Day 15, 9:30 AM, First Conference Room, Dongjiao District Branch of United Bank.
The first conference room in each branch was enormous, rivaling the size of a outlet. It was only used for end-of-month directors' meetings and welcoming senior leadership.
The room was carpeted with a comfortable dark red velvet, with a meeting table over twenty meters long surrounded by nearly 50 seats. The bank's massive logo adorned the front wall.
After the branch manager, deputy managers, key department heads, and outlet managers for the Dongjiao District Branch were seated, Lin Qiang led his team from the Longyuan Outlet into the hall.
Lin Qiang walked at the front, feeling the gaze of all the leaders upon him. He had experienced such scrutiny before at previous branch commendation meetings, where eyes were filled with envy, jealousy, admiration, and defiance. This time, however, he sensed pity, sorrow, schadenfreude, and disdain. The former gazes were for victors; the latter, for the defeated. These looks seemed to say, "This time, you're finished."
The Longyuan team took their seats. It was a rare directors' meeting where the entire staff of an outlet was present.
Branch Manager Zhu Fengshan sat at the head of the table and called the meeting to order once everyone was seated. "First, let's hear the performance reports from each outlet," he said, gesturing to his secretary.
The female secretary turned on the projector, opened her laptop, and displayed the monthly performance report for each outlet.
Reading from the report, she began, "Jiaoting Outlet: No change in deposits, marketing performance of 1.2 million yuan."
A white-haired man stood up, frowning and bowing slightly, his expression anxious.
"You need to try harder, Old Zhang. This won't do," Zhu Fengshan said, tapping the table forcefully with his index finger. "Jiaoting is a well-known outlet even at the outlet level. Our branch has always been outperformed by the Xiyuan Branch in evaluations. This is crucial."
"Yes..." the white-haired man replied, his voice trembling. "Next month, there will definitely be improvements."
"I've heard enough. Sit down," Zhu Fengshan shook his head. "It seems it's time for some personnel changes."
The white-haired man struck his own head and sat down helplessly.
The other outlet directors didn't look at him, perhaps out of sympathy. Everyone knew that Jiaoting's location was poor, with residents who weren't well-off. Even a miracle worker might struggle to improve performance there. This unfortunate director had been dealt a bad hand; it wasn't his fault, just bad luck.
The secretary adjusted her glasses and continued, "Dongmen Outlet: 2% increase in deposits, marketing performance of 10.75 million yuan."
"Well done. Keep it up. You're our branch's ace," Zhu Fengshan said, leading the applause.
A director in his early thirties adjusted his glasses and smiled in response.
Everyone applauded, casting envious smiles. The Dongmen Outlet was located in a bustling commercial and embassy district, near the Foreign Ministry and various embassies. Even a fool could achieve such results there.
After introducing eight more outlets, they finally came to Longyuan Outlet.
The secretary looked at the data, visibly surprised. She rubbed her eyes before exclaiming, "Longyuan Outlet... 30% increase in deposits, marketing performance... 41.49 million yuan..."
"Wow..." A collective gasp filled the conference room.
All eyes turned to Lin Qiang in the corner, not to Hao Wei. They had all heard about recent events; Hao Wei had been absent, so these incredible results could only be Lin Qiang's doing.
Faced with these inadvertent glances, Hao Wei's face twitched slightly. He was supposed to be the outlet manager! Had everyone gone mad? Lin Qiang... Lin Qiang... Lin Qiang!! Fifteen days and this is what happens... Get out, get out of United Bank!
"Everyone, please be quiet," Zhu Fengshan waved his hand to calm the atmosphere, then spoke softly, "Longyuan has indeed done exceptionally well this month, but I'm sure everyone understands that this is the result of Director Lin's efforts to achieve the 100 million yuan goal, right?"
The room nodded silently.
"Well, over 41 million is an excellent result, even if it's not quite 100 million. Let's give Director Lin a round of applause," Zhu Fengshan said, leading the applause.
Everyone knew the underlying conflicts in this situation and applauded with mixed feelings, unsure of how to react.
Zhu Fengshan then changed his tone, looking troubled: "We should be praising Director Lin, but the managers of other branches haven't reacted well to this."
He lit a cigarette – as the boss, smoking in a non-smoking conference room wasn't an issue.
"Especially the Xiyuan Branch. Several of their big clients were taken by Lin Qiang. While their outlet managers didn't complain, it's difficult for the branch to deal with this outflow of funds. The Xiyuan Branch manager has already spoken to me about it," Zhu Fengshan frowned, shaking his head and tapping the table forcefully. "Poaching clients from other branches undermines the unity within our bank. Director Lin, if you want to improve performance, why not target other banks instead of competing internally?"
"You should know that the branch strongly opposes this kind of internal cutthroat competition, right?"
"Although it looks like you've achieved results on the surface, these were already United Bank's clients. You've just taken them from other branches."
"The leadership have already criticized me for this."
"Lin Qiang, as the branch manager, I'm in a difficult position."
Zhu Fengshan's fingers kept tapping the table as he listed his complaints.
Everyone stared at Lin Qiang.
Zhu Fengshan fixed his gaze on Lin Qiang and finally said, "Manager Lin, you're new here, and I understand your desire to achieve results and advance. But this kind of destructive competition, solely for personal gain, isn't beneficial to our bank. Do you understand?"
Lin Qiang silently looked at Zhu Fengshan, not responding.
Bang!!
"Lin Qiang!!" Hao Wei stood up, slamming the table and pointing angrily at him. "Manager Zhu is asking you a question. Have you realized your mistake or not?"
Lin Qiang silently adjusted his breathing.
"Your silence means you admit it?!" Hao Wei snorted, sitting back down. "Manager Zhu, I apologize to the branch on Lin Qiang's behalf... This incident occurred because I was unwell and couldn't stop it in time..."
"Director Hao, I understand your desire to protect your subordinate," Zhu Fengshan said, looking troubled. "But always covering for them won't help them realize their mistakes. It would be better if he admitted it himself."
He turned back to Lin Qiang: "Director Lin, do you understand?"
Xiao Xiao clutched her skirt, Lin Xiaozhao clenched her fists, and Zheng Shuai's body trembled with anger.
This was blatant distortion of facts. Even if Lin Qiang hadn't reached 100 million, he had still made a significant contribution. Now, Hao Wei and Zhu Fengshan were working together to turn this great achievement into a mistake, painting white as black!
This wasn't just slandering Lin Qiang; it was also negating the hard work of everyone in the outlet.
"Is this... what banking is really like..." Zheng Shuai muttered, his face red with suppressed anger.