When Dai Shiya arrived at the project base, it was lunchtime. The usually bustling cafeteria was unusually quiet, with only a few people talking in low voices. An inexplicable tense atmosphere filled the air, making her feel even more uneasy. She walked quickly towards the laboratory and heard a debate coming from afar.
"Engineer Zhang, our project has reached this stage and is about to succeed. Why did you suddenly..." The young researcher Xiao Li's voice was anxious and helpless.
"That's right, Mr. Zhang, has the company treated you unfairly? Tell me and I will report it on your behalf." Another researcher echoed.
"This is not a question of treatment..." The middle-aged man called Mr. Zhang hesitated and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Hearing this, Dai Shiya's heart sank, and she pushed the door open and walked in. The originally noisy laboratory suddenly became quiet, and everyone's eyes were focused on her. Dai Shiya pretended not to notice anything unusual, and asked with a smile: "Why are you all gathered here? What are you discussing? It's so lively?"
"Boss Dai!" Everyone greeted her, but no one answered her question. Zhang Gong looked a little unnatural, and lowered his head to sort out the documents on the table.
"I'm just taking a walk to see everyone's research and development progress." Dai Shiya walked to Zhang Gong, glanced at the documents on his desk, and frowned slightly, "Huh? Why is the progress so much slower than expected?"
Zhang Gong hesitated, and before he could think of a good way to speak, Dai Shiya's phone rang. It was Wei Qing calling.
"Shi Ya, I found out something. You'd better come to my office." Wei Qing's tone was serious, with a hint of solemnity.
Dai Shiya's heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition came over her. She hurriedly said a few words, then turned and left the laboratory, heading straight for Wei Qing's office.
"Mr. Zhou has been secretly contacting the technical staff of our project recently, especially Engineer Zhang. He was promised a high salary and a better working environment." Wei Qing handed a document to Dai Shiya with a serious expression.
Dai Shiya took the information and quickly glanced through it. As Wei Qing said, Mr. Zhou did everything he could to attack them. She took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and asked, "Who else?"
Wei Qing shook her head. "At the moment, it seems that Zhang Gong is the most likely to be a defector, but he seems to be still hesitating."
"I see." Dai Shiya's eyes flashed with a hint of coldness, and she placed the information on the table. "It seems that our CEO Zhou really has 'good intentions'."
When Dai Shiya returned to the laboratory, everyone had resumed work, but the atmosphere was still depressing. She walked over to Engineer Zhang and said calmly, "Engineer Zhang, can I spare you a few minutes? I want to talk to you."
Zhang Gong's expression changed, but he finally nodded and followed Dai Shiya into the office...
Engineer Zhang sat across from Dai Shiya, looking anxious, hesitant to speak. Dai Shiya poured him a cup of tea and said gently, "Engineer Zhang, you are a veteran of the project team, just say whatever you want to say."
Engineer Zhang sighed and rubbed his rough hands. "Boss Dai, I know it's not easy for you recently, but we work with you day and night. What do we gain? Look at the conditions offered by Zhou Corporation, the treatment, the environment..."
Dai Shiya understood what he meant. Zhou's offer was indeed generous, almost twice what they had now. She pondered for a moment and said, "Engineer Zhang, I understand your thoughts. I have seen your efforts in the project. How about this? I can increase your salary..."
"Boss Dai, I'm not the only one who has this idea," Zhang Gong interrupted her. "Xiao Li, Xiao Wang, they all have parents and children to take care of. You can't just increase my salary, right?"
Dai Shiya was startled. It seemed that Mr. Zhou had come prepared and had secretly won over many people. She asked calmly, "What conditions do you want? Just tell me directly."
Zhang Gong and several other technical backbones looked at each other and stated their demands: increase the salary of all technical personnel, improve the working environment, provide housing subsidies, etc. These demands seemed reasonable, but in fact they were pressing step by step, almost forcing Dai Shiya into despair.
Dai Shiya knew that if she didn't agree, these people would probably be poached by CEO Zhou, and the project would really be over. She gritted her teeth, agreed to some of the conditions, and promised to give generous rewards after the project was successful.
However, despite Dai Shiya's concession, some technicians eventually chose to leave, including the experienced Zhang Gong. They packed up their things and left the laboratory without looking back, leaving Dai Shiya and the remaining few people looking at each other in bewilderment.
Dai Shiya looked at the empty laboratory, feeling powerless. She knew that this was just the calm before the storm...
"Mr. Dai..." Xiao Li's voice trembled, and he seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Dai Shiya took a deep breath and forced herself to smile: "What's wrong, Xiao Li? What's the problem?"
Xiao Li held the document in his hand nervously and whispered, "Boss Dai, there is a problem with the database connection module that Engineer Zhang was responsible for before he left. We have tried various methods but can't solve it..."
Dai Shiya's heart sank suddenly. This database docking module was the key to the entire project. Once a problem occurred, the entire project would be paralyzed.
"I understand," Dai Shiya's voice was a little tired, "Give me the information, I'll take a look."
