The secretary opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but held back.
"What is it?" Shi Fan asked.
The secretary thought for a moment before finally speaking, "Vice President Shi, Mr. Ou just had the samples for this year's gift boxes sent over. You should see for yourself."
Saying this, the secretary placed a square gift box on the table.
"This looks quite large," Shi Fan said, somewhat surprised. "There should be quite a bit inside, right?"
The secretary wore an expression of mixed emotions and said, "You'll know once you open it."
Shi Fan opened the gift box with curiosity and saw several bright red boxes. In the center of the gift box was a greeting card.
Shi Fan picked up the card. It was filled with blessings, and at the bottom, the name Ou Minghan was written, even embellished with hot stamping, as if to ensure no one missed it.
Shi Fan was speechless. Ou Minghan's intentions were truly too obvious!
He opened one of the boxes and burst out laughing. "Well, there are red envelopes!"
The secretary said with a complex expression, "Yes, just red envelopes."
Shi Fan unwrapped the packaging. He opened all the red envelopes with keen interest, only to discover...
They were twenty empty red envelopes.
Shi Fan immediately understood what the secretary had meant earlier. The corners of his lips twitched. How stingy could one be?!
If he was unwilling to put in more, even eighteen yuan and eighty, or twenty-eight yuan and eighty, for good luck would have been fine! What was the point of empty red envelopes? Who, on New Year's Day, would lack empty envelopes to put money in? What people lacked was the money inside!
Shi Fan put down the red envelopes, speechless, and proceeded to open the other boxes.
After unpacking all the gifts, Shi Fan fell into complete silence.
This New Year gift box contained twenty empty red envelopes, a desk calendar imprinted with the Qianbai logo, two custom New Year postcards, and a palm-sized plush toy.
"That's it?" Shi Fan felt a sense of existential doubt. Did the cost of these items even exceed twenty yuan?
"Mr. Ou said he hopes you can cooperate and distribute ten shopping vouchers, each offering a thirty yuan discount on purchases over two hundred yuan, to each employee," the secretary continued.
Shi Fan: ...
If he wasn't going to give money, then giving ten vouchers? What, was he expected to 'pay taxes' to the company during the New Year?
"Were Qianbai's previous New Year gift boxes like this?" Shi Fan couldn't help but ask.
"I asked some of the long-term employees. The items were generally similar, but in the past, they were ten ten-yuan vouchers," the secretary replied.
Shi Fan was utterly convinced. Ou Minghan must have thought he was particularly generous this year, as the vouchers he was distributing had doubled in value!
He waved his hand, signaling the secretary to leave first.
This New Year gift box was gaudily packaged, but it was truly unbearable to look at.
Shi Fan called Su Ming and told him about the situation.
"Chairman Su, are we letting Ou Minghan handle the New Year gift boxes?" Shi Fan asked.
Su Ming was silent for a while, then said speechlessly, "Let him handle it if he wants to!"
"Should we add something else...?" Shi Fan couldn't help but say. The gift box was so meager that even he couldn't bear to look at it.
"Add what?" Su Ming sneered. "We pay for it, and Ou Minghan gets the credit? Is there such a good deal?"
Shi Fan came to his senses. That's right, why should they eagerly play the role of a foolish benefactor?
"What about the discount vouchers...?" Shi Fan asked hesitantly.
Su Ming said sternly, "Give them according to his requirements! Ou Minghan wants the reputation, doesn't he? Then tell all the employees that the gift boxes were all prepared by Ou Minghan, and have nothing to do with us investors!"
The matter of the New Year gift boxes was thus decided. The secretary, upon learning this, couldn't help but share the contents of the gift box with her colleagues.
This news spread like wildfire, and soon, all the employees of Qianbai knew about it. Many discussed the matter on Qianbai's internal forum.
Of course, no one had high expectations; most of the comments were playful.
Shi Fan browsed the posts on the internal network, and the employees' attitudes didn't surprise him. Suddenly, he saw someone reply with a post: "I wonder what the New Year gift boxes are like on the other side."
Shi Fan knew exactly which "other side" they were referring to. He was actually very curious. He had heard that Ye Zhi was always very generous. He wondered if she would prepare a New Year's gift package.
He had Feng Jie's contact information, but they weren't close, and it wouldn't be appropriate to call and ask directly.
Shi Fan thought for a moment and then called his former superior, Yao Hongbo.
After a few pleasantries, Shi Fan finally asked the question he wanted to ask.
"Oh, I happen to know about this," Yao Hongbo said cheerfully. "Taoxun doesn't distribute New Year goods, nor do they have any gift boxes. President Ye gives each employee a thousand yuan for New Year goods, allowing them to buy whatever they want..."
"Really?" Shi Fan felt a pang of envy. Although a thousand yuan wasn't a huge amount to him, Qianbai hadn't given out a single cent!
"Of course, it's true," Yao Hongbo continued with a smile. "Our President Zhan originally wanted to customize gift boxes or something. After hearing about this, she also decided to give money to us Zhiwei employees. Thank you so much, President Ye..."
Shi Fan: ...
Envy, jealousy, and hatred! Why did he suddenly feel like jumping ship? Even if he couldn't get into Taoxun, going to Zhiwei would be great!
After hanging up the phone, Shi Fan looked at the post on his computer screen. He suddenly felt that he shouldn't be the only one feeling this sourness.
Just as he was about to reply, he remembered Yao Hongbo's previous admonition and silently chose to reply anonymously.
"Accurate news, there are no New Year gift boxes on the other side, nor were New Year goods distributed."
Soon, there were many replies below.
"No way? The boss on the other side is even more stingy than Mr. Ou?"
"Although Mr. Ou always likes to do flashy but impractical things, why do I suddenly feel a sense of superiority?"
"That President Ye is still young, after all. Couldn't she at least distribute some coupons like Mr. Ou to create an illusion?"
...
Seeing that there were quite a few replies, Shi Fan posted again, "On the other side, they simply distributed a thousand yuan in cash, allowing employees to buy whatever they want for the New Year."
Instantly, countless replies were filled with lemon emojis. Seeing that others were as sour as he was, almost overflowing with envy, Shi Fan contentedly closed the internal forum.
Shi Fan informed Ou Minghan of his reply through the secretary. Although Ou Minghan was somewhat surprised that they agreed so quickly, he remained immensely pleased with himself.
Indeed, Shi Fan was still young and didn't know how to win people's hearts during the holidays. Shi Fan must have been too embarrassed to ask the investors for funds, which was why he had given him the opportunity.
However, Ou Minghan didn't get to celebrate for two days before he heard a piece of news: Taoxun's "Encountering the Westward Journey" grossed twenty million on its opening day!
This box office data truly shocked him. Upon hearing the news, he immediately wanted to call Feng Jie to confirm if the information was true.
However, he remembered that Feng Jie was still at work and his identity as a mole couldn't be exposed yet, so he sent Feng Jie a message: "Call me."