The Art of Teasing - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The thought that Ye Ling might be interested in her surfaced once again in her mind. It still felt somewhat unbelievable and improbable, yet it remained the most reasonable explanation she could find for Ye Ling's behavior.

Ye Ling sat right in front of her, and they were in the middle of discussing serious matters. Wen Zhengyu felt a bit embarrassed for letting her thoughts wander to personal affairs and quickly pulled her focus back.

Wen Zhengyu said, "I need to do some preliminary preparations first, and then draft a proposal. If there are any shortcomings then, I'll trouble CEO Ye to offer some guidance."

Hearing that Wen Zhengyu was already considering how to implement things without having discussed it with Wen Li yet, Ye Ling was in quite a pleasant mood. She smiled faintly and responded gently, "Alright."

That single word "Alright" came through so beautifully—whether it was because Ye Ling's voice was pleasant to hear or because her straightforward agreement felt so satisfying, Wen Zhengyu actually detected a lingering, melodious quality to it. She instinctively looked at Ye Ling, only to find Ye Ling's expression completely composed.

Ye Ling poured Wen Zhengyu a cup of tea, then returned to savoring her own.

Wen Zhengyu sat beside Ye Ling, keeping her company while drinking tea. She could tell Ye Ling was very relaxed, and what's more, seemed to be in quite a good mood.

There were too many unusual aspects in the way Ye Ling treated her. This forced Wen Zhengyu to overthink.

Ye Ling liked her? Wanted to get close to her?

No matter how Wen Zhengyu turned this idea over in her mind, it always seemed preposterous. She couldn't help but scrutinize Ye Ling a few more times, reaching only one conclusion: setting aside Ye Ling's personality for the moment, her appearance, voice, and temperament all passed muster quite impressively. Ye Ling's vocal quality was excellent. When she spoke, she was unhurried and deliberate, her pace measured but her tone steady and forceful. Every word was clearly enunciated with precise pronunciation. Ye Ling always spoke with great gentleness and courtesy, yet there was an undeniable air of certainty about her. It gave Wen Zhengyu the sense that behind every word Ye Ling uttered lay thorough preparation, and by the time the words were spoken, the matter had already been settled beyond doubt. This was a person for whom everything said and done was fully prepared.

She suddenly caught sight of the corner of Ye Ling's mouth curving upward, as if she were smiling. She couldn't help but turn toward Ye Ling, and saw that even with her head lowered to drink tea, Ye Ling hadn't managed to conceal the smile on her lips. She asked, "What is CEO Ye smiling about?"

Ye Ling gave a soft laugh, set down her teacup, and said, "Nothing, it's just..." She leaned forward slightly, drawing closer to Wen Zhengyu, as if about to share a secret.

Wen Zhengyu felt a bit curious. It was just the two of them in the room—was there really any need for whispered confidences? Puzzled, she leaned in closer, wanting to hear what Ye Ling had to say.

Ye Ling drew near to Wen Zhengyu's ear. At a distance of a few centimeters from Wen Zhengyu's ear, she said in a low voice: "Zhengyu, your eyes keep darting over to me. Could it be you're interested in me?" After speaking, she sat back upright and even gave Wen Zhengyu a slightly playful wink.

Wen Zhengyu felt as though her brain had exploded with a buzz. A burning heat spread from her earlobes all the way to the crown of her head. She had been suspecting that Ye Ling was interested in her—and now Ye Ling was claiming she was interested in Ye Ling? Her? Interested in Ye Ling? If it weren't for the fact that Ye Ling conducted herself fairly honorably, she wouldn't even want to be Ye Ling's business partner. Wen Zhengyu replied coolly, "CEO Ye is overthinking things."

Ye Ling gave a deliberate "Mm" of acknowledgment and pulled out a moist towelette, offering it to Wen Zhengyu. "Wipe your face and cool down. In this deep autumn season, our Zhengyu is all flushed red."

