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Chapter 151: Chapter 136: Present ’Martial Arts’ at the Annual Meeting_2
"Of course, we have! Didn’t our Design Department recently hire a new manager? She is my senior from college, an expert in women’s shoes and bags. Although they won’t be able to hit the market in a short time, it can be included in the second phase of our plan," Qi Yan eagerly put forward her thoughts.
"Alright then, as long as it’s about clothing, figure out a way to cover all aspects. We can discuss the brand categorization plan after the New Year," said Tang Qing. He didn’t bother to question further. It was enough for him to provide the funding, and he believed it was better to leave the professional work to the professionals. With the Sky Eye overseeing, nothing should go wrong.
"Humph, little brother, always acting like a hands-off manager," Qi Yan pouted.
"..."
"Boss...Tang..." At that point, a soft voice came from behind Tang Qing.
When Tang Qing turned around, he saw the two assistant managers from the Design Department, dressed in their best attire. One was in white and the other in blue. They looked so good together that Tang Qing couldn’t help but nod in approval. Their unique sense of style was evident. He even suspected that they handpicked their attire.
At first, Qi Yan’s assistant, Xu Dan, was quite respectful towards Tang Qing. But after interacting more with him, she started acting a bit cheeky like Qi Yan, often showing her cute side. It wasn’t that she was interested in Tang Qing, just that...she found him amusing. So, Tang Qing simply ignored her.
"Shen sister, come sit here. Little brother Tang, this is Shen Nian. She’s my senior from college, an expert in shoes and bags. She just returned from abroad and I immediately recruited her. So, you have to thank me properly," Qi Yan said, pulling the new assistant manager from the Design Department to her side.
"Hello, Boss Tang," Shen Nian greeted him politely. She wouldn’t have come here, where the salary is only a fifth of her previous one, if not for her similar background with Qi Yan and Qi Yan’s warm invitation. But since the cost of living in China is lower, she was able to live comfortably.
"Hello, Sister Shen, welcome to Sheng Tang. Work hard and the company won’t treat you unfairly," replied Tang Qing encouragingly, noticing that he was getting better at these customary greetings.
"Boss Tang, what about me?" Before Shen Nian could respond, the previously ignored Xu Dan immediately stepped in and cooed.
"You are not a newcomer. Shoo!" Tang Qing said irritably.
Then, Xu Dan stared at Qi Yan with her watery eyes, seemingly pitiful. "I’m so heartbroken. Boss Tang doesn’t want me anymore. You have to stand up for me, Yan."
"Shoo, shoo, don’t flirt with my brother," Qi Yan laughingly scolded.
"Hmm, I’m ignoring you. Boss Tang, do you need someone to warm your bed?" Xu Dan asked Tang Qing in a cutesy voice, her tone and gaze full of temptation.
"Ahem..no need."
Tang Qing, who was drinking tea, almost choked. He thought, you really dare to say anything.
"So how about a personal massage servant? My skills are excellent," Xu Dan continued to flirt, winking at him. Whenever she saw Tang Qing being this ’fun’, she couldn’t resist teasing him a bit.
"Girl, behave! So many leaders are present!" Qi Yan quickly stepped in to mediate, seeing Tang Qing on the verge of losing it.
"Ha-ha, we didn’t see anything," Yang Kai laughed heartily. Whenever he saw Tang Qing being teased by these women and unable to resist, he was reassured that Tang Qing was just a kid. Despite being so wealthy and at an age of raging hormones, his ability to restrain himself made Yang Kai respect him even more.
The other vice president just chuckled without saying anything.
"..." 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝘣.𝘤𝘰𝑚
Tang Qing covered his face and said nothing.
Time passed in the midst of this banter and teasing.
At half-past seven, as the staff was mostly present, the Sheng Tang Annual Meeting officially began.
Yang Kai directly took the role of the emcee. After giving the routine welcome speech, he shared the company’s growth history and plan for the coming year. The prospect of possibly securing an investment of up to hundreds of millions in mid-next year had the employees cheering. In this era, such large-scale investments were rare. With such a wealthy boss, they were confident about earning more in the future. Everyone looked forward to the company’s future.
