046 "Secret Weapon"

Speaking of Li Lifen, she was quite a legend within the Jinghai Oriental Bank system.

Word had it that she started out as a temporary worker in the municipal branch office, completed a correspondence secondary vocational program, and was assigned specifically to the typing and photocopying room as a typist.

Her typing was both remarkably fast and accurate. It was said that she would have someone read a book to her aloud, and she could type out the text instantaneously without a single error.

She won first prize in a typing competition organized by the provincial branch, bringing honor to the municipal branch. Consequently, she was promoted to a regular employee position, and rumors had it that she was soon to be promoted again as the deputy director of the office.

Ever since the Jinghai regional Oriental Bank system began holding its skills competitions, she had taken first place in typing every single year, almost like clockwork, bagging the competition prize money year after year. Naturally, this caused resentment among employees from other sub-branches, yet not a single challenger had ever succeeded.

Hearing Zhang Rong suddenly bring this up, Fang Qingye immediately grew interested. "What do you have in mind?"

Instead of answering directly, Zhang Rong asked, "Where is Sister Liu?"

"She's over at the counterfeit banknote identification group. Should I call her over?" Fang Qingye asked.

"Yes."

Fang Qingye pulled out his phone and called Liu Meili. Within a few minutes, Liu Meili was seen coming down from upstairs.

"Go ahead," Fang Qingye said.

"Most people use the Wubi method for typing competitions, but I'm different. I use Sogou Pinyin," Zhang Rong said.

Liu Meili looked somewhat surprised when she heard this. "Huh? I've only ever heard of Intelligent ABC, Intelligent Shuangpin, and Microsoft Pinyin. I've never heard of Sogou."

"Sogou is also a Pinyin input method. Its greatest advantage is its powerful predictive text feature, which allows users to create their own new words and even sentences. However, this input method has only been around for less than two years and isn't widely popularized yet," Fang Qingye explained.

"Fang Qingye is right, Sister Liu. I can demonstrate it for you." With that, Zhang Rong looked at Fang Qingye. "Have you downloaded the Sogou input method on your computer?"

Fang Qingye nodded.

Although he usually used Wubi, who didn't know how to use Sogou?

"Then let me use it."

Fang Qingye didn't refuse. Entering the general administration office and turning on his computer, Zhang Rong sat before the screen, brought up a blank Word document, and typed out a line of text.

"See that? I used Sogou's predictive feature, which makes typing this exact line of text extremely fast next time." Finishing his sentence, Zhang Rong pressed just a few keys, and the entire line of text instantly appeared on the screen.

"That's faster than Wubi!" Liu Meili noticed immediately.

"Right, this is the powerful capability of Sogou's predictive word and sentence generation," Zhang Rong explained. "The typing competitions in our bank usually use various bank reports as material, filled with specialized terminology and phrases that standard Pinyin input methods struggle to predict. For instance: interlocking debt defaults, interest before principal, remittance refunds, transaction reversals, and so on. But if we pre-program these terms into Sogou beforehand and practice typing them a few times, they will appear right at the front of the candidate list... like this."

Zhang Rong pre-programmed the phrase "interlocking debt defaults," practiced the Pinyin a few times, and the phrase instantly popped up at the very top.

"See that! This is the brilliance of the Sogou input method! If we add to this our usual typing practice... No matter how formidable Li Lifen is, she's already past forty. I refuse to believe we can't beat her!"

"Well, your method sounds great, but I have a question," Liu Meili said.

"What question?"

"You're using this Sogou input method on Xiao Fang's computer, but will these custom words still be there if you switch to another computer? We obviously can't lug Xiao Fang's computer all the way to the municipal branch for the competition."

"As long as you register a Sogou account and log in, the new words you've created will be available on any computer," Zhang Rong explained with a smile.

Liu Meili was somewhat skeptical. She glanced at Fang Qingye, and seeing him nod, she believed it.

