Chapter 1438 The Video's Not Bad, Who Edited It?

Ruan Guangjian angled his certificate slightly to the side so that Qiao Liang could see it clearly.

"To Pilgrim Ruan Guangjian, for your enterprising spirit and pioneering courage during the second phase of the Suffering Travel (December 2012 - January 2013), demonstrating outstanding performance and ranking among the best of all pilgrims, you are hereby awarded the title of 'Exceptional Pilgrim'!"

Qiao Liang was stunned for a moment, then his head filled with question marks.

Something felt off!

He turned to Chen Yufeng on his right: "What about your certificate?"

Chen Yufeng also turned his certificate for him to see. It read: "To Pilgrim Chen Yufeng, for your unwavering dedication and striving for excellence during the second phase of the Suffering Travel (December 2012 - January 2013), serving as a pillar of strength, you are hereby awarded the title of 'Outstanding Pilgrim'!"

Qiao Liang felt even more uneasy.

The differences in wording between these titles were quite obvious!

By this point, Bao Xu had finished distributing the commemorative badges and certificates.

"The two-month Suffering Travel has come to an end, and everyone has performed admirably."

"Though the time was short and we may feel reluctant to part, I believe that everyone has benefited greatly."

"I hope that everyone will remember the spirit of the Suffering Travel and carry the perseverance cultivated during this journey into your work and lives, passing this spirit on!"

"If you still desire to pursue even greater challenges, you are welcome to sign up again. Even more advanced commemorative badges will be available then!"

"Finally, on behalf of President Pei and the entire staff of the Suffering Travel, I would like to express our heartfelt congratulations to everyone!"

"Everyone can rest here for a bit, and we'll set off on our return journey tomorrow!"

After enthusiastic applause, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief, sitting down wherever they were and relaxing.

But Qiao Liang clearly couldn't sit down calmly like the others. He walked around, looking at everyone else's certificates.

After reading them all, Qiao Liang plopped down on the sand and began drawing circles in it.

What a ripoff!

Qiao Liang had been quite happy when he first saw his certificate.

Look at these words: striving, persistent, indomitable, tenacious pilgrim…

Weren't they all good words?

Qiao Liang felt that the evaluation was entirely fitting, fully and perfectly showcasing his heroic image during the Suffering Travel.

He felt extremely good about himself.

But after seeing everyone else's evaluations, Qiao Liang realized that he had misinterpreted them.

Because everyone else was an Exceptional Pilgrim or an Outstanding Pilgrim!

There were fewer Exceptional Pilgrims, only three out of ten people. Guys like Ruan Guangjian and Yao Bo, who had taken it all in stride, had received the title, representing the top level of this Suffering Travel.

You could tell from the wording of the certificate, with phrases like "enterprising spirit," "pioneering courage," and "ranking among the best" all conveying this meaning.

The other six people, such as Chen Yufeng and Jiang Yuan, the Tengda executives, hadn't performed as well as Ruan Guangjian and Yao Bo, but they were still decent, so they were rated as Outstanding Pilgrims, and the evaluation also used words like "pillar of strength."

And Qiao Liang was the only one who received the title of "Tenacious Pilgrim"!

Considering that he was always the "focus of assistance," and then looking at this evaluation, everything changed.

Why was it constantly emphasizing Qiao Liang's spirit of hard work and struggle?

Wasn't it because he was always at the bottom!

It was precisely because he was always at the bottom, always persistent, and then continued to be at the bottom, that his spirit of hard work was noticed.

Of course, it was also possible that giving the last-place finisher the title of "Outstanding Pilgrim" was just too much of a stretch. How could someone in last place be considered outstanding?

They could only praise him from a different angle.

It was like in games, the top players all had awesome titles like Grand Master or Challenger, but if there were words like "tenacious" or "indomitable" in the title, then they were definitely trash…

After learning this sad fact, Qiao Liang was completely dejected.

He couldn't help but wonder, when he got back, what should he say if someone asked him if he had participated in the Suffering Travel?

He participated, but not much, just a little bit.

And if they asked, "I heard there were badges and certificates, and titles too. What was your title? Were you an Exceptional Pilgrim or an Outstanding Pilgrim?"

Qiao Liang would answer, "Tenacious Pilgrim."

How would that sound?

If they then asked, "Hmm, I've never heard of the Tenacious Pilgrim title. How many places do you have to get to receive that title?"

How could he continue the conversation? It was impossible!

He couldn't very well tell them, "It's a rare title. I was the only one who got it in the entire group!"

That would become a laughingstock.

What should he do?

Qiao Liang felt a dangerous thought taking root and quietly growing in his heart.

Bao Xu had already hinted that while the badges they received were very beautiful, they were only the most basic badges.

The badges received for participating in the Suffering Travel once, twice, or three times were completely different, and those who conquered the Suffering Travel three times were the true pilgrims!

Participating in the Suffering Travel again would allow him to earn a different title, and Qiao Liang felt that his physical fitness had greatly improved. If he came again, he definitely wouldn't be at the bottom again…

"Damn it, stop it, I can't think about this anymore!"

"Hurry up and think about the Lazy Mackerel takeout, soda, ROF computer, and big TV at home!"

