KC | Chapter 9

On July 3, 2023, Wang Shuang’s first day taking office as KA director, the intensity of her mood swings was comparable to riding a flip-style roller coaster.

After the big morning meeting at Lanhai ended, Wang Shuang went back to the business system to hold a farewell party. Former colleagues and subordinates all voiced their blessings, wishing her a bright future and great success. The former business manager stepped into the KA work area amid songs and laughter, warmly greeting her future “employees.”

Wang Shuang: “Hello, everyone!”

The KA crowd: …

Wang Shuang: “I’m Wang Shuang, your director.”

The KA crowd: busy with their own things.

Wang Shuang: “Where do I sit?”

The KA crowd: they all put their coats and backpacks on the empty seats nearby and filled up every chair.

KA were all sharp operators. After the big morning meeting ended, everyone scattered to gather the new director’s resume.

Wang Shuang, born in 1990, married and without children, had been in sales for 5 years and a business manager for 3 years. Her performance completion rate was 97 percent, key customers: 0.

A business manager’s mission was to ensure the team completed the sales plan. Business managers were not assessed on sales tasks, so whether the manager signed a deal or helped employees sign deals, to Wang Shuang it was the same, both counted as the team’s sales volume.

But KA was completely different. With only 20 percent of the people, the KA system contributed 80 percent of Lanhai’s sales gross profit, and the core of that was key customers.

At KA, everyone was a manager of key customers. Everyone had different contract methods, customer resources, sales skills, social connections, and circles of influence… KA did not care about Wang Shuang’s past management experience, did not care about the honors she had received, did not care about her personal life, it only cared about the number of key customers she had.

Key customers were KA’s lifeline.

Lin Yiran held 80 percent of KA’s key customers, and held Lanhai’s lifeline.

And Wang Shuang, in their eyes, was nothing more than a pitiful nobody with no key customers, someone who could be assessed out at any time.

Chen Xi had just submitted her resume downstairs and came upstairs ready to eat lunch. Almost everything she had drunk last night after drinking had been thrown up, and then she had been forced to do hard labor for more than half the night. In the morning she had a fever and could not eat, and by close to noon she was already starving.

After eating, if she took a nap and woke up, it would be afternoon. If she dragged things out a bit more, the day would be over. Base salary 7000, 22 workdays a month, 318 a day, after insurance deductions she could get around 300 a day. The 150 she had gotten this morning was enough for several days of meals.

As Chen Xi walked toward her seat, Wang Shuang called her to a stop. “Xiao Xi, your faces here are all unfamiliar. I’m new here and can’t remember all the names. Introduce them to me, okay?”

Chen Xi hated it most when Wang Shuang put on a bossy official air. She thought, since I was bullied in Business before, and now I came to KA, you still want me to swallow your anger? Anyway I’m leaving soon, so screw it!

“The names are on the workstations, aren’t they? You can just read them yourself. You still want me to introduce them, could it be you can’t read?”

Wang Shuang frowned and glared, about to flare up, when Zhang Yuanji saw Chen Xi’s sarcasm and stepped in first, “I’m Zhang Yuanji, not a salesman, can’t talk deals, and I’m good at hanging around waiting to die and dragging people in for gatherings. This whole year, I’ve relied on Chen Xi to lead me, that’s how I managed to pass the assessment smoothly.”

Zhang Yuanji had come to KA last year, almost at the same time Chen Xi transferred into KA. He had been new and did not understand Lanhai’s processes or product lines, and Chen Xi really had helped him a lot back then, though not as exaggerated as he said. Zhang Yuanji had broad connections, and he had helped Chen Xi introduce people and build connections many times; Chen Xi knew Lanhai’s product lines well and occasionally helped Zhang Yuanji with customer onboarding procedures. The two of them were complementary and mutually beneficial, and they had jointly developed a lot of customers over the year.

Zhang Yuanji and Chen Xi were both straightforward people. Their workstations were next to each other, and in daily work and personal matters they had exchanged plenty. Customers Zhang Yuanji could not close, Chen Xi would follow up and make calls for him; when Chen Xi could not get money, Zhang Yuanji would act as the “collection big brother.”

The two of them usually called each other brothers. Before Zhang Yuanji joined Lanhai, he had worked security at a KTV, and he disliked outsiders bullying his own brothers the most. Right now Chen Xi did not like Wang Shuang, so naturally Zhang Yuanji charged ahead first.

After Zhang Yuanji finished introducing himself, he held out half a hand, making a “handshake” gesture that looked like he was shaking hands, but was not actually close enough to count as one.

First there was Chen Xi’s sarcasm, then Zhang Yuanji’s fake flattery. The KA crowd had already checked the new leader’s background and felt Wang Shuang did not have much ability, so they changed sails with the wind.

Ma Longfei said with a smile that did not reach his eyes, “Director Wang thinks they look unfamiliar, do I look unfamiliar to you too?” He had been at Lanhai for 15 years, and even Lin Yiran had to call him “Brother Ma” when he saw him.

“No, no, of course not. You’re Ma Longfei. Back when you worked in Business, we all treated you like a senior,” Wang Shuang said.

“Oh? Nice way of saying it. Back then I was a senior, and now I’m not?” Li Hua picked up the line, deliberately stirring up emotion. “Brother Ma will always be my Brother Ma!”

Wang Shuang was stumped and thought: …I’ve never even called an employee “brother.”

During Chen Xi’s rookie period right after joining, Wang Shuang had not fulfilled the manager’s duty of accompanying visits.

