Chapter 88

Convey's job application standards are known for being extremely stringent, far exceeding industry norms.

Because before starting his business, Convey's founder, Xu Wenrui, was a top performer who rose through the ranks from the bottom, and he regarded wolf-like culture as his guiding principle.

I feel that young people nowadays have never experienced hardship and don't know how lucky they are.

Every time the company holds a major meeting, he always talks about how young people should be down-to-earth. He believes that as long as you are willing to work hard, you will be rewarded, but he doesn't believe that he is a talent scout or that there are truly exceptional people in the world. On the wall of his office, there is always a piece of calligraphy with strong strokes: "Heaven rewards diligence".

In that era of reckless adventure where daring and hard work were the norm, effort seemed to be more important than talent.

In this information-explosive era, algorithms have bridged the so-called information gap, and hard work only proves that the mediocre are even more mediocre. It's just the information age; how can it compare to the Roman era of others?

To put it bluntly, after working under him for so many years, Zhang Zongxie finally realized what it meant to collect every drop of rain that had soaked him, not only to tear apart other people's umbrellas, but also to rip their clothes, leaving them naked in the rain of fate to receive and give thanks for this baptism of the soul.

Not to mention his strictness towards his employees, he is equally strict with his own daughter. Xu Quyu worked her way up by strictly adhering to the company's competitive job standards.

For example, regarding promotions in brand public relations: one must stay in a junior specialist position handling flight and hotel orders and customer service complaints for 1-2 years before being eligible to apply for a senior complaints specialist position. A senior complaints specialist position requires 2-3 years before being eligible to apply for a project team leader position. In this case, at least 3 years are required to apply for a senior department director position. For positions above that, one must wait at least another 4-5 years.

Of course, each business line is different and needs to be implemented according to the company's planning and development. This is similar to the statement that the final interpretation right belongs to the merchant.

Zhang Zongxie's selection for Vice President of Brand Public Relations was also strictly based on the required years of service. However, Li Yingqiao only took four years, making her the only person from outside the company to be promoted through this special process.

The explosive popularity of Rainbow Youli in 2023 caused the company's revenue to skyrocket overnight. This gave Zhang Zongxie the confidence to ask Xu Wenrui for this exceptional spot, but in reality, there were conditions at the time. It wasn't that anyone truly recognized Li Yingqiao's abilities; some even attributed it to Li Yingqiao's luck.

So when Xu Quyu became the senior vice president of Convey, she was already in her early forties. It took her a full seventeen years and twenty-eight days to go from a basic position to her current position.

Anyone with eyes to see would know that even on other OTA platforms, Xu Quyu wouldn't have needed seventeen years to reach this position, but Xu Wenrui seems afraid of being accused of favoritism, so he's even stricter with her.

He used his daughter as a benchmark.

What about Xu Junfei? He fared better; after completing his MBA abroad, he was directly promoted to a high-level position within the company. Why did the adage "hard work pays off" fail to apply to him again?

At that time, Xu Junfei was dating a girlfriend from a prominent family with a strong political background. Xu Wenrui explained to his old shareholders in a grand manner: "This is a necessary business-political alliance for the long-term development of the company. Qu Yu is more opinionated and unwilling to follow our arrangements. Junfei made a sacrifice for the sake of the overall situation, and the company should naturally compensate him."

The people in the company aren't stupid. It's obvious who Xu Wenrui favors more; Xu Quyu has no chance of rising to the top. Anyone with a modicum of sense in the company knows which side to take.

Xu Wenrui wanted to pass on the inheritance to his son, but didn't want to appear too biased. He hoped that Xu Junfei could achieve something in the project so that he could rightfully take over the reins from him.

When Rainbow Youli became a hit, Zhang Zongxie wanted Li Yingqiao to return to headquarters in glory. For the first time, he took the initiative to go up to the 38th floor to negotiate with Xu Wenrui, allowing Li Yingqiao to apply for the position of VP (Deputy Director) of the Brand Department through an exceptional process, as she was only one year short of the required years of service for the position.

He made extensive preparations, working overnight to create a PowerPoint presentation of Li Yingqiao's resume, with detailed and verifiable data and clear charts.

He had never done these things for himself before, but this time he wanted to fight for it. He had no other selfish motives in this matter; he simply felt that if even a wildly popular project like Rainbow Youli couldn't earn him a promotion, who among his subordinates would be willing to work on the public relations front of the brand?

However, contrary to his usual behavior, Xu Wenrui readily agreed.

But the condition is that Xu Junfei's name must be attached to the Rainbow Youli project.

So Xu Junfei was also promoted that year, and to everyone's astonishment, he was directly promoted to senior vice president of Convey.

This Roman also unusually abandoned his cynical demeanor and began to frequently attend major industry summits, appearing every inch the successor.

At that time, Xu Quyu was still keeping a low profile at the Shanghai branch, and was only called back a few times when the company held a major meeting.

