Chapter 360: Halloween Party: The Meeting of Ghouls

It’s early November, Halloween, a spooky Western holiday.

In the warm afternoon sun, Wei Lanlan drives a white BMW 3 Series to Linchuan University. She embodies the aura of a polished professional woman.

Particularly, her white slacks paired with high heels and her natural makeup, not to mention the gold hoop earrings dangling from her earlobes, distinctly set her apart from her college peers.

She is now the busiest external staff member at room 208, often commuting between Wanzhong and Linchuan University. Taking the bus was too time-consuming and exhausting.

Therefore, Jiang Qin allocated funds to help her choose a BBA for official use.

After all, Lanlan is in charge of brand interfacing. Appearances must be maintained—neither too luxurious to overshadow the local bosses nor too modest to lose the face of the group-buying team.

So, after much deliberation, Jiang Qin thought this 3 Series was the most appropriate and bought it outright.

Wei Lanlan had never touched a car since getting her driver’s license. At first, she was reluctant to drive. However, after getting accustomed over a month, commuting between Wanzhong and the university was no longer an issue.

This time, she’s at Linchuan University to deliver some items to room 208 and to pick up some winter clothes she had left in the dorm.

“Lanlan, you’ll hardly come back now, right?”

“Yeah, probably not. Things are incredibly busy on our end. Sometimes, I don’t even have time for the gym.”

“You… started going to the gym?”

“Our boss is Wanzhong’s second-largest shareholder. There’s a new gym opening at Wanzhong. He insisted on gifting me a Gold Membership. It’d be a waste not to use it.”

While stuffing luggage into the trunk, Wei Lanlan responded to the onlooking girls.

Some of these girls were her dorm mates, some were her classmates, and others had worked with Wei Lanlan at the part-time social work organization. A crowd of about a dozen peers gathered around.

However, visually, these girls in hoodies, track suits, and fluffy pajamas seemed to be from a different world compared to the current Wei Lanlan.

Especially in terms of demeanor, Wei Lanlan now possessed an indescribable maturity and elegance.

Suddenly, as if she remembered something, Wei Lanlan opened the driver’s side door, and from the glove box, she took out a bunch of VIP cards—dessert shops, hotpot restaurants, entertainment complexes, cinemas, even a beauty salon.

“These were all given to me. I hardly have time to use them. You guys can have them. Consider it a parting gift for our four years together.”

“…”

As the girls by the parking spot received the cards, their expressions turned pensive.

They began to realize that Wei Lanlan’s world now extended far beyond the makeup, clothes, and cars they saw.

She seemed… to have already built a network, becoming someone people sought after.

But it’s so surreal. Wei Lanlan is from a rural family. Her parents are farmers, and she has a younger brother.

With little money since entering university, she had always worked part-time. She didn’t socialize much, never indulged in leisure to avoid wasting any free time. She would return to her dorm every day, utterly exhausted.

Classmates often discussed Wei Lanlan’s circumstances, and although their words conveyed sympathy, they also subtly expressed a sense of superiority.

Simply put, it felt a bit like they were talking big without considering her struggles.

Yet, by senior year, as everyone faced pressures of job hunting, further studies, and interview rejections, Wei Lanlan had become a junior leader, earning over twenty thousand and driving a BMW.

This stark contrast at a critical juncture not only bewildered them but also mixed their admiration with jealousy.

Especially when Wei Lanlan, having packed her stuff, sat in her BMW and lowered the window to wave goodbye, it overwhelmed them.

“Lanlan, people say it’s tough for women in the workplace, especially in external-facing roles, prone to harassment. Is that true?”

“Is it?”

The girl with the ponytail blinked innocently, “Have you not experienced it?”

Wei Lanlan shook her head, “Never heard of it. Maybe our boss is just too protective. He claims to deal ruthlessly with offenders, making the world seem nicer. The bosses from Linchuan, despite their varied educational backgrounds, are quite polite, even in jest.”

“Is 208 hiring now?”

“208 isn’t hiring. You can only get in through internal promotion. But according to the boss’s plan, the group-buying division might participate in next year’s campus recruitment.”

After finishing her discussion, Wei Lanlan drove out of the dormitory area towards the entrepreneurship base, her face brightening with a brilliant smile.

Relationships in the girls’ dorm are far more complex than in the boys’, with not a few cases where four people could form over ten chat groups. Plus, because of her part-timing and lack of social involvement, exclusions were inevitable.

But all the slights, the sadness, the pessimism, today, they all seemed to have turned around.

Asking me if I’ve been harassed? Trying to stir up rumors before I graduate? Hmph, you probably don’t know my boss really bites.

“Lanlan, something joyful today? You look so happy.”

“Oh, boss, what are you doing outside?”

“Rich boy here got too fat to walk properly. I took him for a couple of rounds.”

