Shawn was openly provoking Zachary. The entire marketing department noticed. Everyone was curious now, wondering how Zachary would respond.


    "Wait!"


    Zachary turned around and firmly pped his hand on Shawn''s shoulder. He said in an icy tone. "Mr. Zimmer, right? You seem to have some free time on your hands. How about you handle the document sorting?"


    "Mr. Lloyd, sorting documents is something we usually assign to interns. Don''t tell me you didn''t know that?" Shawn turned, lifting his chin arrogantly, and retorted without a hint of courtesy.


    Tension in the marketing department instantly rose. Some of Shawn''s close allies quietly praised him.


    "Whether I know or not is my business. But as the deputy manager, I believe I have the right to assign work to you, correct?" Zachary spoke calmly, his expression unreadable. "Or are you saying that you''d rather quit?"


    "You''re pulling rank on me now?" Shawn''s face turned slightly pale.


    Zachary gave a faint smile, not bothering to exin further. "I''m simply treating you the way you treat your subordinates. Why are you getting upset now?"


    "Mr. Lloyd, I''ve been with Yel Corporation for three years. I''m practically a senior employee here. Are you sure you want to make things difficult for me like this?" Shawn snapped back.


    "Before the day ends, make sure the documents are sorted. If not, there''s no need for you toe in tomorrow," Zachary said, dismissing any further talk. Then, he left the marketing department with y in tow.


    Shawn''s face darkened immediately. He had originally intended to give Zachary a hard time, but instead, Zachary had shot him down mercilessly, pulling rank without hesitation.


    Just then, a few of Shawn''s close colleagues came over.


    "Shawn, calm down! I heard that Ms. Lane assigned him the Economic


    Development Zone project. We all know how tough that project is. He''s bound to mess it up."


    "Yeah, once he screws that project up, we can report to Ms. Lane that hecks the capability for a leadership position..."


    "Exactly! I know a bit about that project. Word is, it involves some shady underground figures. He''s bound to take a hit there."


    They continued to talk about the project.


    Shawn felt considerably better hearing this from his colleagues.


    The Economic Development Zone was an urban vige,ter earmarked for development as part of the city''s expansion.


    However, ces like urban viges


    tend to have many local troublemakers. Somepanies


    veine


    had tried investing there but


    many had failed to do so


    sessfully due to the


    troublemakers causing issues and making unreasonable demands.


    This time, Yel Corporation was only exploring the area out of curiosity, so Yasmine, the marketing department manager, didn''t have high hopes either.


    That was why she had assigned the project to Zachary in the first ce to give him a little trouble as the new leader.


    Most senior employees and anyone familiar with the Economic Development Zone project understood this.


    Zachary had figured out some of these challenges from the preliminary data, so he nned to visit the site in person to see if he could resolve the troublemaker issue.


    Downstairs, he had originally


    nned to take a cab to the


    Economic Development Zone, but to


    his surprise, y had his own car. It was a domestic sedan priced at around 100 thousand dors.


    "Mr. Lloyd, where are we headed?" y asked, a bit nervously, as he entered the address into the car''s GPS.


    With a smile, Zachary fastened his seatbelt and asked, "What''s good to eat or do around the Economic Development Zone?"


    "There''s a popr barbecue spot and a new entertainment center..." y began to list various ces with ease.


    Surprised by the detailed response, Zachary looked at y with curiosity. He didn''t expect y to know this much.


    Noticing this, y scratched his


    head and said embarrassedly. "My girlfriend lives in that area. Her family got a bigpensation payoust year from the relocation. It was more than 10 million dors.


    She even bought me this car."


    Zacharyughed and teased, "That''s not bad! With a girlfriend from a wealthy background, why are you still working?"


    y felt a bit embarrassed. "I''m a man. My girlfriend''s family background doesn''t concern me. I want to make my own money and buy my own house!"


    "Respectable!" Zachary gave him a thumbs-up, then directed him toward the Economic Development Zone.


    For a market research trip, he needed to gather information from multiple angles, and the data Yasmine had given him wasn''t thorough enough. So he would have to see for himself.


    The Economic Development Zone mainly consisted of new buildings, with bothmercial and residential areas, but the foot traffic was still rtively low.


    After having y park along the roadside, Zachary took him to a few street food vendors. They grabbed some bites to eat while Zachary chatted casually with the shop owners.