If Longyu Group hadn’t been the best choice among the company list provided by Mr. Pei, Min Jingchao wouldn’t have wanted to come at all.

Although Longyu Group had no shortage of excellent middle-level managers like Jin Yong and several operations managers, the problems with senior leadership were quite headache-inducing.

The harm caused by one stupid leader was greater than that of a hundred stupid employees!

When encountering stupid employees, as long as they were willing to listen, they could be taught slowly—slow work produces fine products.

But encountering stupid leaders was difficult!

Stupid leaders were generally arrogant and wouldn’t easily listen to opinions and suggestions from subordinates.

Sometimes they might even become angry out of embarrassment and fire those who offered suggestions!

Although Min Jingchao strongly disliked Longyu Group’s Director Ding, since he had come, he had to overcome all difficulties and get the job done properly!

Even if Director Ding wanted to cause some trouble, he would have to shut him down!

…

…

Tuesday, May 14.

With more than five minutes until work started, a long queue had already formed at the clock-in spot at the entrance of Longyu Group.

“Alas, why did they cancel the flexible working hours? Getting up early is killing me!”

“I only fell asleep at three in the morning yesterday, and I had to struggle to get up early!”

“The key question is: we arrive early, but can we really leave on time in the evening?”

“I doubt it!”

“This new Min fellow’s intentions are good, but can it really be implemented? The whole company has followed this work schedule for so many years. How can it be changed just like that?”

“I think bothering us employees shouldn’t be a problem, but the key is: we leave so early, will the big bosses agree?”

People were chatting while queuing to clock in, clearly still irritable from getting up too early.

Originally, Longyu Group had a flexible work system where employees could clock in anytime from 9 AM to 11 AM.

Of course, if you clocked in late in the morning, you had to make up the time before clocking out in the evening.

The intention behind this work schedule was good, fully accommodating some young employees’ habit of sleeping in, allowing employees more freedom in arranging their work hours.

But the problem was, in a culture of overtime, this work system became distorted.

Due to frequent overtime, many people had to work until 10 PM before they could leave!

After leaving work so late and doing some personal things, it was easy to stay up until one or two in the morning, making it normal to not be able to get up the next day.

By extension, the morning work time became 11 AM.

But if you clocked in late in the morning, you had to make up for it in the evening, naturally leading to working late again.

When an entire department followed this schedule, coming in early meant no one to collaborate with, and leaving early meant others needing your collaboration couldn’t find you—this seriously hampered work!

Moreover, after regular work hours was also the peak time for big bosses and department heads to inspect. Employees on flexible hours who came in late and left late naturally gave the impression of “working hard overtime.”

Meanwhile, employees who came early and left early, despite working the same hours, were implicitly deducted impression points.

Gradually, most employees adjusted to a schedule of arriving at 11 AM and leaving after 10 PM.

For employees, getting up a bit earlier to arrive at 9 AM wasn’t a problem—it was just a matter of setting an alarm.

But the problem was, if they started at 9 AM but couldn’t leave smoothly at 6 PM and still had to work overtime until 8 or 9 PM, then the flexible work system would actually be better!

After all, at least with the flexible system, they could sleep in!

The discussions in the clock-in queue were interrupted by Min Jingchao’s appearance. He was seen strolling leisurely, taking his place at the back of the line.

The clock-in queue moved quickly. When it was Min Jingchao’s turn, he gently swiped his card, landing precisely at 9 AM.

Those behind him naturally clocked in late.

Min Jingchao smiled slightly, evidently many people hadn’t adapted to the essence of clocking in precisely on time on the first day of the new work schedule.

But it didn’t matter; they would adapt quickly.

Without rushing, he went to the snack area to get some snacks and coffee, then sauntered to his workstation.

A few guys standing behind Min Jingchao in line rubbed their sleepy eyes and said quietly: “Wow, he clocked in exactly on time!”

“This big brother from Tenda is like a gradually moving timeline, right on 9 o’clock!”

“Hey, do you think he’s coming to Longyu Group to retire? Look at him with his snacks and coffee, not treating himself as an outsider at all!”

“What are you talking about? He’s the chief designer of GOG, and the projects he’s worked on are ones we wouldn’t dare to dream of in our lifetime! He’s also Mr. Pei’s top disciple! Would someone like that come to our company to slack off? Do you think our company is such a good place?”

While talking, they hurriedly went to their workstations, yawning and slowly starting their day’s work.

The so-called work consisted of checking emails for five minutes, playing on their phones for half an hour, and browsing Weibo and web pages.

However, their leisurely fish-slapping state was soon interrupted by the sound of rapid keyboard typing coming from Min Jingchao’s direction.

Min Jingchao was seen fully concentrated, rapidly editing a document, his expression extremely serious, occasionally taking a sip of coffee.

Eyes from different areas of the office were fixed on Min Jingchao, with discussions buzzing.

“Wow, how does he enter work mode in a second?”

“Are you sure he’s writing a document and not chatting?”

“With that typing speed, it looks more like he’s battling with someone online.”

“What nonsense! I saw his desktop; he’s definitely writing a work document!”

At Longyu Group, department heads like Jin Yong had independent offices, so no one knew what Jin Yong was doing, and Jin Yong didn’t know what others were doing.

Min Jingchao’s arrival disrupted this traditional pattern. He arranged his and Jin Yong’s workstations alongside regular employees, right in the center of the entire work area.

This way, many employees could see Min Jingchao’s computer screen!

This behavior was fundamentally different from other bosses.

Some bosses would arrange their workstations with employees but would place themselves in the last row.

This was actually for more convenient supervision of employees’ work—they could clearly see who was slacking off from the last row.

But with the boss in the last row, employees couldn’t see what the boss was doing.

