Evelyn went to her father's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in," a Deming's voice rang out. Evelyn pushed the door open.
"Good morning, Mr. Wei," she said. She wanted to maintain an air of professionalism for this pitch. Deming didn't say anything about that, in fact he respected it.
"Good morning, Ms. Wei. Please have a seat." He responded. Evelyn took a seat on the other side of her fathers desk. Ben was in the office as well.
"Good morning," she said to him.
"Good morning," he replied. He was dressed in a business suit with a striped tie. He sat next to her. Her father took his seat across from them.
"Alright, Evelyn. You have half an hour," Deming said looking at his watch. Evelyn smiled. She opened her portfolio.
"Who do you think of when you think of the future?" She asked. Deming shrugged.
"Children," she supplied.
"But what about the ones that never had a chance? The mothers that failed to be? I want to give them a chance." Evelyn started her pitch. She handed Deming a folder with a copy of the materials she had prepared.
"As you can see on page 2 through 8, based on the most recent most prestigious medical journals, miscarriages and still births reached half a million in the past year in Beijing alone and 1.3 million in China. The number across the number is approximately forty million worldwide." Evelyn said flipping thorugh the pages in front of her.
"Some of the leading factors account for existing health conditions, lack of proper medical care, lack of affordable nutrients available for pregnant woman, fetuses with developing conditions left untreated." Evelyn continued.
"You left out air pollution," Deming said flipping through the articles and highlighted sections.
"I did not," she countered.
"As I said the sum of the leading factos are lack of resources available. Air pollution studies have been linked to the increase of miscarraiges and abortions. However that accounts for less than fifteen thousand in China. Which is approximately 1.2 percent of the 1.3 million. I'm proposing a place to benefit the other 98.7 percent of the factors we can help." Evelyn said. Deming's face remained impassive. Ben's piqued with interest. Evelyn obviously did her homework. She wasn't letting questions phase her. Deming nodded for her to continue.
"Go on," he said. A knock sounded on the door just before Evelyn could continue.
"Come in," Deming said. Evelyn slightly frowned. Assistant Sun walked in with a tray of coffee which he placed in front of each person. One black coffee, one with one sugar, and one with cream and one sugar.
"Thank you," she said to him. The other two men just grunted. Evelyn resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Assistant Sun backed out of the room when he finished setting the drinks. Evelyn took a sip of the hot coffee before she moving on.
"What this project needs is to ensure it's location is set in a clean area, with easy access." She continued.
"If you look at the next six pages there are the top three locations that are being considered. It includes a history, market value, environmental factors, and neighboring facilities. As you will see, there are no factories within a ten mile radius of any of the locations." Deming nodded as he reviewed the three pages with details of the location.
"You've put some thought into this." He said looking back up at her.
"Yes I have." She said.
"Aside from this I've spoken to some of the top world leading nutritionists, OB-GYNs, doctors in fetal medicine, and the few doctors leading the charge on fetal surgery." She charged forward flipping to page seventeen.
"Hold on," Ben interrupted. Evelyn stopped and looked at him.
"Fetal surgery?" Ben asked. Evelyn nodded.
"Yes, that was my biggest enticement." She turned back to Deming.
"You may find many of what I am suggesting basic and not worth spending the time and money on. But what will put us on the map is leading the charge on fetal surgery." Evelyn continued.
Deming looked deep in thought. He flipped through the pages of the folder in his hand. Evelyn didn't continue her presenation and held her breath.
"What's the catch," he asked closing the folder.
"We arent the only ones suggesting the idea. It is a topic that Cheng Global Corp is working on as well." She answered truthfully. Deming's eyes narrowed.
"They have a meeting with Li Corp in two weeks. I was working on this when I was there." She admitted.
"So why bring this to me?" He asked her.
"Because this project is my dream. It's something I have thought about since I lost my first baby. I finally have the chance to make this happen. But Shawn fired me." She said.
"So you're coming to me because you have no one else to turn to." Deming said, displeased.
"I'm coming to you, as a business woman with a proposal. I will make this happen one way or another. But I really hope WWO will help me." She met her father's stare head on without shirking.
"Li Corp is giving us the chance to make our pitch against Cheng's in two weeks." Evelyn threw her cards on the table.
"What makes you think we'll win?" Deming asked.
"Because their pitch didn't include the use of fetal surgery." She threw down her ace. Deming processed this for a minute before picking up his office line and dialing a number before placing it on speaker.
"Jinhai Li," the other line picked up. Evelyn didn't allow her face to betray any emotion and Deming watched her very closely.
"Jinhai," Deming said.
"Do we have a meeting with you in regards to a medical facility for pregnant woman?" Deming asked.
"That depends on if you want to make a pitch." Jinhai answered without missing a beat. He sounded like he had anticipated this call.
"We're pitching it against the Cheng's?" Deming pressed.
"Yes. A little friendly competition never hurt." Jinhai responded.
"Fine." Deming said. Evelyn held her excitement in. Deming slammed the receiver back down.
"I'll allow this. You'll have the Wei backing. But Evelyn, this is your project and you have to do it in Wei's name." Deming said.
"Do you want a contract drawn up?" Evelyn asked sarcastically. Deming ignored his daughter's sass.
"Yes, Ben have the attornies draft one up, full discretion." Deming instructed. Ben nodded making a note.
"Welcome back, Miss VP," Deming smiled and extended a hand out to his daughter.
"Mr. Wei," Evelyn greeted shaking his hand in a firm handshake. Evelyn smiled, feeling a little relieved.
"Alright you two, get out of here." He dismissed them. They both got up and Ben held the door open for his sister. She walked out in front of him and the employees outside stood up to greet Ben. It's been a long time since she's been here as a Wei and not a representative of the Cheng's.
Some of the employees greeted her with a respectful bow and Evelyn smiled at them. Evelyn followed Ben down the hall to what she assumed was his office, it used to be her's when she worked here temporarily before she married Shawn.
"Where's my office going to be?" She asked Ben when he closed the door behind them.
"The one next to this one," he answered.
"The corner office?" She clarified. He nodded.
"I always wanted that one," she commented, smiling.
"I know. I'm pretty sure that's why he gave it to you." Ben rolled his eyes obviously jealous. She beamed at him. She smiled at him.
"Big sister's privilege." She gloated. He sighed. He looked at his watch, it was 10:30.
"Is Chung meeting you here?" Ben asked her.
"Shit," she said and dug for her phone. Driver Chung picked up on the first ring.
"Good morning, miss." He answered.
"Good morning," she answered.
"There's been a slight change of plans. You will still be picking up Mingxi, but you will pick me up from WWO." She said.
"Yes miss." He said. After they hung up Evelyn sent a quick text to Mingxi to let her know as well.
Evelyn and Ben chatted for the rest of the morning and went downstairs when the driver called them.