Keep Your Hope Up

After the words burst from Lin Qian's mouth, she felt her heart lift somewhere high, wobbly and uncertain.

"Okay," was the only thing Li Zhicheng said.

Lin Qian hung up the phone. She could feel herself covered in an icy frost, yet the palms of her hands were hot and sweaty.

Pacing around the room, she had no idea when Gu Yanzhi had come in. He stared at her from the doorway and looked sullen.

"I already know," he said. "We can only try our luck now."

Gently biting her lower lip, Lin Qian nodded in agreement.

This was a gamble, a massive one—one that could cost 20 million. But it was their last hope.

The gamble carried all of their strong desires: fear, luck, reluctance, and their unwillingness to give up.

The two stepped out of the room together.

"Manager Gu," Lin Qian said, lowering her voice, "I think for our next step we slow down the process and drag the online promotion along."

As the words came out from her, oddly, she found herself already calming down. But her heart pounded intensely.

Unexpectedly, Gu Yanzhi glanced at her with a smirk. How could he laugh at this point?

"That was also our opinion," he responded.

Soon, on behalf of Li Zhicheng, Gu Yanzhi placed a new order—keep the website open, but lower the access speed of the servers and the event pages. The customers' payments could only come through around one out of every ten orders.

Meanwhile, they needed to release an announcement saying they had been working on fixing the website attacked by hackers.

Lin Qian returned to her computer and started to cook up a commercial hype in various online shopping websites, their related forums, and the popular discussion groups in the second and third-tier cities.

...

The lights of the Aida headquarters were on throughout the whole night.

The customers' shopping craze lasted until one o'clock the next morning. The first 2,000 bags containing the first prize were finally sold out. However, even after the promotion was over, the sales volume still grew for another 800. The main event page had over 5 million visits, leaving the comment section overloaded. The heated posts also kept coming on all the other major forums.

For those who failed to be one of the first 2,000 visitors, it was a shame. But the majority of them believed the sale was justified, as they were happy with the quality of Aida's bags.

Those who managed to get the first prizes were extremely pleased. They started to post their proof for winning on their social media. However, there was also a lot of skepticism, questioning if Aida would be able to pay these prizes worth 20 million yuan due to the mistake.

Some people posted blogs and claimed that they would give up the prize because they were loyal customers of Aida, and they understood Aida was in a difficult situation. Some others proposed to Aida that there was no need to pay out the full 10,000 yuan prize, but it would be appreciated if Aida could reduce the payment for each prize after an explanation.

But, for the most part, the customers wouldn't acknowledge the fact that Aida's website had been hacked. They believed that this was the company's own business. So they suggested Aida give away the red envelopes—that way they would be loyal to them forever.

Aida was already in the center of the media's attention after the previous Carcinogen Incident. But after that night, multiple media platforms and websites had all started to forward this ridiculous news. The title of one of the articles read, "20 million dollars. Are you sure?" Yet Aida remained silent throughout the heated skepticism.

According to the previously released activity rules, the promotion would only last for three days. Only after three days could the winner could bring their ID to collect their prize in cash at appointed stores.

Because Aida remained silent during these three days, along with the skepticism and judgments from the customers, the media, and everyone's anticipation to receive their prize, a lot of attention was placed on the company. The total visits to Aida's website reached 100 million and the number was growing every minute. "Aida's 20 million prize" also became one of the top 10 most searched terms online. It also was the second most discussed topic on Twitter.

Three days later, at 8:55 am.

Holding her forehead, Lin Qian sat in the IT department's tiny office, staring at the computer screen closely. Outside, the other employees also worked around the clock.

Only five minutes left. Soon, the customers could collect their prizes. There were also only five minutes left before Aida's public announcement would be made, and she was staring right at it.

Written by Li Zhicheng himself, the announcement was simple and brief. At a time like this, no one dared to write one for him. There had been a few different versions coming across Lin Qian's mind, but having read Li Zhicheng's, after considering back and forth, she finally decided his was the best, as the simpler, and the safer:

Dear customers, online users, and friends from the media,

As you all know, three days ago, Vinda, the online flagship store of Aida, came under attack by hackers. This resulted in 2,000 first prizes to be distributed by mistake. With respect to such a hostile attack, our company will carry out a series of investigations to defend our justice as well as maintaining a fair marketing environment.

As to our customers, Aida has always followed the managing concept of keeping our commitment, regardless of the past, present, or future.

For the 2,000 customers who have won the first prize, please refer to the activity rule and head over to the appointed stores to collect your ten thousand in cash.

Wishing all a happy New Year

Aida President - Li Zhicheng

Now that the announcement was made, what reactions could they expect from the customers and Internet? Lin Qian could almost picture the image in her head—it would definitely be well received, leaving everyone satisfied. She even predicted that the visits to Aida's online store would continue growing rapidly in the next few days, or even hours.

What about the sales volume? Would it also swell? She wasn't so certain anymore—she even started to worry a little.

There were some perfect examples from the last three days. The crazy amount of visits to their website had created a record. And she also believed that this was the most amount of attention and popularity that Aida had ever seen. However, the sales were scraping the bottom with barely any growth.

First day: 427 purchases. Second day: 633 purchases. Third day: 780 purchases.

Lin Qian had no idea if these numbers represented a "wait and see" period from the public and if the trend could end up changing. She also had no idea if the crazy amount of visits was just from all the public attention they were getting and actually meant nothing for their future sales. 

