Chapter 077: The Same Plan

As soon as they entered the discussion room, before Tang Xiao had a chance to speak, Cheng Li had already deftly connected her laptop to the projector. In the next moment, the mind map she had prepared appeared on the whiteboard at the front of the room.

"Alright, Cheng Li, why don't you start us off?" Tang Xiao said.

She was hardly surprised by Cheng Li's initiative anymore. Somehow, Cheng Li had heard about their weekend duty system and showed up at the office early on Saturday morning. She was lucky, too—on her very first overtime shift, she walked right into an urgent cross-department project, and naturally, ‘whoever is present takes part’ applied. Just like that, she became a member of the team.

With an intern this “diligent,” even the full-time staff felt embarrassed to slack off during their shifts. It was like she was forcing them to compete against themselves.

Cheng Li had no idea what Tang Xiao was thinking. But knowing her, even if she did, she would simply carry on as usual. After all, in her mind, surviving the probation period and passing the transition interview was the only thing that truly mattered.

Whether or not she might offend someone in the process? That was entirely outside her scope of concern; her approach was simply to handle whatever arose, come hell or high water.

Lin Luyou glanced at Cheng Li’s work, then at her own, and realized their thoughts were almost indistinguishable.

But that was hardly surprising. After all, there were only so many dimensions along which you could rate a product.

As Cheng Li breezed through nearly every talking point, Lin Luyou’s palms began to sweat.

What should I do? How am I supposed to present after this? I can’t just say, “I completely agree with Lily’s points,” can I?

Last week, being left out of the core work had left Lin Luyou feeling powerless. But now, having finished her tasks only to find herself with nothing new to say, she felt as if she’d encountered the greatest setback since entering the workforce.

It was like being a full-time caregiver, on your feet from dawn till dusk, only for others to think you’d done nothing all day. Frustrating, and nowhere to complain about it.

Lin Luyou was still searching for a solution when Cheng Li began to wrap up:

“…So, these are my thoughts on rating the product pool for middle-aged and elderly users.”

Tang Xiao nodded but refrained from commenting. Instead, she turned to Lin Luyou.

“Let’s hear your thoughts as well.”

Lin Luyou cast her screen to the projector, cleared her throat, and forced herself to begin.

“These are some immature ideas I’ve had today for rating products suitable for seniors over sixty.”

As her slides moved to the next page, a layout much the same as Cheng Li’s appeared before the three of them. Lin Luyou could almost sense Cheng Li’s faint, dismissive snort.

But with nowhere to retreat, she pressed on.

“My ideas are somewhat similar to Lily’s… I also think that price and discounts are a good place to start. After all, many in the older generation value thrift and rational spending…”

As she spoke, her mind raced, desperately searching for a unique angle or a way to add to Cheng Li’s framework—anything to avoid the impression that she’d done nothing all day.

While discussing high-scoring examples in each category, inspiration suddenly struck her.

Her words came faster and faster, afraid that if she hesitated for even a moment, her new idea might slip away.

“But I do have one point where I differ from Lily…”