Chapter 0849: Confidence

The root of all pain in life is that what we want far exceeds what we need.

In plain terms, it's greed.

Zhao Fusheng couldn't recall where he had seen such a remark, saying that life is a feast of mirages, and one's greatest enemies are their own timidity and greed, unrelated to external existence, because external existence is less a reason to pursue something and more a whetstone to test the firmness of one's heart.

Zheng Yao was not a greedy person—this was Zhao Fusheng's conclusion after careful observation.

For him, this was a good thing. After all, if the person he entrusted with an important task harbored immense ambition, that would not be good news for Zhao Fusheng.

For someone who didn't lack money, fighting for ownership of a company was undoubtedly a protracted war. Zhao Fusheng might not fear it, but he had neither the patience nor the energy to waste.

After all, his memories of rebirth were quite awkward. Some things, unless he was a professional, he simply couldn't know. At most, he had seen them once in a friend's circle or on a computer and been captivated for a while. But as time passed, these memories were surely sealed away.

Asking Zhao Fusheng to sit and recall what happened on a specific date, or what major event befell someone during that period—sorry, he wasn't a computer, he couldn't achieve that level of precision.

In fact, Zhao Fusheng could be one hundred percent certain that he basically didn't remember.

If it was related to advertising, fine; if not, what Zhao Fusheng could recall was probably less than twenty or thirty percent.

At such times, a catalyst was needed.

Just as seeing Tan Kaixuan occasionally reminded Zhao Fusheng of some stock market information, for him, such flashes of insight were rare, but when they occurred, they sufficed.

But regardless, Future Advertising was the foundation Zhao Fusheng valued, because it was his company, his career, the basis for his lifelong comfort.

In plain terms, Zhao Fusheng was a selfish and shrewd person. As a nobody, he had no grand ambitions; what he valued was the small patch of land before him.

And Zheng Yao was the person Zhao Fusheng chose specifically to guard his retreat.

"So, isn't Beijing a bit better than Binzhou?" Zhao Fusheng asked Zheng Yao with a smile.

Zheng Yao smiled back: "Better, yes, but difficulties are also plenty."

The 'better' they spoke of didn't refer to living standards, but to work matters.

Zhao Fusheng's meaning was clear: he was asking whether Zheng Yao felt that the market in Beijing was larger than in Binzhou, after all, the gap between the capital and a provincial capital was not trivial.

And Zheng Yao's answer was straightforward: in her view, although the capital was big, there were also many competitors, far from the comfort of their monopoly in Binzhou.

Thus, chatting with smart people was very interesting, because everyone disliked stating things bluntly and preferred to beat around the bush.

"You win some, you lose some. Besides, if you stay in one place all the time, aren't you afraid of getting rusty?" Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Zheng Yao, "I have great confidence in you."

Hearing his words, Zheng Yao snorted dismissively, not taking it to heart. This kid was too good at spinning tales; she had been tricked onto his boat back then, and now she was no longer falling for Zhao Fusheng's tricks.

Seeing that his persuasion tactic hadn't worked, Zhao Fusheng felt a bit awkward. He rubbed his nose and picked up his teacup to drink.

"By the way, what's the deal with that network department?" Zheng Yao suddenly recalled the phone call Zhao Fusheng had made earlier, asking her to support Zhou Jing in setting up a network department, and asked curiously.

If Zhao Fusheng hadn't called her personally, Zhou Jing's sudden return and talk of setting up a network department would likely have gotten him fired outright.

The saying 'newcomers have no rights' in the workplace was no joke.

There were too many idiots in the world who liked to judge others' actions by their own standards. Unfortunately, many of these idiots held high positions. If someone did something they couldn't do or surpassed them, these people would roar in anger and then find ways to slander the capable.

These fellows wouldn't think of making themselves smarter; they only thought that if they defeated the smart ones and made them disappear, everyone would be as stupid as themselves.

This was not a fable, but reality.

Whether in 2002, 2012, or 2052, such things were common, and Zhao Fusheng had long grown accustomed to them.

So Zhou Jing was really lucky to have met him; otherwise, his idea ahead of its time might never have been implemented and he would have been kicked out of the company.

"Nothing much, I just found his idea interesting and plan to let him try it out," Zhao Fusheng explained calmly to Zheng Yao. "Don't underestimate the internet. Remember Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical?"

"Ah, I remember." Zheng Yao frowned. "What, are you still causing them trouble?"

Zhao Fusheng laughed heartily and wagged his finger. "What do you mean by 'causing them trouble'? They were the ones who didn't act right."

Rolling her eyes, Zheng Yao assumed an expression that said, 'I know exactly what kind of person you are, and I don't want to talk to you.'

Zhao Fusheng blinked. "Do you believe that in three to five years, Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical's reputation will be terrible?"

"What do you mean?" Zheng Yao was a bit baffled, not understanding how Zhao Fusheng could be so confident.

Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly and explained.

Recently, he had been having Dong Guoxiang pin negative news about Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical at the top of My123. In other words, although Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical had an advantage in traditional media, on the internet, due to the limitations of the times, they were unaware that many netizens now had a very poor impression of them.

And these people, who had started going online as early as 2001 or 2002, could influence many others.

Reputation is something that needs time to ferment, and when it truly erupts, no one can stop it.

That was why Zhao Fusheng said that in three to five years, Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical would inevitably face a serious crisis.

How to manage that crisis would be a headache for them.

And the instigator of it all was the few pieces of news currently spreading on the internet.