Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The room, usually quiet, was now filled with a low, husky voice that spoke earnestly—one willing to teach, the other eager to learn.

Jiang Yicen listened as Nan Shuyi analyzed the current product marketing strategy for him, explaining everything so clearly it all made perfect sense. Every point blew his mind; what he'd researched on his own was just scratching the surface. Nan Shuyi was way more professional and his insights went far deeper. There was no doubt he was the young master of Nanyuan Group.

It turned out that modern marketing plans could be incredibly detailed. Product strategies could come with gifts and perks, heartfelt copywriting, and even candy could be linked to health, catering to the needs of families and white-collar workers, with unique standout features in the packaging.

Jiang Yicen was more skilled in offline implementation, like retail stores and malls, while Nan Shuyi coached him on online marketing, using methods like traffic generation, conversion, and viral expansion. He also added a pop-up event to Jiang Yicen's offline plan.

Nanyuan's candy sales were seriously lagging behind other brands. To break out of the current predicament, they needed to make bold moves. Nan Shuyi proposed a collaboration with a well-known animated series.

Nanyuan had always worked with celebrities and had a regular celebrity they worked with.

Nan Shuyi liked Jiang Yicen's product plan. He was quick-witted and bold in his ideas. If Nanyuan clung to its traditional methods and failed to adapt, even great products would get lost.

Jiang Yicen noted down every point Nan Shuyi raised. On the positive side, his ideas were fresh for Nanyuan. As for the shortcomings, he could see them himself—he still wasn't fully clued into the market.

In this regard, Nan Shuyi had already figured out what to say for him: having spent a long time in the US, it was normal not to be familiar with the domestic market. Once he finished a plan, saw the campaign through from start to finish, and finally looked at product sales and promotional impact, he would basically understand market trends.

Nan Shuyi: “Lastly, there’s the budget. How to allocate it is also a key point.”

Jiang Yicen wasn't just passively listening; he had his own thoughts: “Yes, we have costs for goods, promotion, materials, charity, and we need to set aside contingency funds. But I can’t determine the exact amount for promotion costs yet.”

Nan Shuyi: “Didn't Jin Huanxin tell you?”

Jiang Yicen shook his head: “No.”

Nan Shuyi: “This candy isn’t a new product. I estimate that if this marketing campaign doesn’t yield good results, production might be halted. I’ve looked at the sales data for the Spring Festival—it wasn’t ideal. The marketing budget will probably need to be re-evaluated, and the collaboration will cost extra.”

Jiang Yicen: “So which costs more—getting a celebrity endorsement or doing a collab?”

Nan Shuyi: “With the current male celeb, the collab might be cheaper.”

Jiang Yicen recalled Nan Shuqi’s blind box unboxing process and had also come across blind box unboxing videos online. A thought struck him.

“Could we design one of the candy flavors as a blind box? That would help Nanyuan promote its brand, meet the collab partner's needs, and also pull in the partner's fan base, driving up sales.”

Nan Shuyi looked at Jiang Yicen’s bright eyes and said, “That’s a great idea. Three types of candy: one designed as a limited-edition collab toy, not in blind box form; one in blind box form; and the last one in a larger bulk package, where customers get a collab merch gift with purchase.”

Jiang Yicen genuinely admired Nan Shuyi. No matter what new idea he came up with, Nan Shuyi could quickly fill in the details.

“You’re thorough. I’ll write the plan based on what we discussed tonight.”

He picked up the laptop and headed for the study.

But Nan Shuyi stopped him: “It’s late. Write it tomorrow.”

They had been talking for an hour and a half, and the plan was essentially finalized. Meanwhile, most of the alcohol had worn off.

Jiang Yicen hadn’t noticed how quickly time had passed. It was almost 11 p.m. He had gained so much from Nan Shuyi tonight that he wasn't sleepy at all.

“I’ll put the laptop back in the study first and continue at the office tomorrow.”

During the hour and a half when Nan Shuyi explained things, the laptop had been in his hands. He had been typing the additions and modifications directly into the document as he went along. It was only when he switched input methods that he noticed Jiang Yicen wasn’t using pinyin or shuangpin, but zhuyin. He remembered that the only other person he knew who used zhuyin to type simplified Chinese was a classmate from Taiwan he met in college.

Nan Shuyi asked, “By the way, how come you use zhuyin? Hardly anyone uses it now—mostly just people in Taiwan.”

Jiang Yicen paused. No matter how he explained it, it felt awkward: “I know zhuyin, and I find it easy to use.”

