Chapter 846 — A Scam Company
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"All right, I'll leave the arrangements to you." Wei Zhao hadn't expected Fatty Lai to have everything so neatly in hand, and it caught him a little by surprise.
"As for Xiaofen, I'll have her start in the quality inspection department for now. The manager's post there is still vacant — once she's got the hang of the work, there'll be time enough to move her into it," Fatty Lai explained.
"You've thought it through thoroughly." Wei Zhao was the classic nepotist, but neither Kang Xiaofeng nor Xiaofen would ever let that connection go to their heads. Kang Xiaofeng was Wei Zhao's underling, true — but wasn't Fatty Lai, the company's general manager, Wei Zhao's underling as well?
With grades like Kang Xiaofeng's, he realistically had no hope of getting into any decent university; at best a third-rate one. It wasn't for lack of effort — the boy simply wasn't gifted. He had none of the Young Miss's or Shen Yushu's cleverness, and not a scheming bone in his body, so no matter how hard he studied, he could never climb above the lower-middle of the pack.
Kang Xiaofeng had come around to seeing things clearly some time ago, so he had simply set his studies aside and poured his energy into managing the company instead. By and by he could coast through some third-rate university, and once he'd racked up real achievements on the business side, he could go for an MBA or the like — not a bad path at all.
Kang's parents had clearly come to the same conclusion. What were ten years of grinding over books for? Wasn't it all for a good job in the end? Now the job was in hand — and not just any job, but a vice presidency. These days, even a PhD from overseas couldn't land you a VP title straight out of the gate without experience and connections.
After Wei Zhao left, Fatty Lai set about working his contacts. The phone numbers of entertainment-circle celebrities might be closely guarded secrets to ordinary folk, but not to men of means like him — they were always putting on events and hunting for endorsements, and the agencies were only too happy to cooperate.
Fatty Lai quickly tracked down the agency representing Xu Shilan and got in touch with her manager.
It had to be said, managers of top-tier stars like Xu Shilan carried themselves with real attitude. Picking up the phone, the man barked impatiently, "Who is this? What do you want?"
The manner of it made Fatty Lai frown, but he kept his patience. "Hello, I'm with a company. I'd like to discuss a collaboration with Miss Xu Shilan..."
Hearing that Fatty Lai represented a company, the manager softened slightly, though his tone stayed cold. "Which company? How big are you? What sort of collaboration with Miss Xu — an event appearance or a product endorsement?"
You couldn't blame the man for being curt. These days the phone rang constantly with people pestering Xu Shilan, and he was worn ragged by it day in and day out. Until he knew exactly who was on the other end, there was no way he'd let his guard down.
"Hello, this is Lai Changshan, general manager of Doctor Guan's Pharmaceuticals. I'm calling about Miss Xu Shilan doing an endorsement for our product, and appearing at a new product launch!" Fatty Lai could tell the manager was a no-nonsense sort, so he skipped the pleasantries and stated his purpose outright.
"Doctor Guan's Pharmaceuticals?" The other man clearly paused, then asked, "Is that Guan Xuewen's company?"
"Yes... Doctor Guan is Guan Xuewen..." Fatty Lai nodded. So the man knew of the company, did he?
"Guan Xuewen's company — isn't that a scam outfit? Doctor Guan, my eye — Guan the Swindler!" The manager's tone turned savage on the spot, and before Fatty Lai could get a word in, the line went dead with a bang.