41 Chapter Forty (Two Updates Combined)

You look so beautiful today, just like a movie star.

Li Yingqiao's departure from Convey wasn't exactly graceful; she left after signing a performance-based agreement with Zhang Zongxie. She promised to develop Rainbow Youli, a social media influencer project with commercial value comparable to Convey's stake, within a year, or she would disappear from the industry altogether.

Although Rainbow Youli was a joint venture development by Convey, the actual operation rights were in their own hands. Li Yingqiao took over the project halfway through, and the project had encountered many setbacks. She had to overcome many supervisors before she joined the company. When she joined, the project was already almost completed, and it was still a year before it was officially opened for business.

In China, very few OTA*1 platforms actually have the right to operate scenic spots. Convey is the only one. This is a poverty alleviation project outside the province that Zhang Zongxie finally won after battling with all the senior executives on the 38th floor.

During this period, Li Yingqiao was in charge of all the project planning. She had worked at Convey for many years, and this was the only cultural tourism-related project she had ever worked on, which can be said to have consumed almost all of her energy.

The year the project was completed, she was mostly stationed in Y province, living and eating at the scenic area. Initially, she lived in a temporary prefabricated house, but she only got her own apartment after the scenic area officially opened.

Back then, she never imagined that the cot Fang Yue was sleeping on when she found her in the internet cafe—the one she felt sorry for and worried about—would later become her own normal life.

Li Shuli never taught her to cook, and she didn't know how. To save time, she either ate boxed lunches or instant noodles. Apart from a suit that she occasionally needed to wear properly for headquarters inspections, her wardrobe only contained a few similar but different colored windbreakers.

In the early days of the scenic area's operation, many locals tried to evade paying the entrance fee. Raids frequently occurred at night, and the security guards would call her in the middle of the night to report every little thing, even stray cats wandering into the area. If she didn't intervene and something happened, the guards would simply shirk responsibility, saying they had already reported it to Supervisor Li.

Such things have happened before, so she always runs up the mountain in the middle of the night, and a windbreaker is the most convenient thing to wear.

In those years, the competition among OTA platforms was fierce. Coupled with the rise of direct sales channels by hotels and airlines, major international hotels collectively lowered their commission rates for OTA platforms. Convey, as one of the leading companies, was also significantly impacted and had already experienced several rounds of layoffs before Li Yingqiao joined the company.

During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the number of flight and hotel cancellations on major online travel agencies (OTAs) surged, with staggering amounts involved. What could be done? The platforms had to advance the funds, and most domestic chain hotels or guesthouses could negotiate with the authorities.

Therefore, Convey even pulled staff from its brand department to specifically handle debt collection and repayment. The top companies could barely hold on, while smaller players declared bankruptcy and exited the market that year.

However, local private hotels abroad are a different story. They are as tough as a rock and refuse to refund, even though the local government has intervened to ask the hotels to cooperate with the refunds. But the compliance rate is still low.

Some hotels bluntly stated that the reason was force majeure, and that the hotel doors would remain open to Chinese tourists. They said that if the tourists were afraid to come because they were afraid of dying, then the tourists would have to bear the losses themselves.

At the height of the pandemic, Zhang Zongxie made several trips abroad just to negotiate refunds. He managed to reach agreements with a few local hotels, but they were only willing to offer vouchers as compensation, with the strict condition that they must be used within six months. How could that be possible? At that time, no one knew how long the global pandemic would last.

Li Yingqiao hadn't started working yet, but she was also among those canceling orders—when she graduated, she wanted to take Ms. Shuli on a luxury trip to Thailand. She had booked the cruise and hotel more than half a year in advance, but unexpectedly, the pandemic broke out.

At that time, she made countless customer service calls a day, using up all her scholarship money. In the end, Convey's customer service coldly replied that their platform would advance the refund for domestic flights and hotels, but for overseas hotels, negotiations were still ongoing, and she should wait patiently.

She waited patiently for two more days, but still received no results. If she couldn't get her money back, she decided to work at Convey. However, Convey was frequently laying off employees at that time, so she failed to get the job and ended up working for that biotech company that later went bankrupt.

After working at that company for over a year, she left and then joined Convey through a competitive selection process. It was only after joining that Li Yingqiao learned, by chance, that Zhang Zongxie had chosen her from among a pool of candidates with impressive resumes simply because she was from Fengtan. This, of course, reignited Li Yingqiao's competitive spirit and desire to conquer.

However, in retrospect, she realized that she had been short-sighted. After graduating with her bachelor's degree, she could have continued to pursue a master's degree, but her former company offered her a high-paying job, and eager to prove herself to Liang Mei, she decided to sign with the company instead of continuing her studies. Only after the pandemic hit did she realize that educational requirements had risen again, and the job market was already saturated.

