“There are some areas in the proposal that need to be revised. I’ve annotated the issues, so take a look at them yourself. Once you’ve made the corrections later, have Jiang Yiyuan confirm them. After that, email it to my inbox, print it out, and deliver it to me personally.” Ji Li placed Xu Nanxin’s proposal on the desk and gave it a gentle push forward.
In truth, Xu Nanxin’s proposals were getting better and better, improving at a pace visible to the naked eye. If there were someone to guide him, he would undoubtedly do even better.
However, Ji Li had far too many things to deal with every day. It was impossible for him to spend that much time teaching a newcomer how to do things; after all, this was the workplace, not a school.
Even the department supervisor, Jiang Yiyuan, only offered a pointer or two. Moreover, Jiang Yiyuan and Ji Li held different views on proposals. Ji Li demanded perfection in everything, whereas Jiang Yiyuan felt that hitting the standard was sufficient.
As for what this “standard” entailed, it was hard to say. To put it bluntly, Jiang Yiyuan was neither strict nor a perfectionist. He believed that everything inherently possessed a certain amount of flaws, so he kept his standard baseline relatively broad.
This was precisely why proposals that Jiang Yiyuan felt could pass were frequently rejected on Ji Li’s end.
In fact, as a manager or leader, Jiang Yiyuan’s overly easygoing personality was clearly somewhat unsuitable, yet he did indeed possess true capability.
It was simply that his mindset required some adjustment.
Xu Nanxin finally heard Ji Li get to the main point. Gathering every ounce of his focus, he reached out with both hands, took the proposal from before Ji Li, and nodded in assurance: “Alright, I will definitely revise it as quickly as possible.”
“Mm.” Ji Li nodded.
Seeing that Ji Li didn’t seem intend to say anything more, Xu Nanxin hesitated for a moment, contemplating whether he should ask Ji Li about the two-month period mentioned previously.
Ji Li seemed to perceive his hesitation, so he proactively asked, “Is there something you want to say?”
Xu Nanxin’s eyes widened as he looked at Ji Li in surprise. The man seemed exceptionally easy to talk to today, and he appeared to be in a good mood as well. Surprisingly, he hadn’t said a single harsh word throughout the entire interaction and even looked immensely patient.
This made Xu Nanxin feel rather unaccustomed to it. Oh no, have I been so poisoned by Ji Li that I’ve developed masochistic tendencies?
On the rare occasion the man spoke a few normal sentences, he conversely started to feel uneasy all over.
“It’s just what was mentioned before, regarding the two-month probation period…” Xu Nanxin thought that since Ji Li had already asked proactively, it shouldn’t matter if he took the opportunity to ask, right?
Ji Li hadn’t expected that Xu Nanxin had been acting so cautiously all because of this matter.
The youth had likely heard about the few newcomers being dismissed today. This was indeed his own oversight; he hadn’t anticipated this issue, causing Xu Nanxin to probably spend the entire morning overthinking wildly in his office.
“You performed well. You’ve passed the probation period,” Ji Li said.
Hearing these words, the heavy stone in Xu Nanxin’s heart finally dropped completely to the ground. Once he set his mind at ease, his entire being visibly relaxed quite a bit, and the smile on his face became a fraction more genuine: “Thank you, President Ji.”
Looking at him, Ji Li only just realized that Xu Nanxin actually had dimples when he smiled. Inside those bright eyes, it was as if stars were embellished within, and the emotions overflowing from him were so simple and pure.
In truth, within the environment Ji Li lived in, it was very rare to encounter such a person.
Xu Nanxin was an anomaly, appearing in his life under a unique set of circumstances. And an existence like that, to him, was inherently special.
“If there’s nothing else, return to your workstation.” Ji Li knew that Xu Nanxin felt tense and pressured standing before him.
“Alright.” Xu Nanxin nodded, visibly even more relaxed.
Ji Li took in all of Xu Nanxin’s glaring behavioral changes, experiencing a rare trace of frustration. Is he really that afraid of me?
