27. There are three baskets in the mind

Ling Ling impressed at the pitch for Timeless Men. In addition to Lu Chong's design contributions, Mei Xiao's leadership was also instrumental. This was Ling Ling's first formal client meeting, and Mei Xiao's interaction with the Timeless brand management team was truly insightful. Mei Xiao possessed both a keen eye for detail and the formidable ability to navigate the complexities of the situation. Not only did she secure Ling Ling's design on the spot, but she also negotiated a price for continued collaboration. Under the leadership of Lu Chong and Mei Xiao, Ling Ling completed the project smoothly and exceptionally well, feeling she had finally found her stride. Innovation Group A operates on a flat management model. While each member has a specific role, they are also involved and monitored throughout the entire process, allowing her to learn a tremendous amount. She's increasingly drawn to the creative advertising industry. After more than twenty years, she feels incredibly fortunate to have finally found a career she excels at and loves. Recently, she's been able to devote more time to building the TuoWu system platform. Every time Lingling and colleagues from other departments discussed system design ideas with Gu Chaoqun and his product managers, the discussion veered further and further from the original goal of building an intelligent integrated system, becoming a fierce battle over each department's current workload and future management responsibilities. Lingling was the only "newbie" on the project team who remained genuinely committed to their work, so the veterans, who had been slumped over the project for a year, deftly passed on the challenging tasks to her, even using their years of experience to offer subtle advice during the handover process. After two or three months of interaction, Lingling had a firm grasp of Gu Chaoqun's team's approach to building the system platform, and so could no longer tolerate his boasting. Lingling sensed Gu Chaoqun's shortsightedness and muddled thinking, which confirmed Gu Chuqi's warning to her that night of overtime. This in turn led her to develop a certain fondness and trust for him. Ling Ling had originally intended to work with the project team to launch this system platform in one fell swoop, extricate herself as quickly as possible, and return to her creative advertising career. Unexpectedly, Gu Chaoqun announced at today's project meeting that they wanted to purchase another AI-powered copywriting product to be integrated into the existing system platform. He claimed that this product had passed the Turing test, was self-learning, and was an AI-based online service capable of writing tens of thousands of advertising slogans in a second. Furthermore, he could pre-set various keywords for various writing styles, making the resulting copy difficult to distinguish between humans and machines. Ling Ling was filled with righteous indignation, mentally rolling her eyes at him: "Brother, could you please first launch this system that's been delayed for a whole year!" It's clearly the latest on the market...

At the Time Freeze Men's competition, Ling Ling's performance was very eye-catching. In addition to Lu Chong's design contribution, Mei Xiao's control of the situation also played a role.

This was Lingling's first formal client meeting. Mei Xiao's interaction with the Ningshi brand management team was truly insightful. Mei Xiao possessed both a keen eye for detail and the formidable ability to maneuver. Not only did he convince the client to approve Lingling's draft on the spot, but he also negotiated a price for continued collaboration.

With the guidance of Lu Chong and Mei Xiao, Ling Ling completed this case smoothly and excellently, and she also felt that she had finally found her way.

Innovation Group A has a flat management model. While each person has a specific role, they're also involved in the entire process, allowing for a wealth of learning. She's increasingly drawn to the creative advertising industry. After more than twenty years, she's finally found a career she excels at and loves, and she feels incredibly lucky.

Recently, she's had more time to devote to building the TuoWu system platform. Every time Lingling and colleagues from other departments discuss system design ideas with Gu Chaoqun and his product managers, the discussion becomes increasingly erratic, completely deviating from the original goal of building an intelligent integrated system and instead becoming a fierce battle over each department's current workload and future management responsibilities.

Lingling is the only "rookie" in the entire project team who still maintains a sincere heart for work, so those old hands who have been paralyzed on this project for a whole year have cleverly handed the difficult tasks to her. During the handover process, they did not forget to use their years of work experience to send her some mysterious words of advice.

After two or three months of interaction, Ling Ling had a firm grasp of Gu Chaoqun's team's approach to building the system platform, so she couldn't stand his boasting. She could fully sense Gu Chaoqun's shortsightedness and muddled thinking, which confirmed Gu Chuqi's warning to her that night of overtime. As a result, she developed a favorable impression and trust in him.

Ling Ling had originally planned to work with the project team to launch the system platform, extricate herself as quickly as possible, and return to her creative work. However, Gu Chaoqun unexpectedly announced at the project meeting that they wanted to purchase an AI-powered copywriting product to integrate with the existing system platform. He claimed that this product had passed the Turing test and was capable of self-learning. It was an AI-powered online service capable of generating tens of thousands of advertising slogans in a second, and could be pre-programmed with various style keywords, making the resulting copy difficult to distinguish between humans and machines.

Ling Ling was indignant at this, mentally rolling her eyes at him. "Brother, could you please just get this system up and running, which has been delayed for a whole year?" It's clearly a proven product on the market. We should just copy it over and put it into production as soon as possible, assist with performance management and market research, and create value for the company as quickly as possible. But now, the system exists only in a distorted state, scattered across countless conflicting PowerPoint presentations. You're being paid to fix someone's problems. The company hired you at a high salary, and you're wasting their money like that. Don't you feel guilty about that?

Ling Ling really didn't want to manage her expression anymore, and she kept a sour face throughout the meeting. When it was her turn to express her opinion, she bluntly said, "We're currently building the system platform. We've finalized the requirements with the product manager, and the software engineers have reviewed it. Our top priority right now is to get it up and running as soon as possible. I think we can wait until our existing system is running stably and we have more time to evaluate whether to add an external plug-in or embed it. We should first build the underlying platform and have more sample data before we start training a model suitable for Tuowu."

