Chapter 317: Intrigue in the Advertising Office

Noon at the East Morning Star Advertising Office.

Sun Aimi was busy at her workstation, mainly working on the print ad materials for Chenfeng Ice Power.

Photographer Tan Changqiao had already sent over Xie Bingran’s photos in batches.

Just a couple more shots needed adjustments, and they’d all be done within the week.

Sun Aimi pushed ahead, finishing the edits on the two core KV materials first.

The Jeep ad video was underway, with the director’s team creating the storyboard based on Xu Chen’s plan.

That morning, Sun Aimi had a phone conference with them and helped sketch a few key frames.

Xu Chen arrived right after his class and brought Sun Aimi some food from the cafeteria.

But he seemed occupied with something, so he ate a quick bite in the meeting room before heading back to the General Manager’s office.

Inside, things were quiet, and Sun Aimi had no idea what her boss was up to.

……

General Manager’s office.

Xu Chen carefully browsed through several news articles, reading them with intense focus.

“Guangzhou Pharmaceutical’s general manager is under investigation, involving the Wang Laoshun Herbal Tea brand authorization……”

“A private deal of three million Hong Kong dollars to extend the Wang Laoshun brand authorization for ten years at a low price……”

“The booming Wang Laoshun brand isn’t even held by Jiaduobao?”

“Jiaduobao’s IPO plans hit a major snag; executives may face prison sentences……”

“Journalists learned from relevant authorities that the rumors about Guangzhou Pharmaceutical and Jiaduobao’s dispute over ‘Wang Laoshun’ authorization appear to be true……”

“Guangzhou Pharmaceutical’s Li Guangmin has been taken away, and Jiaduobao’s Chen Jinru is nowhere to be found……”

……

……

Xu Chen picked up the soda water on his desk and took a light sip.

Everything had unfolded just as he expected, fully exposed now.

Guangzhou Pharmaceutical was in hot water, and Li Guangmin was confirmed to be under investigation.

The behind-the-scenes dealings with the Wang Laoshun brand authorization had been verified, directly implicating Chen Jinru, the boss above Nie Fei at Jiaduobao.

Xu Chen flipped through a dozen articles and found the original three or four sources.

Two of them came from journalists who received emails from Wen Cha Zhu Jiu, and after some verification, they turned them into news stories.

One even directly quoted the whistleblowing content from Wen Cha Zhu Jiu’s blog.

The other two involved direct interviews with Wen Cha Zhu Jiu, providing more detailed info and documents.

Just as Xu Chen had instructed Wen Cha Zhu Jiu, he used aliases in the interviews and news that hid his real identity.

And there was no mention at all of Xu Chen, the enthusiastic netizen.

……

Xu Chen thought for a moment, then sent a message to Chen Xinyi at Jiaduobao.

The message was simple: he forwarded a news article and asked,

[Is this real or fake? Will it affect the upcoming promotions for Kunlunshan Mineral Water and Wang Laoshun?]

It wasn’t long before he got Chen Xinyi’s reply:

[Xu Chen, I’ll call you in a bit to explain!]

About ten minutes later, Chen Xinyi’s call came through.

The young woman sounded clearly flustered, her words tumbling out incoherently.

But Xu Chen pieced it together and got the full picture.

The Wang Laoshun issue had blown up, and Chen Jinru’s shady dealings were confirmed through the investigation of Li Guangmin at Guangzhou Pharmaceutical.

Chen Jinru had left the mainland for Hong Kong Island a couple of weeks ago and was now unreachable.

Jiaduobao’s board of directors had stepped in to stabilize the company.

They could have dragged things out a bit longer since official investigations take time,

but with it hitting the major news outlets today, the leadership at Jiaduobao was scrambling to figure out a response.

For now, sales and promotions for Wang Laoshun would take a big hit.

Originally, the authorization for Wang Laoshun only went until 2010, but Chen Jinru and Li Guangmin’s backroom deal extended it to 2020.

Under the current circumstances, that extended contract from 2010 onward was headed for lawsuits and disputes with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical.

