Chapter 49 Scolding
At this time, Pei Song was busy processing documents in the office and was unaware of the undercurrent in the high-level meeting.
At noon, he went to the tea room to make coffee and accidentally ran into Li Ming, who was feeling guilty and wanted to escape.
"Wait." Pei Song stopped him, "You seem to be worried recently?"
Seeing Li Ming's evasive look, he added: "If you have any difficulties, you can tell me. We are a team."
Li Ming took the coffee from Pei Song, looked around, and after making sure no one was around, he lowered his voice and said, "The night before yesterday, I was working overtime at the Hyatt Hotel, and I saw Liu Yan and someone from Galaxy Real Estate having a secret conversation."
"Galaxy Real Estate?" Pei Song was shocked, because that was the biggest competitor of the "Starlight Plaza" project.
"I...I secretly took some photos." Li Ming took out his phone. "They talked for a long time, and seemed to be discussing the price."
Although the photo is a bit blurry, it is enough to clearly see Liu Yan's smug expression when he shook hands with the other party.
"There's more than that." Li Ming turned on the recording on his phone, and Liu Yan's voice could be vaguely heard from it: "...70 percent of the price...the project approval has been approved...internally digested..." Although it was intermittent, it was enough to illustrate the problem.
"What are you going to do?" Pei Song asked.
"I really don't know." Li Ming smiled bitterly, "Liu Yan is not someone you can easily mess with. I haven't been able to sleep well these past few days."
"Give me the evidence." Pei Song patted his shoulder, "I'll take care of this matter."
In the following days, Zhou Feng frequently contacted Pei Song to report on the project progress.
Each conversation doesn’t last long, but we can always find new optimization points.
"The business plan needs to be further refined, and the risk control plan needs to be more complete," Zhou Feng said. "The top management is paying attention to this project, and we must come up with the best plan."
The workload increased suddenly and Pei Song often worked overtime until late.
That night, it was past ten o'clock when Pei Song pushed open the door of the hotel room. Shi Yanchen was sitting on the sofa with a bad look on his face.
"Working overtime again?" Shi Yanchen's voice was a little cold.
"Well, Mr. Zhou pays close attention to every detail of the Starlight Plaza project and requires continuous improvement of the plan." Pei Song walked into the kitchen to pour water.
"He has been paying special attention to you recently." Shi Yanchen followed over with a hint of scrutiny in his tone.
Pei Song was stunned: "Isn't this a good thing?"
"When it comes to business, you should think more about the reasons behind it." Shi Yanchen said meaningfully, "Some people may seem to care about you, but in fact they may have other intentions."
Shi Yanchen's words reminded Pei Song.
Zhou Feng paid more and more attention to the Starlight Plaza project. He would make suggestions for every detail of the plan and even help him review the data personally.
"The data and logic are very solid." After the project meeting that afternoon, Zhou Feng looked through Pei Song's plan with a gentle tone of approval, "But the risk control measures in this part can be further refined."
Pei Song lowered his head to write down the revision suggestions, and keenly felt that Zhou Feng's gaze stayed on him longer than usual.
That vague attention made him feel a little uncomfortable, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.
When they returned to the hotel at night, Shi Yanchen noticed the tiredness between his brows: "Working overtime so late again today?"
"Yeah." Pei Song rubbed his temple.
Shi Yanchen seemed to be thinking about something, but didn't say much. He just silently helped him sort out the project data.
The investigation into the Starlight Plaza project has hit a bottleneck.
Although the evidence provided by Li Ming showed that Liu Yan had improper dealings with Galaxy Real Estate, these photos and recordings were not sufficient to directly prove his problem.
"This evidence is not enough." Pei Song looked at the computer screen in worry, "Liu Yan was very cautious and did not leave any obvious evidence."
Li Ming hasn't had a good time recently.
He always felt that someone was following him secretly, and even walked very cautiously.
Liu Yan's threat was subtle but hit the nail on the head.
At noon that day, Li Ming was making coffee in the tea room when Liu Yan pushed the door open and said, "Isn't this our Engineer Li? Why do you keep going to Pei Song's place recently?"
Li Ming's hands trembled, and the coffee spilled on the table: "I am just responsible for coordinating the project..."
"Project?" Liu Yan sneered, his eyes sinister, "Is your girlfriend happy working in the Finance Department? I heard that she has been performing well recently and may be promoted to a permanent position."
Li Ming froze in place, a chill rising from the soles of his feet.
"Of course, if something goes wrong..." Liu Yan dragged out his voice, "You know it's not easy to find a job nowadays."
Just then, Pei Song pushed the door open. He caught a glimpse of Li Ming's pale face and immediately understood what had happened.
"Mr. Li, how's the supplier analysis going?" he asked casually, "Mr. Zhou will need it this afternoon."
"I...I'll sort it out right away." Li Ming felt as if he had been pardoned.
"I just happened to be going to see Mr. Zhou as well," Pei Song said, "Let's go together."
The two walked out of the tea room one after the other.
Pei Song could feel Liu Yan's cold gaze behind him. He calmly took Li Ming to the office area.
In the evening, Pei Song returned to the hotel after get off work and heard the conversation between Shi Yanchen and his assistant coming from the study.
"Have you booked the flight ticket?" Shi Yanchen's voice was as cold as ever.
"Yes, the flight is next Friday, direct to Country D," the assistant replied, "I have also prepared the information you requested."
Pei Song paused. Although he knew that Shi Yanchen would go back sooner or later, he still felt a sense of loss when he heard the specific time.
The next day, Zhou Feng brought up the training in Country D again.
"The training will start next month." Zhou Feng said, "I think this is a rare opportunity. You should think about it carefully."
Pei Song hesitated. If he went to attend the training, it would satisfy his selfish desire, but the project was at a critical stage and he was really worried.
Returning to the hotel in the evening, Pei Song tentatively asked Shi Yanchen for his opinion.
"Do you think I should go to the training program in Country D?"
Shi Yanchen stopped reading the document and said, "No need to go."
"Why?" Pei Song was a little surprised. "Isn't this a good opportunity?"
"The Starlight Plaza project is not finished yet." Shi Yanchen's tone became tough, "Now is not the time to leave."
"Then do you think I should go?" he asked unwillingly, "The Starlight Plaza project can be taken over by someone else..."
"Let someone else take over?" Shi Yanchen's voice suddenly turned cold, "Do you really want to just give up?"
"That's not what I meant..." Pei Song explained hurriedly.
"Since you have taken on this project, you must be responsible to the end." Shi Yanchen's eyes were sharp, "Do you think the business world is a joke? Can you just find anyone to take over?"
"But Mr. Zhou said..."
"You believe everything Zhou Feng says?" Shi Yanchen stood up suddenly, "Do you trust him so much?"
Pei Song was startled by his sudden anger: "What's wrong with you today?"
"What's wrong with me?" Shi Yanchen sneered, "I just didn't expect you to be so irresponsible. In order to go to Country D, you can just throw the project in your hands to others?"
"I've already told you that this is not what I meant..." Pei Song's voice faded away.
"What do you mean?" Shi Yanchen pressed on, "Do you really want to go to Country D with Zhou Feng?"
I couldn't tell him that I still wanted to go to Country D with him for a month. It would be too embarrassing.
"I'm too lazy to talk to you." Pei Song stood up angrily, said this and went back to the room.