Chapter 73 Intentionally Guiding Ambiguity
"Is there?" the person who called her earlier replied, "Every year at the annual meeting, the first place winner gets 20,000, the second place winner gets 10,000, the third place winner gets 5,000, and those who don't win get a participation prize of 200. There's no reason why the tenth anniversary celebration would be stingier than the annual meeting."
“Every year our department receives a participation award of 200 yuan.”
"That's right, it was Sister Jane who took it."
Jiang Ruan subconsciously looked at Bai Jian before asking, "What did our department perform at the annual meeting in previous years?"
Everyone coughed lightly but did not speak.
Jiang Ruan: "?"
Bai Jian paused as she was reading the group messages.
Just when Jiang Ruan thought she wouldn't get an answer, Bai Jian spoke up: "Poetry recitation."
Everyone: "That's right!"
Jiang Ruan praised earnestly, "So amazing? Many people wouldn't dare to choose poetry recitation. You truly deserve to be called Sister Bai Jian."
Everyone gave her a thumbs up.
I hadn't noticed before.
I just realized that Jiang Ruan is the king of flattery!
Jiang Ruan was slightly puzzled. She genuinely felt that poetry recitation required a lot of skill. Back in school, each class would have a poetry recitation competition, and her class always lost, which made her avoid such things later on.
“That was just a necessary measure because every department had to have a program,” Bai Jian finally spoke, her tone gentle. “If you have other skills, you can participate in the competition.”
"Holy crap! The first prize is 100,000!" Jiang Ruan's colleague to the left exclaimed. "Is this some kind of big giveaway for the 10th anniversary?"
Jiang Ruan glanced in her direction.
That's when I noticed that Mr. Song's secretary had sent a new message in the group chat.
The first prize is 100,000, the second prize is 50,000, the third prize is 20,000, the participation prize is 200 per person for five or fewer people, and 1,000 per department for more than five people.
To be honest.
Jiang Ruan was tempted.
After becoming a working professional, she truly realized the importance of money.
"Jiang Ruan, can you do it?!" Liang Qi on the left had her eyes shining. "100,000!!! I should have studied a skill diligently after the last annual meeting."
"Damn! Another one for those people at a cheaper price."
"It's not too late to buy a burlap sack now. Whoever comes in first place on Wednesday night, we'll put it over their head."
"Count me in."
Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, Su Anran arrived.
She overheard their conversation from afar and knew that everyone was asking Jiang Ruan what she thought, so her first words upon arriving were: "Ruan Ruan, haven't you won many national awards for classical dance? Why don't you sign up and give it a try?"
All eyes were on Jiang Ruan.
After spending the past few days together, they all had a good impression of Jiang Ruan, finding her to be a humble, polite, and easy-going colleague. As a result, they had renewed hope after hearing the news.
I'm not doing this for anything else, I just want to redeem myself from the shame my department has suffered.
"The big boss is actually right next to me."
"Jiang Ruan, you are the hope of our department."
"We can give it a try," Bai Jian said.
Being watched by so many people, Jiang Ruan felt a sense of collective honor for the first time outside of school: "I'll go back and think about what to perform, and I'll tell you tomorrow."
Everyone agreed.
This matter is now settled.
Liang Qi then turned her gaze to Su Anran, asking with a gossipy air, "Secretary Su, can I ask you a question quietly?"
"Of course." Su Anran smiled and walked to her side.
Liang Xi asked, "Will President Huo be attending?"
These words were spoken.
Jiang Ruan paused almost imperceptibly.
Su Anran caught a glimpse of this scene out of the corner of her eye. Following Huo Zhizhou's instructions, she said, "It shouldn't be. President Song called him this morning, and he refused."
Liang Xi was not surprised. Huo Zhizhou was the CEO of Huo's Group. He only attended the annual meeting of Huo's Group headquarters every year. He never attended or interfered with the other listed subsidiaries.
Even some of its subsidiaries are inferior to Yuan Yi's, so why would he attend its anniversary celebration?
“However…” Su Anran glanced at Jiang Ruan as she said this.
Liang Qi asked, "But what?"
“If Ruan Ruan invites him, President Huo will probably go.” Su Anran said this with a hint of ambiguity in her words, “He has been asking me about Ruan Ruan’s work progress a lot these past few days, so he probably cares about her.”
Everyone: ?
Everyone had a hint of gossip in their eyes.
Bai Jian glanced in this direction.
“Secretary Su misunderstood.” Jiang Ruan suppressed her emotions and responded calmly. “The reason why President Huo asked is because before I joined the company, Manager Tan assigned me detailed work to test whether I could keep up with everyone’s pace. Manager Tan said in the group that on the day of the business trip, he also specifically messaged me privately to say that President Huo would supervise the subsequent assessment.”
These words were spoken.
The way everyone looked at Su Anran changed.
What was clearly a simple job task was made to sound somewhat ambiguous by her.
"I see." Su Anran didn't expect Jiang Ruan to react so quickly, and said with a smile, "I thought your wish from your school days had come true."
Jiang Ruan: "..."
What exactly is this person trying to do?
Neuropathy.
"What is your wish?" someone asked.
"It's nothing, I just want to work for the Huo Group and gain Mr. Huo's favor," Su Anran said casually, as if it were true.
The others turned their attention to Jiang Ruan; there was juicy gossip to be had, so why not take advantage of it?
Jiang Ruan glanced at her casually.
She didn't say a word or offer any explanation.
But the way she looked at Su Anran was so subtle that even someone who couldn't read between the lines would know that Jiang Ruan meant—she couldn't be bothered with a lunatic.
"Let me know once your program is finalized, so I can report it to you." Seeing the situation was turning sour, Su Anran changed the subject and said slowly in a normal tone, "By next Monday."
Liang Qi was an easygoing person to everyone: "No problem."
After Su Anran left.
Everyone still harbored some gossip.
Their intuition told them that there was some big gossip between Su Anran and Jiang Ruan, but they also knew that getting to know such gossip would be very difficult.
“Jiang Ruan.” Liang Qi leaned closer.
Jiang Ruan's voice rose slightly at the end: "Hmm?"
Liang Xi looked at him with a gossipy expression: "You knew President Huo when you were in school?"
"I don't know him," Jiang Ruan said truthfully.
Aside from the fact that he deliberately kept Huo Zhizhou's identity a secret, there was no media coverage of him at all, let alone any information about her knowing him.
At that time, although the Jiang Group was well-known in Jingzhou, it was not at the level to be able to sit at the same table as the Huo Group.
"What did Secretary Su just say?" Liang Qi asked again.
Jiang Ruan was pondering how to respond to those words.
Bai Jian called out to her: "Jiang Ruan."
Jiang Ruan immediately responded, "Hmm?"
"There's a small problem here." Bai Jian casually found a spot to help her out of the predicament. "The color is too jarring. We'll fix it later."
Jiang Ruan looked at it intently.
This picture was drawn with great care by her, and the color scheme is based on the game's character design. The situation that Sister Bai Jian mentioned should not exist.
I was just about to have a proper talk with her when I looked up and met her eyes, which gave me a sense of security.
That moment.
Jiang Ruan understood.
She also understood the care Bai Jian had shown her.
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