Chapter 361: Unexpected Office Alliances

East Morning Star Advertising Office.

Xu Chen sat in the office area, right next to Nie Fei.

He leaned over and craned his neck for another look toward the meeting room.

Su Rong was in the meeting room, calling her father, the chairman of Wanrong Materials.

She always spoke in a soft, gentle voice, and with the thick glass door in the way, it was impossible to hear.

Nie Fei whispered:

“East Morning Star Co.’s ‘Chen’ and Chenfeng Technology’s ‘Chen’—they’re both from Xu Chen’s name.

And Wanrong Materials’ ‘Rong’ is from Su Rong’s name…

So, it looks like we can pull this off.”

Xu Chen nodded:

“What worries me a bit is…

Yesterday, Vice President Zhou said he was afraid Wanrong had already signed an exclusive deal.”

Nie Fei didn’t say a word, but she frowned slightly.

The phone on the desk vibrated, and Nie Fei picked it up to check.

She couldn’t help but smile and turned to Xu Chen:

“It’s done…”

Xu Chen leaned in and glanced at Nie Fei’s phone:

[Hello, Nie, are you free this afternoon?

I wanted to discuss the TPU material we talked about last week in more detail and see how we can move forward…]

Nie Fei: “That’s from Wanrong’s vice president—we dealt with him directly before…”

Wanrong Materials was the dominant side in negotiations, but now they were reaching out first.

Clearly, Su Rong’s phone call had quickly turned things around.

…

The meeting room door opened, and Su Rong stood in the doorway, glancing at Xu Chen.

She still held that red-and-white Nokia music phone in her hand.

Xu Chen stood up, smiling, and walked over.

…

Su Rong closed the meeting room door and said softly:

“I talked to my dad.

That material you mentioned for the shoes—we can work together on it!”

Xu Chen fell silent for a moment.

He looked grateful and opened the door to call out, “Fei Jie.”

Nie Fei hurried over quickly.

“Let me introduce you again:

This is Nie Fei, Fei Jie, the general manager of Ran Bing Sports—she was also a high executive at Nike for Greater China.

And this is Su Rong.

Wanrong Materials belongs to Su Rong’s family…”

Some details, of course, needed to be left out.

Nie Fei pretended to be surprised and greeted Su Rong properly.

Su Rong naturally updated Nie Fei on the material collaboration.

Nie Fei: “No wonder Vice President Liu just messaged me—it turns out you’ve already discussed it.”

Xu Chen looked at Su Rong and said seriously:

“Your family’s foam midsole material is crucial for Ran Bing Sports’ first shoe model.

I’m truly grateful!”

He paused, then added with a smile:

“So, how can I thank you?

Anything I can do!”

Su Rong looked a bit embarrassed:

“Oh, no need to thank me!

It’s exciting that our material will be used in Xie Bingran’s custom shoes!”

She thought for a moment and asked tentatively in a low voice:

“You said about the Asian Games, inviting me to dinner with Bing Ge…

That still counts, right?”

Xu Chen: “Of course it does!

Bing Ge is still in intensive training, or I’d drive you over to meet her right now…”

Su Rong quickly said:

“No, no…

Don’t disrupt her training.”

Xu Chen smiled: “I’m just arranging the trip to Doha!

Send me your passport number, and I’ll have the company admin book it for you too!

Then we can go together!”

Su Rong lit up with joy:

“Great! That’s perfect!

I was a bit nervous about going alone, so I asked Qian Xin about it before.

My dad worries about me traveling abroad, so I didn’t even mention the Asian Games to him…”

Nie Fei said:

“I’ll be going to Doha too, so you can stick with me.”

Su Rong beamed: “Awesome, thanks, Fei Jie!”

She showed a spark of curiosity:

“Can I ask what the shoes designed for Xie Bingran look like?

And where will our material be used?”

Xu Chen: “We’ve just hired a design company and are outlining the requirements!

Your foam will go into the midsole of the shoe—it’s the soft bounce black tech for Ran Bing 001!”

Su Rong thought for a second and said quietly:

“‘Soft bounce black tech’ sounds so cool!”

In this era, Lei hadn’t founded Xiaomi yet, and terms like ‘black tech’ weren’t common in tech or marketing…

Xu Chen: “The design company is in London—top global team.

