"There are no special requirements or conditions. Just handle it yourselves in the Human Resources department," Yi Anguo said before hanging up.

The work efficiency of a large company was high. In just a few minutes, a tall, fair-skinned, beautiful young woman with long, silky black hair draping over her shoulders knocked on the door and entered his office.

"You're here already? Go and collect all the files from the investment project teams for me. That includes past investment profit records and the current status of ongoing investments. I need to review everything," Yi Anguo instructed his new assistant directly.

The woman was clearly stunned, staring foolishly at Yi Anguo. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, he frowned and spoke in a dissatisfied tone.

"Why are you still standing there? Didn't you understand what I just said? Is there a problem? Don't tell me you can't even handle a simple task like this."

"No! No problem, I'll get on it right away!" The assistant hurriedly opened the office door and rushed out, so anxious she was on the verge of tears.

In truth, she was Zhou Mengdie, a recent college graduate who had only joined the Human Resources department six months ago. Her name was a reference to the famous parable of Zhuangzi dreaming he was a butterfly. Since Yi Anguo had hung up so abruptly, the HR department had sent Zhou Mengdie over to explain that the General Manager's Assistant position might not be filled for another two days, as they needed to recruit someone for the role.

The manager position for the Financial Investment Department had been vacant for some time, so naturally, there had been no need for a manager's assistant. Besides, it seemed that even when there was a manager, they hadn't been assigned an assistant.

However, the HR Manager knew that this new Financial Investment Department Manager had a significant background. Since he had made the request, the HR department naturally had to accommodate him. Zhou Mengdie was a bit afraid of this new Mr. Yi. When her manager sent her over, he had explicitly warned her not to provoke him under any circumstances. The consequences, he said, would be severe, and he wouldn't be able to protect her.

But Zhou Mengdie had no idea how many investment projects the department had, let alone who she should ask for the files. So, Zhou Mengdie had no choice but to rush back to her boss, the HR Manager, for help.

After hearing her account, the HR Manager was exasperated. This new hire was truly proving to be unreliable. But now there was no other choice; he had to force her into the role. He personally took Zhou Mengdie to meet the staff of the Financial Investment Department, introducing her to them one by one and telling her to get familiar with the work environment as quickly as possible. He also informed her that, from this moment on, she was the General Manager's Assistant for the Financial Investment Department and no longer a member of the HR staff.

Frightened, Zhou Mengdie pleaded with her manager for help, but he forcibly appointed her anyway, ignoring her helpless gaze.

The HR Manager was a company veteran and was well-acquainted with every team in the Financial Investment Department; in fact, he had recruited many of them himself. With his help, Zhou Mengdie quickly gathered a large pile of files from the various investment project teams and brought them to Mr. Yi's office.

Yi Anguo was very satisfied with her performance. As he picked up a file and began to flip through it, he added, "Make me a cup of tea. Green tea."

Zhou Mengdie froze for a moment before she subconsciously nodded. "Oh!" She then hurried out again.

Once outside, she was again on the verge of crying as she called her former boss, the HR Manager, for help. The manager had a massive headache but couldn't refuse his former subordinate. He reluctantly parted with his private stash of good tea leaves and found a new stainless steel thermos.

When Zhou Mengdie finally presented the freshly brewed tea in the stainless steel thermos to Yi Anguo, he looked at her and asked, "Don't tell me the company doesn't even have tea? Did you just go out and buy this?"

"The company only provides free coffee," Zhou Mengdie explained, embarrassed.

Yi Anguo looked up at her with some surprise and nodded. "If the company doesn't have tea, you should have told me sooner. I'm not an unreasonable person. How about this? Go to Finance, or find the colleague in charge of procurement, and have them purchase some tea leaves. I prefer green tea. Any green tea will do; I'm not picky."

I'm the head of a department, I should have some privileges, right? I can't be expected to pay for my own tea! Yi Anguo thought.

After sending his young assistant away, Yi Anguo continued to go through the files. Although he read them carefully, he only had a partial understanding of most of the material. Some of it was completely beyond his comprehension, leaving him utterly confused. After all, where would he have encountered this kind of thing before? It was normal for him not to understand; it would have been abnormal if he understood everything.

That wasn't to say he was completely clueless; he could still make out a few things. But even so, there were no major market trends at the moment, at least none that made a strong impression on him, so he couldn't be bothered to intervene.

The more you do, the easier it is to make a mistake. By not meddling, at least I won't mess up. I'm not looking for merits, just avoiding faults. Besides, I don't want to seem too competent. I'm only here temporarily out of necessity and have no intention of staying long-term. Even if I wanted to perform well, it would be difficult given my abilities. The amount of capital involved is immense, and I don't understand many of the investment projects, so I couldn't possibly offer any meaningful advice.

In the days that followed, Yi Anguo made no significant moves. He would come to the office, sit, read documents, and drink his tea. The old saying about a new official lighting three fires upon taking office simply did not apply here.

After reviewing all the investment project documents, Yi Anguo held a symbolic meeting. He listened to everyone's progress reports but offered no opinions or insights of his own.

Everyone seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Although a general manager had parachuted in, it appeared that aside from an extra person in the manager's office—oh, correction, two people: the General Manager and his assistant—nothing had changed. Everything was running as usual, no different from before.

However, after the meeting, Yi Anguo asked the head of the US oil futures investment project team to stay behind and then convened a separate meeting with the entire team.

While Yi Anguo didn't want to get involved, he couldn't do absolutely nothing. At the very least, he had to justify his high salary.

"The reason I've kept you all here," Yi Anguo began straightforwardly, "is that after reviewing your analysis report, I've found a problem. Your analysis seems to be headed in the wrong direction.

"At the start of the year, crude oil futures prices skyrocketed, but now they've fallen all the way back down, breaking below the $50 per barrel mark and continuing to decline. While that's true, it shouldn't be taken as a sign that international crude oil futures prices will continue to fall from late May through July and August. As for the prediction that they will fall below $40 a barrel and drop to around $33? I personally find that judgment to be utterly absurd.

"I don't want to know how you arrived at such a conclusion, but I can state with certainty that it is wrong. If we invest based on that assumption, it will cause enormous financial losses for the company.

"When I first arrived, I said I didn't want to interfere—that things would continue as they were. Correct? But as the new General Manager of the Financial Investment Department, when I see an investment report that is so fundamentally misguided, I am compelled to respond accordingly.

"I personally believe the international crude oil market has already bottomed out. Starting in late May, the number of Americans traveling by car will steadily increase, leading to higher gasoline consumption. At the same time, multiple American refineries have been suffering frequent accidents due to long-term operation at full capacity, causing a decrease in domestic refined oil output.

"Furthermore, summer weather has a significant impact on offshore oil production, increasing the uncertainty of supply. International crude oil prices are bound to start rising gradually and reach new highs. Taking into account unpredictable weather factors, such as hurricanes and other natural disasters, I believe international crude oil futures prices will reach a new peak in August, potentially breaking through the $70 per barrel mark.

"It will absolutely not fall below the $40 mark, and dropping back to $33 a barrel is even more impossible."

…

"Mr. Yi, are you sure you aren't joking with us?"

After a moment of silence, Gong Bin, the deputy manager in charge of the US oil futures investment project, challenged Yi Anguo, his face dark with anger.

Gong Bin had always been a strong-willed and serious man. He never imagined the new manager would target him first. The first of the new official's three fires had just been lit right on his head.

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