13: Is it useful to reason with you?
After the less-than-pleasant meeting, Shang Zhi went to her office and looked through Tian Cui's documents. She was new to this field, and she couldn't understand not only the blueprints but also the various tables.
“Have you ever been to Tiancui? You probably won’t understand it just by looking at these things. Why don’t we go and see it in person? That might help you understand better.” Pei Yanxiu took a project budget cost sheet from Shang Zhi’s hand. He knew that she was just flipping through the pages without really thinking about it.
"good."
"Change into flat shoes, don't wear these."
"Why?" Shang Zhi didn't understand. She had no idea what the construction site looked like and assumed it would be a clean and tidy building.
You'll find out when you get there.
After driving home and changing her shoes, Shang Zhi found the project manager waiting for them, having heard they were coming. Seeing the construction site, Shang Zhi understood why Pei Yanxiu had made her change her shoes; the road was bumpy and uneven, covered in construction materials, and wearing high heels meant she could easily slip and fall.
All of this was really not what she had imagined.
"President Pei, rest assured, now that the funds are in place, you can leave the rest to us, and we guarantee to do a great job."
"Have all the workers returned yet?"
"Half of them are back, and the other half are on their way. We just notified them."
Shang Zhi followed the two people behind. It was her first time in such a place. Compared to the project site, this place felt more like a ruin. For the first time, she realized that to make a project a success, many people needed to work together from the bottom up.
"What is that?" Pei Yanxiu's script suddenly stopped, and he frowned slightly.
"Oh, it's just the concrete they mixed, nothing special."
“I know it’s concrete.” Pei Yanxiu pushed aside the project manager who stepped forward to block his way.
"You mixed sea sand into it? You know that doing that will prevent the concrete from passing the strength test, right?"
Shang Zhi looked at that area of concrete, and it was indeed different from ordinary concrete. It had a faint white frost on its surface, which was very strange.
She had heard of the term "sea sand house" before. Some contractors, in order to save costs, directly mix sea sand into the building structure. This results in low concrete strength, and the salt in the sea sand corrodes the steel bars, seriously threatening the building's safety.
"No, no, how could we do such a thing? It's too sunny today, you can't see clearly."
"Give me a bag, I need to take a sample back and test it."
"Hey, you two bosses, what's going on here?" Seeing Pei Yanxiu's actions, a middle-aged man came out from the corner. The project manager said he was the cement contractor, Jiang Dayuan.
"Did you use sea sand in this concrete?"
"Oh, so what? I've been in construction for twenty years, and this is how it's always been done. Boss, please understand, we all need to make a living and eat! We have to save costs!" Jiang Dayuan knew he couldn't hide it, so he decided to admit it directly.
“You can’t save costs this way, it’s illegal, you know that?” Shang Zhi also spoke up.
"Then what method should I use? Tell me, young lady, this is a project, it's about real work, not just sitting in an office typing on a computer and changing a few data points in a PowerPoint presentation. If you don't want to do it that way, then tell me how you're supposed to do it!"
"Besides, things have already come to this point. We've already done a batch, so we can only keep going like this!"
"Stop work! Send the word down to everyone, everyone, stop work immediately!" Pei Yanxiu interrupted Jiang Dayuan.
"Hey, how could you do this to your boss!"
"President Pei, isn't this inappropriate?" The project manager also seemed a bit hesitant.
“I said, stop work, didn’t you understand? I’ll make further arrangements after I go back and test this batch of concrete.”
"Hey boss, boss, let's talk this out. You must be tired after this morning's inspection. Let me find a place for you to cool off, how about that?"
"I guarantee that the boss will be given the best possible treatment."
"No."
Pei Yanxiu gave a cold reply, took a sample of the concrete, and left with Shang Zhi.
The test results came back quickly, confirming that they had indeed added sea sand. Pei Yanxiu hadn't expected them to be so bold now, no longer bothering to hide their bad deeds.
An email popped up on Shang Zhi's computer. She opened it, and a horrifying picture of a skull appeared before her eyes: 【Don't interfere, don't investigate, don't meddle, or we'll all die!!!】
She stared at the death threat on the screen, a chill running through her body. She took several deep breaths to calm herself down. She got up and went to the study to find him; he was on the phone.
"Yes, I was the one who requested the work stoppage."
