Chapter 8: The Company

As soon as Lin Zhizhi drove into the company’s entrance, she saw several orderly rows of people standing neatly at the doorway.

She couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows and click her tongue softly. So this was the “arrangement” Secretary Zhang had mentioned over the phone.

To be fair, it was quite a grand display. It only made Lin Zhizhi more curious to understand why Secretary Zhang eventually betrayed the company later on.

The moment Lin Zhizhi opened the car door and got out, she saw a somewhat thin, middle-aged man at the front of the rows of people approaching her.

“President Lin, this way, please.”

“Uncle Zhang, thank you for your hard work.” The person who had come forward was none other than Secretary Zhang.

“President Lin, this is my duty.” As Secretary Zhang spoke, he extended one hand forward to guide the way. “President Lin, shall we go in?”

As soon as Secretary Zhang finished speaking, the people who had been standing in rows immediately split into two vertical lines on either side.

They didn’t forget to add: “President Lin, please.”

With a gentle smile on her face, Lin Zhizhi walked calmly and confidently, following Secretary Zhang into the company lobby. They went straight to the exclusive elevator, heading to the largest conference room in the company.

After Lin Zhizhi sat down at the head of the conference table, the other high-level executives from various departments, who had followed behind her, also took their seats.

The conference room fell into complete silence. Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Lin Zhizhi.

Although Lin Zhizhi appeared calm on the surface, seemingly unfazed by the many eyes on her, maintaining a polite and composed smile as if she was confident and at ease, in reality, she was panicking inside.

Before she transmigrated, Lin Zhizhi had been in the workforce for a few years. Thanks to her decent educational background and continuous hard work, she had managed to become a small department manager. Over the years, she had picked up some knowledge from her superiors. But that was just minor office experience—it was completely different from her current situation.

Everyone present today was a high-level executive of the Lin Group. Most of them were top graduates from prestigious domestic universities or elite international institutions.

However, as Lin Zhizhi looked at these high-achievers sitting upright in subordinate positions, resembling students waiting for their teacher to start the lesson, while she sat in the lead position, her initial panic suddenly vanished.

After all, she was now their boss—the one paying their salaries. If anyone should be nervous, it should be them, not her.

That being said, it became clear to her that as the boss, she needed to devote more time to the company’s affairs in the future. A boss didn’t necessarily need to be more professionally skilled than the employees, but she absolutely couldn’t lack management skills. For example, a boss didn’t need to know how to create accounting reports, but she must be able to read and understand them. Otherwise, if the accountant made an intentional mistake, she wouldn’t even notice.

Secretary Zhang sat in the first seat to the right of Lin Zhizhi. Once everyone had settled down, he officially introduced Lin Zhizhi to the room.  

“This is the legal representative and chairwoman of Lin Group, Ms. Lin Zhizhi.” After speaking, Secretary Zhang took the lead in applauding.  

After a few rounds of applause, Lin Zhizhi raised her right hand to signal for silence. The room immediately fell quiet.  

She lifted her gaze slightly and calmly swept her eyes over the executives present. Only after a brief pause did she speak unhurriedly. “Hello, everyone. I’m Lin Zhizhi. This is the first time I’m meeting most of you, so we are not very familiar with each other yet. But that’s alright. I’ll be visiting the company from time to time in the future, and I believe we’ll get along very well. Of course, I’m still relatively young and have much to learn, so I’ll need your guidance and support.”  

By directly informing the executives that she would occasionally visit the company, Lin Zhizhi was subtly issuing a warning. In the book, the company’s eventual bankruptcy couldn’t have been caused solely by Secretary Zhang leaking confidential information. This was a signal to anyone harboring ill intentions — just because she was young didn’t mean she was clueless or indifferent.  

“You’re too modest, President Lin. Helping you manage the company is our duty.”  

“Exactly. President Lin may be young, but her capabilities are undoubtedly exceptional.”  

“With President Lin leading us, the company will certainly achieve new heights.”  

…  

The executives present were all seasoned veterans of the corporate world. When it came to flattery, they excelled at it without breaking a sweat, each compliment distinct from the last, with not a trace of embarrassment on their faces.  

After an hour, the first meeting between Lin Zhizhi and the executives finally came to an end.  

As Lin Zhizhi stood up and walked out of the conference room, the head of the Marketing Department, who had been following closely behind and showering her with compliments nonstop, suddenly suggested visiting the employee workspace.  

“President Lin, would you like to inspect the employee area?”  

“Sure, let’s go have a look.” Lin Zhizhi was intrigued. She wanted to see the employees’ working environment.  

“Alright, I’ll make the arrangements right away.” the Marketing Department head said as he prepared to run off and organize things.  

“Wait. There’s no need to arrange anything. Let’s just head over. No one is allowed to make any calls or notify anyone.” Lin Zhizhi interrupted, stopping him in his tracks.  

Not only did she forbid the Marketing Department head from making arrangements, but she also made it clear to prevent other department heads from secretly informing anyone.

After all, when she was just an employee, she had experienced plenty of those “planned inspections.” where the higher-ups would warn everyone to be on their best behavior.

Now that she was the big boss, she wanted to catch a genuine glimpse of the employees’ daily work environment.  

And so, surrounded by a group of executives, Lin Zhizhi headed straight to the employee workspace.