Sail across the sea

Chapter 384 Didn't sleep well last night

The man's name was Song Xingkang, and he was the office director of the Zeyan Institute.

The position of office director is essentially the head steward of a unit; they are usually very well-connected and extremely resourceful. For example, Xu Dan's father, Xu Zhenxin, was the office director of Canghai Factory, a man of great social skills. But Song Xingkang was somewhat dull, and in terms of emotional intelligence, he was even inferior to a rising star like Xu Dan.

In its early years, Zeyan Institute was a very obscure unit, lacking both power and opportunities to make money. Its funding relied entirely on allocations from the provincial nonferrous metals company; in reality, it was a guaranteed income regardless of circumstances, barely enough to keep it afloat. Even giving employees a few kilograms of eggs during holidays required a report and application to the head office – its finances were extremely meager.

For this reason, most of the more resourceful people in the company tried to change jobs. Some were transferred back to the head office, while others left the system altogether and went to some lucrative or powerful departments in Zeshan.

Those who remained were all blockheads. The department head sifted through this group of blockheads and finally found one with a few holes in his head, appointing him as the office director. This lucky blockhead was Song Xingkang.

Old Song actually comes from a technical background, so putting him in the position of office director is indeed a bit of a stretch.

"So... what's the matter?"

Song Xingkang remained silent for a long time before remembering the next question he should ask.

"Have you received the notice from the province regarding the rectification of rare earth development?" Gao Fan asked.

"received."

"Have you studied it seriously?"

"...I've studied it."

"Alright, that's what I came here for."

"Are you here to learn?"

Song Xingkang asked subconsciously, but then realized something was wrong; it didn't seem like that's what they said.

"I'm here to see your leaders, either Director Xiao Ping or Deputy Director Pei Hengxue," Gao Fan said.

He could already tell that this guy was probably experiencing a voltage issue, making his CPU unstable. If he tried to chat with him, he'd be bored to death.

Before he came, he had done his homework and knew that among the leaders of Zeyan Institute, only Xiao Ping and Pei Hengxue had a technical background. The others were just sitting on the sidelines for some unknown reason and he couldn't find common ground with them.

"You want to see Director Xiao and Director Pei? I need to ask them first, I don't know if they're available," Song Xingkang said.

Gao Fan smiled slightly and asked, "By the way, I haven't asked you how to address me yet."

“Oh, my surname is Song, Song Xingkang, and I’m the director of the office. You… uh, just call me Old Song.” Song Xingkang replied.

The last sentence was something he usually said when introducing himself, but saying it now felt incredibly awkward. These two people were so young, almost the same age as his own children. If they actually called him Old Song, he didn't know whether he should respond.

Fortunately, Gao Fan wasn't an unreasonable person. He said, "Oh, it's Director Song. My identity is clearly stated in the letter of introduction. My colleague Xiao Xu and I are here on behalf of the joint working group of the Economic Commission to understand the situation. Please inform Director Xiao and Deputy Director Pei and ask them to make sure they can find time to meet with us despite their busy schedules."

These words were quite domineering, and even Song Xingkang, who was not very bright, could sense the power in them.

"Don't worry about his age; he's representing the Economic Commission, and your director has an obligation to come out and report. As for whether the director is very busy, that's not something the higher-ups need to consider." "Oh, is that so? Please have a seat, I'll go report to the leadership." Song Xingkang seemed flustered, said goodbye to the two men, and left the office, presumably to report to the director.

Gao Fan clearly saw that, despite his busy schedule, Song Xingkang hadn't forgotten to lock the drawer of his desk first.

Are you worried that your superiors will steal your secret stash of money?
Seeing Song Xingkang leave, Xu Dan burst out laughing.

Gao Fan asked in surprise, "Dandan, what are you laughing at?"

"This Director Song is really interesting."

"Maybe you didn't sleep well last night."

Did we disturb their nap?

"He probably thought we were here to check up on him."

While the two were talking nonsense, Song Xingkang returned and told Gao Fan that Director Xiao was available and that Gao Fan and his party could go to his office for a face-to-face meeting. Director Pei would also be there.

The two followed Song Xingkang to Xiao Ping's office and saw that there were already two people inside.

One of them, whose hair was half white, sat behind a desk and was clearly the office owner, the director, Xiao Ping. Gao Fan had read his file beforehand and knew that he was 55 years old, a college graduate from before the liberation, and had a small reputation in the field of non-ferrous metallurgy.

Another person, sitting on a single sofa, appeared to be in his forties, with neatly combed hair and gold-rimmed glasses, looking quite refined. This must be Deputy Director Pei Hengxue. Pei Hengxue was about the same age as Gao Yiping, a university graduate from the 1950s, and had been working at the Zeyan Institute for 20 years.

Upon seeing Gao Fan and Xu Dan's appearances, Xiao and Pei reacted similarly to Song Xingkang, also somewhat taken aback. Fortunately, Song Xingkang had previously warned them that the two guests claiming to be superiors looked very young.

"Is this Gao Fan's assistant from the joint working group?"

Xiao Ping stood up and asked Gao Fan. He didn't come around the desk to shake hands with the guest as usual, naturally feeling that Gao Fan's age was not worthy of such courtesy.

On the other end, Pei Hengxue simply nodded to Gao Fan and the other person, without even bothering to get up.

Gao Fan didn't bother to argue about such things; seniority-based hierarchy was a chronic problem within the system. The other person was indeed an elder in terms of age, so he had no reason to nitpick about their manners.

"I am Gao Fan. You must be Director Xiao," Gao Fan asked politely.

"I'm Xiao Ping, and this is Deputy Director Pei. Please have a seat." Xiao Ping introduced Pei Hengxue, then pointed to the sofa in the room before sitting down himself.

Gao Fan and Xu Dan sat down. Song Xingkang hesitated for a moment, then took two teacups, poured tea for them, and placed them on the tea table in front of them. He then pulled up a chair next to them and sat down as well.

Gao Fan didn't rush to speak. Instead, he took out a notebook from his bag, unscrewed the cap of a pen, and pretended to be ready to write something down. Then he looked at Xiao Ping and waited for him to speak.

Seeing this, Xiao Ping cleared his throat and took the initiative to ask:

"Assistant Gao, you came to our Zeyan Institute this time and told Director Song that you wanted to see me and Deputy Director Pei. Is there anything specific you want to discuss?"

(End of this chapter)