Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 45 (Part 3)
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Translated by Pure
Edited by Qing
Chapter 45.3 ‘Ah- My Children Are Finally Growing Up’ (Part 3)
There was no such concept in today's market, and even the proposer of this concept had miscategorized his promotion method. But Lin Jingzhe, who had experienced the chaos of the future web, understood right away–wasn’t this the fledgling form of an Internet water army?
Put nicer, one could call it a marketing team. This marketing method was unknown now, but in the future, it was a must-have for many enterprises. The company Lin Jingzhe worked for had been one of the top 500 companies globally at the time. It had a deep foundation and great influence, but still needed to spend at least nine figures on marketing annually. The era in which 'quality products speak for itself’ would pass sooner or later. This was especially true for the Internet-related industries; popularity represented profit, no one could afford to disregard this fact.
A good marketing team could even become a resource that countless companies competed for. The marketing industry at present appeared rather superficial, but its potential benefits were hard to overstate.
Gao Sheng obviously didn't know what kind of world he had just jumped into. He felt that his idea was a bit underhanded, so he couldn't help but feel a little bit ashamed as he asked Lin Jingzhe, "What do you think? Liang Pi said it wasn’t necessary, but I think it's worth giving it a try since it doesn't cost anything, right?”
"Yes~" Lin Jingzhe inwardly sighed, he had an ‘ah– my child is finally all grown up’ kind of feeling. He patted Gao Sheng's arm and said gently, "You can do whatever you want. If you don't have enough funds, you can come to me for approval. Remember, although Liang Pi and Wu Wangfei are in charge of Best Partner IT, I trust you the most. You are allowed to be bold and stick to your own ideas, even if your proposals are in conflict with theirs."
This was also beneficial to Lin Jingzhe. Although he was pleased to see the close cooperation between the co-founders of Best Partner IT, he wouldn’t want them to unite and completely ignore the opinions of the investor.
Those two people were very timid and sincere now, but the most unpredictable thing in this world were other people’s thoughts. In the next ten or twenty years, if Best Partner IT really soared, could they still maintain their current sincerity?
Therefore, Gao Sheng had to be strong and Lin Jingzhe would unreservedly support his endeavors. Even if Gao Sheng had to go against the ideas of the two founders, like in the current situation. It was only when he remained strong-willed and persistent that Liang Pi and Wu Wangfei would continue to live in awe of Lin Jingzhe.
Gao Sheng still didn’t understand this concept, he only knew that his idea was supported by Lin Jingzhe. Although elated, he felt a little puzzled by Lin Jingzhe‘s absolute support.
How he would implement his plans remained unknown to Lin Jingzhe. After returning to the dormitory, Lin Jingzhe received a call from Deng Mai.
The latter should have gone to sign the lease contract for their first real estate office location this morning. Lin Jingzhe had already figured out the amount of people that should be recruited based on the size and scope of this office Deng Mai had found. Unfortunately, the call bore bad news.
Deng Mai said: "Brother Lin, the contract has not been signed."
Lin Jingzhe heard the fluctuation in his tone and raised his brow. "What happened? Was there a problem with the rent?"
"No, it was a temporary breach of the contract from the management’s side. Everything had been negotiated in the morning. Their person in charge answered the phone half an hour before signing the contract, and when they came back, they said they couldn't rent it to us."
This was clear mockery, so Deng Mai was furious. Lin Jingzhe fell into a moment of silence before he asked, "Did they have a reason why?"
"I asked." Deng Mai replied angrily, "They said that the office had already planned on leasing it to another company. If it was already planned, then why string us along for two whole days? They were clearly trying to insult us!"
Lin Jingzhe hesitated to speak his opinion because the matter was a bit unusual. He was not as angry as Deng Mai, so he just said, in a deep voice, "You wait there, I will come over in a while."
****
The office space that Deng Mai wanted to rent was from one of the largest buildings in Yan City. This building had a total of nineteen floors. Deng Mai was interested in the sixteenth floor which was about five-hundred square meters. Their facilities and lighting were considered to be first-rate by contemporary standards.
In the reception area of the management office, Lin Jingzhe was expressionlessly leaning against a sofa. With his legs crossed, Lin Jingzhe held a teacup in one hand and a tea lid in the other. He looked relaxed, almost in a daze-like state, but his eyes were fixed on the manager of the leasing department sitting opposite him. He had no intention of speaking at the moment.
He sat there for less than ten minutes when the section chief of the leasing department, who had been avoiding Deng Mai's questioning, rushed over. When Lin Jingzhe heard his footsteps, he only smiled and gave the man a half smile. "Wow! Section Chief Wu, it's really not easy to meet you, huh."
