wavenovel Chapter 37 Feasibility Study Report Meeting
Chapter 37 Feasibility Study Report Meeting
As soon as Lin Chen stepped into the office in the morning, Song Qiuyu called out, "Lin Chen, congratulations! When are you treating us to lunch?"
Lin Chen knew what she meant because someone had messaged him while he was eating breakfast, but he pretended not to understand: "What is it? What's the congratulations?"
"What are you pretending for?" Song Qiuyu slammed her hand on the table. "You've passed your senior qualification exam. Now you're the 18th senior engineer in our Suicheng company. You can't miss this celebration banquet."
Lin Chen maintained a reserved demeanor, feigning coquettishness: "Don't be ridiculous, do you think I could pass? It must be fake news." But deep down, he was still a little happy.
"It's true, the document was just released."
Chen Ya's voice was filled with barely concealed excitement, a hint of envy, and even a touch of annoyance.
Her gaze was fixed on the computer screen, where the company had just issued an official document with a bold and eye-catching title: "Notice on the Recognition of Senior Qualification Certificates for Comrades Lin Chen and Others".
Those in the know understand that there's only one possibility for this title to directly include a name: Lin Chen passed the exam with the highest score. Why is this man so strong after leaving me?
She really couldn't understand it.
Lin Chen glanced at the document, but his heart was not greatly disturbed.
As an aside, Xinhai Group outwardly presents two career advancement paths. One is the administrative management line: foreman → station chief (director) → specialist → deputy director → director → deputy bureau chief → bureau chief, climbing step by step. The other is the skills expert line: junior worker → intermediate worker → senior worker → junior expert → intermediate expert → senior expert.
Leaders often say, "Not everyone can be a leader, but not being a leader doesn't mean you don't have a chance. The company will always provide you with a stage to shine. Get a certification and become an expert; you can still realize your life's value."
These words sound warm and positive, and can get a recent graduate excited.
……
Of course, these are things that ambitious young men who have just entered society will not know, nor could they possibly understand.
Back then, Lin Chen and Chen Ya were just like that, foolishly throwing themselves into preparing for the exam. They tried to get the senior engineer certificate three times. During that period, the two of them stayed up all night doing practice questions. When they were tired, they would squeeze together to sleep, and when they woke up, they would continue doing the questions.
Actually, we're quite happy and focused every day, so we've both honed our skills to a high level and believe that we can definitely succeed based on our own abilities.
But the more lofty the ideal, the more skeletal the reality.
Time and again, hope turned into disappointment and even despair. Three years ago, for the last time, Chen Ya broke down. She cried her heart out and then tore up all her review materials.
She hugged Lin Chen, her face covered in snot and tears: "Lin Chen, let's stop dreaming! People like us have no chance of passing the exam! Let's give up!"
Lin Chen held her tightly, speechless for a long time.
From then on, Chen Ya never took the senior engineer exam again. Instead, she focused all her attention on figuring out what her superiors were thinking and desperately trying to get closer to the center of power. In the end, she got her wish and went to the bureau office.
Of course, her path is not one that ordinary people can follow.
……
Their relationship ended completely when the road diverged.
Seeing Lin Chen actually receive the certificate, she felt a complex mix of emotions, like a spilled spice bottle.
Song Qiuyu continued to raise her voice: "Lin Chen, you're really something. You were just pretending to be stupid with me. Tell me, when are you treating us? It has to be something like the Suicheng International Hotel, otherwise it won't be worthy of the 18th senior engineer of our Suicheng company."
Upon hearing this, Liu Xingyu, the deputy director of the next office, was drawn over. He looked at Liu with disbelief: "Lin Chen passed the senior engineer exam? That's truly cause for celebration! Besides Director Tang, our office finally has another senior engineer!"
Lin Chen muttered to himself, "So Tang Xin is also a senior engineer. I really don't know how good her practical skills are. I'd like to have a chance to exchange ideas with her."
"Just lucky." Lin Chen wasn't really that excited; passing this time was an accident.
"Hehe, this luck is extraordinary." Zhang Junmin came over, his words carrying a hidden meaning. "Who next door has been working so hard that he's lost all his hair, pulling strings and trying to find connections for years, and still hasn't passed the exam? Lin Chen, you're really something." It was ostensibly a compliment, but it was actually an insinuation that he had taken a shortcut.
