CH 28.1

A week later, Jiaolong Investment Group.

The four team members gathered together, excitedly discussing—

“Lou’s new products are going to explode this season, this rising sales volume is too good right?”

“The new exterior design is so brilliant! Although I got a gift as an insider, I still bought all the other lipstick cases. Who can resist this! Say, how did Designer Shi, as a man, come up with interchangeable case design?”

“Designer Shi is young, powerful, and good-looking. It’s a pity that the famous grass has an owner1.”

“Then again, there are times when the Investment Analysis Department made some errors in their valuation. Lou’s performance in this quarter must have increased by more than 2%, right?”

A week ago, the public opinion of Zhao’s Meiji air cushion’s ‘rotten face’ became more and more heated, causing strong protests from countless consumers.

At the same time, Lou company, a small domestic cosmetics brand, stood up and took out a series of evidence and the copyright certificate of appearance patent, pointing directly at the appearance plagiarism of Zhao’s new products.

The rotten face Zhao’s products hold themselves high with the ‘domestic brand’ gimmick, but they actually plagiarized the product appearance in secret?

What the f*ck?

The anger of consumers was ignited all at once. They made more and more complaints to the Industrial and Commercial Supervision Department.

They seized the behind-the-scenes leaders of the air cushion brand and poured dog blood2 on all of them.

Even if Zhao and their brand denied the ‘plagiarism’ at the first, the ‘rotten face’ caused by the air cushion was a fact that they couldn’t get rid of, so they failed to win back the trust of consumers, and the stock value continued to plummet and evaporate within a week. Their losses were becoming increasingly serious. 

On the contrary, Lou’s Hua Zhong Ge, which had always called themselves ‘a small domestic brand’, had entered the netizens’ and customers’ radar.

Although Lou’s Hua Zhong Ge used to follow the minority route, the reputation of their products had always been very good because they were conscientious.

At present, Hua Zhong Ge had attracted the attention of netizens by relying on the beautiful national-style outer packaging, and immediately the water army spontaneously jumped out to recommend the product——

“Oops! My favorite domestic brand is about to be discovered by everyone!”

“Sisters, listen to me! Hua Zhong Ge’s stuff is really easy to use! The packaging used to be quite plastic, so I’m embarrassed to recommend it! This time the new product packaging is simply divine. Must buy!”

“To tell the truth, her house stuff works pretty well.”

This was an era that required marketing and traffic. Only by finding ways to enter the vision of consumers could they open up the situation of blocked sales.

With Luo’s investment, Hua Zhong Ge had gone all out to launch overwhelming publicity, online promotion, video advertisement, and even printed advertisement was not spared!

Of course, there were also doubts from netizens——

“Start throwing away the money to the water army again? You guys haven’t learned enough lessons from Meiji’s air cushion? It must be another plastic quality product!”

“I no longer believe that domestic brands can produce anything good. They deceive consumers by preaching supporting domestic products and national-style design!”

In the face of such distrustful voices, Lou did not argue, but seized the time to distribute the existing new products in stock. Therefore, the first batch of customers who placed orders received the goods within three days. 

Before long, these first batch of customers screamed out on the online sharing platform one after another. To sum up in one statement——    

“Good quality! High appearance value! The price is conscientious! The product itself works very well!”

Released at the same period as Zhao’s Meiji Air Cushion with the title of ‘domestic brand and national style design’, Lou’s Hua Zhong Ge simply pressed their opponent to the ground with a dimensional reduction strike3!

After the first round of customer verification, more and more online beauty bloggers and ordinary netizens also started to purchase, evaluate, and recommend.

In just one week, Lou’s added three additional rounds of pre-sale and all of them were sold out!

Whether it was the brand owner Lou or the investor Luo, this was a win-win situation with big profits for both parties!

Some members of the team secretly rejoiced, “Fortunately, we didn’t listen to Chen Hui’s instigation and left the team. I feel like we’ve picked up good things with a cheap bargain this time.”

They thought Lou company would have no future development4, but unexpectedly  the other party was actually a dark horse that made their own way through the fiercely competitive cosmetic market.

The rest of the team nodded in agreement, and some couldn’t help but gossip in a low voice, “Say, how did the first version of the design get leaked?”

“Who knows?”

“Didn’t the group headquarter order a thorough investigation of this matter? Why is the efficiency so slow this time? It’s been almost a week…”

Only halfway through the sentence, Yuan Hong, who was in the independent office, slammed the door open, and left anxiously in front of all the team members.

