Chapter 68: Calculated Inaction
This time, the situation was completely different from the last well. After the construction began, Liu Shang went from being stationed on the front line to hardly ever visiting the site.
He simply did other work in the office every day, even leisurely practicing with CAD to draw blueprints.
The first day passed. No movement from Liu Shang.
The second day passed. Still no response from Liu Shang.
The third day was about to end, yet Liu Shang remained in the office, calmly staring at his computer.
Seeing his behavior, everyone in the company couldn't help but frown.
However, because of his recent success, no one dared to interfere.
In fact, most people in the company hoped Liu Shang would continue down this path and fail spectacularly, becoming the next Ma Yuan to be disgraced and cast aside.
On one occasion, while passing by, Mr. Zhong came up behind Liu Shang.
"Well now, young Liu, what are you doing messing with CAD drawings again?"
Seeing Mr. Zhong approach, Liu Shang naturally minimized the CAD window before turning around.
"Just killing time, practicing a bit, trying to learn."
"I'm a real amateur when it comes to mechanical drawing!"
Hearing this, Mr. Zhong showed a surprised expression. "Well, I'll be. You still have time to be humble? That's a rare sight."
"But to be honest, while your CAD skills aren't exceptional, you're still better than the average person."
"By the way, what's going on with this round of profile control wells? What trick do you have up your sleeve?"
Seeing Liu Shang put on a silly, knowing smile, Mr. Zhong promptly cut him off before he could speak.
"I'm warning you, don't get complacent and rest on your laurels. Don't think you can stop trying just because you've had a little success!"
"Professor Xu and I have been around the block more times than you can count. The moment you pucker your lips, we know exactly what kind of crap you're about to spew!"
At this, Liu Shang had no choice but to swallow the speech he had prepared. He spread his hands helplessly.
"Mr. Zhong, you're still the sharpest. I hadn't even said a word, and you've already figured me out."
"As for the trick up my sleeve?"
"If you want to know, just make sure you, Professor Xu, and Mr. Song are free after work tomorrow. You'll find out then."
Seeing that Liu Shang truly had his own ideas and wasn't just being complacent as others speculated, Mr. Zhong felt completely relieved.
He gave him a playful smack on the head while muttering affectionately, then returned to his office.
He had, in effect, agreed to Liu Shang's request.
...
At a distinctive, old-fashioned hotpot restaurant in the city, Fan Song, Yang Xu, and a few others, who had found an excuse to leave the company early, were gathered for drinks.
Unsurprisingly, the main topic of discussion was still Liu Shang.
"Hey, who would've thought a kid like Liu Shang wouldn't even bother going to the site now."
"Looks like this round of wells is going to be a bust."
"If we'd known he was going to be like this, why did we have to go to so much trouble and prepare so much in advance?"
Hearing this, Yang Xu shook his head and smiled wryly.
"Actually, thinking about it now, it's not surprising Liu Shang is behaving this way."
"In the beginning, we treated him like another Ma Yuan and took all sorts of precautions."
"But the biggest difference between Liu Shang and Ma Yuan is that Ma Yuan wanted to climb the ladder in the company. Sooner or later, he would have been competing with us for our jobs."
"But Liu Shang is different. He's only a freshman. His main purpose for coming here is to make money."
"Now that he's got the money, his position is secure, and he has the attention of Mr. Zhong and Professor Xu, he's naturally satisfied."
"I have to admit, the kid does have some skill."
"Combine that with his sky-high arrogance, and do you really think he'd be interested in a private company like ours once he graduates?"
"Impossible. So now that he's achieved his goal, he can't be bothered to waste energy on making progress. I'm afraid he's already planning to just slack off."
Fan Song, who was sitting beside him, took a sip of his wine and sneered. "If this kid really does back off like this, then he's lucky. He got away with it once."
"Otherwise, he's got a world of hurt waiting for him!"
At this point, another person at the table raised a concern. "Tomorrow's Friday. You don't think this Liu Shang will try to pull something, do you?"
Fan Song waved his hand confidently. "How is that possible? Today is the third day, and he hasn't shown any intention of going to the site."
"I heard the kid has a girlfriend at school."
"It's finally the weekend. With a young, beautiful girlfriend waiting for him, is he going to sleep with her or go out to the middle of nowhere?"
"And let's take a step back. Right now at the site, aside from Wang Wanlin and Zhang Long's crew, the other crews were all arranged by Brother Yang and us."
"So what if he goes to the site? We can guarantee he won't find any faults on the surface, but in reality, we'll make sure he gets no results."
"What can a lone freshman do?"
"Hey, what was it Brother Yang said?"
"This is what you call an overt plot!"
...
The fourth day, Friday.
Today, Liu Shang remained calmly detached, leisurely and peacefully going about his day. He even went back to school for two classes in the morning and didn't return to the company until noon.
Seeing him like this, Yang Xu, Fan Song, and the others felt even more at ease.
Meanwhile, at the oil field construction site, the crews that had been meticulously prepared under the command of Yang Xu and his associates all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Thinking that the weekend was coming and that the management from both Party A and their own company would be relaxing their oversight, their moods lifted. Mahjong tiles, wine, and meat were soon brought out.
Since Huahai Company's construction had been ongoing for more than four days with no visible effect, several well-connected oil production team leaders from Party A also found an opportunity to get together for a drink.
At the table, they couldn't help but laugh and comment on Han Ping, the captain of the fifth team.
"Tell me, Han Ping, did you really work some kind of magic on that well?"
"Don't tell me you intentionally used your well to fake an effect, just to create some buzz?"
"We all know how these things work!"
"That's right. Eighty percent chance that's what happened."
"This is a critical year for the plant manager. The pressure is immense. He probably got desperate and staged the whole thing to deal with the higher-ups."
"Seriously, where would these service companies get technology so amazing it could produce such good results?"
"And so suddenly? It's simply impossible!"
"Just look at the facts. In this round, our teams have a total of nine wells combined. It's been four or five days, and we haven't seen any effect at all."
"And that freshman everyone at the plant and in Han Ping's team was hyping up, Liu Shang, was it?"
"I haven't even seen the guy!"
"Alright, alright. The most wells assigned to any of our teams is two, while Han Ping himself took on four."
"Let him deal with it!"
"If we had four wells showing no effect at all, the pressure from Mr. Pan and Mr. Zhang during the meetings would be enough to make my scalp tingle!"
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