"Thank you all for your hard work today. It's about to rain heavily outside, so you should all pack up and head home."
Although there were still many unfinished tasks, the weather outside was clearly signaling a severe thunderstorm.
Coupled with several days of overtime, it was opportune to let everyone go home early to rest, given the inclement weather.
"Goodbye, Manager Liu."
"Manager Liu, we're leaving now."
"Bye-bye, Manager Liu."
Those in the conference room gradually departed.
Liu Shishi tidied up her belongings and walked towards her office.
"Manager Liu, here are the meeting documents for this week."
As Liu Shishi reached the door of her office, her secretary greeted her and handed her a folder.
Taking the folder, Liu Shishi said, "It's about to rain heavily, hurry home."
The secretary nodded and then asked, "Manager Liu, the weather is so bad outside, should I call a car for you?"
Liu Shishi smiled and replied, "Thank you, I'll make a call later to have someone pick me up. You go home now."
Hearing Liu Shishi's words, the secretary said no more and turned to leave.
Pushing open her office door, Liu Shishi let out a sigh and sank into her chair.
Normally, Liu Shishi, who paid great attention to her demeanor, would never have acted this way.
However, after days of overtime, and as the head of the company, she was naturally more exhausted than everyone else.
Despite the fatigue, the recent achievements were very pleasing.
First, the company's recruitment process had gone smoothly, and Liu Shishi was very satisfied with the initial team.
Next, the factory in the development zone had successfully obtained the construction permit, and the land was currently being prepared for the groundbreaking ceremony.
Therefore, even though Liu Shishi was exhausted every day, the sense of accomplishment in her heart was immense.
Of course, it wasn't just Liu Shishi; seeing the company's development prospects and with Liu Shishi's equity incentives, everyone else in the company was also full of energy.
*Pitter-patter!*
*Pitter-patter!*
As Liu Shishi lay resting in her chair, the sound of raindrops hitting the glass brought her back to reality.
Liu Shishi stood up and slowly walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. Looking at the dark clouds and the torrential rain outside, she suddenly felt an urge to return home immediately.
Instinctively, she reached into her pocket to take out her phone and call Du Fei to pick her up.
But when her hand went in, it came up empty.
Liu Shishi then searched her desk, but still couldn't find her phone.
"Huh? Where did I put my phone?"
Liu Shishi tried to recall when she last saw her phone.
Right, in the conference room.
Earlier, during the meeting while discussing matters with everyone, her phone was running low on battery.
Liu Shishi had placed her phone in the small room inside the conference room to charge.
With this in mind, Liu Shishi walked towards the conference room.
The conference room was very close to Liu Shishi's office, only a two to three-minute walk.
"It's here, as expected."
As soon as Liu Shishi entered the small room of the conference room, she saw her phone on the table.
However, when she picked it up, she found that the phone was still black. Pressing the power button forcefully yielded no response.
Then, Liu Shishi realized that she hadn't plugged in her charger properly earlier, so not a single bit of electricity had been charged into it.
Instead, due to the depleted battery, the phone had shut down completely.
Liu Shishi quickly plugged the phone into the charger, intending to charge it just enough to make a call to Du Fei.
After plugging in the charger, she sat on a nearby chair to rest.
She had been extremely tired these past few days. As soon as Liu Shishi sat down, she felt a wave of drowsiness.
However, just as Liu Shishi was about to fall asleep.
Voices suddenly came from outside the conference room.
Everyone should have left by now. Did someone forget something? Or were they unable to go home because they didn't bring an umbrella?
Liu Shishi instinctively stood up, wanting to see who it was.
But as soon as she took a step, the words from outside stopped her in her tracks.
"Manager Lei! What's the rush!"
"I've only been with the company for a few days, how could I possibly have access to the formula."
"Exactly, let me gain that woman's trust first, and then slowly steal the formula."
"In short, rest assured, I will definitely handle things properly. Otherwise, how could I repay the large sum of money you gave me."
"Haha, no problem. Then, in a couple of nights, we..."
The person outside was an undercover agent sent by someone else? And planning to steal the company's formula?
This is simply outrageous.
After listening for half the conversation, Liu Shishi realized who was on the phone in the conference room outside.
That person was Xiang Zuo, the manager of the company's R&D department, a highly educated individual who had returned from studying abroad.
He was said to have worked for many foreign companies overseas, but due to his deep yearning for his homeland, he chose to return to China half a year ago.
He joined Liu Shishi's company by chance.
Liu Shishi had felt fortunate at the time to have recruited such an experienced person for her new company.
After all, with Xiang Zuo's qualifications, he could have secured a very good salary even at some large domestic companies, yet he chose Liu Shishi's newly established venture.
Xiang Zuo's original words were that he was a passionate and challenge-loving individual who wanted to build a great company with like-minded people.
Liu Shishi had been very moved at the time and had even decided to grant original shares in the company to Xiang Zuo and a few other core management personnel once the company was on solid ground.
But Liu Shishi never dreamed that Xiang Zuo's so-called 'chance encounter' was entirely pre-arranged.
It turned out that Xiang Zuo had joined her company with the sole intention of stealing the formula.
Fortunately, she had overheard this phone call by chance. Otherwise, after she had completely trusted Xiang Zuo and handed over the formula, she would have regretted it immensely.
Thinking of this, Liu Shishi felt a chill of fear.
Although losing a like-minded entrepreneurial partner was certainly disheartening, it was far better than losing the company's vital beauty formula.
Because once these beauty formulas were lost, Liu Shishi's company would collapse completely.
*Ring, ring, ring.*
Just then, Liu Shishi's phone suddenly turned on as it had charged enough power.
As soon as the phone powered on, its startup ringtone sounded.
"Who's there!"
Xiang Zuo, who was on the phone in the conference room outside, was startled.
Immediately after, he fumbled to hang up the call and looked at the small room inside the conference room with a grim expression.