Chapter 215 - 0203: The Art of Tea

Huang Jiacai sat in his office, keeping a close watch on every move of Sanbo Hospital.

Of course, this academic conference was naturally one of his main areas of focus as he was one of the sponsors, and the booth position was decent.

A map hung on the wall, Huang Jiacai held a pencil in his hand, staring at the map, muttering something to himself, occasionally making marks on it.

Jiahui was sorting out documents for her brother while asking: “Brother, did you draw this map these past few days? What exactly is it you’ve drawn?”

Over the past few days, her brother had been engrossed in his sketching in the office, and a thick stack of drafts had piled up on his desk. Jiahui picked them up for a closer look but couldn’t make heads or tails out of them.

“This is a statistical graph of Sanbo Hospital’s sport injury cases. I’ve created a computation model, treating sunshine, seasons, sporting seasons, holidays, and Doctor Yang’s operation progress as the main influencing factors, to extrapolate the annual fluctuation in the number of cases.”

“Look, the cases increase in the summer, especially sports injuries among teenagers. Summer is a better season for sports than winter, and the increase in students’ sporting activities during the summer vacation is a contributing factor. In contrast, elderly people suffer more sports injuries in winter than in summer because they dress heavily, move sluggishly, and are likely to get injured with a little exercise. Although these findings are simple, we are trying to scientificize them. With this computation model to guide us, we can manage our inventory with great ease.”

“Now that Sanbo is going to host an academic conference – although it’s organized by the department of Traumatology and Orthopedics, we should also be prepared to provide support in terms of medical instruments and supplies at any time. Here is a distribution map of warehouses of medical equipment suppliers across the city. The contact person and phone number for each warehouse are specified, as well as the routes from these warehouses to Sanbo. In case of emergencies, we can use this for mutual replenishment of goods. If you have time these days, please dial through each of these numbers to test the line.”

Huang Jiacai took out a folded map from his desk and handed it to his sister.

“Brother, you’re really amazing! No wonder President Wang wanted you on his team.” Jiahui said, taking the map.

“In the past when I was in the pharmaceutical industry, President Wang was my boss. He was the one who got me in the business. Later he switched to the medical equipment field and bought a share in Ruixing. He persuaded me to join Ruixing to take charge of the market in G City, considering that previously Ruixing’s market was primarily north of the Yangtze River, and mainly in third and fourth-tier cities, out of the mainstream market.”

Huang Jiacai put down his pencil and rearranged the documents that his sister had just tidied up.

“Sanbo is using our products, Liquan has started stocking our products, and even Subsidiary Hospital One plans to use our products. Su Nanchen has asked us to prepare documents to participate in the next round of bidding at Subsidiary Hospital One. We lead the company’s performance chart this month. The head office has invited you to a meeting in Shanghai, and they’re bound to commend you.”

“Hmm, how about the customer feedback information you’ve been collecting for me? These data will come in handy when I go to Shanghai.”

“I’ve gathered them all. They’re all here.”

Jiahui pulled a notebook off the bookshelf, densely packed with feedback on products and services, both good and bad.

Huang Jiacai flipped through it casually: “This isn’t good enough. The way you’ve recorded information is haphazard, just like writing in a diary. How am I supposed to make sense of it? You should organize these data and present them with a text description and illustrative diagrams. In short, the documents you present to me must not be raw, unfinished work – they must be perfectly polished. What you present to your superiors should not require them to do any reprocessing – not even simple reprocessing in their heads. It must be immediately clear and quickly provide them with the key information they need.”

“I’ll redo it. Thanks for reminding me, Brother!” Jiahui’s face reddened with shame.

Huang Jiacai sat back down in his chair and pushed his own tea cup to one corner of the desk: “Come here, give me this cup of tea. Pretend I’m your boss!”

In fact, Huang Jiacai was her boss.

Not understanding her brother’s meaning, Jiahui picked up the tea, looked at it, then passed it to him. Her brother sternly said: “No! Think again, why wasn’t it acceptable?”

Jiahui thought for a while. She had delivered it with one hand. If it were her boss, superior, or guest, it would be really impolite to use one hand. She supposed she should use both hands instead.

The second time, she respectfully handed the teacup over with both hands, but her brother still wasn’t satisfied: “Still not right. But it’s better than before.”

Still not right? Unable to figure out where she went wrong, she tried again for the third time. Her brother shook his head: “You’ve made some improvement, but it’s still not right. Try again.”

Try again? She really couldn’t understand what could be wrong. After all, it was just a cup of tea. Could it be that complicated? Jiahui looked at her brother with a puzzled face.

With a gentle expression, her brother said: “Even a cup of tea carries a lot of meaning. It shows how careful you are in your work. The first time, you used one hand. The second time, you used both hands, yet the handle of the cup was facing towards you. The third time, you must have dropped your guard, because you didn’t have the handle facing you anymore; that was an improvement. But unfortunately, it wasn’t deliberate on your part, so the direction of the handle was rather arbitrary. You should’ve had the handle facing me, which would make it easier for me to take the cup. What’s more, you should’ve scrutinized my posture and gently passed the cup to the appropriate height and distance.”

