Chapter 17
Freya's smile froze on her face.
She had originally thought Ophelia would need to pull at least an all-nighter, maybe even three days to finish.
But she got it done in one day?
How was that possible?
"Fine, I'll be waiting to see your results." Freya gritted her teeth and said sarcastically, then turned and walked away, swaying her hips.
Ophelia didn't stretch and rub her slightly sore neck until she had finished checking all the data.
She glanced at the time - 8 PM.
Not bad efficiency.
She saved the file, shut down her computer, and left her workstation.
As soon as she got in her car, her phone rang.
It was William calling.
Ophelia hesitated for a moment, but still answered.
"Hello."
"Off work?" William's voice came through the receiver with a hint of magnetism.
"Just got off."
"I'm downstairs at the Smith Group."
Ophelia paused: "Why did you come here?"
"Just passing by, thought I'd check on you," William said casually.
Ophelia was speechless inside.
The Smith Group was on the east side, the Brown Group on the west - he called that passing by?
But she didn't call him out on it.
"Where are you? I'll come down to find you."
"No need, I'll come up to get you."
"Don't!" Ophelia quickly stopped him, "I'm already in my car, I'll come find you."
If her colleagues saw William picking her up, who knows what rumors would spread tomorrow?
She started the car and soon drove to the entrance of the Smith Group.
Sure enough, she saw William's familiar black Bentley parked by the roadside.
Ophelia parked her car next to his and rolled down the window.
William also rolled down his window and leaned over: "Get in, I'll take you home."
"No need, I can drive myself home."
"Get in." William's tone left no room for argument.
Ophelia had no choice but to park her car in a nearby parking lot, then got into William's car.
"First day at work, how did it feel?" William asked while starting the car.
"Not bad, pretty interesting." Ophelia smiled, "Just ran into an old acquaintance."
"Who?"
"Freya."
William's brow furrowed slightly: "She's at the Smith Group too?"
"Yes, and she's my team leader." Ophelia shrugged, "Looks like my days ahead won't be too boring."
William was silent for a moment: "Need me to deal with Freya for you?"
"Don't." Ophelia quickly waved her hand, "Please don't get involved in this, I want to handle it myself."
She wanted to see just what tricks Freya could pull.
Seeing her eager expression, William couldn't help but smile: "Alright, just be careful. If you get wronged, tell me anytime."
"Got it." Ophelia felt warm inside.
Although she didn't need William's protection, having someone to back her up did feel nice.
The next morning, Ophelia arrived at the Smith Group on time.
Ophelia had just printed out the organized report, bound it neatly, and placed it on the corner of her desk.
Freya walked in wearing high heels.
She immediately spotted the report, a flash of surprise in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by contempt.
"Done already?" Freya crossed her arms and walked to Ophelia's workstation, looking down at her from above, "I thought I'd have to wait until this afternoon. Looks like your efficiency isn't bad."
Ophelia looked up with a faint smile: "Good morning, Ms. Stewart. The report has been organized according to your requirements. I've checked the data three times, so there shouldn't be any problems."
Freya didn't respond, just extended her red-manicured finger and lightly tapped the desk.
"Alright, bring it and come with me to the conference room."
"There's a department meeting today, perfect timing to go over your report." Freya turned and left without even glancing at Ophelia.
Ophelia picked up the report and followed.
In the conference room, department manager Jerry was already sitting in the main seat, with several veteran employees sitting beside him.
Seeing Freya enter, everyone greeted her: "Good morning, Ms. Stewart."
Freya looked smug, as if she were the queen of this place.
She walked over to Jerry and said with a smile, "Good morning, Mr. Nelson. I have something important to announce at today's meeting."
Jerry pushed up his glasses: "What is it?"
"It's like this," Freya pointed at Ophelia, who was following behind, "This is our team's new intern, Ophelia."
"Yesterday I assigned her a task to organize last quarter's market analysis report."
Freya deliberately emphasized "intern" and specifically stressed "yesterday."
The implication was: I don't like this newcomer, so I'm deliberately making things difficult for her by giving her an impossible task.
The veteran employees around immediately understood and showed either sympathetic or entertained expressions.
One male colleague who usually liked to flatter Freya immediately chimed in: "Ms. Stewart really takes good care of newcomers."
"Last quarter's report? That was a mess. The data was all over the place. It took me a whole week to organize it back then."
"Exactly, having a newcomer handle this kind of work on their first day must be really stressful, right?"
Freya's smile deepened: "Yes, I also think it's quite difficult. But since she's a newcomer, more training is appropriate."
She turned to look at Ophelia, her eyes full of provocation: "Ophelia, since you've finished it, why don't you present it to everyone?"
"Let Mr. Nelson and the senior colleagues help you check it over and see how your one day's work turned out."
Ophelia sneered inwardly.
This Freya really wouldn't rest until she had trampled her underfoot.
But she wasn't intimidated. She walked confidently to the projector and displayed the report on the big screen.
"Alright, let me give a brief presentation."
Ophelia picked up the presentation clicker, her voice clear and composed.
"Regarding last quarter's market analysis, I reorganized all the data sources and found that the previous report had three main problems. First, inconsistent data collection standards led to distorted period-over-period comparisons; second, the lack of competitor analysis made it impossible to reflect our market position; third, the conclusions were too subjective and lacked data support."
"So in the new report, I first unified the data standards and eliminated invalid samples..."
Ophelia spoke while smoothly switching through the PowerPoint slides.
The charts appearing on the screen had smooth lines, clear logic, and very professional color schemes.
Especially those comparison charts of key data - they were crystal clear, showing at a glance who was better and who was worse.
The conference room instantly fell silent.
The male colleague who had been making snide remarks just moments ago opened his mouth but couldn't say anything.
The smile on Freya's face also froze.
She had originally thought Ophelia would produce a messy, error-filled report, and then she could harshly criticize her in front of Jerry, maybe even get her fired on the spot.
But now...
This report was way too good!
Even better than what she could do herself!
Jerry looked at the screen, his eyes lighting up slightly.
He pushed up his glasses and listened carefully to Ophelia's presentation, nodding from time to time.
Ophelia continued: "Based on the reorganized data, I found that our market share in the Amber District was actually growing last quarter; it was just masked by the overall decline."
"If we can adjust our marketing strategy based on the user profile of Amber District, next quarter's performance should see a good improvement."
"I've written specific recommendations in the last section of the report. Mr. Nelson, you can review them."
Ophelia finished her presentation, turned off the projector, and turned to face everyone.
The conference room was dead silent.
After several seconds, Jerry was the first to applaud.
"Good! Well done!"
Jerry looked at Ophelia, his eyes full of appreciation: "You're Ophelia, right? This report is very professional!"