“What happened to Brother Yuan recently? He seems restless?”

“Who knows?”

Yuan Hong had no time to pay attention to the team members’ discussion. He rushed to the stairwell according to the WeChat message he had received. As soon as he opened the safety passage door, he saw Chen Hui smoking and waiting there.

The two looked at each other, each with their own thoughts.

Yuan Hong slammed the door of the stairwell shut, his chest heaving, “Chen Hui! Can you please stop bothering me?”

Luo and  Lou not only sued Zhao and others for ‘appearance plagiarism’, but also ordered a thorough investigation to find the mole. Yuan Hong had been living in fear for a week!

“If I’m not looking for you, then who should I look for?”

Chen Hui threw his extinguished cigarette to the ground, and crushed it with the sole of his shoe, “Damn, Luo Yanchuan, that son of a b*tch who didn’t keep his words! He’s a rich young master but is still so stingy.”

At the banquet that day, Luo Yanchuan said, “The assistant will give the cash later”. But no one would have thought that bad comments about the brand would suddenly break out on the Internet.

The celebration banquet ended in a hurry, and the money Chen Hui longed for was gone.  

Because he lost his job and was idle at home, Chen Hui’s wife kept talking all day long. Unable to hold himself back, Chen Hui slapped his wife twice during a quarrel. Now the other party was determined to divorce him!

Chen Hui’s family relationship was not smooth, and he was more and more concerned about the money that hadn’t been settled.

He repeatedly tried to contact Luo Yanchuan’s assistant, but the other party was either busy or hung up his calls. This morning, he was directly blocked by the other side.

In a fit of rage, Chen Hui went to find Yuan Hong.

He clicked his tongue again, “Without company permission, I almost couldn’t get in. Fortunately, I recognized a familiar security guard downstairs.”

The other party didn’t know that Chen Hui had resigned. He believed that he didn’t bring his access card, so he(CH) was let in with a pack of cigarettes.

Yuan Hong was disgusted with Chen Hui in his heart, but asked with a straight face, “What’s the use of coming to me?”

“Old Yuan, since you’re working for Luo Yanchuan, why don’t you pay me the labor fee on his behalf?”

Chen Hui relayed the idea he had in mind.

Yuan Hong seemed to have heard something ridiculous, and replied angrily, “Chen Hui, I advise you to find a new job if you have the time. I don’t know the situation with Young Master Luo. I can’t contact him these days. I don’t have the spare money to give you.”

“No money? How dare you guys trick me?”

Chen Hui’s expression immediately changed, both warnings and threats were sent out, “Old Yuan, I advise you to think clearly, or I’ll break into the office now and tell everyone clearly—”

“Shi Yunnan’s design draft was given to me by you. You asked me to secretly hand it over to Luo Yanchuan and the others because you were afraid of taking the blame!”

Chen Hui pointed to the closed safety door behind him, and began to show his real greedy face, “I’ve already resigned anyway, but you’re different. Luo company has no use for the son of a b*tch who lives off them but secretly helps outsiders.”

Yuan Hong’s face suddenly turned ashen, “Chen Hui! You dare to curse at me? Don’t be too shameless! What kind of shit are you! How dare you threaten me?”

This design draft was not sent through the company’s computer, nor was it personally handed by Yuan Hong to Luo Yanchuan. Even if the company wanted to investigate, there was no direct evidence that led to him.

Chen Hui immediately spit at him, “Getting angry due to shame, huh? The more you’re not calm like this, doesn’t it mean that you’re not that confident in your heart?”

“Old Yuan, how can I still not understand you old fritter5? Two hundred thousand, I want two hundred thousand!”

He paused and used his hand to compare the figure, “Your annual salary and commission are more than that, right? Isn’t it good to spend money to protect your future?”

Yuan Hong stared at Chen Hui’s disgusting face and smiled, “Are you sure you only need this much?”

Chen Hui thought that the other party had relented, and nodded, “Of course, for the sake of us being former colleagues, I specially give you…”

–Bang!

Before Chen Hui could finish his sentence, he was punched to the ground by Yuan Hong.

“Twenty thousand? Are you f*cking worth it?”

“If you have the ability, run to your colleagues and company boss to talk about it! Let’s see who will believe you!” Yuan Hong couldn’t wait to have a scapegoat, and kept insisting that he himself was in the right.

“I think it’s clear that you, Chen Hui, harbor a grudge after being dismissed by Shi Yunnan, so you stole his design draft and sold it to the other competitor! Now I’ve caught you!”

