All her colleagues had left. Glancing at the time, Tang Nannan figured Hu Jiasheng should be home by now, so she called him.
Hu Jiasheng happened to be stepping out of 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; please eat by yourself."
Working overtime on her second day? Was the company that busy?
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 little better, comforted by his words, and decided that working overtime wasn't such a big deal.
"Okay. Thank you, then. I'm going back to work now."
After hanging up, she quickly immersed herself in her work again.
Time flew by, and it was already nine o'clock. Hu Jiasheng had finished his dinner and washed up. Seeing how late it was, he wondered if she was still not back.
She was still in her internship period, so there was no overtime pay. Was her boss trying to take advantage of her?
Although Tang Nannan wasn't 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?"
"Are you still not off work?"
Hu Jiasheng could hear the sound of her typing.
Tang Nannan looked at the pile of documents on her desk, as tall as her head, and shook her head.
"Don't worry about me. I probably won't be going home tonight."
"Did your boss ask you to work all night?"
"She didn't say that, but she gave me a lot of work. She wanted me to finish it before leaving work, but I'm slow, so I couldn't. I have to stay and work overtime."
Hu Jiasheng frowned. "Let's chat on WeChat. Send me a picture of what you're doing."
Soon, he 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, such a large volume of work would require an all-nighter to complete.
Wasn't this clearly bullying?
What was a special assistant for? He believed his boss knew better than him.
Under the guise of hiring a special assistant, she was being made to do mechanical and simple clerical work. What was the intention behind this? Who had introduced her to this job?
Hu Jiasheng called her again.
"What is this documentation for?"
Tang Nannan explained, "It's just basic product information. But because the company just reinstalled its system, the old data wasn't transferred. So, we have to re-enter all the products from the company's inception to the present. That's why there's so much."
"Your company's division of labor is quite interesting. The CEO's assistant has to do such trivial tasks. Who introduced you to this job?"
Tang Nannan said it was an old friend of her mother's.
"She's also a full-time housewife and has never worked. She casually made a request to a friend, and perhaps they didn't really need a special assistant but were just doing her a favor."
Alright. Since finding a job wasn't easy for her, Hu Jiasheng decided to endure it for her.
"You carry on. I'll call you later."
After hanging up, he packed the food into a thermal container, grabbed his car keys and phone, and left.
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's 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 then get sick."
Tang Nannan was extremely anxious. There was still so much left, and she was afraid she wouldn't finish it by tomorrow morning and would be scolded by her supervisor again. She didn't have time for these delays.
Just as she was about to say she wasn't hungry, Hu Jiasheng reprimanded her over the phone.
"As long as the green hills are there, there'll be firewood to burn. I don't need to tell you this, do I? You look haggard on only your second day of work. Doesn't that play right into the hands of those who want to see you fail?"
"Be good. Even if you can't finish it, let's remain calm and composed. Don't embarrass me."
Tang Nannan had no choice but to rush downstairs in a fluster.
Opening the thermal container and smelling the aroma of the food, she finally remembered she hadn't eaten or drunk anything all day.
She gulped down a bowl of soup first, then ate ravenously.
"I'm so hungry. This is harder work than when I was a driver. It's already ten o'clock. I might get sleepy in the latter half of the night, but I hope I can finish it."
"I'm sorry. I'll head back after I finish eating. Thank you for your hard work tonight."
Hu Jiasheng looked at her disheveled state and sighed inwardly. He took the laptop from the back seat.
He opened a spreadsheet and handed it to her.
"Take a look at my spreadsheet. Is it similar to yours?"
Tang Nannan leaned over to look. His spreadsheet had formulas entered, unlike hers, which was a regular Excel file.
His looked much more intelligent.
But the content was similar, containing basic product names, product attributes, specifications, affiliated companies, quantities, and transaction times.
Tang Nannan nodded. Hu Jiasheng said,
"Eat slowly, no rush. After you finish, go upstairs and turn on the remote access. I'll help you with it."
"Ah?"
"What 'ah'? You seem quite sharp usually, but your brain turns to mush at critical moments."
Hu Jiasheng, in a rare moment, chided her with a tone of helplessness and indulgence.
"I told you to come to me if you have any problems, but you didn't. It's simple; entering a formula can solve it in a second, but you're exhausting yourself like this. I don't know what to say."
Tang Nannan almost choked on her food, looking at him in disbelief.
"It can be solved in a second?"
"Didn't you learn programming when you were studying? Why are you so insensitive to these things?"
Tang Nannan felt a bit embarrassed. "It's been over ten years. Back then, I was just programming for fun, to cope with competitions. Applying it to work is different. I just lack experience."
"Starting tomorrow, you'll have it. As I said before, ask your seniors for advice. Asking me won't tire you out."
Tang Nannan finished her meal quickly and rushed back upstairs to enable remote access.
Hu Jiasheng sat in his car, operating her computer while keeping his phone on voice call.
He guided Tang Nannan step-by-step, explaining how to turn it into a smart spreadsheet from the very beginning.
Tang Nannan wrote down the formulas in a notebook beside her. After trying it a couple of times, she entered a product model. Upon pressing Enter, all the other product attributes, specifications, and company names automatically popped up.
It was amazing.
Now, she would definitely be able to finish it quickly.
All she had to do was enter a product model, unlike before when she had to type so much.