How can you ascend to heaven when you are a star?

Chapter 315 Unhappy

Zhou Maoquan took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and told himself not to get angry. The other party was just a grasshopper in autumn, and wouldn't be able to jump around for long.

“Principal Zhang, since you regard me as a senior, I have to give you some advice. The art exam training industry is very complex. If you jump in recklessly like this, you may drown. It’s not too late to swim back to shore now,” Zhou Maoquan earnestly advised.

He didn't want to alarm the big boss unless absolutely necessary. If the other party was willing to listen to his advice, he could give them a chance.

Young people are bound to take detours; just straighten them out.

“Principal Zhou, thank you for your kindness, but I think that people should take advantage of their youth and courage to go out and explore, experience the ups and downs of life, and appreciate the magnificent scenery of nature. If I don’t jump in, how can I experience the thrill and joy of riding the waves?” Zhang Wen said with a smile.

The teaching building has been rented, and the advertisements have been launched. Now, no one can stop him from growing bigger and stronger.

Preventing him from recruiting students is preventing him from collecting offerings for our ancestors. It's impossible to make him betray our ancestors.

So what if the water is deep?
Even if it's as deep as the Mariana Trench, our ancestors will protect him.

"Young man, you don't know your place. Since you're so determined to do things your own way, I won't hide anything from you anymore. Actually, the boss behind our Jiahua Art Examination Training School is Li Lehua, the general manager of your Tianxi Media. The 'Hua' in Jiahua is the same as the 'Hua' in Li Lehua. If General Manager Li finds out that you're stealing her business, do you think you'll have a good life at Tianxi Media in the future?"

Zhou Maoquan stopped trying to persuade him and chose to confront him directly.

He didn't expect the other party to be so unyielding. Are all young people these days so arrogant?
Ok?
Upon hearing Zhou Maoquan's words, Zhang Wen immediately parked his car on the side of the road.

Is Mr. Li the owner of Jia Hua Art Examination Training Center?
This was a bit unexpected for him. He never imagined that his boss would be involved in the art exam training industry. When his boss first learned that he had an art exam training center outside, he never mentioned it.

Zhou Maoquan didn't hear any voice on the phone and assumed the other party was scared, so he showed a smug expression.

"To tell you the truth, many art exam training centers in Beijing have close ties with entertainment companies. Otherwise, do you think a few teachers alone can make a school big and strong? This industry is not that easy. It's like the sea. It looks very calm on the surface, but there are undercurrents underneath."

At this moment, Zhou Maoquan felt extremely pleased, as if he could already see the look of fear and trepidation on the other side's face.

This is strength.

“Principal Zhou, thank you for telling me all this. However, there’s something you might not know: Mr. Li knows that I run an art exam training center outside the company,” Zhang Wen said calmly, without the slightest panic.

Director Xu had mentioned this matter to General Manager Li, and even boasted about the students' art exam results. Since General Manager Li did not prohibit him from opening an art exam training center at the time, it was tantamount to tacitly approving his behavior.

Even if he knew that he had a conflict with Jia Hua, it was normal competition. Besides, Jia Hua started it first, so he was in the right and had nothing to be afraid of.

At worst, I'll get fired.

He has money and people to spare, so he's not afraid of losing his job at all.

If it weren't for the sake of those two hundred-plus trainees, he might have left long ago.

Did they intend to use Li Lehua to threaten him?
Useless.

"what?"

This time, it was Zhou Maoquan's turn to be surprised.

The big boss actually knew that an employee was running an art exam training center? How could that be?

Could it be that the old regulation prohibiting trainees from teaching outside the school has been lifted?
I've never heard anyone say that.

"You surnamed Zhang, are you lying to me?" Zhou Maoquan asked, frowning.

“Why would I lie to you? If you don’t believe me, you can call Ms. Li. Isn’t she the boss of your Jia Hua Art Examination Center? You don’t not even have her phone number, do you?” Zhang Wen said.

"You, you don't believe that Mr. Li is the behind-the-scenes boss of Jiahua? I'm telling the truth," Zhou Maoquan said earnestly.

He felt the problem lay there, just as he didn't believe that Mr. Li knew the other party was running an art exam training school.

The other party doesn't believe him, and he doesn't believe the other party either.

“What I said is all true. If Principal Zhou has nothing else to say, let’s end our conversation here. I have other things to do, so I can’t keep you company any longer.” Zhang Wen hung up the phone immediately after saying that.

"Hello? Hello?" Zhou Maoquan was completely dumbfounded when he saw the end of the call displayed on his phone screen.

