59 Chapter 59 : Hiring An Actress

Everyone inside the meeting room felt like the air around them was too tight. This is the first time they have seen the lady boss to be in a very sour mood.

They prayed that their lady boss would spare them. They did their best to hire new female programmers but the damn Mao group was too cunning and evil. Why does that company have to meddle in their peaceful company?

"I acknowledge all of your suggestions. But it seems that most of these suggestions will cost us a fortune." Xiulan started and stares at the huge projected PowerPoint report. She knew that the marketing team had been stressing themselves on what kind of tricks they have to pull to attract more female programmers but their suggestions were too expensive.

It's not that Xiulan is being irresponsibly stingy right now, but the team suggested that they should hire a famous actress to use as a company representative or model. It costs millions of yuan just to get a contract with the lowest net income A-list actress.

"Boss, we can hire a popular B-list actress then if we want to cut the cost. There are a lot of B-list actresses that are very popular nowadays and with good reputation." someone from the marketing team said.

Xiulan nods at the female employee's suggestion. As far as she knows, there are rising B and C stars that are really popular and has a nice reputation. A-list celebrities tend to ask for huge talent fee even though they are not that popular.

"I am not very familiar with celebrities even though I married a CEO of a prominent showbiz company but please list all of these actresses that you think we should collaborate with. I may ask my husband if he could give us a discount to hire one his of actresses. I'll also ask my big sister Nuo Shu." Xiulan nonchalantly said.

Xiulan remembers that the actresses under Hongqi are all A-list actresses. There are only few who are low ranked because he can immediately make them super popular.

Same in her big sister Nuo Shu's company. Most of them have a name already and are booked by high-end brands. Rookie models are not that popular but once they are given a big break, they will become automatically super popular.

"I also want you to look into their background if they have an IT, online gaming, digital art hobby. We may use this to attract some of their female programmers fans that their idols has the same passion." Xiulan added and browsed the file that the marketing team gave to her.

Her eyes caught the 'Famous vloggers and streamers' in the list of the recommendations.

"Vloggers and streamers? How can they even help us? An IT company..." Xiulan asked her team. She's not fond of watching any of them. She might have watched a game stream before but the streamers are mostly guys.

When she watched a female gamer before, she didn't dare to continue since it was painful to watch. There are only few decent female gamers out there that would reveal their skills. Most are just using it for clout.

"We can ask them to plug our company in one of their videos or streams. Then we can pay them by sponsoring them free stuff from our company or pay them a hefty amount. If we want to be more discreet, we can just add an ads in between their videos." the Marketing head's assistant explained.

"Hmm... I like that idea... List all the best female streamer and vloggers." Xiulan affirmed and noted on her notebook about this idea.

"We can also try to contact Mystery Magic. I heard from our female programmers that she's very popular in the IT and CS community. We may ask her for a collaboration." The Marketing head suggested.

Xiulan was taken aback by this suggestion. She never expected that her Mystery Magic online alter ego would pop up in this meeting. She did not expect that Mystery Magic is popular to her female programmer employees.

It suddenly gave her a warm feeling and pride for a fleeting moment. It's like her daughter got recognized.

"Mystery Magic? I know her since I am active in the IT forums. Yes, let me try to contact her." Xiulan agreed but actually that idea is great. Why did she never thought of using Mystery Magic?

The meeting ended after three hours of brainstorming. She didn't want the meeting to drag longer since her team must think of ways and approach to solve this dilemma.

During her break time, she was surprised by Lau Zhu's sudden visit.

"Lau Zhu, you're here. What's with the sudden visit?" Xiulan happily greeted Lau Zhu and hugged her.

Lau Zhu smiled cheerily at her and made a saluting stance. "I have come to report!"

"Stop that." Xiulan chucked. "Please have a seat."

"I came here to check on you. I heard that you got married again. Looks like Mr. Xing is securing his spot." Lau Zhu teasingly said and place a box looking gift on the long coffee table.

Actually, Lau Zhu is only here to spy on Xiulan, of course by Mo Dejiang's orders. He only wanted to confirm if Xiulan has that 'honeymoon glow' that female gossipers that really liked to talk about during lunch breaks.

Lau Zhu eyes Xiulan's graceful beauty. She can't find that 'honeymoon glow' they were talking about but it's obvious that her skin became a little bit tan. It made her skin glow and healthy looking. There was an obvious dark under-eye from lack of sleep. "Did that haughty husband of hers sucked her dry?" Lau Zhu can't help but secretly and concernedly asked.

"What is this?" Xiulan asked and carefully held the gift and shook it a little. It gave off a sound of multiple sachets and liquid.

"Boss Dejiang just came back from the Philippines. He has tons of souvenirs. Mostly are dry fruits, teas, coconut oils and pearls." Lau Zhu enumerated.

"I see... I didn't know that he had a vacation in a tropical country too. Please say my thanks to him." Xiulan happily hugged the gift and walked towards her seat. "I also have something for him."

Looking at the lady boss' retreating back, Lau Zhu suddenly thought of something brilliant that will make her heart-broken boss happy.

"Ah, wait! Can I take a picture of you while you carry and hug the gift box?" She said and hastily pulled out her phone.

Xiulan doesn't understand why but she still obliged. She posed in front of Lau Zhu while she sweetly hugs the gift.

It took Lau Zhu 10 shots before she stops taking pictures. "Boss will be definitely happy with these photos."

