Chapter 47 A Bold Promise
On Wednesday morning, Liu Shang waited at the side gate of the university until Mr. Zhong picked him up. Together, they drove to the Fengcheng Oilfield's Third Oil Production Plant for a meeting.
The main agenda was to discuss the completion of the recent profile control measures and the technical plan for the next new well.
Since Song Guangyuan's focus had shifted from Ma Yuan to Liu Shang, Xu Tiande and Mr. Zhong wanted to support and train him. Thus, they had deliberately brought Liu Shang along to this technical meeting.
When their group entered the conference room, the geology and engineering managers from the oil production plant were already present, as was their influential plant manager, Pan Qingfeng.
Before the meeting began, the atmosphere was harmonious. The two parties chatted and laughed, and the leadership from the oil production plant, as the client, were polite and enthusiastic.
It was clear that Song Guangyuan was very well-connected.
At that moment, Xu Tiande, who had already set up his laptop to prepare for his presentation, suddenly received a call. His expression changed instantly.
Everyone soon learned that Xu Tiande's wife had taken a serious fall.
Seeing the situation, Song Guangyuan immediately arranged for his personal BMW 7 Series to take Xu Tiande to his wife.
He specifically instructed his full-time driver to get there as fast as possible, ignoring traffic violations as long as it was safe, and not to waste time on the road.
Before leaving, the anxious Xu Tiande pulled Liu Shang aside to give him some last-minute instructions: "Liu Shang, you'll have to give the report today."
"You made the PPT, so you're already familiar with the content."
"The only thing to remember is not to talk too much. If you're not sure about something, don't say anything."
"We're at the client's plant. This isn't like being back at our own company."
...
After Xu Tiande left, the meeting officially began. The first item on the agenda was the completion of the profile control well that had been led by Ma Yuan and Xu Tiande.
After Liu Shang finished his succinct report, Zhang Zhengmao, the chief geologist of the oil production plant, nodded with a smile.
"I must say, Mr. Song, this young man of yours is very good."
"The report was straightforward, concise, and clear!"
"Also, the PowerPoint you presented this time was excellent. You even created a master slide template with your own company logo."
"That's rare for most companies!"
Hearing this, everyone else from the client's side nodded in agreement, commenting that it was much more polished than the presentations used in the oil field.
At this, Song Guangyuan just smiled and didn't say much. Instead, Mr. Zhong seized the opportunity to praise Liu Shang.
"This kid's name is Liu Shang, a freshman at Youda University."
"He's also the one who made that slide template you were talking about."
"Let me tell you, back when I was in the oil field, I never had a young man as capable as him on my team."
When Mr. Zhong praised Liu Shang, everyone from the oil production plant was surprised, and they showered Liu Shang with their own compliments without hesitation.
A large part of this, however, was out of respect for Mr. Zhong himself.
Even though he had retired, his prestige and connections hadn't diminished in the slightest.
For example, Shen Chengcheng, the chief engineer of the oil production plant, had gotten his start as one of Mr. Zhong's subordinates.
At this point, Zhang Zhengmao, the chief geologist, smiled. "I don't think there's much more to discuss regarding this well."
"As Liu Shang just accurately reported, the pressure in this well is already very high, and there is no capacity for further injection."
"However, just like the previous wells, aside from the obvious increase in wellhead pressure, we haven't seen any other dynamic response."
"I think we can call this well complete. I wonder what Director Pan thinks?"
With that, Zhang Zhengmao smiled and looked toward the plant director, Pan Qingfeng.
Pan Qingfeng had not smiled once since the meeting began.
Even during the earlier lighthearted chatter, he had remained silent, his expression unreadable.
It wasn't until Zhang Zhengmao turned the floor over to him that Pan Qingfeng sighed softly and spoke, his expression grim.
"To be honest, I don't know much about the technology here, nor do I care to."
"You are all technical experts, so I have no opinion on completing this well."
"However! I see no reason to discuss the next well, nor is there any need to continue with these measures at all."
After he finished speaking, the conference room fell into a deathly silence, and the atmosphere grew heavy and oppressive.
As if unable to contain his frustration any longer, Pan Qingfeng looked directly at Song Guangyuan, who was sitting diagonally opposite him.
"Mr. Song, how many years have we been friends?"
"There are no outsiders here today, so I'll be blunt. You know how important this year is for my career, don't you?"
Hearing this, Song Guangyuan could only nod embarrassedly and smile wryly.
Before he could say anything, Pan Qingfeng cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"At the beginning of the year, what did you and your Professor Xu swear to me?"
"You said that with this year's profile control measures, you'd work hard to boost oil production and get results, even if it meant taking a loss!"
"On your advice, I even expanded our plant's program to 80 wells."
"But what's the result? We've done seven or eight wells now, and we haven't seen a single drop of increased oil production, not even the slightest positive effect!"
"Is this the promise you gave me?"
"Let me tell you, you've really put me in a bind! Every time there's a meeting at the bureau, I get ridiculed by managers from the other plants and by the higher-ups!"
Song Guangyuan sighed deeply. "Director Pan, you're right. I admit my mistake."
"To tell you the truth, I'm drilling every single one of these wells at a significant cost!"
"But for some strange reason, it's just not working!"
"It's not just you who's anxious; I'm anxious too. If this incident ends up delaying your promotion, Director Pan, how could I ever face you again!"
Pan Qingfeng waved his hand, interrupting Song Guangyuan again. "Alright. To be honest, I'm in a terrible mood today. I hope you won't take my harsh words personally, Mr. Song, Mr. Zhong."
"That's all for today. Let's wrap it up."
Then, perhaps subconsciously, Pan Qingfeng offered a word of encouragement to Liu Shang. "You're the young man named Liu Shang, right?"
"You're very good, a promising talent. A person Mr. Zhong takes a liking to is definitely not a mistake."
At this moment, to everyone's surprise, Liu Shang showed no intention of packing up to leave. Instead, he looked at Pan Qingfeng calmly, smiled, and said slowly:
"Director Pan, I am confident—no, I am certain—that the next well will show an obvious dynamic response, and even a direct increase in oil production."
"I don't know if you would be willing to trust me one time, to give it one last try."
"After all, as you said, there's still plenty of room in this year's plan. Whether this one next well succeeds or fails will have little overall impact on the production plant."
Just before Liu Shang had spoken, Mr. Zhong, who knew him better than the others, had sensed something was coming.
Sure enough, the kid had just uttered such shocking and audacious words.
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