14: Chapter 14 The Helplessness of a Strong Woman!

At least while at the company, Shen Zhou had never personally seen Lin Lan act pessimistic.

As the boss, Lin Lan's performance in the company had always been that of a true heroine, proving that women are just as capable as men.

Whether it was negotiating with clients or managing various business operations,

she was always decisive, efficient, and resolute.

Just judging from the tone she used when calling Shen Zhou and the efficiency with which she docked his salary,

Shen Zhou could never have imagined anything that Lin Lan would need his help with.

"I'll take it for now. Regardless of whether she's actually feeling helpless, as long as there's a system reward, it's fine!"

Facing the system's mission, Shen Zhou didn't overthink it.

After all, the previous mysterious reward had been stunning enough; he had absolutely no reason to refuse the system's bounty!

[Ding! The host has accepted the mission!]

[Mission Tip: Help the beautiful boss Lin Lan resolve her current predicament to earn her extra favor!]

At 7:45 PM, Shen Zhou finally arrived at the company on the seventeenth floor and saw his beautiful boss, Lin Lan, looking serious yet slightly exhausted!

"Sorry, Boss, I..."

"Open the door first; we'll talk about other things later. Mr. Wan is our company's biggest venture capitalist, and he specifically called for this video conference today. Is the proposal I assigned to you finished?"

Before Shen Zhou could even say he was sorry,

Lin Lan had already dropped her previous angry tone, switching back to her usual professional demeanor as she began to busy herself.

"She really is a career woman, able to control her temper at a moment's notice! Impressive, truly impressive!"

Seeing that Lin Lan wasn't going to hold a grudge against him, Shen Zhou couldn't help but praise her inwardly.

He immediately ran to his workstation and took the proposal he had prepared earlier out of his drawer.

Oh, right—if you're wondering why a physical paper proposal was being used in such a developed era,

it was because Lin Lan's working style was a perfect example of being both bold and meticulous.

According to Lin Lan's explanation, that Mr. Wan supposedly had several investment projects similar to theirs in his hands.

Therefore, to prevent competitors in the same industry from stealing the details of the project proposal, Lin Lan had specifically instructed Shen Zhou to create several hard copies and delete all digital backups from the network.

Of course, this also proved what was mentioned before: Lin Lan held Shen Zhou in high regard.

"Alright, I've already reviewed your proposal before; there shouldn't be any problems. You can go home now!"

"Oh, wait, don't leave yet, Shen Zhou!"

"Uh... could you wait for me at the company for a while? Let's leave together after I finish the meeting!"

After busying herself for a few minutes, Lin Lan's last sentence came after a rather long pause.

She seemed a bit embarrassed, or perhaps she had some hidden trouble that was hard to mention.

"Sure, serving a beautiful boss is what I, Shen Zhou, should do!"

Between the system mission's requirements and the reality that he had delayed things earlier, Shen Zhou didn't refuse Lin Lan and agreed immediately.

Then, he poured a cup of water from the dispenser, pulled over an office chair, and sat down right outside the boss's office door.

While sipping the company's free plain water, he quietly waited for the beautiful boss to finish today's video investment meeting.

...

Actually, Shen Zhou didn't have a habit of eavesdropping!

But today, for some reason, whether intentionally or not, Shen Zhou ended up hearing a bit of content that someone in his position shouldn't normally hear.

"Mr. Wan, what do you mean by that? We've worked hard for so long—how could the proposal not be important anymore?"

"Can you explain yourself more clearly?"

"How can you go back on your word? You clearly said before that you were very optimistic about our company's investment project."

"The variety show has already been arranged, and the artists have been contacted. If you pull out now, what will happen to my company?"

"You..."

Shen Zhou didn't hear the words that followed, perhaps because Lin Lan's emotions shifted in the office,

or perhaps for some other reason.

In any case, toward the end, Shen Zhou only vaguely heard Lin Lan say to the computer screen in a seemingly powerless voice, "I'll think about it."

Then there was no more sound.

Ten minutes passed.

Another ten minutes passed.

After a full half-hour, Shen Zhou finally saw his beautiful boss, Lin Lan, again.

However, it was obvious that the cold, career-woman look from before was gone from Lin Lan's face, replaced by a sense of helplessness against fate.

"Boss! Are you finished?"

Shen Zhou put down his teacup and asked with a hint of concern.

"Hmm? Shen Zhou, you're still here!"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot. I was the one who asked you to stay and wait for me."

Lin Lan responded with a haggard expression.

"Boss, you don't look very well. Did something happen?"

"Is it because of the project? If there's something I didn't do well, I can find a way to fix it."

Shen Zhou pressed further.

Regarding this project, as the person in charge who had participated throughout the process and ultimately created the detailed plan, Shen Zhou knew a fair amount.

This was actually a large-scale variety entertainment project.

It was a major variety project in collaboration with a television station and several online platforms.

Generally speaking, a project of this scale wouldn't fall into the hands of a small to medium-sized enterprise like Shen Zhou's company.

After all, the total investment was too high, exceeding one hundred million.

Under normal circumstances, Shen Zhou's company couldn't afford such a massive undertaking.

But later, perhaps due to some luck, Shen Zhou's boss, Lin Lan, was introduced to a big shot in the Shanghai investment world, Mr. Wan.

As soon as Mr. Wan heard about the project, he made a very high-profile statement.

He said he wanted to give this project to Shen Zhou's company as a sort of welcoming gift for the beautiful boss, Lin Lan, whom he was meeting for the first time.

Of course, in the beginning, Lin Lan didn't quite believe that pie would just fall from the sky.

However, during the subsequent project acquisition process, Mr. Wan had indeed introduced Lin Lan to the heads of several platforms.

Lin Lan had then stopped doubting the feasibility of the project.

But being given an opportunity was just an opportunity after all; handling such a large project was no easy task.