Just as Xu Nanxin turned around, he subconsciously opened the proposal, only to find that the inside was completely different from how it used to look when it got rejected. It actually contained detailed annotations highlighting which areas had issues, along with several suggestions.
Xu Nanxin was visibly stunned for a moment. He stopped his tracks and turned back around to look at Ji Li. Could it be because my revisions were too slow, or because he felt my changes couldn’t achieve the effect he wanted, so he absolutely couldn’t stand it anymore and just annotated it directly like this?
“What’s wrong? Is there something else?” Seeing Xu Nanxin halt his steps, Ji Li raised his eyes and asked.
“No, President Ji, this…” Xu Nanxin desperately wanted to ask Ji Li, yet he didn’t know how to phrase it.
Ji Li, however, was quite patient: “What is it? Is there an issue? Take a careful look at the points I annotated yourself, and the suggestions I proposed can also serve as a reference for you.”
“Alright, thank you, President Ji.” Xu Nanxin nodded, preparing to leave the office after thanking him once more.
“Wait a moment.” As if suddenly remembering something, Ji Li called out to Xu Nanxin.
Xu Nanxin raised his eyes: “Does President Ji have another matter?”
“Let’s have lunch together at noon. Go over it by yourself this morning first. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can bring it up and tell me then,” Ji Li said.
Xu Nanxin: “……”
He and Ji Li were having lunch together at noon?
Xu Nanxin originally wanted to decline, but since it was his superior asking him to lunch after all, he could only keep his objections to himself and nod: “Alright…”
After leaving the office, Xu Nanxin returned to his workstation and sat down. Once he carefully finished reading the things Ji Li had annotated, he was downright overwhelmed by the unexpected favor.
The annotated content inside had clearly taken a lot of time to produce. Furthermore, it provided many useful reference suggestions, allowing Xu Nanxin to practically achieve instant enlightenment at a single glance. He had even attached several successful proposal case studies at the back for him to look over and study more.
Even Jiang Yiyuan could not possibly be this diligent in doing these things for someone, let alone Ji Li.
One must know that with the old Ji Li, if he merely asked a question about what kind of effect the man wanted, Ji Li would directly counter-question: If you come to ask me everything, what do I still need you for?
How could a person like that…
Xu Nanxin was a bit unable to comprehend what the other party meant.
It couldn’t possibly be that he suddenly felt his ability was decent and wanted to focus on grooming him, right!
Xu Nanxin felt that his capability hadn’t reached a level that could make Ji Li look at him in a new light.
Conversely, Shi Le, who was beside him, ran over and asked in a low voice, “What did President Ji want with you?”
Xu Nanxin shook his head: “Nothing, he just brought up the matter of revising the proposal.”
It was just that… his attitude today was highly open to interpretation, making him not even dare to breathe heavily. Really, seeing Ji Li act gentle toward him felt more agonizing than Ji Li scolding him directly.
While Xu Nanxin was revising the proposal during the morning, there was actually nothing he couldn’t understand. The things Ji Li annotated had been taught in meticulous detail, directly speeding up his work efficiency by more than just a tiny margin. Before the morning was even over, the proposal was completely revised.
Once the proposal was finished, he took it to Jiang Yiyuan for confirmation.
After receiving his proposal, Jiang Yiyuan read through it. Visibly astonished and pleasantly surprised, he raised his eyes toward Xu Nanxin: “You’ve made immense progress recently. The proposals you produce are becoming more and more a pleasant surprise. This time, even the nitpicking President Ji probably won’t be able to find any faults!”
Being praised made Xu Nanxin a little embarrassed, “Actually… it’s because President Ji gave me a lot of guidance that I was able to produce this proposal.”
Hearing Xu Nanxin say this, Jiang Yiyuan smiled as well: “Nanxin, don’t be modest. Why would President Ji give you guidance? Naturally, it’s because you’re doing well that he’s willing to spend the time to guide you, isn’t it?”
“Is that so?” Xu Nanxin was visibly quite happy. Nothing was more joyful than getting validation in one’s work, especially when that person happened to be Ji Li.
In truth, even Xu Nanxin himself hadn’t realized that he still cared very much about Ji Li’s opinion of him.