2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 480 Disciple? (Seeking monthly votes)
Just as Li Yanning said, Tan Jincheng has indeed been at Orange Technology for the past two days.

Li Jinglan has a car and a driver's license, but she doesn't dare to drive it. She usually hitches a ride with her sister to and from work.

The car was given to her by Tan Jincheng through connections at the previous company's annual meeting. Sure enough, women have no interest in such things unless they want them themselves.

"You want to work for Orange?" Tan Jincheng looked at Li Jinglan with some surprise.

Li Jinglan nodded like a chick pecking at rice. She was already a little afraid of Tan Jincheng, and after not seeing him for a long time, coupled with the fact that Tan Jincheng's demeanor was completely different from before, she became even more afraid.

If it weren't for her sister, she really wanted to say it on the phone.

"Did your sister send you?"

"Oh, boss, how did you know? Did my sister tell you?"

Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing exchanged a smile, then Tan Jincheng turned to Gu Qingqing and said, “I know you well enough. Didn’t your sister say you just lie in the office all day playing around? I’ve heard that several packages have been delivered to your office in the last two days. I really appreciate it if you’re spending my salary here.”

Actually, when Tan Jincheng first called Li Jinglan over to train the newly hired customer service staff, he intended to transfer her to Orange Products to be in charge of the customer service center. Otherwise, the training could have been done by someone poached from Taobao.

However, the girl acted like a fool; she left without a second thought after the training ended, so Tan Jincheng didn't bother to mention it again.

Let her be. It's fine to have a relaxed attitude. Anyway, she has a house and a car now. Even if she gets cheated on by a scumbag in the future, the company has the ability to protect her from any major harm.

"My sister really sent me here. She said I can't just drift through life like this and I need to find something to do," Li Jinglan said, fidgeting with the hem of her clothes.

"How about I let you work as a regular customer service representative, like you did when you were at Jinpeng Trading?"

Li Jinglan didn't hesitate and immediately replied, "Why not? Boss, you said that the quality of service is very important after the product is sold. But it would be best if you didn't reduce my salary, okay?"

With her current salary, she is far below the average customer service worker's salary. What Li Jinglan feared most on her way here was a pay cut.

This truly proves the saying: it's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

"Alright, come over here. The specific work arrangements are up to President Gu. As for whether your salary will be reduced, that's up to President Gu."

She definitely wouldn't be a regular customer service staff member. She's Flash's number two employee, after all. Even if she's just being kept on a paycheck and not doing anything, we can't let her do something so beneath her dignity.

As for letting Li Jinglan take direct charge of the entire customer service center, that wouldn't work either. She hasn't made any progress in the past two years, and her actual work experience is practically nonexistent. Tan Jincheng really wouldn't feel comfortable handing the customer service center over to her.

"Come here and register for a deputy position first. I'll enroll you in a management course, and then we'll gradually take over the work. As for the salary, don't worry, it will only be higher than what you got at Jinpeng."

Gu Qingqing had obviously thought of this as well, but Li Jinglan's professional customer service skills were indeed quite good. She wouldn't be of much use to Jinpeng, so it would be better to give her a try at Chengpin Hui.

"Okay, thank you, boss lady." Li Jinglan was both happy and a little sad.

The good thing was that the process went smoothly and the landlady was very easy to talk to. The bad thing was that the landlady actually wanted her to go to school! This was really difficult for her.

“If I enroll you in a class, you should study hard. The company is getting bigger and more standardized. If you want to achieve something, you have to study hard and keep up with the company’s pace,” Tan Jincheng said earnestly.

Tan Jincheng didn't know what would have happened to Li Yanning, a person with a strong sense of self and a fighting spirit, if she hadn't appeared. After all, she was born in 1980 and was still unmarried, which was quite extraordinary in northern Anhui.

But Li Jinglan's situation most likely involves working on a factory assembly line, doing monotonous and tedious work for a meager wage.

If nothing unexpected happens, she, who is already 21 years old this year, will be arranged by her parents to go on blind dates when she goes home for the Chinese New Year holiday. If both parties like each other, they will settle down quickly. Who knows, she might even start working in a factory with her boyfriend next year.

In her early twenties, she got married and had children. When the children were a little older, she would go out to work with her husband and save some money to start a small business. This was probably the life of Li Jinglan, who had no goals and no opinions of her own.

However, due to Tan Jincheng's involvement, she now owns a car and a house in a big city at a young age, and her family, to be honest, no longer dares to introduce her to the kind of men who work odd jobs.

Often, the relationship between parents and children changes with various achievements. The most obvious example is that now that their daughter can earn money, they are too busy coaxing her to dare to upset her.

Although Li Yanning didn't understand many grand principles, her concerns were not unfounded. If you have money but your personal qualities don't keep up, it's hard to keep it. That's why she was a little worried about Li Jinglan's situation.

"Your boss is making you study for your own good. How can you manage people if you don't know anything? Do you really expect you to be a regular customer service representative? I'd be ashamed of you if you weren't."

Li Jinglan was still a little hesitant, but upon hearing this, a thought flashed through her mind: "That's right, I'm the boss's first apprentice, right, boss?" This surprised Tan Jincheng: "Apprentice? What apprentice?"

