Chapter 13 — A Day as a Janitor

By this age, I had long understood that words left undone did not mean they had never been intended. Zhao An sat at the head of the conference table, his cane leaning quietly against the polished wood. He had endured a sleepless night, and his eyes were heavily laced with red veins. Nan placed a provisional disciplinary resolution directly before him. Zhao An read through the document with meticulous care, then reached out to pick up his fountain pen. Just before the nib touched the paper, he suddenly raised his eyes and looked straight at me.

Yuan Zhen, please take a seat.

I sat down immediately to his right. Not a single one of the remaining senior executives in the room dared to raise their heads. Zhao An began to pronounce each word with deliberate, chilling precision.

Revoke the decision to transfer Yuan Zhen to the sanitation department.

Restore her status as the Director of General Administration until her official date of retirement.

All compensation and benefits shall be executed in accordance with the highest tier of the Special Startup Security List.

Every single historical retirement settlement involving long-term employees must undergo a thorough re-audit.

Those implicated in these violations shall be handed over immediately to the judicial authorities and the Board Disciplinary Committee.

Having spoken, he handed the official document to Nan. Nan lost no time in copying and distributing the pages. Several people in the room exhaled quiet sighs of relief. Yet I knew deep down that this was merely the first falling blade. Zhao An fixed his gaze upon me once more.

Do you have any further demands?

Silence fell over the conference room once again. I picked up the original transfer order. The paper was already creased and worn. The designation of logistics sanitation worker remained printed upon it with cruel clarity.

I want a public statement.

It must explicitly state who proposed this transfer, who approved it, and who carried it out.

It must clearly state that I did not refuse to follow instructions, but was instead deliberately and maliciously demoted by others.

It must clearly state that the company offers a formal apology to all long-term employees who have been adversely affected.

The expressions of the senior executives shifted instantly. One of them muttered under his breath, Such a public disclosure will severely damage the group's reputation. I turned my gaze upon him.

When you were bullying loyal, long-term employees, why did you never once think of the company's reputation?

The man instantly snapped his mouth shut. Zhao An gave a slow, firm nod.

Publish it.

I continued, What about Sister Wang?

They have already completed her draft settlement statement.

She is still working here; she should not have to wait until tomorrow to realize she has been schemed against.

Zhao An looked at Nan.

Notify Shu Qin immediately.

Nan dialed the phone without hesitation. At half-past five in the morning, Sister Wang hurried into the building, hastily draped in a coat. Upon seeing me seated in the conference room, and then catching sight of the red-bound folder upon the table, her eyes instantly welled with tears.

Yuan Zhen, what on earth has happened?

I pushed her draft settlement document across the table. As Sister Wang read through the numbers, her hands began to tremble.

They did not even spare someone like me?

I said softly, It is not just you. One by one, Nan reached out to contact the family of old Liu from the warehouse, Chef Tran from the cafeteria, and Engineer Meng from the equipment department. Some had already retired for two years. Some had experienced delayed subsidies for half a year. Others had always believed their personal files were simply incomplete. As the morning light broke, the internal announcement of the Vista Group was officially dispatched. The mobile phones of every single employee rang out simultaneously with notifications. The statement contained not a single ambiguous phrase. The deliberate reassignment of Yuan Zhen, alongside the actions of Huai Ren and others suspected of forging documents and infringing upon employee rights, had already been handed over to the police. The grand lobby was packed with people. Some looked at the gray sanitation uniform I still wore with complex, unreadable gazes. Miao hurried over holding a clean set of clothes.

Auntie Yuan, please go and change.

I lowered my head to look at the garments upon my body. Then, I raised my hand and carefully pinned my old employee badge back onto my chest. Director of General Administration. Yuan Zhen. At that exact moment, the elevator doors slid open. A woman dressed in a dark business suit stepped out. When Nan caught sight of her, his expression shifted slightly. He murmured to Zhao An, Chairman Zhao, the audit team has arrived early.

The woman who emerged from the elevator was named Zheng Yi. She did not belong to the group's internal audit department. Four people followed closely behind her, each carrying a heavy sealing container. Nan whispered to me that she was the head of the external audit firm hired directly by the Board of Directors, originally scheduled to begin her work the following week. Zhao An looked at her coldly.

Who authorized you to arrive ahead of schedule?

Zheng Yi placed an official dispatch document upon the reception desk.

The Board Secretariat issued a notice at four o'clock this morning, instructing us to commence our work immediately at the Vista headquarters.

Zhao An's gaze grew heavy.

I issued no such notice.

Zheng Yi did not respond, choosing instead to sweep her eyes across the people gathered in the lobby.

That merely proves that someone desperately wanted us here, while someone else was terrified of our arrival.

The vast lobby plunged into absolute silence. I lowered my gaze to the gray sanitation uniform. Within the span of a single day and night, I had transformed from a department director into a cleaner, and from a cleaner into a spectacle watched by the entire corporation. Yet the true ledgers had only just begun to reveal their secrets. Zheng Yi unlatched the sealing container.

From this moment onward, all documents pertaining to the Administrative Center, the Human Resources Department, the Finance Department, and the Board Office must be sealed.

Without the explicit authorization of the audit team, no one is permitted to view, destroy, or relocate a single document.