This feeling should be similar to a class teacher hiding at the back door monitoring the entire class.

If you put yourself in the boss’s shoes, it would feel quite good; but if you were an employee, it wouldn’t feel good at all.

But Min Jingchao didn’t do this. He wasn’t afraid of other employees seeing what he was doing; in fact, he very much hoped they could see!

Min Jingchao entering work mode so quickly and working with such high efficiency made many slacking employees feel guilty.

When the leader takes the lead, those below feel uneasy even when slacking off.

Moreover, a new official brings three fires!

Although most people didn’t believe Min Jingchao would bring earth-shattering changes to the entire Longyu Group, they still retained a hint of expectation.

So they quickly closed their web pages, put away their phones, and began completing their respective tasks.

…

6 PM sharp.

Many people instinctively took out their phones to browse various takeout options.

“What to eat tonight? Still the working meal from Slackin’ Takeout?”

“Eating it every day gets a bit boring. Should we look at Stay-Home Takeout?”

“No, boycott Stay-Home Takeout! How about we go out to a restaurant?”

“Hey, time’s up, quick, go clock out.”

Quite a few people belatedly realized it was time to leave when they saw others standing up to clock out, only then becoming aware that 6 PM was quitting time.

Most people had no concept of this because they had never left work on time. Why bother remembering the afternoon quitting time?

In many people’s subconscious, the quitting time had already been adjusted to 10 PM.

As per habit, after clocking out, everyone instinctively walked back to the office area, intending to continue working overtime.

Before they had taken two steps, they were stopped by Min Jingchao: “Where are you all going?”

The person who was stopped was a bit confused: “Back to my workstation!”

Min Jingchao asked again: “What for?”

The person was even more confused: “To get my phone and order takeout…”

Min Jingchao questioned further: “Why order takeout?”

The person hesitated for a moment, then instinctively replied: “Because I’m hungry, and also because the food in the company cafeteria doesn’t taste good anymore!”

Min Jingchao shook his head with some exasperation: “Is there a problem with my expression, or with your understanding?”

“What I mean is, it’s quitting time. Shouldn’t you be going home for dinner?”

Other employees who were clocking out and preparing to return to their workstations heard Min Jingchao’s words and were all stunned.

Really leaving work?

They thought it was just a formality!

Most employees thought that even if they clocked out at 6 PM, they would still have dinner, then pretend to work overtime for a while, slack off a bit more before leaving.

Being able to go home at 8 PM would already be blissful!

But Min Jingchao directly stopped them at the clock-out spot, driving everyone out one by one!

“Go back, get your phones, and leave quickly! I’m watching here. Whoever dares to sit down at their workstation, I’ll record it in my little notebook!”

Everyone exchanged glances.

Since the leader wouldn’t let them work overtime, they… had no choice but to reluctantly not work overtime!

“Alright, we’re off work then. See you, Brother Min!”

People restrained their wild joy, quickly packed up their things, and headed out.

They were afraid they had misheard, or that Min Jingchao had made a mistake!

Anyway, it was Min Jingchao who said it. Regardless of any remaining work, everyone was to leave on time!

Not to mention delaying work progress, even if the sky fell, Min Jingchao would be there to handle it. Why not quickly make a getaway?

Min Jingchao really stood at the door, checking who hadn’t left yet, driving people away one by one until they shut down their computers and got up.

At Longyu Group’s elevator area, normally at this time, the elevators were basically empty because everyone was working overtime. People who could leave on time were very few.

But today, Min Jingchao had driven out all the operations employees who had collaborative relationships with him, making the elevator area crowded.

With a “ding,” the elevator door opened.

Just as everyone was about to squeeze into the elevator, they suddenly realized something was wrong.

Because the person walking out of the elevator was none other than Longyu Group’s big boss, Director Ding!

It seemed Director Ding had just returned from outside, planning to return to the company for overtime work, and ran into this wave of people leaving work.

Seeing everyone crowded at the elevator door, Director Ding was stunned for a moment, then showed an angry expression: “Which department are you all from?”

Everyone looked at each other, no one daring to speak.

Seeing no one answering, Director Ding became even angrier and asked again: “Who is your department head?”

Before anyone could figure out how to respond, they heard a clear voice from behind: “It’s me! Does Director Ding have any questions?”

The crowd spontaneously parted, and Director Ding saw Min Jingchao standing at the clock-out spot with a smile.

“This…” Min Jingchao’s Mona Lisa-like smile left Director Ding a bit confused.

If it had been someone else, even at the vice-president level, Director Ding would definitely have given them a harsh scolding!

Leaving work at this hour?

As one of the company’s senior leaders, Director Ding was returning to work overtime at this time. How could they have the nerve to leave work?

But the person was Min Jingchao, and Director Ding’s anger instantly dissipated by half.

This person, he couldn’t afford to provoke at the moment!

Director Ding coughed lightly a couple of times, creating a pretext for himself: “Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. What I meant was, please have dinner before leaving.”

Min Jingchao calmly said: “Treating everyone to dinner is a good thing, but they must first clock out and leave the work area.”

Director Ding nodded somewhat awkwardly: “Mm, yes… yes.”

Min Jingchao’s neither soft nor hard attitude left him unsure how to respond, so he could only head straight to his office.

Before he had taken two steps, he heard Min Jingchao’s voice catching up: “Director Ding, I advise you to leave work early too. Not leaving on time indicates a problem with work efficiency!”

Director Ding’s mouth twitched slightly, his face turning a bit dark.

However, he chose to temporarily endure it, feigning composure as he entered his office and closed the door.

Min Jingchao laughed coldly inside and said to the still waiting, bewildered crowd at the elevator: “What are you still looking at? Hurry up and leave!”