Chapter 271: Lessons and Business Moves

Monday, Advanced Mathematics class.

Xu Chen only learned about it after coming to Tonghai University that most national colleges use textbooks from Tonghai University for their advanced math courses.

The teacher lecturing on stage was a balding math professor.

During the first class two weeks ago, this teacher had written his somewhat quirky name on the blackboard.

Bored, Xu Chen flipped through his book and discovered that this unassuming teacher was one of the textbook’s authors.

Knowing the teacher’s background, he couldn’t help but pay closer attention.

Though the course was dry and obscure, getting to hear a ‘master’ teach was a rare opportunity.

…

During a break in class, he received an email from Chen Xinyi in Jiaduobao’s marketing department.

Xu Chen’s flight and hotel in Yangcheng were already booked; Chen Xinyi sent over the travel order details.

The flight was for tomorrow afternoon, so he could still attend two more classes.

At school and in the college, attendance was flexible, but if you missed too many classes, you’d have to retake the course.

So, whenever possible, he tried to attend as many as he could.

The proposal meeting was scheduled for Wednesday morning.

The email mentioned that besides Nie Fei, another high-level Jiaduobao executive would be there.

Xu Chen was a bit surprised, since previous communications had only involved presenting to Nie Fei.

Nie Fei was currently Jiaduobao’s vice president for market channels and had decision-making authority in marketing.

He wondered why this extra ‘high-level’ person had suddenly been added.

For a proposal presentation, understanding the audience was crucial preparation.

Xu Chen messaged Chen Xinyi directly, asking about this executive’s identity and why they were attending.

Chen Xinyi replied quickly:

“Chen Jinru, our general manager and board director, is Fei Jie’s superior boss.”

“He’s mainly coming to observe because the ‘high-end mineral water’ product line is a top priority for us. It’s one of the only two lines outside of Wang Laoshun that we’re developing…

General Manager Chen is in mainland China this month and is involved in decisions about high-end water products.

He’s been part of several internal reports and external proposals related to high-end water lately.”

“But you can rest easy, Xu Chen—generally, Chen will follow Fei Jie’s opinion.

He’s just there to listen in.”

…

Seeing the words ‘board director and general manager,’ Xu Chen recalled some events.

In his previous life, the lawsuit between Jiaduobao and Guangzhou Pharmaceutical over the Wang Laoshun brand had caused a huge stir in the industry.

The court ultimately ruled that the Wang Laoshun brand returned to Guangzhou Pharmaceutical.

After that, Jiaduobao launched their own branded red canned herbal tea and invested heavily in marketing events like sponsoring ‘The Voice’ to hold onto their market share.

A key reason for Jiaduobao’s loss was that they used irregular and illegal methods to extend their Wang Laoshun brand authorization.

Once exposed, two major bosses from Guangzhou Pharmaceutical and Jiaduobao were sentenced.

Xu Chen couldn’t be sure if this ‘general manager’ Chen Jinru was involved in Jiaduobao’s internal operations.

Of course, Xu Chen wasn’t just pondering this out of gossip.

He was mainly thinking about poaching Nie Fei and finding a way to bring ‘Fei Jie’ over to his Ran Bing Sports business.

Jiaduobao already had the huge hidden issue with the Wang Laoshun brand authorization.

For Nie Fei, staying at Jiaduobao might not be the best choice.

If Jiaduobao faced a ‘crisis,’ Nie Fei might leave, giving him a chance to pull her to Ran Bing Sports.

Of course, there was another possibility Xu Chen couldn’t confirm and didn’t want to see—Nie Fei might have been involved in those irregular operations.

If so, bringing her into Ran Bing Sports would be risky.

…

If Xu Chen remembered correctly, the lawsuit between Jiaduobao and Wang Laoshun in his previous life erupted four or five years later.

Ran Bing Sports couldn’t wait that long.

Xu Chen figured he might have some room to maneuver.

