©Novel Buddy
Charm point maxed out, inheriting game assets-Chapter 1698 - 586: Zhang Yan! Zhang Yan! (Part 3)
The others quickly gathered around, their enthusiasm bordering on fawning.
Wen Ruan playfully winked at her man, a look of "proud of you."
After a round of grand and fervent greetings, under the personal lead of Wang Chongxian, the group entered the meeting room.
A temporary due diligence team composed of elites from the Star Cloud International Yang City branch was already waiting here, and both parties quickly got into work mode.
Half an hour later.
The convoy set off towards the "Smart Chain Future" headquarters, located in Tianyu Business Building in Yuexiu District.
...
By noon.
Shu Cheng Technology.
"Let’s go, Zhang Yan." Lulu knocked on the partition of her desk, "Time to eat! Time to eat!"
"Oh, oh, coming." Zhang Yan quickly saved the draft she just finished, tidied up her desk a bit, and stood up.
The two squeezed into the slowly descending elevator and went downstairs.
After walking through the alleys for a while, they expertly entered a nearby cramped fast-food restaurant.
The air was filled with the mixed aroma of cooking oil and rice.
As usual, Zhang Yan ordered a 12 yuan boxed meal with one meat and one vegetable.
Lulu, on the other hand, was rather generous, directly ordering an 18 yuan two meats and one vegetable combo.
The two of them sat down at a small greasy table.
Lulu excitedly scooped up her rice, "Zhang Yan, you wouldn’t believe it, the fund I lost the most money on before has completely rebounded! Added with the others, I’ve earned a total of 2,200 this month!"
Zhang Yan widened her eyes in surprise: "So much?"
"Yeah, yeah! It’s a pity I didn’t dare to buy stocks back then, otherwise I would have earned more..."
Zhang Yan quietly ate her stir-fried tofu and meat with shredded potatoes, listening to Lulu constantly spouting terms like "hundreds of billions of dollars in mother funds," "market sentiment reversal," and "geopolitical stimuli," which she’d read about in forums.
She felt these things were like clouds drifting in the sky, far, far away from her life.
Unlike Lulu, who had so much savings, she only had 17,000 in her account.
By the end of this month, she would have to pay three months’ rent in one go, and she also had an Orange that ate a lot to feed.
As they chatted, the topic naturally returned to travel expense reimbursements and salaries.
Lulu lowered her voice and started to complain: "Our company is getting worse and worse. Look at this recently, either checking attendance or managing discipline, calling us to meetings over trivial stuff. I tell you, the worse the company gets, the more the management likes to mess around with the employees, it’s a rule! It’s just to force us to leave on our own!"
Zhang Yan nodded along, worry and concern lingering in her eyes.
The rice in her mouth no longer seemed as fragrant.
After lunch, the two returned to the company.
The atmosphere in the office was even more dull and oppressive than in the morning.
Zhang Yan sat at her workstation, feeling restless.
Her eyes involuntarily drifted to the time in the lower right corner.
Next to her, Lulu curiously asked, "What’s wrong, Zhang Yan? Are you feeling unwell?"
Zhang Yan shyly shook her head and whispered, "I... I want to apply for a two-hour break this afternoon."
Last night, because of overtime, she missed getting those two cherished comic books.
Today is Friday. No matter what, she has to get them today.
"Then hurry up and apply! Those over 200 hours of compensatory leave you have won’t convert to cash, and they’ll be cleared at the end of the year, so better use them now!"
Zhang Yan gently said "uh-huh," opened DingTalk, and clicked the "Apply for Leave" button in the upper right corner of the page.
She hesitated for a moment while looking at the familiar leave application page.
Thinking of her comic books.
She took a deep breath, quickly selected the time slot and type of leave, and clicked "Submit."
Next, the progress status indicated that the application had reached her superior, Bai Rui, and was awaiting approval.
Time passed slowly.
Zhang Yan worked seriously, but she couldn’t help refreshing the DingTalk page from time to time.
The application still hadn’t gone through.
She felt a bit anxious, opened the chat interface with Bai Rui, typed a few reminder words on the keyboard, but then deleted them word by word before sending.
After three o’clock in the afternoon.
Zhang Yan lowered her gaze, feeling uneasy.
"Ding——"
A group message suddenly popped up.
[Content Director - Bai Rui: "@everyone, please all stay and work overtime tonight. The big boss is having a meeting outside but will return to the office around 7. Try to stay until after 7."]
Immediately, a chorus of small mutters resonated across the office area.
Soon, a fierce discussion unfolded in the small group chat among a few colleagues.
["No way? I already promised to watch a movie with my girlfriend!"]
["Ok, fine, if we have to work overtime, so be it. The management probably wants us to ’show our commitment’ to avoid getting laid off."]
["I think it’s more like President Bai is trying to ’show his commitment’, afraid he’ll be the one to get laid off first, right?"]
...
Zhang Yan bit her lip, her heart sinking bit by bit.
Just like Lulu said, now the company is particularly strict about attendance and discipline, hoping to seize the chance to let people go without compensation.
Recently, everyone in the office had become very cautious, and even those who used to slack off were nowhere to be seen; asking for leave became rare.
Time ticked away, edging closer to 4 o’clock in the afternoon.
From the office entrance direction, a portly figure walked in.
Seeing the director Bai Rui approaching.
Sitting at the corridor-edge workstation, Zhang Yan’s body began to tremble slightly, out of her control.