Wen Zhengyu took the moist towelette from Ye Ling with a forceful grip. "Many thanks," she said. She lowered her head and used the towelette to wipe her hands.

Ye Ling's gaze fell upon Wen Zhengyu's fingers—fair, tender, like the tips of scallion shoots. The corner of her mouth lifted slightly once more. She checked the time and said, "I have afternoon matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave first."

Wen Zhengyu waved a hand at Ye Ling in a "bye-bye" gesture, more than happy to see Ye Ling go.

After Ye Ling left, she contacted Wen Li to discuss the winter auction.

Wen Li had no objections and told her to handle it as she saw fit.

The primary purpose of holding painting auctions through the studio was still publicity and promotion, as well as elevating the studio's reputation and the price range of its artworks. Therefore, the paintings submitted for auction had to be of exceptional quality and, moreover, distinctive in character.

The studio's operations had always proceeded along two fronts. One was commissioning paintings from renowned artists for auction and sale, thereby establishing industry standing and building reputation. However, there was a catch: paintings by famous artists were expensive, priced per market chi, with the cheapest starting at ten thousand per chi. This could easily lead to large sums of capital being tied up in inventory. Take her previous bulk commissioning as an example: although paintings by well-known artists sold well and sometimes even fetched high prices for substantial profits, as with her teacher's Great Wall Majestic Pass, such results only materialized with extensive promotion and sufficient advertising. When you factored in operational costs like advertising and auction fees, the overall cost was very high. Should a piece fail to sell or become stuck in inventory, it would directly lead to cash flow difficulties for the studio. Furthermore, both renowned artists and their works were limited in supply. Whenever she wanted to commission or purchase paintings, competitors wanted the same thing. Painting wasn't like factory production—you couldn't just add a shift and rush it out. This meant that even when she wanted to buy, the artist might not have any paintings to sell her, or might not want to sell to her. Consequently, works by famous artists could usually only serve as highlight pieces that anchored the studio's collection. The other operational direction for the studio was acquiring promising but more affordable paintings from the relatively larger pool of lesser-known artists and painters—works that ordinary people could afford. When purchasing their art, one had to assess not only the artist's potential but also the quality of the work itself. These artists were still in their ascendant phase, and the quality of their output could be unstable. While the paintings weren't expensive, their quality was uneven, requiring meticulous discernment and a particularly keen eye.

Running an art studio required dedicated personnel in the marketing department to conduct market research and collect information on painters both domestically and internationally.

For this winter auction, she planned to approach it from two angles: presenting seven or eight works by renowned painters, and also introducing works by emerging painters and artists who possessed distinctive qualities or were worth promoting. The selected works by famous artists had to avoid, as much as possible, repeating the same categories of painting. For instance, contemporary Chinese painting was broadly divided into categories such as figure, landscape, flower-and-bird, ruled-line painting, flowers, melons and fruits, feathers and fur, wild beasts, insects and fish, and so on. When submitting for auction, one had to avoid having more than two landscapes or two insect-and-fish pieces, for example. From the perspective of expressive technique, there were also classifications like meticulous brushwork, freehand, outline drawing, color application, ink painting, and so forth. She was running an art studio, not mounting a solo exhibition; therefore, the paintings submitted for auction should ideally encompass these various categories. If she commissioned a meticulous landscape, she shouldn't also commission a freehand landscape; if she commissioned an ink flower-and-bird piece, she shouldn't also commission a color flower-and-bird piece.

First, she needed to determine which painters to approach for commissions based on categories. Next, she had to contact them and ask whether they had the time or inclination to accept her commission. Only after that could she bring contracts and funds to negotiate in person—and whether negotiations would succeed was an entirely separate matter.

