The group stood in place, watching her flee, and after a few seconds, erupted into loud laughter.
"Look at us, we were already scary-looking, and then each of us got so flushed from drinking, like cannibals, scaring the little beauty away."
"What a pity, we finally found someone pleasing to the eye, and she just ran off."
"Fourth Brother, if you really like her, it's simple. Since she hasn't run far, go chase her. We'll all testify that you're definitely not a bad guy. If not, we'll all show her our ID cards!"
The man called Fourth Brother had very short, buzzed hair, dark skin, and a sturdy build.
Upon hearing the suggestion, he let out another hearty laugh.
"That's a good suggestion, I think it's feasible. Give me all your ID cards, and I'll go chase her and try."
Without a word, everyone handed their wallets to him.
Fourth Brother spotted the direction He Yao had fled and strode after her.
He Yao ran all the way to the corner of the entire floor and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw no one was chasing her.
Just as she was about to find an elevator to go down, she saw a restroom.
It was truly a case of "no matter how hard you search, you'll find it when you least expect it." So, she decided to use it.
After finishing in the restroom, her sense of urgency was not as strong as before.
As she walked out, patting the water off her dress, a gruff male voice called out to her.
"Little beauty, why are you running?"
He Yao looked up and saw a man with flushed cheeks and red eyes leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for her. She immediately became alert again.
"Are you talking to me? I don't know you."
"I know you don't know me. That's why I've come to get acquainted. Don't worry, I'm not a bad guy. It's rare for us brothers to get together, so we had a few too many drinks. I'm a bit flushed."
"I have a legitimate job. If you don't believe me, look at my ID card. I have my brothers' ID cards with me too, we're all honest people."
Saying this, he held out a stack of men's wallets in his large hand.
"I was in a hurry to chase you, so the IDs are in the wallets. Do you want to take them out and look?"
He Yao didn't have the leisure to watch him fumble for his ID cards.
Was this a new kind of scam?
A group of men telling a woman they were good people and wanted to make friends.
What was the difference between that and a pack of wolves chasing a sheep and telling it they were good wolves?
"No need. I don't know you, and I don't want to make friends. Besides, I have a boyfriend. Please be respectful, sir, thank you."
He Yao not only refused to take his wallet but also said those words, and the joy on the man's face instantly vanished.
"Is that so? You have a boyfriend, then I won't bother you. Sorry about that."
He turned and walked away.
He Yao didn't run to press the elevator button until he was completely out of sight, and she hurriedly fled the hotel.
On Monday, He Yao returned to work.
Xu Zheng announced in a meeting that they needed to prepare for the project in advance to avoid delaying the deadline. Starting today, everyone was to take responsibility and get ready.
After the meeting, He Yao went to find Xu Zheng. She said she would go find a processing plant to finalize the cooperation matters first. Otherwise, if they waited until all materials were ready and then encountered difficulties, it would delay the deadline, which would be troublesome.
It was not a big deal to outsource a portion to a processing plant.
Moreover, even if He Yao negotiated, from payment to drafting contracts and signing, everything had to be reviewed by Xu Zheng, so she couldn't tamper with anything.
Therefore, Xu Zheng was very relieved.
"Go ahead. Don't work as hard as you did before, take it easy. You're our company's second-in-command now, it wouldn't be good if you wore yourself out."
He Yao didn't bother to joke with him and went to the factory with her bag.
After chatting with the master for a while, the master said.
When choosing a processing plant, the smaller the scale, the better.
"Small factories mean they've just started or aren't doing very well, so they lack orders."
"When we approach them with orders, we're like gods descending from heaven, and they'll have to do everything we say? Whatever you say will go."
"They're much more reliable than those factories that seem formal but are troublesome."
What's more, the master made a gesture to her.
"Once this cooperation is settled, you'll profit quite a bit this time."
He Yao understood the master's implication, which was to sign two contracts.
She and the processing plant would first sign one contract, negotiate the actual transaction price, meaning the kickback, and both parties would sign an agreement.
Then, a written contract based on market prices would be submitted to Xu Zheng.
The profit would be made from the price difference.
Many procurement officers were well aware of this principle, taking kickbacks and rebates.
No, it should be said that in all industries, including sales and marketing departments, this was an open secret.
He Yao had only known about such things before but had never been involved.
After being enlightened by the master, she was quite upright.
"No need. I've never thought about making money that goes against my conscience."
The master said to her, "Are you stupid? This is called going against your conscience?"
"You worked hard from beginning to end, without missing any steps for the boss, and even if you don't take this kickback, whose pockets does the money go into?"
"It's considered natural for it to go into the bosses' pockets, but it's called going against your conscience when it goes into ours? Look at you."
"People, if you don't have a bit of cunning, and only rely on the fixed salary you get each month, you'll only be able to work like beasts of burden your whole life."
"He Yao, think about it carefully. When you're 40, if you're still being bossed around by people like me, will you be content?"
He Yao thought about it carefully, and the master had a point.
Even if she didn't take a kickback, the other party would still sign the contract at that price with Xu Zheng and pay him that much money.
Instead of letting Xu Zheng, who was not short of money, earn it all, it was better to take a share for herself.
As the master said, she worked hard from beginning to end, without cutting corners, earning her living by her skills, so what was wrong with taking a little more?
He Yao made up her mind and went with the master that afternoon to visit suppliers one by one.
They negotiated with each one, and it was only when they reached the third one that they met someone familiar, and the matter was settled.
The reason for saying familiar was that she had seen him yesterday, but they were not at all close.
It was the man who had been waiting for He Yao by the restroom after drinking too much.
His factory was small, only a little over 300 square meters, with more than 20 workers.
As the boss, he was still working on the front lines himself.
When the master found him, he was covered in oil and drilling out from behind a machine tool. The smile he showed when he saw He Yao was much more pleasing than the one he had the day before.
Yesterday he looked like a ruffian, today he looked like a simpleton.
"Little beauty, why are you here? I thought I'd never see you again. Hehe."
The master was startled, "Do you two know each other?"
"Yes."
"No."
They both blurted out at the same time.
The master was surprised again, "So, do you know each other or not?"
"Alright, alright, whether you know each other or not, you will definitely know each other in the future. Come, let's go inside and talk."