Chapter 19: Granting Access Rights

At the end of the corridor outside the door, before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window.

Jingyue He stood with one hand in the pocket of his dress pants, his back turned toward the CEO’s office, phone pressed to his ear, seemingly intently listening to the person on the other end.

Yet, on the polished glass of the window in front of him, the entire scene inside the CEO’s office was reflected clearly.

Qiuyi Lu was trying to sneak a look at the computer screen, every detail laid bare as if broadcast live.

A faint smile lifted the corner of Jingyue He’s mouth—an angle invisible to the caller.

On the other end, Technical Director Mingxiao Xie was still reporting the bottlenecks encountered in model compression: “President He, the convergence issue is indeed quite troublesome. We’ve tried three optimizers, but oscillations still occur during later stages on specific datasets...”

Jingyue He’s gaze remained fixed on the reflected figure sitting on the floor, utterly disheartened, and an inexplicable good mood welled inside him.

He casually replied, “Noted. Continue experimenting with gradient clipping combined with adaptive learning rates.”

“Also, add assistant Lu’s access permissions to include read-only access to the ‘ZhiYu V1.0 Non-Core Design Document Repository.’ Yes, the one that holds some outdated architectures and discarded proposals.”

Though puzzled by why President He suddenly cared about assistant Lu’s permissions, and why it was for such a seemingly worthless document repository, Mingxiao Xie promptly responded, “Understood, President He. I’ll handle it immediately.”

After hanging up, the smile on Jingyue He’s face lingered.

He turned around and walked deliberately toward the office door, accentuating his footsteps.

Inside the office, Qiuyi Lu, who had been lost in thought on the floor, contemplating whether to pick the lock with a hairpin, heard the footsteps approaching and scrambled to her feet.

In a flash, she dashed toward the door, flustered, trying in vain to restore herself to the posture she had just had when leaving the doorway.

But she was one step too slow.

When Jingyue He pushed the door open, he saw Qiuyi Lu bracing the doorframe with one hand, the other clutching her chest, eyes darting nervously, clearly shaken.

“Assistant Lu, is my seat comfortable?” Jingyue He stepped inside, his gaze sweeping over her, finally resting on her slightly disheveled hair and the faint blush behind her ears caused by nervousness. His tone was calm and even. “Would you like me to get you one just like it?”

“Or perhaps, Assistant Lu would prefer to write a self-criticism in my office? That’s not out of the question.”

Qiuyi Lu’s mind went blank.

“No, no, I’ll go write it now,” she said hurriedly, wanting to escape.

“Not so fast.” Jingyue He approached his large desk with graceful poise and sat down, his fingertips tapping lightly on the smooth surface, producing a soft “tap, tap” sound.

“Since you have such energy and are lingering in my office, I’ll trouble you to work overtime tonight and also complete the project risk assessment report needed for next week. Leave it on my desk by nine tomorrow morning.”

Overtime?!

Risk assessment?

Her biggest risk was President He himself!

Qiuyi Lu felt the world darken before her eyes.

“Yes, President He.”

She slumped back to her office, feeling as if all color had drained from her life.

No sooner had she sat down than Xiaoyu Lin, sitting at the adjacent workstation with an energy bar in her mouth, slid over mysteriously on her chair.

“Qiuyi, huge gossip!” Xiaoyu Lin whispered excitedly.

Qiuyi Lu, utterly drained, replied, “What now? Is President He emigrating to Mars?”

“More explosive than that,” Xiaoyu Lin said eagerly. “I just went to deliver some files to the tech department and passed by Engineer Xie’s office. I overheard him on the phone with President He.”

Qiuyi Lu didn’t even raise her eyelids. “Oh, isn’t that normal?”

All she could think about now were the three thousand words of self-criticism.

And the mysteriously added report.

“The content was unusual,” Xiaoyu Lin imitated Jingyue He’s cold yet commanding tone. “President He said, ‘Hmm, the preliminary analysis results of the material parameter samples from the Zhou family have come in. It’s quite enlightening for resolving our current packaging heat dissipation bottleneck. We’ll need to evaluate the possibility of deeper collaboration.’”

Xiaoyu Lin slapped her thigh. “Listen to that tone and wording—what’s the difference between that and the male lead in a romance drama telling his family’s arranged marriage candidate, ‘We can get to know each other first’? President He and the Zhou goddess definitely have a thing going on.”

At the same time, inside the CEO’s office.

Jingyue He had just ended a video conference when his internal phone rang.

He pressed the speaker button, and Su Nuo’s calm voice came through: “President He, as per your instructions, the tech department has granted Assistant Lu read-only access to the ‘ZhiYu V1.0 Non-Core Design Document Repository.’ Also, regarding your inquiry, after last night’s Zhou family gathering, there was indeed an unusual fund transfer from Mingxuan Lu—one million yuan—into Qiuyi Lu’s personal account.”

Jingyue He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping the armrest absentmindedly, understanding dawning. “One million? Mingxuan Lu is surprisingly generous this time. No wonder our assistant took such a risk.”

Su Nuo’s voice carried confusion: “President He, I don’t understand. You’re well aware of Qiuyi Lu’s suspicious background, so why grant her access? Even if it’s to a non-core document repository, what if—”

“What if she really finds gold among those outdated architectures and discarded proposals?” Jingyue He chuckled softly, cutting her off. “Su Nuo, do you think, given her professional skills, she can distinguish core algorithms from abandoned drafts?”

Su Nuo: ...

He recalled Qiuyi Lu’s presentation that used stock market candlestick charts to fake algorithm analysis and wisely chose silence.

“Giving Assistant Lu access,” Jingyue He’s voice carried a subtle amusement, “I’m not expecting her to discover anything. Let Mingxuan Lu see what kind of surprise he gets for his million.”

He paused, his smile deepening. “Besides, give that restless little fool something meaningful to do. Spare me from her attempts at playing escape room here in my office.”

Su Nuo was silent for a few seconds on the line, seeming to digest her boss’s dark humor. “Understood. And the Zhou family?”

“The material analysis report from Zhou Shiyan is indeed valuable, but only technically,” Jingyue He’s tone returned to businesslike coldness. “Cooperation evaluation will proceed as per protocol. As for marriage alliances? Just media gossip. The He family hasn’t sunk so low as to rely on marriage to secure its position. Tell my mother to avoid inviting unrelated persons to future family gatherings to prevent unnecessary trouble.”

“Yes, President He.” Su Nuo acknowledged, silently lighting a candle for the “unrelated” Zhou heiress.

It seemed the boss’s current amusement lay entirely in toying with the office’s clumsy yet playful little undercover agent.