card. Hou Fei had spent all day trying to shoot someone else’s bird, only to end up shooting his own. What a kick in the balls!
A few more incidents like this, and he, Hou Fei, would become the company joke. It was a huge blow to his authority!
He used to feel like he was second to one and above all others in the company, but then he ran into Chen Xiao, who couldn’t care less about him. This was a direct blow to his authority and the main reason he hated the man.
Now, these two company-wide email notifications left him with absolutely no face to save.
As he walked into the office, he felt everyone’s mocking gazes on him, forcing him to keep his head down as he walked.
’This can’t go on. My position in the company is becoming precarious,’ he thought. ’In the past, I would’ve just quit. With my skills, I can find a job with a handsome salary anywhere!’
But Dr. Feng’s Robot was developing at a breakneck pace; describing it as changing daily was no exaggeration. Leaving now would be like quitting the Communist Party in 1949—bailing right before the ultimate victory.
He couldn’t accept it. He had to stick it out, and at the same time, he needed to use the company’s platform and resources to make some preparations for the future.
Yuan Kai sat at his desk writing his weekly report and the plan for the following week. As he typed, he was inwardly cursing Hou Fei. ’That psycho! I’m in sales, and I have to sit in the office every day writing this useless crap. The worst part is, every time I finish, Hou Fei insists on discussing it with me for over an hour.’
’He calls it a "discussion," but it’s really just a critique session. "The phrasing here is problematic," or "Your action plan over there is too vague and not quantifiable." It’s endlessly annoying!’
’If writing this stuff actually generated sales, then how did Chen Xiao end up as the top salesman?’
That guy Chen Xiao didn’t even give Hou Fei the time of day anymore, which meant that in the entire department, Yuan Kai was the only one left writing these reports. As Hou Fei’s right-hand man, he didn’t dare refuse.
Even Ma Jing had stopped writing them. She claimed that as an assistant, her job was to help manage the department’s daily affairs, which made her duties "flexible and dynamic!"
"Yuan, let’s grab a couple of drinks tonight."
Yuan Kai received a message. He glanced at it—it was from Hou Fei.
’The sun must be rising in the west,’ Yuan Kai thought. Hou Fei was actually taking the initiative to invite him out.
Yuan Kai was more than willing to strengthen his ties with Hou Fei. He knew Feng Feifei wasn’t particularly fond of him, so clinging to Hou Fei was his only option.
After a quick glance at Chen Xiao, who was in the middle of a game of LoL, Yuan Kai replied, "Okay!"
He cursed inwardly, ’Son of a bitch. Whoever gets close to you gets screwed over.’
’I kiss your ass every single day, and you still make me write daily, weekly, monthly, and semi-annual reports!’
’Is there no good karma for being a sycophant?’
Ever since Chen Xiao proposed the five-year plan, Feng Feifei had spent the last two days drafting a concrete proposal.
She had originally planned on just moving to a bigger office, but now she was considering taking a much bigger leap.
She contacted the leadership of the High-Tech District’s administrative committee to discuss setting up operations there.
She was preparing to establish their own corporate campus. Her original plan was to acquire 40 mu of land.
But Chen Xiao told her she wasn’t thinking big enough and suggested she acquire 300 mu. They wouldn’t have to develop it all at once, he argued, but they could have the land reserved for future use.
Feng Feifei had a good reason for wanting 40 mu: there happened to be an existing campus in the High-Tech District that was currently for sale.
The campus already had a 27-story office building and six 4-story annexes. They could move in and start using it immediately after purchase!
She had spoken with one of the district leaders that morning, who said they could help coordinate the deal. The whole property could be acquired for 150 million.
It was an incredible value. Leaving aside the 40 mu of land, the 27-story office building was already fully renovated. Buying it and being able to use it immediately was an absolute steal!
Of course, this wasn’t a deal just any company could negotiate. The main reason Feng Feifei had this opportunity was that Dr. Feng’s Robot’s recent order volume was simply staggering.
Extrapolating from this order volume, their annual tax contributions alone would be over 200 million. How could the High-Tech District’s leadership not be tempted? They would be offered every possible policy incentive.
Besides, Feng Feifei was in the low-altitude economy, artificial intelligence, and smart manufacturing sectors—all hot fields at the moment. A company like hers was a prized catch for any city.
After finishing two games of LoL, Chen Xiao asked Ma Jing, "Is the contract with Zhi Fei Aerospace ready yet?"
His main reason for coming to the office today was to finalize the contract for Zhi Fei Aerospace. The order from the Jiangzhou Design Institute had been increased to 50 million, which, when added to the 20 million from Jiefei Technology and the 28 million from the several companies that had lined up to sign contracts yesterday, totaled 98 million.
Of that total, 40 million worth of orders would be outsourced to Zhi Fei Aerospace. Chen Xiao could already picture Cha Lan grinning from ear to ear.
He also took a moment to calculate his mission progress. It was already Friday afternoon, so the system would be settling his weekly results soon. It was too late to sign any more deals today anyway.
Besides, he hadn’t received any new order leads so far.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a system notification appeared.
"DING! Mission Complete: Excluding the 20 million order from the Jiangzhou Design Institute, this week’s total new orders amounted to 78 million. Mission Completion: 1560%."
"Reward: Random Gift Pack. Opening Random Gift Pack..."
[Random Reward 1: Constitution +5, Endurance +2, Health +5, Charm +5]
[Random Reward 2: Diligence Points +10]
[Random Reward 3: 0.5% Equity in the Chanel Group]
When Chen Xiao saw the rewards, even he—someone accustomed to hitting the jackpot—couldn’t help but widen his eyes in surprise. This haul was incredibly generous!
His base stats had each increased by 5 points, except for Endurance. It must have been because his Endurance was already over 100, so it only went up by 2. But even with just two points, he could already feel a difference.
He now had complete, effortless control over it.
He received another 10 Diligence Points, which brought his daily basic stipend up to Level 5. That meant a daily stipend of 60,000. And starting next month, since his base salary was increasing to 20,000, his daily stipend would jump to 100,000.
But the most absurd reward was the 0.5% equity in Chanel.
Chanel was the world’s most valuable single luxury brand, with a brand value of nearly 20 billion US dollars and annual sales of 18 billion US dollars.
Even though the company wasn’t publicly traded, the value of that 0.5% stake was an astronomical fortune!
More importantly, the company’s influence in the retail world was terrifyingly dominant—it was utterly without rival!