"Zhang Rong, with you as our secret weapon, our unit might actually win the typing group championship this time!" Liu Meili said with a smile.

A trace of smugness flickered across Zhang Rong's face, though it vanished instantly. He added, "Sister Liu, I'm just not sure if the municipal branch allows participants to use their preferred input methods in the competition."

"It should be fine... But just to be safe, I'll call and check with the municipal branch tomorrow," Liu Meili said.

"Sister Liu, you'd better ask one more thing: besides our preferred input method, will we be allowed to bring our own keyboards?"

"Why bring a keyboard?" Liu Meili was puzzled.

"Using a keyboard you're accustomed to helps improve typing speed," Fang Qingye chimed in, adding, "Zhang Rong, that request probably won't fly. Are forty contestants going to bring their own keyboards? Everyone using their own? The branch won't agree to that."

"Exactly. With forty people in the typing competition, each lugging a keyboard? What would that look like?" Liu Meili agreed.

"Hehe... Sister Liu, I actually know bringing a keyboard won't work. It's just a distraction tactic," Zhang Rong chuckled. "I heard that the folks in the municipal branch union are a bit older and only have a superficial understanding of computers. I'm doing this just to keep them from noticing or caring about the existence of the Sogou input method."

"Haha... Zhang Rong, you're quite clever," Liu Meili said, laughing.

Inwardly, Fang Qingye sighed, thinking that this fellow was full of scheming tricks.

The next morning, Liu Meili specifically called the competition organizers. The other party quickly gave their reply: "The municipal branch doesn't care about input methods; use whatever you like. But the keyboards must be uniformly provided by the municipal branch. Otherwise, if every sub-branch insisted on using their own computers, would they expect to haul them all the way to the municipal office?!"

Hehe...

That was precisely the response they were waiting for.

Both Liu Meili and Zhang Rong were quite satisfied.

Fang Qingye had no objections to using Zhang Rong as their "secret weapon."

Yet, he harbored a vague feeling that things weren't quite that simple.

The purpose of this typing competition was to enhance the practical skills and comprehensive quality of the bank's employees, whereas Zhang Rong had resorted to a shortcut based on clever loopholes.

Of course, he wasn't going to make a fuss about it. Since higher-ups hadn't prohibited it, it complied with the competition rules.

The competition was scheduled for the last Sunday of July.

Since various business outlets under Oriental Bank operated on a rotating shift system over the weekend—handling only personal banking and suspending corporate services, which resulted in a relative lull in business—collective activities were generally arranged for weekends.

On July 26, the annual Jinghai Municipal Oriental Bank System Skills Competition kicked off at the branch building. Contestants representing the branch headquarters and seven sub-branches gathered here to compete across four events.

The team from Nanxin Sub-branch had arrived in the city the night before and checked into a hotel not far from the branch building.

Branch President Xia He led the team personally, accompanied by Vice President Su Ming and General Administration Office Directors Wu Shengli and Liu Meili, all of whom attended.

Fang Qingye did not go.

There were only 15 official contestants this time, and the general administration office had already sent one director and one operational backbone staff member for logistical support, which was more than enough. Fang Qingye felt his presence was unnecessary, which would save the unit some travel expenses, plus he had personal matters to attend to at home.

Both reasons were solid, and Wu Shengli approved his request immediately.

In truth, what Fang Qingye really wanted was to rest over the weekend—he worked diligently during workdays, but he didn't want his precious rest time encroached upon; he wanted to go fishing on Sunday.

At nine o'clock the next morning, all contestants gathered in the large conference room on the 9th floor of the branch building. President Zhang of the municipal branch delivered an enthusiastic speech on behalf of the branch leadership, wishing the contestants a successful display of sportsmanship and skill, and so on.

Once the leaders finished their speeches, they left the venue, including the presidents of the various sub-branches. Only the contestants and service staff remained.

The competition officially began.