Chapter 119: Stealing the Spotlight

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Seeing Han Zhong in such a foul mood early in the morning, Xu Ming was momentarily stunned. Unsure of how he had offended him, he looked toward Han Zhong with a puzzled expression. His gaze drifted to the Passat parked behind Han Zhong, then back to the BMW beside him, and a look of sudden realization dawned on his face.

Han Zhong and Xu Ming had been friends for several years, and they often chatted when they had free time. Xu Ming had heard a few days ago that Han Zhong intended to buy a Passat. Seeing him now standing next to a brand-new car with a set of keys in his hand, it was clear that this Passat was his latest purchase.

As for why Han Zhong was angry, it was obviously because his new car had been overshadowed by the BMW belonging to his subordinate. He was feeling stifled, though Xu Ming figured that if he were in the same position, he wouldn't feel very comfortable either.

"Brother Han, you're acting like you've been eating gunpowder this morning. What's wrong?" Xu Ming and Han Zhong were close, so he naturally wasn't offended by the other man's sharp tone and asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"What do you mean 'what's wrong'? Brother Han just bought a Passat, and you, Old Xu, show up with a BMW 730. He’s obviously feeling a bit miffed," joked a man of about twenty-eight or twenty-nine.

This man was Liu Zhenguo, another branch manager under Han Zhong. His store’s performance was second only to those of Xu Ming and Su Ning, and he could be considered one of the strong contenders for the Regional Manager position.

"Go away, stop spouting nonsense. Am I really that narrow-minded?" Han Zhong laughed and scolded.

Even if Han Zhong was feeling unhappy, he couldn't show it in front of so many subordinates. He pointed his right finger at the BMW 730 and asked, "Old Xu, where did you get this car? It's not bad!"

"This isn't my car; it was bought by Zhang Wei, a sales agent from my store." Xu Ming walked over to Zhang Wei, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a sense of reflected pride.

"Not bad, Xiao Zhang. You only made over a million in sales last month, and this month you've already bought a BMW?" Hearing that it was Zhang Wei’s car, Han Zhong said with some surprise.

Because of his good relationship with Xu Ming, Han Zhong often visited the Yayuan branch store and was quite familiar with the sales agents under Xu Ming. Zhang Wei, in particular, had left a deep impression on him after generating over 1.7 million in sales the previous month.

"Hehe, it's all thanks to the guidance of Brother Han and Brother Xu. I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants," Zhang Wei said modestly.

"Good, young people should be humble and eager to learn. Keep working hard under your branch manager and strive to close more deals and achieve higher performance this month. When the time comes, I'll give you a bonus myself," Han Zhong said as he walked up to Zhang Wei and patted him on the shoulder in encouragement.

Han Zhong managed a total of five stores and eight teams. Last month, the combined performance of all stores was only 3 million, and Zhang Wei alone had generated over 1.7 million. This had caused the performance of Han Zhong's jurisdiction to rise by half overnight, which had certainly helped push him toward his promotion to Regional Director.

"Don't worry, Brother Han. I won't let you down," Zhang Wei nodded and said quite confidently.

Seeing Zhang Wei being praised in public, Xu Ming felt very proud. Zhang Wei was a sales agent under him, and a branch manager's duty was to guide agents in closing deals; thus, Zhang Wei's achievement was partly to Xu Ming's credit.

To the other sales agents at Zhongtong Company, this sudden star was both a stranger and a familiar face. Meetings for the Zhongtong district usually involved fifty or sixty people, and only a few branch managers and high-performing agents ever received any attention.

Zhang Wei had been with the company for over three months. For the first two, he hadn't closed a single deal. Even when he attended district meetings, he was merely a background figure for the high performers. Almost no one noticed him; many couldn't even recall his name, and their impression of him was incredibly vague.

But in his third month, Zhang Wei suddenly exerted his strength, generating more sales on his own than the entire district combined. He quickly became a star agent, and every branch manager started holding him up as an example to encourage new hires or those with poor performance.

