"President Ying, why did you come in person?" Wei Hao was even more nervous, quickly stepping out from behind his desk.
In less than half an hour, both managers had graced his office with their presence. It seemed the severity of this matter rivaled a meteor about to strike Earth.
Seeing Wei Hao standing respectfully, Ying Jingsheng raised an eyebrow. "I just finished a meeting and was passing by. Go ahead, what did you want to see me about?"
Passing by? The 10th floor was hardly on the way to the 39th floor.
The thought flashed through Tao Xinrou's mind, but she saw Ying Jingsheng walk over to Wei Hao's office chair and sit down quite naturally.
Wei Hao quickly recounted the situation, handing over the OA abnormal download record, the document leak risk, and the damning surveillance video for Ying Jingsheng to see.
Tao Xinrou desperately wanted to speak, but Ying Jingsheng raised a hand to stop her.
"This is what you call evidence?" Ying Jingsheng asked.
Zhang Hongbin paused before answering, "Yes, President Ying. The chain of evidence is complete. For the sake of the company's interests and reputation, we had to handle this seriously."
"But it seems to me like the surveillance footage might be spliced?"
Zhang Hongbin let out an "Ah," then said with righteous indignation, "President Ying, this is raw footage from the café. How could it be spliced? If you don't believe me, I can have the café send over a complete copy."
"That won't be necessary. But look at this man—isn't he on the phone? And Tao Xinrou's words weren't directed at him, were they?" Ying Jingsheng turned to Zhang Hongbin. "Manager Zhang, what do you think?"
Zhang Hongbin awkwardly wiped the sweat from his forehead, but remained stubborn. "President Ying, maybe you should investigate further? To me, it looks like Tao Xinrou is talking to that man in black."
"Is that so? Then let's look at this OA download record. The time shows 4:37 PM the day before yesterday. Tao Xinrou, where were you at that time?"
Tao Xinrou snapped to attention and answered loudly: "Reporting, President Ying! At that time, I was about to leave work. I ran into Li Nannan from the admin department, who needed me to sign an online procurement confirmation form. She said her computer had issues and asked me to log into my account to process it. After I finished but before I could log out, she ran off with the laptop. Then Wei Jiaxin came and said Supervisor Wei had asked me to pick up drinks from the café."
"Wei Hao, is that true?"
Ying Jingsheng looked at Wei Hao, who nodded. "Yes, I sent her."
Ying Jingsheng then said, "Anran, go get Li Nannan from admin."
A moment later, Li Nannan hurried in clutching her laptop. Seeing Ying Jingsheng, she was startled, closed the laptop, and bowed 90 degrees. "President Ying, I'm sorry."
Everyone was taken aback. Ying Jingsheng asked, "Sorry for what?"
"I shouldn't have come in carrying my laptop to greet you."
...
Wang Anran nudged Li Nannan, telling her to stand up straight.
"Do you carry this laptop everywhere you go?" Ying Jingsheng asked again.
"Yes, President Ying. Because of admin work, I even take it to the bathroom. It's... unavoidable." Li Nannan's eyes darted nervously, afraid of offending any of the leaders.
"Let me ask you: Did Tao Xinrou use your computer to log into OA?"
Li Nannan immediately replied, "Yes, yes. The client department needed to purchase something, and Tao Xinrou submitted the request. But it was urgent, and finance said all procedures had to be completed that day. By the time they submitted it, it was almost time to leave, so I had no choice but to come to her to log in."
Then she remembered something else: "Oh, right! The finance director said to have Tao Xinrou log in directly so they could check if the source had any issues and fix them immediately. I told Tao Xinrou that."
Tao Xinrou nodded. She hadn't thought much of it at the time.
"So, timeline-wise, someone took advantage of Li Nannan's busy schedule near the end of the day to download the file using that computer. Location-wise, the meeting at the café was just a random conversation. Manager Zhang, don't you think we should first look into who that man in black is?"
"This..." Zhang Hongbin's expression wavered. He clearly didn't know how to answer.
"Also, since Tao Xinrou is one of our hotel employees, we should trust our own people instead of spreading rumors without knowing the truth. Manager Zhang, I believe you bear significant responsibility for this."
Ying Jingsheng stood up, tossing the so-called evidence back into Zhang Hongbin's arms, his gaze burning into him. Zhang Hongbin could only lower his head, not daring to speak.
"This... President Ying, it must be a misunderstanding. I didn't investigate thoroughly. The leaker must be someone else. I'll find out who it is right away!" Zhang Hongbin slapped himself and tried to slip away.
"Wait. Are you sure there was actually a leak? I had Anran check all the data. No one downloaded that file."
"This..." Zhang Hongbin was speechless.
He hadn't expected Ying Jingsheng to arrive so quickly, nor to dismantle his hastily constructed, seemingly solid chain of evidence with such ease and precision, hitting every weak point.
"This is interesting." Ying Jingsheng stood up, looking down at Zhang Hongbin. "But it also reminds me of something. Anran, notify security: upgrade the classification level of all confidential files. And thoroughly review the raw surveillance footage from the café, including the period around that time. Find out who tried to frame our employee."
"Understood!" Wang Anran acknowledged, but Zhang Hongbin's heart sank to the bottom.
"As for you, Tao Xinrou, be more careful in the future. Don't let anyone get a hold on you. Learn your lesson."
Ying Jingsheng said it casually, but it was a public endorsement: Tao Xinrou was under his protection.
"Yes! Thank you, President Ying!" Tao Xinrou's lips curled upward.
*
Back at her desk, Tao Xinrou's smile hadn't completely faded.
The look on Zhang Hongbin's defeated face was just too funny—she could replay it all day.
But as she laughed, worry crept in.
Her debt of gratitude was piling up.
First, he helped her come up with a plan to deal with Zhang Hongbin. Second, he helped her get a hospital appointment for her mother. Third, he descended from nowhere and pulled her out of the "leak suspect" pit.
Three times.
If she kept owing like this, she might have to give up her entire next life.