Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 57p2

Chapter 57 p2: The Anchor

In the days that Logos was in trouble, the employees’ working hours were adjusted to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Just as Qin Luo arrived downstairs at the company, she saw Zhan Luo carrying two bags of KFC takeout.

Zhan Luo greeted her, “Morning, Director Qin.”

Qin Luo pressed the elevator button and looked carefully at the bags. They were all breakfast.

Zhan Luo took the initiative to explain, “The working hours are too early. President Liu asked me to buy breakfast for everyone.”

Qin Luo walked into the elevator and yawned.

“Director Qin, did you not sleep well last night?”

Qin Luo smiled. “I’m fine.”

Seeing that Qin Luo was not in the mood to talk, Zhan Luo did not continue to ask. As soon as the elevator doors opened, he said, “I’ll go deliver the food first,” and then walked away.

The attendance at Logos was not based on a fixed time, but on the accumulation of working hours.

Each position had its own effective working hours. As long as you were at your post for the full duration within a week, it was fine. So you could often see employees at Logos coming in late and leaving early, and even working overtime until the early morning.

Qin Luo passed the public office area and turned into the conference room.

The male employee Haha, who had been speaking on the podcast last night, was typing on his laptop. When he heard the conference room door open, he immediately looked up.

Haha’s real name was Han He.

He was still dressed impressively today. His earrings were even more eye-catching than his female colleagues’. He waved at Qin Luo. “Director Qin, you’re back. I have something to discuss with you.”

Liu Jia had not arrived yet. Qin Luo found a place to sit down.

Han He trotted over, placed his laptop in front of Qin Luo, and bent down to point at the content on the screen. “This is the long article we’re going to post on your social media account today. Director Qin, please revise it.”

Qin Luo had not slept all night. Her eye pressure was high, and the stimulating light source passing through her lenses gave her the illusion of wanting to cry.

She adjusted her glasses and looked at the content on the computer.

This was a clarification of her views expressed during the brand’s live stream. The whole article was written in a gentle tone, with a clear narrative logic, and was both story-like and enjoyable to read. It was a public relations piece with both warmth and depth.

“You can sync the cloud file to me. I’ll revise it directly on it,” Qin Luo said.

Haha took back the computer and added, “We’ve also done a fan-clearing action on your account. After this long article is published, besides your personal book signings and offline event promotions, you don’t have to forward any other promotional content from the company.”

“Okay.” Qin Luo nodded and then pointed to his earring. “Where did you get it? It’s nice.”

Han He bit his lip with a shy smile. “My girlfriend gave it to me.”

“Oh~ You’re not single anymore?”

Qin Luo raised an eyebrow and waved her hand with a cold expression. “Go away. The sour smell is making me full.”

Han He giggled. Just as he was about to joke with Director Qin, Liu Jia pushed the door and came in.

The two looked at each other from a distance.

Liu Jia could accurately identify the “haven’t slept well in eight hundred years” look on Qin Luo’s face, but she couldn’t be bothered to discuss private matters. She clapped her hands and started the meeting.

Liu Jia first shared a few pieces of good news to boost morale.

“The advertising clients who had stopped have not run away, and new business is also being connected as usual. The KOLs who were attacked have won some public favor in public opinion thanks to the timely intervention of the public relations department.”

“Most importantly, we still have a nomination at Norshaw.”

With that, Liu Jia paused for two seconds, and then the employees began to cheer.

Liu Jia was also smiling. She clapped her hands to calm the noise in the conference room and said seriously, “There are still three major events now.”

“First, to let the public welfare project fade out of the public eye. Second, to use the marketing accounts we’ve bought to create a buzz about Ranmei’s black material. Third, to market the KOLs as a group…”

Qin Luo rarely participated in public relations meetings. Her purpose today was just to briefly sort out the company’s situation. Now, hearing the few pieces of good news from Liu Jia, she was relieved.

Fortunately… Logos had stabilized its customer base, and the business had not experienced a major upheaval.

Liu Jia was a person who liked to take the initiative. She was always meticulous in meetings, and she could nitpick a single detail for half a day.

Qin Luo was sleepy halfway through and secretly slipped out of the conference room.

When Liu Jia finished the meeting and walked into Qin Luo’s office, it was almost lunchtime. She was thinking about how to communicate with the volunteers about temporarily suspending the reading group.

She had been thinking for a long time before she typed a line. But she was interrupted by Liu Jia, who pushed the door and came in.

“How was it with Shen Yiyi last night?”

…

Don’t bring up a sore subject.

Qin Luo pretended to be typing on her computer. “What do you mean, how was it? She just made a meal and left.”

Liu Jia placed her coffee on the table and stared with her arms crossed. “She just made a meal? And then she left? You two… nothing happened?”

“She had to be on duty.” Qin Luo blinked and quickly changed the subject. “You said in the meeting today that you’re going to market Ranmei. Are you preparing to fight back?”

