Chapter 25

Chi Xiting had planned to play until around 1 AM and then go to sleep, but perhaps because he had been in the dark for so long, his eyes started to feel a bit sore and swollen. To preserve his 5.0 vision, he reluctantly turned off the screen, placed his phone on the bedside table, and closed his eyes to sleep.

The quality of his sleep was top-notch.

The next morning, as Chi Xiting groggily turned over, he vaguely heard a series of faint sounds nearby. Furrowing his brow, he was about to turn back and continue sleeping when he suddenly remembered he was on a business trip and would need to meet with clients for a collaborative project soon.

Chi Xiting woke up with a start and instinctively checked his phone to confirm the time.

Good.

It was just a little past 8 AM.

Luckily.

He sighed in relief, and when he looked up, he saw Chu Yu coming out of the bathroom.

Chu Yu was already dressed and standing in front of the desk, flipping through some documents. Noticing that Chi Xiting was awake, he glanced over at him and asked, “You’re awake?”

Chi Xiting replied, “Mhm.”

Chu Yu tilted his head toward the bathroom and said nothing.

Chi Xiting immediately understood, flipped out of bed, and hurried to the bathroom to freshen up.

After finishing his routine, Chi Xiting also changed his clothes in the bathroom. As he walked out, he saw Chu Yu adjusting his watch. Upon noticing Chi Xiting, Chu Yu spoke up, “Let’s go.”

Chi Xiting, puzzled, asked, “Are we leaving this early?”

Chu Yu replied, “Breakfast.”

Chi Xiting then realized and said, “Oh, breakfast,” before adding, “That’s healthy.”

The younger generation rarely eats breakfast.

Chu Yu gave him a look, as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself. Without saying anything, he turned and left the room, not waiting for Chi Xiting.

Chi Xiting quickly followed behind Chu Yu. As they entered the restaurant, they ran into Huo Youshen, and the three of them had a simple breakfast together before heading straight to Ruifeng.

When they arrived at Ruifeng, they hadn’t even seen the company’s signage yet, but they already noticed a group of men standing nearby, eagerly waiting for Chu Yu.

Chi Xiting glanced outside through the window, and his gaze swept over the men. He could now understand what Shen Zhizhe had meant about Ruifeng.

It did have a sense of age.

There wasn’t a single young person in sight; every one of them appeared to be over 50 years old.

The man standing at the front appeared to have taken care of himself, but age was still evident, especially when he smiled, revealing wrinkles that stretched across his face.

“Mr. Chu, it’s an honor to meet you,” Zhao Wenfei quickly stepped forward. Before the car door was even opened, his hands were already extended in anticipation of a handshake. When he saw Chu Yu step out of the car, his eyes visibly brightened, and the grip on his hand tightened.

Chu Yu remained expressionless and calmly responded, “Mr. Zhao, the pleasure is mine.”

“Hehe, the journey must have been tiring, Mr. Chu,” Zhao Wenfei straightened up, awkwardly pulling his hand back. He rubbed the corner of his jacket a couple of times and then greeted, “Please come in, have some tea, rest for a bit, and I’ll personally show you our products and production lines.”

After saying that, Zhao Wen raised his hand towards his company’s direction, signaling Chu Yu to walk ahead.

The other executives who were outside greeting them stepped aside, smiling and raising their hands to lead Chu Yu.

Chu Yu politely nodded, then stepped forward towards Ruifeng, intentionally slowing his pace to gradually walk alongside Zhao Wen.

Zhao Wen quickly caught on to Chu Yu’s politeness and respect.

Zhao Wen’s expression became complicated for a moment.

—-

In terms of age and seniority, he was from Chu Yu’s father’s generation, but in today’s business world, who would still respect someone based on age alone? Although Chu Yu was young, among the current generation and even the previous one, everyone treated him with great respect.

The opportunity to cooperate with the Chu family, and for Chu Yu himself to visit Ruifeng for an inspection, was an immense honor and a rare opportunity.

It was a chance to revitalize Ruifeng and create new successes.

