Legendary Captain

Chapter 214 Reincarnation

"You mean someone's targeting us? That can't be right. Our company is so big, why would we need others to go to the trouble of doing this online?" Li Chuan was clearly a little skeptical that anyone was stirring up trouble for Lian Shanxiue online.

There are many ways to manipulate online public opinion, one of which is the "praise before criticism" technique. This involves exaggerating a person or event to an unbelievable degree. If the praise far exceeds the actual merit of the event, coupled with a massive information bombardment, it easily provokes resentment among ordinary netizens. After the promoters withdraw, the public has already formed a preconceived aversion to the event, and under this bias, even genuine positive feedback will be instinctively rejected.

However, although this method is short-lived, it requires a large investment of traffic in the short term. To saturate the senses of ordinary netizens with information, it also consumes a lot of human and material resources.

Xingyou Airlines is hardly a behemoth, and it operates in a relatively isolated area, focusing on the highly specialized civil aviation industry. The chances of it clashing with other investors are slim. There's no need to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut like Xingyou Airlines.

Moreover, the leak of Lian Shanxue's investigation report was an isolated incident. It was only leaked recently, so could it be that some investors have already devised a plan to target Xingyou Airlines? That's incredibly fast!

Based on Li Chuan's experience, the sudden surge in popularity of Lian Shanxue did not seem to be driven by anyone. However, Li Chuan did not understand why people on the Internet were so interested in Lian Shanxue's story. It was just a simple airplane decompression, so why was it so attractive?

However, it's one thing to feel that someone is targeting them, but it's another to actually figure it out.

"Go check whether there are any online trolls involved in this," Li Chuan instructed. They were in the publicity business, so they definitely had connections with a few large online troll groups. It was safest to let professionals determine whether online trolls were involved.

If someone were to actually sabotage them, things would seem to get quite serious. But if it's not the work of online trolls, and it's just that the general public is bored and suddenly becomes interested in airplane decompression, that would be quite interesting too. With such a huge amount of traffic, it would be a shame not to make good use of it, given the netizens' support.

After assigning the task to his assistant, Li Chuan looked up and saw Lin Bo still frowning and discussing something with his assistant. Even if he didn't know what they were planning, just looking at the expressions of that pair of "star-crossed lovers," he knew it probably wasn't anything good.

"Lin Bo, the company's still standing, what's with that expression?"

Lin Bo replied somewhat irritably, "We just aborted takeoff and now there's another problem!"

"What's the problem? Is it serious?" Li Chuan's expression didn't seem to change much.

"I reckon the authorities will be cutting our flight times next month."

Li Chuan pointed at Lin Bo: "So you say your flight department is more trouble than it's worth, and all you do is make us marketing department clean up your messes."

Lin Bo was taken aback: "President Li, when did you become so agreeable? Reduce flights!"

Reducing flights will also affect the marketing department's annual performance. If the marketing department's performance does not meet the target, the most direct consequence will be a significant reduction in the year-end bonuses of all marketing employees, which is a real financial loss.

Furthermore, year-end bonuses are linked to job level. For someone like Li Chuan, the marketing director, the year-end bonus is substantial. However, the year-end bonus cut for underperformance is proportional; the higher the original bonus, the greater the cut.

This all concerns the marketing department's performance, yet Li Chuan is sitting calmly and even has the mood to joke around, which is really strange. Knowing Li Chuan's personality, Lin Bo wouldn't be surprised if he overturned his desk at this point.

However, Li Chuan's sudden display of reasoning seemed even more frightening to Lin Bo, because he couldn't be sure if this was a manifestation of Li Chuan's extreme anger and mental breakdown.

Contrary to Lin Bo's concerns, Li Chuan didn't seem to care much about the reduction in flights.

"Your flight department has done far too many lousy things, so I don't have any expectations of you anymore. I just hope you don't cause any major disasters. As for other minor issues, I'll just have to accept them." Although Li Chuan's words were full of sarcasm, they were very polite compared to his previous behavior.

Having heard Li Chuan's words clearly, Lin Bo felt even more uncertain.

