Zora blinked, her tone taking on a slightly coaxing note. "You tell me if you're free first. If you are, then I'll tell you what it's about." "I'm free." Zora smiled shyly. "Really? Don't lie to me. I don't like it when you force yourself to do things you don't want to do." Zane's expression softened. "I'm not." Being with you is never a burden. "Well," she began, "I found out through a contact that Prof. Alistair Reed's birthday is on Saturday. I'd like you to come with me to celebrate." Zane processed this. "To celebrate? You want to use the party to meet him and sound him out about his willingness to sell the patent." "Yes, exactly." It was beneficial for the company. Zane had no reason to refuse. "Alright. Send me the time and address later. I'll go with you on Saturday." After Zora left, Zane sat back down at his computer. The more he thought about it, the more familiar the name "Alistair Reed" seemed. It feels like I heard that name a long time ago, somewhere. He was sure it wasn't from the news. But where? He couldn't quite recall. Just then, the discomfort in his stomach returned. With a sigh, Zane got up and fixed himself another packet of stomach medicine. Seeing the first aid kit made him think of Darcy again. And thinking of Darcy, it finally clicked. About five years ago, Darcy used to talk about Alistair all the time, going on about how much she admired him. So this Alistair was indeed a big deal. Over the years of building the company, his focus had been entirely on internal management and coding. He'd seriously neglected market knowledge and developments in his field. It was time to fix that. ... Darcy had been incredibly busy these past few days, running between home, the hospital, and the company. She had visibly lost weight. Ione's condition was temporarily stable. Aside from daily visits and ensuring the caregiver was attentive, there wasn't much else to do there. Work was the most demanding part. After sending the product iteration requirements document to Jax, she had expected the hostility toward her to lessen. It hadn't. Most people were still cold toward her, even deliberately ignoring her. Darcy didn't say anything about it. But the pre-sales proposal for Easemark Ventures needed to be finalized quickly, and they were currently stuck on the demo.She went to find Jax and stated her needs directly. "I need the R&D team to prioritize creating a product prototype. It doesn't need to be perfect, just functional enough to demonstrate the core features to the client." Easemark Ventures was a pragmatic company. They cared only if the product met their needs, nothing else. If the basic functionality was there and the price was right, securing the deal was highly probable. Having maintained a relationship with the CEO of Easemark for three years, Darcy understood their functional requirements better than anyone. A few additional features on the existing product would meet their tender requirements. But Jax was not cooperative. He shrugged. "Ms. Gale, I'm sorry, but other projects are more urgent right now. We can't risk upsetting our current clients for a potential one. The cost outweighs the benefit."Darcy frowned. "Jax, the Easemark project is larger than any current project we have. If we win this contract, the company's revenue is secured for the next three years. I'm not asking for much. Just two programmers. I'll work with them. We can probably get the iteration done in about two weeks." You can code? Jax felt deeply skeptical. Why don't you just say you can fly while you're at it? And even if she could, did she really think three people could implement all the new requirements from her document in two weeks? Wishful thinking! He kept his disdain internal, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I understand, but there's really nothing I can do. Everyone is swamped with their own projects. There's no spare time or energy for anything else." Darcy studied Jax across from her, her eyes narrowing slightly. She could see it now. The man was an obstinate old mule. She could, of course, use her authority to force him to prioritize her project. But the result would be poor, and it would only drive a deeper wedge between them. As a new manager who hadn't yet proven herself, making an enemy of the head of R&D right off the bat—what would Jethro think of her? However, there was one thing she could use to her advantage. After a long moment of thought, Darcy spoke slowly, "I see. The R&D team is short-handed. It's tough for everyone." The corners of Jax's mouth, which had been turned down, twitched upward in a suppressed smirk. But the next moment, his eyes widened in shock at her words. Darcy said, "In that case, I'll transfer a few people from the Delivery department to help. I spoke with the lead there yesterday. He said they currently have sufficient staff."Most importantly, the senior members of the Delivery team are very enthusiastic about development work and are very familiar with the product. With their help, we can relieve some pressure on the R&D colleagues." Jax's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.