Zhou Hui

Friday afternoon, in line with the introductions from Li Zichun and Zhang Liling, there was a fixed weekly departmental meeting. Usually, the hosting of this meeting rotated among the staff, but in the HR department, aside from Zhang Liling and Liu Shaopeng occasionally fulfilling this duty when their turn came, the task of hosting largely fell to Li Zichun, the assistant.

The weekly meeting mainly involved a summary report on one's work for the week and a rough plan for the next week's objectives. Occasionally, the department manager would assign some ad hoc tasks during the meeting.

The role of meeting host wasn't particularly important—mostly about booking the meeting room in advance, preparing the presentation, sending out reminders, and keeping track of the schedule. So even though it was clear that Li Zichun had become the de facto regular host, Yu Yan didn't think much of it.

After all, these were minor matters.

As newcomers, Chen Ruowen and the other two had no part in the work reports; their main purpose in attending was simply to observe and get a feel for the department's atmosphere.

However, as she listened, Chen Ruowen noticed that Li Zichun was quite skilled at making presentations and hosting, with a remarkably clear logic in her reports. Yet, much of her work overlapped with other module leaders and mainly involved assisting tasks, which didn't sound particularly substantial.

"Anything else to add?" Yu Yan glanced down at her notebook and then asked, almost to herself. "The company will be adjusting its compensation system at mid-year. I informed you about this at the beginning of the month. What’s the progress?"

Salary matters were fully under Pang Qi’s charge, so the question was mainly directed at her.

Pang Qi froze for a second upon hearing the question. At the beginning of the month, Yu Yan had indeed mentioned salary adjustments, but only in passing, without assigning any concrete tasks. In previous years, this work wouldn't even start until mid-April, and she hadn’t begun dealing with it yet.

But Yu Yan never listened to explanations or excuses from subordinates, so Pang Qi could only glance at her colleagues and mutter quietly, "Li Zichun hasn’t given me the data yet."

Li Zichun could hardly believe Pang Qi had just shifted the blame onto her like that.

"You’ve never asked me for the data, and the historical salary data has always been with you. Why would you need it from me?"

"We always have you organize the data each time. If you don’t do it, of course I don’t have it."

"I only organize it as a favor—"

"Both of you, shut up!" Yu Yan, angry, cut off their argument. "I’m asking about your progress, not for you to pass the buck! Li Zichun’s role is department assistant; organizing data is part of your job. And Pang Qi, too—if she didn’t help organize it, are you incapable of doing it yourself? Do you have to wait for her results?"

Pang Qi didn’t respond, but Li Zichun looked thoroughly infuriated, taking a long moment to compose herself in silence.

"The salary adjustment plan and trial calculations must be on my desk by next Wednesday. I don’t care who’s in charge of what—I want to see results by then," Yu Yan declared, putting an end to the debate.

Pang Qi nodded and turned to Li Zichun. "Then you need to have the organized data to me before work on Monday, or there won’t be time to draft the plan."

It was already Friday afternoon. Having the plan ready before Monday meant working overtime that weekend. But every time they asked her for data... could that really be called organizing data?

"Are you sure all you want is for me to organize it?" Li Zichun tried to bargain for herself.

"—Sort out your division of labor privately," Yu Yan interrupted impatiently, then asked, "How’s the progress on the new employee orientation event?"

"The plan is ready," Zhang Liling answered quickly. "In a moment, I’ll go with Chen Ruowen to coordinate with each department about the schedule and participant list. The final results should be ready by Monday."

"Don’t tell me ‘should be’; I want a definite answer. Will it be ready by Monday or not? None of this ‘should be’ nonsense," Yu Yan snapped.

Chen Ruowen raised her eyebrows. This leader had a volatile temper and a sharp eye for finding fault. Zhang Liling’s report actually showed progress, follow-up, and a conclusion, but Yu Yan still found something to nitpick.

Zhang Liling swallowed hard before finally managing to say, "There are two managers in Marketing who haven’t replied yet. I’m not sure if they’ll be in the office on Monday, so—"

"Don’t tell me you’re not sure. If they’re here, when can the plan be finalized? If not, how does it affect our results? Don’t you have contingency plans?"

"It depends on the specifics—"

"What specifics? Isn’t it just whether they’re coming or not? Do two versions of the plan and be done with it."

"Because Marketing has a larger headcount, and every session—" Zhang Liling tried to explain calmly.

Yu Yan, losing patience, slammed her pen on the table. "Don’t tell me any of that. You always have a mountain of excuses. I only care about the final result."

After a moment’s silence, Zhang Liling nodded helplessly. "Understood."

"Send me the plan to review," Yu Yan demanded.

Without another word, Zhang Liling returned to her desk and handed over the orientation event proposal she had planned to present the following week.

"You wrote this plan?" Yu Yan asked, frowning after reading it.

Zhang Liling paused, then replied, "I... worked on it together with Li Zichun. I came up with the outline, and Li Zichun helped supplement and organize some of the details."

Yu Yan grunted in response and handed the proposal back to Zhang Liling without further comment.

Zhang Liling breathed a sigh of relief.

Yu Yan’s silence usually meant only one thing: she couldn’t find any fault.

After the meeting, the veteran HR staff gathered together, venting their frustration at Yu Yan in hushed voices. Zhang Liling was particularly outspoken, even going so far as to say, "She doesn’t understand management at all! Why put someone who knows nothing about management in charge of HR?" Yang Xiaojun quickly covered her mouth.

Li Zichun did not join the others in venting. She simply lowered her head, tidied up the meeting room, and hurried back to her desk. Pang Qi followed, sent Li Zichun the past eighteen months of departmental salary data, and coldly tossed out, "Same calculation method as last year. Remember to give it to me by Monday," before focusing on her own work.

Li Zichun’s expression changed several times in response before she clenched her fists in frustration and continued working overtime.

Zhang Shaopeng and Fang Jing also joined the complaint session, though the former mostly listened and laughed in agreement, while the latter not only contributed to the complaints but also gossiped about everyone else in the department.

Of the two interns, Yu Yi took quite some time to acclimate before tentatively joining in the staff's grumbling, occasionally echoing a remark or two. Liu Mingkai, however, was silent, walking at the edge of the group, the laptop he had volunteered to help Li Zichun pack slung over his shoulder.

Observing the hidden thoughts and subtle dynamics among her colleagues in this small department, Chen Ruowen was quietly thoughtful.

"Interesting," she murmured to herself.