9: Chapter 9 "Points of Doubt"
Qiao Yichen had just finished organizing the morning's meeting minutes, his fingertips pausing over the touchpad before immediately switching to the next file.
His gaze fell on the time displayed in the lower right corner of the computer screen—12:07.
There were still more than two hours until the three o'clock discussion.
He leaned back in his chair, withdrawing his attention from work matters for the first time that day.
Closing his eyes to concentrate, the entire page of the intelligence system remained quiet, and that system prompt still clearly circled in his mind.
—Intelligence verification successful, no subsequent risk triggered. Just these few words.
This was the only response, the only conclusion the system gave after the gold transfer was completed last Saturday morning.
Yet, it was precisely this conclusion that had him repeatedly pondering the three pieces of intelligence the system had previously provided over the last two days.
Now, the first piece had completely vanished.
Like an account officially settled, it had been struck out from the system's records.
This also meant one thing—all the risk associated with obtaining that gold bar was gone; there was no need to worry about the follow-up.
But the remaining two pieces of intelligence were rather telling.
Especially the second one.
This piece concerned Liu Yanran last Saturday; it was an 'fulfillment' that had already occurred in reality.
The wine had indeed been tampered with by Director, and the person ended up being sent to the hospital. The test results were also out. Hadn't he cut off this danger at the most critical juncture?
But the system hadn't given a 'completion' prompt similar to the intelligence itself.
Thinking of this, Qiao Yichen slowly sank deeper into his chair, his gaze drifting toward the sky outside the window.
If Director's sudden loss of control, fueled by unrequited feelings, was the case, then the price of such a failure was already high enough. Exposure risk, legal risk, professional risk—no one would dare take further risks.
Yet the system still judged it as—Incomplete.
That in itself explained one thing.
—It's not over.
That glass of wine was not the endpoint.
What the person who poisoned it truly wanted might not have been just that single night.
The third piece of intelligence also remained. This one didn't worry him too much. He didn't know how far the investigation into the minor internet celebrity, Min Min, had progressed, and she didn't seem to have reported it to the police. He hadn't seen anyone investigating over the weekend either, presenting a state of suspension. Qiao Yichen didn't delve deeper.
The system's previous prompt should have just been telling him—what was over, and what was not yet over.
It seemed the road ahead was long and arduous.
...
Ten minutes later.
'Lunch?'
A cool voice came from behind him.
Qiao Yichen turned his head and saw Liu Yanran standing next to his workstation. She was already holding her phone, clearly not making a spontaneous decision.
He shook his head without hesitation, then said to her, 'Let's go together.'
The two went downstairs together. They didn't deliberately choose a place, just found a quiet, light-fare restaurant near the company. It was a weekday lunchtime, but the place wasn't overly crowded. There were only a few scattered groups chatting while waiting in line.
The ordering process was also quite fast.
She named two dishes, and he added one more; it was just enough.
This kind of tacit understanding wasn't common, yet the two seemed accustomed to it.
When the food arrived, neither of them rushed to speak.
Halfway through the meal, Liu Yanran seemed to recall something and brought it up along her train of thought: 'The outsourcing company will contact you at three this afternoon, right?'
'Mhm, the outsourcing team already told me,' Qiao Yichen responded.
Liu Yanran picked up a piece of green vegetable and said to him, 'Then listen to their specific proposal first; don't rush to give an opinion for the time being.'
'Understood,' he replied.
'And pay close attention to the placement sequence and the reasoning they give for the placement,' her tone was very normal, but she stressed the word 'reasoning' slightly heavier, emphasizing it somewhat deliberately. 'Other data can be polished later.'
Qiao Yichen looked up and saw her lowering her head to drink soup.
Qiao Yichen nodded. Although he didn't know the exact reason, he felt he needed to be cautious about this matter.
After finishing the meal and paying, they returned to the company together.
—
2:55 PM.
Qiao Yichen reopened the morning's meeting minutes, quickly scanning the highlighted keywords to reinforce his memory, then switched back to his desktop.
At three o'clock sharp, the meeting audio lit up.
'Teacher Qiao, I am Wang Yuhang, responsible for this project from Xingyue.' The other person's voice was unhurried, and his self-introduction was quite formal.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, they quickly got down to business.
'We have preliminarily reviewed the requirements; the overall direction is fine,' Wang Yuhang said. 'However, given your current budget, we suggest concentrating on mainstream channels first to build volume, and then looking at conversion rates.'