So, for the next three years, how to promote and sell the Wang Laoshun brand was still up in the air at Jiaduobao—they had a lot to weigh.

Based on Xu Chen’s memories from his past life, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical ended up reclaiming the Wang Laoshun brand legitimately.

Later, Jiaduobao Group launched a red can tea under their own name and poured massive resources into promotions to hold onto part of the market……

Chen Xinyi shared two more pieces of info.

First, the launch and promotion plans for Kunlunshan Mineral Water wouldn’t be affected by this mess.

They’d proceed as originally planned.

It was a completely separate product line, and since Kunlunshan hadn’t been publicly linked to Jiaduobao yet, there was no direct connection.

In fact, with the current situation, Kunlunshan’s importance within the group might even increase.

After all, the Wang Laoshun promotions and sales were bound to suffer huge setbacks.

Jiaduobao needed another product line to quickly boost revenue and cover some losses……

The second thing Chen Xinyi mentioned involved Nie Fei.

Nie Fei was seen as Chen Jinru’s loyal subordinate, and she had been the driving force behind the Wang Laoshun brand.

Now, with the board intervening, they put her on temporary leave.

The board’s move was for multiple reasons.

With Chen Jinru confirmed guilty and on the run, the company needed to distance itself from him quickly.

This distancing was for external PR and consumers, as well as internal staff.

And as Chen Jinru’s favored subordinate, Nie Fei naturally became part of that cut.

Additionally, they were reviewing the company internally for any other managers involved in the illegal dealings.

Nie Fei was under scrutiny too.

When talking about Nie Fei’s situation, Chen Xinyi sounded deflated.

“This has hit Fei Jie hard.

She’s basically suspended now, and they’ve assigned another vice president to handle the Kunlunshan Mineral Water project.”

She paused, then added:

“But it won’t affect you much, Teacher Xu.

We just had a meeting this morning; the photo shoot with Xie Bingran is still on schedule for the end of the month.

The Kunlunshan Mineral Water launch and promotions are unchanged.”

Xu Chen: “Good. Don’t worry about the work side—we at East Morning Star Advertising will deliver top quality.”

Chen Xinyi: “Great, I’ll coordinate with the shoot team next Monday and connect with East Morning Star Advertising.”

Xu Chen: “No problem. I’ll get my team ready to handle it.”

He hesitated, then asked:

“How’s Fei Jie holding up?”

Chen Xinyi: “We’re not really sure.

She hasn’t come to the office these past few days!

She’s innocent in all this, dragged in for no reason.

We all know what kind of person Fei Jie is—she wouldn’t get involved in Chen’s schemes.”

Xu Chen casually asked:

“I heard from the national team that Wang Laoshun signed a long-term deal with the State Athletics Team. Will that be affected?”

Chen Xinyi lowered her voice:

“Well… it’s hard to say.

The athletics team partnership was something Chen Jinru pushed through on his own; Nie Fei wasn’t even involved.

Now the board has concerns about it.

Chen Jinru signed a ten-year contract with them for just two million, which is worrying.

Nie Fei had mentioned to us that the deal seemed too good to be true—the price was suspiciously low…

But from what the board says, they hope it stays intact since it’s a key promo resource for the future.

So, everyone’s keeping quiet about it, pretending not to know……”

Xu Chen: “That makes sense. It’s still an asset for your company; if it falls through, it’d be a huge loss.”

Chen Xinyi let out a sigh:

“Anyway, this is all above our pay grade. We’re just worried about keeping our jobs!”

Xu Chen reassured her:

“Don’t worry, Miss Chen Xinyi. You’re mainly on the Kunlunshan Mineral Water project now.

As long as that’s moving forward, you’re safe.”

Hearing Xu Chen’s words, Chen Xinyi seemed to relax a little.

She couldn’t help but say a sincere “thank you.”

Xu Chen thought again:

“I’m heading to Yangcheng this weekend. Might drop by to check on Fei Jie.”