Jiahui had no idea there was so much to learn from serving a cup of tea. As per her brother’s instructions, she tried again. Her brother took the cup and took a sip: “This set of data is like this cup of tea. You should consider how I can get the information inside the data in the most effortless way. Understand? Be mindful and put effort into your work, regardless of what it is. There’s a saying that planning is up to man but the outcome is up to heaven. Only meticulous planning will lead to possible success.”

“I understand, Brother. I’ll surely try my best.” Jiahui said seriously.

Huang Jiacai asked his sister to sit down: “You should always ask yourself why the customer would use your product, why your boss would value you. With so many products and so many people out there, why you? Ask yourself these questions every day. In fact, once you put your heart into it, you’ll find the joy in this effort. Look, with this computation model, I can ensure the goods in the warehouse are just the right amount – neither too many nor too few. Other areas either have an excessive inventory or shortage of goods, and they’re always busy transferring goods here and there, wasting time. In contrast, the goods in our warehouse neither accumulate nor are they ever in short supply. We never need to transfer goods. Why, you ask? Because we’re more mindful than they are. We can compute the entire year’s distribution plan.”

“That’s because you’re exceptional, who else can do it?” Jiahui admired her brother greatly.

“It’s not that I’m exceptional, I just put in the effort. Alright then, I’ll be going to a meeting in Shanghai next week. Take care of the company and stay safe on your own.”

“I’m all grown-up now, you don’t need to worry.”

Huang Jiacai playfully swiped his sister’s nose: “Hmm!”

“As long as we stabilize Sanbo’s business, we will have secured the market in G City. From here on, we can consolidate, spread our influence, take control of the entire G City, and then extend to the South China market.” Huang Jiacai was full of ambition.

“Yang Ping is just a regular doctor at Sanbo, why value him so much?”

“He’s not just a regular doctor, he is the future’s brightest star in orthopedics. We don’t have much capital to wager, so if we don’t bet on anything, we’ll bet on the stock with the highest potential.”

Huang Jiacai opened his laptop and checked a PPT inside again. Jiahui peeked: “What’s this?”

“This is the gift I’m bringing to President Wang, a blueprint for the future of our company. We are struggling against the massive international giants controlling not just the market for sports medicine, but the entire medical device market. The path for us is tough, but not impossible. My heart and soul are in this PPT. I don’t know if President Wang will accept my suggestion. Even if he does, he is not the largest shareholder. Will the big boss take his suggestion? Regardless, I’ve tried my best. This is the least I can do to repay him for his kindness.” Huang Jiacai has backed up this document not only on his computer but also on a USB drive and an external hard drive.

“Bro, you’ve read so many books?” There were many books on the bookshelf. Jiahui pulled out a few. These books weren’t just for show, they were all well-worn. Tao Te Ching, The Art of War, Guiguzi, Comprehensive Reflections to Aid in Governance, Twenty-Four Histories—

“Bro, do you regret not going to college?” Jiahui flipped through a book and put it back on the bookshelf.

Huang Jiacai shook his head: “No regrets. See, I’m doing pretty well now, aren’t I? When I first started working, I would carry a book with me when I went out hustling. I would even read on the bus.”

“But—it’s all my fault. I was so naive back then, thinking you really did fail the college entrance exam. But then, I recalled how good your grades were, there’s no way you could have failed. That’s when I realized you had torn up your admission letter and didn’t go?”

Jiahui rubbed her eyes, which were red and moist, and bowing her head, unwilling to look up at her brother.@@novelbin@@

“Never mind, life is all about choices. Just like driving, when one road is blocked, you need to find another. Otherwise, it’ll delay your journey.”

“But you always wanted to be a teacher, right?” Jiahui looked up.

“Silly girl! Most people can’t live exactly the way they want. Don’t worry, I’m doing just fine now and I’m satisfied with my current state. You haven’t disappointed me either.” Jiacai didn’t want his sister to carry this burden.

“Have you read all these books?” Jiahui changed the subject.

Huang Jiacai chuckled, “All of them, some even a few times.”

“They’re so thick, yet you read them all?”

Jiahui took out a set of Comprehensive Reflections to Aid in Governance.

“A few times even!” said Huang Jiacai.

“Just seeing the thickness makes me dizzy. I don’t even have the desire to flip through it.”

“You should try reading them when you have the time, slowly. Consider it a pastime.”

“Even these materials regarding machinery, you’ve read them? Your reading is quite mixed!” Jiahui was curious, there was a wide variety of books on the shelf.

“It’s not that it’s mixed, it’s that learning has no end. Without a foundation in mechanical science, we couldn’t understand the blueprints or the principles of these medical devices. We wouldn’t understand the product fully which is bad for business. In our line of work, you must not only understand people but also understand the product. If you don’t understand it yourself, how can you sell it?”

“These are the product diagrams of our company that I’ve drawn for practice, mainly to understand the engineers’ blueprints.” Huang Jiacai pulled out a few blueprints.

“The weather’s cold over there. In the suitcase, I’ve prepared cotton clothes for you, lip balm, frostbite ointment—”

Jiahui mentioned, her brother was going to travel to the headquarters in Shanghai in a few days for a meeting.