Chapter 189 I Have a Job: The Smuggler
Headhunting firms first appeared in the United States in the 1920s and entered Japan, which was experiencing rapid economic growth, in the 1970s.
One of the important tasks of the Chinese Embassy in Japan is to collect information on all aspects of Japan.
Don't get me wrong, it's not espionage. It's about learning about all aspects of Japan through public channels, such as television and newspapers, which naturally includes the emerging headhunting companies.
The embassy provided the addresses and contact information of several headhunting companies, but made it clear beforehand that there were some unpleasant surprises.
Since they didn't have any contact with headhunting companies in their daily work, they didn't know anything about the headhunting companies, let alone whether they had any goodwill towards China.
Wang Xiao didn't care about this.
The working class is driven by the spirit of the working class. Bosses never need employees to genuinely love the company; they just need the latter to honestly make money for the company.
She had to do this herself.
Because although the assistants are very capable, their backgrounds limit their perspective.
Whether in Russia or China, headhunting companies are a new industry, or even, Wang Xiao suspects, they haven't even existed yet. So, naturally, they have no way of understanding them, let alone knowing how to deal with them.
Wang Xiao chose a headhunting company that had been established for less than three years.
The ambassador, quite concerned about their progress, found it rather strange: "Why choose this company? Shouldn't we look for one with more experience?"
How should Wang Xiao explain this?
She chose this company because it had lived long enough, developed rapidly enough, and even expanded its business to China before the millennium.
Before she transmigrated, she had also dealt with its Chinese branch, which wanted to poach her and sign her to a famous influencer agency. Although she later refused, the whole process wasn't bad.
These are things that can't be discussed right now.
Wang Xiao could only make up an excuse on the spot: "Because it is a new company, it has a stronger pioneering spirit, it needs a super big order to make a name for itself in the industry, and it has no right to be picky or bully its customers."
That makes sense.
The ambassador accepted this explanation and reluctantly went with him to the headhunting firm.
He actually felt he didn't need to show up, since it wasn't some kind of foreign affairs event.
However, Wang Xiao insisted because she needed the ambassador to endorse Secretary Fang, and Secretary Fang's appearance and statements were proof of the endorsement of the newly established Huaxia Wuzhou Electronics Company.
This proves that Wuzhou Electronics Company has received official support.
This is very important.
Whether or not you have policy support is very important for business activities in any country; but it is especially important in societies where the state-owned economy is dominant.
The São Paulo talent consulting firm is clearly knowledgeable.
When the manager, Ichiro Toda, who was receiving them, learned of Secretary Fang's identity, his eyes lit up instantly, and his enthusiasm, which was originally 100%, soared to 120%.
In Toda Ichiro's view, the top official of a province in China is equivalent to the local emperor of that province.
With her presence, the newly established Huaxia Electronics Company instantly became much more valuable.
This was even more important to him than the financial resources of the electronics company.
All the Japanese companies that suffered heavy losses in Moscow learned a painful lesson from the experience: do not think about business in a country under the red flag from a purely commercial perspective.
Wang Xiao smiled and made the following request: "It would be best if the team leader had relevant work experience, but if they are an outstanding business leader, then this requirement is not important."
"The company needs a complete technical team, including factory construction experts."
...
She made one request after another, and Ichiro Toda, whose English was good, listened attentively and took notes on the key points.
Finally, after Wang Xiao finished speaking, he asked, "Could you provide Japanese schools for the engineers' children?"
“Of course,” Wang Xiao said with certainty. “If the children have educational needs, we can build a dedicated Japanese school in the industrial park to ensure that their education will not be interrupted. Of course, if the engineers are willing, their children can go directly to a foreign language school with dedicated Japanese classes.”
Ichiro Toda asked one question after another, finally getting to the issue of salary: "What kind of salary standard are you willing to offer? I mean, normally we would increase their current annual salary by 30%-50%, but this principle does not apply to working abroad."
He swallowed the rest of his words, but everyone understood the implication: it was especially important to go to a poor, backward country where everything was inconvenient.
“Three times,” Wang Xiao said firmly. “We can offer three times the salary.”
Those present who understood her words, except for those who knew beforehand, secretly gasped.
Wow, engineers in Japan's LCD panel industry already earn high salaries, and to triple that is truly a windfall.
Wang Xiao and Ivanov didn't care, because they would have to spend more money if they bought the production line directly.
Most importantly, the Japanese wouldn't sell it either.
Wang Xiao further emphasized: "It doesn't necessarily have to be Japanese engineers; technology knows no borders. As long as our needs are met, engineers from any country are acceptable."
She talked with Ichiro Toda for two whole hours, discussing every single detail.
The secretary came in three times to refill the coffee, and finally saw the guest off. She was surprised to see the manager escort the guest all the way downstairs.
