Chapter 83: Plans Can’t Keep Up with Changes
Plans never moved as fast as circumstances.
Xiao Liang had originally intended to place the new company’s operations in Dongzhou’s urban district. But after his deep conversation with Yuan Wenhai, and after seeing the significant shift in Wang Xingmin and Liang Chaobin’s attitudes, he decided instead to base the new company in the town Cultural Center building. Naturally, the plan had to be adjusted accordingly.
Aside from Xu Lihuan leading Fei Wenwei, Zhao Xudong, Xu Xiaodong, and the rest of the existing sales force to remain in Xijiang and continue handling Nanting Lake Juice’s sales there, Wu Qiyan, Zhang Ming, and the others would all withdraw directly to Yunshe to prepare for the new company’s establishment and the development of the Dongzhou market.
Improvements to the juice factory’s production processes and the introduction of auxiliary new equipment would proceed at the same time.
Of course, the more important task was recruitment.
Apart from bringing Gu Peijun along for an all-night talk with Chen Zhu—directly hiring him as deputy director of the juice factory and inviting him to bring people from the municipal pharmaceutical factory to handle future process improvements and production—the immediate priority was expanding the sales team.
In Dongzhou in 1994, it was relatively easy to find engineers and technicians familiar with production lines and manufacturing processes. But most people had no concept of marketing, nor any real understanding of channel development or sales work.
Xiao Liang now needed to recruit and train a new batch of salespeople so they could be ready in time and keep pace with production.
By mid-August, the juice factory’s inventory would essentially be cleared out. After that, they would purchase small batches of concentrated juice pulp for blending to meet basic supply needs in Xijiang and Dongzhou. But the major publicity and promotion campaign in Xijiang would temporarily come to an end.
Even though the Xijiang office would remain, the next stage’s focus would shift. Xu Lihuan, Fei Wenwei, Zhao Xudong, Xu Xiaodong, and the others would all have to return to Yunshe for a new round of training.
On the day Xu Lihuan returned to Yunshe, Xiao Liang gathered everyone for drinks at Linhua Restaurant that night. During the meal, Xu Lihuan casually mentioned that he had gone to Xijiang Daily a couple of days earlier and noticed that Supplement Department Director He Xueqing had a large scrape on her cheek. Only then did he learn she had taken a bad fall recently and had nearly been disfigured.
Xiao Liang knew that in his previous life, He Xueqing had resigned from Xijiang Daily after a family crisis and gone to work in sales at an obscure private company in Xijiang. Before this, he had not known the exact timing of that family incident.
Now, he reached over and took the wineglass from Gu Peijun’s hand.
“You haven’t drunk much yet. Eat more food and fill your stomach. In a bit, drive me and Old Xu to Xijiang.”
Gu Peijun’s driving skills weren’t exactly polished, but at least he had a license.
The Santana Xiao Yujun had bought for the juice factory years ago was finally proving useful.
“Director He took a fall, and you’re this anxious?” Xu Lihuan joked. “I heard she has a husband and child. Being this attentive doesn’t seem appropriate.”
“What would you say if I brought He Xueqing to Yunshe?” Xiao Liang asked with a smile.
“Ah?”
Everyone froze, not expecting that Xiao Liang wanted Gu Peijun to drive overnight to Xijiang because he planned to recruit He Xueqing into the new company.
Almost instinctively, they all shook their heads.
Xu Lihuan said, “How is that possible? Don’t get carried away. You can fool country bumpkins like us who haven’t seen the world, but that’s about it.”
Many city and county state-owned enterprises were now performing poorly, sometimes struggling even to pay wages. Plenty of capable cadres and workers were willing to leave for better opportunities.
But the 1990s were the golden age of newspapers and media. They had both government funding and market-based income.
He Xueqing was barely in her early thirties and was already director of the supplement department. Her ability was unquestionable, and her future prospects were bright.
Who in their right mind would abandon such a promising post—one whose actual income might not even be low—to work for a brand-new company in some remote corner of Dongzhou?
“Whether it works or not, just wait and see,” Xiao Liang said with a smile.
The new company had only just been registered, and a new round of recruitment was underway. But people truly capable of standing on their own were desperately scarce. With the company’s current conditions, it was indeed very difficult to attract people who already had status and whose abilities had already been tested by the market.
Now that He Xueqing was very likely going through a family crisis, Xiao Liang had to go to Xijiang and try.
If he could recruit someone like her, how much trouble would he save in the future?
Then Xiao Liang thought: three grown men rushing off to Xijiang did seem a little abrupt. Since Zhang Feili had gotten along well with He Xueqing while they were in Xijiang, he asked her, “Can you get away tonight and come with us to Xijiang?”
Because of Lin Xi’s matter, Zhang Feili had been avoiding Xiao Liang lately. But with something like this, she had no way to refuse. She simply passed by her house in the car, told her parents, and then joined them on the overnight trip to Xijiang.
…
…
Dongzhou and Xijiang faced each other across the river, but there were no ferries at night, so Xiao Liang and the others had to drive around through Moling.
A trip that normally took three or four hours ended up taking eight or nine.
