Chapter 32: Grand Opening

Qin Qing felt a pang of pain, as if she had shot herself in the foot.

Han Jun was still waiting for her reply. Could she say she didn’t know how to pick an auspicious day?

Of course not! What about the boss’s authority? What about the company’s core competitiveness? What about the employees’ confidence?

A thought flashed through her mind, and she said, “With a heart facing the sun, every day is an auspicious day.”

On the phone, Han Jun remained silent for a long time.

Didn’t fool him? No way.

Could it be that he found her words too pretentious and childish, and was embarrassed?

What to do? She felt her boss’s gravitas plummeting. But with Han Jun’s emotional intelligence, he definitely wouldn’t expose her directly. She decided that as long as he didn’t say anything, she would pretend not to know!

She added, “Don’t be overly superstitious, otherwise you won’t be able to move an inch.”

To her surprise, Han Jun’s reply was astonishing: “Okay, I understand, Teacher Qin.”

She wasn’t quite sure what he understood.

“We don’t need to specifically choose an auspicious day; you can handle any day. Don’t worry, I’ll pick a convenient day for the grand opening. I understand what you mean; you want to convey to the employees a positive attitude of conquering destiny and holding the future in their own hands.”

Han Jun spoke with emotion: “I hadn’t thought clearly before. We call ourselves a consulting company, but ultimately, we’re doing Metaphysical Business. Being in such an environment for a long time, employees can easily develop a lazy tendency to seek shortcuts and a fearful sense of powerlessness towards the future. Therefore, we need even more to implement the idea of ‘we deal with superstition, but we must not be superstitious’ as a corporate culture in every management detail. You can rest assured, Teacher Qin.”

“…”

Qin Qing silently uninstalled the “Old Almanac” app she had just installed; it seemed to be of no use anymore.

{T/N: An almanac is a yearly guide with calendars, weather, moon phases, and lucky or unlucky days—used for planning daily activities or events.}

Listening to the first half, she suspected Han Jun was using his high emotional intelligence to save her face. Listening further, he seemed to make a lot of sense. No, those were her words. Did she express so much in one sentence in an instant?

Qin Qing felt it was mystical, and she began to doubt herself.

After Han Jun finished his analysis, she pretended to be profound and said, “It’s good that you understand.”

The bridge was already built in front of her; was she going to tear it down?

She didn’t know that Han Jun, a guy immersed in government relations, was best at grasping the spirit of things. After getting her approval, he truly implemented it thoroughly.

So much so that before the opening, Han Jun invited her to inspect, and her two sentences were written in large relief letters on the culture wall.

Qin Qing smiled.

Her toes were gripping inside her shoes; this wasn’t a culture wall, it was clearly a pillar of shame.

Would she have to experience social death every time she came here from now on?

She couldn’t say Han Jun was wrong; saying so would be contradicting herself. But it was really awkward.

Han Jun also showed her an empty wall: “I’ve left space here for other instructions and promotional slogans.”

No need, really no need.

That way, she would be surrounded by her own dark history.

The office space was about 200 square meters in total, with only 20 employee workstations, each very spacious.

Only Qin Qing had a private enclosed office; the others were open-plan cubicles. The largest area was dedicated to client-related spaces: a tea room, waiting room, reception rooms, and a conference room.

Aside from the culture wall that made her scalp tingle with embarrassment, the office decor was very much to Qin Qing’s liking. The main colors were gray and warm wood tones, giving the overall style a simple, professional, and serene feel without being cold.

At the front desk of the office entrance, on the background wall, were the company’s name and logo.

The logo was simple: a magnifying glass icon, like a web search symbol. Looking closely, there were also two Tai Chi yin-yang fish within the magnifying glass.

Below the logo was the name: Zhaodao Consulting Studio.

Han Jun: “If you have no objections, we’ll open next Monday.”

“Okay.”

She had objections, but she couldn’t smash the culture wall, so this would have to do.

Before the opening, Qin Qing announced in the VIP Customer Group that clients could directly contact the studio for business needs in the future.

Everyone offered to send her flower baskets, but she declined, saying they would take up too much space and there was nowhere to put them.

On the opening day, there were more guests than employees.

There were only three employees: Yang Sang, Han Jun, and Zheng Yi.

Liang Jian and Lu Yang both came. Liu Simin sent an assistant. Chen Daguang brought his whole family to show their support.

Everyone who came praised the studio’s culture wall for its profound meaning and style. Qin Qing suspected they were just being polite.

No flower baskets were sent, but guests gave her many strange and wonderful gifts.

Young Master Lu and Liang Jian jointly gave her a dozen fortune tree potted plants, each over four feet tall, with many copper coins tied with red string to their thick branches.

Lu Yang boasted, “These copper coins are all genuine ancient coins that I had someone collect.”

Liang Jinguo sent her a set of excellent tea ware and tea. Liang Jian brought it over.

Chen Daguang’s gift had a unique personal touch: he sent a set of three “attracting wealth and treasure” items.

A statue of the God of Wealth, a Maneki-neko (beckoning cat), and a large white elephant.

Such an unfaithful fence-sitter, do your gods know you have so many allegiances?

Chen Daguang was unfazed: “Pray to more, and one of them is bound to work.”

Lu Yang then asked, “Aren’t you worried they won’t get along due to language barriers?”

Liang Jian added, “Putting multiple employees in one position, with unclear division of responsibilities, most often leads to no one doing any work and everyone slacking off.”

Chen Daguang surprisingly didn’t get angry; he said, “That makes sense.”

Then he quickly put away the Maneki-neko and the white elephant, leaving only the God of Wealth statue for Qin Qing: “Only our own people are trustworthy.”

