“`
Knock, knock, knock…
Just as Yang Hao was planning to quickly go through his tasks, someone knocked on the office door.
“Come in.”
Yang Hao slightly adjusted his sitting position.
He then saw Cai Meichen walk in with a stack of documents.
This nominally office director of the president was actually doing the president’s job, while Yang Hao, the actual president, was still in the learning phase, constantly absorbing knowledge from this “acting president” through the effects of the Study Card.
“Mr. Yang, our self-media accounts have sparked quite a bit of controversy within the group these past two days, along with some critical voices,” Cai Meichen said as she settled down in front of Yang Hao’s desk.
“Let them criticize if they want to. I actually think we’re doing pretty well. It’s the age of self-media, we need to keep up with the times!”
The self-media center of Jiangcheng Newspaper Group was officially launched last Wednesday. So far, we have registered four accounts: [Jiangcheng Evening News], [Jiangcheng Daily], [Jiangcheng Finance], and [Jiangcheng Observations].
The first three accounts correspond to the three newspapers under the Jiangcheng Newspaper Group, and the last one is the main account of the Jiangcheng Newspaper Group.
Since the operations team consists of post-00s generations, the content published on the self-media accounts since their launch indeed doesn’t quite match the traditional media’s image, blending in many of the currently popular internet memes and BGMs.
But in an age where many official media outlets are starting to stir things up, this is not a big deal.
The critics are either ulterior-motivated, pretending to be confused knowing full well what’s going on, or they are the old conservative sticks-in-the-mud, who should be phased out by the times.
“I share Mr. Yang’s view. Our self-media accounts haven’t even been operating for a week, and the [Jiangcheng Observations] account has already gained over seventy thousand followers. The results are encouraging,” Cai Meichen continued.
“Therefore, I suggest we increase our investment in the self-media operations center, at the very least to expand the operations team. Right now, we have only six people, which is too few.”
“Additionally, we should strengthen cooperation between the marketing department and the self-media operations center…” Cai Meichen articulated her thoughts in an orderly manner.
“Hmm, that sounds good,” Yang Hao nodded in agreement.
“Just do as you said.”
After agreeing, Yang Hao then remembered his niece whom he hadn’t seen for a few days.
The self-media operations center has officially launched, and I, as the president, should pay them a visit!
So, after discussing work with Cai Meichen, Yang Hao headed straight to the fifth floor, where the new media operations center was located.
Since the self-media operations center was a newly established department, the offices were converted from two vacant storerooms. The working environment was very ordinary. Even the office of Li Manni, the director of the new media operations center, was quite rudimentary, just about eight or nine square meters. After fitting in the desks, chairs, and bookcase, there wasn’t much space left.
However, the working atmosphere at the self-media operations center was genuinely good. Yang Hao could hear laughter from the corridor, probably due to the youthfulness of the staff.
“Hello, may I ask who you’re looking for?”
A young girl at a nearby workstation stood up and asked politely upon seeing Yang Hao.
And after hearing her voice, the others also instinctively looked toward the door.
“Ah!”
“Brother Yang…”
“No, Mr. Yang, what brings you here!”
Seeing that the person entering the office was Yang Hao, Xu Wenqian couldn’t help but feel excited, then introduced him to her colleagues, “This is Mr. Yang, the president of Jiangcheng Newspaper Group!”
“Hello, Mr. Yang!”
“Hello, Mr. Yang…”
Since the self-media operations center was full of newcomers, of course, they didn’t recognize Yang Hao, the big boss. After Xu Wenqian’s introduction, everyone quickly greeted him with surprise.
Yang Hao waved his hand dismissively, “Carry on with your work, I’m just here for a look.”
“Mr. Yang, you’re here to see Director Li?” Xu Wenqian approached with a smile and asked.
“Yeah, is she in her office?” Yang Hao asked casually.
“She is. Do you want me to let her know you’re here?”
Xu Wenqian pointed to the closed door of the director’s office.
“No need.”
Yang Hao waved his hand and walked over with a brisk stride, then politely knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Li Manni’s voice came from inside the office, and Yang Hao then pushed the door open and entered.
