Chapter 25 Depressed Song Jia
After hearing Liu Shang's words, Mr. Zhong laughed and slapped him on the back twice.
"Kid, you really don't pull any punches, do you?"
"If we went by your standard, I'm afraid more than half the people in the workforce would lose their jobs!"
"By the way, Kid Liu, how are you with PPT slide files?"
Liu Shang thought for a moment. "PPTs are still a bit more difficult than Word and Excel."
"I don't know much about creating 3D dynamic demonstrations, but the other features are fine."
As Liu Shang said this, Xu Tiande happened to be taking a drink of water. He couldn't hold it in and spat out a mouthful.
The old man almost choked to death.
"Cough, cough..."
"3D dynamic demonstrations?"
"The people in our company... I couldn't even get them to make the simplest 2D animations!"
As for Mr. Zhong, he was also exasperated. "You little rascal, you're really something else! Infuriating!"
"But with your incredible office software skills, I really don't have the qualifications to lecture you!"
At this point, Liu Shang smiled. "Professor Xu, Mr. Zhong, if there's no problem with the technical plan and construction report I made, I can handle these tasks from now on."
But before he finished speaking, Mr. Zhong waved his hand and refused.
"Those design plans and reports aren't that important; they're just a formality for the client."
"Leave that stuff for other people to do. It's a waste of your talent!"
"Professor Xu and I have a lot of technical materials here that need to be summarized at the end of the year. It's a good thing we have you now!"
Seeing the three of them talking and laughing happily in the office, everyone else frowned.
They really couldn't understand what kind of magic this freshman, Liu Shang, possessed to have simultaneously charmed both Xu Tiande and the quick-tempered Mr. Zhong so completely.
***
During lunchtime, the company's management team, including heavyweights like Professor Xu and Mr. Zhong, all ate in a separate room.
The food on the table was specially prepared by the chef, served in a setting much like a private dining room at a hotel.
Everyone else, including managers and deputy managers of some departments, got their food from a buffet line in the main cafeteria hall.
It was standard cafeteria fare, but the quality and taste were quite good.
In the well-decorated room where the chairman, Song Guangyuan, and the other key figures dined, Mr. Zhong and Xu Tiande unabashedly praised Liu Shang in front of everyone, declaring that he was an absolute treasure the company had discovered.
Seeing the two of them gush like this, the others were also stunned and found it incredible.
But whenever Liu Shang was mentioned, the chairman, Song Guangyuan, had a rather grim expression; he was very unhappy.
Today was Sunday, and just like yesterday, his precious daughter Song Jia had come to practice driving and was now playing computer games in his office.
But because of this Liu Shang, their family had a huge fight last night.
Faced with the earnest lectures and guidance from him and his wife, Song Jia's reaction had been extremely fierce.
In the end, it escalated to the point that Song Jia slammed the door and went straight back to school. Before leaving, she had declared: "I'm an adult now, and I don't need you to manage my affairs anymore!"
This had left Song Guangyuan and his wife both shocked and worried.
Could it be that their daughter had already fallen into that Liu Shang's trap?
If Song Jia knew what they were thinking, she would have been apoplectic.
What infuriated Song Jia were her parents' baseless guesses and chaotic assumptions.
At school, Liu Shang didn't even know who she was, and the two of them had never spoken, yet her parents were spinning these wild theories out of thin air.
She felt it was unreasonable and infuriating, so she had stormed off to her room.
***
On the other side of the cafeteria, Liu Shang took his plate and sat there quietly eating alone.
At a table not far from him, several colleagues were joking with Ma Yuan.
"Is that Liu Shang really just a freshman? He's so composed!"
"Extremely composed!"
"Also, you can see how much Professor Xu and Mr. Zhong like him. It's clear they want to start grooming him as their protégé."
"Ma Yuan, that's the kind of treatment you got when you first joined the company. Looking at things now, your future role in the company is starting to look a little uncertain!"
Hearing their words, Ma Yuan, who was already angry and resentful, felt even more worried.
But on this occasion, he had to pretend to be nonchalant and smile. "Look at what you're all saying. Liu Shang is my junior. It's not just Mr. Zhong and Professor Xu; if I have the opportunity in the future, I'll do my best to help him and take him under my wing."
"Besides, he's only a freshman now. There are a lot of variables in the future. I'd guess the chances of him staying with our company aren't too high."
Even as he said this, Ma Yuan had secretly made up his mind. No matter what, he could not let this Liu Shang succeed.
Professor Xu's attention and mentorship belonged to him, Ma Yuan, and he had to find a way to win back the professor's favor!
***
So, when it was time for work in the afternoon, Ma Yuan ran to Xu Tiande with his notebook and some carefully prepared questions.
Again and again, he kept asking for advice, putting on the appearance of someone learning with an open mind, someone "sensitive and eager to learn."
In truth, when he first joined the company, since Ma Yuan had also graduated from the Petroleum University, Professor Xu had genuinely wanted to train him well.
However, over time, Ma Yuan's true nature was revealed. He lost the humble motivation to learn that he had at the beginning and focused his energy on office politics and other superficial things.
As a result, Professor Xu could only give up on him.
Now that Liu Shang had arrived, Ma Yuan was suddenly acting like this again. Anyone with a discerning eye could see the reason, and Xu Tiande, who knew Ma Yuan well, saw right through it.
However, being an old academic at heart, Xu Tiande had an easy-going personality. Faced with Ma Yuan's questions, he still explained and answered very patiently.
To everyone's surprise, Liu Shang showed not the slightest sense of urgency or reaction to Ma Yuan's blatant attempts to curry favor.
Nor did he go to Xu Tiande for advice.
Just like in the morning, he sat quietly at his workstation, methodically doing the work with technical charts and diagrams that Xu Tiande and Mr. Zhong had assigned him.
Around three o'clock in the afternoon, Ma Yuan was still in Xu Tiande's office, showing no signs of leaving.
It seemed Ma Yuan had occupied Xu Tiande for the entire afternoon.
And so, Mr. Zhong, now with nowhere to go for a chat, came over to Liu Shang's workstation. He bent down and joked in a low voice.
"I say, Kid Liu, why do I feel more and more that Ma Yuan is the freshman, while you're like an office veteran who's been working for more than ten years?"
Liu Shang also smiled. "Haha, Mr. Zhong, you're making fun of me again!"
"Like I said before, I came here for the 4,000 yuan salary, not to study for a thesis."
"So, working efficiently is the only way to be worthy of my position, right?"
Mr. Zhong smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Alright, your mentality and composure are much better than Ma Yuan's."
"Old Xu is tied up right now. Come with me to my office. Let's discuss that ground dispensing technique you mentioned yesterday."
---
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