“Of course I’m going to fight back. She wants to kill me, so of course I have to kill her.” Liu Jia leaned back in her chair and sneered. “Now that I think about Dadihua and Ranmei secretly contacting each other behind my back, bringing the conflict between the bloggers to the table, and then pinning the blame of exploitation on Logos, I just want to make her unable to survive on the internet.”

“…”

Qin Luo’s typing hand stopped. She picked up her water cup and took a sip.

Thinking of Li Ran, Liu Jia was disgusted.

She picked up her coffee, swallowed, and gritted her teeth. “The pressure to survive is really great now. Not only do you have to guard against those who want to eat up your resources, but you also have to be on guard against this kind of professional jealousy.”

“A personal IP with the resounding slogan of helping all women, who goes on a live stream to sell products and, to create an atmosphere, passionately attacks men, and then, after the live stream, accompanies the big bosses to dinner and drinks for a contract.”

“Oh, and the public outcry online about the surrogacy of the CEO of Kangsheng was so loud. She, an IP who speaks for women, didn’t even say a word?”

“What? Only Logos’s investors are men, and her Ranmei’s are not? Didn’t she also take Kangsheng’s investment money?”

“She says she loves women, but I think she loves to criticize female creators, to squeeze out her female peers, and to throw dirty water on female bloggers.”

“So I told you a long time ago that you bunch of pure idealist fighters are all trapped by metaphysics. There is no real love for women. As long as it touches on interests, there is only real love for oneself.”

Qin Luo didn’t like to judge others with her mouth. She silently took another sip of water.

Liu Jia snorted coldly. “If Li Ran wants to dismantle Logos, that’s like knocking out the load-bearing pillar in the track. When the sky falls and crushes her, she’d better not say she can’t breathe. It’s her own doing. She can’t blame me.”

Liu Jia was a vengeful person. Qin Luo knew that Ranmei would probably be in for a bloody storm next.

Qin Luo understood Li Ran’s attack on Logos, even though this destructive force could have brought a commercial blow of tens of millions to Logos.

But Qin Luo still understood the other person.

It wasn’t that Qin Luo was a saint, and it certainly wasn’t that she was a bodhisattva.

It was that Qin Luo knew very well that when faced with interests, people would not hesitate to cut the ties that bound them, whether those ties were on an ally or an enemy.

Qin Luo understood Li Ran, just as she understood all the female readers, consumers, or followers with a random symbolic label who had attacked her.

Behind every attacker was her purpose, her collective tribalism. To protect themselves from being weakened, the only method they could think of was: to wipe them all out, to weaken the other.

So did Li Ran protect her faith?

Perhaps she had done it in some dimensions. She had succeeded in being a wet blanket, in being a dictator, in collecting discourse power, and she had even succeeded in causing others’ unhappiness.

This was a barbaric arena. A conflict of interests could not achieve a win-win situation. Whether they were biologically male or female, as long as they saw a mirror, they could only see themselves in their eyes.

Liu Jia was still talking about something, but Qin Luo was a little sleepy.

She leaned back in her chair and stared at the wording in the document.

Temporarily suspending the reading group was a difficult decision. Qin Luo couldn’t write this statement.

“Oh right, speaking of bloggers, I remembered that Shen Yiyi helped me find a leader at the police station. I haven’t thanked her for that yet.”

Now that the company was not in a life-or-death situation, Liu Jia’s curiosity was rekindled. “Should you thank her for me, or should I treat her to dinner another day?”

Qin Luo said, “You can thank her yourself.”

Liu Jia was also good at reading people. “Alright, then she’s going to the production for a class the day after tomorrow. I’ll ask her to dinner in the evening.”

Qin Luo did not express her opinion and just stared at the computer.

After Liu Jia had finished talking about work and saw that Qin Luo didn’t want to talk about Shen Yiyi, she was about to get up and leave. But just as she picked up her coffee, she remembered the reading group.

“Oh right, the reading group also involves a lot of resources. You should find some time to talk to Old Shang about what to do next quarter after this quarter is almost over.”

Qin Luo was annoyed by the reading group and said perfunctorily, “Alright, I’ll talk to him this afternoon.”

“Actually, I think the reading group can be continued in a different form, with a different name. For example, a membership-based social interaction, or a club sharing session…”

Seeing Qin Luo’s gloomy expression, Liu Jia’s topic gradually stopped. “Alright, I’ll say one last thing and then I’ll go. As for the assistant position that Wang Dapao used to have, it’s really not easy for me to screen for you. Why don’t you just let that driver Zhan Luo be in charge? He can drive, and he can also be your bodyguard. Most importantly, he’s from the reading group, so you’ll be used to him.”

Qin Luo said in a muffled voice, “Alright, then you can go and inform HR.”