Chapter 488 - Keeper of the Encourager cum Commander of the Secret Service
Chapter 488 Keeper of the Encourager cum Commander of the Secret Service
April 16th, Saturday…
Tang Yishu swiped her card to open the door and entered Tengda’s office with a few books tucked under her armpit. Most of her salary might be used to subsidize her family, but her own financial situation was much better than before.
Tang Yishu still used neither cosmetics nor skincare products probably because of her living habits. However, being young was her greatest capital. She exuded a youthful radiance after having more nutrition.
Tang Yishu put the books on her desk and began her keeper duties to clean the Encourager’s poop and have its food bowl full.
“Glabella, you should eat less. Both Disaster-Free and you should go on a diet. Aiya, Glabella, leave some for your younger sister Fei Huang; eat your own canned food!”
Tang Yishu grabbed the back of the black cat’s neck reluctantly, its head aiming at the other cat’s food bowl. However, Glabella ignored it and went to squeeze with the orange cat next to it after taking two bites.
There were three encouragers in the office
now.
Cat number 1 was the black Glabella with white claws. Its name had the meaning ‘blackened forehead[1]’.
The other two were also stray cats adopted from the pet hospitals, a white cat and an orange cat. The white cat, cat number 2, was round and fat which made it very loveable. Many people felt that it looked like a cat of fortune.
Pei Qian named it “Disaster-Free” seemed like an auspicious meaning on the surface, but in reality, it was part of a full sentence ‘losing wealth to remain disaster-free’. He hoped that it would lose wealth, not attract wealth.
This orange cat, cat number 3, was given the same name as Fei Huang Workspace. On the surface, it seemed to mean to be as light and agile as the swallow. However, it had the meaning of becoming aged and withering quickly. The three cats finished their canned food in no time.
Tang Yishu threw out the trash, then carefully groomed and trimmed the nails of the three cats, and finally patted them until they fell asleep while basking in the sunshine. Her tasks were considered to be completed in this way.
She came to her workstation and started to study. She could self-study in the library and the self-study room in school, but it was still somewhat noisy. She preferred to study in the company during weekends.
It was very empty and quiet. There were also coffee and snacks available.
Suddenly, the office door was pushed open.
Tang Yishu was momentarily stunned and instantly remembered that she had a Special Task: that was to record everyone who came back to the office to work overtime and report to Pei Qian!
However, no one worked overtime recently so that task disappeared from Tang Yishu’s mind.
It seemed as though someone came to work overtime again. Tang Yishu quickly turned her head to see who it was. She recognized everyone on this level after working together during this period. She would not be caught unaware again.
However, she turned around only to find Pei Qian standing there. Ah, nevermind then.
Tang Yishu stood up. “Senior, why are you
here?”
Pei Qian quickly scanned the office and nodded with satisfaction seeing that no one came to work overtime secretly.
“I just happened to pass by,” Pei Qian replied casually. Pei Qian purposely came to make a surprise inspection today.
He had not received secret tips from Tang Yishu about people coming back secretly to work overtime. Pei Qian was curious to know if it was true that everyone stopped working overtime or if Tang Yishu learned how to lie.
Now, it seemed as though everyone really stopped working overtime.
It seemed reasonable. First, there was the no-overtime competition, and then there was the cornerstone award. Pei Qian worked so hard to prevent everyone from working overtime; he must have some results, right? The empty office on a weekend was the best result of Boss Pei’s hard work. It seemed like there would be rewards as long as he worked hard!
“Come with me to the guest room,” Pei Qian said to Tang Yishu.
Pei Qian had been thinking about the establishment of the ‘Tengda Secret Service’ for two whole days. The reason for the demands was because Pei Qian realized that there were too many industries at present and he really could not manage it.
The most important thing was that he did not obtain timely updates!
The founders of many huge companies were much busier than Pei Qian, but they had appointed many senior executives to be in charge of various affairs. The executives would ask for instructions on important issues while dealing with the minor ones themselves.
These business empires could still operate efficiently and with order using such mode.
Pei Qian was also adopting this model recently. However, the largest problem was that Pei Qian’s goal was totally opposite of the other company bosses! The attitude of the bosses of the other companies was that senior executives should develop their own departments well. Report major problems that could not be solved as soon as possible and give commendations if the business were to develop well.
While Boss Pei’s requirement was for these executives to not be able to develop their own departments and report signs of business development as soon as possible, he would also give commendation when major problems which could not be solved happened.
This requirement was totally reversed for the bosses of the other companies.
The bosses of the other companies needed to understand the company’s current problems. They would request for all of the departments to report such issues at any time.