"I must resist the temptation, I must not come on the Suffering Travel a second time!"

A fierce internal battle was raging in Qiao Liang's heart, as he wavered wildly on the question of whether or not to come on the Suffering Travel again.

Just then, Zhu Xiaoce said in surprise, "The internal list for the next phase of the Suffering Travel is out! Huh, there are so many people this time, and it's postponed for a month, not starting until March?"

"Brother Bao, is the Suffering Travel expanding?"

Bao Xu, who was sitting to the side, nodded: "Yes, it's expanding."

"External registration for the Suffering Travel is already overflowing, and the internally arranged personnel are also beginning to expand from department heads to core members of the departments. President Pei's ultimate goal is to make sure everyone at Tengda suffers, everyone is punished. To achieve this goal, only taking ten people for two months each time is just too inefficient."

"This month coincides with the Spring Festival, so it's a good time for the staff to rest, reflect, and summarize the experiences and lessons learned from the first two phases of the Suffering Travel, and to conduct personnel training to expand the current team into several teams."

"In the future, we'll strive to open a group once and bring dozens or hundreds of people so that everyone can feel the joy of the Suffering Travel!"

Everyone silently scrolled through their phones, trying to hide the shocked expressions on their faces.

Brother Bao, you've completely changed. You weren't like this before!

Is that even human language?

What do you mean, "make sure everyone suffers, everyone is punished"? And you're pushing the blame onto President Pei?

This is clearly what you're thinking!

But everyone was afraid to speak out, because once the "triple medal" mechanism came out, everyone knew that a second trip wasn't impossible.

If they offended Bao Xu, a second trip could become a high-probability event!

Zhu Xiaoce quickly changed the subject: "Let's take a look at who the familiar faces are on the next list… Oh, Tian Mo, Wu Chuan, Chen Kangtuo! Something's not right, still no Zhang Yuan? And why does this internal list have a space specifically reserved for the sales department?"

Everyone also focused their attention on the next list.

What in this world is more pleasing than the end of one's own suffering?

The answer is obviously seeing familiar faces on the list for the next phase of the Suffering Travel!

At the end of the last Suffering Travel, the leaders in charge were also happily looking at the list of new leaders who would be suffering, and they smiled with satisfaction.

And this time, it was clearly a cycle.

It must be said that this was mainly due to President Pei, who was always able to finalize the list for the next Suffering Travel before the current Suffering Travel ended, allowing them to reap double the joy.

But after seeing the names on the list, many people were confused.

This time, the list had a large number of people, no longer mainly Tengda executives, but included a large number of core members from various departments.

Among these executives, the selection of Tian Mo, Wu Chuan, Chen Kangtuo, and others made everyone smile knowingly, with a sense of joy that "you can't escape either."

But Zhang Yuan was still not on the list…

This made people's minds wander.

After all, some of these executives had heard that Zhang Yuan had found the true meaning behind President Pei's promotion of the Suffering Travel and had also found a way to avoid it. However, when they first heard it, many people thought it was nonsense and didn't believe it at all.

But now, they couldn't help but believe it. This list was verifying Zhang Yuan's point of view!

In addition, there was another very interesting point of doubt.

There was a vacancy on the list, specifically reserved for Tian Mo's sales department.

Logically speaking, Tian Mo's sales department had indeed performed well, making the Jingzhou experience store successful. It was reasonable for Tian Mo to come and suffer; and such achievements should not be attributed to him alone. It was also reasonable to send two core members to suffer together.

But why was there a pending vacancy? Why was it pending?

The only possibility seemed to be that "someone had made a huge contribution but it wasn't clear who exactly, so a spot was left open."

There was still a month before the next Suffering Travel officially started, which was enough time to find this person.

But on second thought, it didn't seem to make sense.

The executives looked at the list on their phones and fell into deep thought.

The Suffering Travel was giving people an increasingly mysterious feeling. They had to consult Zhang Yuan when they got back and learn from him.

…

At the same time, in the advertising and marketing department.

Meng Chang had just received a promotional video from Tian Mo.

"Brother Meng, the promotional video is finished, please review it."

Clearly, Tian Mo had not yet realized the seriousness of the problem and still thought this was just a routine task to cooperate with the advertising and marketing department.

The video wasn't anything special, just filming the Tengda Experience Store, showing the structure and layout of each floor, some trendy experiences, goods constantly being sold and restocked, the surging crowds, and so on.

Meng Chang had told him to shoot a promotional video for the Experience Store, and then a sum of money could be allocated from the advertising and marketing department to be used to promote it on sites like Elly Island to increase awareness and foot traffic.

Tian Mo had no doubts at all, after all, having popularity was always a good thing!

After a period of careful shooting and editing, the video finally reached a point where Tian Mo was relatively satisfied, and he sent it to Meng Chang.

After a while, Meng Chang replied, seemingly naturally asking: "The editing is very good! The rhythm is great, who edited it?"

Tian Mo proudly replied, "Ding Xiyao edited it! At first, I was going to find someone outside to edit it, but I asked around in the department and found out that she was very good at it, so I gave it to her."

Meng Chang: "Understood!"