Who Would Fall in Love After Being Reborn?

TL: Etude

Jiang Qin was particularly generous tonight, ordering a lavish spread of dishes to entertain Lai Cunqing, Ding Qiaona, and a few key employees from team 208.

Garlic scallops, crystal pork knuckles, golden soup with fatty beef, clay pot fish head, dried bamboo shoots with cured meat…

The array was dazzling, the aroma overwhelming, making everyone’s mouth water.

Feng Nanshu quickly filled up and, while Jiang Qin and Lai Cunqing were chatting, she sneakily took a sip of his drink. Her cheeks instantly turned red, and her tongue, burned by the spice, stuck out.

Hearing a gasp, Jiang Qin turned around, puzzled.

“Why is your face so red?”

“I just had some chili.”

The little rich lady spoke with her tongue out, tears already forming in her eyes.

In fact, everyone at the table except Jiang Qin had seen her steal the drink, but nobody dared to intervene in the boss lady’s affairs.

“Madam, have some water,” Su Nai quietly brought a glass over.

“Su Nai, you’re a good person.”

Feng Nanshu gulped down the water, her mouth still reeking of alcohol. She kept her mouth shut, afraid Jiang Qin would notice.

Jiang Qin forbade her from drinking alcohol. She could taste a bit of beer, but spirits were strictly off-limits, yet her curiosity always got the better of her.

Saying she was like a silly cat was not far from the truth; curiosity could indeed be fatal.

However, not everyone could enjoy drinks and a feast that night. In the conference room of Wanzhong Mall, a group of miserable managers were eating boxed meals, working overtime.

In front of them lay the group-buying project proposal personally drafted by Jiang Qin.

The proposal wasn’t lengthy, fitting on less than four pages of A4 paper, but it had the five seasoned marketing managers puzzled for a long time, unable to fully grasp its essence.

Some things are just like that.

Subtle yet terrifying upon closer inspection, seemingly simple but capable of exhausting the strongest.

You might think it’s unrealistic, yet you can’t deny its feasibility. It seems fantastical at first glance, but upon deeper reflection, it appears achievable.

This mix of reality and fantasy had the five managers nearly at their wit’s end.

“Is this project aiming to completely overturn the existing order and habits of consumption?”

“According to this plan, consumers could compare three stores without leaving their homes, identifying which has better or worse service based on reviews.”

“I feel this proposal overhypes online sales.”

“It’s not about hype; it’s that the key details are too sparse. I can see the direction it’s headed, but the specifics are missing.”

“How is instant payment and receipt of funds going to work? It takes me two hours to get a text confirmation when I use a U-shield to recharge my phone.”

“Forget about phone charges. Even bank transfers aren’t verified until the next day. Could the future really hold transaction tools that bypass banks?”

“The big four banks seem to be upgrading their online services. I wonder if it’s related to this.”

“This proposal is essentially castrated, with many details omitted. It’s infuriatingly opaque!”

“Who is Feng Nanshu? Why is her name repeated over twenty times at the end of the proposal? Could she be a key figure? This warrants deep thought.”

Yue Zhu was also in the conference room, silently sipping her coffee, her copy of the proposal nearly tattered.

She was present the day the boss decided to reform the mall and knew many details unknown to other managers.

For example, the reform was sparked by a university student’s entrepreneurial project.

Additionally, the boss believed that retail in the mid-market and pure sales would soon face twilight.

Honestly, Yue Zhu thought the boss was worrying over nothing. His decision to reform the mall seemed frivolous.

No matter how convenient and quick online sales were, how could they become widespread nationwide in a short time?

Take Amazon, for instance, a giant in e-commerce, yet after five years in the Chinese market, it’s barely made a splash.

Changing the nation’s consumption habits isn’t something that can be achieved just by talking about it.

In Yue Zhu’s estimation, such a transformation couldn’t happen in less than fifty years.

But since the boss had spoken, the employees had to prepare.

So, that night, instead of going to bed early as usual, Yue Zhu collected various e-commerce materials on her computer while pondering over the day’s discussions.

As her understanding deepened, she began to realize the fear the boss had spoken of.

Direct factory sales, home delivery, online banking, nationwide logistics – these weren’t mere fantasies; people were already working on them. Once these elements were connected, online shopping would become incredibly smooth.

With the barriers of time and space removed, the manufacturing cycle and storage costs would decrease, and mobile information technology was on the verge of an upgrade.

