Chapter 2. The R&D center has several hundred people, divided into…
The R&D center has several hundred employees, divided into more than ten project teams responsible for different business segments of the group.
Squeezed into the crowded elevator during rush hour, You Chang nervously watched the changing red numbers on the elevator's LCD screen and the time on her phone. Just as it was about to jump to 13, she managed to squeeze to the outermost floor. The moment the door opened, she pulled out her green employee ID card, rushed to the other side, and pressed the time clock. "Beep—"
Just in time.
The fresh food supply chain business module was already on the periphery, and with the added advantages of outsourced human resources companies and interns, the assigned work positions were as remote as they could possibly be.
The three computer desks were placed together, not only next to the water dispenser but also far from the windows that could be ventilated and exposed to sunlight, with the tea room, which was always busy, right behind them.
Today, on the desk that was originally empty, a shapeless women's handbag was loosely tossed on the workstation, bulging and about to overflow.
You Chang knew that another girl had joined the company, and she quickly helped to tidy up the messy items that had been piled up on the empty table.
This includes, but is not limited to, a half-dead flower that someone has been keeping there, a fire drill notice issued two years ago, the office toolbox, paper cutters, and a pen lying to the side that can't write anything.
They called over the floor cleaning lady, who collected the express delivery boxes that had been unpacked and piled up in the office at their feet.
She had almost finished her work when she saw the girl coming out of the materials office carrying a laptop.
Her first impression of Li Li was that she was very young, like a little girl still in school.
Li Li's height wasn't particularly outstanding, but because her face was small and fair, her eyes looked very big, making her appear exceptionally young.
"Hello," You Chang greeted him first.
"Hello," Li Li said, putting down her computer on the now-cleaned desk and nodding. "Thank you."
She asked, "Did you call me last week?"
"It's me."
"I'm sorry, something came up at home at the time, so I hung it up in a hurry."
You Chang waved his hand and said it was okay: "You pack your things first, I'll add you to the group later, the training documents from last week are all in the group."
"Oh, thank you."
Li Li plugged in the power and waited for the computer to boot up. The company computer she received had been taken from a former employee and had its system reinstalled. There was no specialized software available, so everything had to be set up from scratch.
Just as everyone was getting busy, a woman with big, wavy hair and red lips walked around to the workstation in front of her. She looked Li Li up and down and knocked on the partition of her workstation: "Xiao You, could you run an errand to the third floor and get the documents?"
"Okay, Sister Shi, I'll reply to this message."
"Go as soon as possible, I need it urgently." This has a slightly reproachful tone.
You Chang immediately put down what she was doing and hurriedly ran out. Li Li's gaze fell on her back, and then looked at Sister Shi who had turned around to chat with her colleagues.
It's kind of funny.
Li Li spent the whole morning installing various software programs while waiting, catching up on last week's training courses with her headphones on.
As lunch break approached, Li Li was gently patted on the shoulder by someone next to her. She took off her headphones and looked at You Chang, who asked, "Do you want to order takeout together? I have a discount coupon."
She looked up and realized it was already lunchtime; most of the people in the office had left right on time.
"Hmm?" Li Li asked, "Aren't you going to the cafeteria with them?"
“Our employee ID cards can’t get in.” She waved the green card hanging on the bookshelf at Li Li. “It can’t be swiped to enter any other door except the one for this floor.”
“Oh,” Li Li nodded, “then let’s order.”
She went with the restaurant You Changxuan chose, ordered a bland and tasteless low-fat meal, and split the bill with her.
While the two were eating takeout, Ou Ning, who was sitting at the innermost part of the room, took out a lunchbox from her bag and went to the break room.
He was a graduate student, a few years older than the two girls who had only bachelor's degrees. He wore glasses, always had a hunched back, and was the typical taciturn and reserved man often seen in science and engineering students.
Of the three interns assigned to this unit, You Chang studied front-end development, Li Li did interaction and product design, and Ou Ning was a programmer.
In just one morning, You Chang had automatically categorized this girl, who was in a similar situation, as a comrade-in-arms, and while eating, she told her about the vast difference between outsourcing and full-time employees.
The lack of year-end bonuses, health checkups, and holiday gifts are basic differences; the more inconvenient ones are that their work cards cannot be used on other floors, so they cannot enjoy the benefits of the restaurant and gym, or take the free shuttle bus.
All work documents require requesting viewing permissions and obtaining approval from the other party.
“Oh, right, it’s best not to take any snacks either,” she said specifically. “Instant coffee is okay, but if you take anything else, Sister Shi will be unhappy if she sees it.”
Shi Han is the red-lipped lady who asked her to pick up the package that morning. This is the same woman You Chang stepped on and broke the law with.
