Yang Ruoqian had once believed profit plans were the enemy.
That was an innocent time.
Profit plans at least admitted their crime. They arrived with revenue forecasts, growth curves, market opportunities, and bright little arrows climbing toward punishment. A boss could reject them with moral clarity.
Loss plans were different.
Loss plans arrived covered in bandages.
At nine the next morning, five of them sat on Yang's desk.
Finance had printed cash outflow.
Operations had printed staffing pressure.
Maintenance had printed repair burden.
Legal had printed lease risk.
Director Chen had printed service limitations.
None of them used the word expansion.
That made Yang feel worse.
"Who asked for printouts?" he said.
Lu Shuyuan answered carefully, "You said retained materials should put cost first."
"Retained does not mean framed."
"They are not framed."
"They are stapled. That is close."
No one argued.
