Chapter 24 President Liang's Many Tricks (Various...)
Jiang Nuanyu went down to the first floor and stepped out of the elevator, her rationality suddenly returning somewhat.
Is she throwing a tantrum again?
If so, with whom? Liang Qi?
Why should she argue with someone?
Every action Liang Qi took upstairs just now was necessary, correct, and reasonable. Even if she wanted to cause trouble, she didn't have that privilege.
If she wasn't having a fight, why did she just leave like that?
She was there on Ji Meng's orders to represent the sponsor and make a statement. Although Liang Qi seemed to have seen her, she hadn't formally greeted him yet, so her mission wasn't considered complete.
...Right?
It's not appropriate for her to just leave like this. Right?
The elevator lobby was quiet.
Jiang Nuanyu knew perfectly well that she was deceiving herself; but emotionally, she truly couldn't bear to miss the opportunity to talk to Liang Qi.
On the other hand, she was annoyed that she had been too passive.
She hesitated at the elevator entrance, unsure whether to stay or leave.
As I hesitated, one of the elevators arrived at the floor and made a "ding" sound behind me.
Jiang Nuanyu steeled her heart, turned around and was about to step inside, intending to return to the banquet hall, when she saw Peng Ze come out of the elevator.
"Editor Jiang." Peng Ze seemed relieved when he saw her. "I was just about to come looking for you."
Jiang Nuanyu was surprised: "Looking for me?"
Peng Ze nodded: "There will be a core media exchange meeting later. President Liang will personally explain this cooperation to the media friends. I wonder if you would like to attend?"
Jiang Nuanyu paused for two seconds, a hint of doubt in her eyes: "...Can I participate?"
Peng Ze said apologetically, "It was my mistake. I didn't invite Florian beforehand. I only remembered when I saw you upstairs. If it's convenient for you, you can come up directly. I've already informed you."
Jiang Nuanyu had no reason to refuse and said, "It's convenient."
Peng Ze immediately smiled and said, "That's good. See you later."
Jiang Nuanyu smiled and said, "See you later."
*
The meeting was held in a conference room on the fourth floor of the convention center, which was the innermost part of the area where Jiang Nuanyu had accidentally wandered in during her period last time.
The meeting room was neither too big nor too small, with a long table in the middle and seats at the head and on both sides; there was also a row of individual chairs along the wall near the door.
Considering the limited seating on both sides of the long table, Jiang Nuanyu consciously sat down against the wall, opened her small notebook, and prepared questions that might be needed later.
As she prepared, she kept an eye on what the other reporters at the table were talking about.
Several people were analyzing Liang Qi's rhetoric today, figuring out which sentences were addressed to the market and which were responses to the board of directors.
Jiang Nuanyu only half understood what was being said, but she could still keep up. However, when the conversation gradually shifted to things like cooperation leverage ratios, forward price-to-earnings ratio estimates, and even included relevant clauses of EU antitrust law, she was completely bewildered.
To be honest, she was a complete novice in finance. At most, she could understand the general meaning of a few frequently used terms, but when it came to the professional field, she was completely clueless.
She silently prepared herself to sit in on the entire session, simply to broaden her horizons.
A moment later, voices came from the conference room doorway. Everyone who was talking stopped and turned to look.
Soon, the door opened, and Liang Qi arrived.
When he came in, he had already taken two or three steps forward. Suddenly, he turned his head slightly towards Jiang Nuanyu and glanced back at her for a second.
It wasn't that he was deliberately paying attention to her; rather, she was the only person sitting on the side at that moment. Yet, there were clearly plenty of empty seats on both sides of the long table.
Jiang Nuanyu was extremely embarrassed.
It was only now that she realized there were fewer than ten people in the room attending this exchange. The scale and requirements were indeed high; she had even considered listening in as a ghost.
Liang Qi didn't say anything about her seat, but went straight to one end of the long table to greet everyone.
Ignoring her embarrassment at her earlier foolish behavior, Jiang Nuanyu seized the opportunity while the reporters in front of her got up to greet Liang Qi, grabbed her bag, and nimbly moved to a seat at the back of the long table.
