Chapter 200: Following Mr. Yang, eating nine meals a day
When Lin Cao got off work in the afternoon, he looked at his phone and found that the task assigned by him had been received.
Tomorrow morning at 10:30, he will have to go to Spark Records for the first wave of inspections.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind: "Brother Lin, I took a taxi, would you like to come in? We live just two steps away, so we can save some taxi fare."
Lin Cao waved his hand and said to him, "You can go back by yourself. I have some personal matters to take care of today."
"Okay, I'll be leaving first."
The employee didn't ask any more questions. He took a bag of honey popcorn from the company's pile of snacks and followed the crowd into the elevator.
Lin Cao packed up his things, took the next elevator downstairs, hailed a taxi, and went to a small restaurant.
After more than 20 minutes' drive, we were approaching the suburbs before the taxi stopped in front of a somewhat old building.
After paying the fare and getting off the car, Lin Cao looked at the building in front of him. Through the rusty windows, he could vaguely see the four tattered words "Spark Music" on the fifth floor.
Lin Cao shook his head slightly, walked into the private room of the small restaurant downstairs, ordered some home-cooked food, took out his mobile phone, and sent a message to someone: "Hasn't come down yet?"
Soon, a message came: "Brother Lin, wait a minute. Something happened here. It will be solved in five minutes."
Five minutes...
Tsk tsk, if this five minutes of overtime happened in Kuiguang Group, President Yang would set it up as a negative example for the company.
Recalling the past, Lin Cao inexplicably felt as if he was in another world.
There were at least twelve or thirteen people at Spark Records who knew him, but now only three are left.
Although he developed very well in Yuefu and was promoted very quickly among the same batch of employees, everyone who knew Lin Cao had a good relationship with him.
After all, he is still a leader who understands his brothers.
However, after Lin Cao was fired from Yue Mansion and started working at Kui Guang, he no longer mentioned much about his work with his old colleagues.
The others were also tactful and did not ask any more questions.
Of course, both parties tacitly agreed not to mention this matter, as they have different perspectives on the issue.
What the old colleagues were thinking was that Lin Cao was brutally fired and was bullied by his leader Zheng Weinan for several months. He finally found a new job in another city and had to start all over again. His salary and benefits would definitely be much worse than before.
Although the Kuiguang Group is good, it is still far behind the Yuefu.
Even though Lin Cao's position in Kuiguang Group is the same as that in Yuefu, both are agent supervisors, but their treatment is definitely very different.
How can you expose the scars of an old leader or colleague who was very nice to you and now he is in trouble?
Lin Cao never mentioned anything about his new job for the opposite reason - since joining Kuiguang Group, his life has been getting better and better, and he was afraid that his brothers would explode if he told them about it.
The salary on paper is twice as high as that in Yuefu, not to mention all kinds of miscellaneous benefits and bonuses...
Although I am a manager, I am not in human resources. None of my former colleagues are cut out to be artists or anchors, so they can't help me. It's better not to say anything.
Now Spark Company is likely to become a branch of Kuiguang Group, so Lin Cao and three old colleagues took some time out to meet up and reminisce about the past.
Five minutes later, three people pushed the door and walked in.
They were all dressed in simple white-collar attire.
"Xiao Huang, this way."
"Brother Lin, you are really... You must be very busy at work, but you still took the time to treat us to a meal." The assistant named Huang Wei came over with a bottle of newly bought white wine in his hand, smiling, "I'm late, I'll punish myself with a drink later."
It can be seen that Huang Wei is very concerned about the acquisition and probably loves this job very much.
Whether the Kuiguang Group finally chooses to acquire the company is his only hope for continuing this job.
Shouldn't you try to find out from your old leader?
"Hey!" Lin Cao immediately raised his hand to stop Huang Wei from opening the wine, "We won't drink this wine today. We are just here to chat."
Huang Wei immediately put the bottle of liquor worth three or four thousand yuan under the table, with an inexplicable expression on his face: "Are you really chatting?"
"What a chat!" Lin Cao smiled easily, "We can talk about work matters during working hours. This is the rule of our company. I'll treat you to this meal. All of them are your favorite dishes. Don't hesitate."
