CH 37

Zhou Qingbo took advantage of the situation, pushing further and closer. In the end, he not only took Pei You, who had a bunch of unfinished work, to dinner but also strolled through a food street with him.

Pei You had never allowed himself to relax like this since he started working. But Zhou Qingbo managed to persuade him effortlessly, and he broke his routine without much struggle.

Zhou Qingbo was indeed talented. Pei You couldn’t help but think that he had a natural gift for interpersonal skills, knowing how to persuade people effortlessly.

Though they relaxed, work was still work. After a night of “leisure,” they had to continue their duties at the construction site upon waking up the next day.

The internal control at Qingshan was well-established. Zhou Qingbo was used to a strictly regulated work environment, but in Dongjiang, he felt uncomfortable, as if he was surrounded by fools.

Dongjiang lacked clear internal management regulations. Each project department seemed like a makeshift team of contractors, each with its own autonomy. Apart from the overall management authority resting with Liu Xin, each construction site had its own rules.

The company’s construction workers mingled with temporary hired farmers, supervision and contractors formed a somewhat chaotic structure. If they wanted to find out about the operation of a specific project, they had to call the Dongjiang headquarters.

Unfortunately, Liu Xin was often absent, and his secretary was like an AI with automated responses, repeating phrases like “I’m not sure about this issue,” “I’ll inform Mr. Liu as soon as possible,” or “I’ll call you back when Mr. Liu returns.”

Zhou Qingbo couldn’t help but murmur softly. “Why bother hiring a secretary if they are of no use? Just get a Xiaoice( a Chinese term that refers to an artificial intelligence-based chatbot developed by Microsoft) for the office—no need to pay a salary.”

Pei You imagined a “voice-controlled electronic secretary” that could respond once it was plugged in, and he couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“Don’t say such things.” Pei You pursed his lips to hold back his laughter, glancing at the receptionist leading the way ahead, and said softly, “Machines can’t replace human resources.”

“I think they could do just fine,” Zhou Qingbo whispered to him, “She only says the same three things over and over again. Setting up an automatic reply would be enough.”

That low work efficiency had obviously accumulated quite a bit of resentment in Zhou Qingbo, who had been forced to work overtime. For the past few days, Pei You had heard him complain incessantly and was almost building immunity to it.

“In that case,  you can suggest to Liu Xin, citing Dongjiang’s insufficient profitability, to eliminate unnecessary department positions and optimize internal management regulations.” Pei You thought for a moment and continued in a low voice, “Then, establish a performance assessment mechanism and have them report regularly, optimizing the human resource structure. Qingshan is the headquarters and has the authority for this.”

“…,” Zhou Qingbo was impressed, thinking that Pei You was steady and efficient in his approach.

As he was considering how to make things difficult for Liu Xin, he noticed the receptionist leading the way, stopped not far ahead and turned to look at them.

“This is the Project Management Department,” the receptionist pointed to a row of colorful steel activity houses ahead and said, “Our manager is in the office. If you have any questions, you can ask him.”

The receptionist took a few steps forward and knocked on the door with a sign that read “Project Manager.”

The room had a strong smell of oil and smoke, and Zhou Qingbo, finding it unpleasant, leaned against the door frame. He stepped aside slightly, giving way for the receptionist to leave.

Recently, Pei You had been conducting inventory checks on various projects, exceeding the scope covered by Liu Xin’s “friends and family.” The project managers he had encountered recently were clearly not as accommodating as Liu Quan. Most of them had been in Dongjiang for many years, some were even old associates of Liu Jiancheng, starting as contractors with him. They had more experience than Liu Xin and were not easy to handle.

Those people generally lacked education and relied solely on their social experience to work, possessing a kind of courageous ignorance that made dealing with them difficult.

The middle-aged man was clearly among those types of people who liked to complain. He casually threw the documents on the table, put on his coat, and grumbled to himself.

“Always checking, checking, checking. It’s like they think we’re thieves,” the middle-aged man said loudly, clearly directed at the two “inspectors” present. Zhou Qingbo frowned slightly, glanced at him unhappily, but said nothing.

Unless necessary, Zhou Qingbo didn’t want to engage in direct conflicts with these people. After all, it’s easy to meet the boss but hard to deal with underlings. These people had been the local bosses for so many years, and their way of thinking was not easy to align with normal people’s. They could be unpredictable when agitated.

There were people before who grumbled a few unpleasant words, but Zhou Qingbo usually ignored them and let it pass.

Pei You had more work experience and had encountered more peculiar characters. He didn’t pay much attention to these people. Zhou Qingbo sometimes wondered if, in Pei You’s eyes, these people were merely walking file storage units.

Zhou Qingbo’s thoughts were scattered, and he almost instantly started daydreaming and amusing himself with all sorts of random thoughts. However, he couldn’t hold back a suppressed chuckle, quietly lowering his head and shrugging his shoulders a few times.

But this project manager didn’t seem to care that neither Pei You nor Zhou Qingbo reacted. Instead, he became more aggressive, banging on the file cabinet while fetching the key to the storage room.

“I wonder where Liu brought this big shot from,” the middle-aged man glanced at Pei You and said unkindly, “Such a young person doing such insignificant tasks, he’ll find trouble even where there’s none.”

Zhou Qingbo: …

Zhou Qingbo came back to his senses from his thoughts and frowned slightly.

He could ignore a word or two, but if someone repeatedly pushed his buttons, it was a different story.

Moreover, Zhou Qingbo might be used to all kinds of people at the bar, but he still saw Pei You as a well-mannered and respectable person. So, he couldn’t stand seeing him being treated disrespectfully.

“F**k,” the middle-aged man took out the key and attached it to his belt. He then took a cigarette out of the pack and put it in his mouth, mumbling discontentedly, “Even being a eunuch isn’t as troublesome as this.”

Zhou Qingbo’s expression darkened. He stood up straight from the door frame and was about to walk into the room, but Pei You grabbed his arm and held him back.

“Thieves are afraid of being caught,” Pei You said with a calm face, as if he didn’t know the meaning of “stop when it’s enough.” He continued, “Do you have something to hide, or is your management ability just not up to the task?”

The middle-aged man was caught off guard by Pei You’s straightforwardness. His face turned slightly red, but he didn’t want to confront Pei You further. He just took the key, grumbled to himself, and walked away.

Only after the man had walked several steps away did Pei You let go of Zhou Qingbo’s hand.

“Don’t get angry with him,” Pei You said, “It’s not worth it.”

“I don’t care about people like him,” Zhou Qingbo said, frowning, “I just don’t like the way he talks.”

Pei You was used to dealing with various managers and didn’t think much of them. In his eyes, there was no need to try to please them or care about what they said.

But Zhou Qingbo obviously wasn’t the type to take things lying down. His brow furrowed, and he still seemed somewhat upset.

Pei You didn’t know how to comfort him, so he racked his brains, trying to find some means from their previous playful interactions.

“Don’t be angry,” Pei You held Zhou Qingbo’s shoulder, coughed lightly, and not very skillfully said, “How about… I go and buy you a bottle of Coke?”