I sat down across from Jian Wei, who ordered a latte for me and a Misto coffee for herself. Three years ago, when we came to Starbucks, we would always order the same.
Actually, I had become quite unaccustomed to drinking coffee because I now suffered from insomnia easily, but I still had no intention of changing my order.
Without any unnecessary words, I got straight to the point and asked Jian Wei, “What’s the current situation at your company?”
“We have two top-tier advertising planners and three top-tier designers in the industry, along with several senior planners and designers. We’re fully equipped to meet our clients’ needs.”
I nodded. If Jian Wei’s advertising company had such staffing arrangements, then she would definitely have the confidence to negotiate with real estate companies.
“Where did you find these elites?” I asked, somewhat puzzled.
Jian Wei calmly replied, “I poached some from my father’s company, and others came through friends’ recommendations.”
I fell silent for a moment. Although Jian Wei had said she wouldn’t rely on her father’s resources, she inevitably accepted some help when starting her business. However, it couldn’t be denied that with the addition of these industry elites, her company would develop more easily.
As I remained silent, Jian Wei handed me a file and said, “These are some past cases handled by our planners and designers. You should familiarize yourself with them—they’ll be very helpful when you go to negotiate.”
I nodded and started flipping through the file. It included several advertising campaign cases for major real estate companies. I realized that just these classic cases would significantly increase our chances of a successful negotiation.
At this point, Jian Wei’s expression turned serious as she said to me, “Zhaoyang, I need to remind you that this business deal will still be quite challenging. Although we have a significant advantage in planners and designers, our company currently has very limited advertising resources. So far, we haven’t secured even one outdoor advertising board in Suzhou. You know that real estate companies mainly rely on large outdoor advertisements.”
I nodded again. The lack of advertising resources was indeed the biggest obstacle in negotiating a partnership. Compared to advertising planning capabilities, real estate developers valued the advertising resources a company possessed. After all, no matter how good the planning was, without a medium for dissemination, it would be useless.
With doubt, I asked Jian Wei, “If we manage to secure this cooperation, how do you plan to solve the problem of ad placements?”
“Buy advertising channels from other advertising companies that have resources.”
“That’s really risky! What if those advertising companies refuse to sublease their advertising channels to protect their own interests?”
“That’s not something you need to worry about. You just focus on the negotiations. I’ll handle the challenges related to advertising channels.”
I looked at Jian Wei, feeling that her statements were somewhat contradictory. On one hand, she warned me that the lack of resources at our advertising company would be an obstacle in negotiations; on the other, she told me not to worry about the resource shortage and to negotiate boldly.
I took a sip of my coffee without thinking too much about it. After all, company bosses were often skilled at playing this game—reminding employees to stay vigilant while encouraging them to maintain confidence. However, Jian Wei, as a new boss in the workplace, hadn’t quite mastered the right balance, which made her words seem contradictory to me.
I put the materials Jian Wei had given me into my briefcase and asked her, “When are we scheduled to meet with the other company?”
“We can set up a meeting once our planners and designers complete the initial project proposal. It should be about three days from now. You can use these days to learn about several real estate projects that Golden Summit Properties is developing in Suzhou.”
I nodded again and asked, “For this annual advertising agency deal, isn’t Golden Summit Properties going through a public bidding process?”
“They actually held a public bidding process not long ago, but they didn’t find any satisfactory advertising companies. So this is both a challenge and an opportunity for us. Do you have the confidence, Zhaoyang?”
“I’ll give it my best shot.”
Jian Wei smiled and said, “I believe you can successfully secure this project.”
I simply responded with a “Thank you for your trust” to Jian Wei, but in my heart, I already understood how difficult it would be to win this project. However, in business, as long as you can accurately identify the client’s needs and fully meet them, your chances of success will greatly increase. Therefore, I needed to put in a lot of effort to pinpoint this crucial aspect of the client’s needs.