"This Kuiguang Group is quite humane, haha..."
"Brother Lin looks good!"
"It seems like you're doing well in the new company, Brother Lin."
Seeing Lin Cao's appearance, several people who were originally embarrassed to ask their old leader about their new working environment also relaxed.
If you are not doing well, you will definitely not behave like this.
"It's really good, much better than that lousy place in Yue Mansion." Lin Cao, who was still brooding over Yue Mansion and had a deep hatred for it, took a bite of the dish and said vaguely, "The boss is not bad either."
"Yes, the company is smaller, the boss is young, the atmosphere is good, and the work is easy. It's worth it even if the salary is a little lower." Huang Wei couldn't help but open up the conversation at this time, "Unlike us, hey... Brother Lin, can you tell me about your new company?"
Lin Cao deliberately put on airs and acted like a leader: "How can I let the leader speak first? You speak, and I'll speak after you finish speaking."
We ate a lot of food and drank a lot of tea, and the atmosphere at the table gradually became lively.
When leaving the company, Huang Wei confirmed that his boss Ma Yuan had already driven away. Since they were in the box at this time, his voice became louder.
"No different from before, half dead."
It seemed that the management headed by Ma Yuan had been dissatisfied for a long time, and Huang Wei began to complain to the old leader and pour out his grievances.
"Among these managers, a small number of them are Ma Yuan's aunts and uncles. I think he would like to bring his own dog to the company to guard the house!"
"There are many people with connections. We just put up with their complaints. But the problem is that these people with connections know nothing. They just give blind orders all day long. They put their own agenda in the tasks assigned to us and want us to make songs they like..."
"The sales target is just as funny. It seems that they didn't do any market research at all. They just came up with it on the spur of the moment and decided it on the slam of the table. In the end, the project failed, and they just walked away and put all the blame on us!"
"It's impossible for a song made according to his requirements to be sold."
"The company went downhill afterwards, and many people left. Only then did they realize the seriousness of the situation and started to blindly follow the trend. They asked us to do whatever was popular and even hired some internet celebrities to be singers, without deeply analyzing the reasons for their success."
"We fail, we are trash."
"As a result, one time we made a song exactly as the management wanted, and it flopped, so they blamed the audience for being so bad."
"Stupid and crazy..."
In fact, everything that happened in the beginning was fine. Lin Cao just treated it as a joke and listened to it while eating. It was not until the last sentence came out that he finally couldn't hold it anymore.
Your product is not recognized by the market, but you actually blame the market? "I have a question..." Lin Cao picked a few fish bones and asked in confusion, "How on earth has your company been able to persist until now and not go bankrupt?"
"It's us employees who created a small app and attracted some individual customers...but the traffic has been cut recently and it's almost gone." Huang Wei sighed, "Oh, don't say it, it makes me angry! What about you, old boss?"
Lin Cao picked up the teacup and smiled calmly: "I'm fine. I'm in charge of the anchor business and some actor business at Kui Guang. Have you heard of "The Dragon Son-in-law"? I trained the leading actor."
"The Dragon Son-in-law"? Huang Wei himself doesn't like watching TV series. In addition, he is very busy with work, so he can only have some fragmented entertainment time to relax his body and mind. He didn't think of this popular TV series at once.
But just a few seconds later, he found the relevant memory in his mind.
Some time ago, various hot clips were edited out...
Huang Wei asked uncertainly: "Is it the actor whose mouth looks like a hook when he smiles?"
"Yes." Lin Cao nodded calmly, as if this was just a trivial thing he did.
"This drama is so popular! And I heard that it directly led to a surge in copyright fees for similar novels, as well as advertisements... Hiss, Brother Lin, have you become rich secretly?"
Lin Cao drank a cup of tea: "Not bad, better than when I was in Yue Mansion."
"Congratulations... We all thought something was wrong with you but we didn't dare to ask you. You know, we brothers only earn two to three thousand a month and can't do much to help you." Huang Wei congratulated from the bottom of his heart.
