Chapter 3
Ji Mingfei officially reported to the company the next day. Considering that she had spent a relatively long time at headquarters, her supervisor temporarily assigned her to the General Affairs Department, mainly responsible for communication with headquarters.
Shanhe is a joint-stock company registered with investment from three parties. Ji Mingfei's company, Anxin Group, holds 57% of the shares, making it the largest shareholder. The other two shareholders are a foreign-invested enterprise with a 32% stake and a local state-owned enterprise with an 11% stake.
The General Affairs Department Manager is currently a supervisor from one of the three shareholders. He is a native of the area and comes from a state-owned enterprise background. He is known for his low-key yet arrogant demeanor. Because he is not familiar with the people at AXA Group headquarters, numerous problems arose during the handover of work.
Although the other two employees in the General Affairs Department are employees of AXA Group, they are both recent graduates who were sent down after completing their pre-job training. They know less about their own headquarters than the manager does.
Ji Mingfei's importance is evident.
Liu Jianli, the general affairs manager, spoke in a thick, incomprehensible dialect to Ji Mingfei in his office for several minutes, seemingly asking her to borrow some official seal from headquarters. She only understood half of what he was saying and was too embarrassed to ask him to speak Mandarin, so she could only nod repeatedly.
As soon as Liu Jianli left, the two young men who had been pretending to be busy breathed a sigh of relief. After learning that Ji Mingfei was a long-time employee from headquarters, they were overjoyed to see a long-lost relative, helping her wipe the table and bringing her snacks.
"Sis, I bet you didn't understand what the manager just said. But it's okay, I know!" Wang Chao patted his chest proudly.
He's a college graduate who came here last year and has been working for over a year. He hasn't learned any other skills, and all he's done is listen to the locals speak their dialect. If you happen to encounter someone in a bank, restaurant, or government office who speaks broken Mandarin, you're practically burning incense in gratitude when you get home that night.
Ji Mingfei said uncertainly, "I think I heard him mention an official seal..."
“We’re not the major shareholder, so they require us to provide the group’s qualifications, official seal, legal representative’s ID, and other documents. Because we don’t know anyone at headquarters, we have to ask many people every time to find the relevant person in charge. If we’re unlucky, these documents might not even be at headquarters yet, since our group has too many subsidiaries.”
The girl who explained to Ji Mingfei was named Sun Xiaomei, and she was a college graduate who joined the company in the same batch as Li Bo.
Of the four people in the department, all of them except her are alphas. No wonder it's an overseas company that's like an exile.
Ji Mingfei gave them a gentle smile. As the elder, she immediately took on the responsibility of a senior, saying, "I am very familiar with every department in headquarters. Leave the communication to me!"
The two young men each grabbed one of Ji Mingfei's arms, practically wanting to kneel down and kowtow to her on the spot. "Sister, you're our savior! From now on, you can sit at your workstation and give us all the orders you want. We'll do whatever you tell us to do, and just tell us what to do when we need to run errands!"
Ji Mingfei had never met a "lackey" like the legendary ones before; today was truly an eye-opener. She couldn't help but laugh; it seemed the colleagues at the overseas company had a harmonious relationship!
…
After working for just two days, it was the weekend again. Ji Mingfei finished lunch and was strolling down the street when he passed the sales office of Fengyuan Residential Complex. Remembering the discounted apartments in his neighborhood that cost 100,000 yuan each, his legs seemed to give way and he walked inside.
The sales office was deserted and empty. I don't know if it was because it was the off-season for sales or because the housing market was saturated. It didn't have the bustling atmosphere of sales offices in big cities at all.
Ji Mingfei stood in front of the model in the lobby. The entire community was divided into two phases, separated by an artificial river running from east to west. The slightly larger southern area was Phase 1, which appeared to have two elevators serving four units per floor. Although it seemed to cover a large area overall, there were fewer buildings, so the price of Phase 1 was expected to be higher.
"Hello, what kind of house are you looking for? I can give you a detailed introduction. Our houses are all fully furnished and ready to move in. You only need to buy some basic furniture to move in. Moreover, the entire community was officially put into use in the first half of the year, so there is absolutely no need to worry about ventilation issues." The sales consultant talked non-stop, and Ji Mingfei didn't have a chance to interrupt.
"What's the house price now?" No matter how nicely she phrased it, Ji Mingfei was most concerned about the price.
"The current average price of our properties is 2346."
Ji Mingfei's brain started working at lightning speed. One square meter is 2300, ten square meters is 23,000, one hundred square meters is 230,000... Wait, did she just say the average price?
"Let's look at the apartment layouts first!" Ji Mingfei smiled at the sales consultant, regaining his composure.
The sales consultant led Ji Mingfei to sit on the sofa, then poured her a glass of water and brought her promotional brochures and price lists.
This development offers four apartment types: 46m², 89m², 123m², and 158m². Considering factors such as natural light and floor level, each unit has a unique price, making the average price completely unreliable.
Ji Mingfei currently has no plans to have a second child, and 89 square meters is enough for the two of them. The floor cannot be too high, in case of a power outage, they will have to climb stairs. They choose between the 5th and 8th floors, the room must be well-ventilated from north to south, the kitchen cannot be in the southeast, and the bathroom cannot be an interior bathroom... After listing all the requirements, the real estate consultant smiled slightly and provided the reference apartment: Unit 1, Building A, Room 702 on the 7th floor.
