Chapter 478: Back in the Swing

Around 2 PM, Xu Chen arrived back at the company building.

He didn’t rush upstairs but first checked on his car.

Luckily, the battery still had enough charge to start the engine.

He took it for a quick drive to fill up the gas and top off the battery…

Once he’d sorted out his ride, he grabbed his backpack and headed up.

Stepping out of the elevator, he spotted the flower baskets and spring couplets by the company door—leftovers from the recent opening celebrations.

The moment Xu Chen walked into the office, everyone called out ‘Boss’ or ‘Young Xu’.

He had to admit, getting surrounded by a crowd of subordinates greeting him felt pretty great—it boosted his mood completely.

Xu Chen pulled out the red envelopes he’d prepared for the new year, and suddenly everyone was even happier.

Sun Aimi, who used to work in Guangdong Province, took her ‘lucky money’ from the boss and smiled sweetly, saying, ‘Wishing you prosperity!’…

Fei Jie walked over with a cup of coffee, smiling as she said:

“We’ve got a dinner planned for tonight to welcome you back, Young Xu!”

Xu Chen: “Sounds good, thanks Fei Jie!”

…

That afternoon, Xu Chen sat in on two meetings for Ran Bing Sports, mainly to get updates from Sun Lingfeng on sales during the Spring Festival and plans for the next phase.

Riding the wave of Xie Bingran’s Spring Festival Gala appearance, the official Ran Bing Sports stores were already seeing massive traffic.

Even without any traffic boosts from the e-commerce platforms, they were hitting their sales targets easily.

Then Nie Fei remembered something and turned to Xu Chen:

“Zhou Junjun’s team is handling the sampling and production for ‘Ran Bing X’.

We’ll need to pick the right time for the first launch of ‘Ran Bing X’.”

Xu Chen nodded, understanding what Nie Fei meant:

“Bing Ge has competitions in March and April; April’s is more important, but we’re not sure yet about the attention it’ll get.

I’ll check in privately with Coach Cheng Hong on the upcoming schedule—Bing Ge herself isn’t entirely clear on it.”

Nie Fei: “Perfect, let’s align the launch with a high-profile event for ‘Ran Bing X’.”

Xu Chen had already looked into Bing Ge’s March and April competitions.

The March National Athletics Championships is the top domestic track and field event, representing the highest level of competition in the country.

But as a specialized event, it doesn’t draw as much attention as the National Games.

Xie Bingran dominates the women’s 100-meter hurdles in China.

So the late March National Athletics Championships is practically a sure win for her—the only question is if she can break her personal best.

The real suspense in March lies in the fight for silver and bronze, with Chen Lan from the national team likely taking silver.

Meanwhile, Bai Miao from Tonghai University has a solid chance at bronze this time.

…

The April International Athletics Grand Prix will be a major milestone for Xie Bingran.

It’s her first real global track and field event.

She’ll face top-tier female hurdlers from around the world, including those from white and black ethnic backgrounds.

Her gold medal at the January World Youth Athletics Championships in Italy was impressive, but it was still among younger athletes—not the true elite level.

April’s event will be her first step onto the world stage.

It’ll also serve as a preview of whether she can win a medal at the 2008 Olympics.

Of course, the International Athletics Grand Prix won’t get as much buzz as the Olympics or World Championships, so the excitement level is still up in the air.

…

After wrapping up Ran Bing Sports discussions, East Morning Star Advertising kicked off a project sync meeting.

Gu Xinxi updated Xu Chen on the ongoing project plans.

The biggest one on the table was the Cadillac ad video shoot.

The script was nearly finalized, and Sun Aimi and Tang Xiaowei were coordinating details with the director’s team.

Sun Aimi said:

“The client is pushing hard to get the video out quickly.

The production team’s aiming for a mid-March schedule, but it’s complicated by the wildlife elements, so we’re still sorting out locations.

