Chapter 12

Alright.

The silence in the group had now extended into the real world.

Now, everyone was too afraid to even breathe.

The entire meeting room felt no different from a morgue.

Even someone with nerves of steel could sense that Shen Zhizhe was in a bad mood. His already idle brain seemed to be stuck, and everyone exchanged secret glances, silently signaling each other to be the first to step forward.

Shen Zhizhe was indeed in a bad mood.

He had said that after his business trip, he’d take a little break, but he hadn’t truly relaxed. Over the weekend, he found time to look over the project reports submitted by his subordinates. The more he read, the more ridiculous it seemed.

The last two months had coincided with the peak season for business. Whether it was projects sent down from the headquarters of the Chu Corporation or those submitted from various branches, they all ended up on his desk.

Unfortunately, there had been the incident in City C. Forced by circumstances, he had to go there personally to clean up the mess. He was also somewhat confident in his team, so he selected and distributed the projects among them.

And this was the result they gave him?

“Panpan, you go first,” Shen Zhizhe said, losing patience when no one spoke. His gaze swept over everyone before he directly called out a name.

As soon as the words left his mouth, all the sympathetic gazes in the room turned to Xing Panpan.

The first brave soul.

About to directly step into Shen Zhizhe’s bad mood.

Xing Panpan was also a bit nervous. She reached out to adjust the file, and before the PowerPoint had refreshed, she quickly took a sip of water to moisten her dry lips.

Chi Xiting also looked at the large electronic screen, a hint of curiosity flashing in his eyes.

It had to be said, he was quite curious to see if the work processes and project reports in this “paper world” were any different from the real world.

—–

“Good morning, everyone.” Xing Panpan pushed her glasses up and began her report. “The five projects I’m handling right now are…”

Xing Panpan briefly went over the projects she was in charge of, the current completion status, and the key points that needed to be tackled.

Chi Xiting listened attentively to her report and began to form a general understanding of the work situation at Chu Corporation and in this “paper world.”

It wasn’t much different from his past life.

No difference at all.

Xing Panpan was speaking the truth—she had indeed been very busy, especially busy.

She was juggling five projects, most of them large-scale ones. They either involved the promotion and planning for Chu Corporation’s own brands or the publicity of their new products—projects that were highly valued and closely watched by upper management.

It was also because Shen Zhizhe valued her that he had entrusted all these projects to her.

Xing Panpan naturally knew the trust that Shen Zhizhe had in her, and she put in all her effort and determination to complete the project.

Everything else was superficial.

Doing the project well meant a promotion, and a promotion meant a salary increase.

“Mm.” Shen Zhizhe twirled his pen, looking down at the documents, his expression showing no change. It was hard to tell whether he was satisfied with Xing Panpan’s work.

“Next.” Shen Zhizhe raised his eyes to look at everyone and, after Xing Panpan sat down, directly pointed to the next person, “Zhou Shan”

This attitude made it even harder to figure out.

He didn’t comment on whether the report was good or bad—just listened and moved on?

So, does he care or not?

Before anyone could dwell on it, the answer became clear.

After Zhou Shan finished his report, Shen Zhizhe let out a cold laugh, and Zhou Shan immediately started sweating.

“When did you get the Shunde project?” Shen Zhizhe squinted at Zhou Shan, his tone cold, “I gave it to you two months ago, and now you’re telling me that there’s still no progress?”

“Think carefully. If you don’t want this project, tell me early. I have plenty of people who can do it.”

“Next.”

Shen Zhizhe tapped the pen on the table.

The storm was coming.

For those who hadn’t reported yet, it felt like there was a glass shard hanging in the air, held by a thin string. Shen Zhizhe’s words were like a sharp blade—just as their names were called, that glass would shatter, leaving everyone anxious and tense.

“Did you do the market analysis? Don’t use the old reports to fool me, laziness isn’t your style.”

“How’s the market saturation? Did you analyze it? Did you consider the possibility of product substitutes? If substitutes appear after the project is implemented, what will you do? Do you have any strategies ready?”

“Do you think your predictions are reasonable? What about competitor analysis? Don’t need to do it?”

“…”

Shen Zhizhe seemed to be triggered, squinting and scolding everyone who didn’t meet his standards.

Before long, almost all the full-time employees were scolded, with only a few escaping.

Chi Xiting clicked his tongue, and his gaze towards Shen Zhizhe became somewhat complicated.

Putting aside everything else, Shen Zhizhe’s work ability was indeed strong. Even though he hadn’t been at the company for two weeks and couldn’t constantly monitor the work progress, he could still quickly assess the situation from just ten-minute reports and remember the progress of each project everyone was handling.

Impressive.

Chi Xiting scratched his cheek and casually glanced at the others.

All the interns looked pale, occasionally glancing at the clock in the meeting room, hoping time would pass faster so they could escape the reports.

Avoiding was shameful, but effective.

They had listened seriously to the full-time employees’ reports, and in their eyes, each one seemed perfect—yet they were still scolded to bits by Shen Zhizhe.

So, what about the pile of garbage they were holding?

Even Li Yang, who was usually calm and composed, had a stiff expression. She unconsciously tapped her fingers on her laptop, her lips pressing together, unable to hide her pale complexion.

Chi Xiting shifted his gaze, not thinking too much about it.

It was quite normal.

After all, they were still young and hadn’t seen such scenes before.

Chi Xiting had seen plenty.

His previous boss had been a super control freak, always with a stern face, displeased with everyone all day, and when in a bad mood, would indiscriminately attack anyone. The weekly meetings were a regular collective scolding day for their company.

Compared to that, Shen Zhizhe was still quite normal.

At least his scolding was logical.

Time passed quickly, and before long, it was already 11:30.

Shen Zhizhe looked at the time, called for a break, and kindly allowed them to go for lunch.

The interns subconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

Perhaps the noise was too much. Sitting at the conference table, Shen Zhizhe looked over, his gaze sweeping across the interns before settling on Chi Xiting’s face.

Chi Xiting blinked twice.

Shen Zhizhe said, “The meeting will continue at 2 PM.”

No one spoke.

Shen Zhizhe withdrew his gaze and continued, “I have something else at 3:30, so I won’t listen to all the interns.”

The interns’ hearts instantly dropped. They didn’t dare breathe, secretly praying that they could escape.

Chi Xiting’s eyelids twitched.

“I’ll pick a few people to stay.” Shen Zhizhe looked at the list and tapped it twice with his finger. He read out a series of names: “Li Yang, Wu Mu Liang, Huo You Shen, Zhou Ting…”

Those who had their names called could finally relax.

Catching the eye of Shen Zhizhe, who seemed to be silently watching, Chi Xiting: “…”

Heh.

Sure enough, the next second, Shen Zhizhe read out the last name.

“Chi Xiting.”