After a moment of thought, Jiang Yifeng made another call. “No need to investigate further. I can’t think of anyone other than Qiuyun. Go and arrange for Assistant Qiu to meet me immediately. Have her come to the teahouse where we discussed things last time. Tell her that it’s the end of the year and that the first-quarter dividends from our bracelet business have been distributed.”
After getting the money, Jiang Chuling skipped back to Mingyue Tower, beaming.
Sister Xiaoqiu had said that, after going through the financial reports from previous years, she’d found that variety-show projects brought in returns very quickly. As long as they had thirty million yuan, the company would have no trouble continuing to operate.
Now they had fifty million, plus her own twenty million and the company’s incoming payments. That was more than enough to launch the six projects they had planned!
“Sister Xiaoqiu! I really got the money!” Jiang Chuling excitedly handed the authorization slip to Qiuyun. With this slip, they could withdraw the funds from the family office whenever they needed them.
“Congratulations, Chairman, on your successful first move.”
That was one advantage of the media business: its production cycle was short and its returns came quickly. One hundred million was enough to keep the entire company running.
Unlike Dream Exploration, which had to complete a game, release it to the market, and wait for the money to come back in.
“Hehe!” Jiang Chuling blushed shyly for two seconds. “It was all because you taught me so well, Sister Xiaoqiu. The moment Grandpa heard about the charity project, he immediately took it seriously and started looking through the proposal.”
“You also deserve credit. You were persuasive enough to win the Old Master over.” Qiuyun smiled as she put the authorization slip away.
She had deliberately included a section about the process for erecting a memorial stele. Once people reached a certain level of wealth and power, they often began thinking about how to leave their names in history.
In fact, as long as one understood how wealthy people thought, it was not difficult to get money out of them.
“Little Heng! Little Heng?” Jiang Chuling called out excitedly. “Come on, let’s go to the study for a meeting!”
Yu Heng was very quick on the uptake. He nodded solemnly. “Yes, Chairman.”
The three of them went to the study, where Qiuyun handed Miss Jiang the list of proposed project leaders.
“I had people in the industry conduct a preliminary survey for me some time ago.” She also submitted a detailed report.
Jiang Chuling distributed the materials to Yu Heng so that he could look through them as well.
There were six project leaders, and all six were women.
The oldest was forty-eight and nearing retirement. The youngest was twenty-four and had only just graduated.
Qiuyun explained, “There’s a famous phenomenon in the course of social development called the glass cliff effect. Whenever a situation reaches the point where it can no longer progress, women often step forward to turn things around. That’s exactly the situation our company is in now.”
Jiang Chuling carefully read through the background reports.
The forty-eight-year-old woman’s mother was ill and required long-term, expensive medical treatment. Yet, as she approached retirement, she was gradually being pushed aside and her income had sharply declined.
The twenty-four-year-old had fled to the capital to escape an arranged marriage forced on her by her hometown family. She desperately needed to accomplish something significant to break free of those constraints, but because she was young and lacked experience, she had never been given a voice on any company project.
The other four each had their own difficulties as well.
Qiuyun gave a soft cough. “There is an element of taking advantage of the situation. After all, when people live in environments that are too comfortable and smooth, they generally won’t throw themselves into their careers with everything they have. Our company is in a precarious position too. We’re giving them an opportunity. Whether they can seize it and surprise us is up to them.”
Jiang Chuling understood. “It’s like CEO Liang. No one thought highly of a child like me taking over the company, but she seized the opportunity and rose to the occasion.”
“Exactly. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Jiang Chuling made the final decision. “Then that’s settled!”
As the saying went, pressure created motivation. She and everyone else needed to deliver results and make money.
They would help her achieve success, and she would help them make a fortune!
After sending the list to CEO Liang, Qiuyun opened a video-conference link with Liang Siqi.
Liang Siqi was in her office. “Please wait a moment. I just received the list and haven’t had time to read it yet.”
The Chairman slipped into character in an instant. “No rush.”
Liang Siqi opened the document and quickly scanned it, her eyes filled with surprise.
The entire lineup was female. Even the company’s most senior male project leader had failed to get a project.
Of course, Qiuyun could not explain it so bluntly to the company staff by saying that they wanted the employees to work themselves to the bone. Instead, she put it another way.
“In the film and television market, female viewers generally account for more than seventy percent of the audience. I’ve paid attention to relevant feedback online. When male producers are put in charge of romance dramas, women’s workplace dramas, romance-oriented dating shows, or heartwarming charity programs, the results are often ridiculous and embarrassing. They lack reverence for life and cannot convey subtle emotions. So, after discussing it with the Chairman, I decided that we would use an all-female production team this time.”
Liang Siqi accepted the arrangement in less than a second.
One had to admit that, at work, most of the female colleagues she dealt with were easier to communicate with than the men—and they did not subject her to secondhand smoke.
Once everything had been finalized, Qiuyun gave Jiang Chuling a meaningful look. Jiang Chuling immediately understood and played along.
“Executive Assistant Yu, call and ask when the family office will transfer the first installment.”
This was something they had planned in advance.
The company needed to see that Seventh Miss had the Old Master’s genuine financial support. Only then could they further stabilize everyone’s confidence.
Yu Heng rose to his feet. “Yes, Chairman. I’ll do it right away.”
Although these two children were treating the roles of chairman and executive assistant like they were playing house, Liang Siqi still could not help asking, “Chairman, what exactly is the family office?”
Jiang Chuling gave a soft snort. “Fourth Uncle left me nothing but an empty shell, and I wasn’t going to accept that. Don’t worry. I asked Grandpa for some money to invest.”
Hearing this, Liang Siqi felt much more at ease. Whatever else one could say about it, there were advantages to having a child in charge. If it had been the Eldest Young Master who went to ask the former chairman for money, he probably would have been scolded harshly.
“Rest assured, Chairman. I’ll have the project leaders called in one by one for a meeting shortly. Is there anything else you’d like to instruct us on?”
Jiang Chuling looked toward Sister Xiaoqiu.
Qiuyun thought for a moment. “You’re the professionals. The Chairman and I are only responsible for approving the project leaders, so we won’t interfere in the rest. There’s just one point: headquarters must send someone to supervise the charity variety show from start to finish. When you’re choosing the performers, please conduct thorough background checks. Don’t hire anyone who might become a liability.”
“Headquarters? You mean someone from the group?”
“Mm. Someone from the Old Master’s staff.”
Liang Siqi held her breath. “Understood. I’ll make sure the background checks are done properly.”
After hanging up, they had resolved another major company matter.
Jiang Chuling was delighted. “I thought we’d have to follow everything from beginning to end! I didn’t expect it to be over so quickly. Is there nothing left for the Chairman to do?”
“You’re the Chairman. You only need to know how to recognize and employ talent, deploy your forces, understand when to focus on the big picture and delegate the details, and keep the overall situation under control. Naturally, the people below you will handle the implementation,” Qiuyun explained.
Jiang Chuling fell into thought.
Qiuyun suggested, “But if you’re truly interested, you can always visit the production sets or variety-show studios to see how things are going.”
“Okay! I’ll go when I have time!”
After all, her schedule was already packed—extremely packed.
Just as the meeting in the study ended, Qiuyun received a call from Jiang Yifeng’s secretary.
