At 7:30 AM, the alarm went off.
Yang Yi kept his eyes closed for a moment before struggling out of bed.
He glanced at the 1,200-plus yuan he had won yesterday lying on the table. A sense of indescribable security washed over him, and his mood for going to work improved significantly.
After graduation, Yang Yi found a job at a small advertising firm in Nanjin. Back when he interviewed, the recruiter felt that his degree from an arts academy didn't quite align with their hiring needs.
Advertising agencies generally preferred graduates with a background in media studies, as they were easier to train.
Yang Yi had been ruthless with himself then, stating that as long as they kept him, he would accept any salary. The interviewer offered 3,500 yuan before taxes, with a six-month probation period during which he would only receive 80% of that pay.
And so, Yang Yi joined the company as a general errand runner. He had just become a permanent employee six months ago. Aside from receiving his full 3,500 yuan monthly salary now, he didn't feel anything was different from before.
Yang Yi filled in whenever a team was short-handed, but he had one fixed task: searching the web daily for competitor updates. He was responsible for the competitive dynamics of group-buying clients—back then, the "War of a Hundred Tuan" was in full swing and incredibly chaotic. Every day, he checked what new products his clients' rivals had listed, looked for negative reviews, and monitored feedback from the media and netizens, organizing it all into a spreadsheet to share in the work group for reference.
"Spend two hours every day checking online sentiment. No matter how busy you are, ensure you hit that time requirement."
Initially, Yang Yi didn't even know what "public sentiment" (yuqing) meant, and he rarely took the initiative to ask colleagues questions. In his view, his problems were surely simple; rather than bothering others, he'd rather solve them himself—though a bit of small pride played a part as well.
Consequently, whenever he didn't know something, he'd search for it online. "Public Sentiment" was the first advertising term he learned after hearing his boss speak.
Two hours a day—this was a hard requirement from the leadership. A few times, seeing Yang Yi digging through data, his boss would add: "Don't look at this work as boring. If you stick with it every day, you'll find the benefits are endless."
In over a year since joining, Yang Yi hadn't even made it into a project team, let alone had the chance to speak directly with the big bosses. These few bits of guidance were hard for him to forget.
In truth, the leadership was worrying needlessly. Most of the time, Yang Yi wasn't as busy at his station as the others. Having a fixed and relatively easy job was a rare treasure. As many likely know, "technical slacking" is actually quite difficult—you have to ensure others see you as busy while remaining relaxed and happy yourself.
The day after he joined, Yang Yi had already optimized the previous reporting templates. The new forms were more aesthetically pleasing and efficient. He remembered his boss giving a knowing smile after seeing them; that was probably the greatest praise he could get.
At 9:15 AM, Yang Yi clocked in at the front desk.
The company rule was 9-to-6, but because of occasional late-night overtime, the attendance tracking for the following morning wasn't strictly enforced. When Yang Yi walked to his station, less than half of his colleagues had arrived.
Today's task was still organizing competitive sentiment. The slight difference was that a major departmental meeting was scheduled before the end of the day. These meetings happened once a month. The staff responsible for sentiment tracking, including Yang Yi, were required to present their findings on competitor information to everyone.
This was a rare opportunity to show off. Yang Yi had started preparing his presentation materials a week ago.
Others simply copy-pasted spreadsheets together and droned through them like a mundane ledger. Initially, Yang Yi just added summary notes to each row of the table, but as he started writing, he got more and more into it, unable to stop.
So, he opened Word, and a 10,000-word report was born.
Four competing brands—Yang Yi had assigned a vivid personality to each one. This was a conclusion he reached after observing their daily "love-hate entanglements" with the media and netizens online.
Today's task was just to fill in any gaps and add the latest sentiment. Yang Yi was certain that the others probably hadn't even started preparing their materials.
Yang Yi opened his masterpiece, browsed through it with satisfaction, and stretched.
Ding... the sound of a text message.
"How have you been lately? Beitong is currently recruiting talents; perhaps you should give it a try." The text was signed: Maolin.
Maolin was a college classmate of Yang Yi's. He had a big, rugged build but loved to act cool by using literary Chinese phrases. After graduation, they both came to Nanjin to find work. Maolin arrived first and rented a whole apartment in the Tiandong district; Yang Yi had even stayed there temporarily for a while.
Beitong Advertising was the agency of Yang Yi's dreams. Headquartered abroad, it was the largest advertising group in the world. Back then, it was actually Yang Yi who suggested Maolin try for it. Who would have thought Maolin was so capable? He passed three rounds of interviews and got in smoothly, though the position at the time was quite humble.
An intern.
So, Yang Yi had originally asked Maolin to put in a word for him. The reply he got was:
"My wings are not yet full. I shall scout the enemy's intel first and discuss this another day."
Yang Yi hadn't pinned much hope on Maolin. Who would have thought that "another day" was today?
"Am I in the same team as you?" Yang Yi replied, suppressing his excitement.
"Indeed. Send me your resume first; I shall pass it to the Director for review."
Yang Yi didn't have a resume ready; the one he used for his interview a year ago was long lost. But a blank slate had its perks. He decided to set today's work aside for a moment and just prepare a new resume based on his info from graduation.
By noon, Yang Yi sent the resume to Maolin. He looked up at his familiar surroundings, wondering how many more times he would see this scene.
Colleagues were already heading out in groups of two or three for lunch. Yang Yi was rarely invited. Every day, he just went downstairs to a roadside eatery for a simple meal of Donkey Meat Firecake or rice noodles.
Just as Yang Yi was debating what to eat today, Maolin's text arrived.
"Indeed. The Director is very satisfied. Interview tomorrow."
"That fast?"