Yang Ruoqian arrived early to defeat gratitude.
This was not a sentence he enjoyed about himself.
But leadership sometimes required ugly honesty.
The thank-you badge had failed.
Moon Mansion had sold emotion.
Creators had rejected the sale.
Xplendi had passed thanks once, kept boundaries, avoided private drift, and somehow made staff feel recognized without holding a ceremony.
This was several disasters wearing one polite jacket.
At nine, Yang opened the latest report.
Thank-you notes: increased.
Private follow-up requests: stable.
Staff appreciation log: viewed.
Paid gratitude comparison mentions: high.
Badge revenue: zero.
Yang tapped the last line.
"This is the important one."
Chang Zhiqing looked at the report.
"Not alone."
"Alone is cleaner."
"Alone is incomplete."
Incomplete reports were sometimes the only reports Yang could love.
Unfortunately, Xplendi had become hostile to incomplete conclusions.
At ten, finance joined the attack.