Lin Cao consoled him: "It's okay, we'll be colleagues again soon, right?"
"How can they be the same? You are the manager of the company headquarters, and we are adopted children who are not loved or cared for... It would be good enough if the new boss does not lay off employees, replace personnel, and reduce wages." Huang Wei shook his head and was not optimistic about the future.
The Kuiguang Group wants to acquire such a shabby company, they must have seen the profit opportunity, but these people can't find jobs if they go out, and they beg the boss to keep them. Aren't they just at the mercy of others?
In the record company industry, it is now a buyer's market.
"Then you are wrong." Lin Caoyi spoke of the group with inner pride and superiority, "Our boss has always been clear about rewards and punishments."
Having said this, Lin Cao no longer hid anything and spoke openly about the grudge between him and Yang Ruoqian, his embarrassment after being expelled from the Yue Mansion, and what happened after he came to the Kuiguang Group.
As for President Yang's foresight and miraculous operations, the company's salary that is much higher than the industry average, various benefits and bonuses, various paid vacations, paid activities, the new concept of lost wages after forced vacations, etc., they were also mentioned in passing.
The three people from Sparks Company, who were originally enjoying a good meal, just listened to the story at first, but the more they listened, the more shocked the expressions on their faces became.
To the point that they didn't even have the appetite to eat! It's not that they couldn't bear to see their old leader living a good life, but this was too shocking and a bit like a fairy tale.
It’s fine if they are willing to hire people who have some problems as employees, but the big boss has a lot of money…
But with this salary level, the annual income of a security guard in Kuiguang Group is higher than the three brothers combined? ! Huang Wei is not the kind of narrow-minded person who can't stand his brother driving a Land Rover, but now his brother is not driving a Land Rover, but a private jet! It's normal to be unable to compete with the leader. It's normal to be unable to compete with peers, and you have to admit defeat because you are not as skilled as others. But how come other security guards and cleaning ladies can earn more than me? !
As for the anniversary celebration, punitive salary increase, and punitive vacation, they are no longer just fantasy but nonsense.
"Brother Lin, are you sure you haven't been kidnapped into some fraudulent company?" Huang Wei looked at the table full of delicious food in front of him without any appetite.
Of course I'm joking.
Kuiguang Group is likely to be rated as a model enterprise in Jinhai City. It is a major local taxpayer and has deep ties with Chengyu Group. In addition, it has a variety of anchors and online dramas. It is obviously a company that does practical things and would never engage in fraud.
Lin Cao looked at them with a look that said, "You are really ignorant. Look at you guys. You have been in this rubbish company for a long time. Don't you know that things have changed outside? If you follow Mr. Yang, you will have to eat nine meals in three days. Do you understand?"
The world is changing...it shouldn't be like this, right?
Besides, they just have a hard time, it doesn’t mean they have no social circle. Don’t they know what the outside world is like?
Huang Wei was silent for a long time, then suddenly stood up and raised his teacup: "Brother Lin, I heard that the Kuiguang Group will send someone to inspect us tomorrow. Can you help smooth the relationship?"
Lin Cao sighed: "First, the person who will inspect your company tomorrow is me, unfortunately. Second, I will report the situation of your company to Mr. Yang truthfully. I don't want to lose my job because of such a small matter..."
"So, you better hope for the best. The most I can do is not to make things difficult for you. As for whether you can seize the opportunity, it all depends on your luck."
"Mr. Yang's review standards are extremely strict, but this strictness is not in various hard indicators. What he pays most attention to is a company's potential and future development space."
"Prepare well. Even though your company is terrible, it must have done something right to be selected by CEO Yang for inspection and included in the acquisition plan."
Huang Wei was extremely moved: "Okay, Brother Lin...we must prepare well!"
…
Friday, 9:30 AM.
Yang Ruoqian sat in front of the computer, looking at the investigation report sent to him by Lin Cao.
Click…
Accompanied by the sounds of mouse clicking and scrolling, Yang Ruoqian quickly finished reading the report.
I have to say that the report given by Lin Cao is very objective and almost truthful.