Nan Shuyi didn’t dwell on it—everyone has their preferences: “Alright. Get some sleep.”

After Jiang Yicen put the laptop back in the study and came out, Nan Shuyi hadn’t gone upstairs yet. He was still sitting on the sofa, replying to messages.

Nan Shuyi sought his opinion: “Some friends invited us out this weekend. You wanna go?”

Jiang Yicen approached him: “Are they all your friends?”

Nan Shuyi stood up: “Mostly, but there might be someone you know too?”

Jiang Yicen felt a bit uneasy: “I don’t have many friends in China, and my habits might differ from everyone else's. Would I ruin the fun?”

Nan Shuyi saw him lowering his head and thought he was worried about not fitting in: “It’s fine. If you don’t have other plans this weekend, I’ll introduce you to Zhou Yi and the others. It’s just to relax. There’s no such thing as spoiling the fun. The most important thing is that you enjoy yourself.”

He remembered Zhou Yi mentioning they'd met at a birthday party.

Jiang Yicen nodded. With Nan Shuyi’s backing, he decided to agree. This was Nan Shuyi actively bringing him out—it was a good thing. He needed to make some friends.

“Okay. What do I need to prepare?”

Nan Shuyi said, “Just don’t let anyone sweet-talk you into going off with them.”

“Hmph.” Jiang Yicen snorted with laughter. He felt his image was crumbling in Nan Shuyi’s eyes—the reputation of the Sixth Young Master Jiang was at stake.

Nan Shuyi's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Just that one little sound made him lose his composure. He wondered if anyone had ever seen this different side of Jiang Yicen—prim and proper yet cute.

They went upstairs to rest together.

In truth, Nan Shuyi could have gone straight upstairs earlier, but he didn’t move. He only thought about going upstairs after Jiang Yicen came out.

Jiang Yicen reached his door. His room and Nan Shuyi’s were separated by a long hallway.

He covered his mouth and yawned softly: “Good night, Nan Shuyi.”

He had originally wanted to address him as “sir,” but nobody used that title anymore. Even the traditional and old-fashioned Jiang Gongming made He Nuanqing call him “husband,” so they'd look like a sweet couple in public.

Nan Shuyi wasn't thrilled with being called by his full name. He held the door as Jiang Yicen was about to close it.

Nan Shuyi: “Wait. I’m a few years older than you, and you call me by my full name?”

Jiang Yicen: “Then what would you like me to call you?”

Nan Shuyi’s mind flashed to the “sir” he had called on their wedding day, but he hadn’t heard it since. Their relationship wasn’t really that of a married couple, so it felt strange.

He gently tapped Jiang Yicen’s forehead: “Little master, just call me 'Brother.' I am a few years older.”

Jiang Yicen had many older brothers, and his brothers’ friends were all called “Brother So-and-so.” Calling Nan Shuyi “Brother” was easy—even came naturally.

However, none of his older brothers or their friends had ever tapped him on the forehead. They rarely had such intimate gestures.

He covered his forehead and gracefully went along: “Brother Shuyi, good night.”

Nan Shuyi's heart hammered in his chest for what felt like the umpteenth time that night, beating wildly. He must have been drinking some bad booze tonight.

“Sleep well. I have to leave early for the restaurant tomorrow morning. The driver will take you to the office.”

“Mm-hmm. I'll manage on my own.”

Having nothing more to say, Nan Shuyi turned and went back to his room.

Jiang Yicen returned to his room and cupped his cheeks, which felt a bit hot.

He murmured again, "Brother Shuyi."

His relationship with Nan Shuyi seemed to have grown much closer.

He addressed Jiang Yiting and Jiang Yifeng as "Big Brother" and "Second Brother" only to keep up the identity of "Jiang Yicen"—they weren't actually related. He even avoided addressing them whenever he could. But with Nan Shuyi, it was different.

On Friday, the office was buzzing with anticipation for the weekend.

Since Jiang Yicen had started keeping a regular schedule, he woke up early and even had time to see Nan Shuyi off.

After breakfast, with some spare time, he went through his marketing plan from top to bottom, just in case he got assigned other work and had no time to edit it later.

However, Tan Ping clearly didn't take Jiang Yicen seriously. That week, he only assigned him small tasks—like helping other teams or delivering documents outside the office. Jiang Yicen didn't mind; he was happy to stay in the office, and going out let him explore the city.

Jiang Yicen knew he was being given a hard time, but he took it in stride.

Fortunately, Tan Ping didn't bother him in the morning. He smoothly finished his plan, first sent it to Nan Shuyi for a once-over, and after getting the go-ahead, emailed it to Jin Huanxin.

