Chapter 48 Dispute
When Han Yan was in college, she initially didn't think she'd ever cross paths with Lin Jingchuan. Coming from a small, underprivileged town, she'd made it out of town through daily hard work. At the start of her university career, she was just an ordinary, mediocre, and impoverished girl with a low ponytail and thick-framed blue glasses, easily blending in with the crowd.
It wasn't until the midterm exam for advanced mathematics in the first semester that the teacher praised the only two students in the class who passed. One of them was herself, and the other was Lin Jingchuan. Because of this exam, the classmates looked at her with new eyes.
Later, she learned to put on makeup and dress like the girls in big cities, and gradually shed her ordinary appearance, becoming what others called a beautiful and smart student. From time to time, people would compare her with Lin Jingchuan, and even joked that they were a good match.
Han Yan didn't take it seriously at first. She knew exactly what she wanted. At that moment, she had nothing, no means to enjoy love. Until one day, she received a call from home. Her mother grumbled bitterly about her lack of response to her WeChat messages. She wondered if she didn't want to support her in her old age, and that she had wasted her time raising her. Han Yan was overwhelmed. She sat on the steps below her dormitory, the pressures of internship and family life making her hug her knees. It was a sunny July or August day, but she felt cold all over.
The campus was very quiet in the afternoon. Her roommates were all taking naps in the dormitory, and there was no one on the basketball court, so when she saw Lin Jingchuan, she even thought it was an illusion.
Under the shade of the wax apple tree, his handsome face was unclear. His brows were slightly wrinkled. The tall boy looked at her from a distance for a few seconds, then walked over and handed her a bottle of water.
He didn't say anything to her, but Han Yan knew that this man had become different in her heart since then.
Han Yan gently put the graduation photo in her hand back into the album. Wearing a dark green Tencel suspender nightgown, she held a red wine glass, lowered her eyes to look at the red liquid in the transparent container, immersed in the cool moonlight.
My phone vibrated, and a message popped up: [A will hold a meeting tomorrow morning.]
As the car entered the tunnel, light and shadow danced on the slightly tipsy Xu Mo's face. Lin Jingchuan's lips straightened slightly. He gently held her fingers and asked, "Didn't you say before that there were only four people in your project team? How come there's one more?"
Xu Mo hummed and leaned her head lazily against the car window: "The tallest one is the newcomer."
She raised her eyelids and looked at him with some doubt: "Don't you know? She should have reported it to you and Mr. Ou last time."
Lin Jingchuan said: "I was the last one to attend the meeting last time, so I didn't hear much."
Xu Mo said: "You are so beautiful and yet you are face-blind."
Lin Jingchuan slightly tightened his grip on her fingers, put one hand on the steering wheel, and nodded.
He hadn't seen Han Yan since graduation. As time went by, he had indeed forgotten what she looked like, so at the last meeting, he didn't recognize that the person reporting was Han Yan.
At that moment, he thought about whether he should tell Xu Mo that he and Han Yan were college classmates, but he felt that mentioning it would make him seem deliberate, so he retracted the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
Lin Jingchuan asked, "Is work going smoothly since returning to work? Why haven't I seen you report to Lan University in the past few days?"
Xu Mo was silent for a while. It seemed that Lin Jingchuan didn't know that he had been replaced.
Her pride got in the way, and she didn't want to bring it up. He would know it sooner or later anyway, so it would be better to delay that day and give her more time to build herself up. Leaning her head against the glass window, Xu Mo took away Lin Jingchuan's hand that was covering the back of her hand.
She lowered her eyes, picked at the barbs between her fingernails, and said, "I haven't done much work yet, so I don't have much to report."
Lin Jingchuan said: "Don't worry, take your time."
Xu Mo nodded: "Yeah, I know."
There seemed to be particularly few people in the office on Monday morning. When Xu Mo went to get water that morning, there was no queue. She was a little surprised, but she didn't think much about it and went back to her workstation to work.
In another week, the project team will go to several representative factories in the south for research. Before that, she needs to combine the experience of the last research in the north to come up with a research strategy.
She had been working on this material since she returned to work last time. By noon, she was almost done and emailed the document to Han Yan.