When the manager returned to the company, the secretary couldn't help but ask curiously, "Who was the guest?"
Aren't these Chinese guests? She still felt quite superior in front of the Chinese.
After all, there are more and more Chinese people in Japan now. Apart from a small number of genuine international students, most of them are illegal workers who earn one-third of the salary of their Japanese counterparts, without any social insurance or labor protection. They do dirty and tiring jobs that Japanese people are unwilling to do, and their living and working conditions are a mess.
Toda Ichiro was overjoyed: "The God of Wealth! Our God of Wealth has arrived. Ms. Reiko, please note, this is a huge order worth tens of millions of US dollars. Our St. Paul Company will take off with this."
The secretary glanced out the window instinctively. Was that the God of Wealth?
Good heavens! When she saw such a large group of them coming over, she thought they were Taiwanese gangsters.
Wang Xiao couldn't see the secretary's astonished expression.
Of course, she wouldn't care even if she saw it.
She was busy talking to Secretary Fang.
The latter felt truly enlightened today, never expecting headhunting companies to be like this.
She felt that such headhunting firms would be popular in the country.
The current job allocation model for college and vocational school graduates is probably no longer sufficient to meet the needs of economic development.
Wang Xiao laughed and said, "Right now, we're encouraging Party members and cadres to go into business. I think it would be perfect to start a headhunting company. There are a lot of foreign companies investing and building factories and companies in China right now, so it's the perfect time to recruit talent."
Secretary Fang subconsciously shook his head: "This won't work. We don't have the experience. Foreigners have more experience doing it themselves and they know what kind of talent foreign companies are looking for."
Wang Xiao's smile deepened: "That's not necessarily true. We have our advantages in doing things ourselves. We understand domestic policies, so we can easily grasp the nuances and are less likely to cross the line. Foreign monks may not be able to adapt to the local conditions."
Sachiko Ito and Saori Yamada walked around from behind the building, saw the boss, and quickly went up to greet him.
Wang Xiao introduced them and exchanged a few pleasantries.
She caught a glimpse of Yamada Saori secretly looking at the Saint Paul Company's sign and immediately laughed: "Don't worry, I'm not going there to ask them to find me a new store manager."
When Saori Yamada was caught peeking, she blushed deeply and bowed repeatedly in apology.
Wang Xiao was quite afraid of Japanese people bowing, even cute girls, because they would keep bowing endlessly.
She interrupted him directly: "Alright, how's the shop search going?"
Sachiko Ito quickly replied, "We've already found one, it's nearby, and the workers have already started renovations."
Yamada Saori quickly took out a binder from her bag, which contained a selection of basic items that she thought might be popular.
Wang Xiao took it and asked Secretary Fang with a smile, "Excuse me, Secretary, I'd like to take a look at the shops here."
The ambassador had other work to do in the afternoon, but Secretary Fang was surprisingly interested in the clothing store and enthusiastically expressed his desire to go and take a look together.
She needs to understand capitalist society as much as possible in order to better deal with foreign capital.
The country is still too poor. Without attracting foreign investment, where will the funds for construction come from?
The shop that Sachiko Ito found was on the edge of the city center, located on a back street. But fortunately, there was a sidewalk that connected the main road to this street.
Because of its poor location, the rent for the shop is relatively cheap, and the rented space is also large, with two floors combined, totaling only about 400 square meters.
The shop was under renovation at the time, and since the electrical wiring had not yet been installed, the air conditioning could not be turned on.
The temperature in Tokyo in July is high enough to make busy workers sweat profusely.
Wang Xiao emphasized to the two female workers: "Be careful to avoid high temperatures and heatstroke. Pay attention to the health of the workers."
Yamada Saori, being young, showed a subtle change in expression.
Just as Wang Xiao was about to ask her a question, a woman's hysterical shout suddenly came from upstairs: "I've had enough! I've had enough of this awful life! I don't want to stay here another day!"
It's Chinese!
Accompanied by shouts, a young woman with a haphazardly tied ponytail and bangs soaked with sweat ran down the stairs, yelling, "I can't take it anymore!"
The head of the renovation team accompanying the client changed his expression drastically and shouted something at the woman in Japanese, but she remained unmoved.
The renovation foreman rushed over and grabbed the woman's arm. She struggled desperately, which angered the foreman.
The captain flung the woman to the ground, kicked her, and cursed viciously.
All of this happened so fast that Wang Xiao and the others, separated by the paint bucket, only reacted at this moment.
Hey! What are you doing?
At the boss's command, Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao rushed over and grabbed the renovation team leader's arms from both sides.
Secretary Fang frowned and scolded, "How could you do this? You even hit someone!"
Wu Haoyu was also furious and negotiated with the other party in Japanese. Just now, the renovation foreman had actually called him a pig!
