Chapter 237 - 191: Let Him Go
He called Zhang Li again, telling him to go to Wanlong Square and push the NLB Store’s performance. They had only made one sale so far, which was way too slow. He’d heard that all the mall subsidy events for the NLB Store on the first floor of Xinyue Square had stopped today, so their sales should be stabilizing. He wondered if they would break ten thousand. ’I hope it’s not too high, or I’ll get chewed out again tomorrow.’
For the past few days, he could still use the mall’s heavy promotions and strong subsidies as an excuse. But starting today, everyone was on a level playing field. It was time to see who truly had what it takes.
Yang Hui led the two of them down the escalator. He subconsciously glanced over at the Lantu Dream Chaser exhibition booth, only to find that the display had already been taken down. He wasn’t too surprised. These kinds of temporary booths were usually booked in 15-day slots, unlike the long-term leases for actual stores.
After a moment’s thought, he sent Huang Lingyu a message, asking her which mall sales exhibition she was working at these days.
Huang Lingyu was currently wiping down a car with Xiaoli. It was a Monday, so the dealership was slow. Ever since the last work dinner, the attitudes of the people around her had changed noticeably. That Director Wang had stopped harassing her, and the whole company knew she had a handsome, wealthy boyfriend.
"Lingyu, are you going to see your boyfriend after work?"
Her movements faltered. ’He hasn’t contacted me in days.’ She knew she didn’t get the girlfriend treatment from Yang Hui. She was just supposed to show up whenever he needed her and stay away when he was busy. She was usually pragmatic enough not to dwell on it, but with Xiaoli bringing it up, her heart suddenly ached with bitterness.
Just then, her phone buzzed with a new message. Before she could even read it, the mere sight of Yang Hui’s name on the screen was enough to instantly lift her somber mood. Xiaoli watched her, looking a little dazed. ’How did Lingyu suddenly get even prettier?’
𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
She hurriedly replied, telling him that she’d been working at the dealership recently, but she could head over anytime if he needed her.
Yang Hui just smiled and didn’t write back. He took Zhu Jing and Xia Jie to tour the NLB Store for a bit, then drove her back to the company.
After he’d taken advantage of her in the NLB VIP lounge last time, Zhu Jing had grown accustomed to Yang Hui’s occasional wandering hands.
In a corner of the underground parking garage, Yang Hui started the car with practiced ease, his other hand landing on Zhu Jing’s smooth thigh for a couple of squeezes—all in one fluid motion. Zhu Jing, however, acted as if nothing was happening. She simply turned to look out the window, as though the hand on her leg were merely touching the car seat.
Dan Biao was once again summoned into Li Yang’s office.
"I told you to go talk to Yang Hui. Did you?"
"Boss, he wasn’t in the office this afternoon—"
Li Yang slammed his hand on the desk and shot to his feet. "He wasn’t here, so you couldn’t have called him back? Or gone to find him?"
Dan Biao quickly explained, "Boss, I did talk to him. We’ve already spoken."
’Damn it. You can’t speak in long sentences with this guy; he loves to take things out of context. This fucking idiot... It’s just like Yang Hui said—for a boss, he has absolutely zero composure.’
Only then did Li Yang let it go, leaning back in his executive chair. "You don’t discuss important matters in person, you think you can handle it over the phone?" he said coldly. "Have all the years I’ve spent teaching you been a complete waste?"
"So, tell me. What’s his proposal? When can we expect a result?"
’Holy shit. You either think way too highly of me, or you think Yang Hui is some kind of fucking saint. With a demand like that, you’re lucky he didn’t just curse you out. And you expect him to give you a timeline?’
"Boss, about the rent reduction... he said it’s not up for discussion—"
"Bullshit! What do you mean it’s ’not up for discussion’? I pay his salary for him to do his job! He says it’s impossible before he’s even tried? No, he has to negotiate. And he has to do it by meeting with President Tian himself."
’For fuck’s sake. If you’re so tough, why don’t you demand it from him directly? See if he even gives a shit. He gets paid to do his job, not because he sold his soul to you. Fucking feudal-landlord mentality.’
All he could do was promise he would go find Yang Hui again. He hesitated to even bring up the second issue, figuring he would just get chewed out again if he did.
"And what about the online livestream? What’s the story there?"
There was no getting out of it—Li Yang remembered. Dan Biao snuck a glance at his boss’s face. It was already dark, but anger had twisted it into a livid, ashen mask.
"President Li, Xinyue Group has allocated all of its regional online livestreaming resources for this month to the NLB Store. No other brands are getting a slot. I just opened the Xinyue Go app, and I saw they’re already running promotions to build their customer base."
He finished and looked up at Li Yang, only to see veins bulging from the man’s temples all the way to his neck. Dan Biao jumped in fright. ’His face looks like lizard skin!’
Li Yang’s knuckles slammed down hard on the solid wood desk. He shot up from his executive chair, the pneumatic rod hissing in protest—
His jaw muscles quivered, his lower eyelids twitched with a neurotic flush, and his pupils shrank to pinpoints.
"Hire someone! Hire someone now! The second we have a replacement, tell him to get the fuck out! Get him out of this company."
’Get him out? Get who out?’ Dan Biao didn’t understand at first. When it dawned on him that Li Yang meant Yang Hui, his eyes went wide. He stared at his boss, his mind reeling like it was hit by a tidal wave.
’Has this fucking idiot lost his mind? Yang Hui turned the Airex team around, taking them from a loss to a profit. He brought the company millions in additional revenue, and you want to kick him out?’
He couldn’t figure out what screw had come loose in Li Yang’s head. Of course, Dan Biao had no way of knowing Li Yang’s reasoning: he was convinced that Yang Hui had only fought for Futong Commerce’s interests because the Yanghe Commerce store hadn’t opened yet. Now that it had, he believed Yang Hui would no longer direct any resources toward Futong Commerce.