Chapter 315 - 217: Making Things Difficult (3)

"Xiaozhang, you have a leasing manager at your store named Zhao Rui. Is there something wrong with his brain? Can he do the job or not? If not, he can get the hell out! Don’t let him tarnish the name of Xinyue Group. How did you even hire someone like that?"

President Zhang had no idea what Zhao Rui had done to warrant a call from the regional VP, so he could only listen.

"President Yang of Yanghe Commerce called to file a complaint with me. Yanghe Commerce is one of our key partners. The two brands, NLB and Zen, are also ones I’ve repeatedly stressed at regional meetings. They’re this year’s priority brands for us to bring in. The partnership agreement has already been signed, and they’re proactively going to the store to take measurements. What the hell are you people doing?"

President Zhang knew about the site measurements. In fact, he was the one who had assigned Zhao Rui to coordinate it. ’Did something go wrong with the measurements?’

"That Zhao Rui of yours scheduled it for today. The client came in on their weekend, working overtime, to take the measurements, but Zhao Rui claimed he was on leave and not at the office. When told to arrange for someone else to take over, he said he couldn’t. Since when did Xinyue Group become so bureaucratic? Is a leasing manager at a single store busier than our regional general manager? President Tian will rush to the office on a weekend for an emergency. Who the hell does Zhao Rui think he is?"

The VP of Business was so furious he’d started cursing. Just last night, he had almost caused a misunderstanding because he hadn’t known Huang Lingyu was one of Yang Hui’s people. He’d been wracking his brain on how to mend that relationship, and then Yang Hui had called this morning to complain about Zhao Rui. He had been looking for an opportunity, and this was a gift from heaven. He immediately vowed to deal with Zhao Rui severely. The man’s behavior was truly outrageous—not a shred of cooperative spirit or customer service awareness.

’Zhao Rui took leave?’ President Zhang racked his brain but couldn’t recall ever approving any leave for him. While still on the phone, he pulled up the duty roster. Zhao Rui’s name was right there on the list for today.

’Fuck, that bastard! How did he get so bold? Does he really think he’s untouchable just because his aunt is President Zhao? If the regional office wants to take you down, who is your aunt going to stop?’

"Sir, I’ll find him right away and get him to the site immediately. I checked today’s duty roster, and he is scheduled to be on duty."

"What?" The VP of Business was now truly enraged.

"A bad apple like that has no place in my business division. He can get the hell out."

Leasing, Operations, and Planning all fell under the purview of the VP of Business and were the core departments of the store. For Zhao Rui, being kicked out of the business division was as good as being kicked out of Xinyue Square entirely.

"Don’t bother with Zhao Rui. Assign someone else to coordinate with them. I don’t trust him to interface with clients. I’ll have HR speak with him and show him the door."

President Zhang offered a well-intentioned reminder, "Sir, Zhao Rui is President Zhao’s nephew."

The VP of Business sneered. "So what? No one is above the law."

President Zhao was his peer, and in terms of real power, she might not even match up to him. Besides, compared to President Zhang Chun and President Tian, what was she? If he didn’t even know how to pick sides, he would have never made it to his current position.

What was Yang Hui’s relationship with President Zhang Chun? At dinners, Yang Hui would take the seat of honor, with President Zhang Chun sitting in attendance, while President Tian could only take a lower seat. And Zhao Rui had the gall to make trouble for a man like that? Wasn’t this a gift delivered right to his doorstep? He’d been wondering how to curry favor with Yang Hui, and now he was dead set on getting rid of Zhao Rui. Nothing was going to stop him.

After hanging up, President Zhang took a moment to think. First, he reassigned the operations manager to coordinate the site measurements with Yanghe Commerce’s engineering team. Then, he made a call to Zhao Rui. At that very moment, Zhao Rui was busy bragging to Han Chao—

"Old Han, let me tell you, here in the Qingjiang Region, it’s not just the store’s GM or VP. Even the regional business directors have to show me some respect."

Han Chao didn’t believe a word of it. ’Even if your aunt becomes the regional general manager, the regional VPs won’t necessarily give you the time of day. Your aunt is your aunt, and you are you. Besides, we’re all just employees here; this isn’t your aunt’s company.’ Zhao Rui was getting way ahead of himself. He was probably on the verge of making it big and had been daydreaming a lot lately.

"Old Han, when the time comes, I won’t leave a single one of Yanghe Commerce’s stores standing. They’ll all be kicked out. You go back and tell Old Li to get ready to accept this massive windfall."

’Son of a bitch. He used to call me President Han, then I got demoted to Old Han. Now he’s even calling President Li ’Old Li.’ Once his aunt takes her post, am I going to end up as Xiaohan?’

"Old Han, I’m telling you, that Old Li of yours is a little stingy. You get me? A little too stingy."

Seeing him make a gesture with his hand, Han Chao instantly understood. This guy must have taken his fair share of kickbacks from tenants back when he was in leasing. It wasn’t just about nights out at the KTV; he must have pocketed plenty of cash-stuffed red envelopes, too. Today’s comment was a hint for him—and probably a message he was meant to relay to Li Yang. When the time came to hand Yanghe Commerce’s stores over to Futong Commerce, they’d likely have to fork over a hefty price.

But Han Chao knew that if Zhao Rui could actually pull it off, Li Yang would be more than willing. Who wouldn’t be drooling over the sales performance of those Yanghe Commerce stores? They were a fat piece of meat ripe for the taking.

His phone rang. Seeing it was a call from President Zhang, he muttered, "Old Zhang is so annoying. What’s he calling for now?"

It seemed he no longer had any respect for his direct superior. He answered the call and said flatly, "Boss."

"Zhao Rui, what is going on with you? The engineering team from Yanghe Commerce is at the site. Why didn’t you take them to do the final measurements? They’ve filed a complaint now, do you realize that?"