Chapter 6: Beyond the Assignment

On Saturday morning, Zhong Qing ate breakfast with Yi Chengcheng.

Although Yi Chengcheng seemed "abnormal," she understood Zhong Qing better than anyone else in the world. Even during breakfast, she sensed that Zhong Qing must have something to do. After putting down her chopsticks, she obediently sat down at her drawing board and started drawing, indicating that Zhong Qing should go do what she needed to do and not worry about her.

Zhong Qing patted Yi Chengcheng's head, her heart filled with affection.

After cleaning up the dishes and asking Aunt Liu from next door to help look after Yi Chengcheng, Zhong Qing went out.

Sitting on the bus heading into the city, watching the increasingly bustling street scenes flash by outside the window, Zhong Qing fell into thought.

Shi Tao had said that the research task assigned to them was a test, and the research target was a randomly chosen medical examination institution. Because there was no readily available information about this institution online, it would better test their ability to collect and integrate information.

A gentle breeze from outside the window squeezed into the bus, brushing against Zhong Qing's face, like a hand gently patting her cheek to wake her up.

Zhong Qing's mind was clearer than ever before.

Was it really as Shi Tao said? Was it really just a task to test their information gathering and integration capabilities? Was that medical examination institution really just randomly chosen?

She didn't think so.

Last night before bed, Zhong Qing searched online for as much information as possible about Zhiqiang Medical Examination.

She searched every website she could think of: government databases, industry association publications, consulting firm market reports, media reports, etc., but the information she found was still very limited.

She only knew that the owner of Zhiqiang Medical Examination, Cui Zhiqiang, was originally a doctor who later left the hospital to found the medical examination institution. Now it's in its third year.

Zhong Qing searched for a long time and found a news interview with Cui Zhiqiang. In the interview, Cui Zhiqiang introduced that his Zhiqiang Medical Examination, in terms of both scale and number of people served, was a leader in the industry. In addition, Zhiqiang Medical Examination had a significant competitive advantage over other medical examination institutions because they'd signed many experts from top-tier hospitals to work at Zhiqiang Medical Examination. Besides, Zhiqiang Medical Examination was also expanding its stores nationwide, determined to contribute to the health of people in every corner of the country.

Besides these, nothing else could be found.

Zhong Qing stared at this information, lost in thought in the quiet of the night.

Zhiqiang Health Checkup's extensive network of stores must require a significant investment. Cui Zhiqiang was originally just a doctor, not a capitalist—he couldn't possibly have that much money on his own.

Therefore, she didn't believe this was as simple as Shi Tao described. This didn't seem like just a test. It was likely that Zhiqiang Health Checkup was seeking investors to expand, and their own ability to connect with investors was limited, so they needed a professional financial advisor (FA) to help—so this was very likely Qiao Mingxuan's next project.

Thinking of this, Zhong Qing perked up. The long night was no longer a soporific lullaby. She wasn't sleepy at all, but rather full of energy.

She decided she had to complete this not-so-simple "test" properly.

Since she couldn't directly find Zhiqiang Health Checkup's financial information, she would think of other indirect methods.

She meticulously compiled sales figures for Zhiqiang Health Checkup's packages from various e-commerce platforms, along with user reviews and experiences.

While reviewing the reviews, she discovered a problem: many positive reviews were clearly fake.

It was clear that the sales figures for health checkup packages on e-commerce platforms were inaccurate, containing inflated figures.

After compiling sales and reviews from various e-commerce platforms, Zhong Qing realized that this was all the information she could gather online. She decided to go to sleep quickly, and the next morning, she would visit every Zhiqiang Health Checkup branch in the city to experience and observe firsthand.

After a nearly one-hour bus ride with frequent stops, she arrived at the Zhiqiang Health Checkup branch in the north of the city.

Zhong Qing had pre-purchased a health checkup package through a group-buying platform. As she paid on her phone, she could almost hear the pain in her wallet. For a moment, she wondered if this checkup should be considered work-related and reimbursed.

After registering at the front desk, Zhong Qing began to move through the checkup items in the package.

She observed the interior design, the doctors, and the service as she moved between each checkup.

After completing all the checkups, she didn't rush to leave. After submitting her form, she sat on the sofa in the lobby, appearing to be working on her laptop, but actually silently counting the number of people entering and leaving the health checkup center.

Since she'd just made a purchase, the staff didn't come to shoo her away.

So she silently began compiling the data she needed. Once she had a good grasp of one store's data, she would take the bus to another.