This is very abnormal, extremely abnormal, absolutely abnormal!

It was this abnormality that gave even the usually shrewd Lin Bo the illusion of the calm before the storm.

"Will he flip the table any second? Or will he start a fight? Judging from Mr. Li's refined demeanor, he should be the type to talk the talk but not walk the walk," Lin Bo thought to himself. "But judging from his expression, he doesn't seem really angry! Is Mr. Li hiding it too well, or is my perception just deteriorating? Hey? Why is he coming over here? Is he going to hit someone?"

Just as Lin Bo was lost in thought, Li Chuan approached him with a smile, the two of them only two steps apart.

As Li Chuan approached with a smile, Lin Bo couldn't hold back any longer. What the hell was so funny? The company was losing money, and the marketing director was this happy?

Lin Bo's assistant subtly stepped back, creating some distance between himself and Lin Bo.

"You're quite close to that kid Lu Xinyu, aren't you? I heard you'd prefer him to take your place," Li Chuan suddenly asked.

Lin Bo asked, puzzled, "Mr. Li, what do you mean by that question?"

The topic jumped around a bit too quickly, leaving Lin Bo somewhat overwhelmed.

"It's nothing, just wanted you to pass on a message to Lu Xinyu. Although Lian Shanxue is nominally in the Flight Department, she's actually part of our Marketing Department. Tell her to be mindful of her position. The title of Deputy General Manager of the Flight Department is just a title; don't use it as a weapon."

Lin Bo was even more confused: "President Li, didn't you and Lu Xinyu have some personal relationship before? What exactly is going on?"

Lin Bo remembered that when Wen Jingshu first came to Xingyou Airlines as president, Li Chuan had tried to win over Lu Xinyu. The two seemed to be on the same page. Even though Li Chuan had given up on forming a clique for various reasons, it was still too surreal for him to turn his back on Lu Xinyu so easily.

Upon hearing Lin Bo's question, Li Chuan immediately put his arm around Lin Bo and exclaimed, "Lin Bo, it seems our company has struck gold!"

"Bao?" Lin Bo frowned, then suddenly realized something: "You don't mean Lian Shanxue, do you? No way!"

"Why not?" Li Chuan patted Lin Bo on the shoulder. "Just you wait! When I get promoted to president, Lian Shanxue will definitely take the credit. Compared to Lian Shanxue, Lu Xinyu is like a rock in the toilet—stinky and stubborn. I'm just reminding him to be more discerning in the future. Doesn't he know who Lian Shanxue is on his side?!"

Pilots from the flight department, who are not formally trained managers, typically reach the level of Vice President of Operations at most. The next step is the President, a position that is difficult to attain without professional management experience. At least in the history of Star Travel Airlines, no pilot, maintenance engineer, or flight attendant has ever served as the company's President.

However, Li Chuan is a true professional manager, and he has the potential to be promoted to the company's president, as there are precedents in Xingyou's history.

Previously, most presidents of Xingyou Airlines were parachuted in from within the group, with a few being promoted locally. Therefore, if Li Chuan wants to be promoted to the position of president with his Xingyou background and local connections, he must fight a decisive battle.

Unfortunately, Star Travel Airlines is a small company with many internal conflicts. While lacking the ability to expand externally, it excels at internal strife and infighting. Aside from its rapid initial growth, Star Travel Airlines has not experienced significant expansion for some time now.

A truly impressive victory isn't about crushing your own people; that's merely being adept at internal strife. There are plenty of people who are subservient to outsiders but ruthless internally, and that won't be enough for Li Chuan to advance his career. He needs to expand Xingyou Airlines' territory significantly.

Previously, Li Chuan thought it was unlikely. After all, Xingyou Airlines was too small to make any big moves, and much of its internal strength was being wasted on internal strife.

But things are different now! If the controversy surrounding Lian Shanxue really did generate buzz spontaneously, there's a high chance it could be packaged into a viral sensation. In that case, as Lian Shanxue's direct superior, he would have made a huge contribution.

