Chapter 111 - Sorry, that's my company's trade secret (3)
Fang JunRong's company was doing very well right now, and many other companies sought to have a work relationship with it. Some of the malls even expressed that they could set up their own counters for her products.
She had checked on the situation with the factory. Once everything got on track, they would be able to produce 5,000 boxes of Beautify Pills daily. She debated about expanding the production. Her ultimate goal was to expand it out of China and push Beautify Pills to foreign countries and make foreigners' money. Hmm, if she was to sell them overseas, she would double or triple the pricing.
After this period of time, the Beautify Pills had already earned its own reputation and became what everyone looked at as the magical skin care product.
The drawback of being very well known was that it's getting even more difficult to get one's hand on them. Fang JunRong was only releasing 10,000 boxes a week, and they were gone in a matter of seconds every time. She has already had the servers upgraded; otherwise, they'd straight up just crash. Under the Weibo account, there were people crying and whining for her to increase the number that was released every week.
There were even scalpers. They'd buy them from the official site and resell them. They'd ask for three times the price for the Beautify Pills that originally cost 888 yuan a box. And still have plenty of buyers.
Xu WeiWei had a discussion with her on that already. "To the extent that we are able to produce more, do you think we should release another batch?" She had expected the Beautify Pills to be popular, but not to this extent. She had underestimated people's desire for good skin. Who wouldn't want to have delicate skin if given the chance?
"Many people sent emails to let us know that they have been waiting for weeks but still wasn't able to get any."
All the teary messages made her heart ache. They were so pitiful.
Fang JunRong felt bad for those who weren't able to get any of the Beautify Pills. That being said, she wasn't going to change the hunger marketing at the launch of the product. Their marketing method was definitely part of the reason why the Beautify Pills was so well known to all. What was hard to get must be the best.
"Hmm. You are right. We should give those who aren't fast enough a chance to buy our product as well." Fang JunRong thought about it for a while and felt that she should be more considerate to their fans sometimes and provide them with some sort of benefits.
"We will release an additional 10,000 boxes every week, but these additional 10,000 boxes will be released via raffling."
Xu WeiWei's mouth twitched. She had a feeling that from now on, on top of the ones who were too slow, there would also be those who were just very unlucky. She suddenly was very glad that she was the vice president of this company and that she wouldn't have to worry about getting her hands on the Beautify Pills. Otherwise, with her luck since she was a child, she'd never be able to get any.
That very moment, her compassion overlapped with many others who were also unlucky and she let out a scream from the bottom of her soul. "Are you a devil??"
"For those who were not drawn 4 times in a row, they can let us know. Once we confirm it, they will be able to purchase one box." That way, they'd be able to buy at least one box a month. And that would also allow them to keep the scalpers in check.
Besides, buying cosmetics through raffling had never been done before. That would become another publicity stunt and gain more advertisement for their company for no additional cost. That's hitting two birds with one stone.
Fang JunRong gave herself a mental thumbs-up for her great idea.
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Chapter 112 - The better his reputation before, the worse it was backfiring on him now (1)
Unlike Ayron Corporation, Meifang Corporation had never sought financing and never went IPO. Fang JunRong held 100% of the stock and whatever she said, went.
Fang JunRong's work style had always been decisive and efficient. She had a meeting with the upper management the very next day to discuss her idea of raffling. The decision was made after some of the details were nailed down.
Just as she had expected, as soon as the announcement was made, the words "Beautify Pills Raffling" immediately went up on the most trended list. All of the netizens were amazed and shocked beyond words.
[I've only heard of raffling for cars. This is for sure the first time I have heard of raffling for cosmetics. Man, when you live long enough, you see everything.]
[I've always been lucky. Can't wait!]
[This was certainly good news for those who were slow on the keyboard!! So excited that I am running around in circles downstairs!!]
[As a normally very unlucky person, never mind, I will just wait to buy in a month's time. Tired-smile.jpg.]
[I am going to use all of my friends and relatives' accounts. One of them has got to be picked!]
[I wonder if Li WangJin regrets his behaviors seeing how Fang JunRong is doing now. If I were him, I'd regret so much that I could puke.]
[Pffft. Why would you bring that guy up in a situation like this? Who wants to hear about him?]
All in all, while the public was stunned by this idea, they were accepting of it for the most part. If they couldn't even get one from the raffling, they would only attribute that to their own bad luck. Besides, when push came to shove, they could also buy one a month later.
