The Changing Phases - Chapter 27 - Various Plans

Liu Yuxin felt an overwhelming sense of heartache that nearly suffocated her. She pressed her hand tightly against her chest, suddenly wanting to hear Zhao Junyang’s voice. She even wanted to run to his side and tell him that she loved him. The cold facade she had maintained to save face shattered in an instant.

Liu Yuxin slowly picked up the phone on the table, hesitated for a long time, and then heavily dialed the number she had long memorized. The call connected, and a deep, resonant voice came from the other end: “Hello.” She became even more anxious, struggling to hold the phone steadily. Her heart raced as she blushed and said, “It’s me…”

Zhao Junyang chuckled lightly on the other end and said, “I know.”

Liu Yuxin was stunned, unsure of what to say next. Zhao Junyang broke the awkward silence with a smile, “The training assessment is in a couple of days. Are you nervous?”

“Not really.”

“Well, good luck then.”

Why does Zhao Junyang keep talking about the training? If he cares so much about it, why did he send those emails? Liu Yuxin felt frustrated and said irritably, “There are only three slots, and I probably won’t be that lucky. My reputation at the company is terrible; no one will support me.”

“Heh, that’s true.”

Liu Yuxin felt even more annoyed. She had said it on purpose, and he actually agreed. She stopped talking, and Zhao Junyang continued, “If you need any materials, you can call me to get them.”

“Whatever, I don’t need them. Goodbye!” She felt she was being ridiculous. Why did she call him? He only cared about work, not about her. Men’s words indeed couldn’t be trusted.

She was moved by just a simple “I miss you.” Liu Yuxin, you are so pathetic.

At that moment, the phone lit up again, indicating a new message: “If you miss me, please reply: A. Miss you very much, B. Miss you especially, C. I didn’t perform well just now, D. Want me to come over and kiss you.”

Liu Yuxin covered her mouth and laughed out loud. She quickly replied: “Your phone service has been disconnected, and you can no longer send messages.”

Since that day, Zhao Junyang stopped approaching Liu Yuxin, fearing it might affect her performance. He knew she should focus on preparing for the assessment over the next few days. However, every evening, he still called her at the same time to remind her to take care of herself and not to stay up late. Every time the call ended, Liu Yuxin would remain in place for a long while, a happy smile naturally spreading across her face.

Today was the last day of training. Liu Yuxin was extremely focused. At this moment, Josan asked everyone a question, “In your opinion, how can training be made more effective?”

Liu Yuxin thought hard about the speeches she had seen recently. She felt this was a great opportunity. After quickly organizing her thoughts, she raised her hand.

Josan seemed a bit surprised to see Liu Yuxin raising her hand. “Alright, Liu Yuxin, go ahead.”

Liu Yuxin stood up, lifted her head, and said confidently, “First of all, I believe the training environment is very important. The environment can influence people. If everyone around is actively engaged in the lecture, it can boost the enthusiasm of the employees. Therefore, the trainer should work on interacting more with the employees. They can pose questions for open discussion or perform live case studies for better effectiveness.”

Josan nodded in agreement, a hint of appreciation in her eyes. “Not bad, it seems you’ve been working hard recently.” Liu Yuxin felt a bit elated; it was the first time Josan had praised her, a sign that her efforts were paying off.

From the front row, Han Mengwei turned around and gave Liu Yuxin an angry glare. So during the break, Liu Yuxin once again became the focus of gossip. Watching the girls beside her whispering incessantly, Liu Yuxin gritted her teeth in anger. When she embarrassed herself, they ridiculed her, saying she didn’t deserve to be Yang Hongyi’s girlfriend. Now that she performed well once, they were even more jealous. What kind of mindset is that?

Liu Yuxin knew that, because of the rumors about her and Yang Hongyi, it was hard to get along with them. However, she also didn’t believe their friendship was genuine. Everyone now stood on the same line, in opposition to each other.

For the assessment, everyone had to prepare a one-hour-and-a-half speech. Liu Yuxin secretly vowed to give it her all. She understood that she had become a rival to Han Mengwei and her group. If she were selected, they would definitely claim it was prearranged. If she were eliminated, they would say it was because she was dumped by Yang Hongyi.

But no matter how others saw her or what they said, Liu Yuxin was determined to showcase her abilities in front of everyone. She couldn’t afford to fail this time. Every night for the past few days, Liu Yuxin had been watching videos, researching, and taking notes with Wenhui. They discussed key points together and even brought Jin in as a judge. Jin quickly embraced the role, sometimes excitedly shouting, “Good job!” and clapping enthusiastically before Wenhui could finish speaking.

