E-Ladies: Navigating the Wired World
Chapter 172: Episode 172: Mishap at the Annual Summary Meeting 2

Chapter 172: Episode 172: Mishap at the Annual Summary Meeting 2

Zhang Yongzhong watched in silence as messages poured into the group chat like a torrent, feeling that these girls wouldn’t rest until they played him to death.

There were even more absurd suggestions, such as borrowing a guy from the head office to play the prince, and so on...

Zhang Yongzhong felt that if he didn’t take a stand soon, he would indeed become a Snow White at the mercy of others.

[Fine, it’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs then! I’ll play Snow White, but there can’t be any prince, no stepmother either, just the 8 of us performing on stage is enough!]

He had suggested the performance himself, but when it came time to finalize the content, he wanted to back out.

[Xiaozhou, I think it’s better for a girl to play Snow White... Don’t I, a grown man, look ridiculous?]

[Not at all, cross-dressing is what makes for theatrical effect! Don’t worry, Yong Bro will be worth two on stage!] Zhou Xueyin reassured him.

Thinking of deserting at the last moment? Not so easy! Now that he had agreed to take charge, how could he just run off upon seeing the settled content?

[Not a problem, Yong Bro, rest assured, I’ll make you up so well that no one will recognize it’s you!] Sun Miao was very confident in her makeup skills.

The other employees in the group also kept goading Zhang Yongzhong to play Snow White, feeling that if he didn’t take on the leading role, they would rather forfeit than present any program.

[I’m scared of you guys... Isn’t it enough that I play this Snow White...] Under everyone’s pressure, Zhang Yongzhong finally agreed to the group’s decision.

Zhou Xueyin gave a thumbs-up to everyone, mouthing the words, "Well done!"

The others were all smiling wickedly in response.

If they didn’t give Zhang Yongzhong a hard time this time, they would probably have to deal with the difficult tasks he would assign them in the future.

Apart from Zhang Yongzhong playing Snow White, Li Jinniang, Zhang Jingwan, Ji Xiaoxi, Zhao Caiyun, Sun Miao, Li Hua, and Bai Ying each played one of the seven dwarfs.

Liu He was the director and scriptwriter, while Wang Simo was the director of stage effects.

Zhang Yongzhong exemplified the saying: he says no with his mouth, but his body tells the truth.

He had picked apart the script when he first got it, complaining that the lines were too much, but once the rehearsals began, he was more immersed than anyone else.

Even when reciting, "I, Snow White, am the proudest employee with the best performance at CBIS Group. Yet my achievements are ridiculed by some – I must rise and fight back, to defeat them!" he managed not to break character and laugh.

They had agreed not to practice during work hours, but every day as it got close to the end of the afternoon, Zhang Yongzhong would take the initiative to gather the performers in the meeting room for rehearsal.

Since everyone had almost finished their work and seen all clients ahead of time, Zhou Xueyin had been somewhat perfunctory about the rehearsal time.

On the day of the group’s annual meeting, the morning was full of speeches by leaders from various companies: clichéd repetitions, empty slogans, and grand future plans.

When it came to performance, aside from Zhou Xueyin’s 51buy and the head office’s Zhongonline, which were profiting nicely, the other subsidiaries had more or less failed to complete the tasks assigned by the company.

After the lunch break, it was Zhou Xueyin’s turn to speak on stage. Even with her experience in cosplay stage performances during college, she still felt somewhat nervous speaking in front of nearly 1000 employees.

She took a deep breath, "Dear colleagues from CBIS, good afternoon! Some of you may still find me unfamiliar, so let me introduce myself first..."

The speech at the summary meeting wasn’t as nerve-wracking as imagined. Once she began talking, her thoughts flowed clearly and in an organized manner.

After introducing herself, her presentation moved on to introducing the company, followed by how 51buy had step by step progressed to being acquired by the group.

Of course, she didn’t forget to humorously tease about a small incident during the acquisition, "At that time, a company was willing to offer 5 million to acquire us, but think about it, what can 5 million do? Even winning a lottery would give you more than 5 million, right? So, I didn’t agree. Later, a magazine group that we had always been cooperating with offered 8 million for the purchase!"

"Then why didn’t you sell?" Someone from the audience shouted out without knowing who.

"Don’t be hasty, my friend. 8 million is not a small amount, right?" Zhou Xueyin asked back to everyone.

"It’s not small at all!" The employees in the audience shouted back in chorus.

"Right! 8 million is indeed not a small amount, especially for a traditional print media group. But could they really come up with the 8 million? I didn’t think so. After all, we’d had a long-standing cooperation with their magazine, so I was very clear about the situation of this print media group..." Zhou Xueyin paused here.

"So you came here because the price was attractive?" As Zhou Xueyin paused, someone in the audience began shouting again.

"Exactly, a direct acquisition for 200 million US dollars! We got the money on the day we signed the contract. Why wouldn’t I sell, right?" Zhou Xueyin went along with what the audience said, "Based on the exchange rate at the time, it was around 1.3 billion RMB. Not a bad deal!"

"Not just a good deal, it’s a great profit!" someone in the audience shouted, eliciting murmurs of agreement.

"Of course, I couldn’t let the group’s acquisition be in vain. Just last week, after we completed the final payment settlement, our annual sales reached 15 million! Of course, having such good performance is also thanks to the reputation of CBIS. Those big brands that weren’t very optimistic about us before were now happily signing contracts with us!" Zhou Xueyin reported as she displayed the PPT.

With an "only report the good news" mindset, she mentioned that the daily active users in 2008 had dipped slightly compared to 2007, but the number of registrations was still on a steady rise. Therefore, she breezed over the forum data.

In the end, she looked to the future, setting a sales target of 20 million for 2009. After all, there were still many luxury brands they hadn’t acquired. If they could even get a slice of that pie, it would be enough to meet the sales volume for the year.

With Zhou Xueyin’s report summary concluded, it was time for the awards ceremony.

The excellent employee awards for 51buy were given to Li Jiniang, Liu He, and Wang Simo. These three were chosen by anonymous vote from everyone, garnering the highest number of votes. The prizes were a bonus of 3,000 yuan and a certificate of excellence...

Zhou Xueyin was unexpectedly selected as the outstanding leader of the year, with a bonus of 10,000 yuan and an additional certificate.

The award was truly unexpected; no one had informed her, and she was perplexed when she went up to receive it.

However, receiving an award also proved the group’s recognition of her work, so she definitely had to work even harder in return! Zhou Xueyin secretly made a resolution in her heart.

After dinner, it was time for the exciting performance show. 51buy’s act was scheduled third. Wang Simo pulled Zhou Xueyin and a few other colleagues to find a suitable spot to sit down and wait for the performance to start.

The opening act was the handsome men and beautiful women from the head company’s digital channel performing a hot dance, setting the audience ablaze with excitement as everyone moved with the beats of the street dance music.

The second act was a comedy sketch by Zhang Yongzhong’s former team, which could only be described as dry and boring with no humor.

"The third act, coming up is 51buy’s new version of Snow White!" the host announced, and with a spotlight casting down on the stage, Zhang Yongzhong appeared dressed as Snow White.