Changes in the era really don’t come with warnings or signs.

In such a scenario, pure sales malls like Wanzhong would be devastated in a few years if they didn’t adapt.

However, despite the boss’s instruction to find inspiration for reform in the group-buying project, Yue Zhu found herself lost, her mind muddled.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but recall Jiang Qin.

Seeing him handle the group-buying project so effortlessly, Yue Zhu always felt it didn’t involve much technicality. But when it came to her, she found it utterly baffling.

“Manager Yue, do you know who Feng Nanshu is?” asked Zhao, one of the managers.

“Ah?”

Yue Zhu snapped back to reality: “Manager Zhao, what did you just say?”

“This proposal mentions ‘Feng Nanshu’ three times in a row at the end. Does it mean something?”

“Oh, Feng Nanshu is Jiang Qin’s girlfriend. Jiang Qin is the one who wrote this proposal. The name might have been added playfully when he was bored and then forgotten to be deleted.”

Upon hearing this, Manager Zhao cursed loudly: “Damn, even showing off their love in a project proposal. I wasted so much time searching online, ugh!”

While they were talking, He Yijun suddenly entered the conference room.

The previously bustling managers immediately quieted down and straightened up.

“How’s the project proposal going, everyone?” asked He Yijun.

“General Manager He, this proposal is intermittent, it’s just a framework without details. We really can’t grasp it,” one manager replied.

He Yijun sat in his chair and took a sip of tea: “This is someone else’s proposal. Of course, they won’t reveal all details to us. Having a general framework is enough because I don’t want you to ponder over this proposal, but to find the direction for the mall’s reform through it.”

Marketing Department Manager Zhao Zuchang couldn’t help but ask: “Who exactly is Jiang Qin, the author of this proposal?”

“A person with keen and unique vision, capable, and also humble and cautious.”

Yue Zhu, holding her coffee, almost choked on He Yijun’s words.

Humble and cautious? These words could fit anyone, but placing them on Jiang Qin seemed like a waste!

He Yijun, however, remained serious, mainly because he didn’t want to reveal that Jiang Qin was just a college student. Otherwise, the managers might underestimate the proposal and not take it seriously.

“Boss, I really don’t understand why we need to reform if our mall is doing well?” asked Bao Wenping, the manager of the administrative department.

“Let me show you some data I’ve collected recently.”

He Yijun signaled his secretary, and a pre-prepared PowerPoint presentation was projected in the meeting room.

The first page showed several rising e-commerce websites.

The second page displayed the growth in online shopping users since 2006.

The third page showed the increased activation rate after the big four banks upgraded their online banking services.

The fourth and fifth pages detailed information about a website called Taobao.

After viewing the entire PowerPoint presentation, the managers present were somewhat silent, whispering to each other.

“Shocking, isn’t it? I was like you before, thinking this was far off and not a threat to us. But after trying Taobao last night, I realized how formidable it is. One day, it will subtly infiltrate our lives.”

“Once humans get used to convenient things, it’s hard to go back.”

“Then… what’s the connection between online shopping and this group-buying project?” Zhao Zuchang asked.

He Yijun took a deep breath: “The person who wrote this project proposal is a master. This is a new project he’s recently experimenting with. I hope after reading it, you can find inspiration for our next direction.”

“Boss, could we have more time? We need to digest all this information.”

“Of course.”

After He Yijun finished speaking and announced the meeting’s end, he felt somewhat disappointed.

The managers under him had been revolving around the mall for too long, their thinking had become rigid, insensitive to the changes of the times.

But he couldn’t blame them; even as the boss, he was also in the dark about how to approach the reform.

It seemed he needed to consult someone who truly understood the trends of the era, someone whose few words could provide clear insight.

Meanwhile, someone capable of understanding these trends was sitting on the steps outside a restaurant, sobering up, feeling the biting cold of the winter night.

On the road, he observed groups of lightly-dressed female students braving the cold, their beauty standing out starkly against the chill, seemingly immune to it.

Such youth, not caring for their knees, would eventually suffer from cold joints.

“Jiang Qin, don’t forget to come to my house for dinner tomorrow.”

Lost in thought, Jiang Qin suddenly received this text from He Yijun.

So eager to invite me to dinner?

Seems like there’s no such thing as a free meal. Old He must be up to something. I need to be cautious.

…

Taobao is Amazon for China, owned by Alibaba.

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