"You're spouting nonsense!" Xiaoyu suddenly panicked, pointed trembling fingers at President Wang, and looked anxiously at President Liu, earnestly denying, "President Liu, don't believe him! I didn't ask him for any benefits, and until just recently, I've never even met him!"
Deputy Manager Zhang, initially terrified, heard Xiaoyu's calm response and logical rebuttal, quickly chimed in, "Yes! I had never met President Wang before just now, how could I ask him for kickbacks?"
Manager Wang was completely stunned; at first, he thought Lu Li was doomed.
Unexpectedly, the situation reversed, and President Wang suddenly accused Xiaoyu and Deputy Manager Zhang of asking for kickbacks.
Manager Wang's eyes then lit up, feeling that today's incident had become quite interesting.
Lu Li, pretending to be surprised, said, "Oh, President Wang, you can't just say whatever you want. You and I only met in this meeting room at nine o'clock, how could Specialist Qin and Deputy Manager Zhang have had the time to ask you for benefits?"
Such a good person!
Xiaolu is indeed a good person!
Xiaoyu and Deputy Manager Zhang were moved beyond words.
They never expected that at such a critical moment, Lu Li would be the first to speak up for them.
Both had already decided not to admit anything, anyways they hadn't received any money, and the demands for kickbacks were made inside a business car, with no actual evidence. As long as they kept denying, no one could do anything to them.
However, something that dashed their hopes occurred.
President Wang calmly said, "Denying won't help, do you remember when we discussed things in the business car, the engine wasn't turned off? There's a dashcam in the car. I knew that Specialist Qin asking to meet early probably meant nothing good, so beforehand I turned on the dashcam's recording feature!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Xiaoyu and Deputy Manager Zhang seemed thunderstruck, both dumbfounded on the spot!
At this point, Lu Li seemed doubtful, "Really, President Wang? If they asked you for benefits, why didn't you mention it at first and only report now? Could you be lying?"
Ah, Xiaolu is just too kind.
Even now, still speaking up for them both.
Xiaoyu and Deputy Manager Zhang were so touched they didn't know what to say.
They even felt a pang of guilt about previously trying to frame Lu Li.
Of course, if given another chance, Xiaoyu and Deputy Manager Zhang would still have tried to pin the mess on Lu Li; who wants to be caught for taking kickbacks?
President Liu said with a blank expression, "Yes, President Wang, what's going on?"
President Wang continued the act, pretending to be pitiable, "Ours is just a small company, finally getting a deal worth several hundreds of thousands, of course, I wanted to secure it. But who knew they'd ask to meet early, and right from the start, demand eighty to one hundred thousand, subtly suggesting the order would be lost if I didn't agree. I didn't dare confront them, so I reluctantly agreed. Luckily, President Liu, you have a sharp eye and quickly noticed the quotation problem. After much hesitation, I dared to explain everything in your presence, otherwise, I would have been forced to commit a crime by them!"
President Wang's speech was tear-jerkingly pathetic, gaining much sympathy.
Manager Wang and the four or five high-ranking officers who came with President Liu had sympathetic looks, while showing disdain towards Xiaoyu and Deputy Manager Zhang. Such a poor company, and yet you two resorted to such coercion, do you have any humanity left?
Xiaoyu was so enraged he wanted to kill someone!
Deputy Manager Zhang looked completely hopeless, knowing this was the end!
Seeing the two's angry and sorrowful faces, Lu Li couldn't help but feel refreshed.
You two thought you'd sabotage my project and set me up?
Well, now you'll likely end up in jail, right?
President Liu didn't question or accuse, he simply turned to a bald middle-aged man and said, "Call the police."
The bald middle-aged man was the vice president, who without hesitation took out his phone, "Alright, I'm calling the police now."
"No! President Liu, don't call the police!" Xiaoyu was thoroughly frightened, collapsing to the ground in a heap, pleading, "President Liu, I was wrong. I'll compensate the company for all losses, please don't call the police!"