Zhao Wen led Chu Yu and the others into the conference room.

Chi Xiting had been quietly observing the surroundings as they walked.

Rather than being a company, Ruifeng felt more like a combination of an office and a factory.

The front office area included the manager’s office, employee offices, meeting rooms, a sample room, and a reception room. Walking through the corridor to the end, they reached a workshop covering nearly 20,000 square meters.

The workers were methodically carrying out production, and the noise could be heard even in the conference room.

Zhao Wen awkwardly rubbed his hands and apologized, “Sorry, Mr. Chu, the workers are loading goods, so it might be a bit noisy.”

Chu Yu casually shook his head, signaling Zhao Wen to continue.

Zhao Wen then resumed pointing to the PPT, explaining the market promotion plan to Chu Yu and the others.

The content of the PPT was almost the same as what Chu Yu had shown him last time, but it was slightly more streamlined.

Chi Xiting rested his chin on his hand, watching Zhao Wen explain. His gaze unintentionally drifted from the PPT to Zhao Wen’s face.

Zhao Wen became more and more excited as he spoke, his speed of speech increasing as if he was very pleased with the plan. He seemed to be imagining the scene after the plan would be implemented.

Other senior executives at Ruifeng also appeared satisfied, occasionally glancing back to observe Chu Yu’s expression.

Chu Yu’s expression was calm, with hardly any visible change. His fingers were slightly bent, tapping on the file, and after a while, he casually picked up a pen and spun it a few times.

Chi Xiting glanced at Chu Yu’s face and vaguely sensed his mood.

He seemed to be losing interest.

Indeed, his ability to read people’s moods was still on point.

Chi Xiting looked away and, somewhat uninterested, turned his attention back to the PPT.

It wasn’t that the plan wasn’t well done, but since he had already seen it beforehand, hearing Zhao Wen explain it now felt monotonous and boring.

On the other hand, Ho You Shen listened attentively, his eyes fixed on the screen. He occasionally pursed his lips and quickly jotted down some notes in his notebook, occasionally showing surprise, as if wondering why Chu Yu rejected a plan that seemed so complete.

At the same time, Ho You Shen also became curious about who had made the plan.

You could judge a person by their logic.

The person who created this plan must be intelligent and capable.

After Zhao Wen finally finished explaining, he took a cup from the table and drank some water, glancing at Chu Yu as if trying to read his thoughts from his expression.

But Chu Yu was very good at hiding his emotions, and throughout, there was no change in his expression, making it impossible to tell whether he was satisfied or not.

“Well, how about we go outside for a walk?” Zhao Wen, a thin layer of sweat appearing on the back of his head, nervously asked Chu Yu.

Chu Yu nodded, straightened the slightly wrinkled corner of his clothes, and stood up, leading the way out of the conference room with his gaze directed towards the nearby sample room.

Although Ruifeng specialized in whole-house customization, their factory only produced panels, while other accessories like hardware and cabinets were not produced in-house.

The sample room displayed mainly large panel samples.

After leaving the room, Chi Xiting also followed Chu Yu’s gaze towards the sample room. He glanced at the panels for a few seconds before moving his gaze away, observing the office area’s decor instead.

It seemed that the entire office area was decorated with their own company’s panels. The quality looked good, and the seams were neatly aligned, giving the overall effect a very nice appearance.

However, Chi Xiting had no prior experience with this industry, and his knowledge of panels was limited to their use in decoration materials. He didn’t understand any of the technical terms, so he could only watch the spectacle.

Zhao Wen, seeing this, promptly stepped forward to introduce the products to Chu Yu and the others.

“These are our brand’s panels, and we’ve made them 9mm thick. You can feel the texture,” Zhao Wen said, growing more confident as he spoke about his products.

Chi Xiting listened attentively while observing the environment around him.

The more he listened, the clearer his thoughts became, and he gradually understood why Chu Yu had rejected that plan.

Ruifeng was a good company, with quality products, innovation capabilities, and ample production experience. It was a standard traditional factory, and their previous promotion efforts mainly relied on face-to-face marketing and word-of-mouth referrals. Rather than attracting new customers, most of their efforts were aimed at maintaining relationships with existing clients. Now, trying to transition to a more modern promotion approach…

They seemed to be rushing things.

