Ou Minghan immediately had thousands of employees sort through the financial reports, but when he saw the report delivered to his desk, he was stunned!
Qianbai's revenue for the entire previous year was lower than the year before! In the first half of the year, income had been steadily increasing at first, but since the appearance of Taoxun, revenue had plummeted to its lowest point!
After investors entered the market, they only managed to recover some ground, but the company remained in a state of limbo.
Ou Minghan was completely bewildered. Wasn't Qianbai doing exceptionally well?
Didn't Qianbai have its own self-operated stores all over the country, plus foreign markets, and even the stock market was optimistic about Qianbai? How could the annual revenue be so low?!
Soon, Ou Minghan discovered that the so-called self-operated stores were only present in a few major cities and were performing poorly.
The warehouses were all rented, and the leases were even nearing expiration. The warehouses had already contacted Qianbai's departments, asking if they wanted to renew the leases, with a rent increase if they did.
As for the so-called overseas market, it was only in negotiations and hadn't been secured at all.
Ou Minghan asked people to continue negotiating with the other party, but they directly stated they had no interest; they were interested in cooperating with Taoxun.
With one piece of bad news after another, Ou Minghan was driven to the brink of madness!
He truly never expected to inherit a Qianbai that he thought was powerful and had limitless bright prospects. Instead, he found that the current Qianbai was riddled with holes, on the verge of collapse, and worse than when he left last year!
At least last year, Qianbai could still be saved. Now, Qianbai, inside and out, exuded a heavy sense of decay!
What made Ou Minghan even more helpless was that just as he was contemplating how to salvage the situation, someone leaked Qianbai's condition.
Qianbai's last shred of dignity was torn away, and its stock price plummeted even further, often hitting the daily limit within minutes of the market opening.
In Qianbai's CEO office, Ou Minghan's angry curses could be heard every day.
Ou Minghan even began to miss Feng Jie. He called Feng Jie, wanting him to return, but every time he called, it went unanswered.
After finally getting through once, Feng Jie only managed to say intermittently that Ye Zhi had banished him to a remote mountain village with no signal, and then the call was immediately cut off.
Ou Minghan was both angry and helpless, and ultimately had to give up.
Su Ming had been keeping track of Qianbai's situation and often called Ye Zhi to inform her of what he knew.
"Ms. Ye, it seems Ou Minghan will have a hard time recovering from this!" Su Ming said gloatingly.
Theoretically, that's how it should be, Ye Zhi thought to herself. However, for things that haven't happened yet, there are infinite possibilities.
Ye Zhi pondered for a moment. "We still need to be cautious."
"Ms. Ye, you're being too careful," Su Ming chuckled. "I heard that the employee Ou Minghan trusts most now is someone who lacks ability and only knows how to flatter. Because that person deceives superiors and misleads subordinates, many people within Qianbai have already started resigning! With a Qianbai like this, how can there be any hope of recovery?"
"It's hard to say," Ye Zhi replied. "After all, Ou Minghan's bottom line is considerably lower than that of a normal person. If Qianbai is completely unsalvageable, he might use Qianbai as a tool for illicit gains. No one knows what he might do."
"That's true," Su Ming agreed, nodding. "Oh, right, I heard Ou Minghan is looking for advertisers everywhere, as if preparing to add ads to Qianbai's chat software. Do you think this information is useful to you?"
"Very useful! Director Su, thank you for this," Ye Zhi's eyes suddenly lit up.
After a few pleasantries, they hung up the phone.
Before long, Chen Wei came to see her.
"Is there a problem with the new project?" Ye Zhi asked, puzzled.
"No," Chen Wei said, hesitating. "It's about Qianbai."
"What about Qianbai?" Ye Zhi asked in surprise.
"Look at this." Chen Wei handed Ye Zhi a few printed pages.
After reading them, Ye Zhi was completely dumbfounded.
These were Qianbai's recruitment advertisements... no, more accurately, training advertisements.
In these advertisements, Qianbai's important positions were divided into several tiers according to their seniority. Each tier had a clear price, ranging from eight thousand to thirty thousand per month.
However, this money was not given to the employees but was the training fee that employees had to pay to the company. It also required an application, with limited spots and a time limit, at least three months or more.
"My goodness..." Ye Zhi looked bewildered. "Isn't this a bit too fast? Has Qianbai reached the model of paying to work?"
Chen Wei's lips twitched. Ms. Ye, you are truly humorous.
"Ms. Ye, this matter is very popular online. I feel there's something strange about it," Chen Wei said, frowning. "Do you think Ou Minghan is playing some other trick?"
"What trick?" Ye Zhi said speechlessly as she crumpled the training advertisements and threw them into the trash. "He's reached the point of desperate, unscrupulous greed! This has escalated to the point of tormenting employees. It seems Qianbai is truly finished!"
Chen Wei's expression faltered slightly, with a touch of melancholy.
He said slowly, "Qianbai, which I founded with my own hands, seems destined to end in my hands..."
"Don't jinx it," Ye Zhi interrupted him. "Don't use your negative energy to jinx Qianbai back to life!"
Chen Wei: "...Ms. Ye, aren't you being overly cautious?"
Ye Zhi sighed in her heart. It wasn't that she was overly cautious; it was that they didn't understand how powerful protagonist's halo could be. In any case, she would never let her guard down.
"Let's not talk about this anymore," Ye Zhi said. "I have a last-minute task for you. The PC version of Taoxun Chat is almost done. Follow up on it, make Taoxun Chat on PC even smoother and more concise, and most importantly, there must be no ads!"
Chen Wei agreed.
After he left, Ye Zhi browsed the online discussions about Qianbai's paid-to-work scheme. As expected, almost all of them were mocking. After all, who doesn't work for money?
Ye Zhi searched for more and found many complaints from Qianbai's resigned employees.
Lately, Qianbai had become increasingly high-pressure, requiring intense overtime every day, with deductions for insufficient overtime hours. When someone requested a raise, Ou Minghan would angrily reprimand them, telling them that comparing benefits would only narrow their minds, and only by dedicating themselves could their realm become higher.
Everyone else also complained, and Ye Zhi found it all quite speechless.
It seemed Ou Minghan was truly desperate, and he would likely become more unscrupulous.
The paid-to-work scheme was a complete failure, but advertisements on Qianbai's chat software exploded like mushrooms after a rain, dense and numerous, like psoriasis.
This terrible experience naturally drew countless complaints. Ye Zhi had been closely monitoring Qianbai's chat software, and when she saw the opportune moment, she immediately launched a strong advertisement for the PC version of Taoxun Chat.