บท 22: Within Reach
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
'You won't be disappointed.'
He said…'you won't be disappointed.'
His words were like spinach to Popeye the sailor man. Although at first they were dejected and frail, Lin Qian's eyes brightened up instantly.
She found it hard to believe what she had just heard. The sales were still very low in the morning, but now it was enough for Li Zhicheng to say "not disappointing," so did it mean that the sales were… good?
Over two thousand? No, Li Zhicheng definitely would not be satisfied with that. Three thousand? As far as four thousand even?
As she followed behind Li Zhicheng, they stepped into the building, took the elevator, and moved towards the IT department. Lin Qian's heart pounded quickly, as if it were about to leap ahead of her to reach the computer.
As soon as they stepped into the office area, she saw all of her colleagues—who had been wearing long faces in the morning—looking radiant and joyous. Noticing their arrival, the coworkers turned to greet them. "Mr. Li!""Mr. Li!""Mr. Li, Miss Lin!" Their eyes sparkled with excitement.
Xue Mingtao, Liu Tong, Gu Yanzhi, and the other higher-ups were there too, sitting in the room chatting. When they glanced their way, all of them had smiles on their faces.
Lin Qian could not wait any longer. She bent over the computer screen of the co-worker closest to her. "How were today's sales? I wasn't here during the afternoon so I don't know."
This colleague had grown closer to Lin Qian over the past few days, and now her face was as brilliant as a sunflower. She turned the computer screen towards Lin Qian. "Miss Lin, see for yourself!"
Lin Qian saw the number on the screen. She couldn't believe her eyes.
"Seven thousand eight hundred fifty-three?!"
The crowd burst into laughter. Everyone started speaking at once.
"Yup! Around two or three hours after the CEO made the public announcement, only then did the sales increase rapidly—five hundred, a thousand, and then more. Good Lord! The orders that are coming in now can only be delivered after three months, but the number is still increasing!"
Another person added, "Miss Lin's online posts have contributed greatly too!"
"I can die without regret now!" A young lad exclaimed. "I really can die without regret now!"
Lin Qian felt her forehead twitch with nerves.
F*ck! This happiness came way too suddenly! Is God finally deciding to be fair for once?
Hahaha! Chen Zheng, you bastard! We sold 7,853 items in a day! Will you be pissed when you hear this figure? Should I just send you a text tomorrow? I'll write: 'Mr. Chen, thanks to you, we sold 800 items yesterday. Oh wait, sorry, I missed a zero at the end! Hahaha!'
As she was immersed in her fantasy while staring at the screen, the higher-ups came out from the room. Smiling, Gu Yanzhi said, "Mr. Li is back. Let's welcome Mr. Li to say a few words."
Everyone stared at Li Zhicheng; Lin Qian turned around to look at him too.
He stood a few steps away from her. His handsome face remained indifferent after hearing what Gu Yanzhi had said.
Lin Qian's lips could not resist lifting. He seemed to be more suitable and comfortable sternly cheering on soldiers. What would he say now?
Li Zhicheng stood under the light. He calmly glanced around the room at everyone before he spoke. "Today's victory would not be possible without all of you here."
He paused. Everyone's face gleamed with delight.
He then continued, "Now, we can basically conclude that we have seized the victory for this flanking counterstrike. Our opponent is unable to fight back anymore. In the near future, we can predict that their market of mid-range priced products will be encroached upon by us. And the sales of our other products will slowly recover as well." He paused again. Staring at everyone, he finished off with, "Finally, we've saved Aida."
A plain speech delivered in a calm tone. Nothing he expressed was exceptionally provoking, yet everyone was stunned—he had used the term "we've saved Aida." For some unknown reason, this term made everyone's chest tighten. Despite looking grave, another type of emotions was silently brewing.
Nobody spoke.
After a short silence, everyone seemed to finally come to their senses again. They began cheering, clapping, and dropping the documents in their hands to hug each other.
Lin Qian actually teared. While Li Zhicheng spoke, she gazed at him the whole time. It was a simple and manly speech, but why did it make her feel full of affection and pride for him while listening to?
Damn it! What kinds of feelings did she have for him now? Why did she feel gratified to see his growth? And why did she have mixed feelings of happiness and nervousness?
Noticing her gaze, Li Zhicheng turned around and looked at her. Lin Qian, returning to her normal battle mode, automatically wanted to say something to butter him up; suddenly she felt her arm being squeezed. A tall, young male engineer beside her pulled her close and hugged her tightly. "Miss Lin!" he laughed.
Before Lin Qian could respond, he had let go and went on to hug another senior engineer.
Lin Qian grinned; she gave out a few high-fives and hugs to the people around, celebrating their success. Hehehe! Lin Qian thought to herself. From now on, the IT department is considered one of my allies.
She turned around, still deep in thought, and saw the executives joining in with the engineers too. Li Zhicheng shook the hand of the engineer who had hugged her, murmuring something; the engineer beamed with pride. Li Zhicheng let go of him, shook a few more hands, then he turned and stood in front of Lin Qian.
Lin Qian was in a great mood; without thought, she extended her hand with a smile, openly buttering, "Long live the boss!"
Li Zhicheng looked extremely slender under the light; beneath his vibrant short hair, his gaze was notably gentle and profound. Feeling her arm being squeezed, Lin Qian was pulled into his embrace before she could react. His hand gave her a gentle pat on the back, just like everyone else, as a sign of encouragement.
Lin Qian's heart was thumping. She could clearly smell his faint scent. His hand, holding her wrist, was as strong as iron. His other hand on her back, his fingertips pressing down, tightly held her against him.