"Why can't I demand a work stoppage! Your quality is substandard, and I demand you rectify it!"
"I'll bear the losses from the work stoppage, but you'll bear the losses from the substandard quality!"
Seeing that he was overwhelmed with work, Shang Zhi changed her mind and decided to handle the matter of the death email herself and not bother him anymore.
He already has enough headaches to deal with.
Shang Zhi took a picture of the concrete test report and went to the company to find Shang Can, but Shang Can couldn't find her.
"Mr. Shang, I'm sorry, Mr. Can is in an important meeting and can't see you right now."
"What meeting? Isn't he in his office?"
"It's a video conference."
"Okay, I'll wait for him here until he finishes his meeting."
Shang Zhi felt that Shang Can was deliberately making things difficult for her, but she didn't say anything and just sat outside his office for two hours. Finally, Shang Can probably couldn't stand it anymore and let her in.
"Uncle, are you aware that the concrete supplied by Jiang Dayuan is substandard?" Shang Zhi didn't mince words and went straight to the point.
"What concrete, what substandard quality? I'm busy from morning till night, how could I possibly know about such trivial matters?"
“This is no small matter. I think you should know the dangers of sea sand houses better than I do.”
"Oh, Xixi, look at you! You don't understand engineering matters. If you don't understand, then don't meddle!"
"What?"
“I heard about what happened at Tiancui with Pei Yanxiu today. You made such a scene on your first visit. What are you going to make people think of you? President Jiang has been a supplier for Ruikang for many years. Besides Tiancui, he has other projects in cooperation with us. You made things so awkward for everyone.”
"Go tell your CEO Pei that things have come to this point, so stop making a fuss. Just turn a blind eye, that's what everyone does, what could possibly happen!"
As Shang Can continued to speak up for Jiang Dayuan, Shang Zhi realized that Shang Can must have known about this all along, or even that he had been supporting and instructing them from behind the scenes.
What's behind this may not just be a problem with a single contractor, but a whole chain of issues that threatens the very foundation of Ruikang.
"I understand." Shang Zhi didn't say anything more to Shang Can. When she came out of his office, she clearly heard him chuckle softly.
Shang Zhi went home. She couldn't process everything that had happened today, and all she wanted to do was go home.
When she pushed open the door, her mother was stretching on the sofa. She was pleasantly surprised to see Shang Zhi.
"You're back? Are you hungry? I heard you went to Guangzhou with Yanxiu, how was it? Did you find anything worthwhile?"
"I'm fine, Mom. How's Dad doing lately?"
"It's sometimes better and sometimes worse, and there are occasional fluctuations. It's okay, the doctor is monitoring it every day, so don't worry."
"Mom, you must be very tired lately. Look at those dark circles under your eyes." Shang Zhi felt a little sorry for her; it was obvious that her mother hadn't been getting enough rest. She had originally wanted to ask her mother if she knew anything about the sea sand, but she changed her mind now.
I don't want her to worry too much anymore.
She can carry it herself.
There was another knock at the door. Shang Zhi opened the door and saw Pei Yanxiu.
Why are you here?
“I went to the company to look for you, but they said you had already left. I guess you went home.”
"It's dark outside, I'll come pick you up."
"Oh, you two young lovers, Xixi wasn't willing at first, but now I see you're doing great."
"mom!"
"Okay, okay, I won't say, I won't say."
"Besides, I'm still evaluating whoever I've become close to. If they don't perform well, I can fire them and replace them at any time!"
"There are plenty of men out there, you need to be aware of the risks!"
After the two of them left the house laughing and joking, they got into the car. Pei Yanxiu's expression immediately changed, and he put one hand around her waist: "Why didn't you tell me you were going out today? We should add a rule to our family rules: you have to report when you go out. I need to keep track of all your movements at all times."
"Are you crazy?! When did we start having family rules? How come I don't know about them?"
"It didn't exist before, but it does now."
"Can't you be a little more reasonable?"
"What's the point of reasoning with you? You'll only push your luck."
It's really good. I downloaded this app just to read my teacher's novels, hehe.
Baby, thank you for liking it, hehe.
Every chapter thrilled me; I felt completely immersed in the story.
Hehe, this is supposed to be a lighthearted, sweet bedtime story, just enjoy reading it!
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