Gu Chaoqun bluntly retorted, "Wait? You can wait, but can the company? Technology is changing so rapidly these days, and Tuowu can't afford to fall behind!"

Ling Ling was irritated by this guy's shameless behavior and sarcastically said, "No matter how much the company couldn't afford to wait, it's already waited two years, hasn't it? The system platform project took two years, and then two years, and can it still be patched up for another three years? The accounts from the previous phase haven't been settled yet, and they're already taking on a new system. This supplier came up with a gimmick called smart copywriting, costing millions in development costs, and millions in annual maintenance and fees. I don't think this is the right way to waste the company's money. They're not burning through the salaries of the copywriting employees, but the company's foundation!"

Gu Chaoqun slammed the table in frustration and yelled, "The AI ​​tools I'm introducing are to generate revenue for the company. If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense!"

Ling Ling asked him back with a piercing gaze, "Of course I acknowledge the advantages of AI tools in terms of cost, efficiency, data, and stable output, but there are so many free open source models on the market. Why do we have to use this paid one? Even if we distill the free model and deploy it on our intranet system to assist with copywriting work, it would be fine."

Also, the product manual for the AI ​​copywriting promoted by this supplier contains a lot of data that I find questionable. How can their crude document generation function pass the Turing test?

I admit that intelligent algorithms can indeed filter scripts based on current buzzwords. You can choose rhyme, antithesis, parallelism, wit, whatever you want. But that's like clickbait, a crude attempt to attract attention by shocking others, which will only disgust the audience.

Our daily copywriting requires subtle insights into human nature, an early awareness of social changes, a deep understanding of different cultures, deep emotional expression, and unique creativity. I don't believe that spending money on purchasing this system will quickly bring real value to the company."

Ling Ling's impassioned speech completely stunned Gu Chaoqun, especially when she pointed out the tricks of purchasing a new system again, which made him even more embarrassed.

His slow brain hadn't reacted yet, but his narrow-minded mind was already furious. He said with a forced smile, "Of course, I know that my drastic use of technology to empower low-end productivity has indeed affected the incumbents, so it's normal to have voices of opposition."

"No, no, no, you misunderstood. You didn't touch my cake at all, because I am not worthy of making millions a year by writing a few puns and parallel sentences." Ling Ling's witty response caused the colleagues present to burst into laughter, making Gu Chaoqun lose face.

After the meeting, Ling Ling had just settled into her workstation when Bai Yihan rushed over, his face brimming with excitement, a look that vividly resembled someone with an insatiable appetite for gossip. "Ling Ling, you're so amazing! You actually confronted Gu Chaoqun in the meeting!"

Ling Ling was also very surprised. She had just left the meeting room, but how come the scene in the meeting had already been transmitted to her? It was even faster than the spread of Weibo. If this efficiency was used to do something serious, it could really break the curse of communication studies.

Ling Ling knew that being too aggressive would lead to setbacks in the workplace, but she couldn't stand Gu Chaoqun's unworthy and self-serving behavior. She wholeheartedly wanted the best for the company, so she didn't shy away from Bai Yihan and simply vented her anger, "In the past two months with Gu Chaoqun, every day it's really pushed my boundaries on how stupid an adult can be. At first, I thought he was only stupid enough to go beyond the Second Ring Road. Then, I thought he was stupid enough to go beyond the core functional area of ​​the capital. Then, I thought he'd be stupid enough to go beyond the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region! And now, he's even stupid enough to go beyond national borders. Today, in my mind, he's truly stupid enough to go beyond the Earth, and all I can do is help him 'soar into the vast universe'!"

"Hahahaha, you're amazing!" Bai Yihan was amused by her irreverent sense of humor. "But Gu Chaoqun is a director after all. How can you, a rookie at the bottom of the food chain, fight him?"

"I didn't fight him!" Ling Ling spread her hands innocently and said, "What's the point of fighting? It's about being evenly matched and neither side giving in. With his IQ, he'd get lost in his own circuits. I didn't consider him a match. Besides, my rebuttals were straightforward and clear, and I didn't try to trip him up by being coy. I work to earn money and then go home. I don't bother fighting him."

"But look at you, you have produced several hit copywritings right after entering the industry. You have a promising future. Why bother to confront Mr. Gu and end up destroying both of you?" Bai Yihan still advised her like a good sister.

"You insult me ​​- I am jade, is he worthy of being a stone?" Ling Ling still looked young and frivolous.

Ling Ling has three baskets in her mind for the people she meets in life: the first is the basket of relatives and friends, in which all those she considers close to her are placed, and she is willing to sacrifice everything for them until death; the second is the basket of strangers, in which all those she has no friendship with are placed, and she will do her best to save face and give them enough social etiquette, but she will not have any personal relationship with them at all, and will close the door and not have any private contact with them; the third is the basket of bitches, after seeing through the other person's character, she will silently break off all ties with them in her heart, and will not get involved, owe them anything, or flatter them.

People are always forced to compromise in life. We are all part of society, and maintaining professional manners is enough. Ling Ling felt that there was nothing wrong with having a strong and noble character in her heart. This was what it meant to be a person with a sound personality.

But this time, she blurted out what was in her heart.

Author's Note

Liu Qiu

author

03-30

Don’t worry, our Abei will appear again in the next chapter!