Chapter 5 — The French company paid me 2,000 yuan, the next day the entire chain was paralyzed

The incident continued to spread and eventually reached the highest levels of the corporation. The CEO - a veteran famous in the business world for his cold realism and iron fist - personally intervened to handle the situation. Without hearing any excuses from Pierre, he immediately opened an emergency video conference. On the screen, his old face full of wrinkles but his eyes were still sharp as knives appeared, without any excess emotion. With just a low, slow, calm yet pressured voice, he made Pierre lose his whole body. Every word of the CEO is like a sharp blade: - From poor management, - To arrogant, short-sighted attitude, - And most serious: irresponsibility in discovering - fostering - and protecting talent. Every word he spoke stripped away the last layer of mask that Pierre was still trying to cling to. Pierre bowed his head, not daring to raise his head, nor daring to breathe loudly. This CEO is not like the leaders who only know how to play internal politics like Pierre. He just needs to be right – and effective. After reading through the entire technical report, damage analysis and production situation, it didn't take him more than a minute to come to the conclusion:

“Now, the only choice… is to invite Lam Vi back at all costs.”

He looked straight at the screen and asked:

“A million euros a day, right?”

Pierre swallowed his saliva and tremblingly replied:

“Y-Yes… sir…”

“Accept that price.”

The CEO's voice sounded decisively like a military order. No hesitation. No objections.

“And the person in charge of negotiations... is you, Pierre.”

“No matter what conditions she offers, you have only one mission: make her agree to come back and resolve the incident.”

“This is your only chance to redeem yourself.”

Pierre suddenly raised his head, his face turned pale, he could not believe his ears. Let him negotiate? It's like... forcing him to give his face to that girl to trample on. Even more humiliating than being fired. But the CEO's cold eyes made it clear: He had no choice. Pierre gritted his teeth and endured the humiliation, his trembling hands reopened the email he thought he would never see again. He mustered up all the remaining dignity in his life and wrote down every word, fully agreeing with Lam Vi's conditions. Click “Send” — and the whole body drooped like an empty corpse, lying motionless on the chair. Very quickly, I answered. Still the same style. Cold, decisive, without any room for negotiation. And that… is just the beginning. Still a familiar style. Brief. Sharp. Don't leave any room for resistance.

“Sir Pierre, we are pleased that we have reached an initial agreement.”

“However, due to your side wasting many of my precious days, the previous quote is no longer valid.”

“New price: 2 million euros, one-time payment for handling the entire matter.”

“In addition, to show my willingness to cooperate, I need you and Ms. Mary — head of human resources — to sign a public letter of apology, admitting wrong decisions on salary issues and lack of respect for me personally.”

“A letter of apology must be sent to all French branch employees.”

“The above two conditions — missing one is not enough.”

Pierre stared at the email as if someone had punched him in the back of the head. Dark eyes slam. Blood pressure rushes straight to the top of the head. His mouth opened to speak, but he choked, almost fainting on the spot. It's really too much! She not only wants money, but also wants to crush his self-esteem in front of the entire company. Pierre trembled and forwarded the email, sending it straight to the CEO, with a line full of indignation:

"Sir, she is threatening us! She is deliberately humiliating the whole company!"

He thought that the CEO would get angry and immediately deny that unreasonable request. On the other side of the screen, the CEO was silent for a long time.