Unfortunately, Xu Junfei was disappointing. Apart from this project, he had almost no other notable achievements, and when the Rainbow Youli incident occurred, he was completely incapable of handling the aftermath. In contrast, Xu Quyu established his own sub-brand company in Shanghai and also secured direct purchases from airlines at low prices that several OTA platforms could not obtain.

Li Yingqiao and she didn't have much interaction. The only time they had a brief conversation was at a company annual meeting. After the meeting, Xu Quyu asked her if there were any reliable Japanese restaurants near the company. She said she wanted to eat salmon but was afraid of eating fake rainbow trout.

Li Yingqiao's first reaction was that it was surprising that a Beijing native like her was so unfamiliar with Beijing, so she called Lilith over and said, "Let's go together, we're going to eat there anyway."

The three of them ate lunch quietly, chatting about everyday things, even about eyeliner, but never mentioning any work-related promises. Lilith was also shocked; Xu Quyu, unusually, didn't have the same sense of superiority as Xu Junfei. She was very quiet, almost transparently so.

After the meal, Lilith and Li Yingqiao analyzed the situation: "Joe, can't you really see what Xu Quyu means? Her time is so precious. Can't she eat fresh salmon back in Shanghai? Her flight is at 2 pm, and she still wants to spend 45 minutes having a meal with you. In previous years, she would have gone straight to the airport at this time."

“She is isolated and helpless in Convey, and she needs your and Michael’s public support,” Lilith concluded.

Zhang Zongxie was out of the question; he never publicly expressed his opinion. Although Xu Junfei would occasionally invite him to play golf, his attitude remained indifferent, sometimes accepting and sometimes refusing. At that time, she was still hoping for a promotion, and everyone knew that Xu Junfei was very likely to succeed her in the end. In such a transition between the old and new leaders, it was most taboo to casually take sides.

Although Xu Junfei is not very capable, what can be done if the old man favors him?

But Xu Quyu never contacted her again, nor did he ever say anything from the company's perspective. Li Yingqiao felt that Xu Quyu genuinely wanted to eat salmon that noon.

About six months after she returned from Y Province, Miss Salmon was finally transferred back to headquarters. Dressed in a mature and capable suit, she calmly called out her name first in the elevator that day: "Li Yingqiao, it's been a long time."

Li Yingqiao quickly recognized the face in the elevator's reflection. She smiled and extended her hand: "President Xu, congratulations. It's a pleasure to see you here."

Xu Quyu shook hands with her briefly, neither too warmly nor too distantly, and said, "I just talked to Michael. He has a very clear vision for your career. What about you? Do you have any thoughts?"

Li Yingqiao understood what she meant by asking that question. Although she had finally been transferred back and promoted to senior vice president, standing on equal footing with her younger brother, many of Xu Dong's former subordinates were still loyal to her brother. Most people thought that this was Xu Wenrui's way of making a warning to Xu Junfei, hoping that his son would quickly achieve something.

Xu Quyu has been like a tool used to motivate her younger brother's existence since she was a child.

If you don't want to eat it, then let your sister eat it.

If you don't want to play, then let your older sister play.

If you can't do it, then let your older sister do it.

Therefore, her situation remains precarious, and Xu Junfei has tried to win over Li Yingqiao, who is a core member of Zhang Zongxie's network.

However, the other party's attitude was too ambiguous, and before she could even get a reply, Zhang Zongxie snapped back at her with a single sentence: "Mike, if you don't have anywhere to use your second-rate tricks, save them for cracking walnuts to help your employees improve their brains, okay? Haven't you seen us working overtime non-stop for days?"

He was harsh and treated everyone equally. Xu Junfei was probably a masochist; he didn't get angry even after being scolded and just happily fawned over him. Villy was openly and secretly trying to "accuse" Zhang Zongxie, so Xu Junfei cursed even more rudely: "It's just a dog, and you're taking it so seriously. Who cares how it barks? Villy, the advantage of having a vicious dog in the company is that at least outsiders know we're not a charity. If you tone down your fawning smiles, your performance might increase by three percent, which is more effective than showing a few nipples."

Villy turned around and went back to her office to curse Xu Junfei as a bastard on social media. But that didn't stop her from slinking into Xu Junfei's office the next day to get his signature. After he signed it, she rolled her eyes at him again.

Li Yingqiao witnessed the whole thing and sometimes found Villy quite cute, but Zhang Zongxie insisted on his opinion, saying that her ambition was too great and her abilities didn't match her ambition. Li Yingqiao rolled her eyes at him, saying that if her abilities matched her ambition, then she deserved it. It was the lack of ability that made her ambitious.

Zhang Zongxie remained silent for a moment, unable to refute, and only asked, "And you, what are your ambitions? What are your ideals?"

What is your ideal?

Li Yingqiao quickly changed the subject with a joke: "Why? Anyway, I'm not participating in The Voice of China."

