Chapter 8 — My Nameless Occupation

Shen Yi pondered the matter for a moment.

"We cannot intervene in this affair. We are only responsible for delivering the proposal as agreed."

"I know."

It took me an entire week to draft the proposal, a document spanning sixty-eight pages in total. After reading through it, Shen Yi sat silently in his office for ten minutes without uttering a word. Finally, he broke the silence with a single question.

"Su Wan, is this document worth eight hundred thousand?"

"Is it not worth that much?"

"It is worth eight million."

"That is a matter for the future. For now, let us focus on establishing our reputation."

On the day the Heng Yuan project officially launched, I did not attend. Vu Tieu Man appeared as my representative. However, that evening, she called me, her voice buzzing with excitement.

"Sister Su, your proposal left the people at Heng Yuan completely stunned."

"What happened?"

"Tran Loi looked it over and asked how our plan was written as if we had intimate knowledge of Heng Yuan's internal operations. Every single bottleneck in their workflow was identified with chilling precision. Ms. Trieu even asked me directly if we had planted a mole inside their company."

"And how did you respond?"

"I told her that this is the standard level of service provided by a professional consulting firm like ours."

"How did Chu Han react?"

Vu Tieu Man hesitated for a moment.

"Chu Han did not attend the kickoff meeting. I heard he took the day off."

"Took the day off?"

"Tran Loi whispered to me that lately, the tension between Chu Han and Director Ha has been palpable. Director Ha wants to push for management optimization, but Chu Han feels as though it is a direct slap in his face."

I set the phone down. Outside the window, the night had descended into a deep, impenetrable black. When Chu Han fired me, he surely never imagined today would come. Yet, I had no intention of seeking revenge. Some things simply unfold in their own time, like water finding its path.

When the Heng Yuan project reached its third week, trouble surfaced. Vu Tieu Man sent me a message: "Sister Su, Chu Han just openly rejected our proposal during a meeting in front of the client."

"On what grounds?"

"He claimed our approach is too dependent on manual human coordination and lacks a digitized system, arguing it is incompatible with modern management trends. He is pushing to bring in a firm called Linh Hang Technology to handle their digital transformation."

Linh Hang Technology. I ran a quick search. The company had been established for less than two years, and its owner, Han Dao, had previously worked at the same firm as Chu Han. I dialed Shen Yi immediately.

"Director Shen, what is the relationship between Linh Hang Technology and Chu Han?"

"I have already looked into it. Han Dao is a former colleague of Chu Han, and they are very close. If this project is snatched up by Linh Hang, guess what their quote is?"

"How much?"

"Three million. That is purely for the software system, excluding any actual implementation."

I let out a cold, sharp laugh.

"A small startup that has existed for barely two years dares to quote three million for a digital transformation? They have the audacity to accept such a project when their product has never even been tested in the market?"

"Precisely. There is something fishy about this."

"Does Ha Kien Quoc know?"

"I do not have a direct line of communication with Director Ha. You, however, do."

I thought for a moment.

"No, I will not step forward yet. Let the bullets fly a little longer."

"Su Wan, if we do that, we risk losing the project entirely."

"We will not lose it. Even if Chu Han brings in Linh Hang, once they realize their system is impossible to implement in practice, they will burn through their budget and have no choice but to crawl back to our proposal. Do you believe me?"

Shen Yi remained silent for a long time.

"You are remarkably calm."

"I have observed the management decision-making process at Heng Yuan for twelve years. I know better than they do which proposals actually function and which ones are nothing more than words on a slide deck."

As I had predicted, things played out exactly as expected. One week later, Ha Kien Quoc made the final decision to run two tracks in parallel—the operational optimization proposal from Thuy Hoa and the digitalization plan from Linh Hang would proceed side by side. Chu Han had won half the battle, but it was only a temporary victory.