Early Wednesday morning, Liu Shang was already waiting at the school's side gate. Manager Zhong picked him up on the way, and they all headed to the Third Oil Production Plant at Fengcheng Oil Field for a meeting.
The main purpose was to discuss the completion of this profile-control treatment well and the technical plan for the next new well.
Since Song Guangyuan had personally designated that the focus of work should shift from Ma Yuan to Liu Shang, and Xu Tiande and Manager Zhong also wanted to support and train Liu Shang, they had specifically brought him along to this technical meeting.
When their group entered the conference room, the Oil Production Plant's head of geology, head of engineering, and their notoriously forceful plant director, Pan Qingfeng, were all present in person.
Before the meeting began, the atmosphere between both sides was very harmonious. They chatted and laughed about other topics, while the usually proud leaders of the Oil Production Plant, as the client side, were exceptionally courteous and warm.
It was clear that Song Guangyuan was remarkably well-connected.
Just then, Xu Tiande, who was already seated in front of the laptop in the conference room and preparing for his upcoming presentation, suddenly received a phone call. His expression changed instantly.
Soon, everyone learned what had happened. Xu Tiande's wife had accidentally fallen while walking, and it seemed rather serious.
Seeing this, Song Guangyuan anxiously arranged for his BMW 7 Series to take Xu Tiande there.
He even specifically instructed his full-time driver not to worry about traffic violations as long as safety was ensured, and not to waste time on the road.
Before leaving, the worried Xu Tiande still gave Liu Shang a few instructions. "Liu Shang, you'll have to give today's presentation."
"You made the PPT yourself, and you're familiar with the content."
"The only thing you need to remember is not to say too much. If you aren't sure about something, don't talk nonsense."
"This is the client's Oil Production Plant, not our own company."
After Xu Tiande left, the meeting officially began. They first discussed the completion status of the profile-control well led by Ma Yuan and Xu Tiande.
After Liu Shang finished his concise presentation, Zhang Zhengmao, the Oil Production Plant's head of geology, smiled and nodded.
"President Song, this young man of yours is quite impressive."
"His presentation was crisp, concise, and clear!"
"And the PPT you brought this time was excellent. You even created a master template with your company's own logo."
"That's something rarely seen in ordinary companies!"
Hearing this, the client-side attendees all nodded and praised it as well, saying it was far more polished than what the oil field used.
At this point, Song Guangyuan merely smiled and did not say much. Instead, Manager Zhong enthusiastically began praising Liu Shang.
"This kid is called Liu Shang. He's a first-year student at Oil University."
"He also made the PPT master template you mentioned."
"Let me tell you, even back when I was at the oil field, I never had such a capable young man under me."
Hearing Manager Zhong praise Liu Shang, the people from the Oil Production Plant were surprised, but they did not hold back their praise for Liu Shang.
However, much of it was also to support Manager Zhong.
Although Manager Zhong had already retired, his prestige and connections had not diminished in the slightest.
For example, Shen Chengcheng, the Oil Production Plant's chief engineer present here, had once been Manager Zhong's subordinate.
At this moment, Zhang Zhengmao, the Oil Production Plant's head of geology, smiled. "As for this treatment well, I don't think there's much left to discuss."
"What Liu Shang just reported was also accurate. The current pressure in this well is already very high, leaving no room for further operations."
"But just like the previous wells, aside from the obvious increase in wellhead pressure, we haven't seen any other dynamic response."
"I think this well can be completed. What does President Pan think?"
As he spoke, Zhang Zhengmao smiled and looked toward Pan Qingfeng, the plant director beside him.
Ever since the meeting began, Pan Qingfeng had not smiled once.
Even while everyone else had been chatting and laughing earlier, Pan Qingfeng had remained silent, without any extra expression.
Only when Zhang Zhengmao shifted the floor to him did Pan Qingfeng let out a soft sigh and speak with an unpleasant expression.
"To be honest, I don't understand much about this kind of technology, nor do I want to."
"All of you here are technical experts. I have no objections to completing this well."
"However! I don't think there's any need to discuss the next well, nor any need to continue these treatment operations."
After he said this, the conference room fell into deathly silence, and the atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive.
Perhaps because he had no way to vent the frustration in his heart, Pan Qingfeng then looked directly at Song Guangyuan, who sat diagonally across from him.
"President Song, we've known each other for years, haven't we?"
"There are no outsiders here today, so I won't beat around the bush. You know how important this year is to me, Pan Qingfeng, don't you?"
Hearing this, Song Guangyuan nodded repeatedly with some embarrassment and gave a bitter smile.
Before he could explain anything, Pan Qingfeng raised a hand and cut him off.
"At the beginning of the year, how did you and your Professor Xu solemnly promise me?"
"You said that for this year's profile-control treatments, even if you lost money, you'd keep pumping chemicals into the wells at all costs and raise the additional oil production and results!"
"I listened to you, and I even expanded our plant's plan to eighty wells."
"But what happened? We've already done seven or eight wells, yet forget about increasing oil production—we haven't seen even the slightest effect!"
"This is the guarantee you gave me?"
"Let me tell you, you've really put me in a terrible position! Every time there's a bureau meeting, people from the other plants and the higher-ups make jokes about me!"
Song Guangyuan let out a deep sigh. "President Pan, I was wrong. I truly admit I was wrong!"
"To be honest with you, for every one of these wells, I really spared no expense in pumping the chemicals in!"
"But it's strange. They just aren't working!"
"You're not the only one anxious. I'm anxious too. If this really delays your promotion, President Pan, how could I ever face you again?"
Pan Qingfeng waved a hand and interrupted him. "Enough. To be honest, I'm really in a bad mood today. If I spoke too harshly, President Song and Manager Zhong, please don't take it to heart."
"That's it for today. Meeting adjourned."
Perhaps unconsciously, Pan Qingfeng also offered Liu Shang a few words of encouragement. "The young man is Liu Shang, right?"
"Not bad. You're a promising talent. Anyone Manager Zhong has his eye on can't possibly be wrong."
Just then, to everyone's surprise, Liu Shang showed no sign of packing up and leaving. Instead, he quietly looked at Pan Qingfeng and slowly said with a smile:
"President Pan, I have the confidence and certainty to make the next treatment well show an obvious dynamic response in both oil and water production, perhaps even a visible increase in oil output."
"I wonder if you would be willing to trust me once, or try making one final gamble."
"After all, as you said, there's still plenty of room in this year's planned quota. Whether or not this next well is done will have almost no impact on the Oil Production Plant."
Before Liu Shang spoke, Manager Zhong, who knew him relatively well, had already vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
Sure enough, this kid had still said something so earth-shattering and wildly arrogant.
Before you continue