Chapter 22
He pulled out a thick stack of documents from the drawer, pushed them in front of Ophelia, and sighed: "Ms. Smith just called me personally and specifically asked you to be in charge of planning and executing the company's anniversary celebration."
Ophelia was stunned.
Anniversary celebration?
She thought Ainsley would directly fire her, but instead, she was being put in charge of the anniversary celebration?
What was Ainsley trying to do?
She picked up the documents and flipped through a few pages, her frown deepening as she read.
Tight timeline, heavy workload, extremely low budget, and a ton of requirements.
This was basically an impossible task.
This wasn't giving her work - it was clearly digging a pit for her to jump into and die.
If she didn't do well, it would be a major dereliction of duty, and then Ainsley could deal with her however she wanted.
"Mr. Nelson, this..." Ophelia looked up, a hint of scrutiny in her eyes. "What does Ms. Smith mean by this?"
"What else could it mean?" Jerry said with a bitter face, lowering his voice. "The anniversary celebration is a very important event. So many eyes are watching - one little mistake and it becomes a big problem."
"If you don't dare take it on, you can still resign now. At least you won't get pushed around."
Ophelia raised her head, her eyes calm and steady, but a faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth: "I accept this project."
"This is a project Ms. Smith specifically wanted me to do. If I don't take it, wouldn't I be letting down her good intentions?"
Jerry opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing.
He knew Ophelia was now stuck between a rock and a hard place.
When Ophelia returned to her workstation with the documents, the atmosphere around her became even stranger.
The news of Ainsley's scene in the office had already spread throughout the entire department, and now everyone knew that Ophelia had taken on this death-trap project of the anniversary celebration.
Everyone could see clearly that Ainsley was out to destroy Ophelia.
Who would dare get close to Ophelia now?
So the colleagues who used to occasionally chat with Ophelia now didn't even dare to raise their heads.
Ophelia was well aware of all this.
She could feel those gazes falling on her - some sympathetic, some regretful, but mostly indifferent and gleeful at her misfortune.
She couldn't help but feel speechless.
Was this what Ainsley wanted?
Ophelia sneered, a faint cold smile appearing at the corner of her mouth. Her fingers began typing rapidly on the keyboard.
She accepted this challenge.
And not only would she win, but she would win beautifully!
Over the next few days, the atmosphere in the entire core business department was oppressively tense.
Ophelia practically lived in the office, arriving first every day and leaving last.
Her already slender chin became even more pointed, and there were faint dark circles under her eyes. The high-intensity work combined with the isolated and helpless environment made her radiate a sense of exhaustion stretched to the limit.
Freya saw it all and was delighted inside.
Holding her coffee, she deliberately slowed down as she passed Ophelia's workstation, her lips curling with fake concern: "Ophelia, I've noticed your dark circles have gotten worse these past few days. You should take care of yourself. But then again, this is work Ms. Smith personally assigned you to complete. If you don't do well, the consequences will be serious."
Ophelia didn't look up, her fingers still typing rapidly on the keyboard, as if she hadn't heard anything.
Seeing that Ophelia was ignoring her, Freya wasn't annoyed. Instead, she turned and went to the break room, pulled out her phone, and called Jeffrey.
"Hello, Jeffrey." Freya's voice was as soft as water, but her tone was provocative. "Let me tell you something - Ophelia is having a rough time lately. Ms. Smith gave her a task that's basically impossible to complete, and it's really wearing her down. Looking at her state, I think she's going to break down soon."
On the other end of the phone, Jeffrey was already stressed out about his company's broken cash flow. Hearing this, his eyes immediately lit up.
"She's finally getting what she deserves?" Jeffrey snorted coldly, his tone full of resentment and greed. "She emptied the company and just left back then, and now she knows how it feels? Fine, I'll go see her. This is a good opportunity - I need to make her spit out all the money she swallowed!"
At 5 PM, Ophelia knocked on Jerry's office door with three proposals she had rushed to finish overnight.
"Mr. Nelson, here are the three revised proposals."
Jerry looked up, and seeing it was Ophelia, his eyes clearly flickered with some reluctance and difficulty.
He took the proposals and flipped through a few pages, but his frown only deepened.
Honestly, all three proposals were excellent - logically sound, creative, and even achieved highly effective execution on a low budget.
But...
Jerry didn't dare show satisfaction.
He was afraid!
This was a project Ainsley had personally assigned to Ophelia. If he appeared too supportive of Ophelia, and Ainsley found out and thought he was going against her, would he still get to keep his supervisor position?
"Ophelia," Jerry put down the proposals and sighed, his tone full of cold formality and even a hint of shirking responsibility. "I've looked at the proposals, and they're... okay. But you know Ms. Smith's requirements are very strict."
"I think these proposals, while decent, still carry too much risk. If Ms. Smith isn't satisfied, or if something goes wrong at the event, none of us can handle the consequences."
Ophelia looked at Jerry's self-protective attitude and understood clearly.
It wasn't that he thought her proposals were bad - he was afraid of being dragged down with her.
"Mr. Nelson," Ophelia spoke calmly, her tone carrying an undeniable pressure, "there's less than a week until the anniversary celebration. These three proposals are the only viable solutions right now."
"If you don't dare make the decision, then I'll have to send them directly to Ms. Smith. When problems arise, will it be your dereliction of duty as supervisor, or my incompetence as executor?"
Jerry's expression changed.
Those words hit his sore spot.
He could choose not to help Ophelia, but he couldn't let himself take the blame.
"You..." Jerry gritted his teeth and finally had to compromise. "Fine, fine, let's go with this third version. You keep a close eye on it yourself. If anything goes wrong, you're responsible - it has nothing to do with me."
Ophelia nodded lightly: "Fine."
After work, Ophelia walked out of the Smith Group with heavy steps.
Just as she reached the roadside, a black car suddenly cut in front of her, nearly hitting her.
The window rolled down, revealing Jeffrey's greasy face with a calculating expression.
"Ophelia." Jeffrey had a self-satisfied smile on his lips. He pushed open the car door and approached her. "I heard all about it. Ms. Smith is deliberately making things difficult for you, and even Mr. Nelson doesn't dare help you. Feeling pretty bad, aren't you?"
Ophelia took a step back expressionlessly and looked at him coldly: "Get out of the way."