To be honest, if you actually included his financial statement section, it wouldn't make much difference.
However, Hook's reckless actions and insistence on claiming credit make it difficult to compromise, as it would be like swallowing a fly.
Christine was clearly angry; her chest was heaving.
She told Chi Cheng, "Let him go find the professor. I don't believe the professor will trust him."
Ajit backed down, "Maybe we should just give up. If we make a bad impression on the teacher, it will result in a low score for our whole class."
This is also what Shi Ling was worried about.
Besides, they have to hand in their derivatives assignments this Friday, so they don't have time to go with him to talk things out with the teacher.
They all had a slight headache.
Chi Cheng's hand rested on the table, still twirling a pen.
It spun around twice and then slammed onto the table with a thud.
Chi Cheng smiled and said to Ajit, "Call him now and tell him we agree and ask him to come back."
Shi Ling looked up at him; this was nothing like Chi Cheng's style.
Sure enough, his smile carried a hint of disdain as he said to the group, "I have an idea."
Everyone looked at him.
Chi Cheng: "Why don't we submit one copy first, and then tell the business school office that we submitted the wrong one and submit a new one?"
They all understood.
Chi Cheng spoke casually, but what he really wanted was for them to put on a show with Hook and then submit a real contribution value later.
Christine was already unhappy with Hook's attitude, so she was the first to applaud him.
Ajit was still a little hesitant, but Chi Cheng, without any mental burden, comforted him, "Anyway, what we submitted was genuine."
He was confident of victory, and his tone soothed Ajit's anxiety.
Ajit agreed hesitantly.
Shi Ling was still revising those forms and hadn't said a word.
Chi Cheng turned his head to look at her, "You think I'm boring and despicable again?"
Shi Ling stopped typing.
The tone of voice didn't reveal any specific likes or dislikes: "I have no opinion."
Chi Cheng smiled meaningfully. "Is that so?"
The next second he casually said "OK."
I put my phone on the table and played an audio recording—the one Christine and Ajit had made when they agreed to meet.
Ajit's expression changed. After Chi Cheng turned it off, he stood up and twisted his stiff neck.
"Don't worry, I guarantee we'll be of one mind, OK?"
Christine laughed instead, saying directly that she liked Chi Cheng's temper. This was the kind of approach she needed to deal with someone like Hook. The fact that he kept a trick up his sleeve in case they changed their minds showed that he was smart.
Hook returned quickly, with a victorious smile.
The group of people felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Chi Cheng sighed, "We Chinese value harmony the most. As you said, we are a group, there's no need to take it to the professor. Let's just pay as you said."
Hook's impression of Chinese people has always been that they are afraid to confront others directly, cowardly and afraid of trouble. Naturally, he thought that it was his actions that scared the others.
Hook beamed and patted him on the shoulder, "I've heard that Chinese men are loyal and righteous, and it's true."
He clearly didn't know that in addition to being loyal and devoted to each other, the Chinese are also adept at using deceptive tactics, employing a variety of schemes and plots.
The next day, when the group went to the business school to submit their papers to the office, Chi Cheng tricked Hook, saying that his signature was artistic and asked him to write another one on a blank sheet of paper as a memento of their acquaintance.
Hook had no idea what the meaning behind Chi Cheng's roguish smile, which seemed like that of a buddy, was.
As they left, they wished each other a Merry Christmas.
Hook was still teasing Shi Ling, telling her she should smile more, otherwise no one would ever pursue her.
Shi Ling was already a quiet person in the group, and because she was in the same group as Chi Cheng, she became even more taciturn and just buried herself in her work.
After Hook finished speaking, he glanced at Chi Cheng and asked, "Do all Chinese men like introverted men like this?"
Chi Cheng glanced at Shi Ling, patted Hook on the shoulder, and smiled meaningfully, "You don't understand."
How could he possibly understand the soft heart and alluring charm hidden beneath Shi Ling's aloof exterior?
She was stubborn and awkward, but never pretentious or affected.
The group pretended to disperse in front of the business school.
After each taking a turn around, they returned to the business school to regroup.
As it had been agreed beforehand, Chi Cheng took the blank sheet of paper with Hook's signature, which had already been reprinted. Chi Cheng was the first to bow his head and quickly sign his name, followed by Ajit and Christine.
Chi Cheng finally handed the paper and pen to Shi Ling.
Shi Ling was still reading the specific contributions written on the paper.
Chi Cheng asked her softly, "Are you angry?"
Shi Ling shook her head.
Since she agreed to his request yesterday, it would be too hypocritical for her to go back on her word today. She agreed because she believed it was indeed the easiest way.
As long as this new table reflects the true contribution values.
She always double-checks before putting pen to paper.
Christine remembered to ask Chi Cheng, "What if we don't get Hook's autograph?"