Of course, this is only a possibility. There are far too many cases where something becomes a hot topic online for a day or two, then quickly disappears. It's fortunate that Xu Qing and Han Qi have already broken the mold for future generations, making it easier for ordinary people to access information about hot topics in civil aviation.

Since Lian Shanxue is key to Li Chuan's future promotion, Li Chuan naturally needs to use her to give Lu Xinyu a warning. Previously, after Lian Shanxue came to the company to explain the stress situation, she briefly mentioned it in his office. Although Lian Shanxue didn't say it explicitly, Li Chuan, being astute, sensed Lian Shanxue's dissatisfaction with Lu Xinyu. He casually asked Lian Shanxue a few questions and roughly understood the situation, but at the time, Li Chuan didn't take it to heart.

Now that Lianshanxue's status has risen rapidly, it's natural to want to give Lianshanxue a chance to shine.

"Alright, I won't waste my breath on you. I have plenty of things to do later. You can worry about what interruption is all you want!" Li Chuanzhi left Lin Bo's office smugly. He still had to busy himself with Lian Shanxue's matter.

Even after Li Chuan left the office, Lin Bo was still in shock. After a long while, he pointed to the door and said to his assistant, "Are you dumbfounded?"

"He's not stupid!" the assistant said helplessly. "Right now, Mr. Li's luck has really turned around; he's at the peak of his life."

When will my luck turn around?

The assistant pulled out his phone, tapped a link, and handed it to Lin Bo: "The top three trending news stories online are all about Lian Shanxue, one of his subordinates. Our company has really made a name for itself this time. When did civil aviation get this much attention?"

Lin Bo's eyelids twitched when he saw Lian Shanxue's name appearing in all three positions on the leaderboard. After a long while, he sighed, "He really struck gold!"

Lu Xinyu's office.

Upon receiving the report of the erroneous takeoff of Xingyou 6321 flight, Lu Xinyu surprisingly burst into laughter: "I knew those co-pilots needed a good beating! If I don't keep them on their toes every day, they'll forget who they're dealing with! Qin Zongyang even said I was putting too much pressure on them, but I think I wasn't putting enough pressure on them, and look what happened! Those useless co-pilots have no self-awareness whatsoever. Without my constant prodding, how could they guarantee flight safety? But it's also a good thing they're a bunch of good-for-nothings. Qin Zongyang stood up for them, and they turned around and slapped him in the face. Who can they complain to now, hahaha!"

Earlier at the meeting, Qin Zongyang confronted Lu Xinyu, one of the reasons being that Lu Xinyu had adopted an extremely high-pressure policy towards the co-pilot in order to please his superiors, which was unpopular.

However, Lu Xinyu was forced to relax his co-pilot training, and then the takeoff was aborted. Doesn't that mean that Lu Xinyu's approach was correct? The co-pilot should keep pushing, otherwise something bad will happen.

In truth, Lu Xinyu knew perfectly well that the accidental abort of takeoff had nothing to do with Qin Zongyang or him; it was purely an isolated incident. However, the timing was perfect—it happened shortly after Lu Xinyu relaxed his control over the co-pilot, providing him with evidence to prove the correctness of his actions. Lu Xinyu had no reason not to seize the opportunity.

It can only be said that God was on his side.

In the office was also squadron leader Cao Jinwen. Hearing Lu Xinyu's words, he frowned. "President Lu! Our company's co-pilots are indeed under a lot of pressure. Many of them have serious complaints about the company, which isn't a good thing! Our company's safety situation is still acceptable; there's really no need to take such extreme control measures. Why don't we go with the flow this time and appropriately ease the co-pilots' workload? It would also help calm Qin Zongyang down. I'll talk to Qin about Zhang Chen's matter, depending on the situation. Convening the Flight Technical Committee is a disgrace to our entire flight department. I think Qin Zongyang is just acting impulsively. I'll try to persuade him once he's calmed down. President Lu, why don't you find some time to visit Zhang Chen in the hospital, just to make a gesture, to soften your stance? There's no need to argue with Qin about this. You know how stubborn he is; if we keep arguing with him, he'll really do what he says, and in the end, it'll be a lose-lose situation. There's no need!"

