The next morning, the moment Huo Rou opened her eyes, she was almost certain her feeling from last night was correct: she had caught a cold.
Unlike the high fever caused by her infected wound before, this was a natural cold, the thing she dreaded the most.
She groggily got out of bed and splashed cold water on her face in the bathroom, trying to look as if nothing had changed.
A cold might be a simple matter of taking medicine for others, but for her, it meant at least a week of suffering.
Since it would take that long anyway, she decided to keep it from An An while the symptoms were mild.
Huo Rou put on a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans and headed out.
"Mom, come and taste the porridge Dad made!" An An called out enthusiastically from the dining table.
When she felt unwell, she tended to sleep too deeply, and she hadn't even heard any movement outside.
"Why are you here so early?" Huo Rou asked softly, her voice as usual.
"I wanted you to taste my cooking." Qin Ningyi watched as An An solicitously placed the porridge in front of Huo Rou. He reached out his hand and then, changing direction, moved the vase on the table closer.
"Flowers." He didn't quite know how to express himself, especially after confirming their relationship yesterday.
Huo Rou smiled at him, staring at his expressionless face, and suddenly chuckled.
"Thank you." She saw "cuteness" on Qin Ningyi's face. Huo Rou genuinely felt she might be delirious from her illness. wap.kanshuwu.net
The porridge was just the right thickness, with finely chopped vegetables and minced meat mixed in.
His cooking skills were indeed good, Huo Rou thought to herself.
After finishing a bowl of porridge, her body felt much warmer. Huo Rou rallied her spirits and continued her forced "slacking off" duty.
When she arrived at the company, everyone instinctively made way for her from the moment she entered. Unsure of the situation, no one dared to approach her easily.
Huo Rou turned on her computer and accessed everyone's screens, continuing her role as a "slacking supervisor."
Although she bantered with Xiao Yuda, her sense of responsibility wouldn't allow her to completely neglect them.
She rubbed her head and focused her gaze on the computer screen in one of the offices.
Judging by the look of things, they had worked through the night and made significant progress, different from what she saw yesterday. However, in the half hour since she sat down, they hadn't moved.
Huo Rou chugged a glass of ice water to clear her head, enlarged their screen, and began to analyze carefully.
Even though it was only a snippet, she could already see some issues.
Because of a small oversight, the program wouldn't run. They had been troubleshooting for so long without finding it, completely undermining the high praise she had given them yesterday.
Huo Rou supported herself as she stood up, and the objects in front of her briefly doubled.
After a moment, she left her office and walked toward that one. At least she could help them solve this problem before her condition worsened. Otherwise, delaying them for a day would be a waste of Old Xiao's money...
Upon Huo Rou's arrival, the group in the office, all with sallow faces and dark circles under their eyes, looked up. After a moment of recognition, they seemed to remember they had a new director.
"Hello, Director Huo." A group of tech geeks didn't have much energy for pleasantries. They greeted her and then looked back at their computer screens, continuing their intense discussion.
"Brother Wang, try modifying this function. I think the problem is here!"
"No, if this is changed, everything after it needs to be changed. Some parts can't use another. I think it's Brother Yang's problem."
"Come over and take a look yourself. This part of mine can run! How can I change it? It took so long to debug."
Huo Rou listened to their chattering, her headache worsening.
She strode over and slammed her palm on the desk. The force didn't lessen, and the mouse beside it even hopped.
The few exhausted tech geeks looked up at her blankly. After a moment of confusion, their expressions turned to blame.
They were working frantically here, nearing delivery, and the debugger still wasn't working. What was this woman throwing a tantrum for?!
Huo Rou said sternly, "Move aside."
"Director Huo, you should go back to your seat. We can handle this ourselves," said the person called Brother Wang, scratching his greasy head in a muffled tone.
The others chimed in, almost saying Huo Rou was a hindrance.
Huo Rou shook her head, becoming even more impatient. She had never seen such disobedient soldiers.
Incompetent and talkative. How could a few grown men discuss something like they were haggling at a vegetable market?
Huo Rou reached out, pulled the person sitting in the middle seat aside, and nimbly squeezed in to sit down.
"Don't touch anything!" The moment her hands touched the mouse and keyboard, everyone visibly sobered up and shouted nervously.
"A bunch of useless people," Huo Rou said coldly, finding them noisy.
She quickly moved the mouse, located the problematic point she had seen earlier, and placed her fingers on the keyboard, ready to "output."
Brother Yang, who was the most presentable among them, couldn't afford to maintain his decorum any longer. He quickly snatched the keyboard and unplugged the keyboard cable.
"Director Huo, we are about to deliver, please don't cause trouble, okay?" Brother Yang's voice trembled. The place where her mouse had hovered was precisely the content he had written.
After working so hard, only his part was currently running smoothly. This was his most perfect work, and he was afraid.
Huo Rou felt a sense of speechlessness. Snatching the keyboard? What grade were they in...
Directly fixing it for them was no longer possible. She was losing strength, and her face felt hot.
"Your debugging is failing because of this part. This function is very advanced. Looking at your part alone, it seems perfect..." Huo Rou cleared her throat, her eyes sweeping over the men around her.
"But you forgot, a program isn't just your solo performance; cooperation is very important. You shouldn't use such advanced stuff here. The other parts can't match it, and it will still be garbage."
By the end, Huo Rou looked at him and concluded, "Showing off is a major mistake."
In Huo Rou's low voice, the few men slowly shifted their attention to where Huo Rou's fingers were pointing.
Brother Yang pondered for a moment, then put the keyboard back. After some mental preparation, he asked, "Then what should I change it to? My subsequent calls might have conflicts."
Huo Rou gave him a sidelong glance and slowly tapped on the keyboard.
The few men watched her tap the keyboard one letter at a time, feeling very anxious.
They understood Huo Rou's analysis, but they had no idea for a better solution. How could a capable expert have such slow typing speed?
Brother Yang felt heartbroken watching her and wished he could take back the keyboard and have Huo Rou dictate the changes.
Huo Rou genuinely didn't have the extra strength. She couldn't let others see her exhaustion, so she leisurely demonstrated her "one-finger typing" technique.
While everyone waited anxiously, Huo Rou not only modified the part she had mentioned but also refined the program and plugged several potential security loopholes.
The few men watching from behind were stunned. They hadn't even noticed the security vulnerabilities.
After all this was slowly done, she slowly clicked "run."
The progress bar loaded, and the program began to run.
"Holy cow!" Brother Wang exclaimed excitedly, slapping Huo Rou on the shoulder. "Amazing!"
Brother Yang quickly pulled his hand away. "What are you doing?!"
Brother Wang looked at his hand and froze. What had he just done...