Li Li suddenly remembered and asked, "You can't go to other floors with your employee ID card, so how did you pick up your package this morning?"
You Chang picked up a piece of chicken: "I guess I'll just have to wait at the door for a colleague who's passing by to help me swipe it."
Li Li understood and stopped.
In early August, Tan Su returned to S City after his vacation and took time out between meetings to sign the documents that had been delayed.
Secretary Chen Ya handed over the documents one by one, providing brief explanations and answers, working with the efficiency of an assembly line.
"This is the list of new hires at Moshi this year. We require that the internship-to-full-time conversion rate be kept below 50%."
Tan Su glanced at the attendance confirmation form handed to him, his gaze landing on a signature named Ashely Lee, and casually asked, "Did they hire foreigners this year?"
Chen Ya said, "They are international students."
Because the girl had a good resume, she paid special attention to her and quickly found the file in her hand: "She is Chinese, and her name is Li Li."
Upon hearing this, Tan Su frowned, snatched the page from her hand, and saw the rather unique name.
A few seconds later, he tossed the paper over expressionlessly.
"Go there—"
"Kick him out."
When Moshi Human Resources Company was first established, its mission was to reduce the group's personnel costs and the risk of labor disputes.
However, with several changes in the top leadership in recent years, the functions of Moshi have not been put into use, and Yanqi's recruitment still largely relies on the group's human resources department.
They bring in about ten people each year, which keeps the company running smoothly and without much trouble.
Chen Ya had never really taken them seriously, so on Friday afternoon, she brought the group's HR director to meet with Li Li directly.
When the person opened the conference room door, Chen Ya suddenly realized that she had actually seen her before.
At that time, Chen Ya had just joined the company and was handpicked by the then leader to deliver a gift to the group's soon-to-be-appointed CFO.
She carried the heavy gift box, her fingers aching from the weight of the dozens of kilograms of cigarettes and alcohol, and trudged through the villa area in the dead of winter, her forehead covered in sweat.
The auntie at that house was arrogant and dismissive. Seeing that she was just a young woman running errands, she didn't take the gifts from her and just casually pointed her in a direction.
He said that the room with the gap in the corridor was the storage room, and she could take it there and put it down herself.
Chen Ya had no suspicions. The second room after turning the corner of the corridor had a half-open door.
She pushed open the door a crack and was startled to see two teenage boys and girls, who had taken off their shoes, curled up on the sofa, wrapped in the same red scarf, and looking at their phones close together.
The boy sat on the side closest to the door; his profile was fair, and he looked somewhat immature and boyish.
His arm was around the girl's waist, and he idly pressed his candy-covered cheek against her face, then reached out and flipped the page back: "This one will do, don't buy anything too expensive."
He was immediately slapped on the hand: "Tan Yi, what kind of trashy taste do you have!"
An intimacy that goes beyond the bounds of age, extremely private yet transgressing.
Chen Ya realized she had gone to the wrong place, but Tan Yi spotted her at that moment.
He could be as subservient as he wanted in front of his girlfriend, but he never showed any mercy to outsiders. He couldn't control his spoiled brat attitude and turned around very rudely, shouting, "Who let you in!"
Chen Ya had no reason to fear a child's impulsive arrogance, but she was also worried that if things escalated, she would offend her superiors and be accused of dereliction of duty, making an example of him to deter others.
Before he could even apologize, the girl next to him suddenly snorted and said slyly, "So you're getting tough with me again, huh?"
Tan Yi was stunned for a moment, like a large dog that had been leashed from behind. He hurriedly protested, "Cat, I didn't attack you."
"You dare pull me like that?" She tried to pull the scarf off Tan Yi's neck and kicked him away. "I'm not letting you wear it anymore, get out of here."
"I was wrong, I was wrong."
Tan Yi's focus was immediately diverted, and he turned to Chen Ya and said, "Get out! Get out! Close the door behind you."
The matter was eventually dropped, but because it was the first time she had encountered such a high-ranking leader causing such a disturbance, it remained a vivid memory for many years.
Now that the girl was standing in front of her again, Chen Ya immediately understood Tan Su's intention.
She lowered her eyes slightly, signaling the HR director to speak.
The other person understood her meaning and readily replied, "Li Li, right?"
"The reason I called you here is to formally inform you that your internship is ending early because you did not meet the assessment standards."
Upon hearing the news, Li Li did not show any surprise or anger like the others. She only asked, "What did I fail to meet?"
"Your internship performance rating for the past month was below 75 points, which is classified as C, and meets the group's performance evaluation and dismissal standards."