Squad leader Cao Jinwen was nominally in charge of Lu Xinyu, but he also had a good relationship with Qin Zongyang in private. Seeing Qin Zongyang and Lu Xinyu fighting to the death, he was very anxious and decided to act as a peacemaker, speaking on both sides' behalf.

He really didn't want Xingyou Airlines' flight department to become a laughing stock in the history of domestic civil aviation.

But how could Lu Xinyu, who was always proud and arrogant, just admit defeat like that?

"Qin Zongyang is nothing but a grasshopper in autumn, he won't be able to jump around for long!" Lu Xinyu sneered, "He can convene a temporary technical committee whenever he wants? Once this meeting is held, it will be a stain on his reputation for life. I don't believe Qin Zongyang can convince those standing committee members."

Cao Jinwen wanted to say something more, but seeing Lu Xinyu's gloomy expression, he swallowed his words.

Lu Xinyu was exaggerating. For those committee members, holding this temporary technical committee meeting wasn't a stain on their record for life. If there really was a stain, it would fall on Qin Zongyang and Lu Xinyu. Therefore, it wasn't impossible for Qin Zongyang to persuade the standing committee members.

Lu Xinyu said that to boost his own morale, but Cao Jinwen saw through his bluster at a glance.

Ultimately, Lu Xinyu couldn't bring himself to back down to Qin Zongyang. Judging from Lu Xinyu's rise to power, he was arrogant and dismissive of everyone, making him submit was harder than climbing to heaven.

But these two just stubbornly resisted, and in the end, it was Xingyou's flight department that lost face!

"By the way, how's it going with the investigation I asked you to do about the relationship between Xu Xian and Qi Fengyang?" Lu Xinyu didn't want to discuss Qin Zongyang's matter any further, so he changed the subject.

That day, Lu Xinyu was humiliated by Qi Fengyang, and he was truly resentful afterward. However, he was also wary of Qi Fengyang's seemingly targeted remarks, mainly because Qi Fengyang's warning that there was no place for them in the domestic civil aviation industry was quite frightening, making Lu Xinyu really hesitant to make any moves against Xu Xian.

After all, Qi Fengyang is no nobody; his words carry weight.

Therefore, not daring to act rashly, Lu Xinyu asked Cao Jinwen to investigate the relationship between Xu Xian and Qi Fengyang. Cao Jinwen was a very resourceful person with many information channels, and he could even get information from the maintenance engineering department.

Cao Jinwen waved his hand: "After Qi Fengyang took Xu Xian away that day, he went straight to President Wang's office. Not long after, Xu Xian left. After that, Xu Xian never met with Qi Fengyang and President Wang alone again."

"So it really is related to Mr. Wang!" Lu Xinyu gritted his teeth in hatred. Actually, Lu Xinyu wasn't too afraid of Qi Fengyang alone. Even if Qi Fengyang rose to prominence in the future, that was a matter for later; there was no need to act like a grandson to him now. The key issue was that Qi Fengyang currently had the Vice President of Maintenance protecting him, which was quite troublesome. To make matters worse, the Vice President of Maintenance and the Vice President of Operations were also good friends in private, so he wouldn't be unable to deal with him just because they were in different departments, which infuriated Lu Xinyu.

However, Lu Xinyu couldn't understand how the vice president of maintenance and Xu Xian, who were clearly unrelated, suddenly became connected! Moreover, judging from Qi Fengyang's attitude that day, it seemed that he really intended to protect Xu Xian, which made it even stranger.

"Is that all?" Lu Xinyu asked.

Cao Jinwen shrugged: "That's all! Oh, right, when Xu Xian left, he was with an old man. That old man seemed to have been in President Wang's office the whole time."

"An old man?" Lu Xinyu was taken aback. "Who is he?"

Cao Jinwen's face stiffened: "President Lu, although I have some information channels, I'm not a professional detective, so I really don't know."

Lu Xinyu was uncharacteristically embarrassed: "Ahem, never mind then, I'll figure it out myself."