For Bing Ge’s brand, we’re aiming for the best design…

Tonight, we’re having a phone conference with them—first time discussing specifics.

If you’re interested, you can join in!”

He smiled:

“After all, you’re part of the team now!”

Su Rong’s face brightened with excitement:

“Really? I’m in!”

…

Someone knocked on the meeting room door.

Gu Xinxi walked in carrying two bags of food.

Xu Chen smiled at Su Rong:

“No one’s eaten yet—I just ordered pizza, and we have the fried chicken from earlier!

Join us!”

Su Rong felt a little awkward but smiled:

“Sure!”

Sun Aimi, who was busy, came in and sat down for lunch.

Xu Chen introduced to Su Rong:

“The two Xie Bingran posters outside were designed and made by Teacher Aimi…”

“Besides the X Stand project out there, we’re also working on an ad for a car brand that Xie Bingran shot.

It’s under wraps for now, but it should air on TV after the Asian Games!”

“And Kunlunshan Mineral Water—Fei Jie landed that endorsement for Xie Bingran…”

…

Xu Chen shared all the things Su Rong might find interesting, all tied to Xie Bingran.

Su Rong listened quietly, her face full of surprise:

“Xu Chen…

Your company is amazing! So many projects, and all with big brands!”

Xu Chen modestly replied:

“It’s Xie Bingran who’s amazing! The brands chose her as the endorser.

I’m just supporting her behind the scenes!”

Su Rong: “Not at all! You won two national first prizes.

Now that I know about your company and projects, those university competition awards…

They don’t even compare!”

Xu Chen didn’t push modesty further and just smiled smugly.

Su Rong lit up again, happily saying:

“I only met Xie Bingran at the Osaka competition last time…

I had no idea she had so many endorsements already!”

She smiled sweetly:

“From now on, I’ll drink Kunlunshan water and wear Ran Bing Sports shoes!

But I don’t have a driver’s license yet…”

She thought and added:

“What car does Xie Bingran endorse?

I’ll get my dad to switch to that!”

Xu Chen: “…”

Well.

She really lived up to being a young heiress.

…

Su Rong spoke again:

“That ‘Chenfeng Ice Power’ on the outside poster—I don’t think I’ve heard of it before!

At school, it’s for riding electric bikes, right?”

She was already eyeing Chenfeng Ice Power.

Xu Chen felt a bit speechless.

This Su Rong was a true-blue Bing Ge fan—eager to buy anything she endorsed.

Xu Chen: “Chenfeng Ice Power is a new electric vehicle brand about to launch!

It hasn’t rolled out in Shanghai yet…

I’ll get one for you when it does!”

Su Rong: “No, I’ll buy it myself!”

Nie Fei laughed: “Better let him give it to you.

It’ll be easier that way.”

Su Rong: “Why?”

Nie Fei: “His family makes them…”

Su Rong paused:

“Oh, so your family has an electric vehicle company too!”

Xu Chen: “My dad has another company that does electric vehicles.

For promotion, we signed Xie Bingran as the endorser…

I mentioned earlier we could have some other orders with Wanrong Materials—that’s for Chenfeng.

Our electric vehicles use some high-polymer engineering plastic parts, and your company makes those too.”

Su Rong grabbed her phone:

“Leave it to me! I’ll call my dad!”

Xu Chen quickly smiled and stopped her:

“No rush! Let’s eat first!

Fei Jie will have a phone meeting with Wanrong this afternoon—we can discuss it then!”

Su Rong flashed another sweet smile:

“Okay! If you need anything, just tell me, and I’ll talk to my dad.

He listens to everything I say!”

Xu Chen couldn’t help thinking she was such an innocent girl, with no real guards up…

Luckily, he had no bad intentions, or he could’ve already won her over with Bing Ge.

Xu Chen spoke seriously again:

“The material collaboration with Ran Bing Sports might not bring huge orders or revenue to your dad’s company right away.

But we’re confident in growing Ran Bing Sports, so purchases will ramp up later!

The engineering plastic orders for Chenfeng Ice Power can bundle with it…

Anyway, partnering with Ran Bing and Chenfeng won’t let Wanrong lose out!”

Xu Chen said this for business reasons, of course.

But Su Rong ate her pizza and blinked, seeming to half-get it.

