As Yifen arrived at the company premises, he was greeted by Chen Rui, Lin Xiyan, and a group of employees waiting at the entrance.
Chen Rui stepped forward. "Welcome, Mr. Zhao."
"Welcome, Mr. Zhao!" the employees echoed in unison.
A young woman whispered to her colleague, "Wow, look at him. He's young and handsome!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down-what if he hears?"
They took the elevator up to the 18th floor, where the meeting room was prepared.
Yifen sat down at the head of the table. "Do any of you have ideas on how to piss off the public?"
A moment of stunned silence filled the room.
Chen Rui glanced around. "Anyone with a proposal?"
Everyone looked down, thinking, Is this some kind of joke?
After an awkward pause, one employee hesitantly raised his hand. "I have one."
Lin Xiyan nodded. "Go ahead."
The man cleared his throat. "We could talk trash about celebrities. That'll get us hate from their fans."
Yifen shook his head. "No, no. What if they sue us for defamation?"
The room fell silent again-pin-drop silence.
Yifen sighed. "Looks like I have to lead the way and teach you all how to think outside the box."
Chen Rui leaned forward. "Please, Mr. Zhao, enlighten us."
The employees chimed in, "Yes, Mr. Zhao, please guide us!"
Yifen smirked. "Alright. We'll record a five-minute ad where I'll wear a mask. Then we'll promote it aggressively on social media."
Lin Xiyan raised an eyebrow. "But people can just skip the ad."
Yifen snapped his fingers. "Bingo! Finally, someone is catching on. That's why our trick is-we'll make it unskippable."
Chen Rui frowned. "But, Mr. Zhao, platforms don't allow long, unskippable ads."
Lin Xiyan nodded. "Yeah, that's not how advertising works."
Yifen leaned back. "I don't care. Let money talk. I want a proposal in an hour-spend as much as you need!"
The employees exchanged glances before responding in unison, "Yes, sir! We won't disappoint you!"
As they stood up to leave, Yifen called out, "Hey, Chen Rui, get me a pack of instant noodles and a cup of coffee."
Chen Rui nodded and left. She returned ten minutes later.
Yifen frowned. "What took you so long?"
"Mr. Zhao, I had to go outside to buy them," Chen Rui explained.
"You mean we don't have instant noodles and coffee in our company?"
"No, Mr. Zhao."
Yifen sighed. "You can call me Yifen. Also, I gave you ¥1 billion-make sure every worker here gets free instant noodles and coffee."
Chen Rui smiled. "Understood, Mr. Yifen."
"Oh, and one more thing," Yifen added. "We should have a cafeteria here, shouldn't we?"
Chen Rui nodded. "I'll arrange it immediately."
She left to discuss the proposal with the other team members, leaving Yifen with a satisfied grin.
45 minutes later...
The employees re-entered the meeting room, only to find Yifen asleep in his chair, feet propped up on the table. An empty cup of coffee and a finished cup of noodles sat beside him.
Though they held their composure, a few stifled laughter at the sight.
Chen Rui stepped forward and gently shook Yifen awake.
"Mr. Zhao, the proposal is ready."
Yifen blinked, stretched, and straightened up in his chair. "Alright, let's hear it."
Everyone took their seats as Chen Rui handed over the report.
She began, "TY Video Streaming provided us with user data. In one hour, approximately 930,000 non-VIP users access the platform. By the end of the day, this number reaches 1.73 million."
Yifen smirked. "So VIP users don't get ads? They really know how to do business-targeting only the non-VIP audience. Very professional."
Chen Rui nodded. "Sir, Lin Xiyan negotiated with them. They agreed to run our ad for 5 Ayuan per user."
Yifen leaned back. "Alright. Just target the 930,000 users for now." He tossed a flash drive onto the table. "Here's the video I filmed. Play it."
The screen lit up, and the video began.
---
A masked figure sat in a dimly lit room. His voice was deep and commanding.
"Hello, everyone. I am Mr. Zhao, owner of Zhao Capital Investment Ltd.
Life is unfair. The world is cruel.
So, I am giving my share to the world.
Enjoy the rest of this ad... because it's unskippable.
The screen glitched momentarily, then resumed.
"You will suffer watching this ad... because you couldn't afford VIP.
You will suffer... because you failed to get an A+.
You will suffer... because you're a failure.
You will suffer... because you're a novel-ehh, wait-cancel that out...
You will suffer... because you couldn't become a high-level awakener.
You will suffer... because you weren't born rich.
You will suffer... because your China Points are too low.
Every day you must ask yourself-have I suffered enough?"
---
As the video ended, the room fell silent.
The employees exchanged nervous glances.
Lin Xiyan hesitated. "Uh... Mr. Zhao... Are we really running this ad?"
Yifen smirked. "Of course. It's perfect."
Chen Rui sighed. "Sir, this is going to make a lot of people furious."
"Exactly." Yifen stood up. "Now, let's see how the world reacts."