With so many people, it became chaotic.

Qin Qing wasn’t opening a restaurant; she didn’t need so many people to create a false impression of prosperity. In an office in an office building, who was all this热闹 (bustle) for?

She stated that those with business needs should stay to conduct business, and those without should have a cup of tea and then leave. There were more guests than employees, and it was too noisy to entertain everyone.

So, everyone voluntarily queued up to complete a basic service. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to support the business more; it was just that these few people’s data was super normal, and there was nothing Qin Qing needed to intervene with.

Chen Daguang was satisfied but also expressed regret, suggesting that Qin Qing launch a “health check-up” package, which he would definitely buy for all his employees. He now deeply trusted Qin’s ability as a fate master; without her definitive word that things were fine, he felt uneasy all over.

He strongly requested Qin Qing to offer an annual pass, as he planned to come for a check-up once a month, considering it psychological maintenance.

Qin Qing was truly speechless. When it came to spending money for “the God of Wealth bless me,” no one did it better than Chen Daguang. She had originally wanted to praise him as a good boss, who, after experiencing something good himself, didn’t forget to buy it as a benefit for his employees.

Chen Daguang scratched his head blankly: “What benefit? I’m just worried someone will cause trouble for me, and having Teacher Qin supervise will put my mind at ease.”

“…”

True to form, Chen Daguang, despite looking honest, was a capitalist.

Was he developing a corporate diagnostic service for her studio?

Although she had planned for this, similar to her investment consulting for Jinsheng International, she hadn’t intended to launch it so early.

After seeing off the chaotic crowd, the studio officially began its work.

Zheng Yi looked well-restored, with a rosy complexion and good spirits.

Qin Qing never brought up Zheng Yi’s past, treating her as an ordinary employee. However, during a casual chat, Zheng Yi herself voluntarily shared her current state: “I used to advise my single friends to get married early, worrying they’d be lonely living alone. Now, thinking back, it was crazy. Being alone is so good; all the time is your own. Cook if you want, or get takeout if you don’t. No need to worry about family dinners and postpone trying out new restaurants, and no need to cancel plans with friends because of family matters.”

It was clear that her freedom was genuine; she enjoyed her current state and life.

Such a scene brought Qin Qing a strange sense of satisfaction, something more touching than catching criminals and punishing evil.

It was a vibrant life, full of hope and vitality.

Warm and comforting.

Zheng Yi was in charge of HR at the studio and quickly produced a compensation plan and recruitment strategy, implementing them in an orderly manner.

Currently, there were job vacancies; basic administrative staff and accountants were missing, and the front desk was empty. Some sales representatives were also needed.

In a small team, many roles overlapped; whoever was free stepped up, and whoever had an idea spoke up.

Yang Sang suggested that the studio register social media accounts on various platforms to share their work stories daily, serving as a publicity channel and a way for clients to contact the studio.

That would require hiring someone for publicity and operations.

Qin Fanghao received her salary this month and transferred 2100 yuan to Qin Qing. 2000 was for finding the cat, and 100 was the late fee she had given.

Qin Qing casually asked about the cat’s condition.

Qin Fanghao: “It’s been discharged from the hospital. The doctor said it’s recovering very well. I owe some vet bills on my credit card, which I can pay off in six months in installments. The kitten is especially clingy to me now; it stays by my side whenever I’m home. When I go to work, it just lies by the shoe cabinet all day. Any slight noise in the house scares it. The doctor said it needs time.”

Unexpectedly, she became more talkative, so Qin Qing asked again, “What about you? Are you still working overtime?”

“Occasionally, but after what happened last time, I realized these things aren’t that important. Before, I used to be considerate of my leaders, cared about project progress, and felt embarrassed to ask for leave, thinking it was wrong not to work overtime after their cultivation. But…”

She changed her tone: “Last time, when my cat went missing, I was so anxious and asked my leader for leave. He scolded me for being troublesome, saying I always asked for leave for trivial matters, affecting work progress. Trivial matters? My cat, who I depend on, was gone, and he called it a trivial matter. I insisted on taking leave to find and treat the cat. When I went back to work, I found that work hadn’t been affected by my absence as the leader had claimed. I suddenly felt that my previous life was meaningless. He didn’t care about me, or my cat, nor was he truly concerned about my growth; he only cared about his performance.

“I no longer solely focus on work; I spend more time on myself and observing life. I’ve discovered many things I hadn’t noticed before, like there’s a mango tree on my way to work every day. How amazing! This is my first time seeing mangoes in Shanyu City! Now, every day when I pass by, I count the fruits on it, and watching them grow bigger day by day fills me with satisfaction.

“I found that refusing overtime and asking for leave isn’t that difficult. After I was firm a few times, my leader’s attitude towards me actually improved. When assigning tasks, he would discuss with me whether I could do it. When scheduling, he would explain why it was arranged that way. During meetings, I wouldn’t be interrupted for no reason, and colleagues would glance at me and observe my expression when speaking, as if afraid I might suddenly flip the table. That never happened before!”

Qin Fanghao was very excited, like a child discovering that a step they couldn’t climb before was actually nothing special.

Qin Fanghao: “You mentioned changing jobs before, and I’m considering it. Anyway, I’m not making much money, so I plan to try something else after my credit card is paid off. Maybe I really have other talents.”

It was wonderful that she could think that way.

Qin Qing felt as if she was witnessing another girl’s difficult journey of finding herself.

She couldn’t wake up a sleeping person, but she could guide an eager young woman.

So she said, “I actually have some job openings here. Would you like to give it a try?”