Chapter 51: Checking in at Xu Wu's place

"Well, in that case, I will take the lead personally. After all, the Jiangzhou Design Institute is a very important key client!"

She continued, "If not for their specific request, President Hou would actually have been very well-suited to shoulder this responsibility. His technical proficiency is much higher than mine!"

Sparing Hou Fei's feelings, she offered him a polite compliment.

Observing closely, Chen Xiao noticed that Hou Fei's expression turned quite grim, though he recovered almost instantly. With a smile, Hou Fei said, "It's fine. It's even better if Junior Sister takes the lead. It seems this client is indeed exceptionally important, for an assistant to be in a position to make demands of us."

Before Chen Xiao could speak, Feng Feifei explained, "Senior Brother is new here, so you might not fully realize that Assistant Bai is young, ambitious, and holds a certain degree of sway in many major decisions!"

Since he called her Junior Sister, she reciprocated by calling him Senior Brother, which sounded somewhat more intimate.

Having laid out all the details, Chen Xiao excused himself and left the two of them to continue their previous discussion.

Once Chen Xiao stepped outside, Hou Fei said to Feng Feifei, "My intention just now wasn't to question Assistant Bai's influence. I simply feel that many sales personnel tend to talk nonsense and pass along inaccurate information!"

Hearing this, Feng Feifei felt a flash of displeasure, but she maintained a polite tone and replied, "I know Chen Xiao well; he is not that kind of person."

"Junior Sister, I'm just offering a reminder. After all, sales personnel generally lack advanced education and have limited personal qualities. They still need strict management!"

Did the level of one's personal quality inherently correlate with their educational background? Feng Feifei found this notion rather absurd.

At the same time, a sense of unease crept over her. She could clearly sense Hou Fei's dislike for Chen Xiao, yet under the upcoming division of responsibilities, the sales department would report directly to him.

Still, she hoped he would put the company's interests above everything else. In a market-driven enterprise, distribution channels were king, and the value brought to a company by a top sales champion was enough to command attention at any level—let alone someone as monstrously successful as Chen Xiao.

Chen Xiao called Bai Liu and invited her to the company for a face-to-face meeting on Friday, which was tomorrow, while also sharing some of his own thoughts with her.

The Jiangzhou Design Institute operated as a service provider with various construction and service qualifications. Dr. Feng Robotics was an AI solution provider, but actually venturing into water conservancy projects would require a hardware-focused equipment manufacturer as well.

Essentially, the hardware provider would supply the vehicle carrier, Dr. Feng Robotics would provide the payload, and the Jiangzhou Design Institute would leverage its own qualifications and formidable background to secure the business.

As for this hardware manufacturer, Chen Xiao had his sights set on Zhifei Aerospace. On one hand, their capabilities were rock-solid; on the other hand, the commissions over there were directly tied to him!

Right now, with his dedication rating sitting at an impressive 15 points, any business conducted with enterprises related to him would yield earnings almost equivalent to the total order amount. Was there anything more lucrative in the entire world?

Moreover, his dedication rating could be further increased through the accumulation of time and the completion of tasks, making the multipliers on his future business bonuses terrifyingly high.

Checking the time, he realized he still had enough time to make it over to dine with Xu Wu, so he beckoned to Ma Jing.

Ma Jing hurried over immediately!

"Come on, help me finish this game. It just started!"

Ma Jing looked nervous and asked, "What happens if I get caught playing games on the clock?"

"What could possibly happen? They'd ask you to resign, and it's not like you're desperate for this salary!"

He was only joking. For days now, the company had turned a blind eye to him playing games during work hours. When the boss didn't care, nobody else dared to.

At Zhifei Aerospace, inside Xu Wu's office!

"Beauty Xu, your office is way too small. Every time I come over, there's nowhere to lie down!"

Xu Wu shot him a contemptuous glance. What kind of person was he? Whose office was meant for lying down?

