Having achieved financial freedom, I reorganized my workplace.

Chapter 70 The Final Sprint Before the Review

Lin Chen and Chen Ya's "simple water purification device" passed all the tests and successfully entered the city company's selection process.

The municipal company will hold an innovation project launch conference tomorrow.

The review rules are clearly stated: project materials account for 30% and must be submitted for review one day in advance; on-site presentation accounts for 70% and the person in charge will answer questions on-site.

The two scores are added together to get the final score for the project. The higher the score, the greater the probability of winning an award.

Chen Ya and Lin Chen arrived at the city company a day early to submit the project materials. Chen Ya was quite excited: "Lin Chen, let's stay together tonight and rehearse a few more times. Let's try to win first prize tomorrow."

After saying that, she seemed to realize something was wrong, and blushed as she added, "What I meant was to live closer."

In the past few days, Chen Ya has rehearsed with Lin Chen countless times. This woman is extremely tense, and winning the award seems to be the biggest thing in the world to her.

In this innovation project review, 100 projects from Xinhai Group's companies across the city were shortlisted, with only 2 first prizes, 5 second prizes, and 8 third prizes.

Lin Chen glanced at her tense profile and poured cold water on her enthusiasm: "Don't overthink it. You'll be lucky to get a consolation prize."

A consolation prize is essentially a third-place award. Generally speaking, winning a third-place award just sounds better, but it has no real impact on promotion or salary increases.

"Impossible." Chen Ya was very unconvinced: "Lin Chen, don't boost others' morale and diminish your own. I've looked at the winning projects from previous years, and I genuinely think our project is really good. It's practical, affordable, and has a large market. Why can't we win first prize? Director Tan also said it has great potential."

Oh dear, how could someone be so naive?

"Alright, then we'll wait and see."

Lin Chen didn't want to waste words.

He knew that winning first prize was impossible. Although he himself felt that the project was indeed very good, in this era of one-stop operation, in the county company, because of Director Tan's name, the project got the green light all the way.

But in the city company, who would give face to someone as lowly as Tan Huasheng, a mere deputy?

Whether you practice or not makes a world of difference. If someone says you can do it, you can; if they say you can't, you're nothing.

When submitting the materials, Lin Chen specifically looked at the list of review experts. Of the ten reviewers, two were experts from the county-level companies, and the rest were all from the city-level companies. There was absolutely no fairness in this.

Lin Chen could only hope that they wouldn't go too far, that they'd leave some broth after the meat, and that giving Chen Ya a third prize would be enough to console this big dumpling.

Otherwise, Chen Ya would definitely cry very sadly. This has been proven many times. She completely broke down after passing the exam for high-ranking officials, and nothing could comfort her.

Lin Chen was most afraid of women crying, and he couldn't very well shut her up with something.

That evening, Lin Chen had just finished washing his underwear when he dragged Chen Ya over for another rehearsal. There was no time to rest; she was just too nervous. According to her, after practicing swordsmanship for many days, it all came down to this moment, and she couldn't afford to make any mistakes.

She was numb, completely numb, and that stubbornness of hers made Lin Chen feel sorry for her.

Meanwhile, on the other side, experts reviewing innovation projects were gathered in a large conference room, racing against time to review and score 100 innovation materials. To be honest, this was no easy task.

The head of the expert review panel for this innovation project was Fu Jiahao, the project director of the municipal company. This guy is a mid-level expert in the municipal company. He has undertaken many innovation projects, made a lot of money, and even established his own studio. He is a very well-known figure.

He was sitting in the middle at that moment, and seeing everyone's serious and conflicted expressions, he said, "Well, all you review experts, you've worked hard. I see that you all look quite tired from looking at the materials. Take a few minutes to rest and have some fruit and snacks."

It's really tough. Those few review experts work like this for a few days and get a few thousand yuan. It's damn hard work.

Upon hearing this, several review experts immediately put down the materials, stretched their necks, and began to criticize.

"Everyone is working so hard. How could they not be? In the past, you could win an award just by being shortlisted. Now, only a dozen or so out of 100 are selected. It's so difficult."

"Indeed, it's tough to get a job these days."

"I can't take it anymore, the materials are so long and complicated, they're making my eyes dizzy."

"I can't see it either, I have both presbyopia and nearsightedness."