People might not know the names of all the branch managers in the district, but there wasn't a single person who didn't know the name Zhang Wei. However, not many had actually recognized him in person. In a sense, this was the first time everyone had truly become familiar with Zhang Wei.

"So that’s Zhang Wei? He’s not bad looking, is he?"

"What, do you have a crush on him? Do you want me to help you get his business card?"

"Forget it, you silly girl. I think it’s you who has a crush on him and you’re just using me as a cover!"

"Tch, he just got lucky by running into a wealthy client and selling a villa. He’s not qualified to make me chase after him."

Several female sales agents gathered together, pointing at Zhang Wei and whispering incessantly. A man's ability is a form of personal charm; women liking capable men is the same as men liking beautiful women.

"Alright, everyone is here now, so stop standing around. Get to the underground conference room for the meeting," Han Zhong said, waving his hand to urge them along.

Below this Zhongtong store was an underground conference room of about a hundred square meters, specifically used for sales meetings. It was filled with rows of folding chairs, packed tightly by the dozens.

As soon as Zhang Wei entered the room, he was pulled by Xu Ming to sit in the front row. In the past, Zhang Wei would have been relegated to a corner. This was, in a way, a perk of having high ability and strong performance.

Groups of people trickled into the underground conference room, and after five minutes of chaotic shuffling, everyone finally took their seats. Han Zhong then walked into the room, his left hand behind his back and a teacup in his right hand, as he stepped onto the podium.

"Clap, clap, clap..." Han Zhong placed his teacup on the table. Seeing that the crowd below was still whispering and discussing, he couldn't help but frown. He clapped his hands and said, "Meeting time. Everyone, be quiet. If I see anyone dare to say another word, I’ll have the assistant bring out the fine notices."

Han Zhong’s words were quite effective. Upon hearing about potential fines, the crowd immediately fell silent. Han Zhong nodded with satisfaction and said, "I know everyone is anxious to get paid and doesn't want to hear me rambling here, but our district assistant hasn't returned from the bank yet, so it’s no use being impatient."

"Hahaha..." Once Han Zhong said this, everyone burst into laughter, and the tense atmosphere eased slightly.

"I asked you all to come early for the meeting today because I have something to announce. You should all know that our district has lost a Regional Director. The company has promoted me to take over his position, so this is also a chance to officially say goodbye to everyone," Han Zhong said with a solemn expression, pressing his hands downward.

"We may have fewer chances to see each other in the future, but if anyone needs anything, you can still call me. Even though I won't be in charge of your district anymore, you are still the soldiers I trained."

"Brother Han, don't worry. Once you become the Regional Manager, you’ll still be leading us all."

"Brother Han, maybe one day I'll apply to transfer to the district you manage to become a branch manager."

"Alright, that’s enough with the tall tales. You’re all grown up, stop being so unserious." Hearing this, although Han Zhong scolded them on the surface, he was quite happy inside. At least his group of brothers hadn't been trained in vain.

"Since I'm leaving, the position of Regional Manager will be vacant. The Beijing branch has already found someone to replace me, and I hope you will respect and assist him just as you did me, and strive to improve our district's performance even further," Han Zhong said, his tone shifting and his voice rising sharply.

As soon as Han Zhong spoke, the room went quiet. Although they had guessed that today's meeting might be about the selection of a new Regional Manager, they still felt a bit nervous now that it was actually happening, as this person would be their future direct superior.

Several branch managers’ faces darkened upon hearing Han Zhong's words. Since the Beijing branch had already decided on the candidate, that person must have been notified in advance and perhaps even called to the branch office for a talk. But since they hadn't received any news, didn't that mean they were already out of the running?

In the first row of the underground conference room, besides a few branch managers, only Zhang Wei was sitting there. Taking advantage of his front-row seat, he could see the expressions of the eight branch managers. Except for the calm-faced Xu Ming, the others all showed looks of surprise, with some even revealing a hint of disappointment.