A Fine Show

Song Guangyuan had been trying to keep his emotions under control, but his terrible mood was finally set off by Ma Yuan.

The entire conference room instantly fell silent.

All that remained was Song Guangyuan's steadily rising fury, and Ma Yuan, who stood there stunned, frightened, and helpless.

At that moment, Yang Xu and the others could not help mocking Ma Yuan inwardly. What was this idiot thinking, coming here at a time like this to claim credit and show off his petty cleverness? Not only had he failed to flatter the boss, he had kicked the horse right in the hoof.

Manager Zhong and the other executives, meanwhile, were thoroughly disappointed in Ma Yuan. Though he was a professionally trained Oil University graduate, he was not worth cultivating further.

Old Professor Xu Tiande could only groan inwardly as well.

The project had already hit a bottleneck, and everyone, from top to bottom and inside out, was under considerable pressure.

If they had discussed matters properly at today's meeting, things might at least have remained more peaceful.

Even if the final result had not been good, everyone might still have gotten through it safely. That would have been the best possible outcome.

Yet Ma Yuan's actions had ruined any chance of them getting through this unscathed.

At that moment, Xu Tiande sighed softly and looked at Ma Yuan first.

"Why are you still standing there? Get out and call the field site! Start work immediately and continue the injection!"

To Ma Yuan, Xu Tiande's words sounded like a death-row inmate receiving a pardon. They were heavenly music. He immediately got to his feet and left the conference room.

Seeing this, Yang Xu and the others shook their heads inwardly, marveling at Ma Yuan's good luck in running into such a kind person as Professor Xu.

Since Ma Yuan had already been let go, Song Guangyuan naturally could not vent his anger on Xu Tiande.

He let out a deep sigh. "That Ma Yuan is utterly hopeless!"

"Keep protecting him, Professor Xu!"

Xu Tiande sighed helplessly as well, then turned the conversation back to business.

"President Song, the geological conditions at the Third Plant are somewhat unusual."

"It has low porosity and low permeability, yet its fractures are highly developed. The development contradictions are especially prominent."

"I followed the work on this well throughout the entire process and monitored it constantly. We used plenty of chemicals, and everything that needed plugging was plugged."

"The wellhead pressure of this well is already approaching the Oil Production Plant's pump injection pressure. If we continue working on it, later on we may not even be able to inject into this well. There is no room left to control it."

"And President Song, you know that the technical purpose of this profile-control measure is to improve Waterflood Development conditions, slow the decline rate, and increase recovery."

"But now the oilfield client insists that we deliver a tangible increase in oil production at the wellhead. With our current technical capabilities, that is simply impossible."

After hearing Xu Tiande's words, Song Guangyuan sighed as well.

"General Manager Xu, I understand everything you're saying. When the head geologist at the Oil Production Plant called me this morning, he said the same thing—that their demands on us really are unreasonable."

"But they have no choice either. Their plant director, Old Pan, winds them up every day and pushes them for production."

"Sigh, then let this well be. General Manager Xu, handle it as you see fit."

"At worst, we'll do fewer wells this year and wait until next year."

"Oh, and from now on, don't assign overly important work to Ma Yuan. He simply cannot be relied upon!"

"Until the company finds a more suitable newcomer, let Liu Shang try overseeing things for a while."

After saying that, Song Guangyuan rose and left. The others sighed softly as well, gathered their things, and departed one by one.

Before long, Song Guangyuan's words reached Ma Yuan.

Yet rather than reflecting on his own mistakes, he inexplicably shifted his resentment onto Liu Shang, believing that Song Guangyuan had only made such plans because Liu Shang had arrived.

Thus, whenever they spoke, Ma Yuan's words toward Liu Shang were barbed and dripping with jealousy.

Liu Shang found him irritating but could not be bothered to acknowledge him. It was better to stay far away from such a bundle of negativity.

Aside from Ma Yuan, however, an unexpectedly large number of people came looking for Liu Shang in the office that day.

First came Chen Xu, who handed him a task and asked Liu Shang to help complete it.

As deputy technical manager, he theoretically had authority over Liu Shang, so it was only natural for him to assign Liu Shang work. Liu Shang accepted it readily.

But less than half an hour later, an engineer from the Engineering Department came over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Liu Shang, I have a workover construction report here. Help me enter the data."

"You can take this chance to learn more about the relevant tools and procedures too. It won't do you any harm."

Liu Shang frowned and hesitated slightly, but he accepted the task as well.

Soon afterward, however, two more people gave him strange, unrelated tasks. By then, even a fool would have realized that they were doing it deliberately.

At that moment, Xu Tiande, annoyed by the day's events, had come to Manager Zhong's office to smoke and chat. Naturally, the two of them noticed what was happening outside.

Manager Zhong smiled. "Professor Xu, do you see that? Chen Xu and his bunch have set quite the example."

"Most likely. It's because of the thirty-thousand-yuan technical bonus Liu Shang received before. This group is unhappy about it."

Xu Tiande shook his head helplessly. "Old Zhong, I think you handled this matter somewhat poorly."

"Liu Shang is still a student, after all. He isn't like you, respected and experienced."

"How does that old saying go? The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be battered by the wind."

"Look, isn't this foul wind starting to blow now?"

"If I were you, I would have set Liu Shang's bonus lower at first, then made it up to him through other opportunities later. That would have been easier for everyone else to accept."

Manager Zhong glanced at Liu Shang outside, then smiled with absolute confidence. "Professor Xu, that kid Liu Shang is nowhere near as fragile or weak as you think."

"It's not that I'm looking down on Chen Xu and the others, but their little foul wind might not be enough to do anything to Liu Shang!"

"For now, neither of us should rush to intervene. Let's see how things develop."

Xu Tiande looked outside at Liu Shang's calm expression, neither pleased nor upset, neither making a fuss nor getting angry, and nodded.

"Fine, then let's wait and see."

"For now, Liu Shang seems to have a pretty good mindset. I'm just afraid Chen Xu and the others will pile too much work on him and affect his life and his studies at school."

Manager Zhong gave a mysterious smile. "Heh! That kid doesn't just have a good mindset—he's sly too!"

"Do you think he's so easy to push around that he'll just let Chen Xu and the others bully him?"

"Professor Xu, just wait and enjoy the show!"