Chapter 489: Is the Manager About to Be Drained?

China is vast with diverse customs and environmental differences between the north and the south contributing to variations in market environments.

Group-buying sets up local teams to localize strategies, avoiding barriers due to environmental mismatches, so managers handling market operations are usually locals or elites with substantial local experience.

Jiang Qin uses a rotating team deployed from elsewhere to manage the local team aiming for efficient command transmission and to avoid past pitfalls experienced by Suixin Group and 24Coupon.

However, even the wisest can overlook something.

The deployed guards do execute Jiang Qin’s orders efficiently, but they aren’t as close-knit with the local team.

This is an opportunity for Kang Jingtao.

On a clear morning of the May Day holiday, following the launch of a GIS service, the Shanghai market reacted positively, indicating that dominating the market was only a matter of time.

Therefore, Xu Kaixuan, Guan Shen, Dai Zhitao, and Xing Xiangming decided to strike while the iron’s hot, expanding the daily specials service.

As this task required cooperation from the entire marketing department, Xu Kaixuan called the department manager, Song Xiong, at noon, scheduling a meeting which, however, started two hours later than planned as Song Xiong did not show up.

“Something’s been off with Song Xiong lately.”

The more Xing Xiangming waited, the more agitated he became, blurting out his thoughts but soon regretted speaking ill behind someone’s back.

Surprisingly, Dai Zhitao agreed: “Indeed, he seems disinterested in our department tasks. He even left three hours early yesterday.”

“Let me call to hurry him.”

Xu Kaixuan stood up, took out his phone, and stepped outside the conference room to call Song Xiong, urging him to hurry.

Half an hour later, Song Xiong finally arrived, reeking of alcohol and staggering a bit.

“Manager Song, I remember notifying you at noon about the meeting this afternoon, didn’t I?”

“A friend called me out for drinks yesterday, and I drank too much. Please don’t mind, Mr. Xu. Here I am.”

Xu Kaixuan wanted to scold him but thinking of the urgent need for his cooperation for the daily specials, he restrained himself: “Let’s go in, but this shouldn’t happen again.”

Song Xiong quickly nodded: “Rest assured, Mr. Xu, it won’t happen next time.”

Without further ado, Xu Kaixuan started the meeting, laying out the previously prepared plan, discussing the workflow details and explaining the locations for field promotions.

Song Xiong listened quietly until the end before speaking: “Mr. Xu, the field promotions location is fine, but I am short of people.”

“Short of people?”

“The two managers in charge of Longhua resigned recently. There’s no one to lead the team in that area, coordination is impossible.”

Xu Kaixuan was startled and immediately frowned: “Why wasn’t their resignation reported?”

Song Xiong gave a sheepish smile: “It’s been too busy these past days, didn’t get the chance.”

“What was the reason for their resignation?”

“It seems they had health issues and needed hospitalization. I couldn’t retain them, but they assured that they would cooperate with the new managers for the handover.”

“…”

After the meeting, as Song Xiong left the conference room, his phone buzzed with a message — it was an address for a spa, accompanied by the words “Come for a foot bath.”

Guan Shen frowned deeply: “Something’s not right. I think we should report this to the boss.”

Xu Kaixuan was silent for a while before nodding.

“Sudden resignations? It looks like Manager Song might be an inside agent for our competitors, persuading our area managers to resign to catch us off-guard. If this continues, we’ll be stripped of our managers before the daily specials even launch.”

“What should we do?”

Jiang Qin pondered briefly: “Gather all regional managers for individual questioning to check if they’ve been approached by competitors. Find out how much they were offered to switch sides.”

“But surely no one will admit to that?” Guan Shen couldn’t help frowning.

“Convince them with reason and touch their emotions. Tell them that as the saying goes, ‘A good bird chooses the tree it nests in.’ The company understands. If they can confide in us, they’ll receive last month’s salary and we can still be friends.”

“Understood, boss.”

Jiang Qin thought for a moment: “Also, call Xu Kaixuan over, I have something to instruct him about.”

Soon, the voice over the phone was Xu Kaixuan’s: “Boss, this is Xu Kaixuan.”

“Kaixuan, I need to entrust you with three tasks.”

“Understood.”

“First, I’ll have Sun Zhi transfer a managerial team over. You coordinate their accommodation, but keep it under wraps for now.”

“Understood.”

“Second, try to make contact with the managers at Lashou Network, see if they’re interested in switching over to our side.”

Xu Kaixuan was surprised at hearing this: “Their managers? Isn’t Manager Sun bringing a team over? What’s the point in poaching theirs?”

Jiang Qin shook his head: “We’re not poaching. Just inquiring. Asking questions isn’t illegal, right?”

“Oh, what about the third task?”

“The third task isn’t clear yet. Let’s wait until Guan Shen has more information.”

During the call, Jiang Qin was actually attending a May Day gathering of the finance class three.