However, she stopped joking around when facing Xu Quyu.

She spoke to him with rare firmness and seriousness: "Career plans may change, but there is only one ideal. It has died many times and been reborn many times. I think we are the same."

Xu Quyu asked her how she could be so sure that she and Xu Quyu were the same.

Li Yingqiao's eyes were sharp and honest as she looked directly at her in the elevator mirror: "Because we both want to realize our personal value. You spent seventeen years coming from Shanghai to Beijing, and I don't believe you just passively accepted your fate, so I stand by you unconditionally."

Yes, to hell with changing the world, to hell with the Roman highways, to hell with the corporate mission, to hell with...

Standing here at this moment, their truest ambition is nothing more than that shared human resentment of not being content:

We deserve all of this.

Instead of asking, "Little brother, do you want it? If not, give it to your older sister."

No, it's from Fengtan, isn't it? Well, another small-town exam-taker.

Consciousness should not succumb to rules. Often, at the end of life, looking back on the long river of fate, some people have grand visions and dedicate their lives to them, while others, with their narrow self-awareness, silently take one step at a time, stepping over every stone in their destiny.

We deserve all of this.

We want thunderous applause, we want power in our hands, we want to rise to the top, and we want everyone to remember our names.

***

The river flowed silently, surging ceaselessly in the dark night, converging silently with the branches of fate.

As the two walked along the riverbank toward home, Li Yingqiao suddenly slipped her hand into Yu Jinyang's down jacket pocket.

He sensed the familiar temperature and touch, but instead of grabbing it back as usual, he took advantage of the large pockets of the down jacket and tried to hide in the corner. However, Li Yingqiao forcefully and irresistibly pried him open, and without saying a word, she forcefully pried his fingers apart one by one, fitting herself tightly inside him and holding his fingers together firmly.

He couldn't help but chuckle, his breath steaming in the air as he spoke. In the quiet street, his voice was cold and mocking as he said, "Forced sex? I'm calling the police."

“You’ve already reported it, my dad is a policeman,” she suddenly said.

He didn't believe her, of course, and just thought she was joking. It wasn't the first time she'd said that; she'd brazenly declared it when she was five or six years old. Back then, the adults in Xiaohua City were all saying her father was a murderer, and the rumors had spread so far that everyone believed them.

Sometimes, when playing games, some kids couldn't stand losing, and since Li Yingqiao always won, they would point at her and accuse her father of being a murderer and a bad person, telling other kids not to play with her. She would punch the kid and knock him down, yelling, "My dad's a policeman! If you keep talking nonsense, I'll cut you up!"

He didn't care about anything else at the time and rushed to stop her. While he was stopping her, she pinned him to the ground and beat him up. He cried when he got home but didn't dare to tell her. He could only say that he fell. His mother saw it at a glance: "How come I see Qiaoqiao's fist mark? I really can't find such a round fist in the whole art market."

Yes, she was a bit chubby when she was little, and her hands were fleshy, unlike now when they are slender and long, mostly bone.

He grew up, became thinner, and more beautiful, which made him countless enemies.

Yu Jinyang turned his head to look at her. The streetlights and moonlight softly illuminated her silhouette. Her eyes were as bright and clear as river water, and her eyelashes were curved like two small bridges.

His gaze unconsciously softened and lingered as he looked at her for a long time.

Li Yingqiao was used to such stares. Yu Jinyang was always like this; he would stop talking to look at her, remain silent for a long time, or while eating, he would put down his chopsticks, lean back loosely in his chair, and quietly and attentively watch her chewing.

"Did they poison you? Eat it, or we'll die together," she would sometimes joke.

He chuckled, "Why would you poison the food? Sometimes I'm afraid you'll suffocate in your sleep. Why do you always cover your head with the blanket, Li Yingqiao?"

Yu Jinyang seems very worried that she will die.

…

…

"Yu Jinyang, do you know that you're radiating an ethereal aura right now?"

On the way home, Li Yingqiao tried to make conversation, putting her hands in his pockets, attempting to cheer him up.

He laughed. "Are you crazy? Doesn't your breath escape when you speak in winter?"

"Oh no, so now we're like two kettles on a journey. Haha."

After a while, "Now the two kettles are kissing."

He laughed in exasperation, exhaling a large puff of white smoke.

"The lid's off! The lid's off!"

He walked quickly home, too lazy to pay her any attention.

She caught up with him in a few strides, showering him with sweet words, like a barrage of cannon fire: "Yu Jinyang, sometimes I feel so sorry for you that I wish you would love me a little less."

"It's kind of you to have this thought," he said, his gaze fixed straight ahead, his lips barely moving, adding, "Thank you for your kindness."

The long Chuanming Street seemed endless, quiet and serene, until it reached its end. The streetlights went out, but the moonlight remained generous and unassuming, and the voice rang out again:

"Li Yingqiao, remember to eat well and sleep well."