So, Jax turned to Jethro. "Mr. Blackwood, we can't keep doing this. It will bankrupt Stratagem Tech's credibility. No client will trust our products in the future." Jethro crossed his arms. He shrugged, not answering Jax directly, and instead looked at Darcy. "Ms. Gale," he asked with a smile, "what's your take?" Jax frowned deeply. Why is he asking her? She's just a salesperson, all flash and no substance. What could she possibly understand? She'll probably just try to smooth things over. Jax subtly curled his lip, waiting for Darcy to embarrass herself. If she dared to side with Sales and Pre-sales, he was determined to make her lose face. Darcy thought for a moment.It was true; every tech company faced this issue. Sales, R&D, and Delivery were the upstream, midstream, and downstream of the business chain, often with conflicting interests. Jax rolled his eyes internally. Putting on an act. She clearly doesn't know what we're talking about! But then he heard Darcy say, "I understand Mr. Steel's concerns. However, I've reviewed Cade's pre-sales proposal. The product description isn't incorrect. Only a product with those capabilities would meet the client's requirements." "But our current product doesn't meet the client's requirements. Ms. Gale, do you even understand our product? You probably haven't even seen a demo yet." Jax felt he had caught her and couldn't resist firing back. Darcy smiled faintly. "I reviewed it days ago. Just because we can't do it now doesn't mean we can't soon." Jax's face darkened. "What do you mean? The bid is in less than two months. You don't expect my R&D team to develop and release a new product iteration in that short a time, do you? With all due respect, even if you worked us like dogs, 24/7, it would be nearly impossible." Darcy raised a brow. "No need for that. I'll help you coordinate and get it done." "You?" Jax's tone was dripping with scorn. "You don't understand the product or the tech. How are you going to help us?" Jethro cleared his throat lightly, his fist pressed to his lips. "Mr. Steel, mind your tone." But Darcy wasn't bothered. She was the new person. It was understandable that people didn't know her yet and were resistant. "Who says I don't understand the product or the technology?" she said calmly. "I'll move my desk to the R&D department tomorrow. We'll work side-by-side." The other R&D colleagues exchanged glances, looking at each other in surprise. "Fine! We look forward to it, Ms. Gale!" Jax said with a cold smirk, already waiting for her to make a fool of herself tomorrow.... The next morning, Darcy had planned to go to the company after her mother's surgery was over. She had hired a caregiver, so it should have been fine. Unexpectedly, the chief surgeon's previous operation ran long, delaying Ione's surgery by an hour. Darcy calculated it would end around noon. She thought it over, requested a half-day leave from Jethro, and messaged Jax, "Sorry, Mr. Steel, I have a family matter. I'll report to the R&D department this afternoon." When Jax got the message, he snorted coldly. The sound echoed in the quiet R&D office, making everyone look his way. "What's up?" Jax took a sip of his coffee. "Oh, nothing. Just someone pretending to be something they're not. An empty suit trying to pose as a Swiss Army knife." He chuckled derisively.It was already 10 AM, and there was no sign of Darcy moving her things. Everyone took it as proof that her talk yesterday about working alongside the R&D team was just hot air—just a trick to fool Jethro. They'd seen plenty of people like her. They started making snide comments, one after another. Some even began making crude jokes about her. "How do you think she landed the CEO spot here out of the blue?" "How else? Must be because Mr. Blackwood likes her." "Tch. I wonder what he sees in her. She's not even that great-looking. Nowhere near as beautiful as my goddess, Dr. Moss. Dr. Moss is a rare beauty in our field." "Don't even compare her to Dr. Moss! She's not fit to lick Dr. Moss' boots. But then, you don't need much talent to please a man, if you catch my drift!"... At 1 PM, Darcy rushed into the office. After a quick drink of water and gathering her things, she wheeled her chair and her backpack into the R&D department. The R&D staff was stunned. Was she for real? She wasn't just bluffing? Jax stood up from the far end of the room. He wasn't particularly fazed by her moving in. Moving her desk was the easy part. The hard part was delivering on what she'd promised last night. Coordinating and getting it done? He was going to see just what she could "coordinate." These sales types were always spouting trendy buzzwords, but it was all flash, no substance. "Mr. Steel, where should I sit?" Jax pointed. "You can sit opposite me."This spot would make it easiest to keep an eye on her. Darcy smiled and wheeled her chair to the designated spot. Once settled, she turned to him. "Mr. Steel, what are the main development bottlenecks right now? Which product features can't be implemented? I plan to start there." Jax mentally scoffed. Such a big talker, going straight for the hardest problems. Problems that we, programmers from top tech firms and product managers with finance degrees from overseas, can't solve. And she, an empty suit, thinks she can fix them? What a joke! Ding. A notification sounded from the office messenger. Darcy opened her laptop. Across from her, Jax said coldly, "I'm sending you the development roadmap. Take a look." Then he ignored her. He and his team had no intention of explaining it to her, regardless of whether she understood it or not. In truth, Darcy had already studied the company's product thoroughly before joining. Stratagem Tech currently only had one core product, and it wasn't overly complex. Having dealt with the CEO of Easemark Ventures for three years, Darcy knew exactly what kind of product they wanted. Building on the existing product, Darcy spent an hour outlining the new features needed. Then, she wrote a detailed product requirements document explaining how to implement them. To put it into practice, they just needed to write code according to the document. Actually, Darcy was also proficient in coding. Her undergraduate degree in Financial Engineering required both programming skills and financial understanding.During her five years at SummitCore, she had frequently been involved in product development and delivery; several products were developed under her leadership. But she was new here and didn't want to show off too much. Besides, this was the R&D team's job. If she did it for them, what would they have left to do? As dusk fell, Darcy stood up and stretched. She then packaged the files and sent them to Jax. "Mr. Steel, I've sent you the files. Please review them when you have a moment. Let me know if anything is unclear, and I can add more detail." Jax, who was discussing code with a team member, frowned unconsciously upon hearing this. Such a big mouth! I'm a company veteran! What could I possibly not understand!He immediately signaled his teammate, and they both went to his computer and opened the folder Darcy had sent. When they saw the contents, their expressions changed. They couldn't believe that the problems that had been stumping them could have such an elegant solution! Jax pushed his glasses up his nose, hardly believing his eyes. His teammate looked equally shocked. They both stared at the screen in silence for a long time, neither saying a word. Darcy received a message from the caregiver saying they were short on some daily necessities at the hospital. She immediately replied, "I'm leaving work now. I'll buy them and bring them over right away." Worried about her mother, Darcy didn't pay much attention to the look on Jax's face. Seeing it was the end of the workday, she packed her things, said goodbye to everyone, and left.After she was gone, Jax slumped into his chair. How is this possible? She's only got a few years of experience, and she's never worked in R&D. How does she know all this?!