Her headache was getting worse just thinking of these numbers. After experiencing sleep deprivation for several days under such cold weather, combined with her constant mental strain, she knew she was under the weather.

She grabbed some medicine from the drawer and then swallowed it down with water. Feeling determined, she continued staring at the screen. Occasionally, some irrelevant idea would pop into her head from out of nowhere. Lately, she was busy downstairs, directing the Internet Water Army, moving around. Besides the reports and occasional meetings over the phone, she barely saw Li Zhicheng. He also didn't arrange any other work for her.

How did he feel, sitting in the president's office on such a high level? His calm and cold face—did it ever look worried or relieved at seeing all the different types of news?

There he was, placing himself in a difficult situation; here she was, giving it all she had to fight back.

Ugh… Why does it sound so sad? I want what's best for the company...

It had been a bumpy ride working at Aida, but she wasn't sure she could call it that since she felt the obligation to dedicate everything she had.

There was a lack of experience, sophistication, and luck for him. Yet he'd already shown his great potential and talent despite having just begun. From that generous bidding document to Ming Sheng, to the marketing strategy that was off the beaten track, to the current situation where he had decided to sacrifice himself… There was no denial that some of his greatest qualities, like wisdom and decisiveness, were incomparable.

…

No one would have expected that on the top floor of Aida's headquarters, Li Zhicheng and Gu Yanzhi were, at this critical moment, playing Go.

That was all they needed: tea with a sharp aroma, and a black and white Go board.

Gu Yanzhi was close to losing the set for the fifth time; annoyed, he pushed away the Go board. "Lame… I quit." He had never been gifted at this game. He was only playing it now because he had been asked to.

Was Li Zhicheng trying to seek some confidence from his satisfying victories over Gu Yanzhi? Or was he purely trying to kill some time?

Looking up, Gu Yanzhi smiled slightly. "Aren't you worried at all?"

Ignoring him, Li Zhicheng's dark feathery brows stayed put.

One white piece, followed by a black one. He started to finish off the rest of the game by himself. Despite being young and handsome, his oddly cold, sophisticated personality was starting to intimidate and inspire awe.

"No rush."

...

Two hours later, the situation really started to take a toll on Lin Qian, who was still staring at the computer screen.

There had been no progress. Since the announcement, only 147 items had been sold.

Between her sickness and frustration, Lin Qian was beginning to feel worse and worse. She felt like her mind was soaring above her body, and she had trouble reading the computer. Looking up, she saw her quiet colleagues outside also seemed tense. 

She moved around the chair, heading downstairs before notifying the IT manager.

...

By the time her eyes opened, she was looking at the dark night outside the window.

Astonished, she threw the blanket off of her and sat up.

A middle-aged female doctor sat across from her, writing under a lamp. She looked up, grinning. "You were just measured, the fever is gone."

Lin Qian quickly thanked her. She didn't understand how she could have slept for so long—especially through the daytime.

"Someone called this afternoon looking for you," the doctor continued. "When he heard you were sick, I was told not to wake you up so you could rest well."

"Who was it?"

"A young male colleague," the doctor responded, smiling.

There was always extra sensitivity to the cold immediately after waking up, and Lin Qian felt that now. She wrapped herself up in her coat and then headed out of the building's medical office.

Across was Aida's headquarters, brightly lit. She could see the silhouettes of her colleagues working hard through the windows.

The day had finally come to an end.

Lin Qian surprisingly felt a little lazy and took a seat on the bench next to the garden.

It was already past 7:00 pm, quiet, and most people had headed home. Resting on the bench, gazing at the building and the dark winter sky, she released a long breath.

Footsteps sounded on the trail next to her. Slowly approaching her was a long shadow cast on the ground. Lin Qian didn't pay it too much attention and allowed her mind to keep wandering.

Until someone stopped next to her.

Before she looked up, she knew was him. "President Li…" Just when she was about to stand, he took a seat next to her.

Lin Qian glanced at him. Black coat with a shirt and tie beneath, he looked simple and fresh even in the gloomy winter. Staring back at her, the shine of his black eyes was amplified under the light.

"All good?" he asked.

Lin Qian already knew he was the person who had called the doctor. She felt some warmth in her heart, but also confused panic. Politely, she answered, "Yeah. Thank you, President Li."

After a pause, staring straight, he continued, "Why are you sitting here?"

In a low voice she replied, "I've been sleeping all afternoon. I don't know how the sales went. So I thought sitting out here could help me mentally prepare."

Hearing this, Li Zhicheng's eyes appeared to shine with a different shade of light. But the light soon faded after what she said next.

"I'm afraid that we'll lose everything."

It was rare for her to be so open about her concerns in front of him. She then looked up, staring at him right in the eyes, as if she was trying to guess today's results from his face.

Yet he was the same as always, calm and emotionless, gazing back at her. Sitting very close, their eyes were fixed on each other.

He then lifted his hand and put it behind her on the back of the bench.

"I disagree," he said. "What I want, I already see, and it's just within reach."

Shocked, Lin Qian wondered what it was.

Mesmerized by his jet-black eyes, her heartbeat was getting fast and her face was getting warm.

But Boss, this is not the time to talk about our feelings. I'm feeling so tense already—I can't even breathe properly. Can you just stop pressuring me?

But she misunderstood.

Because Li Zhicheng had already stood up, hands stuck in his pockets, and was staring down at her. "Aren't you going to take a look? At the results for today?"

Quickly, Lin Qian also got up. "Sure, I was just about to."

A warm smile started to appear on his face again; in a low voice, he said, "You won't be disappointed."