“`
“Brother-in-law??”
Li Manni had thought it was Xu Wenqian or some other colleague, but to her surprise, the person who entered was Yang Hao, which caught her a bit off guard.
Yang Hao casually closed the door behind him and said with a cheerful laugh, “I heard you guys are doing pretty well, I came to have a look.”
“We’ve just started, there is a lot we’re still figuring out,” Li Manni humbly replied.
“The group is preparing to increase your manpower, under the current situation, how many more people do you think you need?”
Yang Hao pulled over a chair and sat down opposite Li Manni.
“Well, let’s add another six…”
Actually, these past two days Li Manni had been facing a shortage of manpower because they needed to run four accounts, and with only six people in total, they could only reduce the number of updates.
And now self-media is very competitive, many official media accounts sometimes post dozens of videos a day.
More updates are always a good thing, it’s just like writing online novels.
“Then let’s transfer six more people or recruit directly, you can interview them when the time comes.”
“Additionally, if you need anything, just reach out to Director Cai, or you can contact me directly…”
After finishing the business talk, Yang Hao changed the subject, “Come to the house for dinner after work today, Xixi was saying yesterday that she missed you.”
“I miss Xixi too.”
Li Manni gently pursed her lips, then said with difficulty, “But, I don’t think I can make it today. My parents are arriving in Jiangcheng at six, I need to pick them up from the high-speed train station.”
“Eh?”
“Your parents are coming??”
Yang Hao looked at Li Manni with considerable surprise.
And when she heard the words “dad and mom,” Li Manni felt somewhat distant.
It used to be fine for Yang Hao to refer to them that way, but now that he had divorced her sister, it was no longer appropriate to do so.
“Mom hasn’t been feeling well for a while, the hospital in our town couldn’t find anything wrong, so she thought of coming to Jiangcheng for a check-up.”
Li Manni explained the sudden reason for her parents’ visit.
“I see…”
Yang Hao nodded and asked, “Have you booked a hotel? Or where are they staying?”
Actually, Yang Hao wanted to ask if they were staying at Li Manshu’s place, because he knew she had bought a house, but he didn’t want to mention her name.
“The one-room apartment at my sister’s is inconvenient for them, so I was planning to have them stay at my place with Wenqian. Wenqian and I can just share a room,” Li Manni shared her plan.
Yang Hao waved his hand, “Your place is too cramped.”
“How about this, pick up your parents and then head straight to my place to stay. Xixi would probably really miss her grandma and grandpa too.”
Yang Hao always had a good relationship with his in-laws; throughout the years he was married to Li Manshu, he treated them like his own parents.
For the first two years after Xixi was born, his mother-in-law often came over to help with the baby, staying for a month or two at a time, so she had a lot of interaction with Yang Hao and they became quite familiar with each other.
When he and Li Manshu were getting divorced, her parents tried to persuade their daughter not to go through with it, and even called Yang Hao to plead on their behalf, hoping that the couple wouldn’t separate.
But Li Manshu had made up her mind, and Yang Hao wasn’t keen on living his life on a “vast prairie” either.
Eventually, they divorced.
Her parents were rather heartbroken over it. Li Manni, the younger sister, told of how her mother had gotten sick because of it, and whether the current illness was related in any way to that past incident was unknown.
“This…”
“That doesn’t seem appropriate.”
Li Manni hesitated, after all, this man was now her former brother-in-law.
“There’s nothing inappropriate about it.”
“Although your sister and I are divorced.”
“Nevertheless, parents are still parents, and they are still Xixi’s grandparents!” Yang Hao said with certainty.
“Uh…”
Li Manni looked at Yang Hao. His words seemed fine at first glance because Xixi and her own parents were blood-related, and familial love couldn’t be severed.
But how should she interpret “parents are still parents”?
Did he feel that divorcing her sister didn’t affect his relationship with her parents, or was there another underlying message?
Li Manni couldn’t help but think of Fat Peng’s book, “After the Divorce, My Younger Sister-in-Law Fell for Me,” which had this line in the synopsis: A divorce might happen, but these in-laws are irreplaceable!