Now you could finally see Shi Chuxin’s expression, because her neck suddenly flushed bright red.

The reaction made the HR Director actually laugh out loud.

She took out a compact mirror, slowly checked her own reflection in it, and said at ease:

"When you first joined the company and brought the EAP Project Team in, you said this was an advanced system from overseas, beneficial to the company—heh."

"What you were really thinking back then, who in our department up and down doesn’t know?"

To put it bluntly, that kind of thinking, that kind of little trick, is old workplace stuff people have already played to death.

"’Employee Assistance Program’, right? With that project team here, it can indeed stabilize the company’s situation a bit. But honestly, domestic companies have been around for so many years, haven’t they all developed vigorously without this thing?"

"When you first submitted that proposal, by our usual rules there was no way it would get approved with us. But you were lucky—the project team happened to have some rich kid the boss wanted to do a favor for."

"But now... looking at it, whether it’s you or the boss, all that effort has gone to waste."

"However..." The HR Director’s full upper body suddenly leaned forward, and the perfume between her hair strands almost overwhelmed Shi Chuxin’s face. "Given how things stand, you still have a chance to make up for it. Or rather—to make a contribution!"

A big, tempting pie was shoved in front of her.

But the flush on Shi Chuxin’s neck faded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

She could guess what the HR Director was about to say.

"The person heading that project team... is quite interesting. But that’s exactly why he pissed the boss off so much."

When she said this, what Nan Zhubin had just said in the boss’s office involuntarily surfaced in the HR Director’s mind.

Letting out a cold snort in her heart, she went on: "They’re people you brought in, so you go talk to them. Persuade them to cooperate with the boss. As long as they’re willing to help stabilize the employees below, and the company’s optimization plan can move forward smoothly, then whether for you, for me, or for—"

The HR Director raised a hand and pointed toward the ceiling. "It’ll be a great thing for all of us."

Shi Chuxin fell silent.

She knew what her director said was true.

But some things are not about whether she wants to do them, but whether she can do them.

Faced with a question she couldn’t answer, silence seemed like a good way to muddle through. But this time the HR Director didn’t give Shi Chuxin a chance to muddle through. She neither kept assigning tasks, nor waved it off and let Shi Chuxin leave.

Instead, she just stared at her, clearly not planning to give up without an answer.

"Sister Zong..." After a long while, Shi Chuxin finally spoke.

"There’s one more thing I need to report to you."

When the silence tactic failed, Shi Chuxin changed the subject: "Recently there’s been someone always coming up to our floor, asking about our department’s management."

"Seems like he’s from Marketing. He first went to our specialists, and later wanted to talk to the managers and supervisors."

"The guy’s on the optimization list. Everyone has experience with this kind of situation. The specialists all say they don’t know what his issue is, and the managers and supervisors dodge him whenever they can..."

This kind of topic-changing reply clearly did not satisfy the HR Director.

Her expression instantly turned cold. "I’ve seen plenty like him. Ignore him. If no one pays him any mind, he’ll know his place sooner or later..."

As she spoke, the HR Director’s eyes suddenly lit up. "If it really doesn’t work, just direct him to the EAP Project Team."

"Because when there are difficulties in employee optimization, that’s exactly when you ’need employee assistance’."

Shi Chuxin opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but the HR Director had no intention of continuing the conversation with her. "That’s settled, I’ll give the instructions. As for you..."

"You’d better pick up the pace on the optimization tasks in your hand. You’re the one who asked to take over the targets for Sales."

The HR Director’s rosy lips curled up, as if she were smiling.

-----------------

The company’s aura was in turmoil.

Each department was doing its part to show its unease in its own way.

But in the EAP Project office, the atmosphere seemed the same as ever.

There had been some small ripples earlier, but they were soon smoothed over. Having made up their minds to withdraw from the company, everyone had now started on wrap-up work.

Only a handful of people still kept up their routine work because they had visitors who might develop into long-term counseling cases.

Mo Kai sat at his desk, pinching a pen, his gaze wandering.

Nan Zhubin sat opposite him, quietly scrolling through previous counseling notes on the computer.

After a while, Mo Kai finally couldn’t hold back. "Senior."

Nan Zhubin looked up. "What is it?"

Mo Kai looked torn. "Senior, this visitor, Director Chen... why did you slot him in at the last minute yesterday?"

This quasi-official disciple of the sect might still have gaps in his counseling skills, but he was well versed in ethics—that was the most prominent trait of assistants like him.

Yesterday, after Nan Zhubin came back from the boss’s office, he had Mo Kai add an extra session for Chen Lizhou on short notice. From that moment on, Mo Kai had been wearing this conflicted expression.

After all, the gap since Chen Lizhou’s last session was still far less than a week.

Ever since Nan Zhubin came to Beidu, Mo Kai had been following him in counseling work. At this point, you could say Chen Lizhou was the most special long-term visitor Nan Zhubin had.

The first session was a last-minute insertion, and now there was actually a second extra slot.

As always, Nan Zhubin responded to his assistant’s questions without reservation.

"On one hand, because the state of our current work together won’t be disrupted by a one-off extra session; and at the same time, based on what I observed yesterday, he really does need a temporary session."