Chapter 42 - Stifling Intelligence

The light in the meeting room had been dimmed and the people inside crowded together, everyone holding their breaths. The lively, animated sound effects from the big screen attracted everyone’s attention.

These were several television advertisements. There was the logo of a certain television channel imprinted on the upper right corner, and the commercial had already started broadcasting on the station today. At this moment, all the people in the meeting room were reviewing the advertisement together.

The first frame was of a tall and refined young man. He wore a simple shirt with a suit, and carried a bag onto the subway. The subway was crowded with people—an everyday scenario that made people feel tired just looking at. However, the scene was done up beautifully and the sound effects were soothing, overall having an effect of a calm within the chaos. It was very artistic. The young man was also soothing to the eyes. Despite not being a star, he was refreshingly handsome and quiet, his gaze bright and gentle.

When the crowd started to push around, he held the support pole with one hand but the bag he carried was knocked around. As he was getting off, the bag scraped against the door of the carriage as he had to squeeze past. At this moment, the camera lens featured the bag and revealed the Aito logo.

Then, following the flow of people, he got off the subway and arrived at the place he worked, which was an IT company. The scene of the office building flashed by quickly, a busy but youthful atmosphere. From the bag, he removed a heavy notebook laptop, then a thick file holder, and several books. He also took out a set of exercise clothes and a badminton racket, placing it in the lowest drawer of his work desk. While he did this, he invited his colleague to play a game of badminton after work.

Although there was no special feature of the bag in this advertisement, after a moment’s thought people would notice what had happened. His bag didn’t look bulky at all, but it had actually been able to store many things.

In the next frame, he had already finished his game of badminton and was going home after work. At that moment, rain started pouring down. Since his companion had brought an umbrella, the two big men went under it together. His Aito bag poked out from under the umbrella, and his companion asked, “Is your bag all drenched?”

The man smiled and replied, “It’s alright.”

Then, he was home. A young and beautiful woman welcomed him, taking his hand and they entered the house together. He casually tossed the bag onto the sofa beside her women’s edition Aito bag. At this moment, a quick shot revealed that the water stains on the bag had quickly evaporated, leaving it dry. After a while, the young man walked over and retrieved a cheesecake from the bag that was completely unharmed and dry. He passed it to the woman, his girlfriend. “Your favorite flavor.”

“Thank you,” the woman said in a happy, surprised voice. “I love you.”

In the last frame, the two were lying on a large bed in each other’s embrace. The young man asked the woman, “Should we go mountain-climbing this weekend?”

She smiled and answered, “Alright.” A gentle light shined on their bodies as well as the two Aito bags propped against each other on the sofa.

The voiceover suddenly started: “Carry on the journeys you love, and travel in the city.”

The frame changed and a large Aito logo appeared. “Aito City Traveler” was also written on the screen.

Right below there was a line of fine print:

“Making use of Taiwan’s Mind technology fabric.

“Water-resistant, fast-drying, light and convenient, hardy, large capacity.”

Gentle music started playing, which marked the end of the first advertisement. The overhead lights brightened, and everyone in the meeting room had a look of delight on their faces. Everyone nodded in praise.

“Not bad.”

“This advertisement is executed pretty well.”

Even Gu Yanzhi, who had a lot of experience in the field and was a very picky person, smiled slightly and nodded his head. “This advertisement will have an extremely good effect on our consumers.”

Lin Qian sat by the corner of the round table. With a grin she received the many congratulatory glances and looks of approval from the people all around. She was the head of the marketing team and this series of creative advertisements was a result of their blood, sweat and tears.

The actual act of putting it together was outsourced to an advertising company. However, Lin Qian agreed with the marketing guru Shi Yuzhu that no one but themselves could understand Aito’s products and Li Zhicheng’s battle plans well enough that they would be able to creatively tailor the advertisements to the product requirements. Thus, in order to produce these advertisements, she and her subordinates had spent this period of time toiling and giving it their all, even skipping a couple of nights of sleep.

Now, was it finally time to reap the fruits of their labor?

Through the crowd, she looked at Li Zhicheng.

He was obviously satisfied as well—a faint smile was etched onto his face. So many people were joyfully talking and so many people were looking at him. However, he immediately felt her gaze on him and turned to look at her.

Their eyes met for a moment before they both turned away. But the silent approval in his eyes made Lin Qian not just proud, but also warm her heart and sweet inside.

There were many like-minded people she knew, and also many people who admired her. However, the Lin Qian of today wholeheartedly just wanted to remain in his commercial empire under his watch… his eyes all on her.

Soon, they were broadcasting the second advertisement.

The creative idea for this advertisement was almost solely contributed by Lin Qian. This made her experience stronger feelings for it while watching.

