Chapter 401

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

Ma Wenliang quickly lowered his head, his eyes fixed on his own toes, his fingers unconsciously picking at the seam of his jeans, not daring to say a word of defense.

He knew that Boss Zhang was in a bad mood right now; no matter what was said, it would only add fuel to the fire.

"General Manager Zhang, calm down first."

Wang Zhiqiang, sitting at the very front of the conference room, stood up, his tone soothing: "I just explained this to you; everyone was busy running tests this morning and took a bit too long, delaying lunchtime. The responsibility for this lies with me."

While speaking, Wang Zhiqiang cast Ma Wenliang a comforting glance.

After all, Ma Wenliang was the most reliable programmer under him, and often brought him food from Lu Feng's shop.

Both publicly and privately, as his superior, he naturally had to protect him a bit.

"Those are all excuses; I don't want to hear them!"

Zhang Haitao rudely interrupted Wang Zhiqiang's words, tapped the conference room table, and his gaze swept over everyone in the conference room.

"I also know that you've been working hard these past few months, and I've seen you staying up late and working overtime, but haven't I treated you well? Didn't I pay you overtime pay?"

"Your last project just went live, and the channel hasn't paid yet—didn't I advance the project bonuses to you? Did I short any of you a single cent on the subsequent performance dividends!"

"When this project was initiated, I promised you all that after completing this project, besides the project bonus, I would arrange paid overseas trips for you, and I've already scheduled the itinerary!"

"Do you think that since the project is almost over, you can slack off?"

"Didn't I notify you in the work group yesterday that an important publisher is coming to the company today to discuss cooperation? They're here to finalize promotion resources for after the project goes live. If they arrive and see our company in this lazy state, with it being over an hour into the afternoon work hours and hardly anyone here, what will they think of our company!"

"If this causes the cooperation to fall through because of this, who among you will take responsibility!"

The conference room was deathly silent; even Wang Zhiqiang lowered his head with a guilty expression.

To be fair, Boss Zhang treated his employees quite well.

Many companies in this building didn't even have overtime pay, let alone overseas team-building trips.

Just then, two knocks came from the conference room door.

The door was pushed open a crack, and the front desk girl poked half her body in cautiously, looking at Zhang Haitao in the conference room and saying softly: "General Manager Zhang, the publisher people from Mo Du have arrived and are in your office. I'm here to notify you."

"Got it, I'll go right away."

Zhang Haitao's originally gloomy face instantly became serious; he adjusted his collar with his hand and said to Wang Zhiqiang: "Manager Wang, I'll go over to greet them first. You come to my office later to receive them with me."

After saying that, he didn't look at the others in the conference room again and quickly walked out.

Once he left, the tense atmosphere in the conference room gradually eased.

"Alright, stop standing there; everyone get back to what you should be doing."

Wang Zhiqiang stood up from his seat, clapped his hands, and said to everyone: "This afternoon the publisher wants to hear the product introduction. Go over the materials you've prepared again; don't let anything go wrong at that time."

Everyone responded in turn, packed up their notebooks and pens on the table, and walked out of the conference room one by one.

"Wenliang, wait a moment."

Ma Wenliang was also walking out; just as he was about to leave the conference room, Wang Zhiqiang's voice suddenly came from behind him.

He paused, turned his head, and looked at Wang Zhiqiang.

"You didn't forget to buy the soup dumplings for me, right?"

Wang Zhiqiang smiled and asked.

"Bought, bought! How could I forget something Eldest Brother told me to do?"

Ma Wenliang nodded quickly: "They're at my workstation right now; I'll go get them for you right away."

"No rush, leave them there for now. I still have to receive clients with Boss Zhang. Give them to me after I'm done."

Wang Zhiqiang stopped Ma Wenliang, reached out and patted his shoulder: "Wenliang, don't take what Boss Zhang said to you to heart. He wasn't targeting you; speaking of it, this is my responsibility. Work hard at the company from now on; I'm very optimistic about you. You have many more opportunities in the future."

Ma Wenliang raised his head, looking at the sincere recognition in Wang Zhiqiang's eyes; the grievance in his heart instantly dissipated.

"Alright, Eldest Brother, thank you for valuing me so much."

Ma Wenliang nodded vigorously, his voice filled with sincere gratitude.

"Alright, go on. You'd better keep an eye on my soup dumplings for me; don't let anyone steal them."

Wang Zhiqiang smiled, and after saying that, he turned around and walked out of the conference room.

Ma Wenliang had just walked out of the conference room and hadn't yet returned to his workstation when he saw three people surrounding his workstation from afar.

They were bent over, moving furtively.

"What are you few doing! Put down the soup dumplings!"

Ma Wenliang's heart jolted; his steps instantly quickened, and in two or three strides he rushed to his workstation, snatching the takeout box whose lid they had already half-lifted from their hands.

As the takeout box lid was lifted, the fragrance of the soup dumplings instantly spread, causing many people around to turn their heads and look this way.

Those few who had planned to steal a bite kept swallowing their saliva, staring fixedly at the takeout box in Ma Wenliang's hands.

"Damn, didn't you just finish eating at Lu Boss's place and come back? How are you still drooling like this now!"

Ma Wenliang "smacked" the takeout box lid shut and asked them unhappily.

"Hehe, Brother Liang, we ran like crazy all the way back, and then General Manager Zhang scolded us when we got back. Now that we smell your soup dumplings, we few are a bit hungry again."

Lv Bin scratched his head and said with an embarrassed smile.

"Get lost, get lost, get lost!"

Ma Wenliang hugged the soup dumplings tightly in his arms to protect them, waved his hand at the few people, and said: "These soup dumplings aren't mine; they're for Manager Wang. None of you are allowed to touch them!"

"For Manager Wang? Oh, alright then. I thought you brought them back to eat yourself."

Lv Bin, seeing this, shook his head resentfully and left.

The other two each returned to their own workstations and got busy.

Seeing them leave, Ma Wenliang breathed a sigh of relief.

Lucky he had come out in time; if he had been a step later, those few would have stolen this portion of steamed buns.

Ma Wenliang did not put the steamed buns in the drawer, but placed them on the table, and even lifted the lid a crack.

The fragrance of the steamed buns gradually spread across the workstation, drawing quite a few people to glance over from time to time.

You few didn't wait for me, starve to death!

Ma Wenliang chuckled inwardly, thinking with great satisfaction.

After a short while, the door of the innermost office in the company opened with a "click."

Immediately after, Zhang Haitao's voice came out as well: "General Manager Bao, thank you for coming all the way from Mo Du. Let's go to the conference room first; in a moment the project team will introduce this product to you. If you're interested, we can discuss the cooperation details in more detail this afternoon."