"Why would he be happy though? Ah! My gift for him and for you." Xiulan quickly went near a big paper bag that contains the souvenirs she bought in Maldives.

"I am not sure if you will like these but here. Collectible tribal masks." Xiulan handed her two medium size boxes that contains tribal masks.

"Thank you, madame." she happily received the gifts. She's elated that this wonderful lady would even give her a souvenir. This will also make Boss Dejiang happy that he might give her a bonus.

"If you need any help again, please feel free to ask us. We are happy to collaborate with you more." Lau Zhu bowed and plastered a childish grin.

Xiulan warmly smiled at Lau Zhu and said "Of course. I will ask as soon as possible if I need help."

The two chatted for a little bit before Lau Zhu left.

Xiulan's alone in her office again. She checked the gifts inside the box and she was surprised by the the different pearl accessories inside. She sweated that Dejiang's gifts are too expensive. She eyed on the dried mangoes and she suddenly feel like eating all of them from all these pent up stress.

She took three packs of dried mangoes and went to seat on her chair again. She started eating them while she watches the stock market on her laptop's monitor.

She suddenly thought of the marketing head's suggestion about collaborating with Mystery Magic. Xiulan fully knows the reputation of her alter ego in the IT community. She never knew that she will user her one day for her company.

She quickly opens her 3D creator application and started creating a new look for Mystery Magic.

After creating a new look for Mystery Magic, she went back developing and programming for the other projects that is near the deadline. As a pro and a master in her craft, she can easily do this stuff in just a few hours.

She stayed in her office until 11 pm. She was such a hard-worker that she wouldn't stop until she's satisfied of her craft. She even forgot to eat dinner, now her stomach's grumbling crazily.

She was about to go to Hongqi's penthouse but she immediately remembered that she will stay at her parents' house for two more days. She quickly hailed a cab and called Hongqi to ask about his actresses' talent fees.

"Wow. It's been awhile since you called me in your own accord." Hongqi sarcastically greeted her.

"Drama king. I'm here to ask you something about business." Xiulan rolled her eyes.

"You didn't even greet or ask me if I'm well. You are really a cold wife. I think I won't be able to endure a long distance relationship with you." Hongqi ranted like a child.

Xiulan frowned from hearing his childish grumbling. "Okay... have you eaten dinner? Have you drank your vitamins? Don't forget to rest when you're strained from working too much, my dear husband. Your wife is deeply worried." Xiulan tried her best to make her voice sound so sweet to sarcastically annoy Hongqi but her too sweet voice caught the the taxi driver's attention and suspiciously looked at her.

She blushed from the embarrassment. She cleared her throat to regain her usual tone and asked Hongqi again "So, are you currently home? I'm in a taxi right now. I just left the office a while ago."

Hongqi was laughing so hard in the other line. But his smile is rather alluring and there was an obvious amused glint in his eyes. He was enjoying this moment with her. Her sweet voice made him miss her more. It's just been two days yet he misses her so much.

"Yeah, I'm at home. I also ate dinner but I miss your home-cooked meals. Why are you leaving so late at night? You can just come here since it's just 5 minutes away from your company or ask the chauffeur to send you to your parent's house." Hongqi's tone suddenly changed to a concerned tone and he was obviously stressed that his wife is trying to be too independent again.

"Calling the chauffeur didn't cross my mind. Anyway, hailing a cab is easy. Oh, before I forget my question. I wanted to ask you how much the talent fee is for your B-list actresses." Xiulan tried to divert the topic to her main concern.

Hongqi was briefly fazed by Xiulan's question. He didn't expect her to ask showbiz related questions.

"Most of my B-list talents are trainees with only few exposure from trending music videos, youth web dramas and commercials. It'll cost a minimum of half a million to three million yuan (80k-423k USD) to have them to work. Rather than B-list actresses, why not just go for the A-list actresses?" Hongqi said. He tries to guess and understand this sudden question from his wife.

"Three million!?" Xiulan exclaimed. Her loud voice caught the taxi driver's attention again. She apologized to him for being so noisy.

"What's wrong? My talents are somewhat high caliber and that's actually cheap though. Why do you need an actress for?" Hongqi questioned.

Xiulan shrunk in her seat and silently mumbles to her phone. "Ayah... cheap my ass... it's so expensive."

So expensive just to attract and hire employees ah!

"My dear wife, I'm your husband. I can lend them to you for free." Hongqi admirably said. His wife should remember how rich he is and that a mere two million yuan is nothing to him. Also, why would he lend a B-list actress to her when he can offer an A-list talent?

"No. Even though I am your wife, I can't use you like this. I will try to look for another alternative. Thank you for answering my questions. Good night, dear husband." Xiulan quickly ended the call and sat in the back seat of the cab with deep contemplation.

Minimum of half a million to three million just to book them but making them a representative of a company for a whole year might cause more. She can't use a huge amount of money just for hiring purposes. That's not a good investment.

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They are not even a huge company to spend so much in hiring a lot of personnel. They only wanted to hire more female programmers! Goodness.

Hongqi's eyebrows are still in a knot and he sharply looks at his phone. He can't believe that his wife would still turn down his help and offer again.

A sudden wave of dark emotions filled his heart. How can he even win her heart when she's like this? She's blocking all his advances to her. He was genuine in helping her but her stubbornness is in the way.

Hongqi quickly called Secretary Yang Bo in the middle of the night and ordered him "Get all the internal issues in my wife's company. I want to know why they need an actress."