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墨書 Inktalez
The Genting Group announced a bidding notice: the total budget for a nationwide business consulting project reached as high as 38 million. Looking across the country, aside from similar projects from large state-owned banks, there wouldn't be a bigger contract than this one!
To put it more vividly, this single contract is equivalent to the total business volume of One Hundred Percent Company for two years!
At the bidding site, I saw Peter and Jiang Xiaoli again, along with my former driver, Xiao Zhou.
"What are you doing here?"
Xiao Zhou approached me, looking down from his height.
I brushed him off, "Why can't I be here?"
"The proposal you handed to Peter was 'processed.' You might fool others, but not me. Once, when you got out of Genting, you left a folder in the car with a USB drive inside. I made a copy... forgot to tell you, I'm now the Marketing Manager at One Hundred Percent Consulting Company!"
Liangzi and Zheng Kai behind me turned pale.
Damn it, a slip-up! The consequences of this slip could be fatal!
Jiang Xiaoli personally represented One Hundred Percent Consulting Company on stage to present the bid, and the screen displayed the PPT that I had painstakingly created! She spoke passionately on stage while I pounded my chest in frustration below, regretting it all too late.
Her eloquence earned her frequent nods from the Evaluation Experts present.
All those ideas came from my mind and hands, yet now they benefited someone else—my competitor.
The electronic screen revealed the scoring results; the proposal scored higher than those from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, sweeping past local enterprises to take first place!
I was the last to go on stage to present. But what could I say?
Liangzi and Zheng Kai also wore expressions of despair.
Everyone in the industry knew I had been fired by One Hundred Percent!
"Dear Evaluation Experts and colleagues, I will not present anymore because my bid documents and execution plan are identical to those of One Hundred Percent Consulting Company!"
Everyone gasped; Jiang Xiaoli and Peter smirked.
"Please let the Bidding Committee announce the results!" My former driver Xiao Zhou raised his hand eagerly.
The experts from the Bidding Committee huddled together in whispers; they probably had never encountered such a situation before.
Just as the chairman picked up a piece of paper to stand up, I gently bowed and indicated that I wanted to continue speaking: "But I have a few questions that I would like to ask the experts for verification regarding my colleagues at One Hundred Percent?"
"What is there to verify? Business is like war; losing means losing!" Peter shouted.
The other colleagues were watching with a detached, high-and-mighty demeanor, as if they were merely spectators.
After another meeting of the Bidding Committee experts, the chairperson nodded at me and said, "You may ask your question, but it must be related to this bidding process!"
I turned to Jiang Xiaoli. "May I ask Mr. Jiang from One Hundred Percent Business Consulting what 'HRY19890724' means in the bottom right corner of each slide in your PPT?"
"That has no relevance to this evaluation!" Peter interjected sharply.
"Let the representative from One Hundred Percent answer, and I also ask the questioner to provide a reasonable explanation to everyone at the end!" The chairperson of the Bidding Committee halted Peter's objections.
"Director Zhou, since you created the PPT, why don't you explain this question?" Jiang Xiaoli gestured toward Xiao Zhou.
"Uh... I just added that randomly; it doesn't have any special meaning," Xiao Zhou stammered.
"Then may I ask Manager Zhou why on the eighth page of your PPT, 'One Hundred Percent Business Consulting' is written as 'One Hundred Percent Business Consultant'? Could you please correct it in front of the expert panel?" I skipped my first question.
"Of course! If I fix it, will you stop making trouble?" Xiao Zhou sighed in relief, becoming aggressive.
"If you can correct that typo, I will automatically withdraw from this bidding!"
"Alright, a deal's a deal!" Xiao Zhou opened the file on his computer.
All eyes were on him.
Xiao Zhou skillfully flipped to the corresponding page.
But his cursor couldn't select the text he needed!
He tried again and again until finally, sweating profusely, he put down the mouse. "This file was encrypted at the time, but I can't remember what the password is now!"
"I can tell you," everyone looked at me in disbelief.
"The password is HJ-BFB19960821."
Under everyone's scrutiny, Xiao Zhou entered it, and surprisingly, the file could be modified!
"I'll explain the significance of this password," I didn't give Jiang Xiaoli and the others a chance to breathe. "The first two letters are the initials of my surname and my ex-girlfriend's surname. The three letters after the hyphen are the initials for 'One Hundred Percent,' and the eight digits represent Mr. Jiang's date of birth!
Each page's bottom right corner 'HRY19890724' is my name's initials and my date of birth!"
A stir went through the audience.
"At the end of this document, there is also a hidden page that can now be viewed. Director Zhou, please open it for everyone to see!"
Xiao Zhou mechanically operated his computer, and indeed, an additional page appeared out of nowhere at the end of the PPT:
"This plan has been validated by the Genting Group, and the intention to cooperate is basically assured. This is just a meeting gift for my beloved Jiang Xiaoli!"
Below is my flamboyant signature.
president Jiang called me: "Xiao Hu, for the sake of our years of friendship, let Xiao Li off the hook. One Hundred Percent's business is almost gone!"
"Chairman Jiang, I have never actively poached One Hundred Percent's business, but our Huayun has just been established, and a bunch of people need to eat. If I turn down incoming business, won't people think I've lost my mind?" I replied firmly but not aggressively.
Friendship? It has long been trampled into the mud by you and your daughter.
During the last bidding, the Bidding Committee finally announced, 'The winning unit for the Genting Group's business consulting project is—Huayun Business Consulting Company!'
My wife Sister Hua is a director at a certain department of the Jiangbei Province Statistics Bureau, overseeing market research companies like ours! The chairman of Genting Group is her dear uncle, and the general manager is her cousin. My proposal was seen by Genting all thanks to Sister Hua's strong recommendation (at that time, we didn't have our current relationship).
Recently, many people have come to interview at the company. Former colleagues from One Hundred Percent are flocking to me.
Huayun is in urgent need of talent; those who come know the ropes, and I basically accept them all.
Xiao Zhou also came. Upon meeting, he played the emotional card: " brother Hu, considering how long I've driven for you... it's all because Jiang Xiaoli and Peter pressured me..."
"Leave!"
I stood up.
"Okay, President Hu!"
He joyfully followed behind me.
I turned back: "What I mean is you can leave now!"
Huayun Business Consulting combines Sister Hua's surname with mine. Although it's a bit cliché, I'm happy with it, and my Sister Hua likes it too.
At night, she cuddled up to me and said sweetly: "Honey, when we have a child, can you give me the right to pass on your surname? I'm my parents' only daughter; they dream of having a descendant from the Hua family."
"If you say so, then it's settled!"
I hugged her back.
(The End)
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