Most of the journalists present came from the finance or business sectors, and their questions and exchanges focused on macro-level aspects such as capital investment, risk allocation, and future market strategies for the cooperation.
Although these were not topics that Jiang Nuanyu was good at, she still listened attentively, tried her best to understand, and wrote down what she thought were the key points in her notebook.
"Practice makes perfect," she thought to herself.
During the listening process, she noticed that no matter what the question was, Liang Qi's answers were always calm and composed, concise and clear, relevant and informative.
She inexplicably thought of the interview she had conducted at Menghe Island, where he had also been so at ease, exuding the professional charm of a mature businessman in his words and actions.
It was the kind of charm that convinced her and inspired her admiration.
The exchange was conducted in the form of open questions. With a limited number of reporters present, Jiang Nuanyu quickly realized that she was the only one who hadn't spoken yet.
Actually, she wasn't completely unprepared; she had done a lot of homework beforehand. However, compared to the expert journalists at the table who were skilled in reporting on finance and capital markets, she lacked confidence in her ability to accurately understand business collaborations.
She worried that her focus was too peripheral, and that asking a rash question would waste everyone's precious time for discussion. That would be more embarrassing for her than remaining silent for the entire time.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, she couldn't help but glance at Liang Qi at the other end of the table; he was answering questions from reporters in the front row, and glanced at her briefly before looking away.
Jiang Nuanyu was still unsure, and after another round of questions and answers, she still couldn't ask a question.
After the previous reporter thanked Liang Qi for his answer, the conference room was quiet for a second or two.
Liang Qi suddenly said, "This cooperation, besides the economic aspect, also considers expanding into the lifestyle aspect. Are there any media outlets in this field present?"
The people at the table immediately looked at each other, wondering who the media outlets involved were.
Jiang Nuanyu glanced at Liang Qi again; Liang Qi hadn't been staring at her at first, but the next second after she looked at him, he looked up at her.
Across half a long table, his gaze was calm and peaceful, seemingly devoid of any extra or special emotions, yet it inexplicably encouraged her.
After a few seconds of eye contact, she raised her hand.
Liang Qi nodded and gestured to her, indicating that she could speak.
Jiang Nuanyu licked her lips and, like everyone else when asking a question for the first time, introduced herself: "Hello Mr. Liang, I am Jiang Nuanyu, an editor from Florian."
Liang Qi looked at her, his expression unchanged.
Thank you for having the opportunity to ask a question.
The collaboration between Tianqi Cloud and Kangdi Group is undoubtedly a positive step for local enterprises to expand their international influence, and it also provides a good reference for future cross-regional and cross-industry cooperation...
She subconsciously followed her usual interview style and began by spouting a string of official jargon, much of which she had just heard at the signing ceremony.
The other reporters, noticing her lack of expertise, listened for a few minutes before looking down at their own documents, seemingly uninterested.
Liang Qi rested one hand on the table, his gaze remaining calm and fixed on her, showing no sign of impatience.
"...For lifestyle media, such collaborations also provide us with a perspective to better understand how brands shape cultural values through specific business activities."
Jiang Nuanyu forced herself to finish the platitudes and finally got to the point: "Among the publicly disclosed details of this collaboration, I noticed that the implementation phase involves many cultural activities."
She paused for a moment, then said, "I would like to ask, when promoting this kind of transnational and cross-cultural cooperation, have we considered in advance the cultural conflicts that may arise due to differences between Chinese and Western cultures? In particular, is there a risk that our local culture will be impacted in the context of such cooperation?"
Upon hearing this, the other reporters present all leaned back and exchanged knowing glances, clearly trying to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Discussing cultural clashes in this context is somewhat sensitive and thorny. In other words, this issue sounds like nitpicking or finding fault.
As expected, a newbie.
Liang Qi, however, showed no dissatisfaction or sign of being offended.
After listening, he nodded and said, "Different cultural backgrounds do indeed go through a process of mutual adaptation. This process will certainly be accompanied by conflicts arising from the adjustment. But I believe that cultural conflict is never a crisis that should be feared, much less regarded as a monstrous threat."