…
After leaving the coffee shop, I drove with Jian Wei to visit Fangyuan at the hospital. When we left the hospital, it was already 8 p.m.
Driving home alone, I unavoidably saw couples hugging and whispering sweet words to each other on the street. This made me feel lonely and helpless because between Mi Cai and me, we seemed to have never truly enjoyed the lightness and simplicity of being in love.
For example, right now, I wanted to treat her to a Häagen-Dazs ice cream and have her snuggle in my arms, watching her happy smile, but in reality, she was probably attending a high-end business banquet in Shanghai.
Her status and busyness had already determined that it would be difficult for us to have such small moments of sweetness, so I no longer dared to indulge in such expectations.
Back at the old house, without a moment’s rest, I took out Golden Summit Properties’ project materials and started studying them. I understood that for me at this stage of life, career was the most important thing. After all, I was already 27 years old, and the time left for me to strive was becoming increasingly limited.
Thinking about it, this was perhaps the downside of love after entering society—it was simply impossible to have enough time to accompany each other as we did back in school.
After studying for over an hour, I finally felt tired. I closed the materials and absentmindedly stared at the floor lamp opposite the sofa.
I kept staring at it for a little while before suddenly wanting to chat with it like I used to—sharing my recent troubles and letting it keep my secrets. Strange as it might sound, these emotionless objects were actually the best companions in times of loneliness because they would never mock or tire of you.
After lighting a cigarette, I started chattering away endlessly… until the door to the house opened.
I looked at Mi Cai in surprise as she suddenly appeared before me.
She looked at me with equal surprise and asked, “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“I thought you weren’t coming back to Suzhou tonight.”
Mi Cai smiled and said, “If I didn’t come back, you must have been really bored, right?”
Knowing that Mi Cai had come back to Suzhou especially to keep me company, the overwhelming sense of loneliness I had just felt instantly vanished. I said to her as she was taking off her shoes, “Don’t bother changing. Let me treat you to something.”
“Huh? What are we having?”
“You’ll see in a moment,” I said as I quickly changed my shoes and pulled Mi Cai downstairs.
…
The temperature tonight wasn’t too low, and the breeze already carried a hint of warmth. I had Mi Cai wait outside while I went into the store and bought two scoops of ice cream.
I sat down beside Mi Cai and handed one of the scoops to her, saying, “This one’s for you.”
Mi Cai looked somewhat hesitant as she said, “Are we really going to eat this?”
I nodded and said, “Don’t girls usually like this? Just now when I was heading home, I saw a girl enjoying hers so happily. It really lived up to that Häagen-Dazs ad line—love her, treat her to Häagen-Dazs.”
Mi Cai smiled and took the ice cream from me, then leaned against my shoulder and started eating it… and in this world that belonged only to us, I finally felt that she was truly my girlfriend.
After Mi Cai finished one scoop of ice cream, I handed her the second one. She looked at me and asked, “You’re not going to have any?”
I shook my head. “Watching you eat makes me feel most comfortable. Go ahead.”
Mi Cai looked at me for a long time before taking it from me. This time, she ate it very slowly. Then, I noticed unintentionally that she pressed her hand against her lower abdomen, only to quickly let go.
My nerves weren’t that thick, and I asked her anxiously, “Are you having your period and cramps?”
“It’s okay!”
I held her tightly in my arms, feeling both touched and guilty. I really was terrible for making her eat ice cream when she was on her period.
Mi Cai softly said to me, “Zhaoyang, I know sometimes I’m too busy with work to care about you enough or pay attention to your feelings. I hope you won’t blame me… but I really like being with you like this now—simple and relaxed.”
“Don’t say that. Actually, it’s me who hasn’t done enough. I always end up troubling you.”
Mi Cai moved away from my shoulder and spoke softly again, “Yesterday I found a bouquet of flowers in your car. You must have planned to give them to me, right? Why didn’t you end up giving them and instead went to a bar to drink?”
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