My Daily Basic Stipend Is 10 Million

Chapter 165: Chapter 157: Treated as a Love Rival

It was one thing for the women to talk big amongst themselves, but when she actually saw Chen Xiao, she still felt a little intimidated.

It wasn’t for any other reason—Ma Jing was prettier than her, and she felt her chances were slim. After all, the one in a favorable position gets the prize first!

Chen Xiao had no idea he had become Tang Monk’s Flesh in everyone’s eyes. If he found out, he’d probably spit in disgust.

’A White Bone Demon wants to eat Tang Monk’s Flesh, too?’

Trouble always follows beautiful women, and the same goes for handsome men—especially rich, handsome men.

As an assistant in the sales department, Ma Jing was very close to Chen Xiao, so she was often the subject of behind-the-back rumors.

This time, word got out that at Chen Xiao’s suggestion, Feng Feifei had approved another sales bonus for Ma Jing. Fueled by a storm of envy and jealousy, the rumors swirling around the company grew even more outrageous, with some of the gossip sounding disturbingly detailed and true.

"It’s no wonder Chen Xiao treats Ma Jing so well. Think about it—at the office, Ma Jing does everything for him. Yuan Kai is a department head, but doesn’t he end up doing all his own work?"

"So you’re saying... when there’s work to do, the assistant does it, and when there’s no work to do, he *does* the assistant?"

These rumors never reached Chen Xiao’s ears, as he spent very little time at the company to begin with.

What little time he was there, he mostly spent playing games. He’d occasionally pop into Feng Feifei’s office to discuss work, but the person he interacted with most was Ma Jing.

And Ma Jing certainly wasn’t going to be the one to tell him about the rumors!

Feng Feifei called Chen Xiao into her office. They chatted for a bit about the Dr. Feng Industrial Park in the High-Tech District, which the company had recently purchased, and the planned timeline for the company’s relocation. They also discussed personnel recruitment and organizational structuring for the various new agencies and departments.

Chen Xiao’s head was spinning. After a long moment, he said, "President Feng, I’m just in charge of sales. You don’t have to go into so much detail with me about everything else!"

Feng Feifei said, exasperated, "Chen Xiao, you have no ambition!"

Then she added, "What do you think of Han Pavilion?"

"What’s that? Which building is it?"

Feng Feifei laughed. "You’ve earned so much money, and you’ve never been to try the food of a three-Michelin-star chef?"

Ah. Only then did Chen Xiao realize it was a restaurant’s name. It wasn’t that he was some country bumpkin; he just genuinely wasn’t interested in that stuff. He was perfectly happy eating at rustic, local spots that cost a few hundred yuan per person.

To him, the food at those kinds of high-end restaurants tasted like wax.

"I’m not an idiot. I’m not going there to waste my money!" Chen Xiao declared emphatically.

Feng Feifei pursed her lips and lowered her head to take a sip of water. ’I will hold it in,’ she thought.

"By the way, President Feng, where are we going for dinner tonight? I have to run some errands this afternoon, so I’ll just head there directly tonight."

"I’m the idiot who likes to waste money!" Feng Feifei said drily.

Er—! It dawned on Chen Xiao that she must have made reservations at Han Pavilion. ’Talk about more money than sense,’ he thought.

He quickly backpedaled. "Ah, President Feng, you made reservations at Han Pavilion? You really shouldn’t have spent so much! I usually just eat cheap takeout. Thank you for letting me experience what a three-Michelin-star restaurant is like!"

"Well, I’m heading out to run those errands now. I’ll go straight there tonight!"

With that, he scurried away. How awkward.

Hmph! Watching him scramble to escape, Feng Feifei couldn’t help but smile.

When it rains, it pours. When a man’s luck runs out, he can’t even drink water without it getting stuck in his teeth. This was probably a perfect description of Xia Bin right now.

He had just returned to his office from Junxiao Square and hadn’t even had time to warm his seat before he received a message.

’Holy shit! How is this possible? The Sa Mo brand has been acquired by Yino Group?’

’How could this have happened?’

Up until now, Sa Mo had operated on a national distributor model. But with Yino Group’s acquisition, it was highly likely they would gradually switch to a direct-sales model.

This was because Yino Group had its own branch offices in every province, putting local distributors at a severe disadvantage.

The distributors no longer had any bargaining chips to use against headquarters. If you didn’t cooperate, the company could reclaim the sales rights and switch to a direct-sales model at any moment!

Damn it, and here I am trying to take over Yino Company’s prime retail spot in Junxiao Square. If I succeed, I’ll just end up offending the Yino Jiangzhou Branch. If I fail, I’ll lose all the money I’ve sunk into blueprints and fixtures, and I’ll be stuck with all the merchandise I ordered for that store.

Add to that the orders for the Ganglong International store... The six-month inventory for just those two stores would be enough to completely ruin me!

That was because merchandise had to be ordered half a year in advance, meaning he had already placed orders for all stock up to June of the following year. And now, he had no stores for it.

Furthermore, both were high-revenue stores, so the order volumes were massive.

He used to look down on the Yino Jiangzhou Branch. After all, his own company was larger, managed more brands, and all of them were several tiers above Yi Rui.

But things were different now. Sa Mo was now one of the brands under the Yino Jiangzhou Branch. In the future, he’d have to go through them to get his Sa Mo stock, and they had plenty of ways to make his life difficult.

That was a big enough headache on its own. But his biggest worry was whether Yino Company planned to convert Sa Mo to a direct-sales model. That brand brought him nearly 200 million in annual revenue, which translated to almost 20 million in net profit.

Losing it would be a devastating blow.

’Looks like I need to go pray at a temple,’ he thought. Nothing had been going right for him lately. He didn’t know what was happening, but he couldn’t seem to do anything right.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. It was the head of the expansion department, who now approached Xia Bin with extreme caution.

Xia Bin looked up. He could tell from the man’s face that it wasn’t good news. Suppressing his anger, he snarled, "What is it? Spit it out!"

"The sales director from Ledi is coming to Jiangzhou for a meeting. He’s using some very strong language... He’s vehemently opposed to us closing the Ganglong International store and wants to ’have a talk’ with you about it."

"Damn it all! I’m surrounded by useless trash! We lost Sa Mo, and now you can’t even hold on to Ledi! No wonder these brand companies are lining up to give me trouble! What the hell are you people even good for? You can’t do a single thing right! You might as well all just pack up and get lost!"

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