When Wang Xinglong came out of President Xia’s office, he was completely stunned. 

Chen Xiao is actually the Chairman’s son! The only son! 

Chen Xiao, who came out a few steps behind him, quickly caught up with his long legs. “Brother Wang…” 

“Don’t call me brother, I should be calling you brother. Brother Xiao, you really kept it well hidden! We’ve worked together for a year and I didn’t even know!” Wang Xinglong nearly beat his chest in frustration. What a great opportunity it was to work with the Chairman’s son! If he had known earlier, he would’ve put more effort into their relationship, and maybe he’d have a chance for a promotion later on. 

Chen Xiao smiled wryly, but he knew that this reaction was typical for someone finding out about their identity. He said, “Brother Wang, stop joking around.” 

“Well then, now that you’re transferred back to headquarters, if we in Hailin City ever need to request funding, please don’t forget our time working together. Give us a break, okay?” Wang Xinglong said, half-jokingly, then added, “Headquarters and the local branches are completely different. Brother Xiao, it’s going to be tough for you.” As a veteran employee, he had heard some rumors about the Chairman’s marriage and current situation. In short, things were not exactly smooth sailing. 

Chen Xiao smiled faintly, indicating that he was aware of the situation. 

Wang Xinglong patted his shoulder, and though he felt a mix of unspeakable emotions, they had turned into faint sympathy. So what if he was the Chairman’s son? Over at Yuan Chuan Group’s real estate company, there was a well-known Vice President Tang, a woman who had been by the Chairman’s side for nearly ten years. Although the Chairman had never remarried, who knew what would happen in the future? 

… 

During the New Year’s holiday, with the city managers and above all back at headquarters for meetings, Yuan Chuan’s employees enjoyed a week of relaxed days. 

As for the year-end summary meeting when the city manager returned? That’s something to worry about tomorrow. 

Since the year-end accounts had already been closed on December 31, there was no more pressure for incoming payments before the Chinese New Year. Moreover, it was a peak season for alcohol sales, and the long-established distributors in Hailin City told the new employees, “During this time, you need to pay special attention to competitors’ promotional methods, and refine your year-end summaries, because this thing is really important. Other than that, there’s nothing else to worry about.” 

For Lu Nan, writing the year-end summary was an easy task. She finished it in half a day and even had time to help Xiang Feifei polish hers. 

Sitting beside Lu Nan and watching her mark a few points that could be expanded upon, Xiang Feifei sincerely thanked her. 

Lu Nan smiled, “It’s nothing.” She was very fond of Xiang Feifei, not just because her abilities were the strongest among the girls from Yunan Province, but also because her resilient personality made her perfect for sales. 

On January 8th, Saturday, Yuan Chuan Group’s employees finished their relaxing half-holiday life as their leaders returned to their posts. 

At the Hailin City office, supervisors from surrounding county-level cities rushed into the city. This was the first weekly meeting of the month and the first of the year. As long as they could move, they couldn’t afford to miss it. 

After not seeing Wang Xinglong for seven or eight days, Lu Nan noticed that he seemed puffier, with heavier dark circles under his eyes—likely from eating and drinking while at the headquarters’ year-end meeting. Meanwhile, Chen Xiao showed no changes, probably because young people’s metabolism was still strong. 

Wang Xinglong glanced around at the sales team and smiled at everyone, wishing them a Happy New Year, then asked if they had enjoyed their New Year’s holiday. 

Of course, no one would foolishly answer that they had a great time—anyone who did would be labeled clueless. So the responses were all lukewarm, with bootlickers like Yi Wei calling out that they missed Manager Wang. 

Lu Nan: “…” 

“Alright, alright, I don’t need to know what you’re all thinking,” Wang Xinglong said with a smile. Having started from the bottom, he knew everyone had been slacking off these days, but he wasn’t planning to call them out because they had indeed worked hard before the holiday.  

So, he shared the good news, “I went to the headquarters for the year-end summary meeting, and after reviewing the collection progress and amounts from each city, our office here—” he paused, seeing the curiosity on everyone’s faces before continuing, “we exceeded our administrative goals last year! We completed 10 million in contracts and received 12.3 million in payments, exceeding the targets.” 

As soon as he finished speaking, applause erupted because everyone knew that exceeding administrative goals meant an increase in bonuses. 

Wang Xinglong raised both hands to quiet them down. “This achievement is the result of everyone’s hard work. I want to thank all of you for your efforts last year, and I hope we continue working hard this year. Now, let me talk about the directives from the headquarters’ year-end meeting and our targets for this year.” 

One key point was that the contract and payment targets for the new year had increased by 40% and 20%, respectively, compared to the previous year. 

The sales team groaned in response. 

“Why are you all whining? Every time the new year’s targets come out, you start complaining,” Wang Xinglong scolded. “President Xia and Director Tong have a high evaluation of our Hailin City office and high expectations for us. Is this the kind of attitude you have toward your work?” 

But no one took him seriously. 

Because Qianjiang Province, located on the southeastern coast, wasn’t known for its high sales of white liquor. Locals preferred rice wine, yellow wine, and more recently, red wine, but white liquor sales were… terrible. 

Despite the province’s strong economy, white liquor sales were among the lowest in the country. 

No matter how many general managers were swapped out for the provincial office, this situation hadn’t changed. 

Even in Hailin City, the province’s capital, white liquor sales weren’t the highest. 

With such figures, even praising the importance of the Hailin office felt dubious and claiming that President Xia had high expectations was simply boastful. 