Li Li glanced at the evaluation form and immediately objected: "I didn't start work in the first week, so calculating this 0 points on the average score is meaningless."
The HR director said, "This is the second problem. Your job offer was for July 1st, but you were actually supposed to start work on July 7th, which means you were absent from work for five working days."
Li Li asked, "My request to delay reporting was approved by HR, and there are WeChat chat records. How can that be considered absenteeism?"
The HR director tapped his fingers on the table to remind her to watch her tone: "This is HR's negligence, and they will be held accountable for it."
Li Li tossed the evaluation form aside like a piece of waste paper: "Then call them over to discuss the matter together. If it was the other party's negligence, why should I bear the consequences?"
The HR director probably didn't expect that firing an intern would be such a complicated matter. He slammed his fist on the table and angrily said, "What right do you have to question the leadership's decisions? Not to mention absenteeism, your personal behavior of talking back to the leadership is a serious violation of the employee code of conduct!"
"Look at what you're wearing! What shoes? Don't you know how to tie your long hair up at the company? This isn't a runway for you!"
A group of programmers at the R&D center worked day and night, living in the office with disheveled hair and using the restroom to wash and brush their teeth. When they were busy, they didn't have time to change their clothes for days.
Employee handbooks are just like those damn employee badges that categorize employees into different classes—it's all bullshit.
Li Li wasn't buying his act and didn't want to waste any more words: "You are the head of human resources for the group. My personnel file is with Moshi. Even if my dismissal is confirmed, I should wait for the company's termination notice."
She said, "I'm back at work now."
The HR director stopped her, asking firmly, "Has the problem been resolved? Who gave you permission to leave?"
Li Li impatiently picked up a pair of paper cutters that someone had left on the conference room table, turned her head, held her long hair below her ear, and with a "snip," cut it straight in the middle.
Then comes the second cut.
Her gaze passed over the middle-aged man whose face had turned a deep purplish-red, and fixed only on Chen Ya behind him.
Spreading out a handful of her meticulously maintained long hair, Li Li tilted her chin up, asking with a hint of provocation, "Are you satisfied now? Can I continue working, boss?"
Chen Ya stopped the HR director, who was about to explode again, and said calmly, "Let's go back for today."
...
From the moment Li Lixiong left for work with great fanfare to the day he returned looking miserable with messy short hair, it had been less than a month.
Fortunately, there were no guests at home, and my aunt wasn't there either, so the scope of the embarrassment was limited.
Grandma was extremely worried and kept asking her, "What kind of company did Little Cat go to? Why is she in such a state today?"
Li Li poked at the rice grains with her chopsticks, blinking her eyes like a little white flower, trying to look strong, and said, "It's okay, Grandma. Long hair gets hot in the summer, I'll get it trimmed when I have time."
Her evasiveness was even more worrying, and Wang Minjun anxiously instructed, "Zhoudu, go and ask about your sister."
Li Zhoudu watched coldly, simply saying to leave her alone and let her make a scene; it was all her own doing. Who had the ability to cut her hair with a knife?
Li Li stopped talking, and after finishing her meal, she listlessly went upstairs to her room. Li Zhoudu got so angry that he threw down his chopsticks and turned to call Tan Su.
Tan Su had just returned home from a dinner party when he heard on the phone: "Little Cat came home today and locked herself in her room, refusing to see anyone. After pressing her for details, I found out that she had secretly gone to work at a company under Yan Qi."
Perhaps you had a disagreement with a colleague. Could that cause you trouble?
Tan Su sat down on the sofa, loosened his tie, loosened his collar, took a mouthful of ice water and slowly swallowed it: "I don't know anything about this."
Li Zhoudu said, "Little Cat has the temper of a sparrow; she can get so angry if she just sits there doing nothing. Tan Su, don't get angry with a child."
Tan Su knew that this was the Li family expressing their intention to ask for his help.
There was no hint of a smile in his eyes, but his voice on the phone had become relaxed: "I guess it's because the people below don't recognize her that things went wrong. Since she's here, I'll naturally take good care of her, so your families can rest assured."
"I'm glad to hear that," Li Zhoudu said. "If she really gets into any trouble, don't be afraid to tell me, I'll cover for her. I'll treat you to dinner later."
Tan Su: "No problem."
After hanging up the phone, he spun the phone between his fingers for a few seconds, then dialed Chen Ya's number, closed his eyes, leaned back on the sofa, and gave her instructions.
"Let's leave Mo Shi's matter for now. Leave her there and don't assign her any work. Let her do whatever she wants."
A note from the author:
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I forgot to set a timer and posted it directly. [laughing and crying emoji]
LOL, Happy National Day everyone!
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