Financial Workplace Survival Guide – CH 063

Chapter 63 ☆, Social Turmoil.

After learning about the investigation into their previous kidnapping case, Xin Xin originally planned to go and discuss it with Fu Meng to see if she could recall any clues.

But it seemed that Fu Meng had no time to care about this now.

Having gone through thick and thin together recently, Xin Xin had a general understanding of Fu Meng’s personality. She remained unfazed even when the sky was falling before her eyes.

But judging from her condition today, things were probably more serious than the sky falling.

Xin Xin asked tentatively, “When she came to me, she mentioned that you needed her to use her looks to attract clients. I reminded her that she needed to have boundaries from the beginning; otherwise, she would inevitably get deeply involved.”

Fu Meng’s face paled inch by inch, and she gave a bitter smile. “Women with even a little bit of looks, how can they go out on business unscathed? Someone as particularly beautiful as her is bound to face coercion and enticement. It’s not that I look down on her or that there’s anything wrong with her; it’s just the truth. With such severe homogenization of financial products and so many qualified securities firms, why would clients choose us?”

Xin Xin paused for a moment. What Fu Meng said was true, but few people could face such a fact.

Xin Xin sighed, “Did you pressure her?”

“No, I just gave her two options. Either she continues working with them, in which case she needs to manage her relationships with the clients well. If she does not want to continue, I can find someone else.”

Beautiful women enjoyed the benefits of their looks, but they would inevitably encounter trouble because of them in the end.

Yang Manman was quite capable and efficient. If she were not so striking in appearance, or if she were a male account manager, she might not have received so much attention or been remembered by so many people, but she also would not have gotten into this kind of trouble.

Because of her striking appearance, if a client had an interest in her and she wanted to firmly refuse, the client might walk away, and all her efforts would be in vain. But if she did not firmly refuse, the client might feel that she was leaving room for negotiation and that there was still hope, and they might be tempted to try harder.

Fu Meng was telling the truth, but to Yang Manman, it was a threat.

The saying went that wealth and power could not corrupt, and power and force could not subdue, but there were many people in this world who found it hard to refuse even a drink offered by their superiors. Who could easily give up a project they were in charge of and hand over success to someone else?

Xin Xin asked herself honestly, if it were her, she would also find it hard to accept this.

Because of this wishful thinking, it was not uncommon for female college students to end up as socialites.

“What was her final choice?” Xin Xin asked, but the answer was already clear.

“She told me she wanted to continue working with them. I agreed, and I told her that if she felt there were any difficult parts, she could ask other people in the department.” Fu Meng’s face showed a slightly sarcastic smile. “This is not my fault. It’s because she herself was unwilling to share her profits with anyone. She was afraid that others would steal her clients.”

Although everyone was in the same company and department, it was not uncommon for people to compete for clients. Those who end up in the same department were generally quite capable in terms of business skills; after all, if someone lacked the necessary business acumen, they would not be in the same department.

The rest depended on individual abilities; some people brought their own resources and benefited from having powerful connections. Most, however, needed to build their own client base through long-term work.

On the one hand, you needed to consider your own qualifications and competence; on the other hand, you also needed to consider the company’s resource allocation. This inevitably led to situations where clients were poached, and it was even entirely possible that one person did all the paperwork, but the client trusted the manager who handled the project more.

For Yang Manman, if she only did back-office work and delegated the liaison work to others, she would certainly express her firm intention to sever ties with clients, but this would also lead to clients being snatched away by a more attentive manager.

That was why she came to Xin Xin. Perhaps she thought Fu Meng could do something about it, but she did not. This expectation turned into resentment, so she hoped Fu Meng would leave so she could get a promotion in the process.

Yang Manman believed that if she got promoted, this matter would be resolved.

But what she did not expect was that the leaked layoff list was not implemented for a long time. Fu Meng was still sitting comfortably in her position as department head, and she had no choice but to continue working on this project to prove herself.

Xin Xin felt that this matter had nothing to do with her at all and that it was entirely because Yang Manman thought that she and Fu Meng had a grudge, so she wanted to take advantage of her.

Yang Manman’s request for a transfer from her superiors back then showed that she was betting her future on Fu Meng. Similarly, for a relatively new person to have had such actions and ambitions proved that she was not a person who would sit idly by.

Such a person was destined not to firmly refuse and accept the outcome, as Xin Xin said. Therefore, Fu Meng’s version was likely the most objective account of the situation.

“So how’s this project going now?”

Fu Meng looked at Xin Xin and said, “The project’s finished and very successful. But she said she was raped by a client.”

Xin Xin exclaimed in surprise, “It’s that serious?”

Fu Meng nodded. “She called the police at the hotel. Apparently, a group of people went out to eat together, and she drank too much. When she woke up, the incident had already happened.”

Xin Xin was a little confused. “A group of people eating? None of our people were there?”

Fu Meng laughed in exasperation, “Yes. Besides her, there’s another young woman, Su Qi, from your sales department.”