Therefore, she could only work even harder. Learning from her previous experience at her company, Li Yingqiao at Convey stopped contacting any colleagues outside of work and refused to have meals with her superiors, in case he got drunk and made a fool of himself, she would be laid off again.

So even though she knew Zhang Zongxie was her senior from Tanzhong, she almost never took the initiative to get close to him.

Zhang Zongxie was also an almost cold and harsh workaholic boss. During the years in the brand department, he was Li Yingqiao's direct supervisor. He almost never spoke to her about anything other than work. Occasionally, when they bumped into each other at meals, Li Yingqiao would try her best to avoid him, but he could not see her trying to avoid him at all. He would still call her over in full view of everyone.

Even though he had just berated someone in the office, he couldn't see the reluctance on Li Yingqiao's face as she insisted she sit down in front of him with her lunchbox. They had argued countless times about the vouchers—no user liked a voucher with an expiration date. They had already learned their lesson during the pandemic refund crisis, with weekly complaints reaching hundreds of thousands, a record high, yet the board members remained incorrigible.

Zhang Zongxie stopped pressuring her to accept his decision and instead looked at her silently.

When he wasn't speaking, his face was symmetrical and very harsh, especially when his lips were tightly pursed. His brow bones were high and hard, and his features were distinct yet very intimidating. His eyes rarely showed any emotion, and he always had an unquestionable attitude. He stared at her for a while and said, "Do you know how the G score in the ESG assessment is calculated?"

If we're talking about changes, the change in their relationship probably started with this ESG*2 G-score issue.

Li Yingqiao, working in the brand department, always focused on her own tasks and rarely bothered to learn about macro-level aspects, such as corporate culture. To her, no matter how clearly the macro-level concepts were explained, in practical terms, it only meant her paycheck. However, Zhang Zongxie changed her perspective. That evening, she went back and carefully studied information about Convey's corporate culture and interviews with the founder.

In the tourism industry's rating system, ESG directly impacts a company's market valuation and consumer trust. "E" stands for Environment, reflecting the current emphasis on low-carbon travel and ecological protection. "S" represents social, user, and rural poverty alleviation projects.

Rainbow Youli is a rural poverty alleviation project that Zhang Zongxie conducted using the S rating system. G, on the other hand, refers to the diversity of the company's workforce. In simpler terms, it's the percentage of female executives.

Currently, only one OTA platform in China has a female executive ratio exceeding the internet industry average, reaching 45%. The rest have none. Convey's ratio is even lower; on their decision-making table on the 38th floor, there are only two women. Zhang Zongxie would never bluntly tell her, "You have no right to argue with me."

She would only subtly imply her lack of influence through other means: If you want to overturn my decision, then you should come up to the table and speak.

She was determined to succeed. Once she had a clear goal, she was someone who would give it her all. During those two years, she rarely went back to Fengtan for the Spring Festival, and when she did, she would only stay for a day or two before returning to Beijing. Zhang Zongxie was the same; he never went back to Fengtan and always stayed in Beijing alone, occasionally flying abroad to spend time with his girlfriend.

It must be said that under Zhang Zongxie's continuous mental pressure, Li Yingqiao has become more and more resilient. Several times when Convey was exposed to public opinion crises, she and her team would hold meetings without eating or drinking to analyze the public opinion model structure. The accuracy rate was as high as 95%, and the response mechanism was always the fastest among OTA platforms, with a response time far lower than the industry average.

It's only natural that Zhang Zongxie valued her. Li Yingqiao did rise through the ranks quickly in those two years. The longer she spent with him and the more she understood him, the more she opened her heart to him. He was the kind of person who wouldn't allow himself to show his ugly side, even in his most embarrassing moments.

So when Zhang Zongxie occasionally took her to social gatherings, she would gladly go. But whether they were drinking or talking about work together, they always tacitly avoided Fengtan. They had worked together for so long, and they had never once mentioned those two words on their own initiative.

Until one business dinner with an airline, Zhang Zongxie wanted to secure a five-year exclusive contract with the airline. He was incredibly sincere and accepted all offers. He even helped Li Yingqiao fend off a few drinks. As he helped her into the car, Zhang Zongxie, his eyes bloodshot, suddenly asked her, "Did you get into Tanzhong through the entrance exam, or did you buy your way in?"

Li Yingqiao honestly admitted, "I bought it."

The next second, she seemed to see Zhang Zongxie's regretful eyes and felt like she had been tricked.

"Bought it? Then how did you get into your alma mater?" For the first time, a flicker of emotion appeared on his face as he looked at her incredulously.

