fictionpage Chapter 2 Rescue
Chapter 2 Rescue
Lin Mu retrieved his jacket from the roadside, took out a business card from his pocket, and handed it to Li Zhi, saying, "Brother, I'm an intern at Alibaba. Have you heard of Taobao? It's an e-commerce platform. I'll help you all the way. If you want to keep working hard, call the number on this card and I'll help you with operations and see if you can sell your goods online."
"Hey bro, you've met a benefactor!"
"Alibaba? Is it the Alibaba that Jack Ma owns? That's a huge company!"
"The internet, oh, high technology!"
The onlookers started discussing it, their voices full of envy.
Li Zhi accepted the business card in a daze and quickly said, "Um... Mr. Lin, thank you for saving me. Let me thank you properly!" He then reached for his wallet.
Lin Mu held his hand down and waved it with a smile: "Dude, you're already drowning in debt, where would you get the money? If you really want to thank me, go to Alibaba and give me a banner, that's the only thing that would really be useful to me."
"Okay, okay!" Li Zhi nodded solemnly. "I'll make a banner and send it to Ali in a few days, definitely!"
After rescuing the person, Lin Mu didn't go to the company, but instead headed towards his rented apartment. On the way, he took out his Motorola phone and called his boss, Lu Hai.
Once the call connected, Lin Mu got straight to the point: "Brother Zangfeng, someone just jumped into the lake, and I went down to save them. I'm soaking wet and freezing, so I'd like to ask for half a day off to go back, take a shower, and rest."
Within Alibaba, it's considered taboo to address employees as "brother" or "sister" to leaders in a frivolous or informal way. To reflect Alibaba's culture, every employee who joins the company must choose a nickname. These nicknames are carefully chosen: ordinary employees can only have two-character nicknames, while senior executives can have three-character nicknames.
For example, Lin Mu is currently a P1 intern at Taobao and can only choose a two-character nickname. He chose "Wild Goose" for himself. In this life, he chose this name for several reasons: firstly, it symbolizes a wild goose spreading its wings like a roc; secondly, the phrase "wild geese fly southeast" subtly reflects his eventual departure; and thirdly, all the good names have already been taken. When choosing a nickname, HR provides a nickname lookup system. If there are duplicate names, the start date must be added as a suffix. For instance, if Lin Mu wanted the nickname "Qiao Feng," but that name was already taken, he would have to use "Qiao Feng 2008."
Closer to home.
"Huh?" Lu Hai on the other end of the phone was greatly surprised and quickly asked, "Are you alright?"
"It's nothing, it's nothing."
"Okay," Lu Hai said, "I'll grant you a day off. Go home, take a hot shower, and then go to the hospital for a check-up as soon as possible. Bring the receipts for the medical expenses, and I'll try to get reimbursed by the finance department. If they won't reimburse it, I'll reimburse it for you personally!"
"Thank you, leader!" Lin Mu said without hesitation.
If he was Li Zhi's benefactor, then Lu Hai was his benefactor. In his past life, it was Lu Hai's introduction and strong support that propelled him onto the fast track of promotion. Later, after the upheaval at Alibaba's top management, Lu Hai left to found a headhunting firm, becoming a renowned name in the industry. Lin Mu had already planned that when he founded Pinduoduo in the future, he would definitely poach this top-tier HR talent.
……
after a while.
Inside the apartment.
Lin Mu stood in the bathtub, showering and pondering the talent he needed to recruit in the future. Among this batch of interns, a colleague named Wang Zaixing had always been his rival, the two secretly vying to be the first to be promoted to top-tier shop assistant, their rivalry subtly resembling that of "arch-rivals." Later, Lin Mu far surpassed him, but it was undeniable that Wang Zaixing's abilities were indeed remarkable—in 2012, during the golden age of e-commerce, he left Taobao to found an e-commerce operations agency, which flourished. Such talent was certainly not to be missed.
He mentally reviewed the list of people he could win over, and after taking a shower, he went straight to the hospital for a full checkup—since his superiors would reimburse him, he figured he might as well get checked.
……
The next day, Lin Mu returned to his workstation after clocking in.
On the workstation sits a notebook with Taobao's artistic font printed on the cover; next to the notebook are two ballpoint pens, each bearing Taobao's logo, "Making it easy to do business anywhere." These are all part of Taobao employees' onboarding gifts, including notebooks, ballpoint pens, mugs with the Taobao logo, and keychains.