Lin Chen chuckled, deliberately poking at his sore spot: "You probably knelt down to the examiner during the exam, otherwise how could you have passed?"
Zhang Junmin's face instantly fell, and he slammed the folder in his hand down. He turned around and pretended to organize the documents, muttering something under his breath. Several female colleagues in the office couldn't help but lower their heads and cover their mouths to secretly laugh.
At this moment, Tang Xin walked in and said with a smile, "Lin Chen, not bad! You're a senior engineer now. With great power comes great responsibility. You'll have to take on more responsibilities and contribute more to the department in the future."
Lin Chen cursed inwardly: Damn it, Tang Xin only knows how to exploit me. Don't give me a chance to exploit you.
"By the way, Director Tang," Liu Xingyu changed the subject, as if suddenly remembering something, "Next Monday, the city company has a meeting for a project feasibility study report. Each county company needs to send a representative, and only senior engineers are eligible. I was thinking of nominating you, but how about we send Lin Chen this time and let him demonstrate his professional skills?"
Tang Xin nodded immediately, her eyes narrowing into slits with a smile: "Okay, it's settled then, Lin Chen, you go ahead." She was already fed up with these kinds of formalistic meetings, so she decided to pass the buck to Lin Chen, the "newcomer."
"I haven't even had a chance to use this certificate yet, I have no idea what the meeting is about!" Lin Chen quickly retorted.
"You'll see when you get there. It's very simple. You just need to attend a meeting to make up the numbers." Tang Xin patted his shoulder, her tone so "friendly" it was unsettling.
Lin Chen sat in front of the computer, looking at the notification for the senior engineer certificate on the screen. All the faint happiness in his heart vanished, leaving only disgust: What use is this worthless certificate, except for finding work for myself?
He didn't want to climb the ladder, much less be a tool for his superiors. He should have known better than to take it so seriously; now he's just made trouble for himself.
*Beep beep*, my phone rang. It was Bai Xiuyi: "Lin Chen, I passed the senior engineer exam too! I know you passed too, I'm so happy! Thank you, I definitely wouldn't have passed without you."
Lin Chen has a bit of face blindness, and his memory of Bai Xiuyi's appearance is already blurry. He only remembers her dazzling "headlights." He replied, "No need to be polite. We're just getting what we need."
In the adult world, there's no need to be pretentious.
Bai Xiuyi was thrilled to receive Lin Chen's reply, but felt a little disappointed after reading it. However, she quickly sent another message: "Lin Chen, can you send me an address? I want to send you a big gift to thank you."
Lin Chen hesitated for two seconds, but still sent her the address. He wondered what kind of big gift she would send him. There weren't many gifts as big as hers.
When Lin Chen was leaving get off work, he received another text message from Chen Ya.
"Lin Chen, let's have dinner together later to celebrate you becoming a senior engineer."
Lin Chen replied to her, "No need, I have something to do later."
After receiving the text message reply, Chen Ya snorted, picked up her bag, and slammed the door shut as she left.
Lin Chen watched her retreating figure and gently shook his head.
Let bygones be bygones. Lin Chen doesn't like to go back to old flames unless it's free.
On Monday, Lin Chen went to the municipal company to attend a project feasibility study report meeting. To his surprise, the meeting was not held in the municipal company building, but was arranged in the nearby Jinbi Hotel. It seems that the municipal company is indeed rich and powerful, even holding a meeting in such a high-end venue.
This meeting was led by the city company's marketing department and had a considerable number of participants: several "expert leaders" from the city company, heads of engineering-related departments, construction managers, people from the design units, and representatives from various county and district companies—all highly qualified professionals.
Lin Chen never expected that after passing the senior engineer exam, he would become a prominent figure and be able to attend such a high-level meeting.
The meeting was about the feasibility study for the new Qianshan Water Plant project. To put it simply, it was about whether the water plant should be built, whether it was worth building, and whether the plan was reasonable.
When Lin Chen arrived at the conference entrance, a large group of beautiful women were waiting for him. Their low-cut, see-through service uniforms were quite impressive.