The price is 254,184 yuan.
Ji Mingfei looked at the numbers on the price list and slowly typed a question mark.
The sales consultant, unable to contain his delight, began showering the apartment with compliments: "You have such excellent taste! I wouldn't believe you're not a professional. This is the best layout in our complex. If you hadn't mentioned just one requirement, you wouldn't have found such a perfect house! And we happen to have one left. Do you have time to come up and see it now? You're sure to love it!"
As he spoke, the sales consultant got up and went to the reception desk to get the keys.
Ji Mingfei roughly estimated the price, which was over 2,800 yuan per square meter, completely different from their advertised price.
250,000... Looks like I'll need a loan to afford it!
The sales consultant's description of the house wasn't exaggerated; Ji Mingfei fell in love with it the moment she stepped inside. The living room was bright and airy, the bathroom had a separate wet and dry area, and there was also a huge balcony and a spacious kitchen.
Ji Mingfei signed it on a whim.
…
Monday morning, the routine meeting began. General Manager Zhou Yaomin walked in with a serious expression, carrying a thermos, and threw his notebook onto the conference table.
In the quiet meeting room, only the creaking of the chair could be heard.
"How was your Sunday? Did everyone get enough rest? Yesterday afternoon, there was a meeting at headquarters, and President Shen personally inquired about the progress of the Shanhe project. I simply couldn't answer him." Zhou Yaomin slammed his fist on the table. "What have you all been doing all this time? Why is the contract with Palm Oil still not signed? Why is the approval process still not going through? Where is the bank loan? Huh?"
The department leaders, standing on either side of the conference table, all bowed their heads.
The employees sitting in the back didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
Having been trained at headquarters, Ji Mingfei was already used to this kind of scene. She could even listen to the general manager's complaints while burying herself in her work.
"Before you leave work today, everyone must submit a work report to me, a detailed summary of the work you have recently completed. Don't think that just because you're here you can slack off and drift through life! If you don't want to work here, then pack your bags and get out."
Anyone with eyes could see that Zhou Yaomin had been upset at headquarters, otherwise he wouldn't have suddenly become so angry. The mystery wasn't fully revealed until the morning meeting ended: the project director was coming to inspect the work.
After the meeting, Sun Xiaomei curiously inquired about the project director from Ji Mingfei.
"Who is this Ms. Chu who's coming? Is she very powerful? Why is even Ms. Zhou so afraid of her!"
Ji Mingfei walked over with a water glass in her hand. "I've never met her before either. I heard she's the youngest project director in the group."
Wang Chao sat down, gripping the back of the chair, and said, swaying slightly, "When I was training at headquarters, I overheard the gatekeeper chatting and he said that President Chu seemed to be President Shen's girlfriend."
"Wow, amazing!" Sun Xiaomei exclaimed in surprise. "No wonder President Zhou chickened out. The power of pillow talk is immense, much more powerful than his nominal uncle!"
"What do you mean by 'nominal uncle'?" This time, it was Ji Mingfei's turn to be confused.
Sun Xiaomei glanced at the doorway before covering her mouth with her hand and lowering her voice to say, "General Manager Zhou is General Manager Chen's second uncle."
When Ji Mingfei heard her emphasize the word "two," he asked again, "Does President Shen have many uncles-in-law?"
Sun Xiaomei laughed, "Theoretically, there can only be one."
Wang Chao instantly understood, a happy expression on his face, and exchanged glances with Sun Xiaomei.
Completely missing the point, Ji Mingfei stared blankly at the two of them exchanging coded glances during their conversation.
After Wang Chao finished celebrating, he turned around and pulled Ji Mingfei, who was wandering around on the periphery, into the group chat, explaining, "President Shen only has one aunt, but President Zhou is not her husband on the marriage certificate, so he is called her second aunt's husband."
Ji Mingfei suddenly realized: What a mess!
After the gossip session ended, Ji Mingfei patted his two junior colleagues on the shoulder and reminded them, "Alright, hurry up and write your work reports! I need to go out this afternoon, who should I ask for the car keys?"
Wang Chao pointed to the ceiling and said, "Manager Liu, that's our boss."
"Understood." Ji Mingfei nodded.
Ji Mingfei only told Manager Liu that she needed the car after she went to work in the afternoon, so unfortunately, Li Bo had already taken it. And it won't be returned until tomorrow morning, so if she needs to go out, she'll have to take a taxi.
Seeing Ji Mingfei, who should have been out running errands, sitting in her office writing furiously, Wang Chao came over and asked, "Sis, are you done with your business?"
"I haven't gone yet, Li Bo drove the car away." Ji Mingfei said without looking up, busy writing a work report.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Li Bo went to pick up the tax officer. President Zhou is treating him to dinner tonight, so he probably won't be returning the car today."
Ji Mingfei looked up and said, "I'll go tomorrow."
"Tomorrow probably won't work either! Sis, you forgot, President Chu is coming tomorrow, and Li Bo will definitely have to go to the airport to pick her up."
Ji Mingfei sighed, "Then I'll take a taxi! Please tell the manager for me that I won't be coming tomorrow morning."
"Okay, drive carefully."
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