Earlier, when they had worked on advertising placement in Xijiang, their business had depended heavily on Xijiang Daily, and He Xueqing had been a key contact.
Although they had never managed to deliver any gifts to her, Xu Lihuan and the others had visited He Xueqing’s home before and knew her address.
It was still early when they drove into the residential compound where He Xueqing lived. From a distance, they saw her dragging a suitcase out of the compound.
She looked haggard, standing alone outside the gate, waiting for a taxi.
“…”
When the Santana pulled up and the window rolled down, Xiao Liang and Xu Lihuan leaned out. He Xueqing hurriedly smoothed her disheveled hair several times, doing her best to hide her inner distress and force herself to greet them.
“What a coincidence. Director Xiao, Manager Xu—where are you headed? How did you happen to pass by my place?”
“Where are you going, Director He? We’ll give you a ride.”
Xiao Liang and Zhang Feili got out of the car, intending to help load her suitcase into the trunk.
“No, no, it’s alright,” He Xueqing quickly declined. “My mother hasn’t been feeling well lately. I’m going to stay at my parents’ place for a few days to take care of her.”
“Your parents live in Xijiang too?” Xiao Liang insisted on taking the suitcase she was gripping tightly. “We’ve troubled you so much recently. Giving you a ride is nothing.”
Zhang Feili could see the miserable state He Xueqing was in.
It wasn’t even six in the morning. If her mother were merely unwell, not so seriously ill that she needed emergency hospitalization, why would He Xueqing be dragging bags out so early, looking so battered, to go stay at her parents’ place?
Some things, Zhang Feili understood too well.
Silently, she took the shoulder bag He Xueqing was carrying.
Xiao Liang certainly wouldn’t ask what family crisis He Xueqing was going through. A woman like her was strong enough inside; she could lick her own wounds clean. Outsiders didn’t need to fuss over them.
They drove three kilometers to the neighborhood where He Xueqing’s parents lived. Seeing a breakfast shop in the alley in front of the residential building, Xiao Liang had Gu Peijun stop the car there and pulled He Xueqing inside to eat.
They ordered traditional Xijiang breakfasts—crispy pork noodles, lion’s head meatball noodles, and the like.
Then Xiao Liang asked directly, “Director He, have you already submitted your resignation to the newspaper?”
“Ah?”
He Xueqing had not yet recovered from her distress. Hearing such a question so suddenly startled her.
“Where did Director Xiao hear that?”
He Xueqing’s parents lived in an old Soviet-style corridor building built before the 1960s and 1970s. Even in Xijiang’s urban district, it looked quite dilapidated.
By contrast, the compound where He Xueqing had lived after marriage was the family compound for the Xijiang Municipal Party Committee.
Although it did not look especially grand—mainly composed of mid-rise residential blocks—in 1994, public-sector employees in Xijiang had not yet begun large-scale housing upgrades. The residents of the municipal Party committee compound were still relatively pure: officials and their families.
That also explained why He Xueqing had become supplement department director at Xijiang Daily at such a young age. Apart from her own strong abilities, she had powerful support behind her.
Unfortunately, that support did not come from her parents. It came from her husband’s side.
That, in turn, explained why in Xiao Liang’s previous life, after experiencing a family crisis, He Xueqing had left Xijiang Daily and started over as an ordinary salesperson at an unknown private company.
Xiao Liang boldly guessed that the proud He Xueqing had probably already submitted her resignation to the newspaper.
“Old Xu went to the newspaper to see you a couple of days ago and happened to hear someone mention it in the Xijiang Daily building. He wasn’t sure if he’d misheard.”
Xiao Liang made it up smoothly.
“I dragged Old Xu out drinking last night and heard him mention it. I’ve just returned to Dongzhou to start a new company. At present, the company mainly contracts the sales business of Nanting Lake Juice Factory. We’re also planning to make a health supplement, with production relying on Nanting Lake Juice Factory.”
“The new company will mainly handle marketing and sales for this health supplement. The formula and process have already been settled, and we’re negotiating with suppliers about introducing new equipment.”
“Everyone in the new company is inexperienced. We desperately need someone capable like you, Director He. I didn’t even know whether Old Xu had really heard correctly, but I still pulled Director Gu, Old Xu, and Feili here overnight to ask you in person whether you really resigned from Xijiang Daily.”
“Sorry for coming so abruptly—we didn’t prepare anything. Oh, and this is Gu Peijun, Old Gu, director of Nanting Lake Juice Factory. You haven’t met him before.”
“…”
He Xueqing was stunned.
Just because they had heard through the grapevine that she had resigned—without even confirming whether it was true—they had driven through the night to Xijiang to invite her to join their new company?
If not for the close cooperation over the past two months between Xijiang Daily and Nanting Lake Juice Factory…
If not for personally witnessing Xiao Liang’s astonishing ability to command advertising production…
If not for seeing Nanting Lake Juice seize the Xijiang market in just two months with such fierce momentum…
He Xueqing would have suspected there was something wrong with Xiao Liang’s head.
And yet his bold abruptness was like a lifeline dropping from the sky—timely and precise, falling straight into the wreckage of her life.
