Little Tricks

After returning to the company, Xu Tiande immediately called Ma Yuan into his office and arranged a series of follow-up tasks.

The moment he heard those instructions, Ma Yuan looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his face full of disbelief.

"What?"

"Professor Xu, you want me to follow Liu Shang's orders throughout the entire operation?"

"He's a freshman who has never even been to the site, and you want me to follow his command the whole time?"

"Aren't you afraid he'll mess around at the site and cause problems?!!!"

Xu Tiande had expected this reaction from Ma Yuan, so he emphasized it once again with great seriousness.

"Ma Yuan, not just you—when it comes to constructing this well, even we have to follow Liu Shang's command."

"As for any problems at the site, we're here. You won't be the one held responsible."

"Of course, you still need to keep a close watch on things. If any abnormal data appears, report it to us promptly."

Seeing how firm Xu Tiande's attitude was, Ma Yuan had nothing more to say. He left Xu Tiande's office, simmering with resentment.

In his heart, he kept complaining: Ever since Liu Shang came to the company, nothing has gone right for me!

Damn it, you're already about to leave, and you still have to make trouble for me before you go, huh?

Hmph, you want to command me? Keep dreaming! Just wait and see how I teach you a lesson during the operation!

Meanwhile, at the field site, Liu Shang spoke with the crew during dinner and casually went over the work arrangements with them.

"Old Wang, I think General Manager Xu and Manager Zhong already explained things to you when they came today. I'll be fully responsible for the construction of this well."

"This well will use continuous injection of low-to-medium-concentration polymer gel throughout the entire process. We won't use even a single swelling particle."

"So compared with the previous wells, your workload on this one will be much lighter."

"Once work begins, I hope everyone will cooperate well and finish this well smoothly."

"I guarantee you that I'll handle and take responsibility for all problems and liabilities. You only need to report them to me."

"If there's any trouble on the company's side, you won't need to deal with it yourselves either. Just tell me."

With Manager Zhong and Xu Tiande having laid the groundwork beforehand, everyone naturally nodded repeatedly at Liu Shang's words.

After all, they were more than happy to have their workload reduced.

As far as Liu Shang was concerned, the technical approach for this well was very clear and simple: stable, continuous injection of low-to-medium-concentration polymer gel, following a mechanism similar to the polymer flooding technology that would rise later on.

It would be very easy to observe dynamic responses between the oil and water wells, or even achieve increased oil production from the treatment.

The several wells the company had previously worked on had not shown the slightest effect, but that did not mean Xu Tiande and Manager Zhong lacked technical skill.

It could only be said that, at the current stage of petroleum technology development, almost everyone saw things this way.

The currently accepted mainstream approach was to pursue high construction pressure and high-concentration, high-intensity plugging. A great deal of money was spent, yet the results were negligible.

Liu Shang, on the other hand, was looking at current problems through the lens of technology ten or twenty years in the future. From that elevated perspective, things naturally looked entirely different.

The next day, the construction site continued its pre-operation preparations.

At the same time, various chemicals needed for the operation began to be delivered to the site one after another.

Liu Shang called Ma Yuan and politely informed him of the types and total quantities of chemicals required.

Ma Yuan, ever the smooth operator, agreed readily enough over the phone, but inwardly he was already plotting how to pull some underhanded tricks.

However, just one minute after hanging up, Liu Shang sent him the list of required chemicals by text message.

That left a record of their communication, so even if Ma Yuan wanted to play dirty, he no longer had the chance.

This infuriated Ma Yuan.

So later, during his routine work, he found an opportunity to call Wang Wanlin, the crew leader.

After discussing the regular work, Ma Yuan smiled. "Brother Wang, the company's purpose in sending Liu Shang to the site this time is to give him more training."

"So you can let him handle more of the on-site work, such as unloading chemicals and other preparation tasks, so he can get some practice."

The moment Wang Wanlin heard that, he frowned. "Hey, Engineer Ma, listen to yourself. Liu Shang is the engineer and overall commander for this operation. How could a little crew leader like me possibly order him around?"

"Aren't you joking..."

Ma Yuan smiled. "Ah, what overall commander? He'll be going back to school after this well is finished."

"This time, he only went to the site to learn and gain some experience."

"Just listen to me. Let him do whatever work needs doing, and don't worry about whether it's dirty or tiring."

"If anyone asks, just say you meant well and wanted him to get more training and understand the site better."

"Don't worry about a thing. Just listen to me. If anything happens, Deputy Manager Chen Xu and I will take responsibility for you."

Ma Yuan made himself sound so righteous, but Wang Wanlin was already cursing him up and down in his heart.

There had already been plenty of examples at the company. Whenever something went wrong at the site, before the higher-ups could even investigate, Ma Yuan would be the first to dump the blame and the fallout onto others.

That was why so many people below him cursed him as a bastard in private. If Wang Wanlin believed him now, he would be an idiot!

"Hehe, my great Engineer Ma, it's not that I won't listen to you, but Manager Zhong and General Manager Xu personally explained the relevant arrangements yesterday."

"How about you ask Manager Zhong or General Manager Xu to give the order? I'll absolutely do it right away..."

Ma Yuan angrily hung up soon afterward.

Even a tiny field crew leader dared to ignore him now. It made him furious.

So when he issued the chemical list for their crew, he secretly added ten tons of swelling particles.

These swelling particles were clay granules that physically expanded after absorbing water. They had strong plugging properties but poor results. There had not been even a trace of them on Liu Shang's list; Ma Yuan had added them entirely on his own.

He had also deliberately doubled the quantity, intending to make Wang Wanlin and the others suffer by forcing them to unload ten extra tons of goods for no reason.

This was also Ma Yuan's punishment for them not listening to him.

A few hours later, with nothing to do at the field site, Liu Shang went to the oil production team to ask the client-side technician about the trunkline water injection and the well's detailed conditions.

But when he returned to the crew's site, he found Wang Wanlin and the others unloading a whole truckload of swelling particles piled as high as a small mountain, their faces full of misery.

"Old Wang, where did all these swelling particles come from? What's going on?"