“Jingru, do you mean I can start working directly at Maetian Entertainment, or are you saying that you’ve given me an opportunity for an internal referral?”
Song Xuejiao controlled her surprise as she spoke again.
Maetian Entertainment was one of the top music companies in the country. Song Xuejiao felt it was a bit too incredulous that her cousin Wang Jingru could get her a job there with just a few words.
The idea of an internal referral seemed a bit more reasonable.
“Jiejie, it’s not an internal referral. You will go directly to work!”
“However, you’ll need to discuss the specifics of your position with our Mr. Yang.”
Wang Jingru responded with a hint of cheerfulness in her voice.
“So, it’s really about going straight to work there!”
Song Xuejiao didn’t expect her cousin to hold so much sway. She quickly expressed her gratitude, “Thank you so much, Jingru!”
“Jiejie, there’s no need for formalities between us!”
“I’ll send you Mr. Yang’s phone number in a bit. Then you give him a call, and you two can talk about the specifics!”
After discussing the matter at hand, Wang Jingru asked Song Xuejiao to send her regards to her eldest aunt and uncle, and then she hung up the phone.
“Jingru introduced you to a job?”
Wang Hongjuan had already leaned over close to her daughter. As soon as the call ended, she asked eagerly.
“Didn’t you hear everything?”
Song Xuejiao responded somewhat speechlessly. Wang Hongjuan had been so close during the call that she must have heard everything clearly.
“How can my hearing at this age compare to yours? I only caught the gist of it.”
“From what Jingru said, you can just go there and start working, right?”
“And that Maetian Entertainment, is it big? How does it compare to Cao Zhiyang’s company?”
Wang Hongjuan fired off a series of questions.
“You’re comparing Maetian Entertainment to that Cao guy’s company?”
“It’s like the difference between heaven and earth!!”
Song Guocheng, who had been apparently watching TV but was actually paying attention to his daughter’s situation, joined the conversation. He was a senior editor at the Hucheng Evening News, with only a year left until retirement.
As he had worked in the media and because his daughter and son-in-law had been operating an entertainment company previously, he was particularly familiar with domestic entertainment companies.
Thus, when he heard his wife comparing his former son-in-law’s company to that of Maetian Entertainment, Song Guocheng, who already harbored much resentment toward his former son-in-law, couldn’t help but make a snide comment.
“A big company, indeed!”
“That’s fantastic!”
Wang Hongjuan wasn’t in the mood to quibble over her husband’s tone. She asked with a smile, “Jiaojiao, did Jingru mention when you can start working?”
“She didn’t specify a time, just said I should talk with their boss.”
As they were speaking, Song Xuejiao received a notification on her phone: Wang Jingru had sent a phone number.
At this moment, Song Guocheng spoke again, “Don’t get too excited yet. It’s not easy to get into a company of Maetian Entertainment’s caliber!
“If it really were so easy to get in, the job would probably be menial. It wouldn’t be worth it, plus you’d owe them a big favor!”
Song Guocheng’s pride didn’t allow him to accept help from his wife’s side of the family, especially now that a junior was claiming she could easily get his daughter a job at a company like Maetian Entertainment. He found it unreliable.
“Then find a job for Jiaojiao yourself. You’ve been at the newspaper all your life, always mingling and socializing; still, you’ve never found a decent job for Jiaojiao!”
Wang Hongjuan retorted. She had been dissatisfied about missing her elder brother’s sixtieth birthday celebration and seized the opportunity to give her husband a piece of her mind.
“Who says I can’t find one? Jiaojiao wanted to rest for a while, right?”
“Now that she’s looking for a job, I’ll make some calls tomorrow to ask around.”
Song Guocheng, who had been sitting on the sofa, suddenly stood up sharply, for he was particularly persistent about not losing face to his wife’s family.
“Don’t wait for tomorrow. Call now.”
“With a good job, our Jiaojiao will have more options, right?” Wang Hongjuan snorted. After living together for a lifetime, she knew her husband all too well.
Song Guocheng didn’t have any bad intentions, but he was too proud. A Fudan University Department of Literature graduate in the era when university graduates were scarce, he had his pick of jobs at well-reputed state-owned enterprises.
Ultimately, he chose the Hucheng Evening News, which matched his professional background. At the time he joined the Hucheng Evening News, televisions hadn’t yet fully penetrated the Chinese market, with the media mostly dominated by print.
Anyone who worked in a newspaper office was considered to be ‘above others’!
Song Guocheng indeed had a few years of glory, but as someone who prided himself on being a scholar, he detested the so-called ‘networking’. Not long after starting, he offended his boss and didn’t get along well with his colleagues.
Given those circumstances, his life at the company was as miserable as one can imagine. He faced ostracization and unfair treatment, and he was passed over for several crucial promotions, such that he approached his retirement age as just an editor-in-chief.
Meanwhile, his peers who started at the newspaper at the same time had either been promoted and left or were now the newspaper’s top executives.
Being too proud and unable to achieve his ambitions during his lifetime led to Song Guocheng’s ‘old grump’ personality.
Therefore, asking someone to find a job for his daughter was something he simply couldn’t do; even if he swallowed his pride and asked, his influence as an about-to-retire editor would not necessarily earn him any favors.
Workplaces thrive on the exchange of benefits. If you no longer have any value to offer, why should anyone help you?