This time, Xin Xin was so surprised she almost jumped up. “What could they possibly have to do with each other?”

Theoretically speaking, Xin Xin did not think the two girls would get along well. Su Qi was someone she transferred up from the lower-level sales office, initially to fill the gap in Yang Manman’s live-streaming room.

When Yang Manman left the sales department, Mary helped with the live streaming, and the results were excellent. Mary clearly sensed Yang Manman’s disappointment. It was hard for a girl like her to accept her ordinariness.

When doing something, she always strove to do it to the best of her ability. In competition, she would never let anyone steal her thunder. Even if she were to leave that position, she would definitely hope that others would not perform as well as she did.

Su Qi was not as pretty as Yang Manman, but she was still quite pretty and pleasing to the eye. Most importantly, this girl seemed very down-to-earth and earnest, the type who would not have any ulterior motives. This kind of girl might indeed make Yang Manman feel like she had a subtle advantage.

Xin Xin’s heart began to lean in one direction, and she asked anxiously, “Is Su Qi alright?”

Fu Meng looked even more tired. “She’s fine, but that’s where things went wrong. To put it bluntly, we’ve all been to drinking parties together; we are all comrades in arms. Even if we are not always on good terms, we always look out for each other when we go out. No matter what, we would not let her fight this battle alone. But when she was having dinner with clients, I do not know what she was thinking; she did not invite anyone from our department, but she invited your Su Qi.”

At this moment, Xin Xin did not hesitate to speculate about Yang Manman with the worst possible thoughts, and one word came to mind.

Pimp!

Yang Manman had a strong aversion to people who appeared respectable on the surface but secretly engaged in pimping. When Zhao Xi was the general manager in Haining, he had set a rule for the heads of various departments: when discussing business, they should only bring business-related personnel and were not allowed to bring newly hired female college students to accompany them for drinks.

In the past, Xin Xin had only heard of male leaders choosing pretty female college students to accompany them for drinks, but in recent years she had also heard of female leaders or female colleagues asking others to accompany them for drinks.

For example, Yang Manman and Su Qi were in similar situations. They might be worried about the safety of going out alone, so they could invite male or female colleagues from their department to go with them. However, knowing that these colleagues had ulterior motives, they felt awkward about it.

When refused, some people would drag other female colleagues along to shift the risk to others.

Xin Xin felt that if Yang Manman and Su Qi had only a casual relationship, then the most likely scenario was that Yang Manman would ask Su Qi from another department to join her.

“From what I know of Su Qi, she seems simple and straightforward, not the type to take shortcuts.” As soon as Xin Xin said this, she realized it was inappropriate, fearing that Fu Meng would think she was making veiled criticisms.

Fortunately, Fu Meng did not seem to care and continued, “They said that after they finished eating together, Su Qi said she was not feeling well and went home. Later, Yang Manman and the others went to continue the party, and that’s how this happened.”

Xin Xin breathed a sigh of relief and felt at ease.

When Fu Meng first started talking about this, she was relatively calm, but at this point she could not help but start cursing, “That wicked person, seven or eight people were working on this project, and when she was in charge, she always excluded others, afraid that they would steal her clients. Knowing that something might go wrong, she asked girls from other departments to do favors for her.”

According to Fu Meng, one of the people accompanying her to dinner that day was a client she knew well. After the incident, Fu Meng called that person to find out what happened. Apparently, the client who had ulterior motives towards Yang Manman was angry because his advances were about to slip away. Yang Manman offered to treat everyone, saying she would invite her girlfriends along.

When Su Qi finally returned home, she did not know what had happened, but Yang Manman was already at the hotel.

Now that the matter has come to light, Yang Manman insists that Fu Meng colluded with the client to present her as a gift in order to secure the project.

This accusation was extremely serious for Fu Meng. She had been under question at every level since yesterday. Although she had repeatedly explained herself, Yang Manman was ultimately the victim. Even if Fu Meng was legally uninvolved, moral condemnation and gossip were inevitable.

Xin Xin had not expected that returning home a day early would lead to such a complicated situation at the company. Since Fu Meng had contacted her, she probably wanted her advice.

Xin Xin thought about it and decided to help Fu Meng out. She called Su Qi and asked her to come to her office.

Su Qi arrived shortly after, and upon seeing Fu Meng, she froze, her smile instantly turning to frost.

Xin Xin smoothed things over. “Xiao Su, please sit down. I have something to talk to you about.”

Su Qi sat down with a cold face and got straight to the point: “Ms. Xin, I know you want to talk about Yang Manman, but I have nothing to say. The matter’s as I initially described. She asked me to go to a dinner party because she was afraid of being alone. I told her to find a male colleague, and she said Mr. Zhang would come, so I went. But after I got there, I realized I had been deceived.”

Mr. Zhang was probably referring to Zhang Qiao.

Xin Xin suddenly remembered seeing Zhang Qiao and Yang Manman walking together on the street in private.