Chapter 143: A single look confirmed it—they are Agent 007's people!

Once the school scenes were completed, the material for this vlog-style commercial was officially in place.

At this point, the plot became crystal clear.
It opened with a primary school assignment written by a daughter titled "My Father," showcasing the image of a father living at the bottom of society. To create the best possible living conditions for his child, he lied to her and worked himself to the bone taking on multiple odd jobs.

It wasn't that Li Shixin deliberately wanted to maintain a sense of mystery or keep Yang Kuan and the others in the dark. Rather, such situational mini-skit videos really didn't require much explanation—to put it bluntly, it was just a matter of a few segments tied together by a single narrative entry point. Li Shixin was even too lazy to write a script.

The entire shoot took a total of six hours. Expenses included 140 yuan for taxi fares, a 50-yuan subsidy given to a food delivery worker during the delivery scenes, and 60 yuan spent on a luxury lunch bought from the delivery app user.

That came to a grand total of 250 yuan.

Yang Kuan and his two colleagues barely had to lift a finger; the entire mini-video was driven by Li Shixin's sheer, frantic output—from creative direction and plot conception to carrying the acting on his own shoulders.

By the end of the short day, he was genuinely exhausted.

Aside from the school, Li Shixin told Yang Kuan to head straight back to edit the video and handle post-production, while he took a cab back to the hotel.

Meanwhile, back with the trio of Yang Kuan.

They arrived back at the company just in time for the end of the workday.
Seeing the three of them return after being gone all day without punching out, and instead going straight to their computers to get to work, a group of colleagues grew curious.

"Brother Kuan, what kind of project are you guys working on?"

Faced with the inquiry from a teammate, Yang Kuan transferred the footage from the camera to the computer without even lifting his head and replied, "A commercial for EZ-Job Network."

"EZ-Job Network?"

Hearing the name of this client, everyone exchanged bewildered glances.

"Brother Kuan, I remember the sales department didn't manage to secure that account!"
"I heard from sales that this recruitment platform is basically a cold stone of a client. No matter how you flirt, you can't win them over, and the sales team gave up ages ago."
"Yeah, I heard the same thing. Brother Kuan, why are you making a commercial for EZ-Job Network under these conditions? Isn't that just asking for trouble when you have nothing better to do?"

Faced with the chatter from all directions—and realizing that even he didn't quite understand what Li Shixin's so-called proactive precision marketing was all about—Yang Kuan simply ignored them. He just patted Xiao Wang on the shoulder, pointed at the freshly uploaded footage, and gave an instruction.

"Add a layer of filter to the footage. Make the colors of the school scenes a bit warmer, and keep the scenes with the godfather gloomy to emphasize the contrast."

"You got it, Brother Kuan, heard loud and clear!"

Watching Yang Kuan and his team remain completely unfazed, the group of colleagues twitched their mouths in disbelief.

How normal a person he was before adopting a godfather...

With expressions full of sympathy, people successively punched out and headed home.

Early the next morning, Li Shixin received a call from Yang Kuan.

Listening to the barely concealed fatigue in Yang Kuan's voice over the phone—announcing that the video had been completed overnight—Li Shixin chuckled softly.

Such high efficiency indeed.

Well then.
With all the preparation conditions met, what else was there to wait for?
Time to go to work!

***

EZ-Job Network was an online recruitment platform that had risen to prominence in recent years.

However, compared to first-generation industry giants like 69 City and Ganji Network, it had developed a bit later.

Internet enterprises always worked this way: those who seized the initiative and the earliest favorable winds usually captured more resources, secured more financing, and thus had a much higher probability of becoming industry behemoths.

As a latecomer, although EZ-Job Network had built a certain reputation among job seekers over the past two years thanks to its sound credit control system, brand awareness remained a persistent issue.

At nine-thirty in the morning.
Liu Zhaonian, the planning department manager of EZ-Job Network, had just wrapped up the morning meeting when the front desk called to say that a representative from Huaqi Advertising Company had arrived.

Hearing this, a wave of annoyance washed over Liu Zhaonian.

EZ-Job Network had indeed planned to launch a batch of advertisements, and in order to understand advertising placement costs, the planning department had previously contacted Huaqi.

However, after comparing prices, they found that Huaqi's ad production and channel fee plans offered no distinct advantages compared to several other ad agencies, so the matter was dropped.

In fact, after clarifying the prices, EZ-Job's planning department had already initiated contact with another advertising agency to study alternative campaign proposals.

It was just that, out of embarrassment after making multiple previous price inquiries, they hadn't gotten around to informing Huaqi.

"Don't see them! Just say I'm not in, and tell them we have no plans to run advertisements anytime soon."

With a casual instruction, Liu Zhaonian hung up the phone.

Yet, less than five minutes later, the front desk called again.

"Director Liu, the people from Huaqi are furious. They say... the commercial has already been produced according to your requirements."

Hearing this, Liu Zhaonian froze.

According to my requirements?
When on earth did that happen?

"Nonsense! I didn't say that, it wasn't me, what absolute bullsh*t! Send them up, I want to confront them face to face!"

***

"Godfather, are you sure this is going to work?"

In the elevator heading up to the planning department's floor, Yang Kuan clutched the USB drive containing the commercial and his mouth twitched nervously.

Li Shixin's move of pulling something out of thin air just moments ago had left him feeling thoroughly shaken.

If they met Manager Liu now and the man flat-out denied it, wouldn't they lose face in the most humiliating way possible?

Observing the anxiety written all over Yang Kuan's face, Li Shixin chuckled softly.

"Young man, if you want to accomplish great things, how can you succeed if your skin is too thin? Don't worry, just watch your godfather handle this!"

Looking at Li Shixin, who stood with his hands behind his back looking completely calm, Yang Kuan's mouth twitched again.

He realized that while his newly recognized godfather might talk nonsense about other things, his psychological resilience was truly off the charts.

As they spoke, the two of them arrived at the planning department.

Upon stepping through the door, they were greeted by Manager Liu, whose face was as dark as a thundercloud.

"You're the people from Huaqi?"

Faced with the inquiry, Yang Kuan quickly handed over his business card. "That's right, Director Liu. I'm Yang Kuan, leader of the advertising planning team."

Glancing at the card in his hand, Liu Zhaonian wore a frosty expression and launched into a scathing interrogation without missing a beat: "What is going on with you guys at Huaqi? When did I ever ask you to shoot a commercial? Let me make it crystal clear to you right now: I never agreed to this!"

"Director Liu, how can you turn around and deny it like this?"

Before Yang Kuan could speak, Li Shixin widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Our sales team clearly stated that you had already agreed to place ads with Huaqi and asked us to produce the video first. Now that the video is finished, how can you go back on your word!
For the sake of this commercial of yours, we spent two weeks brainstorming creative concepts and writing scripts, and put an enormous amount of effort into shooting and editing. Just look at our team leader's eye bags—they're hanging down like kangaroo pouches all because of your advertising proposal!
And now you're saying you don't want it?"

The commotion at the entrance startled everyone in the planning department.

A group of planning employees covertly crowded around. When they saw the terrifyingly dark bags under Yang Kuan's eyes, they instantly believed eighty percent of what Li Shixin had said.

As warriors of an internet company, one look was all it took to recognize them—this was absolute proof of someone pulling continuous 007 shifts for two weeks straight!

Hearing Li Shixin's voice, brimming with suppressed grievance and indignation, and seeing Yang Kuan's huge, dark eye bags, not only the regular employees but even Liu Zhaonian himself began to doubt reality.

Could it be... did I actually say that?