Finally.
"Next, let’s welcome our Boss Tang onto the stage to say a few words. Everyone, let’s give a round of applause," Yang Kai said, raising the microphone and starting the applause.
"Clap clap clap clap clap..."
The employees below naturally followed along.
Although it felt very ’bureaucratic’ and ’formalist’, thinking about how the whole world has this sort of culture, and how every country’s leadership meetings follow this same process, Tang Qing eased up. Before, he felt ’bureaucratic’ when he was the one clapping, but now that he was the one ’being applauded’, his mindset changed surprisingly fast. He couldn’t help but sigh at how true the saying "where you stand depends on where you sit" really is.
Tang Qing of course knew about this project, so he got up confidently and walked up to take the microphone from Yang Kai’s hand.
Turning around to see hundreds of eyes staring at him, the experienced Tang Qing wasn’t nervous at all.
"Ahem, hello, everyone. Welcome to the Sheng Tang family. Truthfully, standing up here is still somewhat unnerving for me. During the company’s inception, it was Manager Yang, Manager Qi and others that managed the company while I simply funded it. This lack of contribution is what makes me feel nervous and uneasy. That said, don’t take this to mean that I’ll be dedicating more energy to the company in the future, as I actually have more than just this one company and will have more down the line. Even though I can’t work and strive side by side with you all due to limited energy, I will be your most steadfast assurance that as long as you work hard, I won’t let this company fail; simply because...I have enough money to enable the company to go global. This is the only thing I can guarantee," Tang Qing loudly declared at the end.
Obviously, the audience was taken aback by Tang Qing’s ’out-of-the-box’ speech. Tang Qing’s point was simple: I’m rich, you guys just need to work hard. As for Tang Qing’s owning other companies, they weren’t surprised in the least; it was only natural for this ultra-local tyrant who could easily throw out hundreds of millions in capital to also own some other businesses.
Seeing that he had ’stunned’ everyone, Tang Qing smiled and said: "Alright, I won’t prattle on any further. Let’s get back to enjoying our ladies’ performance."
Without wasting any more words, Tang Qing took his microphone and stepped down, to which the audience of course responded with vigorous applause.
Due to the strong desire of the company’s female employees to perform, the sign-up list for the annual meeting performances was nearly monopolized by the Design Department.
Seeing this, the other departments thought: How can this be? What would the higher-ups think if our department didn’t have a single performance?
In the end, after deliberation, it was decided that each department would have at least one act, but after various cuts, the Design Department still ended up with the majority of the slots.
Tang Qing received a ’notice’ too, stating that he had to perform as well. After some thought, he decided he wouldn’t play their game, and chose to do some Military Boxing. Unable to persuade him otherwise, an idea then struck Qi Yan – he was to perform shirtless.
Shirtless Military Boxing?
Upon hearing this, Tang Qing was at a loss for words.
He wasn’t afraid of losing face, rather... he was worried about causing a ’sensation’.
After being transformed by Origin Qi, his body was as perfect as could be, to the point that even he was ’smitten’ sometimes when looking in the mirror.
But seeing the mischievous grin on Qi Yan’s face...
Tang Qing decided not to back down on the spot, thought screw it, and decided to blind everyone with his dazzling performance.
The first act was a group dance by the ladies from the Design Department, which didn’t surprise Tang Qing at all - judging by that time they ’gathered around’ on the second floor, this group of ladies certainly weren’t quiet types.
And so the performances went on one by one - not continuously, of course, as everyone still had to eat - with a new act every four minutes. Compared to the Design Department’s performance, the performances from the administrations and sales departments fell a bit short, but everyone was just there to have fun and there was no need for comparisons. However, there was a program ranking at the end.
"Up next is the most mysterious segment of today, and also the highlight of the midshow. Does anyone want to know what it is?" Qi Yan, acting as the emcee this time, said mysteriously with a laugh.
PS: That’s all for today’s Chapter.