After everyone had finished expressing their thoughts, Fu Jiahao said meaningfully, "I know everyone has been working very hard. In the past, there were only about ten innovative projects a year, and we didn't have to worry about how to evaluate them. Now, because the provincial company attaches great importance to innovation, everyone is involved, and it is indeed very difficult to evaluate them."

Liu, an expert from the Biotechnology Department, said: "Having many projects is not the problem. The real difficulty is that the leaders are also rushing to submit projects."

"Yes, I just checked, and it seems that several of the company's top leaders are involved in the project. What are we going to do?" sighed Li, an expert at the water supply dispatch station.

Fu Jiahao chuckled: "It's clear that the leaders are very supportive of our innovation projects. This is a good thing. The more leaders participate, the more they can motivate us and create a positive atmosphere for mass innovation within the company."

"Director Fu, how will you evaluate this one? Do you have any thoughts? Honestly, I can't even read through all this material." Expert Chen from the municipal company shook his head.

Fu Jiahao: "I have a personal opinion. If you think it's inappropriate, or if you have better ideas, please point them out and correct them."

"Director Fu, you're too kind. You're very experienced, so we're counting on you to guide us."

"Yes, Director Fu, just say what you want, we'll listen to you."

Fu Jiahao: "Okay, everyone trust me. I told you, I think we shouldn't look at the materials and stuff. It's useless anyway. Let's arrange the leaders' projects first, and then see if anyone needs any help. If so, let us know, and we'll consider it. We'll try our best to help those who can. What do you think?"

Expert Chen: "That's reasonable, I agree. In the end, innovative projects all serve the leaders."

Expert Li: "No problem, the leader's satisfaction is our greatest motivation."

Expert Zhao: "Director Fu is very thoughtful. If the leaders are unhappy, they won't take us out next year."

Bao, the expert, raised an objection: "Director Fu, I agree with your suggestion. I wholeheartedly support prioritizing the leadership. However, some leaders have several projects. What should we do? For example, I just saw that General Manager Zeng has at least three projects. Should we apply for awards for all of them?"

Fu Jiahao also said with some hesitation, "This situation is indeed rare, but it also reflects President Zeng's emphasis on and dedication to innovation. Everyone knows about the Wushan Water Station, right? It was his biggest innovation. I still maintain that we can't let the leader down. Everyone, you all know what to do."

"I understand, Director Fu is very insightful."

"Yes, we almost made a mistake."

"Hehe, don't worry, with Director Fu guiding the way, we can't go wrong."

Then the expert asked another question: "Now that we've distributed the awards, what about tomorrow's press conference? Are we not going to hold it?"

Expert Chen chuckled and patted him on the shoulder: "Is this your first time participating in this review, Expert Bao? It's just a formality. Just put on a good show and don't give yourself away. People these days aren't so easily fooled."

"Oh, I see. I understand."

With the rules in place, everyone's work will be much easier.

There's no need to look at the project materials; just look at the names. If someone is a leader, take them out; if not, just throw them on the ground.

The winning projects were quickly assigned to everyone.

Bao, the expert, said with concern, "Director Fu, the first and second prizes have all been taken by the leaders, and now we've allocated all the third prizes as well. I think we should release one or two slots for truly outstanding projects. Otherwise, if someone makes a fuss, things will get complicated."

Upon hearing this, Fu Jiahao realized that it made sense. He knew that such matters couldn't be taken too far, otherwise it would easily provoke public anger. However, the leaders had too many projects this time, and the review experts also had their own tasks, so there were still a few projects that couldn't be included.

"It's alright." The older expert from the city company, Mr. Li, smiled dismissively: "You think you can look down on the people in our company? Even if they know they've been manipulated, so what? What can they do? I've participated in four or five project reviews, and I haven't seen anyone dare to say a word."

"Indeed, our company doesn't have such troublemakers; anyone who did has already been fired." The other experts also laughed.

Fu Jiahao also agreed with this statement. Right now, there are too many monks and not enough porridge. He can't favor one leader and not another, because that would offend people. He definitely can't do that.

And so, before the press conference even started, everyone else had already finished their work review.

Meanwhile, Lin Chen and Chen Ya were still in their room, relentlessly studying.

"Lin Chen, can't you be serious?"

"If you keep doing that, I'll bite you."

"Oh, oh, oh."