Jiang Qin shook the dog leash playfully. A dog, plump as a ball, wheezed as it lay on the ground, looking exhausted.

Smiling, Wei Lanlan stepped out, “I was just at our dorm picking up luggage. I’m really happy.”

“Felt the joy of showing off?”

“Indeed. Especially a certain sister who said I went out to accompany drinks. Must be tough for her now, but I’ll always remember this came from you, boss.”

Jiang Qin glanced at her, “Nonsense, you earned this. It’s nothing to do with me.”

Wei Lanlan’s heart warmed, and she grinned, pulling a folder from the car, “This is the second phase of the strategic marketing partnership list. Per your instructions, prioritized selections included chain businesses like convenience stores and hotels.”

Jiang Qin nodded, “Once we establish this new model of offline business ecosystem, no one will be able to compete with our group-buying scheme.”

“Oh, and Wanzhong Mall is hosting an event where you can rent Halloween costumes to shop in the mall. Our university’s drama club also holds a costume ball every Halloween. I brought two boxes of clothes, see if anyone’s interested.”

Jiang Qin donned a vampire cape around his neck and popped a set of fang caps in his mouth, “Sounds fun. Let’s get everyone dressed up and see.”

Wei Lanlan called someone to help, and they carried the two large boxes of outfits inside, prompting cheers.

Work had been too suffocating recently. With Halloween just around the corner, changing into different characters brought a refreshing change of mood.

“Boss, are you taking us to the costume ball?”

“Pretty much.”

“The boss, a romantic at heart.”

Half an hour later, the core staff of 208 had switched appearances, each styled in various horror themes.

Su Nai cosplayed as a horror nun, in black nun attire paired with ripped black stockings, painted with two bloodstains across her face—more sexy than scary.

Dong Wenhao wore a raincoat-like cloak and wielded a scythe, looking extremely menacing.

Lu Feiyu went all out with a Qing dynasty official’s attire, complete with dual peacock feathers and a paper talisman on his forehead proclaiming ‘General in charge here.’

And there were Xuemei’s Silent Hill nurse, Shi Miao’s skull person, and lastly, Wen Jinrui, quietly tucked in a corner, decked as a disheveled beauty from Chu.

Everyone was excited, waiting for the boss to take them out for a fun experience. But as soon as the vampire count Jiang Qin entered, he switched off the lights and drew the curtains, instantly setting a spooky atmosphere.

“Everyone’s been working hard recently. Today, being Halloween, let’s have a small team building session, play a game of ‘Ghosts in Conference’.”

“A meeting? What kind of event is this?” Su Nai was confused.

Jiang Qin coughed and picked up the notepad he used for casual doodling and writing from his desk, flipping to the first page.

In the eerie atmosphere of Room 208, those with scythes, big scars, blood stains, and draped in bed sheets all waited for the boss to speak.

“The Zhihu street campaign is nearly over, Jinrui, notify Tan Qing to recall some folks to engage in brand marketing tasks.”

“Su Nai, you’ll oversee the newly formed tech department to monitor the app development progress.”

“Feiyu should continue focusing on the Tonight’s Headline tasks. Additionally, under the guise of Zhihu, try reaching out to various media outlets to see if there’s potential for collaboration and sharing interview materials.”

“We’ve now networked with universities nationwide and can collaborate with some of their journalism departments. Let these students get involved and massively recreate content from the media provided, enriching our content sections.”

“In the future, we might open up this section separately, removing registration barriers and making it available to the public, allowing independent media to become a mainstream news distribution channel.”

“Lanlan, you don’t have to handle brand collaborations for now. You and Sun Zhi, Deng Yuan, go to Hangcheng.”

“Alibaba is planning a Double 11 event soon and hopes for our cooperation in promoting it. Your task is to drive the promotional costs up! Although we’re partners with Alibaba now, we still need to make our profit.”

“Wenhao, pause the short video content for now. The equipment isn’t up to snuff, and it’s barely effective. I have other tasks that need your attention.”

“Do you know about a Japanese sword technique called Iaido? Also known as the quick-draw.”

“It involves quickly drawing the sword from its scabbard to achieve a decisive kill. The essence is speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness.”

“In 2009, I spent a year planning and pulled Group-Buy back into the scabbard and pushed Zhihu onto the stage. Now, I want you to plan the promotion of Group-Buy for next year within six months, hoping to achieve the effect of Iaido.”

Jiang Qin’s false vampire teeth, which glowed green in the darkened, curtain-drawn Room 208, snapped together menacingly.

On the scene, the grim reapers, horror nuns, zombies, tragic beauties, and death nurses were all stunned.

No way, are we really having a meeting right now?!

Can this even be called team building? Seriously, the boss is something else, damn it!

Room 208 instantly became filled with a murderous aura; it truly felt like hell had ascended.