A young man wearing glasses rushed down from upstairs, shouting, "It's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding. My wife is just throwing a tantrum."
It's Chinese.
But the young woman he called his wife shouted, "Who's your wife? I'm not your wife!"
The Chinese present all became serious. It seemed that this was a transnational human trafficking case.
Secretary Fang grabbed the young woman's hand and said, "Comrade, what's wrong? Tell us. We're from the Chinese Embassy."
The girl reacted as if she'd seen a ghost, letting out a cry of "Ah!" and running away.
If Lyuba hadn't been watching her closely, she would have definitely run out of the shop.
"Alright!" Wang Xiao's face turned cold. "Explain what exactly happened. Don't worry, the embassy won't forcibly deport you; that's the job of the Japanese police."
The young woman trembled like a leaf, and asked her shakily, "Really, you don't know how?"
“Yes, the embassy doesn’t have that kind of spare money,” Wang Xiao urged. “Tell me, what exactly happened? We won’t ask the Japanese police to arrest you.”
The bespectacled man who had just claimed to be her husband anxiously emphasized, "Comrades, don't listen to her nonsense, she's just throwing a tantrum."
These words stirred up a hornet's nest, and the young woman instantly exploded: "I'm talking nonsense? You bastard! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in such a miserable state. I'm a respectable university graduate, I'm a government official!"
It turns out that this girl graduated from university last year and was assigned to work in the Cultural Bureau.
She complained about the low salary, the boring job, and the incompatibility with the bureaucratic leaders.
Just then, her boyfriend, who was also the bespectacled man's cousin in Japan, returned and said that Japan was full of gold.
The craze for going abroad has been a hot topic since the late 1980s, and many people have indeed made a fortune.
The girl saw her cousin wearing gold and silver jewelry and was tempted, so she borrowed tens of thousands of yuan and came to Japan with her boyfriend.
When she arrived, she discovered that her cousin's so-called "good job" was actually selling sex at a brothel. She definitely couldn't agree to that, and her boyfriend wouldn't stand for it either.
When her cousin's wish was not fulfilled, she turned on them and kicked them out of the house.
What can a young couple with no money, no status, and no familiarity with the city do in Tokyo? They can only work as construction and decoration workers, doing more and harder work than others, but earning only a fraction of what others earn, and they are also bullied.
She just had a meltdown because another construction worker touched her buttocks.
Her boyfriend not only refused to help her get justice, but also told her not to make a scene.
Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao instantly exploded, berating the bespectacled man: "Are you even a man? You've ruined that girl like this, aren't you ashamed? You're not even protecting her."
The bespectacled man also exploded: "What am I supposed to do? If I lose this job, we'll starve! You have no idea how hard it is to find a job in Tokyo!"
Secretary Fang listened with a look of utter dismay on his face: "Why are you doing this to yourself? You might as well go back to China sooner. You're a college student with so many opportunities to shine."
The young woman burst into tears: "I'm not going back. My family still owes tens of thousands of yuan in debt. If I go back now, people will laugh at me. Besides, even if I earn less, it's still much more than I would in China."
There's really no way to persuade someone about something like this; Wang Xiao couldn't even help her get justice.
Yes, she can now force that groping Japanese construction worker to kneel down and apologize to the young woman, and she can even beat him up to vent her anger.
But then what? This couple was illegally living in Japan and had no chance of finding normal, legal work. They clearly didn't possess any extraordinary abilities, at least not right now, and would have to continue begging for a living with this construction crew.
Having offended the Japanese workers, what good days could these two undocumented immigrants possibly have?
A simple report from someone could be a devastating blow to them.
The only advice Wang Xiao could give was: "Study hard and strive to improve yourself. Don't place your hopes on others; everyone is only responsible for their own life."
Complaining means that you still have hope or illusions about the other person.
But is this something we can only dream about?
You thought the other person would feel guilty towards you.
But in reality, they might even think they have high moral character.
Look, I've worked so hard, but I haven't forced you to sell yourself for money. I'm so great.
Go ahead and argue, keep making a scene, keep causing trouble, and if you piss me off, I'll sell you out.
Thinking of this, Wang Xiao couldn't even bring himself to offer any advice.
Because the girl's situation was extremely dangerous, she was practically on the edge of a cliff, and she had no idea what was going on.
Sigh, it's not easy for the country to train a college student these days.
How's your Japanese?
The young woman, who was crying, was taken aback when asked the question and immediately hiccuped: "I can talk about it a little. I... I attended a language school for two months."
Her boyfriend's cousin had arranged for them to go to Japan under the guise of attending a language school. However, they later had a complete falling out, and since the language school was no longer available, they couldn't continue their studies.
Therefore, her Japanese proficiency is still at the level of simple communication.