Once paintings were secured and she had decided which ones would go to auction, she still needed to liaise with the auction house to finalize the relevant auction procedures and workflow. Even if the procedures were standardized, matters like the auction date, venue, and security still required renegotiation depending on circumstances. As for publicity, it had to offer something fresh and innovative. She couldn't just recycle the previous promotional approach; the same promotional method appearing again and again would not only bore the client base but bore her as well. All these fragmented, scattered tasks required first preparing a financial budget, keeping the project costs within a range the studio's existing capital could sustain. Otherwise, if the studio found itself unable to maintain cash flow, both she and the studio would be plunged into dire straits.

Fortunately, this work wasn't hers to do alone. These tasks were exactly what the Marketing, Publicity, and Sales Department was for.

With just over three months until the New Year, the timeline was extremely tight. Therefore, producing the proposal and drafting the project plan couldn't be delayed—they had to be completed quickly. She called the Marketing, Publicity, and Sales Department people together for a meeting to discuss things first. Then she had the Marketing, Publicity, and Sales Department draft the project plan. After reviewing it herself, she went through discussions and revisions with them, and only then took it to Ye Ling and Wen Li for their review.

Wen Li had no particular opinion and simply told her: whether something was good or not, workable or not—decide for herself.

Wen Li had guided her through the door. How to proceed afterward, how to do better, how to avoid mistakes—she had to figure that out on her own through trial and error.

Ye Ling came by for meals every day, even on weekends. So Wen Zhengyu didn't send Ye Ling an email; instead, she handed her the printed, bound project plan to read.

After Ye Ling finished reading it, she didn't say much. She merely made a mark with her pen in a few places and said, "I think these parts could be reconsidered and refined further."

Wen Zhengyu had already studied the entire plan back and forth several times, but even where Ye Ling had marked, she couldn't see what wasn't adequate.

Still, for Ye Ling to mark things out and offer a pointer or two was quite good—she couldn't expect Ye Ling to explain everything clearly and thoroughly. She didn't understand it, but she didn't comment either. She pondered it on her own for the whole afternoon, and after dinner, while accompanying Old Master Wen on a walk, she took the opportunity to consult him.

The old master told her that good things weren't afraid of quantity; as long as she could connect with people willing to buy good things and form a stable, relatively small-scale trading circle over the long term, she wouldn't have to worry. Old Master Wen added, "Some excellent items can't be bought on the open market no matter how much money you have." As for the costs of purchasing paintings, so long as she could ensure the paintings would sell, she could raise the investment appropriately. It was impossible to run a business without incurring any debt—a time gap existed, and as long as capital flow could be maintained, it was fine.

Only then did Wen Zhengyu understand. Both Ye Ling and Old Master Wen were quite roundabout. What they meant was that the investment could be larger; as long as she could secure fine paintings, the more the better, and she should cultivate a small circle of high-end clients. Those additional famous works she commissioned wouldn't be submitted for auction, wouldn't be hung out for public sale, but would be transacted within this small high-end client circle. Easy to say—many industries operated this way—but when it came to concrete implementation, that was another matter entirely. The studio had just been founded and wasn't quite equipped to operate this way yet. However, this approach was indeed a developmental trend, and she truly ought to take advantage of the winter auction to get it started.

The management of this small group of high-end clients, due to the nature of the client relationships, made it inappropriate for the Marketing Department to handle. She could only arrange it herself.

After all this back-and-forth, her project plan ended up being divided into two parts. It took her an entire week to complete it and reach a level that satisfied Ye Ling. After that, she began contacting renowned painters. Once the artist indicated willingness to meet and talk, she would have to visit in person to negotiate.

She didn't want to impose on Ye Ling. She had originally thought bringing the marketing manager along would suffice. But the marketing manager was even busier than she was. If she took the marketing manager away, no one would be left to handle the broader client-facing work of identifying promising emerging artists. Besides, she kept having the feeling that Ye Ling was watching eagerly from the sidelines, and if she didn't bring Ye Ling along, who knew what serious consequences might ensue.

Considering that the studio was just starting out and she couldn't afford upheaval, she obediently invited Ye Ling to come along.

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