Xiao Li looked embarrassed: "But Mr. Dai, this requires professional database knowledge, you..."
"It's okay, let me try," Dai Shiya interrupted him, her tone firm, "We can't just sit there and wait."
Xiao Li had no choice but to hand the information to her, but he felt even more uneasy. Although Dai Shiya was the project leader, she was not a technical person after all, and her understanding of these professional technical issues was limited.
Dai Shiya looked through the documents with a frown on her face. She was not familiar with database knowledge, but she had learned some basic programming knowledge in college and could barely understand the code. She patiently checked the code line by line, trying to find the problem.
As time passed, beads of sweat oozed from Dai Shiya's forehead. The office was silent, with only the sound of keyboards and papers shuffling. The other technicians sat silently at their seats, and the atmosphere was suffocating.
Finally, Dai Shiya found a logic error in the code. Her eyes lit up and she said excitedly, "I think I found the problem!"
She immediately began to modify the code, but due to her limited technical level, the modified code still could not solve the problem.
"It still doesn't work..." Dai Shiya sighed, leaning weakly on the back of the chair, her eyes full of fatigue and frustration.
At this moment, her phone suddenly rang. It was Wei Qing calling.
"Hey, Shiya, I heard something happened to you?" Wei Qing's voice was full of worry.
Dai Shiya smiled weakly: "It's nothing serious, just encountered some technical difficulties."
"Technical difficulties? You mean Engineer Zhang and the others..."
"They've already left," Dai Shiya interrupted her, "There are only a few people left in the project team now."
Wei Qing was silent for a moment, and suddenly said: "Shi Ya, listen to me, I know someone..."
Her voice became lower and lower, but Dai Shiya's heartbeat became faster and faster, as if she had grasped the last straw.
"I know someone named Lin Feng, who is a software developer with great skills. He once independently developed a very popular APP." Wei Qing lowered her voice, as if she was afraid that someone might have ears. "I heard that he is looking for a new project recently. Do you want to try?"
Dai Shiya's heart was shaken, as if she saw a ray of light in the darkness. "Really? That's great! Can you help me contact him?"
"No problem, I'll call him right away." Wei Qing said in a relaxed tone, as if she was confident. "But Shiya, you have to be mentally prepared. Lin Feng is a rather aloof person, and he has very high requirements for projects. He may not agree to your request."
"I understand, but I have to try." Dai Shiya said firmly, with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
After hanging up the phone, Dai Shiya was in a state of confusion. She knew that the person introduced by Wei Qing was her last hope, and if Lin Feng was unwilling to help, then the project would really be over.
In the next few days, Dai Shiya was like an ant on a hot pot, anxious and restless. She kept refreshing her phone, looking forward to Wei Qing's news. At the same time, she did not give up any hope, and mobilized all her connections to ask around for reliable technical talents, hoping to find someone as soon as possible to fill the vacancy left by Zhang Gong's departure.
However, things did not go smoothly. Mr. Zhou's method of poaching people was very clever. He offered very generous conditions and promised to provide a better development platform for technical personnel. Many people could not resist the temptation and chose to leave. Dai Shiya's project team was like a breached city, with serious staff loss and extremely low morale.
Just when Dai Shiya was about to despair, Wei Qing finally called: "Shiya, I made an appointment with Lin Feng for you. Let's meet at Starbucks at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning."
Hearing the news, Dai Shiya was so excited that she almost jumped up. She held the phone tightly, as if she had grabbed a life-saving straw, and said repeatedly: "That's great! Thank you, Wei Qing, you are really my lifesaver!"
The next day, Dai Shiya arrived at the agreed location early. She waited anxiously, hoping to leave a good impression on Lin Feng.
Ten minutes later, a tall, thin young man wearing black-framed glasses walked in. He walked straight to Dai Shiya and asked in a cold tone, "Are you Dai Shiya?"
"It's me." Dai Shiya quickly stood up and extended her hand politely. "Hello, Mr. Lin, I'm the person in charge of the XX project. Nice to meet you."
Lin Feng had no intention of shaking hands with her. He just glanced at her calmly and sat down. There was a hint of arrogance in his tone: "I heard that your project encountered some troubles?"
Dai Shiya's heart sank slightly, but she still patiently explained the project situation and the difficulties encountered to Lin Feng in detail, hoping to convince him to join her team.
After listening to her story, Lin Feng did not express his opinion immediately. He just lowered his head and looked through the project information brought by Dai Shiya, frowning slightly, and seemed to be not interested in the project.
Dai Shiya's heart sank little by little. Just when she was about to give up hope, Lin Feng suddenly closed the information, raised his head, stared at her sharply, and slowly said, "I can help you..."
Before Dai Shiya could be happy, she heard Lin Feng continue, "But I have a condition..."
Dai Shiya's heart was in suspense again. She held her breath, waiting for Lin Feng's next words. However, at this moment, her cell phone suddenly rang. The caller ID showed that it was the manager of the company's sales department. The other party sounded anxious, as if something big had happened: "Boss Dai, something bad has happened..."