Another member of the legal team added, “Especially this highly upvoted comment calling Shengde a market monopolist and urging people to boycott Shengde’s arts-exam program.”
“We traced the account. For the past six months, it’s been funneling traffic to an organization called Yunzhou Media Arts Prep.”
“That organization has also been advertising supposed insider resources, and there have already been complaints from parents.”
Lu Yanzhao understood. “So none of the accounts smearing Shengde are actually random passersby.”
“Of course not. A genuine passerby might curse a couple of times and move on. They wouldn’t launch such targeted attacks, claiming that Shengde’s arts-exam classes monopolize the market. That talking point clearly comes from people afraid we’ll take away their business.”
“So don’t worry. Once we organize the evidence chain, public opinion will turn around very quickly.”
Lu Yanzhao gave a quiet “Mm.”
The legal team asked again, “Shall we send out the lawyer’s letters, then? Demand that they delete the posts, apologize, and pay compensation?”
Lu Yanzhao thought for a moment. “We can skip the monetary compensation. There wouldn’t be much to recover anyway. Instead, make them apologize to Shengde online every day for an entire month.”
The lawyers gave him a thumbs-up. “Getting your competitors to promote Shengde for free—brilliant!”
Lu Yanzhao said, “This was all done in accordance with Board Director Yu’s guiding principles.”
The lawyers were filled with renewed respect for Yu Xiaxing.
After all these measures were put into motion, Shengde’s arts-exam program would shoot straight to the top of the trending searches the moment enrollment opened!
She truly was a born business strategist. Even an arts-exam program had to be pushed to the pinnacle of the industry!
Everyone was preparing to get to work.
Suddenly, Lu Yanzhao received another call from Yu Xiaxing.
As soon as he answered, Yu Xiaxing said, “I just thought of something important. Today is Friday, but the recruitment for arts-exam students has to be done outside school hours, right?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Our teachers will work in the evenings and on weekends, and they’ll be paid by the class hour. Every extra class means an extra hour of pay…”
Yu Xiaxing interrupted, “What about the staff besides the teachers? Won’t they have to work overtime on weekends to support the enrollment drive?”
Lu Yanzhao glanced at the several lawyers standing in front of him. “That is true…”
Yu Xiaxing said, “Let everyone choose between overtime pay and compensatory leave. As for me, I don’t work overtime. I’m going home. Same rule as always—I’m blocking you, and I’ll unblock you on Monday.”
She hung up.
Lu Yanzhao fell silent.
He wanted to say that he could avoid disturbing her over the weekend.
There was no need to block him every week. It was rather hurtful…
But never mind. If anything truly urgent came up, he could contact Yu Zheng first and have Yu Zheng get in touch with Board Director Yu.
Lu Yanzhao put away his phone and said to the lawyers before him, “After the lawyer’s letter goes out today, you’ll still need to monitor their response and apologies over the weekend. If necessary, you’ll also have to prepare the materials for a lawsuit. So I’m afraid you’ll have to work overtime.”
The lawyers nodded. They all understood.
With the matter trending online, they couldn’t possibly wait until the next workday to deal with it.
Weekend overtime was already a certainty, and nobody thought much of it.
One of the lawyers was just about to say, “It’s only right that we do so.”
But Lu Yanzhao continued, “Director Yu says she appreciates your hard work over the weekend. You can choose between overtime pay and compensatory leave. Once you’ve decided, send your choice to me, and I’ll submit everything to Finance and Administration for the records.”
The legal department froze for several seconds before erupting into cheers.
“Board Director Yu is so wonderful! A few days ago, I was envious when I saw her reducing the students’ workload and paying the teachers for overtime. And now it’s our turn!”
Lu Yanzhao nodded with a smile. “Yes. With her, overtime is overtime. Extra work deserves extra compensation.”
The lawyers were visibly moved.
“I’ve noticed that, too. Board Director Yu never tries to cancel out someone’s extra work with a simple ‘Thank you for your hard work.’ She doesn’t glorify professional dedication, either, saying that a job is noble so people can be pressured into working for free!”
“At Shengde, every employee’s time is respected!”
Lu Yanzhao glanced at the clock. “I’m going to check on the enrollment system. Contact me if anything comes up.”
Attorney Zhou nodded. “All right. Assistant Lu, please thank Director Yu on our behalf.”
“I will.”
He turned and walked out of the legal department.
Before the door closed behind him, he heard the lawyers inside excitedly discussing their choices.
“I’m taking the overtime pay. My mortgage isn’t going to pay itself!”
“I’m choosing compensatory leave. I want to take my baby out. Going on a weekday means fewer crowds and no traffic jams! And did you know that a lot of group-buying coupons can’t be used on weekends? They’re incredibly cheap on weekdays!”
“I hereby declare that, starting today, I’m one of Director Yu’s loyal warriors!”
“I swear to serve Director Yu with my life!”
Lu Yanzhao closed the door and hurried off to arrange work at the next location.
—
Outside Classroom Five of the Eleventh Grade.
There were still a few minutes left before the final class ended. The homeroom teacher had already stopped teaching and told the students to review the material on their own and ask questions if they were confused.
She stepped outside for some air and saw the director of student affairs approaching slowly from the stairwell in a qipao and slim high heels.
The homeroom teacher knew better than to offend her and hurried over with a smile. “Director Gao, heading home?”
Director Gao gave a slight nod, accepting the deference expected from a subordinate. “Mm.”
She glanced into the classroom.
This was the class with the highest number of students interested in pursuing the arts. How many of them signed up for Shengde’s training program would be crucial to determining whether the arts-exam program could turn a profit.
Director Gao withdrew her gaze and said coolly, “I came here specifically to remind you of something. Tell the students to think carefully about the arts-exam program Board Director Yu is running.”
“The teachers Board Director Yu personally selected all have impressive reputations, but not many of them are truly veteran teachers with years of experience preparing students for the arts exams.”
“Make sure the students don’t get deceived by celebrity appeal.”
The homeroom teacher continued smiling. “That makes sense. I’ll be sure to remind them to consider it rationally.”
Director Gao nodded in satisfaction. “Good. That’s all I had to say. You can get to it.”
With that, she turned and left.
Her slim high heels clicked rhythmically against the floor of the corridor.
Only after Director Gao had disappeared completely did the homeroom teacher turn around and roll her eyes.
Who was she trying to fool?
Did she think the homeroom teacher didn’t know that Director Gao was only causing trouble because she’d wanted to sneak her younger brother into Shengde and Board Director Yu had refused?
Director Gao herself had only gotten her position through nepotism. Her husband was the vice principal.
People like that should go take the civil-service exam or apply for a public institution job. Then they could create a tailor-made position for their younger brother, give him the highest score in the interview, and turn the entire little workplace into a nest of relatives.
That was where she belonged. Why come here to make everyone else suffer?
Suddenly, the homeroom teacher spotted Assistant Lu walking toward them.
She hurried over to greet him and ask whether he had any instructions.
