Chapter 55: Spend It to Your Heart's Content!

Wang Jingwen opened her mouth, wanting to refute.

Yet, isn't reality... precisely like this?

Just as Li Pingan said, once someone decides to play dirty, what does someone with neither power nor influence have to protect these things?

The world is nothing more than a giant amateur theatrical troupe.

Connections and networks are everywhere you go.

To look no further, if Li Pingan were not a student in her own class, would she go out of her way to put in the effort to manage him?

Obviously not!

Not to mention, every time she went directly to the dean, was that not also relying on connections and pulling strings?

Looking at her student, Wang Jingwen stammered for a long time before squeezing out just two words.

"Keep it up!"

Hearing this, Li Pingan shrugged.

Outside the school's innovation and entrepreneurship incubation base, Li Pingan parted ways with his counselor.

Seeing the counselor's absent-minded and distracted expression, Li Pingan knew that just now, when he was putting on a cool front, he had probably gone a bit overboard.

Returning to Room 201, his own exclusive workshop, Li Pingan looked at the contract on the desk. After scanning it with the printer, he sent the scanned file to his chief subordinate and top general—Wu Wenbin.

Li Pingan figured that in the future, such cooperative business negotiations would be much better left to Wu Wenbin, the general manager.

Leave professional matters to professionals.

If Wu Wenbin had been there today to negotiate the cooperation, the price probably would have ended up significantly higher.

Not even mentioning 2 yuan, 1.5 yuan probably wouldn't have been a problem!

In the Luzhou New District High-Tech Industrial Park, Building 3, 6th Floor.

Following the boss's instructions, Wu Wenbin had rented an office space of over five hundred square meters.

Even though it was Sunday, Wu Wenbin was still working overtime at the company, having just recruited two new employees.

One was a receptionist with a pleasing and easy-on-the-eyes appearance, and the other was an HR professional with over five years of work experience.

Despite working overtime through the weekend, Wu Wenbin was thoroughly enjoying it!

With no other choice, although the annual salary offered by the boss for the first year wasn't as high as what he used to make in his previous jobs, the boss had explicitly stated one thing: overtime would be paid strictly in accordance with national statutory overtime rates!

Goodness gracious!

With just those words, Wu Wenbin was instantly brimming with motivation.

After all, no matter how grandiose and pie-in-the-sky promises of year-end bonuses sounded, they were ultimately just empty talk tied to the company's performance.

Overtime pay, however, was hard, concrete wages!

It had nothing to do with performance metrics.

In the space of over five hundred square meters, there were only three people present, making it look rather sparse and empty for the time being.

Even so, Wu Wenbin's very first order of business was to have the newly started HR personnel take notes and record everything.

Specifically, to compile and catalog company employee ID numbers.

Li Pingan, as the boss, naturally held the undisputed ID number 001.

At that moment, Wu Wenbin was briefing the HR on the work schedule for the upcoming week and outlining the positions that needed to be recruited.

Hearing the distinct high-priority notification chime from WeChat on his phone, Wu Wenbin immediately interrupted the HR and pulled out his device to check the boss's message.

To ensure he could always see messages from the boss the very moment they arrived, Wu Wenbin enabled WeChat's high-priority notification feature, refreshing it periodically.

Seeing an unnamed PDF file sent by the boss, Wu Wenbin was just feeling puzzled when the boss sent another text message.

"This is the contract signed with Huawei today. Have a look at it; don't let the pricing leak."

"Next time there are other collaborations, you will step up to handle the negotiations."

Seeing the name Huawei, Wu Wenbin was utterly astonished.

He hadn't seen the boss for just a few days, and already he had hooked up with Huawei?

This...

How on earth did the company establish a cooperative relationship with Huawei?

Fraught with bubbling curiosity, Wu Wenbin first replied to the boss's message, then clicked to receive and open the PDF file the boss had sent over.

After spending a few minutes casually reviewing the contract terms, Wu Wenbin was utterly shocked.

The boss actually possessed a patent!

One that even Huawei needed to utilize.

According to what was written in the contract, even if the company did nothing else from now on, relying solely on patent royalties would amount to an astronomical sum.

In an instant, Wu Wenbin's confidence soared sky-high!

Building a corporate headquarters building? Psh, no sweat at all!

Previously, Wu Wenbin had harbored some doubts and misunderstandings regarding the boss's actions.

He had worried that the company's capital chain might run into trouble, dragged down by the headquarters construction project.

Now? He didn't have to worry about a damn thing anymore!

Spend away with absolute abandon!

Glancing at the HR employee, who lacked any energetic spirit, was forced to work overtime right after starting the job, and looked ready to bolt at any moment, Wu Wenbin calmly placed his phone down on the desk.

With an even, nonchalant tone, he said, "Take a look at the company's real strength. This is the contract the boss just signed with Huawei."

After letting the HR person take a brief glance, Wu Wenbin retrieved his phone and said with a beaming smile, "I'll say it again: the company is not short on money. Most importantly, overtime comes with paid overtime wages."

"Remember, when interviewing and recruiting candidates, if anyone asks whether the company requires overtime, you tell them directly: the company pays overtime wages strictly in accordance with national regulations."

Sure enough, only hard cash is real; everything else is just pretense.

The HR person, who had appeared somewhat lifeless and listless just moments ago, instantly had her eyes sparkling with greed and eagerness.

For someone like her who already had a child, the temptation of guaranteed overtime pay was absolute and undeniable.

With her child only just attending kindergarten, the financial pressure of raising a child was simply overwhelming.

As a mother, who wouldn't want to provide the absolute best for her child?

At the beginning of July, college students across the country ushered in their two-month summer vacation.

Li Pingan, who had just proposed a few minor modifications to the interior design of the new building, walked out of Wan Xia's design firm, turned around, and waved goodbye to Wan Xia.

"Alright, you don't need to walk me out."

Bidding farewell to Wan Xia, Li Pingan boarded the high-speed rail heading toward Luzhou.

His younger sister, who had been lazing around at home doing nothing for half a month, had already arrived at the Luzhou office by now.

That little girl probably had no idea that this would be her final taste of leisurely, carefree days.

Once she entered high school, she would come to realize that simply sleeping in was an unimaginable luxury.

At that very moment, within the Luzhou New District High-Tech Industrial Park.

Li Ya had arrived there by morning and was hanging out in her older brother's independent office, watching television while being treated to all sorts of delicious snacks and drinks.

After half a month of rapid development, the company finally started to resemble a real corporate entity.

The employee count had grown from the initial three people to over thirty staff members.

Among these people, a substantial majority consisted of front-end developers and graphic designers recruited precisely according to the boss's specifications.

The previously vacant and echoing office area now bustled with vibrant life and activity.

Wu Wenbin, having wrapped up the morning's arrangements, checked the time; it was already past eleven o'clock.

Though it wasn't yet the official noon break time at 12 o'clock, the thought of the boss's younger sister waiting in the office instantly gave Wu Wenbin a severe headache.

Should he order takeout? Or should he take the boss's younger sister out to a restaurant?

Plagued by this dilemma until his head ached, Wu Wenbin had no choice but to ask his wife for help.

As soon as the message went through, his wife replied with a voice note.

"A young kid like that probably loves things like burgers. Why don't you order a KFC family bucket?"

"In any case, it's best not to take the child outside."

"If something goes wrong, you won't be able to bear the responsibility. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Listening to his wife's advice, Wu Wenbin silently nodded in agreement.

Although he had known the boss for less than a month, Wu Wenbin was acutely aware of how dearly the boss cherished this younger sister.

If anything were to happen to her, he genuinely couldn't shoulder the consequences.

"Got it, honey."