After finishing on Saturday, she continued compiling data at other stores on Sunday.

That evening, armed with the data from two days of visiting all the stores, she turned on her computer and continued writing the report.

After filling the report with the data from the field research, Zhong Qing felt something was still missing.

She felt that the current information and data weren't enough to fill a research report.

She needed to add something more, but not just for the sake of adding—it had to be meaningful information.

She thought for a moment, then had an idea and began working late into the night on the research report.

---

Monday morning, Ling Na and Lü Pengshan clocked in at the company entrance, just before they were about to be late. Then they noticed dark circles under each other's eyes.

Ling Na gave a wry smile and asked Lü Pengshan, "You stayed up all night too, didn't you? Have you finished your research report?"

Lü Pengshan shook his head. "I still need to adjust it."

Ling Na sighed and said, "Me too." She paused, then asked curiously, "I wonder how Zhong Qing's work is going."

When the two entered the company, they found Zhong Qing's workstation completely empty—neither she nor her briefcase were there.

Ling Na was somewhat surprised but not entirely. "Did she stay up all night and not get up? Should I call her and ask?"

Lü Pengshan, however, curled his lip and said sarcastically, "Maybe she's hiding at home writing her report. She still has to work at the company, doesn't she?"

Ling Na thought that if that was the case, then she'd let Zhong Qing finish at home and not disturb her. She put away her phone.

The two new employees, taking advantage of the fact that no senior employees had asked them to help, quickly continued adjusting their research reports.

Zhong Qing was currently squeezed onto a bus, flattened by the Monday morning rush hour traffic, all the way to the Zhiqiang Health Checkup store.

She was there to continue collecting customer traffic data.

Last night, while rushing to finish her report, she suddenly realized that while she'd already tallied the holiday foot traffic, weekday traffic should perhaps be counted separately.

So this morning, she called Shi Yani early to ask for leave, then squeezed herself flat on the bus all the way to the Zhiqiang Medical Examination Center.

Before heading to work in the afternoon, Zhong Qing rushed back to the company.

The bus was less crowded at lunchtime, so she sat down and worked on her research report on her laptop while commuting.

When she arrived at the company, Ling Na asked, "Why didn't you come this morning? Did you finish the report?"

Zhong Qing replied, "I had some things to do this morning, so I took the day off. I just finished the report."

Lu Pengshan, standing nearby, said sarcastically, "We two aren't as lucky as you. You can take time off to work on the report at home. We had to help our seniors. We finished it while eating lunch."

Zhong Qing found these nonsensical remarks extremely uncomfortable. She wasn't a pushover—how could she tolerate such discomfort? So, with a sincere and honest expression, she told Lü Pengshan, "Next time we get assigned to write a research report, I'll talk to the seniors and ask them not to assign you any work yet, otherwise you won't be able to eat lunch in peace."

"..." Lü Pengshan was momentarily speechless. "Wait, Zhong Qing, can you always grasp the main point of what I'm saying?"

Zhong Qing looked at him sincerely and nodded honestly. "Yes."

Lü Pengshan felt speechless, as if all his wild punches had hit a brick wall.

Ling Na, however, found it inexplicably funny and laughed.

Zhong Qing thought, "See? Sincerity is always the ultimate weapon."

---

Soon it was time for the afternoon meeting.

The three department heads were the first to enter the meeting room.

Shi Tao called three new employees to his workstation and asked if they would decide the order of their presentations themselves or draw lots.

All three chose to draw lots.

The result was that Zhong Qing drew third, Lü Pengshan second, and Ling Na first.

Shi Tao said, "You all need to perform well later. Your performance will affect the impressions and evaluations of the department heads regarding your abilities. Whether you can stay after your probation period will be determined by the department heads through mutual selection based on these impressions and evaluations. Only if you are selected can you be officially hired."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhong Qing felt Ling Na next to her gasp.

"I'll go in and set up the projector first. Once it's set up, you can all come in and we'll begin." After Shi Tao finished speaking, he went into the conference room.

As soon as Shi Tao left, Ling Na immediately stopped hiding her nervousness. Her voice was choked with tension as she said to Zhong Qing, "What should I do? I'm so nervous!"

Lü Pengshan's eyes flickered as he looked at Ling Na and said, "How about you switch with me? I'll speak first, Zhong Qing last, and you'll be in the middle, which is the safest."

Ling Na was immediately tempted to switch, but she still felt a little guilty, so she asked Lü Pengshan, "Are you sure it's okay if you switch orders with me?"

