Chapter Ninety-Three: Open Strife and Hidden Schemes

Congratulations to Misty on becoming the second disciple, and thanks as well to the other readers who sent gifts.

Zhang Wei’s entrance drew everyone’s attention, not because his personal charm was especially great, but because the BMW and the designer clothes he wore transformed his entire bearing at once. As the old saying goes, clothes make the man.

Such a forceful appearance left the sales agents in Xu Ming’s team, who knew him, momentarily stunned, and then visibly surprised. Zhang Wei had only been away for a week, yet when he returned he was driving a BMW. For them, that was a considerable shock indeed.

As for the employees in Su Ning’s team, they were not familiar with Zhang Wei, so they failed to recognize him at first glance. They all took him for some rich heir or successful businessman, and the sight of his BMW could not help but fill them with envy.

Fang Wenjun, however, looked somewhat bewildered. She had the vague sense that Zhang Wei looked familiar, but no matter how she tried, she could not place him. From their brief exchange just now, she also did not think he seemed like someone looking to rent or buy a place, and she could not understand how he knew her.

Seeing everyone silently staring at him, Zhang Wei found the atmosphere rather awkward. He wanted to make his identity clear and break the strange silence, so he glanced at the watch on his left wrist and said, “Brother Xu, I’m not late today, am I?”

“Zhang Wei, you little brat, and you didn’t even say a word before coming to work. You even made such a grand entrance, driving a BMW 730,” Xu Ming said as he stepped forward. There was no anger on his face; instead, he walked over to the BMW with great interest and examined it closely.

After their initial astonishment, Wang Jianfa, Li Lin, Guo Bin, Wang Min, and the others also came crowding over with excitement, surrounding Zhang Wei’s BMW and exclaiming in admiration and envy.

“Zhang Wei, where on earth did you get a BMW 730?” Wang Jianfa, who knew Zhang Wei best, could not help asking with curiosity the moment he saw him driving such a fine car.

“Of course I bought it myself. Do you think someone would lend me one?” Although the BMW had been won in a lottery, Zhang Wei had still paid two hundred thousand yuan in personal income tax for it, so it could just as well be said that he had bought it with his own money.

“A BMW 730 costs well over nine hundred thousand yuan just for the car itself. With the paperwork and everything included, it would easily be more than a million,” Guo Bin swallowed hard. At that moment, besides envy and jealousy, he could not help feeling a trace of genuine admiration for Zhang Wei. He wondered when he would ever be able to own such a luxury car.

“Store manager Xu, who exactly is this gentleman? Would you please introduce him to us?” Su Ning frowned, a faint note of displeasure in her voice.

“Oh, his name is Zhang Wei. He’s also a sales agent in my team and just came back from leave at home,” Xu Ming said with a laugh. After introducing Zhang Wei, he pointed to the people in Su Ning’s group and said, “Zhang Wei, this is Manager Su Ning, along with the four beauties and the two strongmen under her. We’ll all be working together from now on, so get acquainted.”

“Hello, Manager Su. Since we’ll all be working together from now on, I hope you’ll take good care of me,” Zhang Wei said, turning to smile at Su Ning.

Strictly speaking, he had met them before at district meetings. But back then, Zhang Wei had not signed a single deal and was still on the brink of being dismissed. District meetings were often attended by dozens of salespeople at once, so Su Ning’s team had never paid him much attention.

“Things were fine enough at first, but you came barreling over here in a BMW and really startled me. And from now on, I do not want you to block the front entrance of the branch with a personal car,” Su Ning said coldly, her expression turning frosty.

Su Ning had proposed that everyone share their closing experience during the morning meeting because two people in her team had signed deals, while no one in Xu Ming’s team had. She wanted to use the discussion of viewing results to suppress and outshine Xu Ming’s side.

At first everything had gone smoothly. But just as Fang Wenjun was sharing her experience of closing a deal, Zhang Wei arrived in a BMW, interrupting the meeting in progress. The sheer presence of the car immediately overwhelmed the room.

The class of a car could reflect a person’s identity, status, and financial strength. A BMW was unquestionably among the best. Without a word, it elevated its owner’s standing, and compared with that expensive BMW, the two rental deals their team had closed suddenly seemed trivial.

That was why Su Ning had turned her sharp gaze on Zhang Wei and warned him not to block the store entrance with his car. In truth, it was also a way of dampening his momentum and expressing her dissatisfaction with him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll remember,” Zhang Wei said, though his tone was somewhat perfunctory. After all, he was not under Su Ning’s management; as long as he kept up appearances, that was enough.

“You’re the Zhang Wei who closed three deals last month and made one point seven million in performance commission?” Fang Wenjun suddenly remembered who he was and stared at him, asking the question.

Zhang Wei had generated well over a million in performance last month, so according to procedure he should have been praised in the district at the beginning of this month. But since he had gone home for something at the time, the matter had been delayed. As a result, Fang Wenjun’s impression of him was still that of the previously obscure newcomer.

“That’s right, it’s me,” Zhang Wei replied with a nod.

“You really are wasteful. The commission you received last month was 1.7 million yuan. At the corresponding sixty percent rate, that should be 1.02 million. Add the district and store bonuses, and the total would probably only come to around 1.05 million. Did you spend it all on a car at once?” Liu Ziqi said, staring at Zhang Wei with the disdainful look one might reserve for a nouveau riche.

Zhang Wei only smiled and offered no explanation. He did not need to explain himself to anyone. Turning around, he walked over to Xu Ming and said, “Brother Xu, I’ll park the car first and be right back.”

“Just leave the car here for now. It won’t get in the way. Go into the office first, clock in, and log into the Housing Friends system. Then hurry back for the morning meeting. Since everyone is sharing tips on closing deals, why not tell us about the three deals you closed last month too? It’s better than keeping everything to yourself,” Xu Ming said, patting Zhang Wei on the shoulder with a meaningful look.

Xu Ming was also holding back a breath of resentment. He thought to himself: So Su Ning thinks her team is impressive because they closed two deals while our team closed none, and that’s why she wants everyone to share their experience during the morning meeting? She wants to prove her team is better than ours? Fine. I’ll have Zhang Wei, the district’s sales champion and a broker with more than 1.7 million yuan in monthly performance, exchange experiences with you. Let’s see which team has the stronger presence.

The commission rates based on performance were as follows: ten percent for under ten thousand yuan; fifteen percent for ten thousand to thirty thousand; twenty percent for thirty thousand to fifty thousand; twenty-five percent for fifty thousand to one hundred thousand; thirty percent for one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand; thirty-five percent for two hundred thousand to five hundred thousand; forty percent for five hundred thousand to one million; fifty percent for one million to 1.5 million; and sixty percent for anything above 1.5 million.