Chapter 168 - Outsmarted!
The ones who had the ugliest expression on their faces were none other than Ruomei, Old Madam, Shi Zhen and Li Tingzhe.
Ruomei trembled. "T-this is impossible!"
She refused to believe that she lost to Lihua. Even though the evidence was right in front of her, she turned a blind eye to it.
The Old Madam gnashed her teeth in fury. "It is a fluke! Just how can a stupid comic win this proposal?"
Shi Zhen fumed. "Exactly!"
Fu Renshu said, "The results are right in front of us. One hundred thousand copies are sold and more are being pre-ordered as we speak. You saw the rush at the hotel. Not just in China but the copies are being shipped abroad too. Because of the comic's popularity, our hotel is now making its name worldwide. In fact, I just got a message that many foreigners and Chinese nationals in other countries have booked their flights just to visit our hotel for a tour.
Everyone is talking about the comic on social media, and it's already the hottest topic across Weibo too. With so many purchases, Madam Lixue has received a lot of profit and recognition for our hotel. Not just that. Miss Shi Ruomei's proposal garnered bookings for 206 rooms. But we have got bookings for the rest of the 294 rooms available in our hotel with Madam Lixue's proposal."
Everybody was taken aback.
294!? That is more than half of the rooms!
The business associates and the media reporters stared at Ruomei. She had got less than half of the bookings while Lixue consumed the rest of all which was more than half!
Nobody could deny the scene that they saw in the live video recording. The resounding response was louder than what Ruomei had gotten. Her focus was mainly on Beijing and other major cities in China. But Lihua leaped way ahead and crossed the boundaries to make the hotel famous abroad too.
It was all possible because of the comic that Jiang Fai had worked so hard upon. As he saw all the love and praise that others showered upon his hard work, he couldn't help but get emotional. Tears brimmed in his eyes, and he trembled.
Art was his passion, but he knew that he won't ever get to become an artist in this family since it was into business and the underworld. Such passion was useless in front of the Old Madam. He had already accepted his fate of joining the family business in the future.
But to be recognized by a hundred thousand people plus more counting on all the platforms, he felt as if he finally found his self-worth.
His passion wasn't a waste of talent. He made a mark on so many people that he found it still hard to believe. They wanted to meet him as they wished to meet any other celebrity.
"Fai! Did you hear that? Everybody loves your comic!" Jiang Xiurang tearfully hugged him. "Look, they are all so excited to read something that you made."
Her heart burst in happiness and inexplicable joy. She felt proud of him. "See? Your hard work is paying off."
Jiang Fai was in a daze. He choked in his throat. "You...you are proud of me?"
"Of course silly. I was always proud of you. Even when I had thought that we lost, I was still proud of you. I know how much you gave your all for this."
He bit his lip and tears trickled down his cheeks, but he quickly wiped them off not to embarrass himself. "You didn't see that!"
Jiang Xiurang widened her eyes and burst into laughter. She never thought she would ever see his cute side.
Ruomei dug her nails in her palm seeing Lihua flying on top of the clouds. "This is a lie! Then what about the eleven copies that had sold?"
Lihua raised her brow. "That was just to fool you into thinking that we were losing. The crowd had gathered at the hotel for so long, but I didn't let the news out because I didn't want you to play any tricks. Plus, it wasn't my fault that you weren't paying attention to me. You were only focusing on Fai Fai's comics. You didn't bother to look into what I was doing. You got so happy by gaining the support of all the ad agencies that you ignored what power social media has today. I just made full use of it."
Ruomei looked at her in horror as the realization dawned upon her. "You...you are Storyteller?"
Lihua grinned. "Yours truly!"
She was shocked to the core.
Lihua giggled. "It's not just social media. You assumed that I wouldn't be working on the advertisement until Fai Fai's comic was over. That was a grave miscalculation on your part. You thought that I would only try to market the finished product and so I was waiting for the comic to be printed. But who said that I cannot advertise manuscripts?"
The businessmen looked at her, stunned. It made sense. It was just like how…
"It is just like how the directors promote the movies by giving a trailer first. First, a trailer is released and then the movie in the cinema, right? Isn't that a marketing strategy to attract the audience? I did just that. I posted Fai Fai's draft pictures on Weibo and got the response as I expected because I had faith in Fai Fai."
Ruomei froze.
"Surely, you would have studied that in the best university you went to for post-graduation right?" Lihua smirked, poking it to her face.
That was like a harsh slap on her cheeks. Of course, Ruomei should have known about this tactic. But she got so arrogant about her win that she didn't bother to pay any more time than necessary on what Lihua was doing. She considered this very proposal as extremely childish for something to be done in business. Why would a comic with 2D characters bring any promotion to Jiang Industries?
"You…"
Her expression turned ugly and flushed red in embarrassment. She felt humiliated. The media reporters and the CEOs that were once admiring her capabilities were now looking at her in disdain. She claimed to be so educated in her field, but a woman who hadn't even graduated from college yet had outsmarted her.
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