Although Cao Jinwen was his subordinate, Lu Xinyu didn't actually have much influence over him. The reason was that Cao Jinwen lacked ambition and had absolutely no desire to improve himself; he was practically apathetic. If Lu Xinyu assigned him tasks that were essentially impossible to complete, Cao Jinwen might simply quit, which would put Lu Xinyu in an awkward position.

However, there was one thing that Lu Xinyu was still very concerned about.

"You're quite close to the standing committee members of the Flight Technology Committee. How about we get together sometime?" Despite Lu Xinyu's outwardly composed demeanor, he was actually quite anxious. He felt it necessary to sound out the standing committee members beforehand in order to prepare accordingly.

This was a fairly reasonable request, and Cao Jinwen had no reason to refuse, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree: "Okay, I'll let you know once I've made the contact."

Judging from the current situation, a showdown between the two deputy general managers seems inevitable.

Renxin Hospital Dianyun Branch, Qin Yue Ward.

Qin Yue, who was expected to wake up soon, has not yet woken up, and Li Jinyan is taking care of him without the slightest slackening.

In Yunnan, Li Jinyan knew only a few people, including Xu Xian, and had no other acquaintances. Qin Yue was even more isolated. Apart from Xu Xian occasionally visiting, almost no one else came to see him in the ward. But today, two uninvited guests arrived.

"Dad! Mom!" Li Jinyan was stunned when she saw her parents push the door open and enter.

Li Jinyan's father, Li Xianyi, and mother, Yang Jiyue, came together. After entering the ward, their attention was first drawn to Qin Yue, who was still unconscious.

Li Xianyi glanced at Qin Yue before turning his gaze to his daughter's face: "Aren't you going to hire a caregiver?"

After a short separation, Li Jinyan was noticeably thinner, and her eyes showed undeniable fatigue; her lively spirit had vanished. Li Xianyi, who had initially been somewhat angry, softened upon seeing his daughter's appearance.

"I don't trust anyone else to take care of him!" Li Jinyan said. Wen Jingshu had actually found several experienced caregivers for Li Jinyan before, but after helping for a while, Li Jinyan decided to come herself.

Li Xianyi approached the bedside, then glanced at Qin Yue again: "Where are his parents?"

"Let's go!"

Li Xianyi raised an eyebrow: "Gone? Your son's condition and you're leaving?"

Halfway through his sentence, Li Xianyi suddenly sensed something was amiss, and then his wife, Yang Jiyue, tugged at his sleeve, making him immediately realize, "Never mind! I won't ask anymore."

The atmosphere of Li Jinyan's conversation with her father was not like that of a father and daughter at all; rather, it was like a superior and subordinate reporting to each other, without any sense of kinship.

Seeing the somewhat tense atmosphere between the father and daughter, Yang Jiyue quickly went to her daughter's side and whispered, "I'm not leaving for now since I've come all this time. Anyway, we have a house here in Yunnan, so I'll stay and take care of you."

Li Jinyan's mother, Yang Jiyue, comes from the Yang family, which is one of the most prestigious professional management families in the country. Most of the well-known professional managers in the country today are more or less related to the Yang family.

Yang Jiyue was the one who facilitated the merger of Blue Sky Airlines and Starfly Airlines into Qingyuan Group. After the merger, Yang Jiyue served as the president of Blue Sky Airlines for a period of time. However, after becoming pregnant with Li Jinyan, Yang Jiyue resigned from all her positions to focus on raising Li Jinyan.

During Yang Jiyue's tenure as president of Blue Sky Airlines, she purchased a property in Yunnan. However, her family mostly lived in Tianning City afterward, and rarely stayed in the house in Yunnan.

"No need!" Li Jinyan refused coldly: "My dad is busy with the group's affairs and can't stay in Yunnan for long. If you stay here, he won't be able to take care of himself."

Although Yang Jiyue no longer holds any position, Li Xianyi is still a director of the Qingyuan Group's board of directors, with a multitude of affairs to attend to, making it impossible for him to stay in Dianyun for an extended period.