"Sir, welcome to the meeting. Please sign here." The young woman handed over a sign-in sheet, her voice sickeningly sweet, and then personally led Lin Chen to his designated seat. Each seat had a nameplate, and a thoughtful morning tea was served, including a plate full of snacks, biscuits, and fruit, which looked quite lavish.
Lin Chen thought to himself: This job is pretty good, the pay is so good, why doesn't Tang Xin like to come? Is it because she finds these meetings too boring?
Moreover, there were many of the same streetwalkers providing services inside. If they saw someone's teacup was low, they would immediately refill it. When they bent down to pour the tea, it felt like White Rabbit could jump out.
This meeting was, to put it simply, incredibly large.
Lin Chen sat down, looked around, and saw a familiar face, his good college "classmate," Chen Lei.
What a small world! We've met again, and this time, he's even hosting the meeting. However, Chen Lei was busy exchanging pleasantries with the leaders next to him and didn't see Lin Chen.
It was already 10 o'clock, ten minutes later than the scheduled time, and the meeting still hadn't started. Lin Chen wasn't in a hurry; he continued eating his snacks and admiring the large group of girls.
The meeting only began when a middle-aged man with a beer belly strode in and sat in the middle. Lin Chen looked at the introduction of his seat and saw that he was Wang Haitao, the director of the marketing department of the city company.
A mere department head, yet he acts so high and mighty.
The meeting officially began, and Chen Lei went on stage first to introduce himself with a fawning smile: "Hello everyone, I am Chen Lei, a marketing specialist and senior engineer at the company. Welcome to this feasibility study report meeting, experts and leaders, for taking time out of your busy schedules."
"Holy crap." Lin Chen almost spat out the cookie in his mouth. Chen Lei passed the senior engineer certificate too? This is outrageous! He suddenly felt that his senior engineer certificate was worthless, being listed alongside this good-for-nothing was an insult.
Chen Lei was quite sensible; after introducing himself, he immediately began to formally introduce the leaders: "The leaders attending this meeting are Wang Haitao, Director of the Marketing Department; Wen Tianhe, General Manager of the Company's Maintenance and Repair Management Platform; and Chen Dengfeng, the Company's Chief Skills Expert. Thank you again to all the leaders for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend and provide guidance!"
The leaders whose names were called all stood up politely and bowed, seemingly out of humility, but actually to show off their power, since not everyone knew them.
After introducing the leader Chen Lei, he opened a fancy PowerPoint presentation and explained the background of the entire Qianshan Water Plant project, the construction concept, the reasons for the site selection, the planned size, and finally the basic data such as the water supply radius, water supply load, and water supply target. The PowerPoint presentation also included various diagrams.
This was Lin Chen's first time attending such a meeting. At first, he found it novel and paid close attention. However, the more he listened, the more his brows furrowed. He felt that something was wrong, and the plan was simply outrageous!
A small water plant with a daily water supply of less than 100,000 tons is expected to require an investment of up to 18 billion yuan!
Under normal circumstances, 200 million would be the maximum. Is this 18 billion a case of using gold as cement?
Furthermore, the water supply radius and water supply load are not even met, let alone the most basic requirement of three times the load. It's just a sham.
The most outrageous thing is the location, which is close to a chemical plant. This completely violates the basic common sense of water plant construction. Are they afraid that the water source will not be polluted?
Chen Lei spent about half an hour giving everyone a detailed explanation, and then looked at everyone very sincerely and said, "This is a detailed report that our department has spent half a month conducting on-site investigations. We welcome all experts and leaders to review and provide guidance."
Lin Chen almost burst out laughing. Spending half a month to make such a piece of garbage? Even a junior high school graduate is better than him. He finally understood that this was not a feasibility study report analysis meeting at all, but a ridiculous farce staged to spend money.
Lin Chen drank a cup of tea, not in a hurry. He was of low status and his words carried little weight, so he let these big shots speak first. Who wouldn't see the problems with such a "garbage" plan? He was sure it would provoke a barrage of criticism from the experts and leaders.
But after waiting for a long time, the scene was very strange, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.
None of the experts and bigwigs seemed to see any problem. They ate and drank as usual. The marketing director went even further, chatting intimately with a girl who covered her mouth and laughed heartily, as if she were paralyzed.
Why don't you go back to your room and talk?