Rebirth of the Rich Second Generation's Growth Diary

Chapter 202 Taking a Different Approach to Open Up New Horizons!
To be honest, Xia Xiaohe somewhat overturned Lina's perception of a student from a prestigious university. In her eyes, the first thing a Tsinghua or Peking University student would do is something that others might consider undignified, since being a student from a prestigious university is almost inextricably linked to being respectable.

So when the two were stopped outside by the scenic area management staff, Lina subconsciously felt that Xia Xiaohe would feel ashamed, after all, this was really disgraceful for a student from a prestigious university.

But when she looked at Xia Xiaohe, she found that Xia Xiaohe's face showed no discomfort, but was just deep in thought.

Lina knew very well that Xia Xiaohe was smarter than her. She thought for a moment and then asked, "What should we do now?"

The two were standing downstairs at the scenic area management bureau. The staff explained that no sales personnel were present before the bidding process, so they were not allowed to meet with the director of the information department and the bureau chief.

Xia Xiaohe stroked her chin and said, "Let's try a different approach. They can't stop us from seeing the leaders, can they? Let's go directly to the office."

Lina asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's the purpose of the staff below?"

Xia Xiaohe patiently explained, "First of all, what is our purpose in meeting with their leader?"

Lina replied without hesitation, "To bribe them."

Xia Xiaohe's face immediately darkened, and she coughed, "No, the real reason we want to meet with them is to understand what they truly care about. The essence of sales is to cater to their needs and solve their pain points. Some needs they are already aware of, but some pain points they may not even be aware of. What we need to do is turn what we are good at into their pain points, so that our products can stand out from the competition. But understanding this information doesn't necessarily have to be from the decision-makers; sometimes the information held by the staff below can be very useful."

Lina nodded.

To be honest, she hadn't expected these things. After a moment of silence, Lina said, "I really didn't expect you to be a student at Tsinghua or Peking University."

Xia Xiaohe's expression was somewhat strange, and she said with amusement, "Why do you say that?"

Lina chuckled and said, "I thought that students from Tsinghua and Peking University were all top students, and you are so young and haven't entered society yet, so you must be learning theoretical knowledge from books. But I found that when you get down to business, you seem to be more down-to-earth than us old hands."

Xia Xiaohe was a little embarrassed by the praise and said modestly, "No, no, I still have a lot to learn."

Lina's lips curled up slightly as she put her hands on her hips and said, "Here's something I have to teach you: if someone compliments you, you'd better not respond like this."

Xia Xiaohe was stunned for a moment.

Lina has developed her own philosophy when it comes to speaking and talking to people, and she can make everyone happy no matter who she is talking to.

But now, she is willing to share.

Lina smiled and said to Xia Xiaohe, "For example, just now, I praised you for being down-to-earth, right? Your idea was to show your humility, saying no, no, there's still a lot to learn. There's really nothing wrong with that; most people would answer that way. But if it were me..."

Lina paused for a moment and said, "If you praise me, I'll give you a demonstration."

Xia Xiaohe thought for a moment and said, "Sister Lina, you have such a gentle personality."

Lina replied with a smile, "Anyone would become gentler when they're with a beautiful girl like you."

Xia Xiaohe blinked, her face slightly flushed.

Lina smiled and asked again, "Do you understand the difference now?"

Xia Xiaohe immediately realized something. When she praised Lina, Lina did not immediately deny what she was praising, nor did she say anything like "No, no, it's alright, it's alright." Instead, she went along with the praise and complimented her.

Lina said, "Of course, it's not a very impressive skill, just a little trick or trick, but it's very useful. If someone praises you in the future, you can try it too. Don't rush to deny it or show your humility. Instead, think about whether you can respond to the other person's praise in a way that affirms their words."

Xia Xiaohe nodded thoughtfully.

Although Lina doesn't have a high level of education, she is undeniably skilled at interpersonal communication. This gave Xia Xiaohe even more confidence for her next move.

