Chapter 432: Lotus Charity’s Vermin

Morning.

Yunbei Industries Chairman’s Office.

Zhang Mingrong was reviewing documents as usual.

“Knock, knock, knock…”

The sound of someone knocking on the door echoed.

“Come in.”

As Zhang Mingrong’s voice faded, the office door was pushed open, and the secretary walked in with a worried expression.

“Chairman, this is bad. More than ten employees have already resigned today, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping.”

The secretary looked at Zhang Mingrong and said.

“What’s going on?” Zhang Mingrong’s face darkened. A few employees resigning was normal, but so many at once indicated a serious problem.

The secretary handed a newspaper to Zhang Mingrong: “Chairman, take a look at this.”

Zhang Mingrong gave her a suspicious glance, then reached out to take the newspaper.

[Last night, three small-time thieves broke into Chen Yu Company in an attempt to steal, but they were caught and severely beaten on the spot by the security guards. They were stripped and thrown onto the street. It is reported that the security guards involved have already apologized and taken responsibility. Reportedly, the three thieves were high-level executives from Yunbei Group.]

[How could high-level executives fall so low as to resort to theft? What tragedy of morality lies behind this? We will continue to report on Yunbei Industries.]

“This… How preposterous! This is outrageous!”

After reading the article, Zhang Mingrong’s face turned pale with anger. She crumpled the newspaper into a ball and threw it away.

She didn’t need to think long to understand that those who resigned today were originally those who jumped ship from Chen Yu Company.

It was obvious to anyone that it was Chen Yu’s doing that left Zhou Wei and the others in such a state.

“Let them go.”

Zhang Mingrong waved her hand irritably. She knew those people were scared. This wasn’t something that could be resolved by just increasing their salaries.

………………

Just as Zhang Mingrong’s anger made her chest swell two cup sizes, Xu Shaochen, the real culprit, was sitting in the General Manager’s office of Lotus Charity Foundation.

Li Jianzhang had called him to discuss something.

“Old Li, speak up. What’s the matter?”

Xu Shaochen sat behind his desk and looked at Li Jianzhang.

Li Jianzhang looked extremely grim and spoke in a deep voice: “Chairman Xu, I apologize. I’ve let you down. I want to resign. I’ll slowly repay the company’s losses.”

With that, Li Jianzhang handed a resignation letter to Xu Shaochen.

Xu Shaochen was stunned. He didn’t expect Li Jianzhang to call him over just to resign.

It took him a moment to react. He took the resignation letter but didn’t even look at it. He ripped it into pieces and threw it into the trash bin: “What’s going on?”

“Chairman Xu, it’s all my fault for being so foolish…” Li Jianzhang, full of guilt, recounted what had happened.

The charity work of Lotus Charity Foundation had always been flourishing. But as it grew larger, the funds it handled increased, and the company had to hire more staff.

To ensure that every penny was spent on charity without anyone pocketing the funds, the Lotus Charity Foundation assigned a special person to oversee each fund and would conduct random audits.

In simple terms, it was a form of internal financial audit.

However, some time ago, someone anonymously reported to him that one of these auditors had colluded with others to embezzle charity funds.

As soon as Li Jianzhang learned about this, he secretly investigated and found that it was indeed true.

An auditor had colluded with the principal of a school to embezzle eighty percent of the charity funds; only twenty percent were actually used for charity.

Li Jianzhang was furious. But the more he investigated, the more terrified he became. This wasn’t an isolated incident within the company.

Not only were the auditors involved, but even high-level management within the company were taking part in the embezzlement. They had formed a complete network of corruption.

Li Jianzhang only found out because one of his close confidants, after being squeezed out, resigned and sent him a text message. Otherwise, he would have been kept in the dark by those involved.

After hearing all this, Xu Shaochen’s face turned terrifyingly dark. He had believed that his money was genuinely being used to help others.

He never expected that eighty percent of it was swallowed up by a bunch of vermin. How could he not be furious?

“Old Li, you’ve truly disappointed me. I didn’t expect you to be so incompetent.”

Xu Shaochen looked at Li Jianzhang coldly and said. A leader getting unknowingly sidelined to this extent really reflected poorly on his capabilities.

Li Jianzhang lowered his head and remained silent. He had no prior experience in charity work, and he didn’t expect this field to be so full of deep waters, nearly drowning him.

“Resign? Do you think resigning will make up for the losses you’ve caused the company or restore my trust in you?”

Xu Shaochen pointed at Li Jianzhang’s nose and reprimanded him sharply: “I’ll assign someone else as general manager. You’ll be the deputy responsible for monitoring all fund movements. Your salary and year-end bonus will be halved.”

Since Li Jianzhang wasn’t fit to hold the top position, this role, akin to a watchdog, suited him perfectly.

After all, two-thirds of the higher management were pocketing money. The fact that Li Jianzhang kept his hands clean at least proved his integrity. He was well-suited to the role of oversight.

“Yes, thank you, Chairman Xu.”

Li Jianzhang was overwhelmed with gratitude. He never expected that Xu Shaochen would give him another chance. He silently vowed to repay him with his life.

“Get out! Notify all middle and upper management, as well as the auditors, to meet in the conference room in ten minutes.”

Xu Shaochen said coldly. Whatever they had swallowed, Xu Shaochen intended to make them cough it all up.

“Yes, Chairman Xu.”

Li Jianzhang nodded, then walked out of the office.

………………

Soon, news of the big boss calling for a meeting spread throughout the company.

Everyone knew that Li Jianzhang was just an employee. Xu Shaochen was the real boss behind the scenes.

At this time, in the Deputy Manager’s office.

Seven or eight people were smoking. Vice President Chen Jing sat behind his desk and finally broke the silence.

“Gentlemen, what do you think of this Chairman Xu? He has never interfered in company affairs before, so why the sudden meeting? I have a bad feeling about this.”

“President Chen, I think you’re overthinking. There’s no way he knows about what we’ve been up to. He’s too far removed.”

“Exactly. Besides, we’ve already moved the money. Even if he finds out, so what? Economic crimes aren’t too severe. At most, we’d spend a few years in prison. It’s not like we haven’t made enough to enjoy life afterward.”

“Right. That Xu kid is just a greenhorn. We’ve been in the business world for years. Do you think we can’t handle him?”

Everyone spoke one after another. It was evident that they were the beneficiaries of the embezzled charity funds. None of them took Xu Shaochen seriously.