He thought he could control the other party with just one phone call, but to his surprise, the other party showed no fear whatsoever, and there was no scene of begging for mercy as he had imagined.

Are all young people this brave these days?
Or perhaps I didn't explain myself clearly?
Zhou Maoquan put down his phone, feeling as if he had reached out but failed to hit anyone, and instead had been slapped in the face.

"Principal, how is it?" the male teacher sitting in the passenger seat asked in a low voice.

For some reason, he sensed that the principal didn't seem happy.

Zhou Maoquan did not answer. He frowned and thought for a long time, still feeling that the man surnamed Zhang did not take his words seriously.

Since the other party won't listen to advice, then don't blame him for being impolite.

Zhou Maoquan picked up his phone again, found the big boss's number, and dialed it.

It was probably because it was noon, so the call was answered quickly.

"Mr. Li, this is Zhou Maoquan. Are you busy right now? I have something I'd like to report to you," Zhou Maoquan said respectfully.

"Go ahead and speak." Li Lehua was eating in his office when he heard Zhou Maoquan's words. He immediately put his phone on speakerphone and placed it on the desk next to him.

“Mr. Li, it’s like this. Recently, an art exam training center sent people to our Jiamei to place advertisements and encouraged parents to cancel their registrations and register with them instead. I inquired and found out that their principal is named Zhang Wen, and he works for Tianxi Media.” Zhou Maoquan paused here, listening quietly to his boss’s reaction through the phone.

Didn't that guy surnamed Zhang say that General Manager Li knew? He's going to verify now whether General Manager Li actually knows or not.

"Is that so?" Li Lehua stopped eating with his chopsticks, a look of surprise on his face.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Maoquan's spirits lifted, and a hint of joy appeared on his face.

It seems that Mr. Li was unaware of this.

Since that's the case, we must file a serious complaint against that Zhang.

"Mr. Li, don't you know Zhang Wen? He's the head of the training department in charge of teaching trainees. I've also heard that all the teachers at his training school are from Tianxi Media's training department," Zhou Maoquan said excitedly.

"What I want to ask is, is it true that he went to Jiaming to distribute advertisements and encouraged parents to cancel their registrations?" Li Lehua asked.

"Huh?" Zhou Maoquan was taken aback and quickly said, "Yes, it's true. I saw it with my own eyes. He even brought a group of parents and asked me to publicly disclose the students' art exam results this year."

"Will it have a big impact on Jiaming?" Li Lehua asked while eating.

“It’s a huge problem. More than 30 parents have already cancelled their enrollment for the art exam courses. I was originally planning to retaliate, but now that I’ve found out he’s an employee of Tianxi Media, I’m not sure whether I should retaliate or not, so I’m specifically asking you for your opinion,” Zhou Maoquan said.

The so-called "counterattack" was just a casual remark. With this phone number, he wouldn't need to "counterattack"; the boss would take care of it himself.

"Oh?"

Li Lehua frowned slightly, feeling surprised. She remembered that Xiao Zhang's art exam training center was very small, so small that it couldn't recruit new students after the previous year's art exams, so he had to come to work at Tianxi Media.

This is also why she didn't care after she found out.

However, now the other party is actually trying to snatch students from Jiamei. Isn't this like taking food from a tiger's mouth?
Of course, what she cared about was not that the other party had the audacity to snatch food from a tiger's mouth, but that the other party was actually able to succeed in snatching food from a tiger's mouth.

It's worth noting that Jiaming Art Exam Training School has been established for over ten years and is a well-known name in Beijing's art exam circle. Parents and students considering enrolling in art exam training classes will inevitably come to Jiaming, no matter how many they visit.

In other words, the parents who enrolled their children in Jiaming were all well-considered, but now they have been poached by Xiao Zhang. Why would they be willing to give up a large art exam training institution to go to a small art exam training school?

How did Xiao Zhang manage to do that?

"Does he know that I am the boss of Jiaming?" Li Lehua asked.

“I probably didn’t know before, but I just called him and told him that you are the boss of Jiahua, hoping that everyone can keep the peace.”

"and then?"

"He...he disagrees."

"Oh?"

Li Lehua was stunned for a moment, but quickly figured it out.

Now that Xiao Zhang has the Zhou family as her backing, she is naturally not afraid of her boss's retaliation. At worst, she can resign from Tianxi Media and work for another entertainment media company.

With the Zhou family involved, wouldn't other entertainment and media companies be scrambling to acquire them?
Moreover, Xiao Zhang is indeed very talented.

Trainee training, songwriting, scriptwriting, psychological counseling, drinking... such an all-around talent would be sought after by entertainment and media companies even without the Zhou family.

