Chapter 85 Sleeping Beauty

Today is Fan Shengmei's first day as deputy director of Dexian Investment Department 2. When she walked into the conference room, the air froze for a moment.

"Hello everyone, I'm Fan Shengmei. Starting today, I'll be the Deputy Director of Investment Department 2. Please take care of me."

There was a few scattered applause in the conference room.

"Director Fan, have you ever been involved in biotech investment projects before?"

Senior Investment Manager Li Ming pushed the project plan in front of her. "This is the ecological technology fund project that our Second Department is currently following up on. This is the latest plan."

As the deputy director, I only saw the latest plan at the meeting. It was a project with high technological content and extremely rigorous data requirements.

The project manager brought this up on an occasion like today, obviously targeting her.

Fan Shengmei, who has many years of HR experience, is no stranger to this kind of intimidating behavior.

The other party was very smart and had really identified her weaknesses. For such an unfamiliar project, not to mention Fan Shengmei, even a professional project manager would need two days to study the information.

She said frankly, "I have done relevant industry research. But when it comes to cutting-edge fields like gene editing..."

"So what do you think about the patent barriers to CRISPR-Cas9 technology?"

Li Ming interrupted her and pushed up his glasses. "This is directly related to the valuation of the company we are evaluating."

“That’s a very good question.”

She kept smiling and said, "The current international patent landscape is indeed complicated..."

"Do you know how likely it is that this company's core patents will be declared invalid?" Li Ming continued to ask.

The conference room suddenly became quiet.

Fan Shengmei's throat tightened, and the knife stabbed into her blind spot.

"I......"

Her voice was dry. "We need to further study the Patent Office's examination standards."

"You haven't even prepared this?"

Li Ming raised his eyebrows exaggeratedly, "Then how are we going to participate in next week's investment committee meeting?"

The other team members exchanged glances, and some murmured quietly,

"I thought he was such a powerful leader..."

Fan Shengmei's ears were burning.

The air in the conference room seemed to freeze.

Fan Shengmei could feel everyone's eyes on her, like an actor under the spotlight, and her lines were stuck in her throat.

"I'm sorry, this is indeed my blind spot in knowledge."

She put down the documents in her hand, her voice steady but with a hint of tension, "I will supplement my professional knowledge in this area as soon as possible."

Li Ming's mouth curled up into an almost invisible arc, and his eyes behind the glasses flashed with sarcasm.

"Director Fan, the Investment Committee won't wait for you to learn slowly. This project will be discussed at the meeting next week, and you're saying you need more time to study it now?"

A few suppressed chuckles were heard in the conference room.

Fan Shengmei's knuckles turned white as she held the pen. She took a deep breath.

"Manager Li, I admit I'm lacking in technical assessment. Your expertise in technology is unquestionable, but I excel in market analysis and resource integration. Only if we each fulfill our respective responsibilities can we successfully complete this project."

She looked around the conference room. "Everyone here is an expert in their respective fields. If I were to measure myself by your professional standards, I would indeed be unqualified. But on the other hand—"

She paused. "If we only judge an investor's value based on whether they can understand a certain system parameter, isn't that too one-sided?"

“I am in this position not because I am a jack of all trades, but because I can create value for the company.”

Fan Shengmei turned to the last page of the report and said, "Over the past three years, the average return on the projects I've handled has reached 37%, exceeding the target by 32%. There were also many projects that I hadn't tackled before, but I'm willing to learn and research. This is why the company trusts me."

The conference room was silent.

The humming sound from the air-conditioning vent suddenly became shrill.

Li Ming's face gradually became ugly.

"Professional attainments are certainly important,"

Fan Shengmei looked around at everyone, her gaze finally landing on Li Ming. "But the most important thing in investment is judgment and business acumen. They're like those trolls on the internet, who can seize on others' minor omissions and make a big fuss about them, but they can't produce any actual results. They rely on their knowledge of their own field to attack them at will, and through so-called crushing, they deny others' abilities in other areas in order to gain a sense of their own existence. It's ridiculous. We are investors. Before you talk to me about your expertise, show me some achievements and create some value for the company."

Li Ming's face turned from red to white, and then from white to blue.

"you--"

"Did I say something wrong?"

Fan Shengmei interrupted him, "If you really care about this project, why didn't you discuss the technical difficulties with me before the meeting? Why did you have to wait until a public event to raise the issue?"