Section Chief Wu was the owner of the real estate company. He held a completely different position compared to a representative like Deng Mai. This peculiar sentence made the Section Chief Wu suddenly feel very embarrassed. He hurriedly opened his mouth to defend himself, "My apologies– My apologies– Mr. Lin must have waited a long time! We’re just so busy– those words are a bit harsh."
"Ha." Lin Jingzhe leaned forward, put the teacup on the table, and said, "Really?"
He looked young, but his imposing manner was no less than that of a middle-aged entrepreneur with ample experience. Section Chief Wu wiped his sweat and sat down in front of him. With a troubled expression on his face, he apologized, "Mr. Lin, this matter was because of our negligence. We’ve even troubled you to make this trip. How about this, although the agreement between us has not been formally signed, but to express my apology, I will take the initiative and pay you half of the penalty amount for breaching the contract?"
It would have been better if Section Chief Wu hadn’t mentioned this. Since he would rather give money than rent the office space, Lin Jingzhe refused to believe that this had been a simple mistake. He looked at Section Chief Wu with a smile and asked, "Section Chief, do I look like I'm short of money?"
Section Chief Wu immediately waved his hands. "No, no! Of course not! I didn't mean it in that way. This matter was our fault. It's not that we don't want to rent it to you, it's because of a careless omission in our record. We have already signed a contract with another before you. Why don't you tell me what we can do to make amends? I, surname Wu, will risk it all to please you!"
Lin Jingzhe studied Section Chief Wu’s expression, and could see that the other party didn't want to offend him. In that case, the person who could push Section Chief Wu to do this was probably from an even more powerful background.
Arguing with small fry was meaningless, so Lin Jingzhe restrained his smile and regained his solemn expression. He seemingly contemplated it for a while amidst Section Chief Wu's uneasiness, and then said, "Our Manager Deng truly likes this office space, Section Chief Wu. How about you tell us the tenant who signed a contract with you before? I will negotiate with him personally. "
"This……"
Section Chief Wu hesitated for a moment, unable to continue.
Lin Jingzhe stared at him for a while. His keen gaze caused Section Chief Wu to finally relent. He sighed and said, "They are on the sixteenth floor right now. Since you are so persistent, I will ask them to come down for a talk."
After he finished speaking, Section Chief Wu picked up the landline and made a call. Soon, there were footsteps and conversations outside the management office.
The door was pushed open and office workers entered first, revealing the tenants walking behind them.
Qi Qing, in a suit and leather shoes, stepped in with Jiang Qiaqia, who was wearing a cheongsam. When the couple saw Lin Jingzhe, they were immediately taken aback.
Lin Jingzhe's face became gloomy uncontrollably. He squinted his eyes and asked Section Chief Wu, "Are you sure? Is it them?"
The answer was obviously no, but Section Chief Wu insisted on nodding with sweat on his forehead.
"Okay, I see." Lin Jingzhe understood that there was probably nothing to talk about, so he patted his thighs and stood up. He nodded and walked towards the door.
Section Chief Wu knew that he had offended Lin Jingzhe. He inwardly groaned but had no choice but to chase after him, desperate to remedy the situation. "Mr. Lin! Mr. Lin!"
Lin Jingzhe ignored him. The moment they passed by Jiang Qiaqia, Qi Qing was also very disturbed by his imposing aura. But he persisted to say hello, "Mr. Lin..."
Lin Jingzhe didn't even look at him, and just walked out with Deng Mai. Since Section Chief Wu didn't dare to disclose anything, he would have to investigate the situation by himself.
Qi Qing stood there and watched Lin Jingzhe’s back as he departed. He then turned around and sighed to Jiang Qiaqia, "It's over. I've completely offended him."
Jiang Qiaqia was also a little apprehensive, but after thinking about it, she restrained the worried expression on her face. "What else can we do? If we don’t offend him, then we would have to offend Mr. Qi."
Qi Qing sighed at his poor luck of ‘being caught in the crossfire [1]’ when the brick phone in his bag rang loudly. He hurriedly took it out to answer it.
Qi Kai's voice came from the receiver, "Is the matter settled?"
"It’s settled!" Qi Qing hurriedly answered, "As soon as you called, they signed the contract without a peep!"
Qi Kai sneered; he obviously looked down on the couple. So after confirming that Lin Jingzhe's matter had been marred, he directly hung up.
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Footnote:
[1] being caught in the crossfire - The raws were ‘城門失火，殃及池魚’. Which directly translates to a ‘fire in the city gates is also a calamity for the fish in the moat’. There isn’t an English equivalent to this idiom, as it can be interpreted into many meanings. You can read more HERE.
Translated by pure, hosted on puretl.com / do not repost!