Seeing that his boss remained silent, Zhou Maoquan tentatively asked, "Mr. Li, why don't you talk to this Zhang Wen?"

The implication is: put pressure on this guy surnamed Zhang and make him back down.

How could Li Lehua not understand Zhou Maoquan's meaning?
However, if she puts pressure on Xiao Zhang, the Zhou family will put pressure on her in return.

She put pressure on Xiao Zhang, and at most Xiao Zhang would resign. But if the Zhou family put pressure on her, she would go bankrupt.

“There’s no need. Since he disagrees, you should fight back as if you were competing with other companies in the same industry. Let him know that Jiamei is not to be trifled with, and that art exam training is not so easy to run,” Li Lehua said.

"what?"

Zhou Maoquan was completely stunned.

Judging from Mr. Li's tone, it seems he doesn't intend to get involved in this matter.

It shouldn’t be!

Why make him retaliate when Mr. Li could have solved the problem with just one phone call?

Moreover, his so-called "counterattack" was actually to have General Manager Li, in his capacity as the general manager of Tianxi Media, force that Zhang to compromise.

The fact that President Li is now observing the situation means that his trump card has been rendered ineffective.

We can't just do what that guy surnamed Zhang did, inciting parents to cause a scene at the training school, can we?
Their students' art exam results were already released long ago.

If things really escalate, not only will we fail to attract more parents, but we'll also end up promoting the other side's products.

The highest level of martial arts is called "no moves are better than moves".

The so-called "no moves" refers to absolute strength.

Just like Xingxiang, its students' art exam results are so good that as long as the results are shown to the parents, no matter how well other art exam institutions promote themselves, they cannot shake Xingxiang's position in the parents' hearts.

If it were him, and a student from a training school achieved the top score in their major, he would also point the achievement out to the parents.

The so-called student privacy is nothing more than an excuse to cover up poor art exam results.

"Mr. Li, isn't this a bit much?" Zhou Maoquan said. "We're practically on the same side as him. If we fight amongst ourselves like this, won't people laugh at us?"

In short: Boss, you should handle this!
“Didn’t you tell him I’m Jiaming’s boss? He doesn’t agree, what else can I do? Lao Zhou, go ahead and fight back boldly, I support you. Anything else? If not, I’m hanging up,” Li Lehua said.

Actually, she really hoped that Lao Zhou could teach Xiao Zhang a lesson, preferably by shutting down Xingxiang Art Examination Training School, so that Xiao Zhang could focus all his energy on his work.
For example: write more good songs for the company's singers, secure more investment for the company's film and television projects, and help her avoid drinking too much at dinners where collaborations are discussed...

She couldn't even imagine that when Xiao Zhang devoted all his energy to his work, Tianxi Media's revenue would increase by several percentage points.

"..."

Zhou Maoquan looked at the phone that had already been disconnected, feeling distressed and wanting to cry.

He suspected that the person who answered the phone earlier was a fake boss.

no way?
You are the owner of Tianxi Media, how could you not have a solution?

Zhou Maoquan racked his brains but couldn't understand why the boss was standing aside watching the show.

Could it be a test?
He has been the principal of Jiaming for more than ten years. Is it a bit too late to put him to the test now?

"Principal, what did the big boss say?" the male teacher sitting in the passenger seat asked again, sensing that the principal was still unhappy.

Zhou Maoquan didn't say anything, started the car, and drove away.

There are other art exam training institutions besides Jiamei. Surely that guy surnamed Zhang can't just take advantage of Jiamei, a fat sheep.
As he was thinking this, a bold idea suddenly popped into his head.

He's going to help that guy surnamed Zhang fleece other fat sheep!

Of course, he did this not to do good, but to provoke more art exam training schools. Even if he didn't deal with that Zhang guy, other art exam training schools would take action.

This is called shifting the blame eastward.

Zhou Maoquan handed the advertising fan to the teacher sitting in the passenger seat.

"Order 10,000 of these advertising fans, exactly the same as this one. Don't change the slogan, phone number, or WeChat ID. Then find a few people to distribute them near other art exam training centers. If people from these art exam institutions find out, just say that Xingxiang Art Exam Training Center hired you to distribute them, understand?"

"Huh? Why?" the male teacher asked, puzzled.

Is this for promoting Xingxiang?

Did the principal surrender?
"Just do what I tell you to do, stop talking nonsense!" Zhou Maoquan said irritably.

This time, we must make that Zhang guy the target of everyone's scorn and condemnation!
……

(End of this chapter)