All of her colleagues had left. Checking the time, Tang Nannan figured Hu Jiasheng should have returned home by now, so she called him.
Hu Jiasheng happened to be exiting the elevator and answered immediately.
"What's up?"
"Mr. Hu, I'm sorry, but I have to work overtime tonight. You don't need to make dinner for me; just eat by yourself."
Working overtime on her second day? Was the company that busy?
However, Hu Jiasheng didn't ask.
"You still need to eat even when working overtime. I'll still make the dishes you ordered. You can eat them when you get back. No rush, take your time. Let me know if you need anything."
There were still people who cared about her in this world, even if they were just ordinary friends.
Tang Nannan felt a bit better, comforted by his words, and decided that working overtime wasn't such a big deal.
"Okay. Thank you, I'll get back to work now."
After hanging up, she quickly immersed herself in her work again.
Time flew by until nine o'clock. Hu Jiasheng finished his meal and cleaned up. Seeing how late it was, he wondered if she was still not back.
During her internship, there was no overtime pay. He wondered if her boss was taking advantage of her now.
Although Tang Nannan was not young, she lacked workplace experience. Hu Jiasheng couldn't just stand by and watch her get bullied, so he called her.
Tang Nannan answered while her fingers flew across the keyboard, inputting data.
"Mr. Hu, what is it?"
"Still not off work?"
Hu Jiasheng could hear the sound of her typing.
Tang Nannan glanced at the stack of documents on her desk, which was as tall as her head, and shook her head.
"Don't worry about me. I probably won't be going back tonight."
"Did your boss ask you to work through the night?"
"She didn't say that, but she gave me a lot of work. I was supposed to finish it before getting off work, but I'm slow, so I have to stay and work overtime."
Hu Jiasheng's brows furrowed. "Chat on WeChat. Send me a picture so I can see what you're doing."
He soon received a picture from Tang Nannan. It was a huge stack of documents piled on her desk. No wonder she said she wouldn't be back tonight.
If he were to do it himself, with that much volume, it would take an all-nighter just to get it done.
Wasn't this clearly bullying?
He believed his boss knew better what a special assistant was for.
Under the guise of hiring a special assistant, she was being made to do tedious and simple administrative work. What was the purpose of this? Who had introduced her to this job?
Hu Jiasheng called her again.
"What are these documents for?"
Tang Nannan explained, "It's just basic product information. But because the company just reinstalled its system, and the old data wasn't transferred, all products from the company's inception to now need to be entered. That's why there's so much."
"Your company's work distribution is quite interesting. A President's Assistant also has to do these trivial things. Who introduced you to this job?"
Tang Nannan said it was an old friend of her mother.
"She's also a stay-at-home mom and has never worked. She casually put in a word with her friend. Perhaps they don't really need a special assistant and are just doing her a favor."
Alright. Since finding a job was not easy for her, Hu Jiasheng decided to endure it for her.
"You carry on with your work. I'll call you again later."
After hanging up, he packed the dishes and food into an insulated container, grabbed his car keys and phone, and went out.
As he reached the door, he paused, then turned back to get his laptop.
Tang Nannan was busy when Hu Jiasheng called again.
"The company's security is quite strict, they won't let me in. Come down for a bit."
Tang Nannan was startled. "You're at our company entrance?"
Hu Jiasheng's tone was calm. "What time is it? Even iron needs to stop to eat and rest. Don't earn nothing and end up getting sick."
Tang Nannan was extremely anxious. There was so much left to do, and she was afraid she wouldn't finish by morning, which would lead to her being scolded by her supervisor. She didn't have time for these delays.
Just as she was about to say she wouldn't eat and wasn't hungry, Hu Jiasheng reprimanded her over the phone.
"If the green hills remain, there will be wood to burn. I don't need to tell you this, do I? On your second day of work, you're already looking so haggard. Isn't that exactly what those who want to see you embarrassed would want?"
"Take good care of yourself. Even if you can't finish, act like it's no big deal. Don't disgrace me."
Tang Nannan had no choice but to rush downstairs in a panic.
Opening the insulated container, she smelled the aroma of the food and only then remembered that she hadn't eaten or drunk anything all day.
She first gulped down a bowl of soup, then ate ravenously.
"I'm so hungry. This is harder than when I was a driver. It's already ten o'clock, and I might get sleepy in the middle of the night. I hope I can finish."
"I'm sorry, I'll head back after I finish eating. Thank you for your hard work tonight."
Seeing her so disheveled, Hu Jiasheng sighed inwardly and took out the laptop from the back seat.
He opened a spreadsheet and handed it to her to look at.
"Take a look at my spreadsheet; is it similar to yours?"
Tang Nannan leaned over to look. His spreadsheet had formulas inputted, unlike hers, which was a standard Excel sheet.
His looked much more intelligent.
But the content was similar, mostly basic product names, attributes, specifications, affiliated companies, quantities, and transaction times.
Tang Nannan nodded, and Hu Jiasheng said,
"Eat slowly, no rush. After you're done, go upstairs and open the remote work connection. I'll help you with it."
"Ah?"
"What 'ah'? You seem quite sharp normally, but your brain turns to mush at critical moments."
Hu Jiasheng, in a rare display of无奈and indulgence, admonished her.
"I told you to ask me if you have any problems, but you don't. It's a simple matter of inputting a formula, which can be solved in a second. Yet you're working yourself to exhaustion like this. I don't even know what to say to you."
Tang Nannan almost choked on her food, looking at him incredulously.
"It can be solved in a second?"
"Didn't you study programming when you were in school? Why are you so insensitive to these things?"
Tang Nannan felt a little embarrassed. "It's been over ten years. Back then, I was just programming for fun, to get through competitions. Applying it to work is different. I just don't have the experience."
"You will from tomorrow onwards. As I said, learn from your seniors. Asking me won't tire you out."
Tang Nannan quickly finished her meal and rushed back upstairs to enable remote work.
Hu Jiasheng sat in his car, operating her computer, with the phone call on speaker.
He guided Tang Nannan step-by-step, explaining how to turn it into a smart spreadsheet from the very beginning.
Tang Nannan jotted down the formula in a notebook beside her. After trying it a couple of times, she entered a product model. Upon pressing Enter, indeed, the remaining product attributes, specifications, manufacturing companies, and so on, all popped out automatically.
It was so magical.
Now, she would surely be able to finish it quickly.
This was because she only needed to enter one product model, unlike before when she had to type out so much tedious information.