Transmigrating Into the Beautiful CEO’s Doomed Substitute - Chapter 87

Qi Zheng’s situation was a suspension of duties, not a resignation. Her position in the secretary’s office remained, but her work needed temporary coverage. Human resources, following the needs proposed by Yun Fei, selected and interviewed several candidates, ultimately choosing someone with three and a half years of work experience who graduated from the same school as Qi Zheng.

“Xiao Ding, this is your office area. I will tell you the specific work you need to be responsible for later. Please adapt as quickly as possible.”

Ding Meng, who had worked in the Strategic Development Department for two years without finding opportunities for promotion. Hearing that the secretary’s office had a temporary transfer need, she asked a colleague she knew in HR to help her secure an interview opportunity.

Fortunately, her professional competence was decent, and Yun Fei found her acceptable. Coupled with the heavy workload in the second half of the year, there was indeed a shortage of people. Ding Meng took over Qi Zheng’s usual routine work. The tasks she was responsible for in the special team were rearranged by Shen Zhibing, with some allocated to others and some reclaimed by herself.

The work of the special team was not something everyone could handle. Shen Zhibing temporarily hadn’t considered finding someone to replace Qi Zheng, as Qi Zheng would return after graduation in a year and a half. Shen Zhibing even thought that perhaps Qi Zheng might surprise everyone and graduate early.

Ding Meng greeted the other colleagues in the secretary’s office with some restraint and sat down at the newly added seat. Qi Zheng’s desk was still empty, and neither CEO Shen nor Yun Fei had intended to let anyone else temporarily sit there.

Yun Fei placed a stack of documents on her desk, smiling softly and saying, “It’s best to read through these materials before leaving work today. If you don’t understand anything, you can come and ask me.”

Ding Meng nodded and started familiarizing herself with the work without delay. She had to get up to speed quickly and seize this opportunity. Before the temporary transfer, HR explicitly stated that she would not be officially transferred to the secretary’s office and would most likely return to the strategy department afterward.

But Ding Meng didn’t mind. She was thinking of using this temporary transfer to get closer to the secretary’s office, and even CEO Shen. She believed her work ability was good; what she lacked was the chance to be noticed by a leader.

Many times, the reports she stayed up late to finish didn’t give her the opportunity to present them. Even if she received praise from the leader, it was difficult to immediately connect the achievement with her personally.

Gradually, she became the person who did the most work in the department and the one whom others described as the most capable. But she knew that continuing this way wouldn’t work.

However, it was almost four in the afternoon, and she still had nearly a quarter of the reports left to read, not to mention fully familiarizing herself with them. Ding Meng felt a little anxious, and seeing Yun Fei and the others focused on their work, she could only lower her head and continue quietly.

Shen Zhibing called Yun Fei into her office and returned a report: “Ask the marketing department to reconsider this activity proposal.”

Yun Fei took it and saw it was the proposal for the year-end promotion, which was an upgraded version of last year’s.

“Is there a problem with the activity format?”

“The format is fine. Increasing promotional efforts to stimulate consumption is also fine. The problem is with the crude and simple (stacking/superimposing) of marketing expenses. Do they think consumers are fools or that the company’s money is worthless?”

Yun Fei quickly scanned it. The proposal was indeed not outstanding, but the total marketing budget had significantly increased.

“Consumers today are different from the past. They won’t buy your products just because you run a few more ads or give away a few small gifts. I don’t deny that marketing costs must be increased to compete with rivals, but first, you need to know what consumers really need.”

This activity was a continuation of last year’s, with no extra innovation. Therefore, the various business departments just went through the motions, provided templated feedback, and then the third secretary compiled the information.

This work was usually done by Qi Zheng. But she would often review the data herself. For items like this with a noticeable increase in expenses, Qi Zheng would habitually compare them with last year’s or even the year before, rather than just compiling the data provided by the business departments.

“I’ll return it and discuss it with the departments.”

Shen Zhibing stopped Yun Fei: “Has the person replacing Qi Zheng arrived today?”

“Ding Meng, transferred from Strategy and Development, also graduated from Haida University. I asked her to familiarize herself with the materials today.”

Shen Zhibing nodded and then said, “After the marketing department makes the revisions, have Ding Meng compile it.”

Yun Fei knew that CEO Shen wanted to test Ding Meng’s abilities as soon as possible.

The marketing department probably didn’t expect the activity proposal to be rejected by CEO Shen. Branch offices across the country were already preparing, and some eager ones had even started producing promotional materials.

Hearing it was rejected, they all became anxious.

But Secretary Yun made it very clear: the activity format could remain unchanged, but the budget could not increase based on the current logic. The funds had to be spent wisely. As a result, the head of the marketing department, along with the managers of several regional branches launching this heavily promoted campaign, held several meetings over two days, finally rushing out a new proposal within three days.

At this point, there were only five days until the originally planned start date of the activity.

If this proposal failed again, the activity might have to be delayed. Or if it were forced to launch, some expenses would not be reimbursable.

For this, the person in charge of the marketing department, and several managers from the regional branches conducting this particularly aggressive promotion, called Ding Meng. They claimed to be inquiring about the progress of the proposal’s approval, but in reality, they wanted her to quickly submit it to CEO Shen for approval.

Although it was a compilation, the wording was important. How to balance and integrate all opinions, and how to present the data logically so that CEO Shen, who was busy and didn’t have much time to scrutinize every word, could make an approving decision quickly.