Wang Xiao nodded: "Alright, you'll come back to the embassy with us today."
The young woman immediately reacted strongly: "I'm not going! I want to earn money!"
"Listen to me. The company will pay your tuition so you can continue learning Japanese. If you do well, you'll get a full-time job. By the way, what's your name?"
"Tao...Tao Yafen. Um, what kind of job is it?"
Wang Xiao nodded: "Tao Yafen, yes, administrative work, in Jiangdong Province. We have many Japanese employees and need administrative staff. Since you speak Japanese, it will be easier to communicate."
“Then we’re not going,” the bespectacled man immediately shouted. “The wages in China are so low.”
“It’s not you, it’s her,” Wang Xiao said coldly. “I wasn’t talking about you.”
The bespectacled man instantly flew into a rage, yelling, "Well, Tao Yafen, do you have any conscience? How have I treated you? And now you're abandoning me to climb the social ladder!"
Secretary Fang couldn't bear to listen any longer: "How did you treat her? She's ended up like this, don't you bear any responsibility? Aren't you ashamed at all?"
Wang Xiao walked forward and finally stood in front of the renovation team leader: "I know that many undocumented Chinese immigrants have approached you, wanting to stay and earn money. They need your help. But please don't forget why you hired them. It's not because you're kind and want to do charity, but because their wages are low and they don't require any insurance. You're making money off them. Everyone gets what they need; don't act superior. There's an old Chinese saying: 'Those with nothing to lose aren't afraid of those wearing shoes.' Angering them won't do you any good."
Ignoring the other person's reaction, she turned to Tao Yafen and asked, "Who had dirty hands just now?"
Tao Yafen, in a daze, pointed and said, "Him."
A short, stout Japanese man was peering down.
"Get down! Kneel down and kowtow to apologize." Wang Xiao coldly issued the order, "Otherwise, I will spend money to hire the most famous lawyer in Japan to convict you of sexual harassment. Your crime will be made public in the whole society, and your family and friends will be ashamed because of you."
Tao Yafen panicked and instinctively said, "I..."
"What?!" Wang Xiao's patience was almost worn out. "Now ask yourself, if your boyfriend sold you out, could you save yourself?"
“No way!” Tao Yafen instinctively defended her boyfriend. “Shao Yan isn’t that kind of person.”
Wang Xiao scoffed, "You've come this far, and you still entrust your personal safety and future to someone else's conscience. Forget it, I take back what I just said. My company doesn't need mentally challenged employees."
Secretary Fang once again urged Tao Yafen: "Girl, use your brain. If something happens to you here, how will your parents live? How can you escape it? And you too, your parents raised you to adulthood, was it easy for them? Why don't you think about your parents?"
Wang Xiao walked upstairs and asked Ito Sachiko and Yamada Saori, "How far along is the renovation?"
The two then realized what was happening and quickly accompanied the boss to continue checking the renovation progress: "The plumbing and electrical work will be done soon."
Sachiko Ito pressed further, "Do we need to change the renovation team?"
Although it's a bit of a hassle, the boss is clearly very angry, so let's replace him.
Wang Xiao shook his head: "No need, let's keep things separate."
She suspected that if she switched to another renovation team, the situation wouldn't be much better.
Once they reached the upstairs, Sachiko Ito whispered, "Zhou, the person in charge of the renovation team is originally from China."
The so-called original Chinese are Chinese who have acquired Japanese citizenship.
Japan is not only a non-immigrant country, but its national sentiment is also extremely xenophobic. Even if foreigners become naturalized citizens and have East Asian features similar to Japanese, they are still considered foreigners.
Sachiko Ito chose the renovation team led by the former Chinese man for two reasons: firstly, the Chinese man would work overtime to shorten the construction period; secondly, she also wanted to take the opportunity to express her goodwill towards the Chinese man to the boss.
She never expected that she would make such a big mess of things.
Sachiko Ito repeatedly emphasized, "I never expected him to insult Chinese people, he actually went and cursed..."
She muttered a word under her breath, utterly confused, "This is so strange, isn't this insulting him as well?"
Wang Xiao's eyebrows shot up immediately: "What did he say?"
How could Sachiko Ito dare to say it so clearly in front of her boss?
She was someone who had to work for her boss and obey his orders, but she went crazy and slapped her boss in the face.
Seeing that she was stammering and couldn't give a coherent explanation, Wang Xiao rushed downstairs to ask the embassy staff, "What did he just say to the Chinese?"
Wu Haoyu couldn't bring himself to say it, but Zheng Gongcheng spoke up with a gloomy face: "That pig."
Enraged, Wang Xiao rushed up to the renovation foreman, swung his arm, and delivered a powerful slap across the face.
Bah! What a piece of trash!
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