"No way!" Huo Rou answered resolutely.
"Let's talk about it, just a little more discussion."
"No discussion. I need to raise a child, and expenses are high in a big city." Huo Rou lay down on the bed, the quilt smelling of sunshine, and closed her eyes, feeling the light filtering in from the window.
A peaceful and beautiful scene of a woman napping.
However, the words spoken by the beautiful woman made Xiao Yuda feel not so pleasant. "You promised to increase my salary. If there isn't enough, I can leave right now."
Yesterday, to persuade this girl, Xiao Yuda had made quite a few promises, and now she was coming to collect on them.
Xiao Yuda, on the other end of the phone, was amused by her words. "Don't think I don't know!"
"Your flowers haven't even finished being auctioned yet, and you've already made over a hundred million. You're at least a billionaire, and you're telling me you don't have enough money to raise a child?"
"If you keep exploiting me like this, I won't have money to raise a child." Xiao Yuda countered her thinly veiled plea of poverty by mentioning "high expenses," and still felt it wasn't enough.
He added, "Besides, Qin Ningyi's net worth is no less than mine. Do you think he would mistreat An'an?"
"Can I be poorer than him?" Huo Rou was indignant.
"Put away that strange competitive spirit of yours for now." Xiao Yuda finally had something to tease her about.
"With your business acumen, you'll never be richer than him."
Huo Rou didn't accept his argument and ignored it, bringing the conversation back. "So, are you going to increase it or not? People in your company are all saying behind my back that I got this position through special favors."
Xiao Yuda, who had been casually chatting with Huo Rou, instantly raised his voice upon hearing this. "Who said that?"
"But, I did get this position through special favors." Huo Rou, hearing Xiao Yuda's anger, changed her tone to a less reliable one. "You're going to give me a raise, isn't that a special favor?"
With Huo Rou's interruption, Xiao Yuda's anger subsided a little. "Alright, alright. To confirm this special favor, I'll give you the raise."
"I recorded it, you know." The shadows of Huo Rou's eyelashes trembled slightly as her eyes remained closed.
"I'm truly defeated. You were so much better when you seemed indifferent to everything. Now you're just obsessed with money." Xiao Yuda grumbled, but his eyes sparkled a little.
Having something she desired meant hope. Although Huo Rou didn't say much about Qin Ningyi, because of him, Huo Rou was starting to become more like a normal person.
So be it if she was obsessed with money.
Xiao Yuda, outwardly complaining but inwardly approving, immediately transferred a million to Huo Rou.
"Promise fee."
Huo Rou heard the notification sound of the text message. She didn't open her eyes to check the amount, only smiling faintly.
"Hurry up and take your nap, young one!" Xiao Yuda playfully brought up the fact that Huo Rou called him old, his tone helpless.
"Mmm, thanks for the concern, old man." Huo Rou chuckled, retorted, and hung up the phone.
Xiao Yuda on the other end of the line instantly dropped his smile and returned to the conference.
The smart office chair research and development had just been completed. Currently, the one he was using was the only test unit that had passed. It had been transported overnight.
Just now, the app on his phone had popped up a reminder that the office chair was rotating. He figured Huo Rou must have returned from lunch. He had paused the meeting to call her.
Although Xiao Li Zong had reported Huo Rou's arrival at the company this morning, and he knew that Huo Rou's appearance could easily lead people to underestimate her, he hadn't expected anyone to say such nasty things.
Fortunately, he hadn't received any reports of employees being beaten. He figured Huo Rou wasn't truly angry, and their playful banter just now had confirmed it.
Slightly relieved, Xiao Yuda returned to the conference. He still exuded an air of authority, but the people present clearly felt the atmosphere shift, as if the air conditioning had returned to normal.
Meanwhile, after a peaceful nap, Huo Rou opened her office door and went for a stroll.
As a director, she had considerable authority and could enter any office.
Each office here housed a single R&D team, responsible for a specific function or project.
Huo Rou visited the offices one by one, starting from the one next to hers, strolling leisurely as if window shopping.
Her first stop was the Deputy Director's office.
Duan Rui was remotely debugging a project at the moment. Upon seeing Huo Rou enter, his expression immediately darkened. However, bound by her position, he had no choice but to stand up and greet her.
"Hello, Director Huo." His words were stiff. After greeting her, he immediately sat back down.
"There's a small issue with a project, and I need to debug it with the project manager. Director, please make yourself at home." Duan Rui looked down on Huo Rou and, after a brief explanation, immersed himself in his work without waiting for Huo Rou's response.
Huo Rou raised an eyebrow. She had heard about Duan Rui from Shen Sitong at noon. As Deputy Director, he had been acting as Director for quite some time. He likely thought that since the company couldn't find a more suitable person, he would be promoted to Director soon.
However, a dark horse had appeared out of nowhere, dashing his hopes.
But the technology department admired strength. If the newcomer was a renowned and undeniably capable expert, he wouldn't have many objections.
Shen Sitong had warned him at the time that Duan Rui was ambitious, and he was the only person she hadn't managed to befriend. Now that Huo Rou had arrived, and she was so beautiful, looking like a mere ornament, Duan Rui would surely take his frustration out on her. Huo Rou observed the person diligently working with lowered eyes, agreeing with Shen Sitong's assessment. He was indeed arrogant.
He didn't even acknowledge her presence. Having acted as Director for so long, he didn't proactively report for duty or hand over tasks upon her arrival as the new Director.
He even dismissed her with a few words upon seeing her enter.
Huo Rou hadn't encountered such a difficult subordinate in a long time.
"Then take your time. Come find me if you can't figure it out." Huo Rou smirked and nonchalantly said this before leaving.
Let him be difficult. Being free of responsibility and earning such a high salary while being forced to slack off, this was simply wonderful.
The second major troublemaker, Luo Chen.
"Hmph, come to her if you can't figure it out? What does someone like her know!" Luo Chen's voice rang out from behind as Huo Rou's left foot stepped out of their office.
The young man who had been desperately trying to cover his mouth looked helplessly and flusteredly at Huo Rou's retreating back, afraid he had offended the new Director.
Whether the new Director was capable or not was another matter, but a new official often brought drastic changes, and he didn't want to get caught in Luo Chen's fiery outburst.
Fortunately, Huo Rou didn't turn back to settle scores. She acted as if she hadn't heard anything and calmly departed.
Back in her office, Huo Rou turned on her computer.
The sound of the keyboard echoed in the small office. After a while, she withdrew her hands, leaned back, and relaxed lazily in her chair.
The chair sensed her movement and automatically activated its massage function.
"It's quite smooth to hack into the local network," Huo Rou commented, crossing her arms. "Old Xiao found some decent people."