Chapter 36
After Matilda signed the contract, she walked back to the main gate, where the property manager helped her call a car.
Passing by Brandon meant covering some distance. But she didn’t look back once, didn’t slow down for even a second, and got straight into the car to head to the company.
This time, she called everyone into the conference room and gave them five minutes to show up. Nobody dared to be late, but their faces were long, their spirits crushed.
Matilda guessed it was because of the news about Crossen Technology restarting their X3 chip project.
“It’s nothing. They haven’t even made it yet. Why act like you’ve already lost?” Matilda told them. “With me here, I won’t let us fade into mediocrity.
“Difficulties come with challenges-if we’re going to do something, then let’s do what no one else has done. Take a look at my hundred-day restart plan-”
Inside Rose Villa, Shelby held the property deed Brandon had given her, but instead of feeling secure, she felt restless.
Matilda hadn’t been erased from Brandon’s heart. Just hearing the name “Tilda” was enough to make him lose control when drunk.
After mulling it over, Shelby drove to Maple Heights once Brandon left for work.
The community’s facial recognition system could identify residents before they even reached the gates. Shelby couldn’t get in, so she sat in her car, watching people come and go.
Soon, she spotted a middle-aged man in work clothes carrying a tool bag. His face was pale, his body was trembling, and his hands kept wiping sweat.
Shelby quietly followed him. He grew weaker with every step. Just as he tried to cross the street toward the bus stop, his knees buckled, and he collapsed right in the middle of the road.
Shelby rushed out into traffic to help him.
The man insisted he was fine, but Shelby wouldn’t let it go. She dragged him to the hospital and even paid his medical bills.
A young, well-dressed woman kneeling down to carry a sweaty, dirty man on her shoulder-it was a sight that could move
anyone.
The electrician was no exception. He told her he had been working at Maple Heights for almost twenty years and knew the place inside out.
“If you ever need help with anything, just say the word,” he promised.
Shelby hesitated, playing the part of someone with a heavy heart. “I do need something, but I don’t know who to ask.
“My sister-in-law has been demanding a divorce. My mother fainted from the stress. My brother wants to patch things up, but she won’t see him. So he’s been following her and even rented a place there in Building 3.”
The electrician had heard the housekeepers gossiping about it-the new female resident in Building 3 had signed divorce papers and was now in the cooling-off period.
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Shelby sighed, her eyes pitiful, “But my sister-in-law is too proud to forgive him. My mother doesn’t have much time left. and her last wish is to see them back together. But I can’t even get into Maple Heights-”
The electrician nodded firmly. “No problem. Tell me what you want me to do.”
Matilda’s hundred-day restart plan introduced new chip design ideas. With 5G spreading, chips needed to be more powerful
than ever.
They would design chips with higher pixel density, lower noise, faster autofocus, and smarter image processing. On top of that, they would add Al technology for instant editing.
The plan broke down tasks for everyone, step by step. Matilda also made it clear which technologies they would tackle.
It was like someone had lit a beacon in the dark-suddenly, everyone who had felt lost now had a sense of direction.
Faye led the applause. “Ms. Warren, I finally see it-Lurith Tech didn’t lose to Crossen Technology. It lost to you.”
Brigham, who had taken over Luke’s work, chimed in, “Whoever has Ms. Warren has the world.”
“Absolutely right!” Others nodded.
Matilda raised her hand to stop them from piling on the flattery. She only asked, “Do you want to beat Crossen Technology?”
For two seconds, the room was silent. Then voices rose one after another.
“Yes! Of course!”
“I dream about it.”
“We’ve been waiting for payback.”
Matilda noticed that only Neil stayed quiet. His eyes were distant and hard to read.
“Go home on time today,” she told them. “Come back tomorrow at your best.”
“Goodbye, Ms. Warren,” the others said.
Neil packed up his things. He put a little doll into his black backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and walked out without saying a word to her.
Matilda sighed inwardly-Neil really wasn’t easy to like. She grabbed her bag and got ready to leave as well.
Just then, Rufus strolled over with a bucket of cookies, wanting to chat about the funding. But it was less chatting, more shoving money into her hands.
“Ms. Warren, spend what you need, and buy what you want. Headquarters says you don’t need to apply or keep accounts and invoices. All the money is yours to use,” he told her.
That was way too good to be true. Matilda suspected Horton Group had its own motives.
Rufus knew she wouldn’t believe it, so he tore open a pack of cookies and handed it to her while explaining slowly, “Actually, our boss at Horton Group has a personal grudge with one of Crossen Technology’s higher-ups—”
His gossip dragged on for over an hour.
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Apparently, Horton Group’s boss once had feelings for the wife of a Crossen Technology executive. He was so smitten that he didn’t want to compete with Crossen Technology in any field.
And he even gave them high-end smart home system contracts to help Crossen Technology thrive.
But that executive cheated, and when Horton Group’s boss found out, he snapped. That was why he bought Lurith Tech-10 go head-to-head with Crossen Technology.
Matilda munched on cookies as she listened, but her mind wandered. A Crossen Technology executive cheating-she somehow thought the story was about her.
Still, she doubted it. She’d never even met Horton Group’s boss and didn’t know his age. Rumor said he was an older man with gray hair.
She wasn’t the type old men liked. And even if she was, she’d rather die than get involved with someone that much older.
By the time Rufus finally left, it was almost eight. Matilda dragged herself home, exhausted.
Downstairs in Building 3, an electrician was fiddling with wires. She barely gave him a glance.
Stuffed with Rufus’s cookies, she had no appetite for dinner. She went straight to shower. But just as she lathered up with soap, the lights went out-and the water stopped running.