The bystanders were all busy talking and laughing, oblivious to their moment. They did not appear out of the ordinary.
"Lin Qian," he gently whispered in her ear. "I'm glad I didn't disappoint you."
...
Today was just the beginning. By midnight, the day's total sales had passed 8,500.
The second day, they reached 12,000.
A few days later, their sales gradually dropped down and stabilized; but they still maintained a high sales level unattainable by similar online flagship stores.
By the end of the year, the total annual sales of Aida ranked number one in China for mid-range priced leather bag. Their sales were more than the combined sales of those in second, third, fourth, and fifth place. Exactly as predicted by Li Zhicheng, even though the sales of other types of suitcases weren't as good as previous years, they gradually recovered too, following the lead of the main brand. At the end of the year, Aida's total annual turnover approached close to SMQ's, completely restoring the company.
But this all happened later that year. They were still celebrating after that first night.
By the time Lin Qian reached her home it was quite late. After the rollercoaster ride of emotions that day, she didn't have the energy to sort out the mass of chaotic thoughts in her head. She quickly took a shower and just as she was lying on her bed about to drift off to sleep, the long-awaited call from Lin Mochen came.
During this period of time, Lin Qian hadn't called him and vice versa. The siblings had achieved a silent agreement that, during this life-or-death period of Aida's, if she didn't mention anything he would not ask.
Now that everything was over, after the storm came the calm, and the situation was peaceful.
Lin Qian, lying on the bed, lazily asked, "Brother, what's up?"
Lin Mochen answered with a smile on his face. "Congratulations."
Lin Qian replied, "Thank you."
Lin Qian was close to her brother, so she couldn't resist sharing with him all the thrilling and interesting adventures she had experienced the past few days—she only left out the part about being slapped. Listening quietly, Lin Mochen chuckled when she mentioned how she had suggested to Li Zhicheng to lose the twenty million. "Suit the action to the word. Well-played."
Lin Qian was still smiling, and was about to continue talking when she paused.
Had her brother just said "suit the action to the word?"
"Suit the action to the word" was a proverb that originated from the story of Shang Yang, a politician during the Warring State Period who had earned the trust of citizens by fulfilling his promise. The gist of the story was to earn trust from the public by fulfilling promises made, regardless of how ridiculous they were.
This saying was not used that often anymore. But Lin Qian had come across it not too long ago, so when he brought it up now she immediately remembered it.
It had been her first day as Li Zhicheng's assistant. She was on the balcony. He was reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu. He had scribbled some words on a piece of paper. Hadn't some of them been, "suit the action to the word?"
As she was deep in thought, Lin Mochen said lightly, "Silly girl, can you see it now? You were talking about being his teacher, but he was capable of designing a perfectly-interlocking plan to fool a much stronger opponent. He is at my level. You should be more vigilant with your speech and actions from now on. Learn from him. Don't embarrass me."
Having said that, he hung up, leaving a befuddled Lin Qian.
What did brother say just now?
Lin Qian felt her forehead twitch with nerves; her brain wide awake, her thoughts rambling. The drowsiness left her. Brother's words and that familiar saying "suit the action to the word" filled her brain with a marvelous yet unbelievable thought.
Actually, throughout her journey with Li Zhicheng, this possibility had been long embedded in her mind. However, every time her beliefs inclined towards it, she vetoed it. How is it possible?
Her heart beat vigorously against her chest. She jumped down from the bed, grabbed her backpack, and pulled out her notebook. She remembered seeing him write down a few sayings the other day. Out of her mentality of needing to understand her boss, she had recorded them in the notebook.
As she flipped through her notebook from cover to cover, her brain was struck by a sudden realization, connecting everything.
If it were as Brother said, and everything had been planned by Li Zhicheng, then everything that had happened at Aida since she'd started needed to be reconsidered.
So, his initial plan of fighting for orders from Ming Sheng Group had been a decoy to lure SMQ in. His purpose? Yes—he'd proposed harsh terms for the tender: supplying at a price only 30-percent of what they used to selling in the market, and delivering everything within three months. That had been his objective! Restricting the price and the stock of SMQ at the market of high-quality suitcase-style bags, so that they could not snipe Aida.
Had his target always been SMQ's large mid-range leather suitcase market? Or was he just feinting an attack before truly attacking the other side instead?
And the spy? Had he already been aware of the spy beforehand and had just used him to his advantage? Even getting him sent to jail in the end?
Yes, the 20 million. Why had he fixed the number of lucky draw winners at 2,000 people? She didn't think clearly about it before, but now as she recalled, the 20 million from selling the land was just enough to cover everyone's prize money! Was it possible he had prior knowledge that something was going to go wrong?
As her thoughts rambled on, she finally found the notes. She pulled herself together, her heart pounding, and she stared at the five sayings from The Art of War. Her pulse raced even faster than before.
Because the five sayings were:
"Pay someone back in their own coin."
"Use a cat's paw to get rid of someone."
"Feint somewhere and attack in another place."
"Suit the action to the word. "
"Wait at ease until your enemy is exhausted."
Lin Qian held on to the notebook, staring blankly as she sat on the side of her bed.
She felt something she couldn't quite describe. It was sudden, shocking, befuddling… and unfamiliar.
That was it: unfamiliar.
She had never really seen through him. Not once.
Li Zhicheng's face popped up again in her mind. But this time, it wasn't the glimpse of his silence on the train, it wasn't the gentleness when he had given her a piggyback ride through the melted snow. It was his gaze, dark as a winter's night, when he had been sitting beside her earlier tonight. He had been staring at her, his tone firm.
"What I want, I already see, and it's just within reach."
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