What Pei Qian needed to understand was the company’s current profitability. There was no need to report this matter in the eyes of most department heads.
Especially since Pei Qian had long left the impression of ‘disliking employees asking for credit’, this problem was even more serious.
Therefore, Pei Qian felt that he must set up an information collection department to better control the information of each department to find the problem as soon as possible.
The members of this department would be known as Management Trainees.
The management trainees were originally a concept from foreign companies to cultivate the company’s future leaders for special projects. It could be regarded as a talent reserve plan for cultivating mid-high level managers. Management Trainees usually intern in different departments of the company to understand the operations of the entire company. They would then be posted based on their expertise.
Generally speaking, the selection of management trainees was strict. They were usually highly competent to be heads of departments or branches. Of course, that was being used too frequently nowadays. Any company would hire a few management trainees. They end up becoming ‘firefighters’, moving to wherever needed help.
Putting these aside, the Management Trainee system was very much in line with Pei Qian’s current needs.
These people would be placed in different departments of the company through the Management Trainee. Boss Pei would be able to know everything as long as he ensured that he controlled the Management Trainees.
Moreover, Pei Qian rather liked the post ‘Management Trainee’.
Management Trainee, Manage Loss Trainee[2].
It would be great if these people could be brought here to manage losses!
However, Pei Qian had hard time thinking about how to select these Management Trainees and who should be the person-in-charge.
Assistant Xin was very capable; her actions were clean and slick. She never probed into the reasons and seemed to be a good candidate.
However, the problem was that she was a little too capable. Most other departments were also very familiar with her.
Pei Qian set up this department purely to be his eyes. Getting Assistant Xin involved would be an overkill. Moreover, Pei Qian had a lot of work for Assistant Xin to do.
Moreover, the department heads knew Assistant Xin. They might be subconsciously defensive and not conceal enough.
Pei Qian pondered over and still felt that Little Tang was the most suitable.
On the one hand, she was the Keeper of the Encouragers on the surface. She looked completely harmless. Her gentle, soft, and cute nature was a natural protective color for herself. No one would be too wary of her.
On the other hand, Little Tang was simple-minded. She would do her best to carry out whatever she promised. She had been providing Pei Qian with the overtime list previously and had done very well.
The only problem would be the halo effect that occurred from time to time. It would cause many hidden bugs to surface, but everyone seemed to be rather used to it.
Who would think that the little girl who cleaned the cats’ poop day in and out was actually the commander of the secret service in the dark?
Yes, very suitable indeed!
Of course, it was not enough to have just one person. He had to have plenty of management trainees as well.
If it was other companies, Management Trainees would have been recruits of outstanding fresh graduates from school or selection prominent employees. However, the management trainees that Pei Qian wanted must not be from existing prominent employees.
Who knew what kind of trouble these employees would make if they were to travel freely around the various departments?!
Boss Pei would have more knives in his back in the unlikely event that some of them become well-rounded.
Therefore, Pei Qian decided that these Manage Loss Trainees must not have worked in Tengda before. They would skip the bi-annual recruitment drive from Tengda and be directly selected by Little Tang.
Those selected would only obey Boss Pei’s commands and ensure that Boss Pei’s orders were above everything else.
Pei Qian sipped his tea in the guest room while he briefed parts of his thoughts that could be out in the open in.
“In short, find some freshmen and sophomore students who have plenty of time on hand and minimal classes for internship in our company Arrange for them to go to various departments
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“You will be responsible for the Management Trainees program. Let me know once you have made progress.
“These Management Trainees must be chosen carefully. They must be honest and reliable.
“They can adjust their timings based on their class arrangement after they are assigned to their departments. They would mainly study and not participate in the work of the departments. However, they must know every movement of their assigned departments. “They have to come to the company once in a while to report directly to me about what they have seen during this period. I will also check on some information from time to time. I want everyone to be able to answer them whenever I ask about them.
“Also, this publicity is currently confidential so do not spread any publicity about it. However, it is not considered an absolute secret.
“There should be no problem, right?”
Tang Yishu was a little bewildered as she carefully squeezed her fingers. “Senior, I… I’m afraid I can’t be responsible, I haven’t even been a class monitor…”
Pei Qian smiled slightly. “No problem, this is a very simple job. I believe you will be able to do it well with your level of patience and care.
“You’ll still care for the cats in the company. You only need to come preside over the meeting when it is time for it. You will also be aware of the movements of the Management Trainees. Report any problem to me as soon as possible.
“That’s all, isn’t it simple?”
Tang Yishu pursed her lips. “Okay, Senior, I-I’ll try it out.”
[1] A blackened forehead means bad luck for the Chinese.
[2] Both phrases sound extremely similar in Mandarin.