Even if Sparks Corporation has done enough face-saving work and superficial efforts, some inner things cannot be disguised.
Unfortunately, a veteran like Lin Cao has a keen eye for such things.
"The company is rigid and inefficient, with huge conflicts between employees and leaders, and internal disunity. The company's management is chaotic and irregular. Overtime is serious. The company has very low market sensitivity..."
One shortcoming after another was listed in front of Yang Ruoqian, and he was overwhelmed.
I couldn't help but be happy.
You don’t know until you see it. It’s shocking.
At first, Yang Ruoqian thought that Spark Company was a dilapidated house that would collapse if the wind blew.
Now it seems that describing it as a dilapidated house is a bit of an insult to it.
This is clearly a stinking sewer.
Chang Zhiqing sat on the side, glanced at the screen with her beautiful eyes, and asked knowingly: "How is it? How is the company doing?"
Faced with this soul-searching question, Yang Ruoqian fell into silence for a moment.
After a long while, he quickly said: "The current Spark Company has not found its own differentiated track, missed the opportunity to complete value transformation by accumulating and reusing potential energy, and lacked a unique handle to find the vertical field in which it excels. The blockage of industry co-construction and carrier channels has led to the comprehensive failure of the point-line-surface combination of focused play, and has never been able to finely detonate the explosion point in the red ocean industry of records."
"At the same time, Spark did not use its influence to empower local resources and connections at the beginning, missed the window of collaborative operations, failed in its attempt to transform its industrial structure, was not precise enough in filling in the niche areas, stepped on the landmine of qualitative and quantitative instability, and the critical path life cycle of all its businesses was too short to build an industrial moat."
“But even though the month-on-month performance growth did not fully meet market expectations, business development encountered bottlenecks, the implementation of new plans faced growth shocks, active customers showed irrational changes, business volume fluctuations caused severe distrust on the supply side, and cognitive structure misalignment led to an inability to match explicit players... I still believe that after solving these problems, Spark Records will burst out with amazing power.”
Yang Ruoqian spoke all these words fluently without any draft.
Chang Zhiqing: "...Have you been watching too much "Yes, Prime Minister" recently?"
Otherwise, how could one come up with such a long and difficult sentence?
"Ahem, in short, their current development is average, but I think they still have potential and a lot of room for development." Yang Ruoqian explained in a polite and non-awkward tone.
"Okay, okay, whatever you want." Chang Zhiqing would not interfere too much in the company's business, especially when Yang Ruoqian made the decision himself. "You are going to make a surprise visit to Sparkling Company today, right? When are you going?"
As an old employee who has worked at the company since its inception, she still admires Yang Ruoqian's abilities very much.
"I'll be there in a minute, how about you come with me?"
"Okay, it doesn't seem like a big deal if you go alone." Chang Zhiqing agreed immediately, "By the way, call the driver as well. After all, this is a visit between companies, and sometimes face-saving is also very important. Oh, and don't forget to bring your identity proof."
Listening to Chang Zhiqing's well-organized arrangements, Mr. Yang sighed in his heart that it was really nice to have someone to help deal with these tedious matters.
…
After tidying up their clothes, Yang Ruoqian and Chang Zhiqing quietly came downstairs to Spark Company.
Before entering the elevator, Yang Ruoqian notified the company and asked them to convey the message that he had arrived.
The elevator reached the fifth floor. As soon as the metal door opened, a man who looked to be about thirty-five or thirty-six years old and wearing large-framed glasses ran over in a panic and almost collided head-on with Yang Ruoqian.
"Sorry!" The man apologized quickly and turned sideways to enter the elevator.
Huang Wei was of course anxious.
Just now, the boss gave him an order, asking him to put down all the work in his hands and go downstairs immediately. No matter what the cost, he must delay the chairman of Kuiguang Group for half an hour!
After welcoming Lin Cao yesterday, Ma Yuan, who felt good about himself, immediately ordered all those face-saving projects to be cancelled. As a result, at the most chaotic time, Kuiguang Group actually informed him that Yang Ruoqian would come to inspect in person! If such a messy scene was seen, the acquisition plan would most likely be ruined! For the bright future of all the staff of the entire company, whether it was treating them to a meal, washing their feet, singing karaoke, inviting everyone who could be invited, spending everything that could be spent, every second that could be delayed was a second.
