-4- Opportunities
"Owed property management fees again?" Zhao Jinghuan thought bitterly. She must burn this suit when she got home. She thought so, but she also knew that it was impossible. At the price of 399, it would cost at least 100 dollars. Instead of burning it, she should find a way to sell it to the property manager... Lu Kai helped Zhao Jinghuan explain: "This is Zhao Jinghuan. She is also a designer. She likes the 'backflip' I made very much." "Oh." Sister Zou said, "I thought she was the new employee you found to replace me." She climbed up a few steps. Lu Kai subconsciously dodged back to make way for her. When they passed by, Sister Zou said: "Anyway, you should do it as soon as possible. I will resign at the end of the month. I have given you a one-month buffer period." Sister Zou pushed the door open and entered the room. Wanfeng and Tomato were still chatting in the room. As soon as Sister Zou came in, they fell silent obediently. Lu Kai suddenly thought of something and turned to ask Zhao Jinghuan: "By the way, you just said that you are an independent designer, so you are still a freelancer now, so... do you want to come to our studio to work?" Zhao Jinghuan had originally made up her mind to stay away from the trendy toy track that was tainted by her ex-boyfriend, but Lu Kai's sudden question caught her off guard and she actually answered casually: "That... that's okay?" Then she was pulled into the house by Lu Kai without any explanation. After entering the room, Lu Kai coughed twice to attract everyone's attention: "Well, classmate Zhao also wants to come to our studio to work." Lu Kai turned to explain to Zhao Jinghuan: "We just need a new business. Although what I can offer you is not a designer position, once you get started with the business part, you will have a deeper and better understanding of this industry, which in turn will be beneficial to your design work. By the way, are you studying design?" Zhao Jinghuan nodded and said that she studied visual communication design in college. "Oh, where did you graduate from?" Zhao Jinghuan was about to speak, but stopped herself. Even if she pointed out that she and Lu Kai were classmates, they wouldn't really be related. With three years' difference, she could probably get away with saying she hadn't heard of Lu Kai's "feat." But she felt a little guilty and blurted out, "I went to a junior college..." Lu Kai said, "Oh," and then she said, "Junior colleges are good, too. They're practical. Many junior college students actually have much better majors than their undergraduate counterparts." She turned to Sister Zou and said, "Sister Zou, what do you think? Miss Zhao has a keen eye. She likes the art figurine I designed, the 'backflip.' I think she's the perfect person for the new business." Sister Zou had just put her handbag on the table and glanced at it wearily...
"You owe property management fees again?"
Zhao Jinghuan thought bitterly that she would have to burn the suit when she got home. She thought so, but she also knew that it was impossible. At the price of 399, it would have sold nearly 100 times. Instead of burning it, she should find a way to sell it to the property manager...
Lu Kai helped Zhao Jinghuan explain: "This is Zhao Jinghuan, she is also a designer, she likes the 'backflip' I did very much."
"Oh." Sister Zou said, "I thought she was the new employee you hired to replace me."
She climbed a few steps, and Lu Kai subconsciously stepped back to make way for her. As they passed each other, Sister Zou said, "Anyway, please hurry up. I'm leaving at the end of the month, and I've already given you a month's grace period."
Sister Zou pushed the door open and entered the room. Wanfeng and Tomato were still chatting in the room, but as soon as Sister Zou came in, they both fell silent obediently.
Lu Kai suddenly thought of something and turned to Zhao Jinghuan, "Oh, you just said you're an independent designer, so you're still a freelancer. So... do you want to come work in our studio?"
Zhao Jinghuan had originally made up her mind to stay away from the trendy toy industry that had been tainted by her ex-boyfriend, but when Lu Kai asked her out of the blue, she was caught off guard and answered casually, "That... is okay?" Then she was pulled into the house by Lu Kai without any explanation.
After entering the room, Lu Kai coughed twice to attract everyone's attention. "Well, Zhao wants to work in our studio too." Lu Kai turned to Zhao Jinghuan and explained, "We just happen to need a new business manager. Although the position I can offer you isn't a designer position, getting started with the business side of things will give you a deeper and better understanding of the industry, which in turn will benefit your design career. By the way, are you studying design?"
Zhao Jinghuan nodded and said that he studied visual communication design in college.
"Oh, where did you graduate from?"
Zhao Jinghuan was about to speak, but stopped herself. Even if she pointed out that she and Lu Kai were classmates, they wouldn't really be related. With a three-year gap, she could probably get away with saying she hadn't heard of Lu Kai's "feat." However, she still felt a little guilty and blurted out, "I went to junior college..."
Lu Kai said, "Oh," and said, "Junior college is also good. It's practical. Many junior college students actually have a much wider range of majors than undergraduate graduates." She turned to Sister Zou and said, "Sister Zou, what do you think? Classmate Zhao has a keen eye. She likes the art figurine I designed, the 'Backflip'. I think she's the perfect person for the new business."
Sister Zou just put her handbag on the table, glanced at Lu Kai wearily, and then suddenly asked Zhao Jinghuan:
“What were the five best-selling blind boxes last year?”
Zhao Jinghuan didn't expect that there would be an interview session today and was stunned for a moment.
Ms. Zou asked, “Who are the mainstream distributors?”
Zhao Jinghuan didn't answer, but Sister Zou didn't give her a chance to breathe. She stood up again and took a doll from the display case. "I'm going to make 5,000 of these blind boxes. How much is each one?"
Lu Kai quickly came to Zhao Jinghuan's rescue: "Sister Zou, Xiao Zhao hasn't even started working in the industry yet, how could she know all these details?"