As Fang JunRong's ex-husband, Li WangJin was inevitably dragged out and stomped in the conversations all over again.
Li WangJin did not allow others to talk about Fang JunRong in front of him normally yet he paid close attention to what was going on with her at all times. He wished Fang JunRong's company would go belly up, the sooner the better. When he read about the comments from the netizens, he was so mad that he turned into a puffer fish, but all he could do was to jump up and down in his office.
In the past, albeit reasonable sales of its sets of astringent, firming, and smoothing toners, Meifang Corporation's earning power was very limited under the competition force from all the other domestic cosmetic companies. It did not remotely measure up to that of Ayron Corporation. The most valuable asset was the land that it sat on, which was why Li WangJin happily gave it to Fang JunRong.
Who would have thought that this company, under Fang JunRong's management, would be revitalized and turned into the hen that could lay golden eggs in the eyes of others? That was a hard pill for Li WangJin to swallow.
It hadn't even been that long, and Fang JunRong had already made so much money from it. In a few years' time, it could easily surpass his Aryon Corporation. Contrarily, Aryon Corporation, owing to him, was being boycotted by some netizens with nothing better to do, and their sales had decreased noticeably. Many in the board of directors were not happy with him and would even voice their disgruntlement to his face.
In addition, due to insufficient working capital, he had missed out on a few profitable projects. This was very different than how he had envisioned. He felt that he should be doing much better than he was right now.
During the first couple of weeks after his divorce, he particularly enjoyed going to all sorts of clubs with his business associates and was able to act without restraints. He had experienced the joy of freedom that he had not experienced in the past 20 years.
Until the counterfeit incident, he rarely wanted to attend any networking events save for the necessary ones. He didn't want to see how others looked at him like he was a clown. They made fun of him quite a bit behind his back; saying how frugal he was to give his wife counterfeit artworks. The better his reputation before, the worse it was backfiring on him now.
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Chapter 113 - The better his reputation before, the worse it was backfiring on him now (2)
He blamed Jiang YaGe and Fang JunRong for that. He had already retaliated against Jiang YaGe by stopping her credit cards. As for Fang JunRong, he hadn't been able to do anything to her yet, especially with how she was going up and up as of late. It was like a big slap to his face that called out to him what a bad decision he had made.
At the same time, a deep sense of regret spread within him and he wasn't able to get rid of it.
The Beautify Pills was launched shortly after their divorce. So, most likely she already had the formula ahead of time, but she hid it so well that he hadn't seen any signs of it at all. She had kept it well from him, the man who had been sleeping next to her night after night.
He should be entitled to part of the proceeds from the Beautify Pills!
Thinking of that, he felt as though he was stabbed in his heart. He only wished he could travel back in time to a year ago. He certainly would not have rushed to bring Wang SiXian to be close to him, nor would he bring Jiang YaGe into his house and ended up pushing Fang JunRong away from him.
Unfortunately, there was no such thing as regret pills in life. There was nothing he could do other than tossing and turning night after night brooding in his own regrets.
Right then, his assistant pushed open the door and reminded him that it was time to go visit Wang SiXian. Li WangJin had been visiting Wang SiXian at the hospital every Friday. Being down on luck, he was only able to regain some of his high spirit in the past in front of Wang SiXian, who relied on him fully both emotionally and physically.
He rubbed between his brows, grabbed his suit jacket, and said, "Let's go."
When he got to the hospital, he noticed that Wang SiXian's mood wasn't much better than his. She had not been happy ever since her face was ruined, and her spirit would only be lifted a little during his visits.
She seemed a little bit more uplifting today than usual. He caught sight of the scars on her face and carefully looked away. Even though he had seen it quite a few times already, every time he saw it, he couldn't help the feeling of disgust that was stirred up.
He could only keep on reminding himself how Wang SiXian had looked in the past to stop his urge to turn and run away as fast as he could.
"You look happy today. What happened?" He had reallocated his feelings toward Wang SiEr onto Wang SiXian after he was disappointed in Jiang YaGe. As such, he had been more patient with Wang SiXian.
Wang SiXian gritted her teeth. Risking offending Li WangJin, she asked, "WangJin, do you think you will be able to get me the Beautify Pills from Fang JunRong?"
The smile on Li WangJin disappeared. He looked at Wang SiXian in disbelief. What was going through Wang SiXian's mind? Did she just ask him to go ask Fang JunRong for her Beautify Pills? Shouldn't she be the one who knew the relationship between Fang JunRong and himself the best?