Since the holiday was only three days, most chose not to travel and stayed on campus. The class monitor, Jiang Tian, led everyone to an outdoor barbecue on the pedestrian street.

As evening fell, incandescent lights hung on bamboo poles suddenly lit up, casting a warm orange glow that made Jiang Qin look extraordinarily handsome.

Though everyone was used to having a billionaire classmate by now, seeing him strategize a city’s layout in a few words still inspired awe.

Song Qingqing, Jian Chun, and Jiang Tian held their drinks, their faces flushed as they watched him, their eyes misty and adoring.

While listening, Song Qingqing suddenly whispered something to Jian Chun, causing her to blush fiercely, and she playfully hit Song Qingqing three times.

“If Jiang Qin were a scoundrel, why would I have his child?”

“Really, they say that privately. They also say Zhuang Chen is so warm-hearted he’d definitely help you raise one.”

“Ah! Song Qingqing, you’re awful!”

Blushing furiously, Jian Chun and Song Qingqing playfully squabbled, while the guys at the table, much like they had during a previous team-building event, listened to Jiang Qin on the phone and imagined themselves speaking the same words in front of a bunch of girls, thrilling at the thought.

The most thrilling part was knowing that Jiang Qin’s phone call could change the business landscape of a city, whereas their own calls might barely secure an extra hundred yuan from their parents.

That kind of disparity was indeed maddening.

“I heard Group-Buy has grown to over three thousand employees now.”

“Wow, over three thousand? I’d lose nearly that many sheep if I had them. It’s amazing he can manage such a huge team.”

“Forget about sheep; I can’t even keep track of three thousand chickens. How many are we in the finance school?”

“Less than three thousand altogether, right?”

“This might be the closest we’ll ever get to being wealthy.”

Left Baiqiang and Zhang Guangfa exchanged a look, then glanced at Zhuang Chen, who was sitting on their right.

Given they were roommates with a good relationship, discussing how impressive Jiang Qin was right in front of Zhuang Chen seemed almost calculated to annoy him.

Surprisingly, however, Zhuang Chen didn’t seem to mind at all, even smiling slightly, appearing quite pleased.

This was odd because even if a dog wagged its tail at Jiang Qin, Zhuang Chen would have normally snarled at it for being shallow. Today, though, he didn’t.

“Old Zhuang, what are you smiling about?” Zhang Guangfa was puzzled.

Lifting his drink for a toast, Zhuang Chen replied casually: “Nothing much, just accidentally overheard Song Qingqing and Chunchun chatting.”

“What were they talking about?”

“Seems like Jian Chun wants a child. I didn’t catch all of it, but I heard my name mentioned.”

Zhuang Chen downed his drink in one go, visibly elated. If one had to describe his mood with an idiom, it would be ‘like basking in the gentle spring sun.’

Zhang Guangfa watched him, taken aback before squinting slightly, feeling as if a greenish tint was coming off Zhuang Chen’s face.

Meanwhile, after Jiang Qin ended his call and was about to take a sip of his drink, Cao Shao suddenly gestured eagerly: “Old Jiang, let’s swap seats. Your spot is too cool. I need Chao to take a photo of me there.”

Jiang Qin’s response was crookedly amused: “Switching seats won’t help because it’s not the spot that’s handsome, it’s me!”

“Not even Confucius could pull it off. Just let me take a photo.”

“Really need to deal with so much crap.”

No sooner had Jiang Qin stood with his drink than Zhang Guangfa jumped up with his, mistakenly thinking Jiang Qin was about to propose a toast.

Jiang Qin looked at him in surprise: “Guangfa, you’re that eager to advance? But this isn’t about toasting; I’m just swapping places with Cao.”

“Oh, right…”

Cao Guangyu ran over, plopped into Jiang Qin’s seat, and pulled out his phone to mimic the pose Jiang Qin had just struck.

Chao cooperated by directing him to adjust his angle repeatedly until after a long silence, the phone clicked rapidly with the shutter sound.

“Does it look good?”

Cao dashed over, grabbed the phone, and saw that only a third of his face was visible. The center of the frame featured a girl in a denim skirt.

Zhou Chao took a deep breath: “Cao, it was love at first sight.”

“?????”

As Jiang Qin stood back and watched everyone laugh and joke, something seemed to touch him and he sighed softly.

Ren Ziqiang refilled Jiang Qin’s glass and asked, “Jiang, why the sigh?”

“Seeing all of you so vibrant and young, enjoying so much happiness, I feel envious. After all, besides meaningless money, I don’t really have anything.”

“…”

Later, as class three finished their meal and left for nearby karaoke, they sang late into the night, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Meanwhile, at a spa in Shanghai, Song Xiong and Kang Jingtao were having a far more luxurious time than any college kid could imagine.

I need to catch a flight back home today, from Shenzhen to Jinan, then switching to a high-speed train. Today’s update might be a bit late.