Chen Xinyi: “That’d be great! We’re really concerned about her.

When we message, she just says she’s fine and needs a break……”

Xu Chen was planning his trip to Yangcheng to make a move on Nie Fei.

Helping in tough times always beats piling on when things are good.

This situation gave him the perfect opening to discuss Ran Bing Sports with her.

And that was another core goal of his scheming, besides dealing with An Jin Xiong.

……

……

Xu Chen figured it was time to target An Jin Xiong.

From what he could see, the deal An Jin Xiong signed with Chen Jinru was likely problematic.

A ten-year official partnership with the State Athletics Team for under two million was too fishy.

Of course, Xu Chen didn’t need to investigate himself—he could go through Director Li Yue.

He’d already tested the waters with Li Yue yesterday; once An Jin Xiong was out, Li Yue would be easy to handle.

Plus, Li Yue had ambitions for promotion, so Xu Chen could do him a favor in the process.

Xu Chen crafted his message and forwarded a news link to Director Li Yue without adding anything else.

A dozen minutes later, his phone buzzed.

Glancing down, it was Director Li calling directly.

“Teacher Xu, I saw the news you sent……

This is shocking—Chen Jinru under investigation!”

Xu Chen thought carefully, deciding not to be too direct; he skirted around the topic:

“The cooperation between Xie Bingran and Kunlunshan Mineral Water shouldn’t get dragged into this, right?”

Li Yue understood Xu Chen’s intent and replied seriously:

“Don’t worry! Xie Bingran’s contract was handled by me personally. You can check the pricing with Bing Ge.

And after you got involved, I dealt directly with Nie Fei.

Even though Chen Jinru signed off later, everything was transparent and stands up to scrutiny.”

Xu Chen: “That’s a relief—just make sure it doesn’t affect Bing Ge……

By the way, I remember you mentioned the State Athletics Team’s deal with Wang Laoshun was at a really low price?”

Xu Chen had asked about this indirectly before.

According to Li Yue, the standard quote started at eight million every two years, but Chen Jinru and An Jin Xiong’s ten-year deal was only two million total.

Something had to be off.

Li Yue responded: “Yeah……

That was negotiated by Director An; he got it under a ‘national brand’ framework from the Sports Administration.

It fit well with Wang Laoshun, so they offered such a low price……”

Xu Chen paused, then said:

“I see.

But a price that low is hard not to question, especially with Chen Jinru’s situation now……”

On the other end of the line,

Li Yue listened quietly, suddenly feeling a chill down his back.

He fell silent, at a loss for words.

Li Yue suddenly grasped the hint in Xu Chen’s words.

As the one in the thick of it, he hadn’t considered this angle before,

but Xu Chen’s nudge made the suspicion about An Jin Xiong as obvious as a flea on a bald head.

At the same time, Li Yue recalled the odd comments from his talk with Xu Chen yesterday, like “if Director An gets transferred or runs into trouble……”

It made his spine tingle.

He realized now what those words meant……

He wanted Xu Chen to spell it out more, but Xu Chen went quiet.

That silence felt like confirmation.

Li Yue, being seasoned, quickly composed himself.

He thought for a moment and said:

“I get it. I’ll find a way to push things along……”

Push what? Both on the call knew exactly.

An Jin Xiong and Chen Jinru likely had some under-the-table deals.

And exposing those would need someone to “push” it forward.

Xu Chen acted like he hadn’t caught on, just chuckled.

That laugh made Li Yue uneasy.

He added:

“I’ve already committed to you on Chenfeng Technology and Ran Bing Sports matters.

Those commitments still hold.

As long as I’m in charge, the partnerships with Xie Bingran, Chenfeng Technology, Ran Bing Sports, and East Morning Star Advertising won’t face issues.”

Xu Chen finally said with a smile:

“Then here’s to Director Li getting that promotion soon.”

……

……

After hanging up, Li Yue sat in silence for a while.

For this ‘Young President Xu,’ Li Yue felt increasingly mystified and oddly fearful.

What exactly was backing him……