Chi Cheng smiled, took a piece of paper, and wrote a few strokes on the back.
The signing was exactly the same as the one with Hook.
Chi Cheng had thought about this problem yesterday. Imitation is not difficult. He thought he would have to practice his handwriting for a while today, but yesterday he took a picture of Hook's signature on the notebook cover.
He went back and practiced a few moves.
Shi Ling handed the paper and pen back to Chi Cheng, and the group went back to the office together. They told the staff that there had been a printing error and submitted a new copy.
After Chi Cheng came out, he tore up the old one in front of them. In a casual tone, he told Ajit and Christine that if Hook asked them what their scores were, they should say something similar to Hook's. That way, Hook wouldn't be confused and would probably just think that they didn't do well overall.
This time, the atmosphere among them truly became relaxed and pleasant.
He spearheaded a troublesome matter that could have sparked a major conflict, and quietly resolved it.
When they parted, Christine hugged Chi Cheng and Shi Ling respectively.
She said Chi Cheng was the most interesting Chinese man she had ever met. Chi Cheng smiled and jokingly told her that she would never meet anyone more interesting.
When it came to Shi Ling, Christine apologized, saying that she had said some offensive things to her when they first started working on this topic. She said that Shi Ling was the most pleasant person to work with this assignment, and that she had even helped Christine find some of her materials last time.
Shi Ling was usually quiet in the group, but unexpectedly Christine was quite friendly to her in the end. She hugged her back and said she was happy to meet her.
After the group dispersed, Shi Ling had no time or inclination to think about the matter in detail, and simply let it go.
Because tomorrow's group assignment is on derivatives, and the derivatives assignment is extensive and difficult, almost the entire major will be spending the night in the library.
As soon as she arrived, she met up with her team members, and the group ordered lunch delivery to start cooking.
When she went to buy coffee from the vending machine in the afternoon, she greeted Fang Ze and Zhao Yongbin along the way. She then realized that almost all of their majors were sitting in this area. Everyone had booked different meeting rooms, and some people didn't have partitions; it was just a whole table.
When he passed Chi Cheng, he sat with his back to the corridor, twirling a pen while discussing things with them.
It's rare to see Chi Cheng so serious.
The library was heated, so he took off his coat and put on a turtleneck sweater, rolling up the sleeves loosely.
He got to the key point, raised his hand and tapped the table, and the others looked up and stared at him intently.
It must be said that some men do possess a unique and eye-catching aura in a crowd. Chi Cheng isn't the composed leader type, yet his mere presence makes him impossible for anyone to ignore.
When it comes to making a decision, he has enough courage to speak up and make the final decision. Moreover, he maintains good relationships with everyone in the team and rarely says anything that makes people uncomfortable.
This experience showed that he was far from the team member Shi Ling had previously perceived who cut corners and shirked responsibility.
Shi Ling glanced at him a few more times out of the corner of her eye while tidying her hair, then went back to her meeting room and continued working.
They were indeed busy until midnight. Shi Ling drank countless cans of coffee and managed to stay awake until 2:30 a.m., but she was exhausted.
There were only five people in the group. One of them was not in good health and could not stay up all night. She barely finished her own work and went home. The rest of them summarized and checked the work, scrutinizing the format and other errors.
Two people were already asleep on the table, saying they would get up in half an hour.
Shi Ling sat for a whole day, and her body became stiff.
After typing the last line of this paragraph, Shi Ling leaned back in her seat.
Feeling the soreness in her spine, Shi Ling reached down to her lower back and gently rubbed it a few times.
She exchanged a glance with another girl in her group who was still awake, and the two quietly exchanged their progress.
Shi Ling sat near the door, facing the window from the side.
Having been staring at the computer all along, she leaned back in her chair and relaxed a little, only then noticing the shimmering white light drifting down like willow catkins in the dim light outside.
After looking at it closely for a while, I realized it wasn't just my imagination from staring at the computer screen for too long; it was real, tangible snowflakes.
The trees outside the window were covered with snow, silently turning white.
Since the beginning of winter this year, there have been many snowfalls, mostly sleet.
We only had time to feel the chill of winter, but not enough to appreciate the gentleness of the snowflakes.
This feeling of suddenly noticing the silent snowfall when you look up is like a tacit understanding in the stillness of the world, quietly leaving a snowy encounter for those who are attentive.
Shi Ling stared blankly for a while, then pressed the sleep button on her computer, got up, and walked out of the conference room.
Passing by Chi Cheng's meeting room, most of the students were exhausted by this point in their studies.
Their cubicle door was open, the lights were off, and it was pitch black. Only one person was still using the computer.
Even though it was dark inside, Shi Ling could easily make out his back.
With his long arms and legs, Chi Cheng felt particularly cramped lying on the table.