Halfway through the journey, Qin Moling’s cell phone rang. Secretary Gao called to remind him that there would be a video conference with the Second Division in ten minutes.

He was going to the resort with Jian Hang today, so he could only attend via video conference.

He pulled over and said to Jian Hang, “Your turn to drive.”

Qin Moling took the laptop from the back seat, turned it on, and connected the earphones.

He didn’t say what the meeting was about, and Jian Hang didn’t ask any more questions.

She was now the General Manager of the Fourth Division, and as the big boss, he did not need to report to his subordinates.

This was a tacit understanding that the two have reached regarding work.

Today’s meeting was chaired by Zhong Yanyue, who had just taken over the Second Division. She has been in the Second Division for two and a half years, but she had been the Deputy General Manager at the time and could only think about what she wanted to do. She had a superior above her, so she had the will but not the authority.

Zhong Yanyue has known Qin Moling for so long and understood his working style. He didn’t like long speeches in meetings, nor did he like listening to others talking nonsense without getting to the point.

So she said simply and clearly, “First thing, regarding the spokesperson for next year’s new product, the First Division has decided not to renew their contract with Tan Moxing. I asked someone to talk to Tan Moxing’s management team, and they are interested in endorsing our Second Division’s new product. If the board of directors has no problem with it, we will discuss the endorsement fee in detail next time.”

Consumers had no idea which products belonged to which business division; they all thought of them as Lemeng drinks.

So when time came that Tan Moxing would endorse the Second Division’s new product, consumers and fans would only think it was a product upgrade and new product launch.

“The second thing is that starting from next quarter, I plan to unbind the low-selling products of the Fourth Division from ours. Several beverages of the Fourth Division are not selling well. They should look for solutions for their own problems instead of relying on our Second Division’s best-selling products to gain sales. The distributors are very dissatisfied. If this continues, it will be detrimental our Second Division’s market share.”

The bundling of the Fourth Division’s low-selling products with the Second Division’s high-selling products was the decision of Yu Ming, the previous and original General Manager of the Fourth Division. After Zhong Yanyue arrived at Lemeng, she suggested more than once that this sales model should be changed, but she was only a Deputy General Manager and no one took her words seriously.

Products from the Second Division sell well, so for every 10 units of Second Division products that each distributor purchased, they must also purchase 2 units of Fourth Division products that were not selling well, creating a ten-for-two model.

“Mr. Qin, even if distributors must purchase products in a combination of best-selling and least-selling products, they should at least purchase least-selling products from our Second Division, not products from the Fourth Division.”

The Second Division had no such obligation to the Fourth Division. Moreover, not all of the more than 10 beverages in the Second Division were best-sellers, and some were also relatively low-selling.

Having said that, Zhong Yanyue paused, giving Qin Moling time to think.

Qin Moling rested his elbow on the car window, supporting his chin. He didn’t look at the screen, but was checking information on his phone in his left hand. He didn’t say anything, and the entire conference room fell silent.

He was the big boss of Lemeng, and every division was under his management. Even if the General Manager of the Fourth Division was replaced by Jian Hang, to him, the Fourth Division was no different from the other divisions. He only considered the long-term interests of the company.

Originally, he only planned to give the Fourth Division two years. If it failed to take off after two years, he would slowly divest interest from the Fourth Division.

The Second Division was the most profitable division of Lemeng. Last year, the Second Division had a total revenue of 5 billion yuan and realized a net profit of nearly 1.2 billion yuan.

The company has always leaned its expenditure towards the Second Division.

Qin Moling was looking at the sales report of the Fourth Division last month. If its products was untied from the products of the Second Division, it would be like adding insult to injury for the Fourth Division.

Some sales models had already been determined before he came to Lemeng.

He agreed with Zhong Yanyue that the two divisions’ bundling sales strategy, which was like drinking poison to quench thirst, was not a feasible long-term solution.

He put away his phone and spoke into the earphones, “Do as you say. It’s approved.”

Zhong Yanyue breathed a sigh of relief, “Okay, Mr. Qin.”

She then talked about the third item on the agenda, “Zhou Yi and Zheng Yanshu from the Fourth Division have always been at odds. I just happen to be short of people here, so I want Zhou Yi to come over and resolve the standing conflict between them.”

Qin Moling raised his eyes and glanced at the screen. He would allocate resources to the Second Division, but he would not be without principles.

He pointed at Zhong Yanyue and said, “You are the GM of the Second Division.”

What this meant was: don’t interfere in the affairs of other divisions.

There were other people in the meeting room, and Zhong Yanyue was humiliated in public, but she was used to it because Qin Moling had always been ruthless in official business and made no exceptions for anyone.

These three were the only things that Zhong Yanyue needed to report to Qin Moling. What followed was the internal meeting of the Second Division, and Qin Moling withdrew from the meeting.

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The person next to her closed his laptop and took off his earphones. Only then did Jian Hang glance at him out of the corner of her eye.

He only said two sentences during the entire meeting. She recalled the first time they had dinner in the small dining room in the apartment: he said he didn’t talk much in meetings. She didn’t expect him to really say so little and be so frugal with his words.

He also mentioned the General Manager of the Second Division; it seemed that he was in a meeting with Zhong Yanyue.

She was sitting next to him and could feel his sharpness and dominance during the meeting—what more the people who were actually in a meeting with him.

Once he got into work mode, she couldn’t find a trace of familiarity in him.

“Stop the car ahead, I’ll drive.” Qin Moling put away his laptop.

After switching, Qin Moling subconsciously glanced to see if she had fastened her seat belt properly.

He leaned over, pulled the seat belt with his left hand, held the back of her head with his right hand, and pressed his lips down.

“Click”, the seat belt was buckled, the deep kiss ended, and he sat up straight.

Jian Hang leaned back in her seat, looking up slightly. Outside the panoramic sunroof, the sky was colorful, with orange, red, gray and blue complementing each other.

Marriage First, Love Later translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: I wonder if the text was clear enough? Let’s say the distributor (the one who sells and delivers the drinks to restaurants/stores/supermarkets) buys 10 trucks of Orange Juice from the 2nd Division. They also need to buy 2 trucks of Purple Soda from the 4th Division. It’s a package deal. It helps the 4th Division but it’s a burden for the 2nd Division.

And the distributors don’t like it because with the money they spent buying 2 trucks worth of hard-to-sell Purple Sodas, they could have bought easier-to-sell Apple Juices or perhaps more Orange Juices or just saved the money altogether.

It’s like you’re a popular 16-year old and your mom tells you to bring your snotty 8-year old brother with you to parties. Sure you’re still welcome but the host and other guests will be side-eyeing you 😂

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Chapter 50.2 — Birthday
Chapter 50.3 — Birthday
Chapter 51.1 — Undercurrents
Chapter 51.2 — Undercurrents
Chapter 52.1 — Just the Game, Not Him
Chapter 52.2 — Just the Game, Not Him
Chapter 52.3 — Just the Game, Not Him