Chapter 146: Immediate Results

After implementing a series of arrangements, even though Li Xian didn't personally paint the walls, he coordinated with the Urban Management Bureau, designed and produced printing plates, negotiated with advertising companies for wall advertisement maintenance and transfer fees, and urged the business department to implement this method throughout the province. Li Xian still felt completely drained.

Looking at his neatly trimmed little crew cut in the mirror, he couldn't help but feel worried.

If he continued to worry so much, he might end up like Director Yang in ten or twenty years.

Not everyone is a Guo Dastan, and the Mediterranean hairstyle is really hard to pull off.

But there was no alternative now. The company had just been established, and there were already numerous internal and external matters to handle. The current team was still based on the staff from Beilin Paper Factory and Xina Paper Industry.

Although most people in these two teams worked hard, their skills were limited. Chen Shulin was good at sales, could drink a lot, and was particularly chatty when drunk. He was well-received in the field, but he was older, and his thinking was somewhat rigid.

Zhang Dagong and Xu Dequan, on the other hand, were meticulous. Zhang Dagong was steady, and Xu Dequan was rigorous, but they were more suited to maintaining rather than pioneering.

As for Zhao Dongliang and his team, they were just okay, and the new recruits still hadn't fully settled in.

So, there was no need to rush.

Thinking of transferring Zhang Dagong, who was in his prime and steady with skills, to Beilin for focused development, Li Xian shook his head while looking at himself in the hotel mirror.

He still had to play the role of a caretaker for a while, supporting this large team.

"You are truly great."

After praising himself, Li Xian put down his toothbrush. He went to another room, told Zhou Yong, who was completely exhausted and had a red pair of underpants showing under the covers, that he was taking the day off, and then quickly tidied up. He took the bus to Tulong.

As the most bustling commercial area in Ice City, Tulong Street, like the train station, was a key advertising area that Li Xian had focused on. The entire street and the numerous small alleys with hotels and snack bars had been freshly painted.

Standing at the entrance of Tulong Street, with the view of white and green everywhere, and the prominent display of the Xina Special Quality Toilet Paper brand, Li Xian felt an indescribable sense of pride.

At this moment, he even thought that if his toilet paper business didn't succeed, he could definitely excel in advertising planning and become the best in China.

But considering China's 900 million people, there was still a huge market, so he suppressed this early enthusiasm.

While admiring his achievement, he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a child practicing martial arts on the newly painted brick wall.

There were no particular moves—just a few steps back, a running start, and then a big footprint left on the wall. After landing, the child would strike a pose and mutter "Amitabha Buddha."

It seemed like he was a fan of Jet Li.

In mid-February, with the weather starting to warm up and today's exceptionally good weather, the snow on the ground had begun to melt.

The dirty shoe marks on the pristine white brick wall were quite glaring.

Seeing two elderly women chatting excitedly beside the child, Li Xian walked over to remind them to manage their child and pay attention to their manners.

One of the elderly women, noticing that Li Xian didn't have an armband, ignored him and looked away.

The child, initially nervous about being reported, gained confidence when he saw his grandmother's lack of reaction. He stuck out his tongue, rolled his eyes at Li Xian, and shouted, "Hoo hoo ha hey!" before running towards the wall.

Possibly due to overconfidence, as he kicked the wall and left a big footprint, he also kicked off his shoe. Seizing the opportunity while the child was unsteady after landing, Li Xian quickly picked up the small shoe from the ground and, using all his strength, threw it over to the other side of the wall with a "whoosh."

Hearing a shout of "Ouch, damn it" from the other side, Li Xian quickly blended into the crowd.

Before long, the child was crying about his lost shoe, and the elderly woman was loudly searching for it and arguing with others, claiming the shoe wasn't thrown by the child.

Listening to the commotion behind him, Li Xian smiled and merged into the crowd, hiding his achievements and glory.

At the Xina Paper Industry dealership at 163 Tulong Street, it was bustling.

The previous days' quietness was gone, and compared to the busy time just after the New Year, the business volume had significantly increased.

As Xina's first agent, Li Xian had met the shop's owner, Xiao Hong, twice. She was quite beautiful and had been divorced, raising a child on her own, as the staff had mentioned.

When Li Xian entered, Xiao Hong was standing on a small stool, managing her disheveled hair while loudly processing orders among a crowded room of customers.

Although the door was open, the neckline of her red wool sweater was already darkened with sweat.

"Don't block the entrance if you're just making supplementary orders, move inside!"

Noticing someone hesitating at the door, she waved her hand holding a ballpoint pen. Seeing it was Li Xian, she quickly handed the order slip to a nearby staff member, gave a few instructions, and jumped down from the stool to squeeze in front of Li Xian.

"Mr. Li, why are you here personally?"

Li Xian looked at the room full of customers and smiled, "I just wanted to check out the effect of the wall advertisements."

"It's working! It's definitely working!" Xiao Hong nodded vigorously, her ponytail swaying.

She then pulled out the ledger from her waist bag and detailed the performance of the past few days.

Previously, when advertising with Huihuang, the store's daily sales had dropped to over 12,000 cases, but now, just after 9 a.m., the combined orders from phone supplements and in-store sales had already exceeded 30,000 cases.

"This time, our company's advertisement made a huge impact. Who came up with this idea? Mr. Li, you must give the person a raise. After this wall was painted, many people didn't even go into the side stores but came straight here. This morning, I was thinking of renting another warehouse at the back, so I could order more at once and avoid the company being too busy to ship out goods, causing me to run around for orders."

Hearing Xiao Hong's seemingly complaining but actually flattering remarks, Li Xian chuckled with great satisfaction.

...

It was clear that the wall advertisements were benefiting not only New North.

That afternoon, Li Xian saw the provincial news report on the Ice City wall renovation on Longjiang News at 6:30 p.m.

The news compared the old and new street scenes, interspersed with footage of Urban Management Bureau leaders inspecting sanitation workers scraping wall paint and guiding painters on-site.

The report praised and promoted the efforts of Yang Jianxin, the head of the Urban Management Bureau, who was dedicated to improving residents' living conditions and sought connections and funds for wall beautification.

In an interview, Yang Jianxin spoke passionately: "Ice City is a historically rich and unique city, but the walls on the main streets had deteriorated due to lack of maintenance and small advertisements. As a true Ice City local, it pains me to see these historical buildings being ruined…"

Slap.

Li Xian turned off the TV.

Can't they even change a word?

He thought to himself.