“It’s a very, very long story,” she said slowly.

He scoffed, uninterested; it was just another tired tale of a mediocre student suddenly achieving a comeback. Zhang Zongxie didn't ask any more questions, waving for the driver to close the door. The next second, he had the driver slide the door open again. Li Yingqiao remained standing there, looking at him innocently: "What's wrong? Did you suddenly decide you wanted to give me a ride?"

He pondered for a moment, his handsome face showing nothing but indifference: "What would you think if I asked you to work on the Rainbow Youli project?"

This is the company's poverty alleviation project. To put it bluntly, it's a charity project that Zhang Zongxie did for ESG rating and market trust. The investment return cycle is long and low, and it requires long-term stay outside the province. It has long become a hot potato at Convey.

Li Yingqiao looked directly at him without flinching or avoiding his gaze, asking bluntly, "Is it because of the recent rumors?"

The shadows inside the car covered most of Zhang Zongxie's tall and handsome figure. His overcoat and suit jacket were casually placed on the empty seat next to the van. Only his legs, clad in trousers, were visible, the sharp seams of which clearly defined the boundaries of his figure.

Li Yingqiao stubbornly moved her gaze from his legs to his face. At that time, their relationship was indeed a bit ambiguous. She knew that Zhang Zongxie was single, and he had probably been single for about half a year.

She rose through the ranks exceptionally quickly in the past six months, and Zhang Zongxie indulged her almost to the point of spoiling her. He handed over core projects and several high-end VIP client resources with budgets exceeding 100 million yuan to her without reservation. At that time, rumors about the two of them were rampant in the company.

Zhang Zongxie did not answer whether she was yes or no, but only asked her, "Are you going?"

She knew that if she didn't go, neither of them knew how their relationship would end. Zhang Zongxie was even more aware that if their relationship underwent any substantial change, there would be no longer any place for her at the decision-making table on the 38th floor.

According to the unspoken rules of Convey's upper management, if the two of them developed a more serious relationship, only one of them could remain at that table.

His intention was not to give up the position himself, but to let Li Yingqiao use his own abilities to pull others down.

Besides, he couldn't possibly give it up. He's worked his way up from management trainee to where he is today, and he's always been clear-headed and rational. How could he possibly go crazy for a woman?

Li Yingqiao understood her situation better than he did, and she readily agreed. She even smiled and closed the electric door for him. She pulled the door shut with a loud "slap," like a slap across his face, cutting off her voice at the doorway: "Okay, take care."

Zhang Zongxie always remembered her expression that night. Rainbow Youli later became a phenomenal hit, a cultural tourism phenomenon. He thought she was holding back a lot of anger; she stayed there for over a year, never returning to Beijing, and her assistant, Guan Siyu, handled all the reporting to him. The two rarely had any further private conversations.

Until headquarters transferred her back to Beijing, Rainbow Youli no longer needed her to personally oversee things. When she left, no one expected her to return triumphantly from Y Province, even being promoted directly to VP*3 of the Brand Department, succeeding his former position. She fought this comeback battle quite brilliantly.

It took him five years to go from management trainee to VP of branding, while she only took four. Even the founder of Convey frequently mentioned Li Yingqiao's name to him during video calls. At that time, he knew that sooner or later she would argue with him on the 38th floor.

But she never expected things to take such a sharp turn for the worse. Not long after, something happened at Rainbow Youli, and overnight Convey became the target of everyone's criticism. Before she could even climb to the 38th floor, Li Yingqiao realized the difference in values ​​between herself and Zhang Zongxie.

So she resigned. She began to doubt the brand's philosophy and corporate culture again. Those so-called G-score claims were just a smokescreen. She should have known that even if Zhang Zongxie really wanted to adjust the proportion of female executives on the 38th floor, it was only based on the company's market value and consumer trust.

Zhang Zongxie's ruthless methods back then offended many people, and many held a grudge against her. Now that they've fallen out, frankly, many in the industry are waiting to see her make a fool of herself. Li Yingqiao herself isn't in a hurry, after all, there are still more than ten months left. Even if she really loses, there's nothing she can do; she can't always turn the tables.

That year, when she and Yu Jinyang went to university, Liang Mei asked them three questions: "What is in a person's heart?", "What is something that a person is powerless to change?", and "What do people live by?" She said that if they could figure out these three questions, they would be able to accept and face whatever happened in the future with equanimity.

***

Thanks to Wu Juan's accidental discovery, Xiaohua City experienced its first wave of trending topics in the city and was wildly shared on local social media. Not only did the number of people signing up to be the ape-man surge, but people from surrounding counties in Fengtan also started driving over to interact with the ape-man. Gao Dian even stopped doing his own business and went to the scenic area more often than Pan Xiaoliang, who had a regular job.