There was a weekly meeting on Monday, so he'd probably find out then whose plan would be chosen.

By Friday, everyone's mind was already checked out of work. As long as they had no pending tasks, most colleagues left on time.

Jiang Yicen also decided not to work overtime and headed straight home.

Nan Shuyi had been busy all day doing store visits with his subordinates. He had no time to go home and have dinner with Jiang Yicen. Jiang Yicen was fine on his own.

He spent the time studying while waiting for Nan Shuyi, but when it hit 11:30 PM and Nan Shuyi still wasn't back, he got worried and sent a text to check in. Nan Shuyi replied that he was still en route and told him to go to bed.

Jiang Yicen didn't think twice and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, Nan Shuyi was still in a nearby city. His car had been rear-ended, and he was waiting to handle the accident report.

Assistant Tang proposed, "Boss, how about staying at a nearby hotel for the night? The cops won't be here for a while, and if we head back to Lincheng, it'll probably be morning by the time we get there."

Nan Shuyi leaned against the roadside guardrail and gazed at the rare stars in the night sky. "I can wait. If you're sleepy, you can find a hotel nearby and crash."

Since the boss had decided not to stay at a hotel, the general manager and Assistant Tang didn't dare argue.

They had originally been doing store visits in Lincheng that day. At noon, they found out that a famous chef they wanted to recruit had gone back to the nearby city for a visit, so Nan Shuyi took the team to pay him a visit.

Nan Shuyi showed his sincerity by bringing gifts to the chef's house.

The chef's apprentice received them warmly and was very polite. However, the chef himself declined Nan Shuyi's invitation, saying that if Nan Shuyi wanted, his apprentice could give it a try. But Nan Shuyi didn't think much of the apprentice, feeling he still needed more experience.

The Liu family had been perfecting Cantonese cuisine for generations. Chef Liu had appeared on last year's show "Chef King Championship," a competition against foreigners. The previously low-key Liu family gained fame from that show. They were not only excellent at Cantonese cuisine but also superb at Hunan dishes. Nan Shuyi wanted to hire the master chef at a high salary, but the chef preferred staying at home to take care of his kids over joining Nanyuan.

Nan Shuyi asked him why he didn't want to, and Chef Liu said, "It's hard to find a boss who truly appreciates good food."

Nan Shuyi: "You mean I don't appreciate good food?"

Chef Liu just smiled without replying. Then, he brought Nan Shuyi three bowls of mung bean sago dessert soup, all basically the same color.

He said, "This is the most common Cantonese dessert soup. Try it?"

Nan Shuyi tasted each one.

Chef Liu: "President Nan, can you tell the difference? Are they good or not?"

Nan Shuyi said nothing. He hardly ever drank dessert soups, so naturally, he couldn't articulate much. The flavors all seemed similar, with no obvious differences.

In truth, he was quite particular about food, but he had no expertise in desserts, and naturally couldn't give Chef Liu the answer he wanted.

He left with regret.

It had been a frustrating day.

On the way back, he couldn't help but wonder—if it were Jiang Yicen, would he be able to tell the different flavors? He certainly couldn't.

·

The next morning.

Jiang Yicen found that Nan Shuyi hadn't come home. Instead, he had texted explaining that something had come up last night and he would head straight to the club from somewhere else. He told Jiang Yicen to have the driver take him to the club, and they would meet there.

Since it was his first time visiting a modern club, Jiang Yicen felt a little nervous. He used an AI app to search for what modern clubs were like, and the results were all over the place—ordinary clubs, upscale clubs, and purely private ones.

Jiang Yicen guessed that Nan Shuyi would take him to a private club.

After the driver dropped him off at the destination, he found it was indeed a private club, but not what he had seen in the app.

In front of him was what looked like a large hotel, surrounded by lawns. On the lawns were animal-shaped topiaries made from various flowers, very eye-catching.

There were many electric carts belonging to the club nearby, presumably the means of transport for club members.

The driver dropped Jiang Yicen off at the club's main entrance. He got out of the car, and a smiling young manager came forward to greet him.

The manager, well-traveled and experienced, said, "Fourth Master, right? Please, this way. Your friends are waiting in the lounge over there."

Jiang Yicen was surprised: "You know me?"

The manager smiled. "You came last time, so of course I remember."

Jiang Yicen stopped the manager leading the way. "Wait, which friends of mine are waiting for me?"

Before the manager could answer, a young man with dyed white hair in the lounge spotted him and immediately jumped up.

"Daniel! You finally showed up!"