The day before the final submission of the Star River Bay scheme, something happened.
Wanting opened her computer and habitually glanced at the project folder. Last modified time: 1:07 AM. She had left at 10 PM. No one had touched her computer after that. Her heart sank. She immediately contacted IT. Half an hour later the IT manager walked in, his face ashen.
"Zhou Wei from the operations team used an administrator account to remotely log into your workstation at 1 AM and copied the entire Star River Bay project folder."
"Zhou Wei? I have no work-related interactions with him whatsoever."
The IT manager placed an envelope on the table.
"He turned this in himself."
Inside the envelope were fifty thousand yuan in cash and a business card. Printed on the business card: Ruiheng Real Estate, Project Director, Lu Yichen.
Wanting stared at that business card. Her blood ran cold. It was him. He had bribed someone at her company to steal the scheme.
After legal affairs got involved, Zhou Wei confessed very quickly. He had met the person at a barbecue stall. The other party offered a hundred thousand. He had a momentary lapse of judgment.
"That person said his surname was Lu. From Ruiheng."
Outside the conference room, Wanting listened to the entire conversation through the glass. She picked up the phone and called Chen Zhiyuan.
"President Chen, our scheme has been stolen. The person who stole it is Lu Yichen."
Silence on the other end for three seconds.
"I understand. What are your thoughts?"
That afternoon, Meng Yao was in Ruiheng's Vice President office, inserting the USB drive Lu Yichen had brought into her computer. After looking at it for five minutes, her expression changed.
"Talent Ecosystem Community."
She muttered the core concept of the scheme, her fingers tapping the desktop.
"Su Wanting, you really do have some skills."
"President Meng, do we need to make major revisions to our scheme?"
"No major revisions. Make slight adjustments to a few key creative elements. Make the review committee feel that Ruiheng's scheme resembles Hongtu's in thinking, but is more pragmatic."
Lu Yichen hesitated.
"This... doesn't seem quite right?"
"Whether it's right or not isn't important. Winning is what matters."
Meng Yao stood up and walked over to him, tapping his chest with her finger.
"Yichen, you're already on this boat. There's no turning back."
Inside Hongtu's conference room, seven people sat around the table. The atmosphere was so stifling it was about to explode. The scheme had been copied. The formal bidding was in two weeks. The opponent had all their cards.
"Should we sue them?"
"What good is suing? The bidding won't be delayed because of a lawsuit. Even if we win the case, the project will long be lost."
"Redo a version? Can we make it in two weeks?"
No one spoke. Wanting had been sitting in the corner without making a sound. After everyone fell silent, she stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote four characters: Gambling Agreement.
Everyone looked up at her.
"We won't compete with our opponent on who has a scheme more similar to the leaked version."
Her voice was very steady.
"We'll change dimensions. Upgrade from scheme design to operational commitment."
She wrote a second line on the whiteboard: Hongtu Real Estate promises that within five years after the Star River Bay project enters operation, the talent retention rate in the east district will increase by thirty percent. If we fail to meet this, Hongtu will voluntarily compensate Wand Group an amount equal to ten percent of the project's total investment.
The conference room exploded.
"Ten percent? That's five hundred million!"
"Director Su, this is too risky!"
"The opponent can't copy this."
Wanting put down the marker and turned to face everyone.
"Because no one dares to sign this commitment."
The conference room went quiet. Chen Zhiyuan sat in the main seat looking at Wanting. There was light in his eyes.
"Let's do as she says."