'Being called "Dad" all the time, I can't get away with not spending money!'
"Okay, I'm warning you. If I catch you playing games on your phone or letting it affect your schoolwork, I'll take it away immediately!"
He widened his eyes, trying to scare her.
The little girl nodded. "Dad, don't worry. I won't let it distract me from what's important!"
With that, she took a small stack of bills out of her bag, a mix of small and large notes.
"Dad, I still have over 800 here. You should take it!"
Clearly, seeing that Yang Hui had spent so much money on her, she decided to turn over all the leftover cash her auntie had given her!
He ruffled her hair. "You keep it. When you grow up and can earn your own money, you can treat me well then. That's all I ask!"
"Don't unpack your things. We're moving tomorrow, so you can just unpack at the new place!"
There wasn't much to take from the rental apartment. They wouldn't need the small pieces of furniture they'd bought, so they could just leave them for the landlord.
"Moving? Dad, where are we moving to?"
Wenren Du'Er looked completely baffled.
"I bought a house today. I even set up a beautiful princess room for you. I know you'll love it. And since tomorrow is Saturday and you don't have school, we'll move in the afternoon!"
He scheduled the move for the afternoon because he had an interview at Futong Trading Co., Ltd. in the morning, and in the evening, he was treating his colleagues from the Ruijing Trading Company operations department to a farewell dinner.
'A house?'
Wenren Du'Er tiptoed to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Her odd behavior prompted a curious Yang Hui to ask, "What are you doing?"
"I'm looking in the mirror to see what makes me so lucky. I can't believe I picked up a rich dad!"
「The next morning」
Yang Hui woke up to a bowl of congee. The little girl had even made him two small stir-fried side dishes. No wonder she'd been so insistent on buying vegetables at the superstore yesterday.
'Seeing her act like a little adult, he thought it was wonderful to have a daughter like this—so sensible, and she filled the home with warmth and life!'
He would no longer be all alone after coming home from work.
Futong Trading Co., Ltd. was located in an industrial park within the Qingzhou Economic Development Zone. Li Yang had purchased a five-acre plot of land and built a three-story office building and a modern warehousing center.
It was Saturday, so most of the staff at Futong Trading Company had the day off. HR had scheduled the interview for today, and rumor had it the Operations Director was even working overtime specifically for this.
His Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan was parked in the ground-level parking lot. A few other cars were parked nearby, mostly common models like the Golf, Lavida, and Sylphy.
Following the address HR had given him yesterday, he went straight to the second floor to find the person in charge of HR, Wang Xiao.
Futong Trading Company had an open-plan office, with the Human Resources department tucked away in a corner.
It was easy to find, since no other departments were open.
"Manager Wang!"
"You must be Mr. Yang. Hello. Shall we head to the conference room?"
Wang Xiao had already done her homework; she had printed out Yang Hui's résumé, which she'd found online.
"Since you were recommended by an acquaintance, we'll keep the interview process simple. After we talk, I'll take you to meet President Shan for a chat."
"President Shan?"
Wang Xiao seemed surprised that Yang Hui didn't know who President Shan was.
"President Shan is our operations director. He's in charge of managing operations for all of Futong Commerce's brands. He's the one who sent me your information!"
'So that's how it is. Li Juan must have recommended me to President Shan, who then had HR contact me. Li Juan hasn't told me that part yet. Or maybe she didn't expect Futong Commerce to call me in for an interview so soon.'
"Mr. Yang, I've reviewed your résumé. You have two years of work experience, with one year as an operations manager. Retail skills are transferable, so handling the brands at Futong Commerce shouldn't be too much of an issue for you."
"The only thing is, the brands you've handled in the past were on a slightly lower tier. Our company primarily represents international brands and top-tier domestic ones."
'Is this her way of complimenting me before knocking me down a peg? Telling me the brands I used to manage are inferior to theirs, just to lower my expectations?'
After they talked for a bit, Wang Xiao asked, "Do you have any other questions? If not, I'll take you to see President Shan."
"Does President Shan decide the salary?"
"Yes. After you speak with him, he'll make a recommendation for the boss to approve."
He knew the "boss" she was referring to must be Li Yang. He gave a slight nod. "One last question. Under what circumstances does the company proactively fire an employee?"
Wang Xiao was intrigued. He was the first person she'd ever had ask that question during an interview.
But she still replied honestly, "Any action that harms the company's interests for personal gain is something the company absolutely will not tolerate."
Yang Hui nodded. That was unacceptable to any company, and he had no intention of doing something like that.
"Also," she added, "our company forbids office romances. The boss believes they're a distraction. If a relationship does form, one of the people involved must leave the company."
'Huh? I wouldn't have pegged Li Yang for such a paternalistic boss. His management style isn't very open-minded at all!'
'But I love this rule! With a policy like this, maybe I won't have to wait until my probation is over to quit. Getting fired by the company should still let me collect unemployment value.'
Now, it all came down to the salary he could negotiate with President Shan. Yang Hui's target was 15,000 a month.
'That way, after getting laid off from Futong Trading Co., Ltd., my unemployment benefits would jump to 30 million a month.'
He followed Wang Xiao to President Shan's office.
Yang Hui finally saw Director Shan. He was a middle-aged man with dark skin and a burly frame, and he looked a little "fierce."
Wang Xiao left as soon as she had brought him to the office.
"You're Yang Hui, I take it? I heard from Manager Li over in Jiang'an City that you're quite talented, so he recommended you to me."
Yang Hui observed the director and found he had a rather imposing, bureaucratic air about him.
"I know you were an operations manager at a small company, but we're different. Our annual sales exceed 1.5 billion. We're the biggest retail company in Qingzhou. Your past accomplishments mean nothing here. You need to come in with an empty-cup mentality."
'Yang Hui felt like dozing off. 'Why do people here get a kick out of crushing an interviewee's confidence?' he thought. 'Is it really necessary to tell people, "You're nothing special"?' '
'He silently compared Director Shan to his colleagues at Ruijing Commerce and realized that the overall caliber of Ruijing's staff was actually higher than Futong Trading Co., Ltd.'s. It probably had to do with Ruijing Commerce being a national chain.'
'Even though Futong Trading Co., Ltd. was a big deal in Qingzhou, it was still just a local company run by a small-time boss. Li Yang was basically new money, the kind of guy who gets arrogant and condescending after striking it rich. And it looked like this Director Shan had learned from the master.'
'If he were choosing a long-term career, Yang Hui would never pick a company like this. But then again, his current goal wasn't to stay for long anyway!'