We’ve tentatively set on wildlife parks in Beijing, Sichuan Province, and Yangcheng, and we’re in talks now.”

Xu Chen thought for a moment:

“This shoot sounds like a hassle—can I skip being on set?”

“Huh?” Sun Aimi looked a bit troubled.

Xu Chen smiled: “You and Xiaowei can handle it.

It might look complicated, but it’s not as bad once you’re in it.”

“I’ll figure out a way to smooth things over with the client.

I’ve got a lot on my plate this month, and running around to different sites would be too much.”

By dodging this shoot, the rest of the projects wouldn’t need Xu Chen’s involvement—Sun Aimi could manage with Tang Xiaowei and the interns.

With the new semester starting, there’d be plenty of schoolwork, giving Xu Chen space to balance work and studies…

Additionally, Gu Xinxi updated on another matter: East Morning Star Advertising had received an official invitation to join the China 4A Advertising Association.

Mo Kangxun had helped with the internal recommendation letter, and it was now approved.

Gu Xinxi was preparing the materials and would handle the formal membership process.

The China 4A Advertising Association is a semi-official organization for top 4A ad firms in the country.

It used to be mostly foreign companies, but lately, it’s opened up to excellent domestic agencies.

For East Morning Star Advertising to get this invite—especially with Mo Kangxun’s backing—was a huge industry nod.

Joining China 4A would boost East Morning Star’s influence, opening doors for business and networking.

Xu Chen thought it over and told Gu Xinxi:

“Check the Beijing trip schedule.

Let’s find a good time to visit McCann in Beijing and thank Mo Kangxun in person.”

Gu Xinxi: “Got it, boss.”

…

…

Over the next two days, Xu Chen headed to his place in Tonghai New Village and gave it a thorough clean-up.

He had the old sofas and tables hauled away by a second-hand furniture service.

Then he hit up a few furniture markets in Shanghai to pick out new sofas and tables.

Xu Chen couldn’t help noticing that furniture prices in Shanghai had no upper limit.

Some pieces claiming to be European imports had sofas starting at tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

Though Xu Chen wasn’t short on cash, he wasn’t about to pay that kind of markup.

From his past life, he knew some industry tricks—like so-called ‘Italian originals’ that might just ship goods from China to Europe and back for a fancy label.

A quick sea voyage could multiply the price tenfold or more—pure profit.

Xu Chen spent two full days getting the sofas and tables sorted for his place.

He drew inspiration from the Tiansheng Mansion’s decor, since Xie Bingran had picked that style.

…

On Sunday the 4th, Xu Chen went to the college to report in and pick up the new semester materials.

At noon, he swung by the Southwest Building dormitory, and sure enough, his roommates in both rooms were already there.

Now that he had his spot in Tonghai New Village, he’d only crash at the dorm occasionally, but he still needed to keep up with his classmates.

That evening, Deputy Class Monitor Huo Dashan organized a dinner, and all the guys from the two rooms showed up.

Over the meal, Huo Dashan brought up Xu Chen’s latest Effie Award win—he clearly kept tabs on industry news.

Xu Chen played it modest, which just sparked more envy and teasing from his roommates.

No way around it—Xu Chen ended up footing the bill for the night.

“Jiang Zhe Little Prince” Qian Xin jumped into talking about Bing Ge, all excited from seeing Xie Bingran on the Spring Festival Gala.

He was a full-on fanboy…

As they walked back to the dorm after dinner, ‘Study King’ Jiao Tianbo hurried to catch up with Xu Chen and mentioned some follow-up feedback on the ‘Calling Spring’ project.

The project was still controversial, but during the Spring Festival, Yichun’s internal meetings gave it a positive wrap-up.

It successfully met investment goals and skyrocketed Yichun’s visibility, earning solid praise.

Even team members like Director Lou Ting got rewards at year-end because of it.

Jiao Tianbo shared this with obvious pride and excitement.

