Chapter 33 A Thousand Sails Pass By the Sunken Ship…
Zheng Xiaotian had just picked up his coffee, but before he could even take a sip, he choked: "...What are you talking about? What are you talking about?"
Xia Zhiyao didn't even lift her eyelids, only replying calmly, "He still has some sense of propriety. Look at him at the company, who has he ever laid a hand on?"
Upon hearing this, Meng Zhou's lips twitched slightly, as if he were holding back something, and his tone was calm to the point of being indifferent: "That's true."
Zheng Xiaotian watched the two of them working together, and raised his hand with a wry smile: "Wait a minute, how come I suddenly became the target of your joint criticism?"
Meng Zhou snapped the folder shut, stood up with a calm expression, and spoke in a steady tone as if reciting a routine procedure: "You always have. It's just that no one usually has time to remind you."
As soon as she finished speaking, she strode towards the door without even turning her head.
After a brief silence, Xia Zhiyao suddenly looked up, her eyes cold, but her tone nonchalant: "You didn't... try to make a move on her, but were rejected, did you?"
Zheng Xiaotian was stunned for a moment, his coffee cup hanging in mid-air: "...How could that be? I've always cherished talent, how could I possibly lay a hand on my own HR director? This is about protecting employees and practicing self-discipline."
He spoke with an air of seriousness, as if he were genuinely stating the company's core values, but his face wore that usual roguish yet somewhat naive smile.
Xia Zhiyao didn't reply, but instead took a sip of coffee, put down the cup, and then spoke, her tone calm and clear: "I'm not criticizing you."
She looked at him, her eyes carrying an undeniable sense of pressure: "It's just that you really should change this habit of yours."
"It's nothing now, but the bigger a company is, the more people are watching it. Even a vague look or an ambiguous gesture can be magnified and misinterpreted. You may not care, but others will use it as a point to attack you."
"From a public relations perspective, it's a hidden danger; from a strategic perspective, it's a loophole."
Zheng Xiaotian chuckled softly, leaning back in his chair with his cup in hand, his tone slightly joking: "I knew it, hiring you was the right decision. You gave me a lesson in risk management on my very first day on the job."
Xia Zhiyao glanced at him indifferently: "If you can't even listen to advice, then you've really wasted your time recruiting me."
Zheng Xiaotian raised his hand and made an exaggerated surrender gesture: "I've listened. President Xia's instructions were like a gentle spring breeze. I've learned a lot."
He got up and walked to her desk, gently touching his coffee cup to hers, saying with a friendly, teasing tone, "Come on, let's drink to the company's future integrity and sustainable development."
Xia Zhiyao's expression remained unchanged, but her eyes softened slightly. She raised her glass and gently clinked it against his: "I'll take care of keeping things going. You're responsible for not messing things up."
Zheng Xiaotian downed his drink in one gulp, and when he put down his glass, his smile unusually vanished: "I'll take care of providing you with a stable battlefield."
Xia Zhiyao's assistant arrived quickly; she was personally chosen by Meng Fan.
A recent graduate from a top-tier university (985 Project), majoring in mathematics, with no dazzling project background or sentimental self-statement, his resume was almost sparsely written, yet it exuded a refreshing and reassuring quality.
The girl's name was Lin Qianfan. She had short, neat hair, dressed simply and plainly, and sat upright. She spoke with just the right amount of tact and answered questions in just the right way, hitting the perfect balance between being "smart" and not overdoing it.
Xia Zhiyao looked at her, remained silent for a few seconds, and then calmly asked three questions:
Why did you choose to come here?
Which do you think is more important, execution or judgment?
What are your expectations for the next two years?
Lin Qianfan didn't rush to answer. He lowered his eyes slightly to think before raising them to speak. His speech was slow and clear, without any flattery or deliberate boasting.
After listening, Xia Zhiyao simply nodded slightly and turned to Meng Fan: "Her."
Her judgment never needed a second round. What she didn't say was that the girl's single eyelids, the gold-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, and her quiet demeanor made her look exactly like Zhou Yue.
On her first day on the job, Lin Qianfan followed her to and from various meetings. She didn't say much, but simply listened quietly, took notes, and organized materials.
Back in the office, I meticulously summarized the day's key information: which group disagreed, who spoke the loudest, who was hinting, and who was shirking responsibility—all were clearly marked and scored.
In less than a week, she categorized the old projects, unread contracts, and historical dispute documents that were originally piled up in the corner one by one late at night, re-filed and cataloged them all, and even updated the color and number of the labels on the filing cabinets.
Everyone unknowingly realized that this newly arrived girl was no ordinary person.
After hearing all this, Zheng Xiaotian came to see for himself, waving his daily cup of coffee in his hand.
"Hey Xia Zhiyao, where did you find her?" He leaned against the doorframe, looking around the office, swirling his cup in a teasing tone. "Is Xiao Qianfan so amazing that she's a clone of you?"
Xia Zhiyao didn't even look up, continuing to look at the financial statements in her hand: "If it really could split into two hundred, I would have split into two hundred already to clean up your pile of projects that haven't been touched in two years."
Zheng Xiaotian was taken aback, his lips twitched, and he smiled somewhat guiltily: "Hey, those projects of mine are strategic reserves, there's no rush."
Xia Zhiyao then raised her head, her pen pausing slightly as her gaze fell lightly on him, as if assessing a piece of unsold inventory: "The kind that's been stockpiled until it's moldy?"
“That’s called sedimentation,” he said shamelessly, speaking with conviction.
