Chapter 201: What's it to you?

"Since you don't intend to stay here for the long haul, why did you even apply? Are you treating our company as a stepping stone?"

Zheng Qian wasn't angry; he just asked.

"You could put it that way."

"My parents want me to be a civil servant. I'll work while studying for the civil service exams, probably until the provincial exams, which is only a few months."

Three generations of the Song family were all civil servants. Although their positions weren't high, the entire family was within the system. It was a prestigious thing to mention, and they didn't have to worry about retirement.

Song Yaxian actually hated the feeling that her family members, being in the system, felt superior to those outside of it. She despised people who looked down on others.

So what if you're in the system? Does being in the system mean you can look down on people?

The system exists to serve those outside of it!

But her family called every other day, either urging her to find a partner or to go home and take the civil service exams. They just felt that even though she earned a lot of money outside, it wasn't as stable as being in the system.

The Song family didn't care about money; they only cared about two words: stability!

Her aunts and uncles were all in the system too, as if her parents couldn't hold their heads up in front of their relatives if she wasn't in the system.

In the end, Song Yaxian couldn't stand the torture and obediently returned to Yebai.

Good grief, this was the first time Zheng Qian had met such a blunt woman.

"Just working for a few months? You might as well be a cleaner."

It just so happened that Zheng Qian was short on staff, so he offered Song Yaxian a position as a member of the special administrative team.

It was a position directly under Zheng Qian's leadership, and the salary offered was quite high.

"You like giving your boss a hard time, don't you?"

"Fine."

"Then I'll give you a hard time too."

"However, I heard from your cousin that you've taken the civil service exams a few times and failed. There must be some areas where your abilities are lacking, right?"

"Since you were introduced by Song Qingli, I'd like to ask: on what grounds do you think you can handle this job? My standards for ability are very high."

Song Yaxian felt like she had been checkmated.

Question her ability?

What a joke!

"Right after graduation, I was recruited by ByteDance. After working for half a year, I jumped to Alibaba. A year later, I was headhunted by Tencent's HR with a high salary, where I worked for two years before resigning voluntarily."

"I have extensive work experience and am capable of handling many tasks. You can rest assured about that."

As Song Yaxian spoke, there was a hint of pride in her eyes.

Which of the companies she had worked for wasn't a top-tier enterprise?

Since graduation, she had basically never rested, let alone had a boyfriend. She spent every day at the company, and even under the 996 system, she was always the first to arrive and the last to leave.

How difficult could the work be at a small company like Qianhe Group?

"Then, since you're so capable, why haven't you passed the civil service exams after three or four attempts?"

Snap!

Zheng Qian checked her again.

Song Yaxian: "..."

The civil service exam consists of two stages: the written test and the interview.

Song Yaxian had taken the exam four times, and each time, her written test score was firmly in the top three.

As for the interviews, Song Yaxian never wanted to be a civil servant in the first place; she only took the exams to appease her family.

Whenever it came to the interview stage, Song Yaxian would unleash her true nature, aggressively retorting to the interviewers, being as outrageous as possible.

This resulted in her having great written scores, but getting eliminated during the interview every time.

If Song Yaxian wanted to enter the system, she wouldn't even need to study. As long as she performed normally in the interview for the next provincial exam, she would definitely get in.

Song Yaxian was extremely confident in her abilities.

If she told Zheng Qian all this, he would surely understand.

But she couldn't be bothered to explain it to Zheng Qian.

She replied coldly:

"None of your business?"

Zheng Qian: ???

Starting to lash out at the boss again, are we?

"What do you mean it's none of my business? This department is under my direct leadership. I naturally need to understand your capabilities. What if you can't do the job well?"

"You need to understand one thing: you are here for an interview, and I am your interviewer."

Zheng Qian couldn't bring himself to be angry; he just wanted to laugh.

Song Qingli, oh Song Qingli, what kind of cousin did you push onto me?

Such a fiery cousin?

A real troublemaker!

"If I can't do it well, you don't have to pay me a single cent. Is that okay?"

"Fine. Since you're so confident, go to HR and handle the paperwork."

She had piqued a bit of Zheng Qian's interest. After issuing a verification for her, he sent Song Yaxian to the HR department.

...

Beiye Huafu.

It was hailed as the third-ranked mid-range villa area in Yebai, second only to Longhu Villa and Jiangshan International.

The Lu Shanshan family had also bought a property here, paying with a mortgage.

"You're saying that your university classmate wasn't even present?"

"Yes, President Li said he had other things to attend to." Lu Shanshan recounted the entire process of today's business negotiation exactly as it happened to Zhao Ying.

"Don't listen to her nonsense. The CEO was there; could a minor director like him really not be there to accompany them?"

"It's just because his status is too low. That President Liu was trying to save face and made an excuse for him."

Zhao Ying said with great disdain.

"Although Zheng Qian wasn't there, we should still invite him to dinner, right? How about at our place? A home-cooked meal seems more sincere."

Lu Shanshan was still quite tactful.

There were two purposes for inviting Zheng Qian to dinner: first, to thank him for his kind words in front of The Group's senior management, although she didn't know if Zheng Qian actually had any sway or if he really had spoken up for them.

Second, she was afraid of a misunderstanding since they hadn't seen Zheng Qian today, and she wanted to explain the matter of the beautified materials in person.

"Invite him? What's there to invite him for?"

She was extremely furious right now.

The reason was very simple: Qianhe Group had taken away her control.

Zhao Ying treated Zheng Qian as a punching bag.

After Zhao Ying received the payment from Qianhe Group, her attitude changed instantly.

She had originally only intended to give Qianhe Group 40% of the shares, but Qianhe Group insisted on 51%. Wasn't this just robbing her of her company?

Using the term "taking advantage of a crisis" to describe it wouldn't be an exaggeration at all.

"Mom, stop getting angry. Given our situation, we didn't have any other choice, did we?"

"Once we develop, we can see if we can buy back some shares, right? We can't just watch the company go bankrupt, can we?"

"Besides, didn't you say the capital behind Qianhe Group is very powerful? Now that we have Qianhe Group as our backing, it will be easier to develop."

Although that was true.

But Zhao Ying was still very angry.

She hadn't even eaten a bite of food today; she had no appetite at all!

"Forget about a home dinner. If he comes to our place, he'll dirty our floors."

"Since you don't want that, let's pick a place. Do you think we should book it at Wangyue Pavilion or Luyuan Villa?"

Wangyue Pavilion was the highest-class and most prestigious restaurant in Yezhou. Basically, all influential people would go there when hosting guests.

Luyuan Villa was a bit inferior. Those who hosted guests there usually didn't have major matters, or their status was slightly lower than those bosses mentioned above.

If it were up to Zhao Ying, she wouldn't choose either.

She felt that just finding any random hotel outside to make do would be fine.

But at the same time, she had to consider her own face. If she really did that, it would seem like they couldn't afford it, lowering their own status.

"Let's go with Luyuan Villa."

"Okay, I'll contact them now!"