"There's no HR interview on record for today; you'll be interviewed directly by the project team." The receptionist tucked away Yang Yi's form. "This is Brother Miao, the Account Manager from the Business Department."
Before him stood a middle-aged man, appearing about ten years older than Yang Yi. His greasy long hair fell all the way to his chin, giving him the look of a faded rock star at first glance.
"Yang Yi, right? I'm Yu Miao." The man stepped forward to shake hands.
"Hello, Brother Miao."
The man pulled a chair out from under the conference table and sat down. "Sit, sit," he beckoned Yang Yi to join him.
"Uh, where's your resume?" He looked at the empty tabletop in front of Yang Yi.
"I sent it to Mao Lin yesterday. He told me to come in for the interview today, so I..."
"Ah, no worries, no worries. I looked at it yesterday. Your college record is quite impressive—I see you won several awards?" Brother Miao tilted his head, glancing at Yang Yi before continuing, "So, why Beitong?"
"I've always admired Beitong Advertising. Plus, the Creative Director from Beitong was actually on the judging panel for one of my award-winning works in university. I felt like I had a connection with the company, and I believe I'm well-suited for the advertising industry."
"Give me a brief introduction of yourself first."
Isn't all that in the resume? He says he read it, so why do I have to repeat it? Yang Yi couldn't exactly refuse, so he launched into a chronological account of his four years in university.
If Brother Miao hadn't started looking restless and cut him off halfway, Yang Yi might have kept going all the way back to elementary school.
"Why did you leave your last company? Tianchen is quite a famous name in the industry."
Yang Yi described his daily situation at Tianchen. Brother Miao's assessment was that Yang Yi was "steady and hardworking," but lacked experience in major projects and teamwork.
"Mao Lin probably gave you a rough idea. We just brought in a major new client and the team is short-staffed, so we did some internal referrals. That's why HR isn't doing the first round today—I'm representing the department."
Brother Miao proceeded to introduce Beitong's corporate background, team structure, departmental distribution, and daily responsibilities. From now on, he would be Yang Yi's direct supervisor.
The team structure was interesting; Beitong's project groups were categorized as "Battalions." Brother Miao's group was the Third Battalion. Besides that, the Financial Business Unit had the First and Second Battalions.
Business was like warfare, and dividing the account department into "battalions" sounded very driven. However, Yang Yi soon realized that his interpretation wasn't the reality—"Third Battalion" was simply shorthand for the Third Business Department.
Drowsiness began to set in. Brother Miao's speaking pace was perfectly modulated at a slow, steady rhythm; Yang Yi struggled to stay focused and only managed to retain about thirty percent of the information.
"Anything else you want to ask me?" Brother Miao shifted slightly in his seat, using both hands to smooth back his long hair from his cheeks.
"Uh, no."
"Regarding salary and benefits, what are your expectations?"
Yang Yi hesitated. He had thought about this. Tianchen paid its AEs a monthly salary of 3,500. Yang Yi wanted to ask for 5,000 this time, but then he worried that if he asked for too much and they declined, he might miss out on the job entirely.
He was already unemployed; he couldn't afford to blow this.
"Uh... 4,000." Yang Yi chickened out.
"Gross or net?"
Yang Yi thought for a moment. If he said "net," wouldn't that bring it close to 5,000? At Tianchen, his 3,500 gross salary only left him with a bit over 3,300 take-home pay. Based on the current flow of the conversation, his 4,000 request was probably for the gross amount.
"Gross."
"Haha." Brother Miao shifted in his seat again; it seemed the conference room chairs weren't very comfortable for long sits.
"What is your first impression of me?" Brother Miao looked up, his eyes suddenly becoming clear. Yang Yi had the fleeting illusion that a pure-hearted girl was confessing her love to him.
"Um, very handsome, and your hair color looks great."
"You can tell I dyed it?" Brother Miao looked incredulous.
"Yes, it has a cool blue tint... specifically, a grey-blue."
