Read Chapter 4: — AN IMPOSSIBLE PROMOTION

Mufeng arrived at Huashi expecting to join the design department.

Qin Yuedong poured him tea in the same office, beside the same embroidered screen.

"The chairwoman called from the United States this morning," Qin said. "She reviewed your portfolio. She wants you appointed vice president of Huashi Furniture."

Mufeng thought he had misheard.

"Vice president?"

"Correct."

"I'm twenty-five."

"We can confirm that with Human Resources."

"I have never managed a furniture company."

"You have managed failure. That is sometimes a more expensive education."

Mufeng did not smile. "What is the catch?"

Qin's eyes sharpened with interest.

Mufeng leaned forward. "Huashi has executives with twenty years of experience. Some of them probably think my résumé belongs in the internship pile. Why me?"

Qin gave him the official answer: design instinct, entrepreneurial experience, long-term thinking, chairwoman approval, board vote.

It was plausible without being convincing.

Mufeng accepted anyway.

His first executive meeting confirmed that he had not been hired for a quiet life. Departments argued over returns, quality, procurement and responsibility as if the company were a federation of hostile states. When a product defect was raised, Sales blamed Production; Production blamed Procurement; Procurement displayed certificates; Administration was ordered to solve what nobody else wanted.

Then Qin announced Mufeng's appointment.

The silence was worse than open hostility.

Mufeng stood.

"I can read the room," he said. "Some of you are angry, some amused, some waiting for me to fail. The only advantage I can claim over most of you is height."

A few people almost laughed.

"I am not asking you to respect my title. I am asking you to judge what I do with it."

Mei Hongfeng, Huashi's formidable sales director, challenged him openly. Production chief Lu Yong mocked him. Another vice president, Cai Jiahan, said nothing at all.

That silence interested Mufeng most.

Cai was a relative of the Hua family. He had expected to rise when Qin retired. Now an outsider had appeared above him with the chairwoman's personal blessing.

After the meeting, Mufeng chose a new assistant: Linda, a recent hire with only three months at the company.

Qin was puzzled. "You could have an experienced executive secretary."

"Exactly. Everyone experienced here belongs to somebody's history. I need someone who doesn't yet know which battles she's supposed to inherit."

Linda nearly resigned on her first day when Mufeng demanded two years of sales, suppliers and management data by the next evening.

Then he offered to buy breakfast for her and her boyfriend.

"No limit?"

"Within the boundaries of breakfast and basic morality."

She stayed.

Within weeks, Mufeng saw the structure clearly. Huashi did not need another ceremonial executive.

It needed a knife.

He just did not yet know who had chosen him to hold it.