Yuan Hong didn’t want to put the blame on Chen Hui.

No matter what, even if he was involved in the incident and tragically resigned, Luo Yanchuan promised to help him find a new and more respectable job.

Why should he be afraid of the threat from a despicable villain like Chen Hui?

Chen Hui touched the blood on the corner of his mouth. He failed to get the money and was even unexpectedly injured? All of a sudden, he was furious, how could he tolerate this!

He grabbed Yuan Hong’s legs and threw him to the ground with all his strength.

Yuan Hong lost control of his center of gravity and fell to the ground. He felt intense pain all over his body. By the time he reacted again, he had already been pressed down and punched several times by Chen Hui in return.

The two of them refused to give in. They scuffled in this narrow corridor, both fighting fiercely against each other.

Unknown amount of time later, there was an ear-splitting sound of the door being pulled, and the outside light was cast into the dimly lit corridor.

The two people in the scuffle stopped at the same time, in the next second, they were pulled apart and controlled separately by four security guards who had just entered.

“Why are you tying me up? Get lost!” Chen Hui turned his head and shouted anxiously, only to find that one of them was the security guard who had just let him into the company.

“Security guard, you’ve got the wrong person! He’s not an employee of our company. Hurry…” Yuan Hong didn’t have time to finish before he swallowed it back into his stomach due to fright.

Shi Yunnan approached slowly and stopped outside the safety door. Qin Jian, Luo Lingsheng’s assistant and Luo company’s general secretary, was beside him.

Yuan Hong suddenly felt a sense of impending crisis. He couldn’t even care about his physical pain anymore, “Shi, Mr. Shi, general secretary Qin.”

Shi Yunnan’s playful eyes swirled around the two of them, “What a good dogfight. You guys were fighting so fiercely that I was too embarrassed to disturb while listening to the commotion outside the door.”

“Mr. Shi, what do you mean?” Yuan Hong asked.

“What do I mean? Didn’t you guys already spill all the truth just now?” Shi Yunan sneered and signaled to Qin Jian beside him with his eyes.

Qin Jian nodded at him and stepped forward, “Yuan Hong, Chen Hui, there is enough evidence to suspect that you have leaked the company’s trade secret and caused losses in business investment.”

Trade secret?

Raising the design draft to the level of trade secret?

Yuan Hong realized the seriousness of the implication. His legs went weak and he almost couldn’t stand properly, “Mr. Shi, there is a misunderstanding here! The product design is not my…”

“Pei! Yuan Hong, you shameless bastard!”

Chen Hui interrupted Yuan Hong’s explanation, and shouted at Shi Yunnan with dissatisfaction, “Shi Yunnan, are you mistaken?”

“The day you entered the post, I quitted my job! I don’t know anything about the design draft! All I know is that you have no right to have someone restrain me! That’s illegal for you to…”

“Are you worthy to talk about the law with me now?”

Shi Yunnan stepped into the corridor unhurriedly. His smiling and playful eyes instantly became extremely sharp.

Qin Jian was the first to feel the sudden change in his aura, and secretly sighed—

When the patriarch was present, Mr. Shi always called out ‘husband’ this and that in front of outsiders. He looked aggrieved and soft, as if anyone could bully him.

In fact, as soon as the patriarch was not present, he completely changed into a haughty and not easy to bully attitude. He could frightened others with might when he flared up. 

“I’ll tell you guys a popular science6fact for free. If one leaks trade secrets and causes losses to the company, just like you, paying compensation and fine is considered as a light punishment. Generally, you can be sentenced up to three or seven years in prison depending on the circumstances.”

“Guess how many years each of you will be locked up?”

It means that he has a partner or he likes someone else.

Curse at someone.

This is a term that originated from a novel. It basically means those with overwhelming strength could easily crush ordinary people with their knowledge and ability.

The saying here is 扶不起的阿斗[fú bu qǐ de ā dǒu] which translated to Ah Dou Who couldn’t be support. Ah Dou refers to Liu Shan, the son of Liu Bei, Emperor Zhaolie of the Han Dynasty, during the Three Kingdoms period. This person was very incompetent. Today this term is generally used to describe a person who is disappointing and has no future.

A derogatory term refers to a slick and experienced person that worked in an organization for a long time. They’re quite dishonest and good with lip service.

Not literally science. On the Chinese internet, the word popular science is mostly used to ask for explanation or information from others when encountering something that you don’t understand.