10 Years Ago, 10 Years Later

Chapter 2

A young lady walks through the spacious corridor of an office building. She is dressed meticulously; her high heels make click-clacking sounds as the pointed ends meet the shiny floor with her every step. In her hands, there are several file folders, labeled with the names of the company's projects.

Near the end of the corridor, a large double door made of expensive wood stands at her side.

The young lady stops and knocks three times.

"Excuse me, Mr. President," she says.

Upon her entry, she is greeted with the sight of a large office, equipped with a small lounge and a meeting area. At the back end of the room, a young man in his early thirties sits behind an executive desk. Behind him is a huge floor-to-ceiling window presenting the view of the bustling city far down below the floor they are standing on.

The man sees her and casually beckons for her to come.

"Did you bring what I ask you before?" Gong Jun asks her.

"Yes, sir. Here they are."

Gong Jun's secretary places a small stack of files on his desk.

Shifting his attention from his laptop and onto the papers, Gong Jun gives her a nod and a nonchalant "Mnn." He picks up the documents, skims through the covers, and puts them in the topmost row of his desk organizer labeled "To Review."

"Has the marketing department come up with the proposal for our expansion project to Europe?" he asks again.

"About this matter, they have requested a meeting with you to discuss this topic the day after tomorrow. In the meantime, they've sent in the initial draft of the proposal for your perusal."

Saying this, the secretary efficiently produces another set of files and presents them to her boss. The files are compiled in a thin folder. While explaining the summary of the content, the capable secretary slowly flips through the pages one by one.

"Following the result of their preliminary research into the European market, the marketing department narrowed down three cities deemed most suitable for our brands' very first expansion to the region: London, Milan, and Paris," she says, "Our company is a regular participant at the annual international exhibition held in those three cities. According to the survey conducted via a third party, at least 30-35% of our target consumers already have awareness of our brands, compared to the 10-20% result obtained in other major Europe cities. Deputy Director Wu and his team are finalizing their formal presentation at the moment. That said, they pointed out that one of the main strategies they would like to propose to you is to collaborate with one of the renowned designers who possess a solid reputation in the EU market."

"Interesting. Did Deputy Director Wu say they already have potential partner candidates to approach among these designers?"

"They have several names. Here, in the last part, they attached the short profiles of ten elite designers whose names frequently grace the main pages of top fashion magazines in Europe in the past 12 months."

"Alright, I'll check it out," Gong Jun retrieves the file from his secretary, "My next meeting will be in 30 minutes, correct?"

"That's right, sir. You'll be having a weekly meeting with the Board of Directors at four."

"I'd like to bring up this issue with the Board of Directors in this afternoon's meeting. Please tell Deputy Director Wu about this. If they're still not finished with the final presentation, that's fine. Just brings whatever preliminary results they have gathered so far."

The secretary makes an affirmation and promptly leaves the President's office to carry out her duty.

Now left on his own accord, Gong Jun leans back to his comfortable seat, crosses his long legs, and begins flipping the aforementioned profiles attached to the document. For a moment, his eyes dart through the photos and paragraphs, quickly taking in the important points in each person's information while leaving the rest for his team to explain to him at a later time.