Chapter 10 — My Nameless Occupation

Su Van, I never intended to end our partnership.

Five minutes later, a second message arrived.

The proposal you prepared is excellent. I regret my decision.

I did not reply. Regret. It had taken twelve years for that word to finally surface. The following day, Ha Kien Quoc convened a meeting with the entire board of directors. Vu Tieu Man was not present, but Tran Loi later sent her the audio recording. Ha Kien Quoc’s voice was somber and heavy: Regarding the project with Thuy Hoa, I want to clarify my position. First, this project will continue. Second, this proposal was indeed created by Su Van. Su Van is an employee who has dedicated twelve years to this company; a plan she crafted will inevitably understand the Heng Vien firm better than any external team. This is not a burden; it is a strategic advantage. Third— He paused for several seconds.

Third, the original decision to terminate Su Van was a mistake.

The meeting room fell into a prolonged, heavy silence. Tran Loi later recounted that Chu Han did not utter a single word throughout the entire session. However, his face had turned as pale as a sheet of paper.

One week after Ha Kien Quoc admitted in the board meeting that my dismissal was a blunder, a major crisis erupted at the Heng Vien Corporation. Three key clients simultaneously demanded a reassessment of their partnerships. The reason was that all three companies were dissatisfied with the quality of service provided by Heng Vien in recent times: projects were falling behind schedule, reports were riddled with errors, and points of contact were changing constantly. The root of these issues stemmed from the chaotic period that followed my departure. Ha Kien Quoc was suffering from a massive migraine. Seizing this opportunity, Chu Han put forward a new proposal. He suggested bringing in a high-level talent to take over the entire operations department—a former colleague of his named Phuong Ngan, who claimed to have previously served as a Chief Operating Officer for a listed company. Tran Loi immediately relayed this news to Vu Tieu Man, who in turn reported it to me.

Sister Su, I have investigated this man Phuong Ngan. He did work at a listed company, but he was merely a subordinate deputy under the Operations Director—two whole rungs below the actual COO seat. His resume is heavily inflated.

Since he was nominated by Chu Han, do you think Ha Kien Quoc will accept him?

It is hard to say. Boss Ha is under immense pressure right now. If he loses these three clients, this year’s revenue will evaporate by thirty percent. He is desperate for someone who looks capable of salvaging the situation.

Phuong Ngan is not coming to salvage anything.

Then why is he coming?

He is coming to consolidate Chu Han’s faction. Chu Han knows that Ha Kien Quoc’s trust in him is waning, and he needs to plant more of his own people within the company’s internal structure. Once Phuong Ngan is in, the operations department will become Chu Han’s private territory.

Vu Tieu Man took a sharp, jagged breath.

Sister Su... how are you able to see through these people so clearly?

Twelve years, I replied.

That evening, I did something I had never done before. I opened an encrypted folder. Inside, it stored all the core data I had accumulated over my twelve years at Heng Vien: the key terms and background investigations for every supplier contract, the contact logs and internal memos detailing the special requirements of every client, and an analysis of the root causes and resolution processes for every abnormal incident throughout various projects. There was something else, too—a document I had never mentioned to anyone. It was a list of internal management issues at the Heng Vien Corporation, spanning over three hundred items. It ranged from institutional loopholes and personnel risks to process flaws and legal compliance vulnerabilities. For twelve years, every time I discovered a problem, I recorded it. No one had ever asked for my input, and I had never volunteered it. After all, I was just an administrative specialist. Who would ever listen to the opinions of an administrative specialist? But now, everything was about to change.