Yucheng’s market advertising business had become saturated, and cold-call coverage of customers was annoying to others, with an extremely low chance of signing contracts. Chen Xi worked very hard, but without a manager to guide him, he could not find the key to signing contracts. Wang Shuang only knew how to urge him to make calls, not letting him rest for even a moment, as if she treated Chen Xi like an emotionless calling machine.

Chen Xi had lived through that period very tired and very suffocated. Looking back now, there were obviously many shortcuts to closing deals. And after he came to KA, all those shortcuts were taught to him by Lin Yiran.

Wang Shuang did not tell him how to look for customers, did not accompany him on face-to-face visits, did not help him organize his orders, and only made him call, because she wanted him to be assessed out, wanted him to quit.

This time I don’t need you to push me, I’ll quit on my own.

Chen Xi pulled out his chair, glanced at the seats around him piled with clothes, and made a plan in his mind: before leaving, he would settle all the “old accounts” from before, “help” you find your place in KA as soon as possible, and let you see clearly whose home field KA really was.

“KA’s office environment is not like Business. It’s dirty and messy, and there’s not even an empty seat. How about Director Wang applies for a private office? It’d be bright and spacious.”

Only leaders at deputy general manager level or above at Lanhai had private offices. The private office Lin Yiran had as director was specially approved by Zhang Guangming, because he often had to receive clients.

Chen Xi’s words carried hidden barbs, comparing Wang Shuang with Lin Yiran. The KA crowd was already dissatisfied with Wang Shuang, and this made them even angrier.

A parachuted decorative figure with not even one key customer, and she wanted to be compared with Director Lin?

Zhang Yuanji: “Does Director Wang want a private office to receive clients? Or is she going to receive us every day and have private talks?”

Ma Longfei took the initiative to add a second jab: “If you ask me, Director Wang should just make do sitting by the men’s changing room door. That spot is a little off, but it’s pretty clean, just a bit hot.” The central air conditioning was concentrated in the office area, and there was basically no air conditioning near the changing room. It was July now, and if she sat at the men’s changing room door to work, she’d suffocate.

Li Hua followed with a third jab: “Director Wang, if you want, I can clear out that seat for you.”

Wang Shuang’s face turned green as she thought: You KA employees, is this how you usually talk to Lin Yiran?

The KA crowd looked at their mouths while watching their noses, and their noses while watching their hearts, all silently understanding: she was almost unable to hold it together, just one last blow away.

KA’s top brother Meng Hai delivered that final blow.

“Leader, I’m quitting.” Meng Hai lazily slung his coat over his shoulder, looked sideways with a half-smile and said, “I’m not too good with Lanhai procedures. Sorry to trouble you to tell Director Lin, I won’t be coming in this afternoon.”

Wang Shuang: ?!

“Brother Hai, you…” Zhang Yuanji thought he was joking. It wasn’t worth it to get himself involved just because he was dissatisfied with the new leader. This was going a little too far.

Meng Hai did not give him a chance to speak. He waved at his former colleagues, then strode off without looking back.

He was quite like the carefree decisiveness of a couple breaking up, when a cut needed to be made and it was made.

Chen Xi looked at Meng Hai’s dashing back and, in a heat of the moment, followed with, “I also…”

“What are you all doing?” A deep voice came from behind, and Lin Yiran interrupted what Chen Xi was about to say.

Wang Shuang was so irritated by the group of people’s one after another strange moves that her eyes were almost rolling to the back of her head. When she saw Lin Yiran, she immediately changed into a friendly, sincere face, like she had seen her own father. “Director Lin, I just came to KA, and I still ask for your guidance in the days ahead.”

When the KA crowd saw the real leader arrive, they exchanged looks.

“You’re already slacking off at the start of the quarter, and now you’re making trouble?” Lin Yiran’s office faced the KA workstations, and through the transparent glass window he could see everything outside clearly. He had just taken a call from the client side, and he really had no way to split himself up. The client was not satisfied with the results of the first phase of cooperation and demanded an in-person discussion of the second phase plan. He had just hung up and was about to go to the appointment, and before leaving he still had to take some time to deal with this group that would not let him be at ease.

Wang Shuang was just about to speak when Zhang Yuanji again stole the line. “Brother Lin, Brother Hai just said he was going to quit, so we stood up to see him off.”

“Right, right.” The KA crowd agreed.

Wang Shuang was dumbfounded, once again shocked by KA’s strange moves, and thought: Do these people not fear lightning striking them for telling such blatant lies with their eyes open?

Lin Yiran nodded, seeming completely unsurprised by the news of Meng Hai’s resignation, and instead it threw the KA crowd off.

Zhang Yuanji made faces at him, what was going on, Brother Lin knew from early this morning that Brother Hai was leaving, how come I didn’t know?

Ma Longfei was completely baffled, don’t look at me, I don’t know either, Haizi didn’t tell me.

Li Hua looked stunned, KA’s top brother was just like that, resigning?

Lin Yiran walked over and stood in the middle, blocking the “exchanging glances” between them, then looked at Wang Shuang. “What do you think of KA?”

Σ(⊙▽⊙”a？？？

The KA crowd thought: as expected, the older ginger is spicier, Brother Lin’s methods really are high-level!

When a new leader takes office, they surely can’t say the system is bad before even sitting down, in front of the top boss and all the employees.

Wang Shuang racked her brains and desperately searched for KA’s strengths, then said with a stiff scalp, “I think KA is very united, yes, united. I’ve never seen such a united organization before, so united it’s like evil, ah no, like an army.”

“KA is like an army!”