Pan Xiaoliang had just locked his shared bicycle when he saw Gao Dian, fully armed and dressed in an animal skin outfit, coming from the parking lot. He couldn't help but tease him, "Brother Dian, why don't you come work for our scenic area? Anyway, HR is hiring recently. Do you know how to make PowerPoint presentations?"

"Yes, I will," Gao Dian said instinctively.

Pan Xiaoliang made the final decision: "Congratulations, you've been accepted. Go to HR to report for duty later."

Gao Dian: "...I've passed the interview?"

The two walked arm in arm toward the office. Pan Xiaoliang said, "Yeah, does it need to be complicated? Our lousy scenic area has nothing, what more could we ask for? We've become quite popular, and we're short-staffed right now. You're our top salesman."

Gao Dian was limped into the personnel office and, when he came out, he had a handwritten name tag hanging on his arm. He found the office empty except for Pan Xiaoliang: "Where's Wu Juan?"

Pan Xiaoliang was scrolling through the comments on the previous official Weibo post on his computer, saying, "She was so scared that she didn't leave the house for two days. Li Yingqiao gave her a break so she could take good care of herself."

“Juan needs some rest and recuperation,” Gao Dian said, sitting down at the workstation next to him. He felt a bit hot without the air conditioning on, so he pulled a notebook about cultural and creative products from the desk and fanned himself with it. “She seems to be a rather shy girl, and this incident is indeed a bit upsetting.”

Pan Xiaoliang glanced at him: "You're so observant? You have feelings for Juan?"

Gao Dian scratched the back of his head and said, "No, it's just that she blushes every time she looks at our cat a few more times. It's not hard to guess."

The office door opened, and Li Yingqiao raised an eyebrow in surprise when she saw Gao Dian: "Pan Xiaoliang really managed to get you to come to work?"

Gao Dian clicked his tongue in amazement, staring at her intently for a long while. Li Yingqiao was dressed very differently today; recently she had been wearing T-shirts and jeans, the T-shirts even having cartoon characters on the chest, not much different from when she was a child.

She was dressed exceptionally elegantly today, in a striking pale yellow silk dress with a flowing, cascading hem that hugged her ankles. She wore a pair of high heels, the hem of which seemed to be several centimeters high, which accentuated the perfect lines of her ankles. Even the morning light behind her seemed to bathe her in a soft glow. She looked like a beautiful tulip, and her walk was even more graceful and charming.

Gao Dian genuinely admired Li Yingqiao's unique style and blurted out, "You look so beautiful today! Just like a big star."

Gao Dian's praise was straightforward and simple, without any of the uncomfortable stares he gave her.

Li Yingqiao responded loudly to his lavish praise: "Thank you! Thank you! Without your encouragement, I would walk through the sewers when I go out."

After saying that, he tossed the things to Pan Xiaoliang: "I haven't received the digital map for the scenic area guide yet."

His tone was flat, as if he were a completely different person.

Pan Xiaoliang: "...Damn it, Li Yingqiao, you're so shallow."

Li Yingqiao: "...You should learn from how others become top salespeople."

That's true. Pan Xiaoliang isn't as straightforward as Gao Dian. He always hides his appreciation for women. Even though he was amazed by Li Yingqiao today, he just snorted and tried to get my attention.

Li Yingqiao sometimes feels that he really fits the stereotypical user profile of post-00s men, and is also the kind of male user profile that is easiest to classify in the platform's algorithm.

Liang Mei asked her what people rely on to live, and she hadn't figured it out yet. She only knew that in the age of algorithms, people had to live in a way that even algorithms couldn't understand. Otherwise, they would be easily categorized by big data like objects, just like Pan Xiaoliang. The times are objectifying humanity, so of course, humanity must fight back.

Therefore, Li Yingqiao doesn't mind trying everything and never stays on any interest page for too long.

[Author's Note]

Cat is not working today; she's taking a day off.

This story focuses on Qiao's career and personal growth, as well as the romance between the two characters, and is expected to be quite lengthy. In short, everything that's expected will be included.

Two hundred red envelopes~

(Jinjiang is acting up today, I don't know if it will display. Today is another quiet second update.)

Just a quick note:

*1. OTA—Online Travel Service Platform, which provides booking services for air tickets, hotels, scenic spot tickets, and travel packages, such as Ctrip and Fliggy. However, Convey is a fictional company with no real-world counterpart.

*2. ESG refers to the three scoring dimensions that reflect a company's value and sustainable development.

*3. VP (Deputy Director) or Vice President.