A group of little children appeared in the scene, standing outside the entrance of an elementary school while waiting for their parents to pick them up. Compared to the first advertisement, this one had a much more lively and pleasant atmosphere overall.

It started to drizzle, and the children all ran to the bus stop to escape the rain. One boy with very white teeth took his time to make his way over. At the same time he rummaged through his little backpack. There was a special logo on it that read: “Aito Children.”

Quickly, the small boy removed a raincoat from the top section of the bag and draped it over himself. Beside him, a pretty little girl exclaimed “Wow!” and said, “His schoolbag even has a raincoat hidden in it!” The children all stared at the little boy in envy; he simply remained cool and calm without saying a word.

The little boy stood at the edge of the bus stop, which exposed his entire backpack to the rain. The pretty little girl said, “Come inside a little more or your bag will be drenched.”

The little boy continued with his calm demeanor and looked at her, saying, “No, my bag won’t get wet.” Then he asked her, “Do you want to stand under my raincoat?” The little girl immediately scooted over and it attracted the envious glances of the little boys all around. Meanwhile, the Aito little boy smiled smugly.

Just then, the scene changed and the sky was dark. There were many cars driving on the road and there was a serious traffic jam. The little girl said anxiously, “The sky is so dark. I’m afraid my mom won’t spot me.”

The little boy said, “My dad will spot me for sure.”

The little girl was stunned as she saw a black saloon car pull up to the bus stop. A young man pushed open the car door and the boy joyfully bid the little girl goodbye before climbing into the car. At this moment, the camera lens focused on a special feature. On his bag, there was a luminous image of a small bear. In the daylight it wasn’t noticeable. When the sky got dark, the glowing blue small bear was exceptionally eye-catching.

The little girl looked at the boy getting in the car with slight envy. Just then, the door that had been shut was opened once again, and the little boy jumped out. In his hand was a pink school bag with its night logo a cute, small rabbit.

He passed the bag to the little girl. “This is a gift for you. Can you go to the zoo to watch the monkeys with me this weekend?”

The girl was elated as she received the bag, her face shining as bright as a red apple. “Thank you!”

The two children smiled as they looked at each other. They hooked pinkies to seal the promise.

The last scene was of a group of children carrying Aito children’s bags, joyfully running toward the zoo.

The voiceover said, “Aito Children, allowing your children to grow on the journey of love.”

After that it was followed by the slogan, “Aito City Traveler,” as well as the Mind fabric’s “water-resistant, fast-drying, light and convenient, safe” and more of this series of key descriptors.

During the first few days of the launch of Aito, the market reaction was lukewarm. Because even with the onslaught of advertisements on the television and Internet, consumers still required time to get to know and accept the product. Meanwhile, they also needed time to distribute the products to the individual Aida specialty stores and the collaborating middle to high-end departmental stores.

This product’s launch was completely different from that of the Vinda subsidiary brand. Vinda was a novel method that used low prices to flank an attack with its target being to surround and cripple SMQ’s mid-range leather products market.

Aito, on the other hand, was a widely-publicized and large-scaled battle. Li Zhicheng had officially engaged with the larger market after gaining proper control over Aida. Even though his goal was to overthrow New Bori, who had the most overbearing presence in the market, it was now uncertain if the other brands would be lucky to even survive.

Lin Qian had utmost confidence in Aito. Such confidence had stemmed from her familiarity with Aito and knowing Li Zhicheng’s thought processes for his battle plans inside out.

She was so familiar with the product’s entire germination, its every creatively unique point, its every unbelievable function, and its every single detail that she was able to clearly see its uncontainable, overflowing potential in the market.

She could tell this was a product the market would be unable to resist, and one that competitors would be unable to go up against or sabotage.

So, she thought, in this market, what other product was there that could compare to this?

Lin Qian felt that Aito would definitely sweep the entire market off its feet and bring in a consumer base they had never thought possible.

Of course, whether or not Aito could really create such a miracle would only be seen after the market warmed up to it, which could be anywhere from days to weeks. The entire staff of Aida had given it their all, and could only wait with wide eyes while waiting to see the end result.

Meanwhile, to Lin Qian and Li Zhicheng, this weekend was a fleeting half-a-day’s rest that had been hard to come by.

After knocking off on Friday, Lin Qian returned home and gave Li Zhicheng a call.

He was still in the office but work had also temporarily come to an end. When he picked up the phone, his tone was no longer the cold one it was during busy periods, but rather low and gentle. “Have you gone home?”

“Yup.” Lin Qian had already removed her professional work attire and was lying on her bed, casually kicking her legs around. “Do you have any plans over the weekend?”

