Chapter 36
Chapter 36: The First to Undermine Him
Li Zhao Yang was also startled when he heard this. The desks, chairs, and decorations in the company were mostly bought in bulk according to a list made by the Procurement Department.
He had never been very interested in this kind of thing, so of course he did not know that just this one spot broke such a big taboo.
The receptionist at the door of the Finance Department was a little girl in her early twenties. Feeling the pressure from her boss’s gaze, she hurried to explain: “This hourglass was brought over by Deputy Director Shao two months ago. After that it has just stayed here, and no one has touched it.”
“Deputy Director Shao? The Finance Department has a deputy director with the surname Shao? What’s his full name?”
The young receptionist was stunned by the question. After a while, she answered awkwardly: “It’s Deputy Director Shao, Shao Qie De.”
“Pfft…” As soon as Du An Rao heard this name, she could not hold back a snort.
[Shao Qie De? A bit lacking in morals? How can anyone have a name like that? Wait, he is the deputy director of the Finance Department? Oh right, their Chief Financial Officer got so angry over his own son’s math grades that he ended up in the hospital. Now the Finance Department is basically the deputy director’s world. No wonder he put an hourglass at the door. All the money leaking out is going straight into his pocket.]
Speaking of this deputy director, he was without a doubt the very first person to undermine Li Zhao Yang.
Because the Chief Financial Officer had been hospitalized by accident, this deputy director won without even trying.
Taking advantage of his direct supervisor’s absence, he directly took his place and gathered the people under him, becoming the new one in power.
Right away, he could not wait to use the Five Ghosts Transfer Art and started acting like a fat rat, evading taxes in all kinds of ways and lining his own pockets.
To be fair, most companies have people taking kickbacks, but the previous Chief Financial Officer had not been that greedy. What he did stayed above the bottom line.
It was just bits and pieces of small money. It was easy to balance the books, and the numbers looked good on paper, so it was not easy to find.
This deputy director was different. He took a cut from big deals and would not let go of small ones either. Even a dog passing by their department would have a few hairs plucked off by him.
Because of him, when the Li Family later fell and everyone started kicking them while they were down, every investigation hit the mark. The amount of money involved never dropped below nine digits.
[I remember now. The reason this man dared to steal from the company so boldly was because he was not only the deputy director of the Finance Department, he was also the husband of one of Li Zhao Yang’s distant aunts. When it is your own relative’s money, stealing – cough, I mean taking it – feels even easier, right?]
When he heard this, Xi Jing Yue’s face grew even darker. In a company, the most taboo thing was this kind of family connection. If you were not careful, the whole company would turn into a family workshop. Everything would get tangled up, there would be no future for growth, and it would even drag you back.
Deputy Director Shao was clearly a typical example of that.
As a result, before Li Zhao Yang had time to remember who this so-called Deputy Director Shao actually was, he once again received a sharp glare from his dear cousin.
“…”
Holding back his anger, Li Zhao Yang pressed his lips together and decided to vent this breath on the real culprit.
“Where is he? Call him over right now!”
At that moment, Shao Qie De was sweet-talking his lover on the phone. When he suddenly got the news that the Chairman was waiting for him at the department door, his face changed. He no longer cared about the lover on the other end who was acting cute and asking for gifts and rushed out in a hurry.
Two or three minutes later, Du An Rao and the others saw a middle-aged man in a sharp black suit rush out. His hair gel was so heavy that even ants could not climb up, and when he came closer, they could smell a flashy perfume on him.
Fumed by the smell, Li Zhao Yang staggered a step, his face even darker: “You are Shao Qie De?”
Not sure what Li Zhao Yang meant, Shao Qie De answered nervously: “Y-yes, that’s me. Chairman, you suddenly came to the Finance Department, do you have any instructions?”
“Did you bring this hourglass to the company?”
Shao Qie De froze. He finally noticed the big hourglass placed beside the front desk and felt relieved.
“Yes, yes, this was a gift from a game we played at a company dinner some time ago. They said it stands for time and means that time flies and is precious. I thought the meaning was nice, and young people like this kind of thing, so I had people put it at the door so they could see it when they come to work and when they leave.”
After he finished speaking, he secretly glanced at Li Zhao Yang and tested: “Is there something wrong with this decoration?”
In just a few words, he pushed all the responsibility onto the Procurement Department that had arranged the game gifts, completely washing his hands of it.
Not knowing the inside story, Li Zhao Yang could not scold him too harshly after hearing this. He had no choice but to turn his head and look to Du An Rao for help.
“Master Du, in your opinion, how should we deal with this?”
Only then did Shao Qie De notice that there was also a young girl who looked like a very young physiognomist standing beside Li Zhao Yang. His expression turned a bit strange.
The Chairman called this person a Grandmaster? This Grandmaster was not only a woman, she was also so young. Could she really be reliable?
Even though Xi Jing Yue could not hear Shao Qie De’s inner voice, one look at his expression told him what the man was thinking, and he sneered to himself.
How could she not be reliable? She had caught this fat rat like him as soon as they met, a rat that did not work but kept digging holes in his own field.
Du An Rao glanced at Shao Qie De: “Just have someone move it away.”
“Just move it away?”
“If you still feel uneasy, you can ask someone to buy a pixiu statue. A pixiu can guard the house and drive away evil. It has a mouth but no anus, which means money only comes in and does not go out, gathering and guarding wealth. With it here, at least it can block the money that is about to flow out. You may not gain more, but you can at least keep what you have.”
Her words were very meaningful. Shao Qie De listened with his heart pounding, and Li Zhao Yang also seemed lost in thought. He just did not connect it to the people around him for the moment, so he did not explode right away.
After they took a simple walk around the Finance Department and confirmed that, besides the hourglass, there were no other improper decorations, Li Zhao Yang hurriedly took Du An Rao and the others to the Public Relations Department.
As everyone knows, every company has a group chat that keeps the bosses and leaders out. People jokingly call it the “workers’ chat group.”
While Li Zhao Yang was walking around the Finance Department with Du An Rao, they had not even walked out the door before almost everyone in the company already knew about it.
Now, seeing them heading toward the Public Relations Department, all the employees there were sitting up straight, afraid that if they slipped even a little, the boss who came for a surprise check would catch them doing something wrong.
As the PR Director, Hong Shi Tao felt even more guilty, so uneasy that he almost could not sit still.
He checked his office inside and out. Only after making sure he had not left anything he should not leave did he stand up and walk out.
A few minutes later, they met Director Hong, who was waiting patiently at the door of the Public Relations Department.
Compared with the high-profile and flashy Shao Qie De, Director Hong was clearly much more low-key and reserved.
He wore a simple gray Chinese tunic suit, had a neat flat-top haircut, and a proper, mild smile on his face. He looked exactly like the public’s stereotype of an honest man.
Sadly for him, meeting Du An Rao, who held the “script” like a cheat, meant that no matter how good his mask was, it would not help.
Sure enough, the next second the two beside her heard Du An Rao’s clicking tongue and praising inner voice.