At the start, I tricked the school beauty, and ended up with twins?

Hearing Zhou Fengfeng, Yu Shutong's brow immediately furrowed, and his face filled with confusion.

What relationship did Hu Shuo have with Zhou Fengfeng?

Zhou Fengfeng was a newcomer he had personally recruited into the development department's planning team, while Hu Shuo had joined Ideal Paradise more than a month ago.

Moreover, Hu Shuo was a student from Haidong, and Zhou Fengfeng had been working for several years; the two shouldn't know each other, should they?

But if Gu Yu suddenly mentioned Zhou Fengfeng, there must be a reason.

His gaze turned to Hu Shuo, waiting for his explanation.

Sure enough, upon hearing Gu Yu's words, Hu Shuo, who had maintained a calm expression, suddenly became flustered, and his voice lowered slightly as he said, "I'm truly sorry that you noticed, I shouldn't have meddled in planning matters."

To everyone's surprise, Hu Shuo began apologizing to Gu Yu even before Gu Yu could speak.

Gu Yu looked taken aback, then followed with a nonchalant smile, "What's the big deal? You've exerted effort for the company and naturally deserve recognition. It's not like it's something shameful."

"Planning? What are you talking about?" Yu Shutong was utterly confused, only understanding that it seemed Hu Shuo had meddled in the development department's affairs without permission.

"Haha, so our President Yu doesn't know a thing!"

Seeing his second brother's reaction, Gu Yu's smile grew even happier.

This matter just became more interesting.

He had thought that his brother had approved it!

"Hu Shuo, you explain it to President Yu yourself. I also just happened upon you discussing the product planning with Zhou Fengfeng. I'm not very clear on the details," Gu Yu passed the responsibility of explaining to Hu Shuo.

Hu Shuo nodded, hesitated and pondered for a moment, then turned to Yu Shutong, "I'm really sorry, President Yu. I've interfered with the development department's planning for the 'Tomorrow' game."

"A few nights ago, I saw Zhou Fengfeng working overtime on the planning, and after a chat with him, we found we had common interests and drafted a plan together. At that time, I just thought I was idle and discussed it with Zhou Fengfeng for fun."

"I didn't expect that the next day, the development department would actually adopt the proposal we came up with together. Fearing you would be angry, I asked Zhou Fengfeng to claim it was his work alone; I'm truly very sorry!"

"If you think I was meddling too much, any punishment will do, as long as I'm not fired!"

Hu Shuo's face showed earnest apology, and from his expression, it was clear he was somewhat panicked.

Although he had not been promoted, he really didn't want to leave Ideal Paradise.

In the whole world, there might not be a second company like this!

If he were to be fired for meddling, he wouldn't even know where to go to cry.

"Uh... I really didn't expect this. I was wondering how Old Zhou managed to write the new planning so quickly. It turns out you were helping him."

Yu Shutong's eyebrows slightly lifted, as the doubts he had before were finally resolved.

"President Yu, just tell me how you will punish me, in front of Chairman Gu and everyone else."

Hu Shuo's demeanor was somewhat constrained, his heart seemingly guessing how Yu Shutong would punish him.

Such behavior of meddling in company projects might have gotten someone fired in another company, right?

"Hmm... a punishment is in order... How about this, starting tomorrow, you join the product planning team like Zhou Fengfeng, and you'll be the assistant team leader," Yu Shutong spoke seriously after a moment of thought.

"Uh... okay, I accept your punishment... wait, hold on, President Yu, did you say you're letting me join your team, and as assistant team leader?"

Hu Shuo nodded instinctively but quickly realized President Yu's words were not at all displeased with him!

Joining the product planning team?

Wasn't that essentially joining Yu Shutong's development team?

Within the entire company, everyone knew that aside from Chairman Gu, it was Yu Shutong who held the most power.

If Gu Yu was considered the canopy, then Yu Shutong was the support pole, holding up the entire company.

Joining Yu Shutong's team essentially meant becoming a core force of the company.

Is this a punishment?

This is definitely a reward, isn't it!

"What's wrong? Not satisfied with being a deputy team leader, you want to be the team leader? But Zhou Fengfeng is currently the team leader, you two can talk it over, switch positions, I have no objections."

Yu Shutong thought Hu Shuo's astonished behavior indicated dissatisfaction with the position offered to him.

It's not unreasonable for him to think so, as Hu Shuo's contributions were indeed significant this time, yet his method was somewhat unorthodox, making it difficult to arrange for an overly favorable position.

Things like job transfers need to be treated with caution.

"No! That would be fantastic! Even if you only arranged for me to be a planning assistant, I would have no problem with that!"

Hu Shuo was extremely delighted.

Happiness had come so unexpectedly; he had thought he was going to be even further from the company's power circle, but instead, he was thrust right into it!

It also made him see clearly the way Ideal Paradise's upper management handled issues.

Instead of the regular, by-the-book approach, they used a merit-based system that rewarded rational behavior; it wasn't like other companies that would knock you down with a single hit for breaking the rules.

Working in such a company, people wouldn't feel too constrained and could take the initiative to "show their hand" if the situation played to their strengths.

This would also allow for a greater degree of utilization of each person's abilities.

"I'm not pressuring you—you should be pretty clear about the situation in the development department. Once you're in, your days won't be as relaxed. There'll be many tasks and tight timelines; if you can't adapt, I wouldn't recommend you join."

Yu Shutong looked at Hu Shuo's happily surprised face and decided to give him a heads-up.

He had always known Hu Shuo was capable, but capable people often have a certain arrogance and might not be willing to follow arrangements.

If Hu Shuo was the sort of person who was difficult to manage, he would rather not have him on the team.

But clearly, he was overthinking it. Hu Shuo did not care about power or position at all now; he just wanted to make a contribution.

Feeling like a dead weight even though you are on the team is too uncomfortable.

"President Yu, just give your orders!" Hu Shuo said resolutely.

If it had been someone else, he might have had some complaints, even feeling somewhat unconvinced inside, but Yu Shutong was truly capable and very committed!

Following someone like that could never be wrong!

"Haha, congratulations to Team Leader Hu!" Seeing that the matter had been settled, the people around began to congratulate Hu Shuo.

Hu Shuo also responded with smiles and nods.

The pent-up frustration in his heart finally dissipated.

Meanwhile, Gu Yu had been observing Hu Shuo's expressions and actions all along, noting that Hu Shuo didn't exhibit any extreme joy or sorrow, nor did he show any signs of dissatisfaction or unwillingness to follow management.

This reinforced something he had already firmly decided on in his mind.

"Indeed, it's something worth congratulating. Since that's the case, let's add joy upon joy!"

"Team Leader Hu, I would like you to temporarily act as my office assistant to help me manage the company's external affairs during my absence."

Gu Yu said with narrowed eyes and a smile.

Hu Shuo was instantly stunned, and the smile on his face froze.

Everyone else was also taken aback.

What did Gu Yu mean by this? Directly granting Hu Shuo the chairman's managerial authority?

"This... "

"This doesn't seem quite right..."

Confusion was written all over the faces of the crowd as they murmured among themselves in low voices.

But Gu Yu ignored everyone's reactions and continued staring directly at Hu Shuo, the smile in his eyes unmoved.

Hu Shuo quickly regained his composure, pointed to his own nose in disbelief, and asked, "Me?"