CH 61

Chapter 61 – Go to the Capital

Wei Chen and Chen Li didn’t stay warm for long; a phone call from the internal line summoned Wei Chen to the general manager’s office.

It wasn’t until a long time after Wei Chen left the office that Chen Li’s gaze remained fixed on the paper from earlier. Wei Chen’s handwriting, like his personality, was cold and firm, with strong strokes. But at this moment, every stroke of these characters exuded tenderness, fiercely striking Chen Li’s heart.

Chen Li solemnly folded the paper, without a single crease, and put it into his pocket. Many years later, this paper would still be well-preserved, witnessing the increasingly solid marriage and love between Chen Li and Wei Chen.

Of course, that’s a story for later. Now, Wei Chen was summoned to the office by Zhuge Feng, but he encountered Zhou Tongpeng, the vice chairman of Changfeng Group, in the elevator.

Since Wei Chen was working at Changfeng Group, he naturally knew Zhou Tongpeng. Upon seeing Zhou Tongpeng, Wei Chen politely greeted him, “Vice Chairman Zhou.” His voice was neither servile nor flattering just because Zhou Tongpeng was the vice chairman.

Zhou Tongpeng glanced at Wei Chen with the corner of his eye, sizing him up from head to toe, before saying, “You are Wei Chen, the new director of the marketing department?”

“Yes.” Even in the face of the vice chairman, Wei Chen didn’t say much.

“Heh.” Zhou Tongpeng let out an ambiguous laugh and then hinted, “When choosing a superior, you should keep your eyes wide open. Don’t choose a pig teammate for yourself.” A 30% increase compared to the previous quarter, only a pig teammate pits their teammate like this.

“Ding~”

At that very moment, the elevator reached the designated floor, and the doors opened. Wei Chen stepped out with long strides, unknown whether he had heard Zhou Tongpeng’s last sentence.

As the elevator doors closed and Wei Chen’s figure gradually disappeared, Zhou Tongpeng withdrew his gaze. His assistant, standing behind him, asked, hinting discreetly, “Vice Chairman, is Director Wei the grandson of Mr. Wei from Shanghai?” Although the Wei family in the capital had little influence, Zhou Tongpeng had some business in Shanghai. If he were to cause trouble for the young master of the Wei family, it wouldn’t be so easy to handle.

“Don’t worry.” Zhou Tongpeng wasn’t concerned at all. “I’ve already talked to Old Master Wei on the phone. He asked me to take good care of his unruly grandson.”

A smirk appeared on the corner of Zhou Tongpeng’s mouth, and the fat around his lips trembled slightly.

Upon hearing that it was at the behest of Mr. Wei, the assistant stopped talking. However, he couldn’t help but feel puzzled in his heart. Why would Mr. Wei treat his grandson in such a manner? Could it be that Wei Chen wasn’t his biological grandson?

*

Wei Chen knocked on the door and entered the general manager’s office. When Zhuge Feng saw him come in, he asked Gao Sheng to pour a cup of tea for Wei Chen and instructed him to take a seat on the sofa.

“Wei Chen, the higher-ups have assigned you a task.” Zhuge Feng didn’t beat around the bush and went straight to the point. “Prepare yourself, this task is probably set quite high.”

Gao Sheng came in with hot tea and placed it in front of Wei Chen. Hearing Zhuge Feng’s words without a trace of guilt, Gao Sheng’s eyelids twitched, inexplicably feeling a bit sympathetic towards Wei Chen.

“How much is it set?” Wei Chen asked.

“It’s a thirty percent increase in performance compared to the previous quarter.” Zhuge Feng answered. Before Wei Chen could respond, he added, “Although the task is a bit challenging, it’s also a way for the higher-ups to test you—”

Before Zhuge Feng could finish his sentence, Wei Chen already responded with: “No problem.”

Gao Sheng’s eyes widened, looking at Wei Chen in disbelief. He doubted his own ears. Did Wei Chen just say “no problem”?

A thirty percent increase in performance compared to the previous quarter, not three percent! And that’s even with negative growth! How could Wei Chen remain so calm and say “no problem”?

For a moment, Gao Sheng didn’t know whether to admire Wei Chen’s fearlessness or mock his ignorance.

It must be mentioned that for a big company like Changfeng, it’s extremely difficult to achieve even a one-point increase in performance each quarter, let alone a thirty-point increase. During the morning meeting, when Zhuge Feng agreed to this request, Gao Sheng thought Zhuge Feng had gone mad. But now, Wei Chen seemed even crazier, as he readily agreed!

“Wei Chen, do it well.” Zhuge Feng said, unsurprised by Wei Chen’s straightforward agreement. He reached out, patted Wei Chen’s shoulder, and smiled. “I have high expectations for you.”

Wei Chen subtly avoided Zhuge Feng’s hand and asked, “Is there anything else, General Manager?”

“No, just focus on your work and don’t worry about anything else,” Zhuge Feng replied without explicitly mentioning what “anything else” referred to. He believed Wei Chen would understand.

“Alright.” Wei Chen stood up and left. As he reached the door, he paused without turning around and left a sentence behind. “I ran into Vice Chairman Zhou when I came up.” Then he continued walking, and as the office door closed, Zhuge Feng sprayed the sip of tea he had just taken into his mouth. His expression was also quite remarkable, and he couldn’t immediately grasp the meaning behind Wei Chen’s parting words.