On one hand, he needed to confirm if Nie Fei was involved or knew about those shady dealings, as it was important for judging her character.

Though he admired ‘Fei Jie’s’ intelligence and skills, he hadn’t gotten to know her that deeply yet.

On the other hand, if Nie Fei was clean, he could use Jiaduobao’s hidden crisis to his advantage and bring her over.

Xu Chen had been thinking that launching Ran Bing Sports would need a professional manager who knew the ropes.

He was confident, but not blindly so.

Every industry had unseen barriers.

Especially supply chains and distribution channels—they needed insiders to handle the details.

As former brand director for Nike’s Greater China region, Nie Fei was perfect for the role.

And most importantly…

Xu Chen didn’t want to wear himself out.

Having been reborn and finally gotten his dad on track, he really didn’t want to hustle anymore.

He just wanted to be a behind-the-scenes player, keeping things easy and casual.

…

After thinking it over, Xu Chen had some plans for Jiaduobao and Nie Fei.

But he was missing a key opportunity.

No rush, though.

This trip to Yangcheng and the ‘Kunlunshan Mineral Water’ project would give him more chances to interact and think.

…

The second class that morning was Animation.

Animation was a strong major in their college, ranked high nationally.

Unfortunately, in 2006, the national animation industry wasn’t thriving at all.

As the class discussed ‘the history of domestic animation,’ it was clear that China’s animation industry had once stood at the global forefront.

In the era of ‘Havoc in Heaven’ and ‘The Tadpoles Looking for Mama,’ China’s animation technology and art even surpassed Japan’s at the time.

But sadly, in the decades that followed up to 2006, the ‘marketized’ animation sector had declined.

So, even with Tonghai University’s animation program ranking high, graduates still struggled to find jobs.

…

During a moment of distraction in class, he got a message from Sun Aimi.

The three drafts for ‘Gao Solid Clean Solid Teeth Toothpaste’ were done and sent over.

Xu Chen checked them on his phone and was very satisfied.

Sun Aimi’s design skills were truly top-notch.

This was for the ‘University Advertising Competition’ submission, but her work was already good enough to go live.

Xu Chen replied:

[The drafts are great, approved!

Thanks, Aimi. I’ll tell finance to pay your ‘labor fee’ this week…]

As agreed earlier—and standard for side gigs in the industry—they set it at 2,000 per draft, so 6,000 total.

Xu Chen was a straightforward boss and would pay as promised.

Besides, since he was considering bringing her to East Morning Star Advertising, he couldn’t afford to seem cheap.

Xu Chen added:

[About that PPT background image I mentioned yesterday, could you help with that too?]

Sun Aimi: [No problem, just send it over. I’ll handle it quickly and get it back to you today.]

Xu Chen: [Okay, I’ll send it during my lunch break.]

…

After class, Xu Chen found the class monitor, Min Siyang, sitting in the front row.

“Class Monitor, I need to take leave for the next two days.”

“Sure! I’ll report it to the college for you.”

Min Siyang then remembered something:

“You don’t have dinner plans, right?”

Xu Chen paused: “Ah?”

“Huo Dashan and I want to treat you. We haven’t thanked you for last time!”

Xu Chen smiled and didn’t refuse:

“Sounds good. Didn’t expect to score a meal from both class monitors!”

…

…

At noon, Xu Chen went to the burger shop at the school gate, grabbed lunch to go, and headed straight to the Tonghai Creative Design Building office.

He ate while checking the drafts Sun Aimi had sent.

He nodded in approval again.

“Winning the ad competition is a lock!”

He then sent her the two PPT background images.

Xu Chen decided to keep the ‘Kunlunshan Mineral Water’ proposal confidential, so he didn’t send everything to Sun Aimi.

He just mentioned the need for two background images for the PPT.

Once he got them back, he’d adjust and combine them into a main product poster.