Unlike in later generations, these days, people who want to learn something at work like to find a mentor. During the apprenticeship, the salary is extremely low, and a portion of it has to be used to support the mentor. If you happen to be lucky enough to find a mentor with a conscience, he will teach you something, which can be considered a way of showing respect and receiving some return.

If you run into a heartless person, they won't teach you anything but will still have you completely under their thumb, wasting several years of your life. Many people know this, but there's nothing they can do because good jobs are so hard to find.

When Tan Jincheng was starting his business, he often taught his subordinates work experience, and he did so for free. They were already very grateful for this. It's really hard to find a boss who doesn't deduct your salary and teaches you skills.

Although Li Jinglan didn't say it, she actually respected Tan Jincheng a lot.

"All my work experience was taught to me by you, boss. So, I'm practically your apprentice. My sister says I should be your first apprentice. Boss, you agree, right?"

Tan Jincheng found the master-disciple relationship somewhat amusing: "If that's how you put it, then don't embarrass your master. Make some achievements so that your master can have some face in front of your master's wife."

Gu Qingqing was also hearing this for the first time and found it quite funny. She used to think Li Jinglan was a bit simple-minded, but now she didn't seem so simple-minded. At least she knew to use polite language to flatter him.

It seems that with some training, it wouldn't be a bad idea to hand over the management of the customer service center in the future. However, she really can't stand being called "teacher's wife".

For Tan Jincheng, it was a good thing that Li Jinglan took the initiative to come to Orange Products Club for training. In the future, she will be needed in both the customer service center and the GXG e-commerce business unit, which is currently being prepared.

In the future, GXG will definitely have to go online for sales. E-commerce is its ultimate destination. Working under a workaholic boss like Tan Jincheng, Li Jinglan can't really relax as easily as she wants.

At most, she'll need to stay in bed for another six months before she has to be taken out for a walk; Li Yanning's worries were completely unnecessary.

The eighteen founders who started their businesses with Jack Ma, and the one who started with Pony Ma, all achieved financial freedom and improved their abilities, regardless of whether they stayed or left. Tan Jincheng, who has always used internet thinking to run his physical businesses, shares the same idea.

Those are the original group of people who followed me. Apart from Liu Wenbing who has already left, as long as they stay and work hard, I must at least ensure that they have enough to eat and wear. Currently, my biggest worry is actually Li Jinglan.

If Li Jinglan doesn't use her brain more, she might really be targeted by some man who will swindle her out of all her money. The news of the female executive of Flash Group being cheated out of money and sex will spread in society, and just thinking about it is a headache.

However, the most unlucky one was Liu Wenbing, whose departure was actually related to Tan Jincheng.

Since Tan Jincheng spun off from Jinpeng Trading to establish Shanchi Automotive Industry, he had arranged all the business matters. After Zhang Xupeng took over, Jinpeng Trading did not have any major business during that period, except for preparing for the Autumn Canton Fair.

After the Canton Fair ended and production was arranged, Zhang Xupeng spent all his time in the office playing video games, becoming addicted to them for several months.

Old Liu, who already had a high opinion of Tan Jincheng's abilities, believed that the company had no future if it continued like this. The boss spent all day playing games and didn't go out to develop business, relying on the business left by the previous boss to squander the company's resources.

So he resigned with the skills he had learned from Tan Jincheng. After resigning, Liu Wenbing did quite well at the new company. He was smart and willing to learn, and Tan Jincheng was willing to teach him. In less than half a year at the new company, he was given important responsibilities and his salary increased significantly.

However, who could have imagined that one day Zhang Xupeng would work so hard, and the company would launch a new children's clothing business, and then prepare to set up a factory, transforming from a pure trading company to a physical manufacturing enterprise.

Then came something even more dazzling: Jinpeng was reorganized and merged into the entire Shanchi Group, returning to Tan Jincheng's control.

This series of actions completely baffled Liu Wenbing, who watched as Sun Yuming, who had joined the company with him, prospered and eventually became the head of FlashTech's Tianjin branch, holding a high position and wielding great power.

Liu Wenbing was utterly speechless. No matter how well he did in the new company, could he ever compare to Sun Yuming's current achievements?
Why didn't Boss Tan take me with him when he left?

"Alright, go back and get ready. I'll help you with the school arrangements. Your teacher's wife and I have something to discuss."

Tan Jincheng was in a good mood. Regardless of whether Li Jinglan was encouraged by Li Yanning or for other reasons, her initiative to come was still commendable. As for the jokes about her master and mistress, Tan Jincheng took them as just that.

“Okay, then I’ll be going now, Master; by the way, I left the birthday gifts that my sister and I bought for Jin Yue with Secretary Zeng in the outer room,” Li Jinglan said with a grin.

What kind of nonsense is this? Calling Tan Jincheng "Master" and Tan Jinyue "Sister".

"Don't call me Master anymore, it sounds awkward. Just call me Boss. When you work at Orange, call me President Gu, and don't call me Boss's Wife."

"I understand, I understand. Formal addresses are used in formal settings."

(End of this chapter)