"Okay." Sister Zou put the blind box back. "Let's ask some basic questions. Who are the toy-related anchors on Douyin? Approximately how many followers do they have?" She glanced at Lu Kai. "This is too detailed."
Zou Jie said: "Okay, let's change it. Besides Pop Mart and TopToy, what other offline stores that sell trendy toys can you think of?"
Zhao Jinghuan was so frustrated by Sister Zou's series of questions that she couldn't think of anything or say anything for a moment.
Sister Zou had a cold face and threw out a question that was almost a free pass: "Name a blind box IP, just one will do."
Zhao Jinghuan was stunned for a moment, but she could remember an IP - Mr. Hu Zi, who belonged to her ex-boyfriend.
But she didn't want to say it out loud.
Sister Zou turned to look at Lu Kai, her tone full of sarcasm: "Not bad, a perfect candidate."
…………
The atmosphere in the room suddenly reached freezing point. Zhao Jinghuan's brain froze, and she couldn't even remember how Lu Kai escorted her out of the studio, how she walked through the damp corridor covered in advertisements, and how she returned to the sunlight. She only remembered adding Lu Kai's WeChat on the steep slope at the entrance to Unit 1, where she could easily fall and roll down.
Oh yes, and Lu Kai’s last words:
"Don't be angry, Sister Zou is just like that, she doesn't mean any harm."
Lu Kai then went upstairs. When Zhao Jinghuan was the only one left on the slope where the left foot was 1.6 meters high and the right foot was 1.7 meters high, she suddenly had a strange feeling, as if she had had a short and not very pleasant dream.
She recalled the look Sister Zou had given her just now, and her own stunned expression. She consoled herself by thinking that it was a good thing she hadn't been hired, or else she might have had to meet her nasty ex-boyfriend at the summit.
But she had to admit that she had been given a chance, and she... had messed it up.
"Yeah, I almost forgot."
What I am best at is failing.
…
When Lu Kai returned to the studio, Wan Feng was tinkering with a hand drill and file on a freshly printed white model. Tomato was typing furiously, presumably in his fan group, flattering the buyer. Sister Zou sat in her seat, chatting on WeChat on her phone, not even looking up. Lu Kai stood at the door for a moment, but no one spoke. He was fed up with the tense atmosphere in the room, but he didn't know how to mend the rift between them.
He evaded the question, "That girl looks quite young. It's normal for a recent college graduate to not know anything. Wasn't that the case with us all?"
Sister Zou snorted, "So you're planning to recruit her and have her become like us in five or six years?"
Lu Kai frowned and paused for a long time before saying, "What's wrong with us? We are fine too." But it was obvious that he didn't have much confidence in what he said.
The chubby Tomato suddenly spoke in a sarcastic tone, "She just needs a chance to get into the industry. We're not asking her to follow a bunch of losers like us for the rest of her life. Besides, following losers is the best way to hone your abilities. Isn't that what you do, Sister Zou? You perfect your skills, stomp your feet, and walk away. Who among us would hold you captive to prevent you from soaring higher?"
Just as Sister Zou was about to retort, she heard a loud "clang" sound behind her, as if the security door had hit the wall outside.
Several people in the room peeked in and turned back, and saw Zhao Jinghuan standing at the door with her hands tucked in, a look of fear on her face: "I... I just pulled the door, there was a draft... I..." She peeked behind the door: "Painting, spray painting, is it okay?"
Lu Kai went up to him and said, "It's okay, it's okay. That's the Black Knight's paint, it's very hard. Oh, the house is full of paintings, if it gets broken, just patch it up."
He helped Zhao Jinghuan straighten the door and asked her, "Did you leave anything behind?"
Zhao Jinghuan shook her head: "No."
She calmed herself down, walked past Lu Kai, and met Sister Zou's gaze.
"The top five best-selling blind boxes last year were Zsiga's Everything, Dimoo's Beside You, Zora's Linglongfu, Skullpanda's Voice, and Dora's No Taboos."
"The cost of making a steel mold ranges from 20,000 to 100,000 yuan. Including labor, if a group of 5,000 is produced, the cost per blind box is about 12 or 13 yuan."
"And... and now, besides Pop Mart and TopToy, there are also stores selling trendy toys like Jiumu Sundry Shop, X11, Cool Toys, and 52Toy..."
She answered all the questions she hadn't answered before in one breath, and when she finished the last word, she even felt a slight sense of hypoxia.
The room was silent for a long time before Sister Zou asked her, "Baidu?"
Zhao Jinghuan shook her head firmly: "deepseek."
Sister Zou smiled, then noticed Lu Kai looking at her expectantly. She let out an impatient "hiss."
"You're the one who's hiring new employees, not me."
Lu Kai nodded. Without saying anything more, he walked straight to Zhao Jinghuan and extended his right hand to her.
"Welcome aboard."
Zhao Jinghuan felt a warmth in her heart, and all the pores on her body seemed to explode at the same time. She couldn't tell where this feeling came from. Was it because she really believed that she had got a good opportunity, or because for the first time in a long time, she did not fail again.
She suddenly forgot her decision not to step into the same river with her ex-boyfriend, took a step forward and held Lu Kai's hand tightly.
His fingers were long and slender, with distinct joints, but they didn't feel frail at all when he gripped them. Instead, they carried a firm strength that made people feel inexplicably at ease.
It seemed that in just this moment, the absurd feeling brought about by Lu Kai's failed backflip completely faded away. The person standing in front of Zhao Jinghuan was no longer a young man who had made a fool of himself, but a leader worthy of following.
"Is there anything you want to ask me?" Lu Kai asked her with a smile.
Zhao Jinghuan thought for a moment: "Salary?"
Lu Kai replied: “2500.”
Zhao Jinghuan pulled his hand back abruptly.
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