“Those so-called conflicting cultures often have strong vitality. And resilient things are not afraid of impact; they can even repair and renew themselves in the face of impact, thus becoming stronger.”
"A culture worth preserving will not be so easily eliminated. Just like things that have existed for a long time, we have reason to believe that they have the ability to survive for even longer."
"Of course, there are indeed some cultures that are relatively easy to be affected and face the risk of being diluted."
He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, and said, "Therefore, we will implement three mechanisms simultaneously throughout the entire cooperation period."
Upon hearing this, everyone became serious.
"First, all projects involving unique and sensitive cultural elements must undergo dual review by global and local cultural advisors before they can proceed;
Second, in the project budget, each party has 40% fixed funds, while leaving 20% flexible space to cope with adjustment needs at different stages and to avoid either party becoming dominant.
Finally, the group will regularly publish cultural impact reports on collaborative projects, the content of which is completely transparent to the public and subject to supervision and feedback from all sectors.
This question was raised by Jiang Nuanyu. Although Liang Qi would look at other people while speaking, his gaze would always return to Jiang Nuanyu at the end of each sentence.
While exchanging glances with him, Jiang Nuanyu quickly jotted down keywords in her notebook.
When asked her questions, Liang Qi didn't try to brush them off with platitudes or evade the issue. This didn't surprise her.
What truly surprised her was that Liang Qi was clearly well-prepared for the cultural impact and preservation aspect.
She even wondered if his guidance in asking her questions, besides encouraging her and breaking down her barriers, might also have been a way for him to convey his stance and attitude to the outside world through her questions.
If that's the case, then it seems that she...unintentionally reached some kind of tacit understanding with him?
Finally, Liang Qi softened his tone and said, "Cultural conflict is a very common phenomenon, but it is easily amplified in transnational cooperation. But in essence, as long as there is cooperation, there will be a certain degree of conflict. The key is whether there is a mechanism to balance and guide this process."
Jiang Nuanyu continued his question, "In this strategic cooperation, did Tianqi, or Yunjing, have any consideration of using its corporate influence to promote the inheritance of local culture?"
After listening, Liang Qi looked at her for a moment, then suddenly laughed: "Should I take this as you flattering Yun Jing?"
His seemingly joking remark instantly eased the slightly tense atmosphere at the meeting.
The big shot was joking, and with a young woman no less. Several reporters smiled and turned to give Jiang Nuanyu friendly looks.
Jiang Nuanyu wanted to laugh too, but she couldn't.
She felt her face turn red.
Liang Qi looked at her and said, "If I had to choose a term, I would prefer to position Yun Jing as a reliable carrier."
Jiang Nuanyu listened intently.
He continued, "Things change as they develop, and culture flows dynamically. If Yunjing can use its resources—funds, venues, and international markets—to create a platform that can accommodate this flow and change, then it can be seen as a way of preserving culture."
Jiang Nuanyu was waiting for him to continue, but Liang Qi stopped there and didn't say anything more.
Compared to her first question, Liang Qi's answer was concise and to the point, without taking the opportunity to talk at length about the so-called sense of responsibility of large enterprises or other such sentimental declarations.
Jiang Nuanyu was slightly surprised, but she also felt that this was perfectly reasonable for Liang Qi.
After a few seconds, she thanked him, saying, "Thank you for your answer."
Liang Qi smiled faintly and looked away.
At this point, other reporters seemed to have also grasped the strategic intent implied in Liang Qi's answer. Some seized the opportunity to delve deeper, pressing for more core information.
This was precisely the area that Jiang Nuanyu was relatively familiar with and skilled in. She carefully recorded Liang Qi's answers to these questions for use in subsequent reports.
The entire exchange lasted nearly two hours, with Liang Qi maintaining control of the pace throughout. At the end of the meeting, he stood up, buttoned his coat, and nodded to everyone present.
When he met Jiang Nuanyu's gaze, he paused briefly and nodded slightly.
Jiang Nuanyu nodded to him, gazing at him as she followed him away.
As he reached the door, before leaving, Liang Qi turned back and glanced in her direction.
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