However, how to proceed with this matter requires further consideration. The most immediate problem is that even if one were to proactively approach an ordinary staff member, one would first need to find a way in. But Lina seemed confident and unconcerned about this.

She stopped Xia Xiaohe, who was about to go upstairs: "No need to go up."

Xia Xiaohe looked puzzled and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Li Na blinked and said, "I know someone who knows me."

It turned out that Lina had previously dined with the deputy director of the scenic area management bureau. At the time, Lina's plan was to use this deputy director to make things easier, since such a high-ranking deputy director must have some influence. During the dinner, Lina used all her skills and tricks to please the deputy director, but unexpectedly, although the old man enjoyed the meal, she couldn't extract any useful information from him.

Finally, the deputy director asked Xiao Zhou, who was accompanying him, to give Lina his contact information, saying, "Putting everything else aside, if Miss Lina comes to our scenic area in the future, I will definitely give you a 8% discount. Just call Xiao Zhou then."

It has to be said that Lina was somewhat frustrated and helpless at the time. None of these leaders with certain levels were easy to deal with, so what use was Xiao Zhou, an ordinary clerk? Out of politeness, they exchanged contact information, but Lina did not take Xiao Zhou seriously.

It was only after Xia Xiaohe reminded her today that she remembered.

After listening to Lina's account, Xia Xiaohe became excited and said, "Let's get in touch with this Xiao Zhou first. He might be able to provide us with a lot of useful information."

Lina smiled slightly and said, "Okay, I'll try to get him to come out, but it probably won't work here."

Lina drove over, and after getting Xia Xiaohe into the car, she took out her phone and made a call.

Xiao Zhou's real name is Zhou Hui. He's not much older than Xia Xiaohe. He just graduated and got a permanent position at the scenic area management bureau. He's a young man with little social experience. To put it nicely, his job is a secretary position; to put it bluntly, he's an office errand boy, doing a little bit of everything. Currently, he's in charge of receiving and sending documents, and occasionally running errands for his superiors.

After getting through to him on the phone, Lina immediately said in a sweet and soft voice, "Secretary Zhou, are you free after get off work this afternoon? I'd like to invite you to dinner."

Zhou Hui on the other end of the phone was clearly surprised to receive a call from Lina, his tone somewhat awkward and shy: "Ah, can you ask me out?" Lina gave Xia Xiaohe beside her a confident smile and mouthed, "This guy's a greenhorn, just watch me."

Lina continued into the phone with a serious expression, "Of course it's you I'm asking, Secretary Zhou. You wouldn't refuse to do me the honor, would you?"

Xia Xiaohe, who was standing to the side, found it somewhat amusing. After Lina's introduction, she certainly knew what position Zhou Hui held, but Lina used the somewhat vague title of "secretary" to refer to Zhou Hui, which elevated his position considerably.

Unsurprisingly, Lina's simple address of "Secretary Zhou" made Zhou Hui feel quite flattered.

He was undoubtedly the most junior and lowest-ranking newcomer in the company, always treating everyone with utmost politeness, calling men "brother" and women "sister." Unexpectedly, this beautiful woman wasn't very bright, thinking she was a very capable secretary.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. It's quite normal for people outside the system not to understand positions within the system. With that in mind, Zhou Hui naturally didn't explain further.

Subsequently, after a few words from Lina, Zhou Hui readily agreed to come out.

After hanging up the phone, Lina said with a grin, "This young man, if he becomes a leader in the future, he'll definitely be the kind who's easily corrupted."

Xia Xiaohe said with a grin, "That's mainly because Sister Lina stepped in. I don't think many people could withstand that."

Lina chuckled and said, "They're having fun, and you're learning pretty fast."

Xia Xiaohe stuck out her tongue shyly.

Meanwhile, Zhou Hui was in his office sending out the last document in the official document process.

Now that he had calmed down, he thought about how he had hastily agreed to Lina's invitation, and a sense of unease began to rise in his mind.

He wasn't stupid; he naturally knew that Lina's purpose in inviting him was related to the project.