"That is not even funny. If that's what you want, just ask someone else to get them for you."
"I was able to get my hand on some a few days ago, and they seemed to be effective. The burn marks seemed to have lightened some. I've heard that she has a stronger version of it as well." She didn't want to use that at first, but she had read about all the raves online and finally bought a box from a scalper. Its effect had exceeded her expectations.
As effective as it was, the effect was limited and her scars were still very obvious. She was about to give up when she heard that Fang JunRong had a better version in hand that she had only given to a few individuals and they were not available online.
Wang SiXian thought about it long and hard and finally couldn't help but turn to Li WangJin. If her face didn't recover soon enough, all of Li WangJin's passion for her would be gone. Each time that he came to visit, he never looked at her directly but avoided her face like it was a snake that bites.
Thinking of that, she could no longer hold back her tears. Why did she have such an unfortunate life? She had finally found her happiness, and then this had happened to her because of her niece.
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Chapter 114 - The better his reputation before, the worse it was backfiring on him now (3)
The last thing that Li WangJin wanted to do was to kowtow to Fang JunRong for favors and definitely not over something like this. Nevertheless, Wang SiXian had cried so much in front of him. When she cried with her head bowed, he couldn't see the scars on her face and she reminded him a lot of Wang SiEr.
Li WangJin swallowed the words that he had to reject her. Somewhat irritated, he said to her, "I'll give it a try."
He would not ask Fang JunRong himself, but he could ask someone else for help as long as they didn't reveal that he was the one behind it. It might be silly, but it was still better than him doing it in person and offering himself up for insults.
ShiZe had already broken up with YaGe and has been very close to Miss Deng lately. He didn't care for the Deng's, but it was better that his son was dating Deng Lan than him being stubborn about YaGe. Perhaps, he could ask the Deng's to reach out to Fang JunRong for a few boxes of the Beautify Pills.
One way or another, he would not be the one to go groveling at Fang JunRong.
He suddenly thought of something. He opened up his contact list, located Fang JunRong's number, and hit dial.
The very next second, his face turned dark.
***
Melodious music was playing and wine was being poured and consumed inside the grandeur lobby. People under the lights looked like they were wearing masks made by the same company as they chitchatted with each other.
Fang JunRong was invited to this banquet by her friend, Ning Qing. Ning Qing seemed to be in the process of starting her own security company and had been hosting a lot of banquets as of late to widen her network. Fang JunRong had a pretty good relationship with Ning Qing, and since she was starting to get tired from all the work lately, she decided to come for a relaxing night.
She had been extremely popular as of late, and many came over to chat her up as soon as she had arrived. Some of them subtly suggested that they would like to partner up with her. Fang JunRong chatted with them politely, then when nobody was paying attention, she snuck out onto the patio.
With a glass of wine in hand and looking up at the bright moon in the sky, Fang JunRong felt a sense of calmness washed over her.
Unfortunately, that calmness did not last too long before someone came over.
She turned around and saw a slightly chubby woman walking over to her. The woman covered up her mouth and made a surprised look. "Eh? I thought there was nobody over here and wanted to come over for a break. I didn't realize that Boss Fang is here as well. What a coincidence!"
That was some overacting if she had ever seen one.
Fang JunRong gave her a failing grade in her mind and also recognized who the person was. "Liu Zhu."
She was Deng Lan's mother. Fang JunRong's impression of her has always been that Liu Zhu was a woman who always agreed with anything that her husband said. She has an overall low demeanor. She was mentioned again toward the end of the book that when Deng Lan's improper actions were exposed, Li ShiZe got revenge against the Deng's along with a few other individuals and destroyed their family.
Liu Zhu had no idea about Fang JunRong's opinion on her. She was very happy that Fang JunRong remembered her.
Her attitude was eager. "Boss Fang, you are truly getting prettier and prettier by the day and don't look like a mother of two at all. You have no idea how many around me had used your Beautify Pills and raved about it to me."
Fang JunRong cocked her head a little and gave her a very standard smile. "If you want, you can give me your address. I will have someone sell you a few boxes at retail price." She wasn't going to just hand over some Beautify Pills for free.
Thinking that her daughter had been dating Fang JunRong's son lately, Liu Zhu felt very confident in herself. "I've heard that your company makes an even better product but those are not for sale. And that you only provide them to your friends. Do you think I can have the honor to be a friend of yours?"
