Child, you have no idea what the true essence of scamming really is.

"Kuan, my boy, what kind of clients have you been dealing with lately?"

Inside the office, seeing that Li Shixin had genuinely planted himself in his chair and started questioning him about business with a completely straight face, Yang Kuan felt utterly and completely helpless.

"Godfather! My dear godfather!"

Sensing that a group of colleagues in the outer office area were peering over with sneaky, prying eyes, Yang Kuan pressed his palms together and bowed deeply to Li Shixin. "I'm begging you, take the contract and just go back home! Stop coming here to stir up trouble for me, will you?"

Hiss.

Seeing his third godson look so miserable and trying to chase him away, Li Shixin sucked in a breath of cold air.

He stood up, walked right over to Yang Kuan, and patted the third son on the shoulder. "Kuan, let your dad ask you something."

"Huh?"

"What is your current position?"

"Head of the Advertising Project Planning Team!"

"In the advertising firm, what level is that?"

"I guess you could say a mid-level manager, a Grade 6 employee."

"Oh." Li Shixin nodded. "What about your salary? How much do you make a month?"

"Base salary is four thousand. If you factor in performance and bonuses... on average, it's about eighteen or nineteen thousand a month."

Hearing this figure, Li Shixin smiled faintly and nodded. "Let me ask you! Have you bought an apartment in Shanghai?"

"Housing prices around here are over twenty thousand per square foot right now, how is that even possible..."

"Have you gotten married?"

"How am I supposed to marry a wife without an apartment..."

"How old are you this year?"

"Thirty..."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"I..."

Having lost both parents since his middle school days, no one had ever used a tone like Li Shixin's to interrogate him with such questions!

For the first time since reaching adulthood, facing these soul-searching inquiries head-on, Yang Kuan... broke down!

As he answered question after question, he wailed and burst into tears.

"Godfather, am I just a total failure in life?"

Looking at his third godson, who was hugging his thigh and weeping with snot and tears streaming down his face, Li Shixin chuckled softly.

"That's right, you are a total failure." With that, Li Shixin patted Yang Kuan's shoulder. "But don't be afraid, your godfather is here. It's not too late for all of this."

"Kuan, tell your godfather. Do you want to buy a house?"

"I do!"

"Do you want to buy a car?"

"I do!"

"Do you want a raise, a promotion, to marry a wealthy and beautiful woman, and reach the pinnacle of your life?!"

"Yes!"

"Good then. Bring me the list of recent client leads from your advertising department, and your godfather..." Li Shixin narrowed his eyes, a flash crossing his gaze: "will teach you the art of scam-style marketing!"

Yang Kuan, whose blood was just beginning to surge with passion, blinked.

(????っ????)

"Godfather, that name sounds so weird."

Li Shixin smiled slightly.

He was just a young man after all, always hung up on surface-level things. He only saw the tiny bit on the surface of everything and failed to dialectically analyze the profound inner meaning of a matter.

Take this so-called scamming, for instance.

Low-end practitioners only knew how to rely on their old age to lie down on the ground, selling their bodies and souls to extort money.

Like streetwalkers, like cheap bitches.

High-end practitioners, however, knew better:

Take the initiative and never passively wait! Create opportunities even when none exist! Use your limited advantages to create infinite possibilities! Even when facing absolute odds of defeat, maintain the courage to confront the challenge head-on!

These were the true internals of scamming, the very essence of this art!

Sighing deeply in his heart, Li Shixin raised his chin.

"Don't worry about such minor details. If you insist on caring, let's call it... proactive precision marketing instead."

Hearing this name, Yang Kuan's eyes widened.

(??????)

That sounded intensely impressive!

...

When he received the recent client contact log from the advertising department, Li Shixin couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.

Tragic.

Simply tragic!

What the hell kind of client contact log was this? It looked more like the chat history between a desperate orbiter and a goddess, holy crap!

It was a thick, hefty stack, filled entirely with entries like these:

October 3, 2019: Sales representative XXX visited Manager X of XXX Company regarding advertising matters.
Log: No current intention to place advertisements.

October 12, 2019: Sales Manager XXX visited Manager X of XXX Company for the second time regarding advertising matters.
Log: Wait and see.

November 13, 2019: Sales Manager XXX visited Manager X of XXX Company for the third time regarding advertising placement.
Log: Manager X is not in the office.

November 23, 2019: Sales Manager XXX visited Manager X of XXX Company for the fourth time regarding advertising placement.
Log: Maybe next time.

"..."

This was literally the client-side equivalent of "What are you up to, haha, taking a shower"!

After reading through the documents for a few moments, the corners of Li Shixin's mouth twitched. "Your advertising firm—is this how you contact clients nowadays?"

"Sigh," Yang Kuan sighed.

"These are all new clients we've never cooperated with before. We have no choice but to visit them over and over. Especially these internet platform companies you're looking at—each one is harder to deal with than the last. They hold prejudices against 4A-level advertising agencies like ours. They always assume we're expensive and that our results aren't as good or as cost-effective as those emerging boutique agencies. In reality, our quotes strictly follow procedure, completely open and transparent. It might look high at first glance, but actually, everything is explicitly laid out in the contract and quotation. We're much more honest than those small companies that quote a low price upfront and then bleed you to death with a slow knife!"

Li Shixin clicked his tongue.

He thought to himself that the sales department of their company clearly had problems.

However, that was none of his business, and he didn't care to meddle in idle affairs.

Looking at the first entry on the log—the Wanzhi Job Seeking and Recruitment Platform—Li Shixin looked at Yang Kuan. "Does your advertising department have a video production team?"

"We do. But it definitely can't compare to professional film and television companies; we mostly just shoot vlogs and things like that, used for making advertising creative samples."

"That's enough." Li Shixin nodded. "Gather the team and come with me."

"Hold on..."

"Tsk. Don't you want a promotion and a raise?"

Seeing Li Shixin put on a stern face, Yang Kuan grimaced.

Though Yang Kuan didn't hold a high position in the advertising firm, as the head of the planning team, he still had some authority.

He designated two colleagues, informed his superior, and then followed Li Shixin out of the company.

Downstairs at the Huaqi Headquarters, watching Li Shixin standing on the roadside with his hands clasped behind his back, Yang Kuan scratched the back of his head.

"Godfather, where on earth are you taking us?"

Gazing at the bustling crowd, Li Shixin narrowed his eyes.

He casually flagged down a taxi, and after piling into the car with the others, Li Shixin smiled at the driver from the front passenger seat: "Driver, sorry to trouble you, but do you know where there's a construction site around here?"

...

Half an hour later.

Following Li Shixin and standing in front of a construction site in the suburbs, looking at the large "Safety First" slogan plastered across the exterior protective wall, Yang Kuan and his two equipment-toting colleagues were completely dumbfounded.

"Godfather, why on earth did you bring us here?"

Li Shixin chuckled, walking with his hands clasped behind his back straight up to the foreman who was directing a few brick-hauling laborers at the site entrance.

"Brother, I'd like to discuss something with you."

"Huh?" The foreman sized Li Shixin up and frowned. "What is it?"

"How about I haul bricks for you for free for an hour, deal?"

Hearing this request, the foreman burst out laughing: "Someone get this old brother a safety helmet!"

Watching Li Shixin put on a hard hat without a second thought and start gruntingly hauling bricks, Yang Kuan completely lost his mind.

What kind of playacting routine was this old man pulling now?!