Chapter 100 Anxiety and Dilemma
On Monday, Ruan Yao walked into the gate of Lexingdao Company with a stack of documents in her arms. The excitement of the weekend's deal with Tianhong Capital's investment had not yet completely subsided when reality poured cold water on her.
Lu Zeyuan's sudden transfer was like removing a key gear from a high-speed machine, throwing the entire project team into chaos.
His share of the work was urgently distributed to everyone, and each person's desk was piled high with documents.
At the meeting, Huo Jing praised Ruan Yao for securing Tianhong Capital, but the pressure of a shortage of manpower in the project team made the atmosphere somewhat heavy.
"I've already applied to headquarters about the manpower issue, and we'll get more staff as soon as possible." Huo Jing tapped the table, giving everyone a sense of reassurance.
As soon as the meeting ended, Ruan Yao's phone vibrated.
It was a message from Qin Feng, along with an encrypted file package.
[Madam, the boss asked me to send you a selection of resumes from the shortlisted candidates. You can take a look, and if you find anyone you like, we can arrange an interview at any time.]
Ruan Yao's spirits lifted.
As expected of Assistant Qin, his efficiency is always astonishing.
It must be said that the candidates selected by Qin Feng all had impressive backgrounds.
Graduated from prestigious universities, with impressive resumes, and all have successful experience leading large-scale projects.
Anyone could easily fill the vacancy left by Lu Zeyuan.
But as she looked around, Ruan Yao noticed something was amiss.
She flipped through it several times before finally finding that strange commonality.
These candidates, whose resumes were impeccably perfect, all had women in the photo section, from the first to the last.
There were not a single male candidate.
Ruan Yao held her phone, a slight unease creeping into her mind.
She hesitated for a moment, but still dialed Qin Feng's number.
"Assistant Qin, I have received your resume. Thank you very much."
"You're too kind, Madam."
“I’m just a little curious,” Ruan Yao said, organizing her thoughts, “why… are all these candidates women?”
Qin Feng on the other end of the phone seemed completely unsurprised and gave an impeccable reason.
“That’s right, Madam. When we were selecting the project, we took into account the characteristics of the ‘Summer Wonderland’ project. The core consumer group in the trendy toy market is still mainly young women.”
"We believe that increasing the proportion of female members in the team composition may give us a natural advantage in understanding user emotions and empathizing with consumer psychology. Of course, this is just a preliminary suggestion. If you think it is necessary to expand the male perspective, I can adjust the selection criteria immediately."
This explanation sounds impeccable, even highly professional and comprehensive.
Ruan Yao's slight doubts were instantly dispelled.
She was even a little embarrassed, feeling that she was overthinking things.
Huo Yanzhi and his team always considered issues from a more comprehensive and macro perspective than she did.
"I see, I didn't think that through." Ruan Yao was a little embarrassed. "Thank you, Assistant Qin, I understand."
After hanging up the phone, Ruan Yao put those inappropriate wild thoughts to the back of her mind and threw herself back into screening resumes.
Finally, her finger landed on a resume titled "Li Si".
This candidate's resume is the most impressive of all, having not only led two phenomenal IP incubation projects, but also published professional papers on user psychology analysis.
He's practically a natural fit for "Summer Wonderland".
Ruan Yao circled the name and replied to Qin Feng with her choice.
She thought that she would have to wait for the HR department to go through a series of processes such as interviews, second interviews, and background checks, and it would take at least one or two weeks before she could start working.
To her surprise, after lunch, a colleague from the HR department led a woman in a beige suit skirt with a capable demeanor into the project team's office.
"Ruan Yao, let me introduce you. This is our new colleague, Li Si. She has already completed all the onboarding procedures."
Ruan Yao was so startled she almost stood up from her chair.
This is... way too fast!
Li Si smiled and extended his hand to her, his every move exuding the composure and confidence of a professional.
"Team Leader Ruan, hello, I'm Li Si. It's a pleasure to join your team."
In the afternoon, Ruan Yao immediately had a one-on-one work briefing with Li Si.
During this conversation, Ruan Yao had truly struck gold.
Li Si's speed in understanding projects is astonishing. Almost as soon as she puts forward a concept, the other party can immediately draw inferences from it and even offer supplementary opinions from a more challenging market perspective.
"Regarding the offline implementation of this IP, I think in addition to the usual pop-up stores, we can also try to collaborate with the currently popular immersive murder mystery games to launch themed limited editions. This would better strengthen the emotional connection with fans..."
"This idea is brilliant!" Ruan Yao's eyes lit up immediately.
Li Si's thinking is clear and his logic is meticulous. Occasionally, a wildly imaginative idea can precisely hit the chord that excites Ruan Yao the most.
This feeling was even more exhilarating than when I worked with Lu Zeyuan before.
It's a resonance that's completely in sync, and can even inspire each other to have even greater creative passion.
In one afternoon, the two not only filled in all the loopholes left by Lu Zeyuan, but also came up with a complete prototype of the publicity plan for the next quarter.
The emptiness and anxiety caused by Lu Zeyuan's departure were dispelled by this pleasant surprise.
Ruan Yao felt full of inexhaustible energy again, and she was more confident and enthusiastic about the future of the project than ever before.
Before leaving get off work, she couldn't resist taking out her phone and happily sending a message to Huo Yanzhi.
[I had such incredible luck today!!! My new colleague is amazing! We click so well! I feel like the project is about to take off again!]
Huo Yanzhi replied shortly after the message was sent.
【That's fine. 】
Three simple words, accompanied by a pat-on-the-head emoji.
Even through the screen, Ruan Yao could imagine the gentle smile on his lips as he looked down at his phone.
She happily put away her phone, feeling incredibly lucky.
Meanwhile, in the top-floor president's office of the Huo Group.
Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, the city lights are just coming on.
Qin Feng stood before the enormous desk and respectfully reported.
"Boss, Li Si officially joined Lexing Island today and has completed the handover with his wife. The feedback has been very good."
"In addition, the several 'internal documents' you asked me to prepare regarding Ms. Ruan's personal work habits, project preferences, and design manuscripts have been handed over to Li Si under the guise of 'predecessor handover documents'."
"Um."
Huo Yanzhi leaned back in the large leather chair, toying with a fountain pen in his hand, his expression calm.
Looking at his boss's calm and composed expression, Qin Feng felt a deep sense of confusion about "love" for the first time.
Last week, in order to prevent his wife from attending the party where male classmates were present, the boss first had Tianhong Capital change the itinerary, and then went to great lengths to plan a "chance encounter" and negotiation, and afterwards had to erase all traces.
This time, for a male colleague with whom she had a pleasant working relationship, she promoted him three levels and transferred him to Shanghai. Then, at the fastest speed, she arranged for a more capable, more compatible, and female "perfect colleague" to seamlessly take over.
In Qin Feng's view, his wife's heart and eyes were now completely devoted to her boss, and her heartfelt dependence and love were impossible to hide.
Why is the boss still so... cautious, even to the point of being anxious, when facing her?
They even use this almost controlling approach to quietly eliminate every potential "threat" around them.
This behavior is quite different from making decisive moves in the business world.
Boss, what are you still worried about?
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