But when Sun Aimi received the images, she replied:

[Xu Chen, is this project for Jiaduobao’s high-end mineral water?]

Xu Chen was surprised she knew about it.

He quickly realized why.

Black Duke Marketing and Jiaduobao were both in Yangcheng, and Black Duke had some fast-moving consumer goods clients, so Jiaduobao had probably approached them too.

Sure enough, Sun Aimi followed up:

[Black Duke submitted a proposal last week. I was involved in part of it.

But the client team said Jiaduobao was waiting for another proposal…

I never thought it was yours, Xu Chen.]

[In the Fuyan Jie pitch, Black Duke went up against East Morning Star and lost to you.

Looks like we’re losing this one too…]

Reading Sun Aimi’s reply, Xu Chen couldn’t help but smile.

He thought for a moment and responded:

[A few months ago, I worked on the Jiaduobao ‘Wang Laoshun’ project, so they trust East Morning Star’s stuff.

That’s why they gave us the high-end mineral water brand proposal.]

Sun Aimi:

[Wang Laoshun? Is that the ‘Afraid of Getting Overheated’ case from you?]

Xu Chen: [Yeah, that slogan was mine!]

Sun Aimi took a while to reply:

[Xu Chen, you’re amazing. I had no idea the ‘Afraid of Getting Overheated’ project was yours too…

That means Black Duke has lost to you twice now.

We pitched for Wang Laoshun six months ago, spent nearly two months on it, but they didn’t go with our idea.

Then they said it was a ‘national call for entries,’ and it turns out they used yours!]

Xu Chen:

[I entered that ‘call for entries’ too, but East Morning Star Advertising wasn’t registered yet back then.]

Sun Aimi:

[Xu Chen, you’re incredible…

You’re the most talented ad person I’ve met since starting in the industry!

Way better than our director or group director.

Working with you on these projects has taught me so much.]

Xu Chen: [You’re too kind, Aimi!]

Sun Aimi: [Xu Chen, for the Jiaduobao high-end water project, could you share the proposal with me to study once the confidentiality period ends?]

Xu Chen smiled; this was exactly what he wanted.

[No need to wait for that. I trust you, Aimi.

Can you take Wednesday morning off and come with me to the client presentation?]

Sun Aimi: [Really?!]

Xu Chen: [Absolutely. I’m going alone, so you’d help me look more professional.]

Sun Aimi: [That’s awesome! Thanks for the learning opportunity, Xu Chen!

I can definitely take Wednesday off. I don’t have any projects right now.

Ever since Li Fengfeng’s incident, our team hasn’t been too busy…]

Xu Chen: [Great, I’ll sync the Wednesday schedule with you. We can talk more when I get to Yangcheng!]

Sun Aimi: [No problem. See you in Yangcheng, Xu Chen!]

…

Closing his laptop, Xu Chen finished his burger.

Everything was going as planned, all set up in advance.

The Wang Laoshun and Kunlunshan projects would solidify Sun Aimi’s confidence in East Morning Star Advertising.

Once in Yangcheng, a chat should convince her to join.

Xu Chen had just learned that Li Fengfeng’s trouble had affected Sun Aimi too.

That made it a perfect time for her to leave Black Duke.

Bringing Sun Aimi to East Morning Star Advertising would solve several issues and make future work smoother.

With Xu Chen handling planning and creativity, Sun Aimi on design and production, and using Chenfeng Technology for finance and admin…

That would make for a proper advertising company.

…

After afternoon classes, Xu Chen grabbed his bag and left the North Building classroom; Min Siyang and Huo Dashan were waiting outside.

“What are you in the mood for, Boss Xu?” Huo Dashan asked with a grin.

Xu Chen smiled: “I’m easy; you choose.”

“Then let’s do Sichuan food, right across from the school gate.”

The Sichuan girl Min Siyang said with a smile.

“Sounds perfect! I haven’t had spicy food in ages!”