These things, in fact, had their tricks.

But these tricks, taught hand-by-hand, required time, and not everyone could learn them.

Yun Fei knew CEO Shen intended to test Ding Meng. When the new proposal came in, although she was copied on the email, she didn’t intervene, letting Ding Meng handle the entire process.

After all, she wasn’t a fresh graduate; she had worked at headquarters for a few years. If she was unfamiliar, it was mostly with the work content. If her handling and attitude were also lacking, it would be difficult to provide persuasive results.

Ding Meng braced herself, compiled the feedback by mimicking a template left by Qi Zheng, and sent it to Yun Fei for review first.

Yun Fei read it and wasn’t very satisfied. She gave her a few suggestions for revisions and then asked her to add her own insights.

An analysis role, besides analyzing data, requires providing one’s own conclusions and perspectives. Deriving conclusions and even recommendations based on that data. Whether CEO Shen adopted them or not was another matter.

“Xiao Ding, just do it as you would when writing a report in Strategic Development. Write what needs to be written. Don’t let the compilation become a simple process of piecing things together.”

Ding Meng relaxed a bit, added her perspectives based on her work experience, and the revised version barely met the usual requirements.

Yun Fei submitted the report. Shen Zhibing had just finished a conference call.

She casually picked up the report, flipped through it, and placed it back on the desk, her expression serious.

“Did you guide her?”

“Once for revision.”

“How was the previous version?”

“Not quite familiar yet; some parts were overlooked.”

Shen Zhibing pushed the report back. She didn’t sign it.

“The activity proposal is fine, but this compilation report is not.”

The implication was that Ding Meng had to redo the work.

Now the time was even tighter. The business departments were frantically urged by the regional branches, and they, in turn, passed the pressure onto Ding Meng.

“Xiao Ding, please, please, you absolutely must get CEO Shen’s signature today, okay?”

“Xiao Ding, the marketing department said there’s no problem. Why is the proposal stuck in your secretary’s office?”

“Sister Ding, I beg you. I’m already on my way to pick up the promotional materials. If you don’t send the proposal down, I’ll have to pay for this pile of material costs myself!”

Ding Meng’s head was spinning. The Strategic Development Department was a back-office department. Writing reports based on needs didn’t require facing so much “pressure from favors.”

She grit her teeth and continued to modify the report. Yun Fei didn’t make things difficult for her, telling her which areas needed further revision. The problems had been pointed out; how to solve them was up to her.

She finally got CEO Shen’s signature just before leaving work. Ding Meng rushed into the photocopy room to scan it and then sent out a group email notification.

Shen Zhibing leaned back in her chair. The way Ding Meng looked when she submitted the report earlier reminded her of Qi Zheng. Compared to Qi Zheng’s usual calmness, the slightly older Ding Meng appeared less composed.

More importantly, Ding Meng couldn’t immediately grasp what she said. Even with guidance, she couldn’t be as quick to understand as Qi Zheng.

Shen Zhibing picked up the phone, wanting to call Qi Zheng, but then wondered what she could say. Should she tell her that the person replacing her was not performing as well as her?

It felt a little ridiculous. Shen Zhibing put the phone back.

She took out her phone, opened Moments, and scrolled a few times until she saw the post Qi Zheng had just made.

In fact, Qi Zheng hadn’t completely blocked her; at least she could see some “extremely formal” content, such as officially moving into the apartment, officially registering at the school, and officially attending the orientation.

These were things that needed to be periodically sent to the company, after all, the expenses were paid by the company. Without relevant “evidence materials,” subsequent reimbursement would be inconvenient.

So, whatever the head of the audit department saw, CEO Shen could also see.

But Qi Zheng’s life in the US was certainly not limited to this. Shen Zhibing herself had lived abroad for many years; how could she not know?

She was a little curious and also wanted to see how Qi Zheng was doing in the US. She even wanted to ask her if she had visited the famous “Old Man’s Tree” at the Business School.

But thinking back to Qi Zheng’s departure that day, Shen Zhibing hesitated.

When the anger subsided, she thought the matter was over, yet she often hesitated when she wanted to contact Qi Zheng.

What should she say that wouldn’t seem too abrupt?

Shen Zhibing thought for a long time and decided that talking about work would be more appropriate.

So, Qi Zheng, who had just woken up and was making breakfast, received a message from CEO Shen.

【Qi Zheng, are you free?】

Qi Zheng turned off the stove, placed the fried egg on a plate, poured some ketchup, and stared at her phone for a moment.

【Is there something, CEO Shen?】

Shen Zhibing’s message quickly replied: 【I want to understand some things about your previous work.】

Qi Zheng had heard from Yun Fei that a colleague temporarily transferred from Strategic Development had been very annoyed recently by the marketing department’s activity proposal. The marketing department was always like this around important holidays: the proposal came in the latest, the budget was set ridiculously high, as if they weren’t worried about being rejected, and they liked to rush the process.

Qi Zheng always used data and logic, so the marketing department didn’t dare to rush her much. Sometimes, if the initial proposal was too outrageous, Qi Zheng would send it back directly.

She considered it for a moment and replied to Shen Zhibing: 【Ten minutes.】

After the message was sent, CEO Shen’s voice call request came three minutes later. Qi Zheng checked the time, silently calculating that she had seven minutes left.

“Hello, CEO Shen.”