Several team members lowered their heads, and some pretended to cough to cover up their embarrassment.

"That's a nice thing to say,"

Li Ming stood up suddenly, and the folder hit the table with a dull thud. "Let's solve these problems first!"

He turned and left the meeting room, and several colleagues who were on good terms with him also stood up.

Only after the last person left did Fan Shengmei allow her shoulders to slump.

She stared at the performance report on the screen, but the taste of victory was bitter - she did fight back with performance, but her professional shortcomings were exposed.

Didn't lose, but won in a humiliating way.

The company restroom is always the place where you can hear the most gossip.

Fan Shengmei was in the cubicle, quietly listening to the discussions outside.

"Did I hear that the meeting in Investment Department 2 was a blast today? Li Ming gave the newly appointed Director Fan a good show of force."

"Being pretty is a good thing. I heard that she snatched the project that got her promotion from Zhao Chuying. That day, Mr. Meng from Guokun came to support her personally."

"Talking about projects in bed and getting promoted outside? Is this information reliable?"

"My cousin's classmate worked at Guokun. She said her current assistant was once Mr. Meng's special assistant..."

Fan Shengmei smiled bitterly and shook her head.

She suddenly remembered that when she had just graduated, she and her colleagues gossiped about her boss's scandal in the tea room.

Now that it’s my turn to be the subject of gossip, it feels like an absurd cycle.

She stared at the graffiti on the cubicle door and suddenly noticed that someone had drawn a stick figure crown on it.

She added beside it:

【sleeping Beauty】

"At least they still think I'm pretty enough."

Fan Shengmei muttered softly, frowning in dissatisfaction, "Besides, I haven't slept yet."

She pointed at the three words "Sleeping Beauty" on the door panel and said to herself,

"You've wronged me!"

The discussions outside finally died down and she came out of the cubicle.

In front of the mirror, she looked at her still exquisite makeup, her eyes slightly red.

The faucet was running, and Fan Shengmei slapped her cheeks hard.

"What's that? If you don't understand, then learn. I didn't cry when people called me a gold digger before. Sleeping Beauty had a prince."

Chen Mingyu paced back and forth in the corridor outside the bathroom, his phone spinning rapidly in his palm.

He stared at Meng Yanchen's number in the address book, and two little people in his mind were fighting desperately.

"If I report this, will President Meng think I'm not loyal enough to Miss Fan?"

"But if I don't report, didn't President Meng send me here just to understand Miss Fan's every move? Is that what he meant? He didn't seem to say it explicitly. He said he wanted to respect everything about Miss Fan. So, if I report it, does that count as respect?"

He recalled the two years he was transferred to the branch company because he spoke too much in front of Director Fu.

If I mess up again this time...

"Assistant Chen?"

Fan Shengmei's voice suddenly came from behind, scaring Chen Mingyu so much that he almost threw his phone away.

He turned around hurriedly and met Fan Shengmei's slightly red eyes.

"Are you...are you okay?" Chen Mingyu asked stutteringly.

Fan Shengmei glanced at the lit phone screen in his hand and suddenly smiled.

"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to Meng Yanchen myself."

Chen Mingyu felt relieved, and silently prayed to God and his aunt, thank goodness this future boss lady was quick and sensible, saving him the hard work of being a sandwich.

The voice suddenly became lighter.

"Okay, Director Fan! Don't worry about what happened in the meeting just now. Mr. Jiang's family is also working on an ecological park project recently. I just looked at the information. The scale of their project is much larger than the project mentioned in the meeting just now, and the equipment and staffing are more professional. You can try to contact them."

Fan Shengmei paused, "Mr. Jiang?"

Chen Mingyu nodded. "He's Mr. Meng's friend, Jiang Yu. You should know him. However, Young Master Jiang Yu doesn't participate in the group's affairs. I guess you still have to contact him through Mr. Meng."

Fan Shengmei nodded thoughtfully, took out her cell phone and called Meng Yanchen.

"They all say I got the position of deputy director because I slept with you. I can't bear the stigma in vain. I'm here to ask for your help. I need Mr. Meng's help with something. Wait, I'll come to you."

Meng Yanchen was stunned, almost suspecting that he had misheard. He looked at his phone to confirm the caller, and his Adam's apple rolled.

"You can't bear the stigma in vain? So, you... want to prove it?"