She never would have imagined that the senior colleague who had taken such good care of her at work was now starting his own company!

’Isn’t this change in status a little too fast?!’

"I was just spitballing. Nothing’s set in stone yet."

Lin Shen smiled, but Xu Lei’s eyes were filled with excitement.

"Awesome! Shen, you have to tell me when your company opens. I’ll jump ship and come work for you immediately!"

"Alright, I’ll contact you then."

The reason Lin Shen extended an olive branch to Xu Lei was because he considered that the best employee structure for a startup is having veterans train new recruits.

If it was all veterans, having too many crafty old-timers would create a negative, lazy atmosphere that lacked energy.

This would be fatal for a new company!

However, a team of all rookies would be prone to making mistakes.

Therefore, a mix of 1/4 veterans and 3/4 new hires was the best combination.

So the question was, where would he find the veterans?

The most convenient and easiest way, of course, was to poach them!

’It might not be very ethical, but you can’t stop someone from moving to a better company, can you?’

Take it up with my 1.5x higher salary.

"Shen, I’m gonna go now! Bye!"

"Yeah, bye."

On the second floor, Lin Shen waved goodbye to Xu Lei as she stepped out of the elevator. He then followed Zhou Qiang down to the first floor.

However, the two of them didn’t go to the property management office. Instead, they went straight to a reception room in Huamao Mansion. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Someone had been waiting inside for a long time.

"President Lin, hello!"

A woman in a uniform stood up from the sofa and extended her right hand to Lin Shen with a smile.

"I’m Zhang Xin, the Business Department Manager for Huamao Group. It’s a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hello."

After Lin Shen politely shook hands with Zhang Xin, she smiled and asked for his opinion.

Meanwhile, Zhou Qiang went to serve them tea.

"President Lin, are you satisfied with our office space on the 14th floor?"

"Quite satisfied."

Lin Shen didn’t plan on beating around the bush. After sitting down, he crossed his legs, interlaced his fingers over his lap, and got straight to the point.

"You’ve drafted the contract, I assume?"

"Of course! I love doing business with straightforward people like you."

Zhang Xin smiled and handed the property certificate to Lin Shen, who examined it carefully.

The "Usage" column stated "Commercial," and the "Mortgage Status" was "None."

After confirming there were no issues with these two points, Lin Shen felt relieved. He took a sip of tea and continued to review the other contracts.

These included the letter of intent to lease, the formal lease agreement, the supplementary property management agreement, and the lease registration form required for obtaining a business license.

Seeing no problems with any of these, Lin Shen signed readily and used GoGo Maps to pay the first year’s rent and the security deposit.

A total of 1 million.

[Host’s entrepreneurial intent detected. 1 million has been withdrawn for payment. Current Startup Fund balance: 9 million.]

"Great, thank you, President Lin! As for the subsequent rent, you can pay it after the renovations are complete and you’re satisfied. There’s no rush."

Zhang Xin put away the contracts and took out her phone.

"Would it be convenient to add you on WeChat? I can send you the renovation sketches later, and I’ll also contact you promptly via WeChat if anything comes up."

"Mm."

After adding Lin Shen on WeChat, Zhang Xin made small talk with him for a while longer before seeing him out of the reception room.

"Take care."

"Mm."

Lin Shen took the elevator, but instead of going to the -1 level to get his car, he went to the third floor of Huamao Mansion.

It was six in the evening, quitting time.

Lin Shen planned to go see what Qin Yuenan was doing.

Using his "assistant" status, he used the facial recognition scanner to enter Pet Guardian Home, then swaggered right up to the marketing director’s office door.

He was just about to knock when he suddenly heard Qin Yuenan’s cold reprimand from inside.

"None of these proposals are acceptable. I think President Zhang made a huge mistake sending you to our marketing team. Go back and redo them."

?

Lin Shen’s expression faltered for a moment. The door suddenly swung inward, and a young woman ran out, clutching a stack of files with red-rimmed eyes, her head lowered.

’Crying?’

Lin Shen tutted twice.

’Kids these days... their ability to handle pressure is a little weak!’

’Back when I first started, I didn’t care how much I got yelled at. If you had the guts, you could just fire me.’

’But Nan’s personality really isn’t very friendly to new employees...’

Lin Shen pushed the door open and went inside.

Qin Yuenan had been sitting behind her desk, rubbing her aching brow worriedly.

However, when she saw Lin Shen walk in, her tightly furrowed brow instantly smoothed out. Her stern expression gave way to astonishment, and a deep, pleasant surprise flashed in her cool, beautiful eyes.

"Lin Shen? What are you doing here?"

"Picking up your girlfriend from work is a boyfriend’s sacred duty."

Lin Shen walked straight over to Qin Yuenan’s side and teased with a smile.

"Made another one cry?"

"I didn’t scold her. I just said a few words."

Qin Yuenan swiveled in her office chair, then wrapped her arms tightly around Lin Shen’s waist, pressing her cheek against his stomach through his clothes with a soft sigh.

"I can’t help it. Because a certain someone got promoted, all the marketing teams are in chaos. To boost performance, I have to push them. I can’t turn a blind eye like I used to."

"You’ve been working hard."

Lin Shen gently stroked Qin Yuenan’s hair, then said half-jokingly.

"But you should really try to change that personality of yours. You certainly yelled at me plenty back in the day."

"I can’t."

Qin Yuenan buried her face in Lin Shen’s stomach, her voice muffled as she stroked his abs. Her tone seemed to carry a hint of playful indignation.

"If I’m too gentle with them, they’ll think I’m a pushover."