Fang JunRong has no shortage of them but that didn't mean she wanted to give them to this person for free. Low and behold, an angry voice chimed in before she could turn Liu Zhu down.
"Shameless! You call yourself a friend of Fang JunRong? What makes you think you can just ask her for them!"
Fang JunRong turned and saw Sun Mei walking over while holding up a corner of her dress.
Fang JunRong thought to herself: Em, no, Sun Mei isn't exactly a friend either.
Sun Mei obviously lacked the self-awareness and said very righteously, "Even if she is going to give them away, she'd give them to a real friend like me first. Who do you think you are? Do you think I have no idea that you and your husband are close with Li WangJin? Well, are you trying to straddle the fence here?"
Fang JunRong: Excellent. Sun Mei is going to be her friend in the next hour that follows.
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Chapter 115 - She would never believe that Fang JunRong would truly sever her ties with her son (1)
In many people's eyes, Sun Mei wasn't a pleasant person to be around. She was gossipy and petty. She acted however she wanted and was a very selfish person, but she had her own set of guidelines that she followed, which was why she was still bouncing around today without being "taking care of" yet. For example, she would not offend anyone that she shouldn't offend. In her eyes, Liu Zhu did not fall into that category. Another example was that she had no problem switching her stance drastically. She never got along with Fang JunRong before, and now she could easily take on the stance that they were the best of buds and that nothing unpleasant had happened in the past between the two of them. That was certainly not a skill that everyone possessed.
But, as far as Fang JunRong was concerned, she didn't care about Sun Mei's personality as long as she wasn't an obstacle for her. Besides, if it wasn't for Sun Mei's personality, she wouldn't have been able to use her to get so much money out of Li WangJin. As such, she had an added ounce of patience toward Sun Mei.
Right now, she just smiled and waited for Sun Mei to use her ability.
In Sun Mei's eyes, Fang JunRong's smile was a form of encouragement, so she even took things up a notch. "Double-dealing, hypocritical, duplicitous – those are all words used to describe you. If I was you, I'd be too ashamed to even show my face in front of anyone."
She had tried to buy some of the internal-only Beautify Pills from Fang JunRong in the past, and Fang JunRong had expressed that they were difficult to produce and that she didn't have a lot of them herself. She could only sell Sun Mei three boxes of them. So how could Sun Mei not be angered when Liu Zhu, who had come out of nowhere today, tried to secure some of those from Fang JunRong?
Besides, there had been more unpleasantness between the two of them in the past. Both Sun Mei and Liu Zhu have a son, and both of them were the rich playboy type. That aside, it would have been fine had there been an understanding that the two of them were on the same level. Low and behold, Liu Zhu particularly enjoyed bragging about her useless son while patronizing Sun Mei's. With the new and old hatred combining together, Sun Mei was going for blood.
Fang JunRong lamented to herself – she didn't know that Sun Mei was so good with her vocabulary.
Sun Mei's words made Liu Zhu's face turn red. Her chest heaved up and down from anger. For someone who cared about her appearance in public, it was definitely a disadvantage for her to be confronted by a tramp like Sun Mei in public. What she thought would have been a simple task was now mucked up by Sun Mei.
"It's not what you think. We've only met up with Li WangJin to talk about ShiZe." Recalling Li ShiZe all of a sudden, Liu Zhu felt that she had just grabbed onto the last straw that'd keep her afloat.
She took a look at Fang JunRong, considered it carefully, and said, "ShiZe and my LanLan have been together. My LanLan is a very kind girl and didn't want the understanding between Boss Fang and her son to carry on, so she asked me to ask Boss Fang for a few boxes of Beautify Pills. That way she can present them to ShiZe and tell him that Boss Fang had his best interest in mind and wanted him to have those to give away to others when he solicits favors."
As she went on, she felt that her excuse was impeccable and sounded more and more righteous. She would never believe that Fang JunRong would truly sever her ties with her son. Who else would she pass her business onto? Her daughter who was destined to marry out?"*
From a certain perspective, Sun Mei's assessment wasn't entirely off base. Even though Liu Zhu was asking for Beautify Pills for Li WangJin, she presented it as trying to help ease matters between Fang JunRong and her son, making herself seem like a glowingly nice person.
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Translator's Rambling: A friggin' ridiculous concept that daughters marry "out" – changing their last names and also their children will take on the husband's last name.