Lü Pengshan generously said that he didn't care whether he was first or last.

Zhong Qing, however, had a sudden change of heart and took Ling Na's hand to the restroom.

In the restroom, she gave Ling Na a reassuring smile and asked, "Besides the basic data from Zhiqiang Medical Examination, did you include any of your own analysis in your report?"

Ling Na thought for a moment and said, "Does summarizing the company's situation count?"

Zhong Qing didn't think so. Therefore, Ling Na's report didn't contain any unique analysis of her own.

That meant that Ling Na's content was basically all publicly available information. And since there's only so much publicly available information, it's natural for whoever speaks first to be right.

Zhong Qing advised Ling Na, "I think, given your tendency to get nervous, you should speak first. After all, the earlier you speak, the better. The longer you wait, the more nervous you become."

Ling Na thought about it and agreed with Zhong Qing. When they got back, she told Lü Pengshan that she wouldn't switch orders with him—she would present first.

Lü Pengshan was a little confused, wondering why she'd changed her mind while she was in the restroom.

He asked Ling Na, "Are you sure you don't want to switch with me?"

Ling Na nodded. "Yeah, I'll listen to Zhong Qing. The one who gets nervous should be the first to speak!"

Lü Pengshan then looked up at Zhong Qing, his tone as sarcastic as ever. "You don't seem to like being nervous, but you're a bit of a busybody."

Zhong Qing grinned at him, making herself look rather silly.

There was also a hint of deliberate provocation.

The next moment, the three of them were called into the conference room.

Ling Na took a deep breath, connected her computer to the projector, and began presenting her document.

She'd compiled all the relevant information she could find online. The document was very organized, the format was proper, and the overall presentation was decent, without too many stumbles due to nervousness.

However, Lü Pengshan's expression changed as he listened. He turned to Zhong Qing, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Ling Na is really fortunate to have you with her. I'm actually starting to regret letting you drag her to the restroom—it prevented me from switching places with her."

Zhong Qing glanced at him sideways, finding it all quite intriguing. What was this guy up to? He was practically laying his ulterior motives bare before her. How could he be both calculating and upright? He was truly a twisted character.

Ling Na stepped down, and it was Lü Pengshan's turn to speak.

He looked somewhat nervous as he spoke.

Eighty percent of the content in his research report overlapped with Ling Na's. Only at the end of the report, combining his interview with Cui Zhiqiang, did he summarize his own observations: In short, Zhiqiang Health Checkup is developing rapidly and has an optimistic future. In just two or three years, it has become the second largest in the industry, and at its current pace, becoming the number one in the industry is just around the corner.

After Lü Pengshan finished his report, he returned to his seat.

While Ling Na and he were reporting, he'd been observing the expressions of the three department heads, especially Qiao Mingxuan's.

During their reports, the other two department heads would occasionally react, nodding or shaking their heads. Only Qiao Mingxuan remained expressionless throughout, offering no emotional response.

Although he didn't explicitly express good or bad, one could sense that the more he acted this way, the more dissatisfied he was with the report's outcome—a deep dissatisfaction.

Because of this dissatisfaction, he simply didn't bother to respond.

But what could be done to satisfy him? Lü Pengshan felt he'd already tried his best. He felt he'd given his best within his capabilities to complete this report.

He couldn't help but feel a little frustrated.

He heard Shi Tao calling Zhong Qing's name.

He watched as Zhong Qing connected the projector to her laptop and double-clicked the mouse.

A PowerPoint presentation immediately appeared on the projector, its quality resembling a high-end business plan.

He suddenly had a complex feeling: he felt that Ling Na and he had been betrayed by Zhong Qing—after all, Shi Tao had said that their report only needed to be written as a document. Yet he also felt that Zhong Qing's PPT was indeed very well done, and it would make people think of something extraordinary as soon as it was presented.

And there was also some regret—he should have also made the document into a PPT, even though others said that a document was enough.

---

Thoughts:

The chapter showcases Zhong Qing's exceptional work ethic and analytical thinking. While her colleagues accept the assignment at face value and rely primarily on online research, Zhong Qing suspects the task is actually preparing for a real investment opportunity. She goes far beyond expectations: spending her own money on medical checkups at every branch location, sitting in lobbies counting foot traffic, returning on a Monday morning to capture weekday data separately, and ultimately creating a professional PowerPoint presentation when only a document was requested.

It ends on a cliffhanger as Zhong Qing's PowerPoint appears on screen, clearly exceeding expectations and likely containing insights her colleagues completely missed.