Did Wei Chen’s words imply that he already knew the task of achieving a thirty percent increase was not actually set by the higher-ups? That it was a compromise he made after negotiating with Zhou Tongpeng? And that he caused trouble for Wei Chen? Or did Zhou Tongpeng arrange something behind his back to sow discord between him and Wei Chen?

Gao Sheng stood on the side, observing with a neutral expression. Although he didn’t understand why Wei Chen would leave such a remark before leaving, he enjoyed seeing Zhuge Feng caught in deep contemplation.

As the General Manager of Changfeng Group, Zhuge Feng certainly held certain privileges. Allowing an employee to bring a companion to work was something even the Chairman couldn’t object to. That’s why the Chairman had agreed to it at the beginning of the morning meeting.

Even if Zhou Tongpeng ultimately disagreed, Zhuge Feng could simply disregard him. Although Zhou Tongpeng was the Vice Chairman, Zhuge Feng had a certain level of influence in the boardroom, and his status was comparable to Zhou Tongpeng’s.

However, Zhuge Feng, who had always cared little about others’ opinions, especially Zhou Tongpeng’s, suddenly became concerned about Zhou Tongpeng’s views and fell into his trap, agreeing to such harsh conditions. This was something Gao Sheng couldn’t comprehend, no matter how much he thought about it.

What was Zhuge Feng’s ultimate goal in doing this? Was it just to counter Zhou Tongpeng with the position of Deputy General Manager during the final meeting? This action seemed utterly meaningless!

“What are you thinking so deeply about?” Zhuge Feng wiped the tea stain off his suit with a tissue and turned to see Gao Sheng lost in thought.

“Nothing,” Gao Sheng snapped back to reality, concealing his doubts.

“Since you’re not thinking about anything, go to my resting room and bring me another suit jacket. This white one is troublesome; it looks dirty with even the slightest stain,” Zhuge Feng said, feeling that the more he wiped the tea stain on his suit, the dirtier it became. It was no longer suitable for wearing.

“I’ll go get it right away.” Gao Sheng immediately walked toward the resting room, but he couldn’t help but grumble inwardly, “Don’t you usually like wearing this white suit that gets dirty easily?”

*

Shanghai.

In the study of the Wei family, Old Master Wei and Wei Zhenxiong sat facing each other, with a chessboard between them. “Achen has been in the capital for more than half a month, right?” Old Master Wei looked at the chessboard and asked.

“Seems like it,” Wei Zhenxiong replied, clearly not paying much attention.

Old Master Wei captured one of Wei Zhenxiong’s pieces. “He hasn’t contacted you in the past half a month?”

Wei Zhenxiong didn’t answer because on the chessboard, he was already trapped in a deadlock. Just like his response to his grandfather’s question, he couldn’t come up with an answer either. He didn’t know whether Wei Chen had contacted him or not, maybe he had.

After capturing Wei Zhenxiong’s king, Old Master Wei reached the end of the game. “Come with me,” he said, standing up first and walking to the bookshelf. He pulled out a project proposal from it and handed it to Wei Zhenxiong.

Wei Zhenxiong took the project proposal and flipped through it carefully, then looked up at Old Master Wei with confusion. “Dad, what’s this?”

“This is what Achen gave me before. I thought he would implement this project when he went to the capital, but he turned to Changfeng Group instead,” Old Master Wei Wei said, his voice devoid of joy or anger. “In the end, he was still angry that I agreed to his marriage with the Chen family.”

“He is still young,” Wei Zhenxiong thought for a moment, not knowing what to say. After a while, he managed to squeeze out four words. He is still young, unaware of the importance.

“Forget it, forget it. It’s indeed a burden for Achen to marry Chen Li,” Old Master Wei Wei waved his hand, brushing past the topic. “After reading this project proposal, don’t you have anything to say?”

“I don’t have much to say,” Wei Zhenxiong put down the project proposal. This proposal was too detailed and perfect, making it impossible for him to find any flaws, even though he didn’t want to admit it.

“I believe in Achen’s abilities,” Old Master Wei said. “I hope Achen can inherit the Wei family in the future.”

Wei Zhenxiong hesitated for a moment before casually saying, “After all, he was personally cultivated by Dad. I believe he can naturally handle it.”

Old Master Wei glanced at Wei Zhenxiong, seemingly peering into his innermost thoughts. “I hope what you say matches what you truly think.”

Wei Zhenxiong lowered his head and remained silent.

Old Master Wei gave Wei Zhenxiong a deep look but didn’t pursue the topic further. Instead, he shifted the conversation back to the project proposal. “I think Achen’s plan is feasible. Besides Achen, who else do you think can implement this proposal?”

Wei Zhenxiong pondered for a while before coming up with a candidate. “Wei Hua should be coming back in a few days. I think we should let him do it.” Wei Hua’s father was Wei Zhenxiong’s cousin, but Wei Hua’s father passed away early, and Wei Hua was raised under Wei Zhenxiong’s name since he was young. He entered the top-ranked business school in the world, Alistun Business School, and now that he has graduated and returned, he will most likely join the Wei family’s business.

Old Master Wei nodded, revealing his plan. “I have already contacted Wei Hua. I asked him to return to the country and report directly to the company in the capital. However, although he is talented, he lacks experience. I intend for you to go to the capital and guide him. Once he gets the hang of it, you can come back.”