Chi Xiting recalled the contents of the proposal. What had seemed like no issue before now became very clear — it was unworkable.

Even if implemented, it definitely wouldn’t produce the results Zhao Wen was hoping for.

Zhao Wen continued enthusiastically explaining.

Chi Xiting listened for a while, then furrowed his brows slightly and asked, “What’s your promotion cycle? Are you promoting the same product in each cycle?”

Zhao Wen was stunned for a moment, and instinctively opened his mouth to answer, but then all words got stuck in his throat.

He didn’t know.

“I never thought about it.”

“Uh.” Zhao Wen looked somewhat embarrassed, his gaze shifting slightly, scratching his head as he said, “Well, this… this can be discussed further.”

Chu Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, his gaze lingering on Chi Xiting’s face for a second. His already deep eyes darkened a bit, and the slight curve of his lips seemed to show his satisfaction with Chi Xiting’s question.

He has a sharp eye for the issue.

Also very smart.

Chi Xiting’s initial judgment was indeed correct. There was no issue with the overall plan; the problem was that a plan needs to be implemented, not just a written proposal.

No matter how well-designed a plan is, if it can’t be implemented, it’s just a paper tiger.

Chu Yu had some interest in Chi Xiting, intuitively feeling that Chi Xiting should be a good prospect, and was also inclined to test him.

Chi Xiting did not disappoint him.

“I noticed that your company’s product updates happen quite quickly,” Chi Xiting said, seeing that Zhao Wen hadn’t responded, and asked another question, “You manage to release a new product every month or two?”

Zhao Wen nodded, then shook his head, licking his slightly dry lips. He glanced at Chu Yu, who remained silent beside him, and then looked at Chi Xiting with some concern, not understanding why Chi Xiting was the one asking him questions now.

—-

After a while, Zhao Wen finally spoke, “Well, it’s not exactly like that… because the company collaborates with many factories, and sometimes helps with sales. For example, the bumpers and honeycomb boards are sourced from other factories, but we do try to push our own products as well…”

“Also, the film coating, which indeed changes constantly. The types launched each quarter are different, based on the market demand.”

Chi Xiting nodded, signaling that he understood, then lowered his gaze to the samples, becoming still as if lost in thought.

Zhao Wen looked at Chi Xiting for a long while, his fingers rubbing at the corner of his clothes, his mind becoming a bit muddled. He didn’t know Chi Xiting’s identity, and wasn’t sure if he had said something wrong, which made Chi Xiting suddenly stop talking.

Huo You Shen couldn’t help but glance at Chi Xiting a few times, seemingly unsure of Chi Xiting’s thoughts either.

Chu Yu stood calmly by, as if handing the stage entirely over to Chi Xiting.

Chi Xiting lightly tapped the board with his finger twice, then pursed his lips and said, “My idea is to first push the brand, to clearly define your product’s target audience. I need to determine the product’s features and key selling points, and try to differentiate it from similar products.”

Zhao Wen was stunned, his mouth half-open as he stared at Chi Xiting, stammering, “Ah, no, this…”

Before Zhao Wen could finish, Chi Xiting looked up at him. His tone was calm, but with an air of slight authority, carrying with it Chi Xiting’s confidence in his own professional abilities.

“But it’s important to focus on long-term development. Don’t expect instant results,” Chi Xiting said calmly, “but the final outcome will definitely meet or even exceed your expectations.”

Zhao Wen was even more confused. Was this a suggestion to change the plan?

But wasn’t their original plan already quite good? Why would it need to be changed?

Moreover…

What company boss would be willing to focus on long-term development? Since he wanted to promote it, naturally, he’d want immediate results.

Zhao Wen’s mind was a bit scattered. After a while, he turned to look at Chu Yu, furrowing his brow and getting ready to report, “Mr. Chu, who is this…”

“He’s with me,” Chu Yu said, “Listen to him.”