Chapter 316 - 218: The Leader is Leaving

’Holy shit, they actually dared to complain about me?’ Zhao Rui still wasn’t taking it seriously, assuming the complaint had just gone to President Zhang.

"Boss, they’re making a mountain out of a molehill. Who do they think they are? They’re spoiled rotten."

President Zhang laughed in exasperation. ’Who the fuck is the spoiled one here?’ Technically, they were business partners. They were supposed to cooperate to provide consumers with a better shopping experience. They had scheduled a store visit with you—at a time *you* set, no less—and when they showed up, you ghosted them. Who gave you the balls to do that?

He was only calling Zhao Rui to do him a favor, so that when the regional office came after him, Zhao Rui—or more importantly, that *other* President Zhao—couldn’t blame him for not giving a heads-up.

He couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words on him. "Zhao Rui, you’re off the Yanghe Commerce store visit. I’ve assigned the operations department to handle it. Also, Yanghe Commerce’s complaint went straight to the regional office. HR will probably want to talk to you on Monday. You’d better watch yourself."

What? A complaint to the regional office? Zhao Rui’s expression changed—not out of fear, but fury. ’That Yang Hui has some serious nerve, daring to report me to the regional office. He probably has no idea that the region is about to belong to the Zhaos.’

As for HR wanting to talk to him, it never even crossed his mind that they might fire him. He just assumed it would be a warning or some other disciplinary action, maybe a fine of a few hundred yuan. That would be a mere slap on the wrist for him, but his hatred for Yang Hui deepened. ’I come after you, and you dare to fight back?’

After hanging up, he said sinisterly, "Yanghe Commerce dares to complain about me? They’re asking for it."

Han Chao lowered his head to take a sip of water, laughing maniacally on the inside. ’Go at it! Go at it!’

Yang Hui got off Huang Lingyu, who lay on her stomach, as still as a white jade statue.

"Lingyu, I had the hotel send up some food. Get up and let’s eat."

’Another one completely drained,’ he thought. But her chassis was sturdier than Zhu Jing’s; she was more durable. For the final round, Huang Lingyu, afraid he’d be left unsatisfied, had thrown herself into it with abandon. He, in turn, had been as gentle as possible.

"Lingyu, give me your bank account details later."

Huang Lingyu put down her chopsticks. After a long pause, she said, "I’m not doing this for your money." As soon as the words were out, she seemed to realize that they had met at a KTV, where her job was precisely to make money off him. Who would believe her now? Her expression clouded over.

Yang Hui feigned annoyance. "When I tell you to give it to me, you give it to me. Who said you were doing this for my money?"

For some reason, being chided by him actually made her feel less upset. If he had tried to comfort her gently, she might have really burst into tears.

Yang Hui took out his phone, fiddled with it for a moment, then put it down and went back to eating.

Just then, Huang Lingyu’s phone buzzed with a new message. She opened it and gasped.

[Your China Bank card ending in 9826 has received a deposit of 100,000 yuan. Sender’s account: Yang Hui]

"Why did you send me so much money?" He usually transferred one or two thousand, which was one thing, but he’d just sent 100,000. This was the first time she had ever received such a large amount from him.

"Why all the questions? I gave it to you, so it’s yours. Go buy yourself something nice to eat. Oh, and a high school uniform."

Huang Lingyu opened her mouth to speak, but the perfect opportunity for a sentimental moment was utterly ruined by his flippancy.

But it was true; he was always this domineering when he bought her things. She had to accept; refusing was practically a crime. Huang Lingyu was used to it.

’Oh well, I’ll just buy a few more high school uniforms later,’ she thought. She even started to wonder if, when she had her own place someday, she could set up a room like a classroom. She could get a blackboard and some old-fashioned desks, just like back then. ’Would he get an even bigger kick out of that?’

"Huang Lingyu, why aren’t you eating? What are you spacing out about?"

His voice snapped her out of it. Thinking about the wild things that had just been running through her mind, she couldn’t help but lower her head in embarrassment and focus on her food.

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「Monday. Futong Trading Co., Ltd.」

In Li Yang’s office, Dan Biao sat across from him, reporting that the newcomer taking over Yang Hui’s duties had arrived and would officially begin training today.

"Good. Xiaodan, don’t act like you can’t live without Yang Hui. His past performance was entirely dependent on resources from the mall. Now that Old Tian has been dismissed, he won’t have access to those resources anymore. So even if he weren’t leaving, Airex’s performance next month wouldn’t be nearly as good as this month’s."

Airex’s year-on-year growth this month was over 30%, and its month-on-month growth was a staggering 60%. Forget about the current market conditions; you wouldn’t see numbers like that even in the good old days when the market was booming.

At the beginning of the month, Li Yang had called it a testament to Yang Hui’s ability. But now that the decision was made to let him go, he was reframing it as the result of external forces and unorthodox methods.

Dan Biao, of course, thought Li Yang was full of shit. ’In sales, results are all that matter. As long as the outcome is good, who cares what methods you use? As long as it’s not illegal or against the rules, it’s a sign of competence. You call it unorthodox, but if he secured those resources through ’external forces,’ why didn’t you refuse them? Why were you hoping he could negotiate for even more?’

"Find some time to talk with him in the next few days. The handover should be done by the end of the month, and then he’s out."

’I’ve already talked to him,’ Dan Biao thought. Of course, he wouldn’t tell Li Yang that. He was taking every opportunity to curry favor with Yang Hui, seeing it as a potential escape route for himself.

"Also, Xiaodan, your damn operations department is going to be the death of this company. Your incompetence is seriously hindering our channel expansion.

Take the Yida Department Store project on Qingzhou Pedestrian Street. I have a great relationship with their chairman, Wang Qing. He was originally planning to give us two first-floor spots—one for NLB and one for Erke. But our NLB store in their other location can’t even break 150,000 a month! Meanwhile, Yanghe Commerce is sending out daily sales reports. Their store on the first floor of Xinyue Square did two million in sales in less than a month.