Li Xianyi had been pampered since childhood, and Yang Jiyue was very virtuous and took excellent care of him. As a result, although Li Xianyi was getting older, his life skills had not improved at all. If he were separated from Yang Jiyue, Li Xianyi would be very uncomfortable.

Hearing his daughter's words, Li Xianyi's heart softened. Although Li Jinyan seemed to have a lot of opinions about him, she still cared about him.

"It's alright! This Internet conference that the group is attending will last a bit longer, so I'll stay in Yunnan for a while and take care of some matters related to Blue Sky Airlines," Li Xianyi said.

As a director of Qingyuan Group, he already had some matters concerning Blue Sky Airlines to handle. Since he was already here, he decided to resolve them all in the meantime, so as not to delay his work and to spend more time with his wife and daughter.

Li Jinyan was very indifferent to Li Xianyi's request to stay in Yunnan for a while longer, and seemed not to care much.

This made Li Xianyi quite embarrassed. Seeing his wife Yang Jiyue glare at him, Li Xianyi composed himself and forced a conversation with Li Jinyan: "How is he? I heard he's been in a coma for a long time."

Li Jinyan suddenly looked at him: "I heard? Who told you that?"

"Xu Xian! Who else could it be but that little brat?" Li Xianyi casually betrayed Xu Xian, the guy who leaked the information.

As soon as he said it, he received a big eye roll from his wife, Yang Jiyue. Li Xianyi naturally saw the look his wife gave him, but he didn't care at all.

Upon hearing that it was Xu Xian who said it, Li Jinyan's anger subsided.

During Qin Yue's coma, the hospital doctors did their best. Li Jinyan could tell that this was all thanks to Wen Jingshu, and Wen Jingshu had listened to Xu Xian's advice, so Li Jinyan was very grateful to Xu Xian.

"He seems to have fallen into a deep coma recently, and we don't know when he will wake up," Li Jinyan sighed.

Qin Yue's brainwave activity became weaker and weaker over time, which meant that Qin Yue had begun to enter a deep coma, contrary to the doctor's expectations.

The strangest thing is that even when Qin Yue is in a deep coma, he sometimes spontaneously says some inexplicable things or makes some strange movements, which is not like a completely unconscious person at all.

To be honest, even the doctors didn't understand Qin Yue's current condition. In fact, Renxin General Hospital, at Wen Jingshu's behest, sent a team of experts to conduct a consultation with Qin Yue, but they still couldn't get a definitive result.

However, the only saving grace is that Qin Yue's physical indicators are all normal, except that he cannot wake up.

Suddenly, Li Jinyan looked up at Li Xianyi: "Dad, I have a question for you!"

"Hmm?" Li Xianyi's gaze returned to his daughter's face. "What's wrong?"

What comes to mind when you think of the number 9517?

"9517?" Li Xianyi and Yang Jiyue exchanged bewildered glances. "What does that mean? Why are you asking that?"

Li Xianyi and Yang Jiyue said they had no idea what Li Jinyan wanted to ask, given that her question was completely nonsensical and illogical.

Li Jinyan glanced at Qin Yue: "Recently, he keeps repeating a number like he's talking in his sleep, it's 9517! I can't figure out what this number means! I don't know if he's just talking nonsense again."

"He's just talking nonsense without thinking, no matter what state he's in right now," Li Xianyi waved his hand, not caring at all.

Suddenly, Li Xianyi's body stiffened, a flash of light from a distant memory suddenly appeared, and his pupils contracted sharply.

He thought of something that happened more than 20 years ago, something he would never forget, and the number 9517 appeared in that incident.

"Xianyi, what's wrong?" Yang Jiyue was the first to notice Li Xianyi's unusual behavior and couldn't help but worry.

Li Jinyan was also startled by her mother's voice. When she looked at Li Xianyi, she saw that her father's face was full of disbelief.

"Dad?" Li Jinyan called softly.

His daughter's voice snapped Li Xianyi out of his reverie. He jolted awake, a lingering fear still on his face. He murmured, "Jinyan! The flight number of the plane that Xu Qing and I first met was 9517!"

(End of this chapter)