Lin Qianfan had just returned from the printing room, carrying a stack of documents. Hearing this conversation, he couldn't help but smile slightly, and his steps became lighter.
She had only been there a few days, but the oppressive atmosphere in the office made her afraid to even breathe too loudly. However, she had already vaguely grasped a truth: although President Xia seemed cold, he was actually the most efficient and discerning of people.
But Mr. Zheng, who looks at Lang, never easily opens his circle to let anyone get close.
She put the document down and said clearly, "This is the version you just annotated. I've had my legal department revise it and rewrite an electronic version, which I've sent to your email."
Xia Zhiyao nodded, a hint of satisfaction flashing in her eyes, and said calmly, "Prepare all the relevant meeting minutes before the meeting next Monday, and also prepare a draft of the PPT for me."
"Okay," Lin Qianfan replied crisply, without saying much or beating around the bush.
As she walked out of the office, Zheng Xiaotian raised an eyebrow: "Wow, the newcomer is pretty quick on her feet."
Xia Zhiyao glanced at him indifferently: "Don't get any funny ideas."
He looked aggrieved: "I respect talent. Besides, this girl's name is really good. 'A thousand sails pass by the sunken ship.' Even you, a withered tree, have to look up at the spring trees ahead."
Xia Zhiyao didn't even look up, her pen pausing as she signed, and said indifferently, "You're the one withered tree." Then, her tone shifted, and she added casually, "I'm the former lover who's back again."
Zheng Xiaotian choked for a moment, then clicked his tongue and laughed: "Well done, Xia Zhiyao, you're quite good at patting yourself on the back."
He raised his eyes and said in a half-serious, half-joking tone, "If you had Liu Yuxi's mindset and lofty ambitions, I would admire you too."
Xia Zhiyao quickly got into character, wearing a sharp-tailored suit every day, her steps steady, her gaze unwavering. She spoke very little, each sentence like compressed code—precise, efficient, and without any unnecessary words.
That aura wasn't an outward display of sharpness, but rather a logical pressure hidden between her words, making people hesitant to interrupt. Her silence spoke volumes, and when she did speak, she often got to the heart of the matter.
She can always extract the key points from a thick and complex business report in the shortest amount of time, express them clearly, and move forward step by step, leaving no room for breathing or emotional gaps.
Even with last-minute budget adjustments, she handles them with remarkable composure, instantly crafting several feasible alternatives. Her speech is steady, her judgment clear, and her writing deftly and efficiently dissects problems, displaying a sharp elegance.
The entire company seemed to have been quietly propelled to a whole new level by her in a way that was almost imperceptible.
She never engages in high-profile "restructuring," nor is she keen on giving "opening speeches" or "cultural promotion." Her way of doing things is just like her personality: calm, direct, results-oriented, and never wastes emotions.
In just a few months, she brought in three medium-sized clients and two projects that were planning to go public through private channels, resources from former colleagues, and overseas contacts.
Even more surprisingly, one of the merger deals that was almost falling apart was restarted two weeks after she intervened, a framework agreement was signed in five days, and it officially entered the scheduling process ten days later.
Even Zheng Xiaotian couldn't help but tease, "Did you hide a client's WeChat Moments?"
She simply replied, "I just know where they are and when they need what."
Rather than simply "pushing for projects," she was more like reconstructing the company's business matrix from a strategic perspective. She reclassified the previously loose and mixed customer resources and built a brand-new priority ranking system based on industry stability, cash flow cycle, and risk control difficulty.
She personally screened out several long-term clients with low profits and high manpower requirements, and focused her resources on sustainable medium- and long-term projects.
Immediately, everyone in the company was on high alert. The copywriting, legal, and project teams worked overtime through the night, with meetings happening frequently and processes running at breakneck speed.
However, just when everyone thought she was cold-blooded and ruthless, with only data in her eyes, she unexpectedly let go during a client meeting.
The project team is a startup team from Southwest China, mainly engaged in environmentally friendly building materials. The financing scale is not large, but the founding team has a weak background, the data is rough, and the financial model cannot stand scrutiny. It is obvious that they did not hire professional consultants.
Xia Zhiyao flipped through the documents, her brow furrowed for a full five minutes. The project representative on the other side of the conference table spoke quickly, trying to mask his nervousness with enthusiasm, but Xia Zhiyao didn't interrupt once, simply listening quietly, her eyes so calm they showed almost no emotion.
A few minutes later, she spoke softly: "I've looked at this project. The business model is not mature enough, the market expectations are too idealistic, there is no data to support the revenue side, and there are almost no control lines on the expenditure side."
The founder opened his mouth, sweat beading on his forehead, while his assistant tried to smooth things over but couldn't find the words. An awkward silence fell over the room.
Zheng Xiaotian glanced at her, intending to speak up and smooth things over, but just as he opened his mouth, Xia Zhiyao suddenly paused.
She stared at the rough financing plan, her gaze lingering on a line of fine print. After a moment, she slowly spoke: "You have a patent for a low-energy composite material used in the renovation of old buildings?"
The founder immediately nodded: "Yes, this is our team's core technology. It was initially developed as a sample for my grandfather's old house, and later we conducted two rounds of testing with several old residential communities in Chongqing..."
Before she could finish speaking, Xia Zhiyao closed the file, her tone still calm: "I know this."
She looked up, her gaze softening slightly, as if recalling something: "I had a friend in the US whose PhD program also worked on this type of materials technology. I read some early literature, and your materials have a very special compatibility in cold and humid climates."
Everyone was somewhat surprised. After a pause, they added in a low voice, "...My grandmother used to live in that kind of house too."
No one spoke anymore.
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