…

That evening, Xu Chen met up with Su Rong for milk tea.

He waited at Music Square and spotted her riding a Chenfeng electric bike, cutely weaving toward him.

She wore a big pink helmet with two pigtails, big eyes, and fluffy white boots, looking like a cartoon character.

They ordered milk tea and sat on a bench.

Su Rong sipped her drink, her legs swinging in the air—utterly adorable.

Xu Chen couldn’t help thinking that no wonder Bing Ge liked this girl; her unguarded moments radiated pure, silly energy.

He pulled out the pink plush pig and handed it to Su Rong.

“Huh? What’s this?”

“Bing Ge picked it up in Beijing and asked me to bring it to you,” Xu Chen said with a smile.

Su Rong paused, then lit up with joy as she took it.

She examined it happily, rubbing it against her face—she was thrilled!

“I knew Bing Ge loves me the most!”

“…”

They chatted about Bing Ge’s Spring Festival performance.

Su Rong had recorded the song and dance and, as the ‘little princess’ of Wanrong Group, had it on loop on all the company’s big screens and TVs throughout the holiday.

Su Rong bit her straw and glanced sideways at Xu Chen:

“Your company’s campus must’ve been playing it on repeat too, right?”

“Ah… yeah, on loop every day…”

“Bing Ge’s pig is so cute!

But why does it wear a tiger hat when it’s just a pink pig?”

“…”

…

…

Monday marked the start of the new semester.

The first couple of weeks would be packed with classes, so schoolwork was ramping up.

Luckily, the company’s projects were running smoothly without Xu Chen needing to micromanage.

The professional courses this semester were clearly more in-depth than the first.

They’d moved from introductory overviews to deeper theories and creative work.

There was even a class on ‘Advertising Company Operations and Management’.

As the owner of a real ad firm, Xu Chen flipped through the textbook and felt a bit underwhelmed—it was mostly written by professors who’d never run a company, so it lacked practical value…

On Tuesday afternoon, the college held a new semester kickoff assembly.

It highlighted competitions like the University Advertising Contest and encouraged student participation.

They gave shout-outs to last year’s winners, and Xu Chen got called out again as a prime example.

Xu Chen paid attention and noted that this semester’s awards focused on photography and design for students, nothing in his field.

Honestly, Xu Chen wasn’t too interested in these student contests anymore—it was better to have Gu Xinxi submit for industry awards to build the company’s reputation and attract more business.

…

…

…

On Wednesday noon, Xu Chen was eating in the cafeteria with his roommates when he got a call from his father, Xu Zhiquan.

Old Xu’s voice boomed with laughter—he was clearly in high spirits.

“The ‘Red Star Liquor Factory’ project I mentioned? It needs my son to step in!”

“That’s fantastic! Finally, I can really help out, Dad!”

Xu Chen knew this was a big deal, tied to expanding Chenfeng Electric Vehicles’ distribution in the north…

Xu Zhiquan: “What are you saying? My son’s been helping all along—he’s my rock!”

Xu Chen: “Dad, let’s skip the formalities—what’s the situation?”

Xu Zhiquan chuckled again:

“Well, son, you’ve already paved the way for me.

They saw the company intro from East Morning Star Advertising that you sent, and Red Star Liquor Factory was impressed.

Especially your case studies—they held them in high regard.

So now they’re reaching out to us for more talks…

This came through Datuo Car Dealership’s Mr. Jiang—that background I told you about.

Mr. Jiang was ignoring us before, but with this, he’s suddenly eager and invited me to dinner.”

Xu Chen’s expression turned serious as he replied:

“So we have to land this Red Star ad project.”

Xu Zhiquan laughed heartily:

“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, son. Things are moving forward, and Jiang Huaqin owes me a favor now.

We’ve got the connection.

Of course, if you can seal the deal, it’ll make my follow-ups easier.”

Xu Chen: “Dad, do you have any more specific details?

The more, the better.”

…”