Deputy Manager Zhang's face turned pale with fear, she too knelt quickly, "President Liu! President Liu! Please give me another chance!"
President Liu didn't acknowledge them, leaving with his people.
Witnessing the two in disrepute, Lu Li couldn't help but curl his lips, thinking to himself, why bring this upon yourselves if you knew it would end like this?
Sabotage my project?
Setting me up for the kickback scandal?
You two are really overthinking!
…
It was nearly eleven o'clock.
Lu Li had just finished giving a statement to the police in the small conference room.
As for Xiaoyu and Deputy Manager Zhang, they were already screaming like slaughtered pigs, dragged away into police cars.
Before reaching the office area entrance,
Assistant Li, President Liu's aide, approached, "Leader Lu, I was looking for you."
"Assistant Li." Lu Li looked over and asked, "What's up?"
Assistant Li said, "President Liu wants to see you."
Lu Li replied, "Alright, I'll go see President Liu now."
He took the elevator.
Arrived on the third floor.
Found President Liu's general manager office.
Knocked on the door, thump thump.
"Come in."
President Liu's voice came from inside.
Lu Li pushed open the door, closing it behind him, asking, "President Liu, you wanted to see me?"
"Sit." President Liu pointed to the leather chair in front of the desk.
Lu Li walked over, sat down, and looked at President Liu's face.
President Liu pushed the files aside, clasped his hands together, saying, "You handled the earlier situation quite skillfully."
Lu Li hastily said, "Thank you for the praise, President Liu. Mainly, I'm an upright person and can't stand such things."
President Liu leaned back in his chair, "I'm not referring to the reporting but rather the process of how you reported it. You did it very wisely. If you had directly exposed the two, people in the company might see you as someone who likes to report secretly, which would harm your future work relations. But by telling me first, you pretended to let me expose it, which avoided such situations while making everyone believe I astutely found the anomaly and dealt with those two pests, letting me establish authority, owing you a favor."
Lu Li hadn't expected President Liu to hold him in such high regard, and he felt incredibly pleased.
He modestly replied, "Mainly, I wasn't experienced in dealing with such matters, so I had to ask for your help, President Liu."
"Excessive modesty is akin to arrogance," President Liu said thoughtfully.
Lu Li couldn't help but want to roll his eyes, thinking, here I am flattering you and you're using words to reprimand me?
President Liu then smiled, "In any case, today you've rendered a great service to the company. Let me think of how to reward you."
Reward me?
Lu Li was delighted.
President Liu suddenly decided, "How about this, with Deputy Manager Zhang's position vacant, you can be the department's deputy manager?"
What?
Am I getting another promotion?
Lu Li was momentarily stunned, responding, "You just recently promoted me to team leader, and now as department deputy manager, wouldn't people think too much?"
"Punishment for wrongs, rewards for merits." President Liu said naturally, "That's my principle. Besides, the matter with Xiaoyu seems to be more than just asking President Wang for kickbacks. I heard from the police just now that Xiaoyu admitted to other things, and this could have a large impact. Regardless, your contribution is much more significant than you currently understand, promoting you to department deputy manager might only be a part of your rewards, there might be more once the police have completed their investigation."
What?
There may be more rewards?
Lu Li thought to himself, I'm a simple man, spare the theatrics and just give me some cash as a reward.
Though uncertain of what other rewards might come, overall, Lu Li was quite pleased.
Deputy Manager Zhang initially wanted to ruin his project with Xiaoyu, but unexpectedly, the project wasn't sabotaged, and the deputy manager position is now available for him.
Although currently, Lu Li doesn't care much for this job, nonetheless, for his current situation, getting a promotion is surely uplifting.
Being a department deputy manager implies what?
It means his status and position in the company have elevated!
In turn, his social standing has improved!
While a team leader might be a basic leader without much real power, a deputy manager is different, being part of the company's middle management.
A significant salary increase is one thing.
But most importantly, a deputy manager manages more people.
Now, he's essentially "an officer"!
Lu Li was understandably satisfied.