"Impressive. Your ring is nice, too." Brother Miao pointed toward Yang Yi's left hand. "Is it platinum?"
"No way, it's just silver." Yang Yi touched the ring. "I prefer things to be simple and elegant. I liked the plain finish of this one the moment I saw it."
"I've already been to the salon to wash it twice. I dyed it a bit blue before, but the bosses said it wasn't allowed and made me dye it back," Brother Miao began to mutter to himself, like an old friend venting.
"I've heard that Beitong is very strict about employee image, but the dyed hair really does look cool," Yang Yi chimed in.
"It's not just to look cool. I'm getting old; I've got white hairs now." Brother Miao smoothed his hair again. "Alright then, wait a moment. I'll send HR in to talk to you."
As Brother Miao got up and walked out, Yang Yi watched his back, feeling that getting into Beitong was now almost a certainty.
The door pushed open again, and Yang Yi found the newcomer strangely familiar.
Small... small canines?
Yang Yi hadn't expected that the beautiful girl with the small canines would be standing before him again.
She was still in that white blouse, and the sound of her Marten boots clicking on the floor drew closer until those familiar collarbones were once again in front of Yang Yi.
"Yang Yi, right? We met just now."
Just as Yang Yi was wondering how to start, the girl with the small canines curled her lips into a smile. Only then did Yang Yi notice she also had two lovely dimples.
That one sentence—"We met just now"—immediately eased Yang Yi's nerves. As he looked up, his gaze fell back onto her collarbones.
This looks even better than Quan Quan, Yang Yi thought to himself.
"Um, yes. Hello." Four words—two more than his previous "um" and "thank you."
"Hello, I'm Fang Yuan, the HR for the Financial Business Unit." After sitting down, she crossed her legs. Across the table, Yang Yi caught a glimpse of her black stockings.
"So, Brother Miao already gave me a rundown, and we are very satisfied with the interview results. Regarding the salary, Brother Miao told me you're looking for a range of 4,000 to 5,000 gross, right?"
Wasn't it 4,000? Where did the 5,000 come from? Yang Yi was puzzled, but his body complied, and he nodded.
"What is the specific figure? I see that on your registration form, you filled in 3,500." Fang Yuan held the form Yang Yi had filled out earlier.
"I'm hoping for 4,500." Feeling a certain rapport with her, Yang Yi relaxed completely. Splitting the difference in that range seemed safe enough.
"That's quite a jump. No problem, I'll help you apply for it later. However, if the gross is 4,500, your monthly take-home pay will be around 3,100." Fang Yuan looked up at the ceiling.
"3,100? When my gross was 3,500 before, I could take home over 3,300." Yang Yi found this hard to accept.
"Ah, I see." A look of slight mockery appeared on her face before she quickly pulled it back. "As you know, Beitong Advertising is a foreign-invested enterprise. In Nanjin, we pay the full amount of social security and housing fund contributions for our employees."
Seeing that Yang Yi didn't quite follow, she added: "If your gross pay were 3,500 at Beitong, you would take home about 2,500 per month."
"Understood. No problem." Yang Yi agreed readily on the surface, though he felt a bit of lingering dissatisfaction.
At that moment, he somewhat regretted not asking for 5,000 directly, but after all this effort, as long as he could get into Beitong, it was good enough.
"OK, then we'll send the offer to your personal email today. Please reply once you receive it." Fang Yuan stood up, and Yang Yi followed her toward the door.
"The offer will include a checklist of onboarding materials. You can look it over and get everything ready." As they drew close, Yang Yi caught the faint scent of her perfume.
"Alright."
"Shall we set your start date for next Monday?"
"That works." Yang Yi would have been fine starting tomorrow; he could hardly contain himself now.
Fang Yuan saw him out of the seventh-floor doors, leaving him to wait for the elevator alone.
The elevator was empty. Facing his own reflection in the metal doors, Yang Yi let out a goofy, silent grin.
The right time, the right place, and the right people.
Oh, and a pay cut.