It's clear Lina has misunderstood; she genuinely believes she's a secretary to her boss. Wouldn't it be incredibly embarrassing if people found out she's just a lowly clerk with no real power?

But then I thought, if they really asked me to do something for them, or even give me a red envelope, I would refuse firmly and say that there are rules. That way, I wouldn't lose face or cause any other trouble.

Having figured this out, Zhou Hui felt completely at peace with himself.

The time to keep the appointment arrived quickly.

For such business entertainment, the company can reimburse expenses; this is a privilege reserved for sales staff in their marketing department. However, each person has different authority; only supervisors and above have the authority to approve reimbursements. Therefore, lower-level sales staff must cultivate good relationships with their supervisors or even managers if they want to treat clients to expenses.

However, Lina knew about Xia Xiaohe's relationship with Li Xu, so she wasn't worried about the expense report at all. She unceremoniously chose a slightly pricey restaurant as the meeting place for Zhou Hui. Lina was quite happy about this; eating, drinking, and having fun were all part of her job, and she felt pretty good about it.

When Zhou Hui arrived at the restaurant and saw Xia Xiaohe, his eyes lit up. Xia Xiaohe was no longer the country girl she once was. Although she was still dressed simply, the air of sophistication she had cultivated at Tsinghua and Peking Universities, combined with her stunning beauty, gave her an incredibly high-class feel.

Seeing Zhou Hui's demeanor, Lina, who had seen countless people, felt even more confident at the rest of the dinner. She even thought with some ill intent that if Xia Xiaohe asked Zhou Hui for help, he might even dare to steal confidential documents from their workplace.

Lina introduced the two parties, and the dinner for the three of them officially began.

The dinner party didn't involve much formality. Lina set the tone for the event by saying that everyone was young and wanted to get to know each other and make friends.

Not discussing project matters gradually eased Zhou Hui's initial apprehension, making him more cheerful.

Although Xia Xiaohe wasn't very good at chatting, Lina was a master at stirring up the atmosphere and starting conversations. Under her control, the atmosphere was very lively, even though it was just a dinner party for three people.

At the height of their conversation, Lina brought out a bottle of baijiu (Chinese liquor). She knew Xia Xiaohe didn't drink, but that didn't matter; she could hold her liquor. However, Lina wasn't quite sure how much information a mere clerk could possibly have. But this was the route she and Xia Xiaohe had agreed upon beforehand, so she didn't think too much about it and began to carry it out.

Zhou Hui was initially hesitant when he saw Lina take out the liquor, but Lina said shyly and softly, "Really? You're such a big guy, are you afraid of a weak woman like me?"

After a few words from her, Zhou Hui patted his chest and started drinking with Lina.

Lina's alcohol tolerance is really good. The two of them finished a bottle of 52-proof liquor. Zhou Hui was a little tipsy, and his tongue started to feel numb when he spoke.

Before Lina and Xia Xiaohe could ask him any questions, Zhou Hui started talking about the company gossip, mainly about boasting about himself.

He said in a serious tone, "Sister Lina, and Xiaohe, I'm not bragging, but you all know that in the system, following the right person is the most important thing. Don't look down on me just because I'm only a secretary now. But let me tell you, Director Liu, you know, even though he's just a deputy director, he was actually in charge of our security project this time. Our director is retiring next year, so he wasn't actually in charge of this project."

Although it was obvious that Zhou Hui's head was a bit fuzzy, Xia Xiaohe's eyes flashed—this was very important information.

Zhou Hui then continued, "As for Director Liu, he values ​​me a lot. Sister Lina knows that Director Liu takes me with him wherever he goes. We even had dinner together that day."

Lina's face immediately lit up with a smile, and she nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I could tell right away that Director Liu really valued Secretary Zhou!"

Then, Zhou Hui lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "And let me tell you, Director Liu is also very promising. Vice Mayor Yuan admires Director Liu very much."

Upon hearing this, Xia Xiaohe suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Vice Mayor Yuan?

That deputy mayor is in charge of...

(End of this chapter)