Later, after Alibaba became a major internet company, many new employees would post pictures of these welcome gifts online. Many netizens were confused, not understanding what was so special about showing them off, while only fellow Alibaba employees would understand and smile knowingly.
Just then, a beautiful woman wearing an employee badge walked over.
"Dayan, would you like an iced Americano?" A beautiful woman with a great figure placed a cup of coffee on his table and asked with a smile, "I heard from Cangfeng that you jumped into the lake to save someone yesterday?"
This beautiful woman is the HR manager who recruited Lin Mujin to the company. HR departments within Alibaba are always unique, as they house both the best and worst in the industry, and this woman undoubtedly belongs to the former.
Lin Mu took the straw, inserted it into the cup, and took a big gulp. The bitter taste made him feel refreshed, and he readily replied, "Yes, that's right, it's not a rumor."
"What does it feel like to save someone?" the beautiful woman asked curiously.
"I feel so smug. Now I can finally call myself a good person."
"You're about to get promoted like a rocket!" the beautiful woman laughed. "Zang Feng wants to see you."
Not far away, Wang Zaixing glanced at Lin Mu with resentment. He knew in his heart that Lin Mu would definitely be promoted to P2 earlier than him in this promotion competition. But he also had to admit that Lin Mu's "selfless act of saving others" was indeed a beautiful victory and well-deserved.
Lin Mu arrived at Lu Hai's workstation.
Alibaba's promotion system is divided into two levels: the P series (execution level) and the M series (management level). Lin Mu is currently a P1, while Lu Hai is an M1. In 2008, a P1 shop assistant like Lin Mu, who liaises with merchants, earned a monthly salary of 7500 yuan; after being promoted to P2, the salary could increase to 9000 yuan.
This salary wasn't considered high in the internet industry at the time—Alibaba wasn't as financially powerful then, and preferred to use ordinary salaries to find potential talent from among many job seekers, and then cultivate them through the HR system to achieve the best cost-effectiveness.
Lin Mu placed the hospital invoice on Lu Hai's table and said with a smile, "Brother Zang Feng, you promised to reimburse me yesterday."
Lu Hai smiled and looked him up and down with admiration. He had a high opinion of this young man who had worked his way up from a small town, and what was even more remarkable was that Lin Mu possessed the quality of selflessness in saving others.
"Dayan," Lu Hai said, "the reporters from the Hangzhou Daily have even contacted President Lu, asking if he knows who the Alibaba employee was who jumped into the lake to save someone yesterday. You're practically on the president's radar now. Would you be willing to be interviewed? The marketing department plans to publicize this incident quite a bit."
Lin Mu has always adhered to the principle of "leaving a name when doing good deeds"—only when more people see that good deeds are rewarded will more people be willing to do good. He immediately nodded: "Of course! Leaving a name when doing good deeds can encourage more people to do good deeds."
Just then, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Lin Mu took it out and saw it was an unknown number.
Lu Hai gestured for him to answer the phone first.
"Feed?"
Li Zhi's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Brother Lin, I'm downstairs at Alibaba headquarters right now, but the security guards won't let me in. I've already prepared the banner; could you come down and take me up? I want to thank you in person!"
Lin Mu said, "Please wait a moment."
He explained the situation to Lu Hai. Lu Hai's eyes lit up, and he said, "Let him come up. He can be interviewed with the reporters; the effect will be even better!"
……
On the other side, the editorial department of the Hangzhou Daily.
Yesterday, they received a tip from an informant: a young man attempted suicide by jumping into a lake but was saved by an Alibaba intern. "Jumping into a lake to save someone" is newsworthy material in itself, and the identity of "Alibaba intern" made the editors see a business opportunity—they held the initiative in whether to highlight the "Alibaba intern" point, which was a good opportunity to negotiate a hefty travel fee, writing fee, and publicity fee with Alibaba.
This morning, they reached an agreement with Alibaba's business department and received a considerable kickback. Now that they've received the money, they naturally want to give Lin Mu, this "brave man," a proper boost.
Inside Alibaba's meeting room, a reporter was conducting an exclusive interview with Lin Mu and Li Zhi, and the sound of camera shutters clicking incessantly...