“Sure,” Li Zhicheng answered immediately, smiling as he did.

Lin Qian laughed. “I haven’t even offered an idea yet! And you said ‘sure’ right away.” He was using that method to win her heart again: acting as loyal as a dog. Actually, he had a whole mind full of big ideas that she couldn’t pinpoint or see through.

“Let’s go to Mount Emei,” she said. “Carry our Aito as we go on our travels.” This was a phrase she borrowed from Aito’s advertising campaign and she laughed after saying it.

Emei was not far from Lin City and a trip could be completed within a day—it couldn’t even really be considered a trip. But Lin Qian wanted Li Zhicheng to escape from his high-pressure job and relax a little. Emei was also a sacred Buddhist land, and they could kill two birds with one stone by going to light some incense and praying for Aida.

“Alright,” Li Zhicheng replied.

Lin Qian was excited. “Then I’ll go and book the tickets. Let’s plan on going there and coming back again tomorrow. We’ll return tomorrow night and then have Sunday to rest for a day.” The tickets she was talking about were the bus tickets for their round trip to Emei from Lin City, as well as the local attractions tickets and such.

Li Zhicheng became slightly infected by her happiness as he listened to the joy in her voice. He was seated alone in the quiet office but a smile appeared on his lips. “I will arrange these. Just wait for me to come and pick you up tomorrow.”

Lin Qian was used to being independent. When she heard him say that, the first thought that popped into her head was that having a boyfriend had its perks. She could finally enjoy things being arranged on her behalf and request things without having to do anything.

“Okay,” she answered sweetly.

After hanging up, Lin Qian did not simply wile her time away. She grabbed a bag and left the house to get the necessities for the next day. This included common medications, snacks, water—she even bought herself a beautiful sun hat. Even though she had the cap from Li Zhicheng that had been used to pledge his love, this was a date that was hard to come by, so she couldn’t possibly wear such a tomboyish hat!

On the other side of the line, Li Zhicheng hung up and called for Jiang Yuan.

His relationship with Lin Qian wasn’t a huge secret, but he didn’t want it to garner too much attention during the critical stage of building up the company. He also did not keep it from his secretary.

“I’m going on a trip to Mount Emei with Lin Qian tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Jiang Yuan replied. “Then I will go and arrange the itinerary before letting you have a look.”

Returning to his smaller work cubicle outside, Jiang Yuan gave the familiar travel agency a call. Upon hearing that an important leader would be going on the trip, the travel agency was naturally extra attentive, asking him, “Is it a day trip or a two-day trip? Will he be spending the night at Mount Emei? There are a couple of hotels on the peak of Mount Emei that are not bad, as well as a hot spring. Also, if it’s a two-day trip, how many people will there be and how many rooms are needed?”

The next morning, Lin Qian wore beautifully-colored outdoor clothing with her new sun hat and carried the Aito women’s bag. She was on time, waiting downstairs for Li Zhicheng.

He wore a dark-colored outdoor jacket with a pair of long pants. Driving over in his Land Rover, he looked sportier than he usually at the office. However, his movements, and the stability and power between his brows were the same as usual.

Lin Qian sat in the passenger seat and looked at his profile, thinking, Men have so many sides to them. Other than the image in the workplace where he was professional and mighty, this side of him, which was unrestrained and laced with casualness, was only ever revealed around her.

So proud and so satisfied. Hahaha.

Li Zhicheng could sense the woman’s gaze unrelentingly focused on him, but because he was driving he could only extend his hand and place it on the back of her neck. His fingers traced the soft and tender skin behind her ears slowly. “You’re happy.”

The man’s fingers had a thin layer of calluses. When they brushed across her sensitive skin it made her entire body weak, but there was also an inexplicable comfort that came with it. The comfort was slight but drawn out, a flowing fountain slowly pouring cool water into her heart. It was obviously very stimulating to the senses and made her heart warm and fuzzy.

She did not make a sound. After touching her like that for a while, Li Zhicheng pulled his hand back and continued driving. Meanwhile, the remnants of the gentle womanly fragrance on his fingers moved his heart slightly.

Just then, Lin Qian placed one hand lightly on his shoulder and leaned her body over. Lifting her head, she looked for her favorite part of his lower jawline and placed a kiss there. And when the masculine warmth on his skin spread to her lips, she couldn’t help but nibble gently so as to get more of his unique taste.

However, this kiss was short lived. She quickly removed her lips and returned to her seat. The entire event was just him instinctively stroking the back of her neck, and her kissing his chin.

After this simple fulfillment of both of their desires, she continued to look ahead as if nothing had happened, and he gave her a look before continuing to drive. But both of their agitated hearts were similarly finding it difficult to hold back.