Chapter 67: The Capable Prevail

June 15th, Thursday, marked the beginning of the two-day national college entrance examination.

It was a very special day, but for the working class, aside from needing to be a bit quieter when passing by schools, everything else remained completely unchanged.

Take Wan Yongwang, for instance. Today was his deadline for submitting the initial drafts, but what he handed in was far from satisfactory.

Peng Jiaxin tapped her index finger lightly on the desk. The sound was not loud, but to Wan Yongwang, it was deafening.

Cheng Mingzhe, the head of the second art department, was practically on the verge of bursting into laughter.

"Manager Wan, please explain what this means. I asked you for initial character drafts, and instead, you handed me a piece of fan art?"

Undeniably, this illustration was indeed well-drawn, depicting the main protagonists of *Emperor of Flame* vividly, but what they were producing was an anime.

If an anime's characters could be shaped purely based on a single illustration, the anime wouldn't need a weekly release schedule.

Xinghai valued capability—this was the reason Peng Jiaxin had promoted Wan Yongwang in the first place. Previously, his performance had been quite good, and he always delivered the projects assigned to him successfully. Who knew what had gotten into him this time?

Did he have time to draw fan art, but no time to work on the initial character drafts?

"I... this..."

Wan Yongwang broke out in a cold sweat, stammering and completely unable to string a coherent sentence together.

"Forget it. Manager Cheng, I'll leave the rest to you. Can you rush it out before the weekend?"

"Guaranteed, no problem!"

He had started telling his team members to prepare the moment he noticed something was off with Wan Yongwang on Tuesday. As it turned out, his bet had paid off!

"Good. Once this meeting is over, go coordinate the specifics with the first department."

"Understood."

"Director He, how are things on your end?"

"The promotion is going smoothly with gratifying results. Furthermore, because Mr. Chen Fan stood in for ZJ at the event, it has also drawn in the book fans of the author Zijin. More and more people online are looking forward to these two songs now."

The fact that Zijin and ZJ—the two most formidable breakout stars—might be friends was already a trending topic. Add to that their strong alliance, and this massive wave of traffic crashing onto Xinghai meant it would be hard for the company not to soar.

"Alright."

The news that everything was going smoothly on He Nan's end eased Peng Jiaxin's expression slightly.

After discussing a few more details, Peng Jiaxin dismissed the meeting. The moment she left the room, Cheng Mingzhe immediately walked right up to Wan Yongwang.

"Let's go, Manager Wan. Time to handle the handover."

Wan Yongwang's face turned ashen, but he dared not say a word.

The first art department had a total of dozen-odd people, divided into two teams, each with its own team leader.

Usually, the people from Team One and Team Two didn't see eye to eye. The reason, naturally, was their leader, Wan Yongwang.

Working in the first department, if you wanted a promotion and a raise, what you needed wasn't exceptional technical skill, but a slick tongue. Consequently, the smooth talkers all got promoted to Team One, while the honest and taciturn ones were left in Team Two.

The dirty and exhausting work was all done by Team Two, while the glory and bonuses went to Team One... Oh, my apologies, bonuses didn't reach them either; all the bonuses went straight into the pockets of Manager Wan Yongwang.

Xinghai's employee benefits were exceptionally good—so good that even just the base salary plus holiday perks made these people reluctant to offend their superiors. Therefore, the people in Team Two dealt with exploitation using essentially two words: endure.

When Cheng Mingzhe stepped into the office area of the first department, he immediately sensed the bizarre atmosphere there. He had heard rumors about the situation in Team One, but he hadn't expected it to be this severe.

The members of Team One were putting on airs, while the members of Team Two were practically paralyzed with anxiety.

The illustration Wan Yongwang had demanded was something they had scrambled and rushed to finish over the course of a single day. They had no idea whether President Peng would be satisfied with it.

Cheng Mingzhe waved the illustration in his hand and asked who had drawn it.

Just as the members of Team One were about to stand up, they heard Cheng Mingzhe continue:

"President Peng asked for initial design drafts of the main characters from *Emperor of Flame*, yet you handed Manager Wan Yongwang something like this?"

The expressions of the people in Team Two shifted abruptly.

Initial character drafts? Didn't Manager Wan say they just needed to draw the protagonist group of *Emperor of Flame*? He hadn't mentioned this at all.

Could Wan Yongwang admit to such an obvious, amateur mistake?

On his way here, he had already shifted all the blame onto Team Two. As soon as Cheng Mingzhe finished speaking, Wan Yongwang directly shot a look at the leader of Team One, who caught on instantly.

"Manager Cheng Mingzhe, this drawing was rushed out by the members of Team Two in our department. Manager Wan Yongwang repeatedly emphasized the requirements, but they misunderstood. We are truly sorry."

"Are you certain this drawing was done by Team Two?"

Wan Yongwang stood behind Cheng Mingzhe and gave a slight nod.

Seeing this, the team leader nodded as well.

"Yes."

The leader of Team Two, along with four members—totaling five people—turned pale. They wanted to explain, but having struggled to communicate even with Team One on normal days, what coherent sentences could they possibly manage when facing a department manager?

The few of them chattered away in a flurry, but Cheng Mingzhe failed to comprehend a single thing they were trying to express.

"Stop, stop, stop. That's enough out of you lot. Pack up your things and come with me."

Before the members of Team One could even begin to gloat, they were stunned by Cheng Mingzhe's words. What did he mean by "come with me"?

If they left, what would happen to the first department?

"Cheng Mingzhe, what do you mean by this?"

Wan Yongwang naturally understood the implications. Chen Fan was currently unreachable; if Team Two left as well, wouldn't his first department be completely finished?

"Naturally, I mean exactly what I said. What, you don't want to cooperate? If so, I can go talk to President Peng about it."

Wan Yongwang clenched his teeth so hard they nearly fractured. He forced out a sentence from the depths of his throat: "I will cooperate."

"Good. During the anime adaptation of *Emperor of Flame*, you all will go work in the second department. Pack up your things and wait for me at the door for a moment. I'll tie up a few loose ends with Manager Wan and be right out."

With that, ignoring the murderous look on Wan Yongwang's face, he strolled unconcernedly toward his office.

"Let's move. Don't we still have a handover to do?"

"......"

Ten minutes later, Cheng Mingzhe emerged from the first department's office area, looking refreshed and leading the five members of Team Two.

Seeming to notice the apprehension of the five, Cheng Mingzhe spoke up.

"President Peng said the illustration you drew was very good. We all know who was responsible for this incident, so stop wasting energy on internal friction, understand?"

The five of them genuinely hadn't expected that Manager Cheng—whom they had been too intimidated to even greet because of Manager Wan—would actually say such things to them.

The second department's office area was right next door to the first, just a few steps away.

Cheng Mingzhe stood at the doorway and introduced the five newcomers to his team.

The members of the second department greeted them with a warm welcome. Here, they received the respect they deserved, and no one ostracized them on the grounds that they originally belonged to the first department.

Everyone shared a single mindset: do a good job on this project, earn big money, and marry a wife or husband!

And this was the atmosphere that working at Xinghai ought to have. There might be competition, but absolutely no rigid caste system—it was all about meritocracy!

The five looked at Cheng Mingzhe, only to see the head of the second department smiling warmly at them.

"Welcome to the second department!"