Wu Siyue and Cheng Ming asked her to go for dinner. She picked up her work badge on the table, and the three of them went downstairs together.
When Han Yan received Xu Mo's email, the conference room was in an extremely depressing atmosphere.
In the morning, all personnel above the manager level were called to a meeting in the conference room. The person in charge of the company's southern region took stock of the clients and projects on hand for each team.
Except for Manager Wu, most managers could only name a few projects.
"We lost Fengmei two years ago, and Company H last year. Even the companies that remain pay less and less consulting fees each year." The South District Manager said solemnly, "There are thirty people at the manager level and above attending the meeting today. Your annual salary is over 500,000 yuan. What do you do on a daily basis? You manage projects, and there are project managers to help you do that. So what do you do on your own?"
"Chatting with colleagues in the office, or not even coming to the office to take care of the children at home? If not, I don't understand why the company has only had these new projects in the past two years."
No one dared to speak. The person in charge had a gloomy expression. He casually pointed at Li Gui, the partner sitting across from him. Li Gui's performance hadn't been good in the past two years, and it had only gotten worse since Manager Wu left his team. "Can you tell me the reason?"
"Mr. Ren, it's not that we don't work hard. We submit quite a few bids every month, but you also know that the overall environment is not good. Clients are cutting staff internally and reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Why would they spend money to hire a consulting firm?"
Mr. Ren said expressionlessly, "So what you're saying is that it's not your fault that you didn't get the project, but that I was asking too much of you?"
"Mr. Ren, I didn't mean that..."
"Good." President Ren clapped his hands and raised his eyebrows. "I think what you said is very good. Given the current environment, the company's performance is foreseeably getting worse. Since we don't have so many clients, I don't think we need so many partners and managers, right?"
Everyone looked at each other, and even Manager Wu, who had always kept a calm expression, raised his head slightly.
Han Yan's eyes flickered and she secretly clenched her fists.
"Mr. Ren, that's not what Li Gui meant," someone advised. "Although the overall environment is difficult, we've been working hard. Look, we've secured a large order this year, and the Landa project is progressing steadily. With this project as a foundation and the experience we've accumulated in the agriculture and animal husbandry industry, it won't be so difficult to secure orders in this industry in the future."
"Yes, Mr. Ren, please give us more time." Someone echoed.
"Didn't I give you time?" Mr. Ren said grimly. "I gave you two years, but what results have you given me? Headquarters is already putting pressure on me to lay off 20% of our staff this year."
Everyone looked more solemn and nervous.
"HR is sorting out the work hours and attendance data for everyone in the office. You should also sort out the personnel rosters internally." Mr. Ren glanced at his watch. "That's it for today. I hope everyone understands that this is just the beginning. If this quarter's performance doesn't meet the target, there may be further layoffs."
Han Yan held her computer, her expression solemn. Manager Wu walked out of the conference room with her and comforted her calmly, "Don't be nervous. Although you're new here, you have projects at Blue University, so the layoffs won't affect you."
Han Yan nodded, and Manager Wu continued, "I know your background. Although you're a relative, parachuted into my project, replacing my original project manager. I wasn't happy about it at first, but I've seen your performance recently, and it's pretty good. Our original plan was to survey two factories in the north, but we ended up surveying five. The report was much richer, and the client was satisfied with it. Although you didn't say it, I know you've put in a lot of effort."
Han Yan's eyes darkened slightly. It was Xu Mo who conducted the research on the various factories. She should have told Manager Wu about Xu Mo's contribution instead of taking all the credit. She had suffered such losses and hardships before. If she were younger, she might have done the same. But at this moment, she just smiled and said, "Thank you, Manager Wu. I will keep working hard."
Manager Wu nodded. "Since we're destined to meet, let's work together. I have a dinner tonight with an old client. I want to discuss this year's contract renewal with them. You should come too."
Han Yan nodded: "I understand."
"By the way, you can ask Xu Mo to come along." The two of them reached a fork in the road, and Manager Wu tilted his head to look at her. "This client was previously handled by Xu Mo, and the cooperation was quite pleasant back then."
Han Yan's fingers tightened slightly around the computer, but she maintained a flawless and friendly smile. "Okay, I'll talk to Xu Mo."
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