Chapter 11: A design student who also understands financial models?
Ruan Yao had never seen Huo Jing like this before.
In her memory, Huo Jing would take her to an art exhibition and patiently explain the story behind each painting.
They would have afternoon tea together, and Huo Jing would take the initiative to share interesting gossip from their circle with her.
Easygoing and patient, Huo Jing was only ten years older than her, yet she treated her with the patience and affection of an elder towards a younger person.
Huo Jing, standing before him, exuded a powerful aura that kept strangers at bay, like a sharp blade drawn from its sheath, piercing yet devoid of any emotion.
The stark contrast stirred a subtle bittersweet feeling in Ruan Yao's heart.
Only then did she belatedly realize the extent of the selfless favor and preferential treatment she had received in her past life, and how she had personally pushed it all away.
A slight pang shot through her heart, but Ruan Yao quickly composed herself and looked directly into Huo Jing's scrutinizing eyes.
"Director Huo, the value of my design philosophy lies not only in the design itself, but also in its ability to build a complete business loop."
Instead of directly explaining her own work, she first talked about a classical aesthetic artist whom Huo Jing personally greatly admired.
The artist's ideas are cleverly transitioned to the design philosophy of modern trendy toys.
She began to speak eloquently, drawing on her accurate predictions of the market over the next few years.
"I believe that the trendy toys of the future will sell not only the design, but also the emotional value that the IP story brings to consumers."
"We need to build a complete closed loop for the fan economy..."
Ruan Yao spoke eloquently, packaging her experiences from countless successful and failed business cases in her previous life as conclusions drawn from in-depth market research.
These advanced concepts, spoken by a seemingly naive recent graduate, caused Huo Jing's scrutinizing expression to slowly turn into a hint of surprise, and finally, complete focus.
She interrupted Ruan Yao, leaned forward slightly, and began to ask a series of sharp, almost acerbic, questions about the business model and supply chain.
"Your closed-loop theory sounds perfect, but what about the startup costs? How do you get a brand new IP through the initial cash-burning phase when there are no fans and no revenue?"
"How do we address the supply chain issue? Limited editions mean high costs and low tolerance for error. How can we ensure quality control and profitability?"
"You're talking about cross-brand collaborations, but what makes Lexingdao so appealing that other established brands would be willing to partner with a new IP whose future is uncertain?"
The questions came one after another, quickly and urgently, leaving no room for thought.
Ruan Yao, however, seemed to have anticipated this, and calmly dissected each part.
She skillfully used the successful experiences of several famous trendy toy brands that rose to prominence in her previous life, as well as the lessons learned from the failures of other brands, to accurately answer all of Huo Jing's questions.
The interview, which was originally scheduled for half an hour, unknowingly stretched to an hour and a half.
It wasn't until Huo Jing's assistant knocked on the door and came in, quietly reminding her that the next meeting would start in five minutes.
Huo Jing raised her hand, signaling her assistant to go out first.
She closed the portfolio in front of her, leaned back in the wide chair, and silently looked at Ruan Yao, seemingly lost in thought.
After a long pause, she finally spoke, her tone returning to its initial calm.
"Alright, you can go back and wait for our notification."
Ruan Yao breathed a sigh of relief, stood up from her chair, and politely bowed to say goodbye.
"Thank you, Director Huo."
She turned around, about to open the door and leave, when Huo Jing's voice suddenly came from behind her.
"etc."
Ruan Yao stopped in her tracks and turned around.
Huo Jing remained in that position, but her gaze lingered on her face with a hint of inquiry as she asked a question unrelated to work.
"Have we met somewhere before?"
Ruan Yao felt completely lost.
In this life, she and Huo Jing should never have had any interaction.
She thought for a moment and tentatively offered the most reasonable explanation.
“My father is Ruan Minghui of the Ruan Group. Perhaps… Director Huo has seen me at some business banquets?”
Huo Jing nodded thoughtfully, her gaze still fixed on her face.
This answer doesn't seem to fully explain the inexplicable sense of familiarity she felt.
Seeing that she had nothing else to say, Ruan Yao politely took her leave and turned to leave.
The moment the door opened, she bumped right into a figure who was about to push the door open and come in.
"ah!"
With a soft gasp, the large stack of documents he was holding scattered to the ground like snowflakes with a "whoosh".
"I'm sorry." Ruan Yao quickly apologized and immediately squatted down to help pick them up.
The assistant panicked and crouched down to frantically pick up the items.
"It's alright, it's alright, I was just in a hurry."
Ruan Yao helped gather the scattered documents one by one, her fingertips touching the cover of a project proposal, and she paused.
The bold words on the cover immediately catch the eye—
"Seascape Paradise Linkage Project"
Ruan Yao's heart skipped a beat.
She remembered.
In her previous life, it was this project that caused Lexing Island to lose nearly nine figures, becoming one of the few stains on Huo Jing's career.
She quickly glanced through the list, her eyes immediately locking onto the supplier section.
Future Vision Technology Co., Ltd.
That's it.
In the previous life, this company suddenly declared bankruptcy on the eve of delivering its core technology, causing the entire project chain to break down and become a complete failure.
Ruan Yao's heart suddenly raced. She forced herself to calm down, tidied up the last stack of documents, and got up to hand them to her assistant.
"Thank you." The assistant took the neatly arranged stack of documents from her, still shaken.
"You're welcome." Ruan Yao stood up and casually pointed to the supplier's name on the documents she handed over.
She tilted her head, as if trying to recall something.
"Huh? This 'Future Vision'... the name sounds familiar."
The assistant paused for a moment, then looked in the direction she was pointing.
Ruan Yao tilted her head, as if trying hard to recall.
"Oh, I remember now. Last week I went to a tech investment forum and I think I saw it on the risk warning list. It said that their... financial model seemed to have some problems."
After saying that, she shook her head at herself and gave an embarrassed smile.
"I might have remembered it wrong, I'm sorry."
The assistant looked at the girl in front of him, who was as beautiful as a porcelain doll, and thought he had misheard.
How could a recent design graduate possibly be browsing tech investment forums and even know anything about financial models?
Ruan Yao seemed to have mentioned it casually, smiled and nodded at her, then turned and walked towards the elevator.
The elevator doors closed, shutting out the assistant's dazed gaze.
Inside the office, Huo Jing listened to the commotion outside, her brows furrowing slightly.
"What happened?"
The assistant quickly went over, hesitated for a moment, and then repeated what Ruan Yao had just said.
Huo Jing paused in her steps.
She turned around and took the project document from her assistant's arms.
Her gaze, like that of a hawk, was fixed on the words "Future Vision Technology Co., Ltd."
A few seconds later, she closed the file and ordered in a completely emotionless tone:
"Notify the project team that an emergency meeting will be held in two hours to reassess the supplier."
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