Chapter 7

Others measure office buildings by the building, but the Wanlian International office building is measured by the floor. The headquarters of Wanlian International is located on South Road 3. In such an expensive area, the central part of the Wanlian International Sun Moon Star Building still retains a freshwater lake covering about five acres. The lake is surrounded by grass, and with the addition of benches and green trees, it resembles a park.

The Sun Moon Star are three buildings, and the area centered around these three buildings is the headquarters of Wanlian International. Nie Zuo looked up at the three office buildings, and more than 70% of the lights were still on. Is business good this year? There's no need to ask; just come to the Wanlian International headquarters, see how many lights are on at night, and how many people are working overtime, and you'll know whether the economy is good or bad.

Nie Zuo sat on a chair by the lake. Fifty meters away, the building is called the Sunlight Building. Inside the Sunlight Building are newspapers, TV stations, recording studios... Those who can secure a spot in the Sunlight Building are all profitable industries of Wanlian International. It was already 10 PM, but the entrance of the building was still bustling with people and vehicles.

A food delivery van pulled up to the entrance of the building, and four strong young men got out, each carrying a stack of pizzas as high as a small mountain, heading upstairs. This is a typical night scene at Wanlian International. Overtime, overtime, overtime...

Nie Zuo leaned back on the chair, the lake breeze blowing, cool and comfortable. Fifty meters away, it was a completely different world. Nie Zuo did not pity them, because they might not pity him for wasting time by the lake. Their efforts would be rewarded with better houses, better cars, and better women.

His phone vibrated, and Nie Zuo answered, "Hi!"

"I see you."

Nie Zuo turned around and waved to the top of the Sunlight Building, "Looks like you can go home now?"

On the 30th floor in a meeting room, a woman held a small telescope at the floor-to-ceiling glass, looking down at Nie Zuo, "Sorry, baby, not yet, still in a meeting. I sneaked out to see you."

Nie Zuo smiled, "Do you feel refreshed after seeing me?"

"You do look refreshed, but I don't. I'm so tired I can't even go to the bathroom. I have to go back to the meeting."

"Go ahead."

The woman hung up the phone, turned off the light, and left the small meeting room. Five seconds later, the meeting room was opened, and a man walked to the floor-to-ceiling glass without turning on the light. He pulled the curtain slightly, took out a low-light night vision telescope, and looked down at Nie Zuo, taking continuous photos. After ten seconds, he quietly left.

...

Nie Zuo came to the Wanlian International headquarters to pick up his girlfriend, Mai Yan, who is an assistant accountant at Hengyuan Real Estate, a subsidiary of Wanlian International. They were a couple from A University, and many people did not approve of them. The reason was that Mai Yan was very beautiful, and although Nie Zuo was also handsome, putting beauty and handsomeness together did not align with people's values. The mainstream social value was that beauty and money should go together.

Mai Yan is 1.72 meters tall, with a flawless figure and face. Since her sophomore year, she has been praised as the campus beauty and has received attention from both inside and outside the school, including older men who wanted to take advantage of her and wealthy young men who were infatuated with her. Mai Yan was puzzled at the time, why did one have to be rich to pursue her? Her senior answered her question, "Because you are beautiful. Being rich doesn't guarantee you can get you, but being poor definitely won't." Beauty is always a scarce resource.

This answer was cruel, direct, and realistic. To everyone's surprise, in the second half of her junior year, Mai Yan, who had always been single, started dating Nie Zuo from the history department. Nie Zuo became a news figure that week, and everyone was asking, "Who is Nie Zuo?" After a boring investigation, it was found that Nie Zuo was a very ordinary college student. In his sophomore year, he studied abroad for a year at a British university as an exchange student. He had no background or prestigious family history, and besides studying, he spent his free time working at a fruit store in Xinyang Town.

Just as everyone was about to study this mismatched relationship, A University had a cheating scandal, and the exam questions were leaked. Compared to the romantic affairs of others, everyone was more concerned about their own future, so they quickly forgot about them.

In her senior year, with the help of her cousin, Mai Yan interned at Wanlian International and successfully joined the headquarters after graduation. After graduation, Nie Zuo continued to work at the fruit store in Xinyang Town. The gap in their social status seemed to be growing, but their relationship was not significantly affected.

Mai Yan's hair was somewhat messy, clearly too lazy to go to the bathroom to comb it, and she just ran her hands through it. It was evident how exhausted she was. As soon as she saw Nie Zuo at the entrance of the building, she immediately reached out for a hug, hanging her entire weight on him, feeling very comfortable.

There were many people at the entrance, so they separated. Nie Zuo naturally took her handbag and hung it on his shoulder, while Mai Yan held his right arm with her left hand and said, "Tired!"

Nie Zuo was somewhat dissatisfied, "Is your boss crazy? You haven't left on time this week."

"The boss is crazy, and employees have to be even crazier, or they'll be replaced by someone even crazier." Mai Yan saw a car drive away from a nearby lane and said, "That's Manager Wang, who hasn't been home since the day before yesterday."

"Such dedication?"

"What else can we do? The boss looks at performance. Liu Ziping has his second son as the president, and his first move is to implement a policy of promotion and demotion. The business department eliminates the lowest performers each month. Before, if you didn't meet the performance, there was a standard for how much you were short. Now, you can't afford to slack off, or you'll be at the bottom and eliminated."

Nie Zuo praised, "Tough."

"Not everyone thinks it's bad. Since the internal competition mechanism was introduced, everyone's performance has skyrocketed. Manager Wang used to earn about 13,000 to 14,000 a month, but this month he will earn at least 40,000, and his performance is outstanding. If he maintains this for two to three months, he will easily be promoted to deputy manager." Mai Yan said, "It's a good thing. Before, to get promoted, you had to look at both performance and interpersonal relationships, which was very complicated. Now, it's just about performance. If you can help the company make money, you're the boss. If you can't help the company make money, you have to leave."

Nie Zuo said, "Mai, you don't need to work as hard as the business department in the administrative department."

"The administrative department also has busy times, but let's not talk about this... taxi." Mai Yan stretched out her hand to hail a taxi.

The taxi pulled over, and Nie Zuo asked, "Go home first?"

"No, today is our date day, and I've booked a table." Mai Yan frowned and glared at Nie Zuo, "Did you forget?"

He didn't forget, but it was already midnight... Nie Zuo smiled and opened the car door for Mai Yan, "Please!"

Mai Yan got in the car and said to the driver, "Please, He Yuan Restaurant."

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