This Is Official Business
After he had heard that sentence, Yang Chen said without the slightest change in his expression, “The parent company is already in a mess, but our branch company cannot follow in suit. Relay my words, every department should continue doing their jobs and don’t discuss baseless gossips.”
After hearing his words, w.a.n.g Jie nodded and immediately ran out to calm the subordinates down.
An Xin said worriedly, “Hubby, what should we do? Sister Mingyu definitely wouldn’t do such a thing. This looks like a premeditated move, trying to frame her.”
As Mo Qianni and Liu Mingyu had both come to meet An Xin before, despite working in different buildings, they would still b.u.mp into each other occasionally during meetings. Even though they weren’t very close, they knew each other to a certain degree.
Yang Chen smiled at An Xin. “Even if the sky was falling, I would still be here to hold it up. Don’t worry. Are you afraid that I’ll have no money to keep you all alive if the company goes bankrupt? You stay here and help me call the shots. I’m going to the parent company right now to check out the situation.”
An Xin nodded obediently. She knew that as the important branch company, they shouldn’t be chaotic right now.
More than ten minutes later, Yang Chen stepped into the Yu Lei building. Almost every Yu Lei employee that he b.u.mped into hung a gravely solemn expression on their faces. They were all discussing about the mole in the company and the gloomy future prospects of the company.
Yang Chen asked around for Lin Ruoxi and the other executives’ whereabouts. Then he headed straight for the level where the big conference room was at.
No fewer than twenty to thirty Yu Lei executives were already seated in the conference room. Lin Ruoxi, Mo Qianni, Li Minghe, Chris, and also the person in question of this incident Liu Mingyu were all present.
The atmosphere in the conference room was a dark one. Everyone looked awful at the news.
Gloomy clouds overcast Lin Ruoxi’s icy cold yet unrivalled beautiful face. She had looks that could kill. Literally.
Mo Qianni, Wu Yue, and the rest sat on the two sides of Lin Ruoxi. They were all silent while their faces were burning with anxiety. Li Minghe, Chris, and the other executives looked equally worried.
Liu Mingyu was the most devastated among them all. Sitting on her seat, she looked like she had lost her mind. She was biting her lips while her hands were holding so tightly onto a pen, looking as though she was about to break it in half!
“What’s wrong? Have you all become mute? Say something,” Lin Ruoxi said coldly. She wasn’t loud, but her words made the temperature in the completely silent conference room drop by a few degrees.
No one could say anything. Everyone’s eyes were darting around the room avoiding her gaze and her question.
Lin Ruoxi smiled scornfully. “Why? Aren’t you all always very full of opinions? Now that something has gone wrong, why have you all gone dumb?”
There was another round of silence. Finally, one of the executives gulped and said, trembling, “Boss… Boss Lin, I think that there’s something odd about this incident. Our company’s security is top-notch within the industry. How could someone… how could someone steal such important information and yet not be detected at all?”
Slam!!
Lin Ruoxi slammed one hand on the desk fiercely, making everyone shudder awake!
“Department Head Fang, I asked you all here to resolve the matter, not for you to report the incident to me. Everyone here knows what has happened! What I want to hear is a solution!! A solution!!!” Lin Ruoxi was obviously ready to explode. She was always calm and had never been as mad as this, even when they faced the bombardment from the foreign financial group back then. Her anger might have been credited to the fact that it was someone from inside the company!
Department Head Fang wiped off his cold sweat and hurriedly said again, “Yes, yes… Boss Lin, I think the priority now is to find the enemy who has stolen our company’s data. If we can gather evidence within a short period of time, then we can file a criminal suit. With that, we might be able to take control of the situation. Even if we suffer some losses, we should be able to compensate that amount through the legal damages given from our opposition! I believe that a compet.i.tor who dares to lay their hands on our company is definitely no small fry! As long as we can secure the situation and turn things around, then even despite losses, we can still make a comeback!”
As Department Head Fang finished his words, almost everyone s.h.i.+fted their gazes towards Liu Mingyu who hadn’t said a word.
Another executive snorted and said, “Apart from Boss Lin, the pa.s.scode to the safe deposit box in every department head’s office is known only to the respective department heads. Department Head Liu, we’ve been colleagues for so many years. I can’t believe you did what you did! How dare you make such a move against the company?!”
“Hmph, back then I even voted for this woman to replace Vice President Mo’s former position. I was so blinded!” A few others started joining in and said.
Immediately, all of their arrows were pointed towards Liu Mingyu! After all, Lin Ruoxi would definitely not leak the doc.u.ments. Since Liu Mingyu was the only one who knew the pa.s.scode, naturally she was the most likely suspect.
Liu Mingyu’s face was ghastly pale. There were tears in her eyes, but she didn’t know what to say. She knew clearly that no excuse in the world could prove that she was innocent.
Mo Qianni spoke up for her angrily, “Think carefully. Since everyone knows that only Department Head Liu and Boss Lin know the pa.s.scode, if she still leaked out the doc.u.ments under such circ.u.mstances, wouldn’t it be such a dumb move on her part?! Is there such a stupid culprit?! Department Head Liu was obviously framed by others. The priority now is to find out the real culprit! Not to start internal arguments here!”
With that, everyone finally became quiet. Mo Qianni’s reputation in the company was only second to Lin Ruoxi. What she said had made sense too. This was indeed too obvious. Even if Liu Mingyu wanted to betray the company, she wouldn’t do such a silly thing!