Qiao Yichen did not interrupt him.
'For the first phase, we highly recommend Platform A,' the other continued. 'This position ramps up volume quickly, the overall data looks good, and we have mature resources on our end.'
'Platform A first?' Qiao Yichen asked.
'Yes,' Wang Yuhang replied affirmatively.
'What about Platform B, which was in the previous proposal?'
There was a brief pause on the voice call.
'It's like this, Platform B's recent peak user activity period has shifted, and its overlap with our target demographic has decreased by about 5 points,' Wang Yuhang's answer flowed smoothly, as if reading a report. 'As an ignition point, its cost-effectiveness and certainty are definitely not as good as A's. But it can serve as a supplement for the second wave of diffusion.'
Qiao Yichen made a note on a piece of paper.
'How will the creative pacing be arranged?' he continued to ask.
'That's not urgent,' Wang Yuhang answered quickly. 'We can get the channels running smoothly first; the creative aspect can be adjusted as we go.'
'What about the placement timeline?'
'With this sequence, the first week will basically be concentrated on Platform A,' Wang Yuhang said confidently. 'Doing it this way also minimizes the risk.'
Minimum risk.
He said these four words very naturally, but it sounded like he was reciting an already verified conclusion, yet the entire project's placement hadn't even started yet.
'What if Platform A encounters restrictions? Do you have a contingency plan?' Qiao Yichen asked.
'Theoretically, that won't happen,' Wang Yuhang replied quickly. 'This position is quite stable right now.'
Before the call ended, the other party added another sentence: 'We can also detail the execution later; the plan isn't set in stone, right?'
His words were watertight.
Thus, the call between the two parties ended.
Qiao Yichen didn't reply immediately. He just placed his phone face down on the desk and reread the few lines he had just noted down.
Platform A, first priority.
Platform B, secondary.
Position is stable, risk is lowest.
Each sentence, viewed separately, seemed valid.
Put together, however, the process appeared too smooth—or rather, this outsourcer was too certain that Platform A would succeed and definitely have no issues.
He didn't think any further, temporarily setting aside the outsourcing matter to continue handling his other work.
Night fell, and the people in the office left one after another.
The lights dimmed, leaving only a few workstations lit.
Liu Yanran hadn't left.
She moved her computer to the conference table, poured a cup of coffee, and sat down again.
'How did the afternoon chat go?' she asked casually.
'The plan is solid,' Qiao Yichen said, 'but quite conservative.'
Liu Yanran hummed in response and continued looking at the screen.
'Didn't they put Platform A first?' she asked.
'They did.'
'And pushed B back?'
'Yes.'
She let out a small laugh.
'It's not entirely unexpected,' she said. 'A lot of outsourcing firms like to do this now; they focus on things that appear safe and stable.'
Qiao Yichen glanced at her but didn't reply.
'What about your usual rhythm?' he asked.
Liu Yanran paused in her movement.
'Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't stack everything on Platform A; it would be hard to handle if any issues arose,' she said. 'Unless—'
She stopped mid-sentence.
Only the low hum of the air conditioning remained in the conference room.
'Unless what?' Qiao Yichen asked.
She didn't answer directly, instead pulling the topic back to the work at hand.
'Don't rush to reply to the outsourcing team,' she said. 'Have them detail the plan again tomorrow and see how they adjust specifically.'
'Okay,' Qiao Yichen nodded.
It was past nine in the evening.
He was the only one left in the entire office.
Before closing his computer, he sat at his desk for a long time.
That outsourcing call from the afternoon, the unfinished sentence from Liu Yanran, and the second piece of intelligence that still lingered in the system slowly aligned in his mind.
It couldn't be about poaching the project.
The project itself had been set on Friday, and the contract was signed.
What truly remained that could be manipulated was the final execution result of the entire project.
And the execution result was often hidden in the most inconspicuous places—the channels, the sequence, and the window period.
He finally understood why that piece of intelligence hadn't disappeared.
It wasn't because the event hadn't happened.
It was because the follow-up hadn't started yet.
Qiao Yichen picked up his phone, checked the time, and sent a message back to the outsourcing team.
【I have seen your proposal. Let's discuss the placement sequence again tomorrow.】
Sent.
The moment the screen went dark, he had a hunch. He felt that the placement aspect was indeed strange.