Wang Xinglong obviously noticed the skeptical looks in everyone’s eyes. He clicked his tongue in superiority, cleared his throat, and said, “Don’t believe me? Just ask Brother Xiao.” 

Chen Xiao, clearly forced to “stand in” for Wang Xinglong, nodded, “Manager Wang is right.” 

Maybe it was the difference in their personalities and ways of handling things, but Chen Xiao’s words seemed far more convincing than Wang Xinglong’s. 

Wang Xinglong nodded with satisfaction and continued, “Therefore, our office’s contract target this year is 18 million, and our payment target is 12 million! This is the company’s administrative goal, and personally, I think we can try to exceed it. Exceeding the target usually means 120% of the administrative goal.” 

The county-level city channel managers were more ‘slick.’ Upon hearing this, they knew the targets had been set in stone, and since Wang Xinglong had probably already made a promise at the year-end meeting, they started to chime in: “Manager Wang, if the task amount increases, the funds allocated to us should also increase, right?” 

This was something everyone knew well: in sales, it was impossible to get by without using some of the allocated funds for personal benefit. 

Wang Xinglong, who had once been in sales himself, was quite adept at this game. 

But such unspoken rules were best kept out of open discussion, especially—Wang Xinglong glanced at Chen Xiao, cleared his throat, and said seriously, “As long as you can develop new distributors or increase the contract amounts with old distributors, I’ll definitely do my best to secure the necessary funds for you.” 

After more than half an hour of bargaining between the seasoned veterans at the office and Wang Xinglong, they moved on to the next important topic. 

“The old year has ended, and the new year is about to begin. The company, considering everyone’s abilities and strengths, will be making some personnel adjustments in the next couple of weeks. Keep an eye on your company emails.” 

This was a significant matter, especially for those who had joined the company just last year—except for Lu Nan. 

Yi Wei, ever quick with his words, asked, “Manager Wang, you’re not being transferred, right? We like having you here!” 

Lu Nan shivered in disgust: Yi Wei’s big mouth was famous throughout the office, but despite his loud personality, no one really minded because they knew not to take him too seriously. But hearing such flattery, Lu Nan couldn’t help but feel repulsed. It seemed that for Yi Wei, being shameless and flattering was second nature. Meanwhile, someone like Zhou Lei, who despised this behavior, was probably fuming. But then again, Yi Wei’s behavior was something Zhou Lei might secretly wish he could emulate. 

Lu Nan hadn’t really paid attention to Zhou Lei for a while. 

Although they both worked in the same office, they rarely interacted since they were in different channels. 

Moreover, Lu Nan’s principle has always been “If others don’t offend me, I won’t offend them.” If her application for the position goes smoothly, and she gets transferred to another city later, there will be no further connection with Zhou Lei. So why bother wasting energy on this kind of irrelevant people? 

Yi Wei’s flattery scratched Wang Xinglong’s itch—after realizing he had almost no chance of becoming the head of the provincial office, he had already resigned himself to the situation and made short-term plans: stay in Hailin City for another year and see how the new provincial office head is. If the new boss is a fool like Xiang Yunfeng, then he, Old Wang, would also apply for a city manager position elsewhere next year. 

There’s no future under the provincial office’s nose! 

Wang Xinglong quickly smiled at Yi Wei, then half-jokingly and half-seriously cursed, “Yi Wei, if your business skills were half as good as your ability to flatter, that’d be perfect.” 

Yi Wei grinned foolishly. 

Wang Xinglong’s expression became serious, and he added, “Of course, we have a competitive selection system here in Yuan Chuan. Everyone knows that, right? If you’re confident in your own abilities, the company encourages everyone to try actively.” When saying this, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally swept across Lu Nan, full of envy. 

Speaking of this year, the person who had spent the most time working with Chen Xiao was none other than Lu Nan. 

She was not only beautiful, but highly competent. 

Since they were all young people, it was natural that Chen Xiao would treat her a bit differently. 

Although Chen Xiao was about to be transferred back to headquarters, according to the message from Director Tong, Lu Nan’s application for the city manager position was already a done deal. 

This meant that even if Chen Xiao left, Lu Nan would still be under Director Tong’s patronage. 

Tsk tsk… her future is boundless. 

Lu Nan caught the hint and the envy in Manager Wang’s eyes. 

Was she angry? 

Of course not. 

In the workplace, competence is one kind of power—but connections are another. 

She had earned this opportunity through her abilities, and her relationships were just a safeguard to prevent others with stronger connections from squeezing her out of the opportunity that originally belonged to her. 

As for rumors about romantic entanglements? 

Lu Nan believed she had been very careful about this for the past six months, and those who had frequent interactions with her never believed them. 

Even those who didn’t know her well didn’t really believe the rumors anymore, especially since the rumors spread by Zhou Lei and Dong Hui were disproven when Dong Hui left the company. 

On top of that, Lu Nan had, intentionally or not, revealed that she actually came from a fairly well-off family. 

Whether people were willing to admit it or not, most people in society seemed to be more tolerant toward wealthy girls than those with ordinary backgrounds. 

They believed that girls raised in wealth were less likely to be shallow. 

Lu Nan sneered at this theory. She believed that a wealthy upbringing should be about spiritual enrichment—providing opportunities for a girl to see the world, develop independent thinking, and have the courage to dream and act. 

Material wealth, at best, played a small part. 

… 

After this week’s meeting, the news about Lu Nan wanting to apply for the city manager position spread through the office. 

Since applying required filling out a form—which was standardized and had to be requested from the internal staff—Lu Nan didn’t particularly try to hide it. When Xiang Feifei and others came to ask her, she openly admitted it.