Mr. Yang raised his hand slightly and said, "Hello, I am Yang Ruoqian, the chairman of Kuiguang Group. May I ask if you know how to get to Spark Records?"
"Ah... I, I... Ah, hello, Mr. Yang! I..." After all, Huang Wei was not as good at handling things as Lin Cao. Faced with the emergency, his mind went blank and even his tongue was tied.
Seeing this reaction, Yang Ruoqian suddenly understood: "Your boss asked you to pick me up, right? No need to bother, I came here today on a whim and just took a look on the way."
Finished!
It's still too late.
Huang Wei wailed in his heart, and finally struggled: "Boss Yang, how about... I take you to have a foot bath?"
Yang Ruoqian glanced at Chang Zhiqing out of the corner of his eye and refused righteously: "Don't bother, I have something urgent to do later, I'll just take a look and leave."
Seeing that the big money sponsor was firm in his attitude and that time was urgent, Huang Wei was speechless and could only smile awkwardly: "Then, Mr. Yang, please come in. Our Mr. Ma Yuan is waiting for you inside."
There's nothing we can do. People are coming too fast...
There is no time to delay, we can only hope for a miracle to happen.
Yang Ruoqian followed Huang Wei into the company, and the first thing that came into view was a crowded, extremely narrow office area that was as densely packed as a pigeon cage.
Moreover, the company's environment is not very good. Fragments of broken colorful balloons can be seen everywhere on the ground, ladders hastily hidden behind potted plants, and various old office supplies that have been wiped clean but cannot be concealed.
The employees who lacked orders clearly had nothing to do, but they still tried hard to pretend that they were working seriously.
Tsk, as expected, in order to cope with Lin Cao’s inspection, Spark Company has done enough face-saving work.
Unfortunately, Lin Cao doesn't seem to buy it.
As if knowing that his company's image had been completely destroyed, Huang Wei got a cup of hot water from the water dispenser and pointed Yang Ruoqian in a direction: "Boss Yang, over there, please, have some water."
Yang Ruoqian was too lazy to expose these tricks, and walked to the door of Ma Yuan's office with Chang Zhiqing.
Before he could reach out, the office door was opened from the inside.
Ma Yuan put his phone in his trouser pocket and hurried out. When he saw Yang Ruoqian, he immediately showed a surprised and angry expression: "Boss Yang, I'm so sorry... We were just discussing a big project. Didn't I ask my staff to take you to a better environment to discuss it?"
After that, he turned his gaze to Huang Wei and scolded him, "Xiao Huang, what's wrong with you? The company is undergoing renovations. Mr. Yang is someone of such status, and you let him come to a place like this to breathe in exhaust fumes? Did I teach you all the basic principles of hospitality in vain?!"
ps: My status has returned to normal. From today onwards, the daily update will be restored to 6,000 words.
End the slump, starting today! Those three long and difficult sentences can be translated into plain language: "Spark Records has not yet found its own characteristics and advantages, missed the opportunity to use its own resources and capabilities to create more value, and failed to find the type of music it is good at. At the same time, it has not cooperated with other peers and has not established its own sales channels, which has led to the complete failure of their various strategies and has never been able to stand out in the fiercely competitive record industry."
"At the same time, Spark Records did not use its influence and connections to cooperate with local resources and talents when it just separated from Yuefu Group, and missed many good opportunities. They also failed in their attempts to transform and innovate, and entered some fields that were not suitable for them. The company's overall risk resistance was very weak, all its businesses were short-lived, and it was unable to establish its own advantages and barriers."
"But even if their performance is very poor, they can't make a profit, they are close to bankruptcy, there are fewer and fewer customers willing to pay for their products, banks are no longer willing to lend to them, and they can't find investors in the market... I still think that after solving these problems, Spark Records will have great development potential."
(The words are adapted from Little John Khan) (End of this chapter)
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