Training quickly came to an end. On the day before the assessment, everyone saved their presentations on the company’s multimedia computers. Liu Yuxin felt a mix of nervousness and anticipation. The document she had painstakingly prepared took a long time to perfect, with countless hours spent researching online and making numerous revisions until she was satisfied with the result.

The next day was the assessment day. Liu Yuxin got up early, meticulously arranging her makeup in front of her vanity. She even asked Wenhui to help her with a neat hairstyle. Jin, watching the two busy people, couldn’t help but cheer them on with waving hands: “Give it your all! Victory! Go, Wenhui!”

Liu Yuxin smiled and said, “Jin, you seem to favor Wenhui a lot! Why aren’t you cheering for me?”

Jin flashed a mischievous smile: “Yuxin, I was planning to have dinner with you tonight, but I have a dinner appointment with Wenhui’s parents, so you’ll have to make your own plans for the evening.”

Liu Yuxin huffed, “You, the great writer, abandoning friendship for love – it’s too much!”

The assessment was held in a large conference room at the company’s headquarters. Since Lanyu is very strict in selecting outstanding talent, all aspects such as stage presence, Mandarin proficiency, presentation skills, and professional knowledge would be scored. The sum of these scores would be your total score, and the top three scorers would be the winners for the evening.

Due to the number of participants, each person was given half an hour, so Liu Yuxin was scheduled for the afternoon session. The entire morning, she kept preparing for her speech, watching others’ presentations, and occasionally sneaking glances at Zhao Junyang.

The two standout performers in the morning were Han Mengwei and Wenhui. Han Mengwei had a strong foundation and a lot of professional knowledge. With many company executives in the audience, she put in extra effort to make her presentation flawless. Her speech indeed garnered a lot of admiration, even Josan and Zhao Junyang nodded approvingly, indicating her strong prospects.

Wenhui also performed well. His advantage lay in his previous experience as a professional makeup artist for Lanyu, giving him deep insights into makeup promotion and usage. With his good looks and fashionable attire, he easily caught the judges’ eyes. If selected, he would certainly bring a unique flair to the training department. During his presentation, Liu Yuxin was energetically cheering for him from the side, occasionally showing him a thumbs-up. Despite his somewhat effeminate demeanor, Wenhui had many commendable qualities.

After lunch, the afternoon session of the assessment began, and Liu Yuxin was scheduled second. Her heart was pounding rapidly.

As Liu Yuxin walked onto the stage, she held her head high, a confident smile on her face. She saw Zhao Junyang smiling at her in encouragement and noticed Josan’s look of anticipation. Filled with confidence, she began, “Here’s a story: Once, a traveler went to a small town in a tiny country. He asked the local residents, ‘I heard many generals were born here?’ The resident replied, ‘No, only babies were born here.'”

On the battlefield, commanding generals who excel and dominate weren’t any different from ordinary people at first-they were just regular children, much like caterpillars or ugly ducklings. Initially imperfect and even ugly, through effort and transformation, they become remarkable talents!

Liu Yuxin had inadvertently come across this little story and found it very fitting to use here. Sure enough, after sharing the story, she noticed several approving glances from the executives in the audience.

Feeling validated, Liu Yuxin grew even more confident. She walked to the computer, pointed at the projected screen, and said with a smile, “Now, let’s analyze how an outstanding sales professional can succeed step by step.”

Her fingers flew across the keyboard, quickly switching between slides. Suddenly, there was a stir in the audience: “What is this? How could this happen?”

Liu Yuxin froze, her face instantly turning pale. The images on the screen weren’t hers. They were humorous pictures with mocking captions.

The next slide showed screenshots of a farming game.

Panic set in for Liu Yuxin. She had checked her document just that afternoon-it was fine. How could it turn into this? Who switched her document?

Zhao Junyang stood up and asked Li, the person responsible for copying the files, “What’s going on? Did you copy the wrong one?”

Li quickly ran to the computer to check. “This is Liu Yuxin’s document.”

By now, there was a lot of murmuring in the audience: “Is this a joke? How could anyone pull a prank in such an important setting?”

Wenhui immediately stood up to defend Liu Yuxin: “This isn’t Liu Yuxin’s document. I’ve seen her presentation before. Liu Yuxin, quickly get your USB drive.”

Liu Yuxin shook her head, her nose tingling and eyes welling up with tears. She blamed herself for not double-checking, leading to this huge mistake. It was so humiliating. Struggling to hold back her tears, she bit her lip, said nothing, and slowly walked off the stage toward the door.