"Then go lie down in President Zha's office. His sofa is big enough and soft enough!"

Big enough and soft enough? Subconsciously, Chen Xiao's gaze drifted down toward her chest.

"What are you looking at? Keep staring and I'll gouge your eyeballs out!" Xu Wu scolded playfully.

He quickly straightened his expression. "I was just wondering if you've been working too hard lately—you've even developed dark circles under your eyes!"

"What? How is that possible?" Startled, Xu Wu hurriedly pulled out a compact mirror for a quick check before letting out a breath of relief. This bastard had really given her a scare.

Naturally, Chen Xiao wouldn't dare go over to Zha Lan's office to lie down; people were constantly walking in and out of the general manager's office to report on work, leaving no peace whatsoever.

He could never understand why these people loved being high-level executives when being a sales representative was so much more comfortable.

Of course, that was easy for him to say since he wasn't the one sweating over it—after all, who else could sell things and rake in money quite like him?

Chen Xiao was here today on serious business. Once Zha Lan finished with his busywork, Xu Wu led Chen Xiao straight into Zha Lan's office!

"President Zha, I'm punching in here every single day—even more diligently than I do at my own company!"

"Haha, my brother, I honestly wish you'd come over every day. What brings you here for guidance today?"

"You flatter me, guidance is out of the question. I'm here to discuss some business!"

Chen Xiao outlined his general concept for the water conservancy project, causing Zha Lan to slap his own thigh with a loud smack that startled both Xu Wu and Chen Xiao!

"My brother, thank you for keeping your older brother in mind when good things come up. This project is worth doing—abundantly worth doing!"

"Just tell me how to proceed, and my company will give you 100% cooperation!"

Chen Xiao loved this kind of attitude. How could anyone fail at doing business with this mindset?

This was a collaborative research and development venture. Zhifei Aerospace would be responsible for integrating all required LiDAR systems, high-precision cameras, and the core fusion algorithms.

Dr. Feng Robotics would handle the AI intelligent recognition software, the training of large artificial intelligence models, and field testing within relevant application scenarios.

Each party would shoulder its respective responsibilities, and the final proportion of each side's contribution to the finished product would be uniformly procured and implemented by the Jiangzhou Design Institute!

He only discussed the broad direction; the specific profit-sharing ratios needed to be negotiated further based on respective cost accounting and leadership roles within the project. He felt it would be much better for Feng Feifei to discuss these details directly with Zha Lan face-to-face!

The two sides agreed to meet tomorrow at Dr. Feng Robotics Co., Ltd. to finalize the cooperation terms.

Since they needed to bring a team along, Zha Lan asked Xu Wu who would handle the presentation tomorrow.

Xu Wu replied, "Our solutions director is currently away on a business trip. Should we send Bai Jie instead?"

"Bai Jie? That guy is so effeminate. Can he handle it, especially for such a major project?"

"Oh well, bring him along anyway. If worst comes to worst, I'll step in and present it myself!"

*Bai Jie, from the solutions department? Surely it's not that much of a coincidence,* Chen Xiao thought to himself.

In the end, they reluctantly decided to bring Bai Jie along.

"Come on, brother, it's lunchtime. There's an authentic local restaurant nearby, let's go try it out!"

Zha Lan instructed Xu Wu to have a young guy from the sales department tag along. Since it was a midday meal, playing a round of *Guan dan* before eating was practically mandatory.

As the saying went: "Dining without *Guan dan* means you haven't really eaten at all!"

This had already evolved into a pre-meal ritual, and Zha Lan calling along a young salesman from the department was simply to round out a table of four card players.

The salesman summoned by Xu Wu was named Li Gang. He ended up partnered against Zha Lan, while Xu Wu paired up with Chen Xiao.

Watching the general manager—someone he usually found terrifyingly intimidating at the company—address Chen Xiao so familiarly as "brother," Li Gang felt a deep sense of wonder.

They were both sales reps, so why was the gap between them so astronomically large?