Suddenly, Li Minghe who hadn’t said a word spoke slowly, “Actually, you can’t put it this way. Perhaps it’s a psychological tactic by the culprit. Think about it carefully, we all think that it’s way too obvious if it was done by Department Head Liu. And that’s why she was framed. But what if, the culprit is making use of this to make everyone think that she was framed?”
Indeed, what Li Minghe said wasn’t impossible either!
“Vice President Li, the way you’re trying to pin the crime onto Department Head Liu right now, isn’t it a little too motive-laden?” Mo Qianni said in anger.
“Vice President Mo, pardon me for being straightforward, but what I say speaks on behalf of the people in this room. Although we hope that Department Head Liu isn’t the culprit, we don’t want to let go of any opportunity to locate the culprit either, do we?” Li Minghe said honestly.
“You…” Mo Qianni was grinding her teeth in anger, yet she had no other ways to defend Liu Mingyu.
“That’s enough!” Lin Ruoxi stopped everyone. She furrowed her brows and asked Wu Yue next to her, “Wu Yue, are the calculation results out yet? What’s the estimated loss?”
Wu Yue looked at her tablet and nodded with a heavy expression, saying, “Yes, Boss Lin. I’ve done a rough estimation of the loss from those tender projects, purchasing projects, acquisition plans and design plans. We’re looking at a loss of at least five billion. It’s mainly because our purchasing and acquisition plans this year are expanding at a global level. Our budget has been completely expanded. Our contingency plan did not account for accidents like this one.”
Everyone’s faces sunk when they heard ‘five billion’. Everyone in the room knew very well that regardless of how wealthy Yu Lei was, if there was a sudden loss of five billion in the company’s cashflow, it would be a disastrous situation. It was equivalent to a super generator that had run out of oil abruptly!
“That’s probably not all…” Chris who was still new to the company added with a bitter smile. “Now that our company’s situation has been made public to everyone online, no one will have confidence in our financial status. When NASDAQ opens in the afternoon today, the entire world will be dumping our stocks in the market. When that happens, our a.s.sets will shrink terribly. With that, even if we manage to attain sufficient funds from a bank loan, it’ll only be a temporary solution. Our business for the next half of the year will have to start from scratch and we’ll have zero compet.i.tive strength.”
Everyone started looking at each other. They all saw desperate and resigned looks on each other’s faces.
“d.a.m.n it!” An executive thumped on the table and said miserably, “We don’t even have a chance of retaliating!”
“If I find out who did this, I’ll peel his skin off alive!” Some other executives even started swearing, unable to control their emotions.
Liu Mingyu could sense that everyone was glaring at her in boiling madness. Finally, she could withstand the burden no more. Tears started streaming down her face and she couldn’t stop sobbing in her seat.
Lin Ruoxi looked at her indifferently and said, “Department Head Liu, what is there to cry about? Now that everyone suspects you, do you have anything to say for yourself?”
“Boss Lin!” Seeing that Lin Ruoxi not only did not console Liu Mingyu, but even treated her so harshly, Mo Qianni started persuading her, “Boss Lin, this was definitely not done by Department Head Liu. It might be possible if it were someone else, but Mingyu would never do it. You should understand what I mean. Don’t you trust her?”
Lin Ruoxi glanced Mo Qianni and said mockingly, “Sorry, I really don’t understand what you mean. Why should I trust her? Besides, Vice President Mo, don’t start playing the relations.h.i.+p card at such critical moments. Our personal relations.h.i.+p means nothing in a business setting. As blatant as everyone can see, the only possible suspect now is Liu Mingyu, isn’t it?”
Mo Qianni’s face went pale. She stared at the emotionless Lin Ruoxi before her eyes in disbelief. She looked like a cruel icy statue that froze Mo Qianni’s heart utterly.
“Ruoxi… why would you…” Mo Qianni was choking a little.
“Mind your words, Vice President Mo,” Lin Ruoxi said flatly. “This is official business. I have a responsibility towards our dozens of thousands of employees across the globe. Right now, Liu Mingyu is the key suspect. Whether she has been framed is something that we’ll find out after an investigation is done.”
Liu Mingyu raised her head pitifully and looked at Lin Ruoxi. She smiled miserably and said, “Boss Lin is right. No matter what, the doc.u.ments were leaked out from my possession. I have to take responsibility for such a huge damage to the company.”
“Mingyu! But you’re innocent!” Mo Qianni was on pins and needles. Liu Mingyu was after all a subordinate that she had promoted, plus because of their relations.h.i.+p with Yang Chen, the two of them were as close as sisters. Seeing that Liu Mingyu was about to just admit for the sake of ending this, Mo Qianni was so anxious she stood up from her seat.
“Vice President Mo, your actions make us suspect if you have some special connections with Department Head Liu,” Li Minghe interrupted.
Mo Qianni turned around and glared at Li Minghe furiously, “Don’t be too happy. We’ll eventually find out who’s the one pulling the strings behind all these.”
Li Minghe lifted his eyebrows and said smilingly, “I hope so too.”
Right then, the door of the conference room was opened from the outside. To everyone’s surprise, Yang Chen stretched himself with a yawn lazily and walked into the room. Then he said with a sigh and a smile, “I’ve been outside listening to your conversation since just now. Your discussion methods are so inefficient. Instead of wasting your time like this, why not we all go back to doing our own duties and prepare for the upcoming battle? As for tracking down the culprit, how about you guys just hand it over to me?”