This sheltered heiress probably didn’t pay much attention to family business.

Still, business was business.

All deals had to be win-win—no one-sided gains.

So, Xu Chen made sure to say it clearly.

Plus, Nie Fei would pass it on in follow-up talks with Wanrong.

Xu Chen turned to Nie Fei:

“I’ll mention it to my dad this afternoon.

Director Yang plans to visit Jiangsu Province to check product standards, molds, and capacity with Wanrong…

See if my dad can join and meet Su Rong’s dad.”

…

After eating, everyone cleaned up the trash.

Gu Xinxi brought over a stack of scripts that Su Rong needed printed.

Su Rong reached for them:

“Thanks, Xinxi jie!”

…

Lunch had taken a while, and afternoon classes were about to start.

Xu Chen helped Su Rong with her materials and left the office, heading to school together.

…

On the way, Xu Chen found some topics to chat with Su Rong about.

They’d only been acquaintances before, not really close.

Chatting casually, he saw Su Rong was genuinely pure and kind—probably well-protected growing up.

But unlike Wu Feifei’s outgoing nature, Su Rong was more reserved and introverted, which made her seem soft and quiet.

Wu Feifei would jump into school debates, but Su Rong would never do that.

Talking about Xie Bingran, though, Su Rong got excited, openly showing her admiration and love for Bing Ge.

From what Xu Chen heard, he got a sense of it.

Whether from personality or upbringing, Su Rong had a timid, fragile side deep down.

And Bing Ge’s cool, powerful dominance on the court made Su Rong envious and in awe.

As Su Rong put it:

“She’s so brave and strong!

I wish I could be like that…”

“Jiangsu Little Prince” Qian Xin was probably a fan of Bing Ge’s looks or vibe.

But Su Rong saw her as a real role model and idol.

She projected the traits she lacked onto Bing Ge.

Su Rong was curious about Xie Bingran’s past, including how Xu Chen knew her.

Xu Chen hesitated and didn’t share much.

He just said they were classmates from middle and high school—so they’d known each other since kids.

Su Rong listened and couldn’t hide her envy:

“I wish I’d met Xie Bingran earlier!”

“The Asian Games will be your introduction…”

Xu Chen thought and added:

“But Bing Ge has a cold personality—she might come off as distant.”

Su Rong smiled:

“I won’t mind!

I could tell from her matches—she’s the quiet, cool type!”

…

…

Xu Chen and Su Rong entered the classroom, and he placed the stack of printed scripts on her desk.

Su Rong smiled politely and sweetly:

“Thanks, Xu Chen!”

Xu Chen nodded and headed to the back row, noticing the odd looks from classmates.

Sitting down, he thought, This might spark rumors.

But he brushed it off quickly.

After all, no big deal—he was straightforward about it!

Glancing at Hong Xiaoqiang, Qian Xin, Pei Qian, and the others beside him, they were all watching with amused expressions.

Xu Chen caught sight of Chen Wenyi at the next table and cleared his throat, speaking loud enough for her to hear:

“I just ran into Su Rong at lunch—she needed something printed, like a script…

So I used the company printer for it.

That’s all.”

Qian Xin grinned mischievously and slung an arm around Xu Chen’s shoulder:

“Hope that’s the truth!”

“…”

Xu Chen changed the subject:

“I’m planning to go to the Asian Games!

Maybe we can all go…”

Qian Xin perked up:

“Awesome! Another buddy in!”

Huang Hao laughed:

“Perfect—we can cheer for Bai Miao!”

Qian Xin scoffed:

“I’m cheering for Xie Bingran!”

Xu Chen chuckled awkwardly:

“I’ll root for both…”

He turned to Huang Hao:

“Is your college organizing the trip? Details set?”

Huang Hao: “We’ve handed in our passports—they’re handling visas and travel together.”

Xu Chen: “When’s the departure and return?”

Huang Hao: “The group stage and finals are two days apart…

From what I’ve heard, they’re cutting costs, so no early trip for the group stage.

Just head over the day before the finals.”

Xu Chen pulled out his phone, checked the Asian Games news, and said quietly:

“The opening’s just over a week away!”

Qian Xin looked thrilled:

“There’s a beer bar on Quyang Road—they’re doing an Asian Games opening live event. Let’s check it out!”

…”