Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

Chapter 155 Emergency Meeting (Part 2)

"Teacher Zhang, I must make this clear." Chen Yizhou placed his hands on the table, his voice hoarse but his speech rapid. "In the activity plan I submitted, it was clearly stated that the suppliers were regular restaurants around each campus, the budget was declared normally, and it was calculated based on the purchase cost of a chicken leg plus transportation and venue fees, which was more than enough."

He turned and stared at Wu Tao across from him.

"And the result? The budget was cut by 40% when it reached the operations department, and the supplier was changed to a fast food delivery factory in Tongzhou called something like Xinwang. I'd never even heard of this factory; it wasn't even in my proposal. I signed it because I was in a hurry to promote it."

Wu Tao sat to Zhang Chaoyang's left, legs crossed, fingers resting on the armrest, his expression as calm as if he were listening to a routine quarterly report.

"Mr. Chen, you can't say that," Wu Tao said calmly. "Budget approval follows the group's procedures. When I reviewed your proposal, I found that the small, unassuming restaurants around the campus you chose didn't even include a copy of their business licenses in the plan. There are over a dozen scattered restaurants, each with different standards. If a food safety issue arises, it will be even harder to trace the responsibility. I sent you an email suggesting that you use a single supplier with delivery capabilities for better quality control."

Chen Yizhou slammed his hand on the table: "What email? I didn't receive it!"

Wu Tao pulled a printed document from his briefcase and pushed it to the center of the table.

"At 3:17 PM on June 23rd, I sent you a work email, copying your assistant, Lao Zhao. The subject was 'Suggestions Regarding the Adjustment of Suppliers for the 5Q Campus Promotion Campaign.' You did not reply. According to the group's approval process, if no objection is raised within 48 hours, it is considered as default agreement."

Chen Yizhou snatched the printed document, glanced at it for a couple of lines, and his expression turned even uglier.

He confirmed that he had not seen the email.

"Mr. Wu, aren't you being a bit—" Chen Yizhou started to say, but after glancing at Zhang Chaoyang's expression, he swallowed the rest of his words.

Sitting in the main seat, Zhang Chaoyang flipped through the printed documents handed to him by Wu Tao, his brows furrowed as he remained silent.

The email was indeed sent; the timestamp and CC record are present. There are no issues with the process.

General Counsel Qian cleared his throat and added, "From a legal perspective, the email's sending record is stored on the group's email server, making it traceable and verifiable. According to Article 37 of the company's internal management system, failure to reply to an approval request email within the specified timeframe does indeed constitute default approval."

Chen Yizhou clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles cracked.

Only now did he realize—this trap had been set from the very beginning. The email was sent when he was at his most overwhelmed, and it was copied to his assistant, Lao Zhao, who couldn't even manage to tidy up his desk properly. The subject line was the unremarkable word "suggestion," not "change notification," not "urgent," just an inconspicuous "suggestion" lost among hundreds of other emails.

"Even if there are no problems with the process," Chen Yizhou said, suppressing his anger, "you chose Xinwang Delivery Factory, but what about its qualifications? In 36-degree weather, transporting chicken legs in foam boxes with ice packs, what's the difference between that and stuffing bacteria into students' mouths? Mr. Wu, you approved this supplier, you have to explain to everyone why you chose a catering factory that even Sohu's canteen rejected."

There was a two-second silence in the conference room.

Zhang Chaoyang looked up from the email printout and at Wu Tao.

Wu Tao's expression remained unchanged.

He calmly picked up the water glass in front of him, took a sip, put it down, and then spoke.

"I verified all of Xinwang Delivery's business license, health permit, and food business license during my approval process. The documents are complete and all valid. As for their previous cooperation with Sohu Canteen, it was because the property management upgraded the canteen's hygiene standards and replaced a batch of suppliers. It was not because Xinwang itself had any food safety issues."

He paused for a moment, then added a layer of grievance to his tone.

"Teacher Zhang, I didn't want this to happen either. I chose this supplier because they had the capacity for bulk delivery, and because my budget was limited, I had to find a supplier with good value for money. When the chicken legs had quality issues, I immediately took the public relations department to handle it last night, and the follow-up work with the students was basically finished by this morning. But now Mr. Chen is putting all the blame on me, saying that I deliberately changed suppliers, which I can't accept."

Chen Yizhou nearly jumped out of his chair: "You can't accept this? You've completely revamped my plan, and now the students have food poisoning, and you're putting all the blame on me? How can I accept that?"

"That's enough," Zhang Chaoyang said.

The small conference room fell silent instantly.

Zhang Chaoyang flipped the printed email face down on the table and rubbed his temples.

He looked at Chen Yizhou's flushed face, then at Wu Tao's perfectly styled hair and proper posture, and felt a surge of irritation.

"Yizhou, you're the person in charge who signed off on the plan, there's nothing to argue about. You didn't reply to the supplier change email, which doesn't make sense from a procedural standpoint."

Chen Yizhou opened his mouth, wanting to refute.

"But—" Zhang Chaoyang turned to look at Wu Tao, staring at him for a couple more seconds, "Xiao Tao, from now on, approvals for changes involving external suppliers can't just be sent via email. The project manager must be notified by phone for confirmation, and a written signature must be kept on file. The legal department will revise this clause in the progress tracking after today's meeting."

Wu Tao nodded: "Okay, Mr. Zhang."

Chen Yizhou leaned back in his chair, his chest tight with pressure.

Zhang Chaoyang's words, while seemingly assigning blame to both sides, actually pinned the main responsibility for the fried chicken leg incident on the plan he signed.

Wu Tao only received a verbal reminder to "pay attention to the procedures in the future," without even a written warning.

As for himself, his signature in black and white on the proposal was like a nail driven into his forehead, impossible to remove.

Zhao Minghua was flipping through the budget details, his brow still furrowed. Suddenly, he interjected, "President Chen, how much did this fried chicken leg event cost in total? Including compensation."

Chen Yizhou closed his eyes briefly: "The event execution cost was over 7.9 million, the follow-up compensation was 186,000, plus the venue fees and temporary labor costs at various promotion points, totaling a little over 9.42 million."

Zhao Minghua pushed up his glasses, his voice not loud but every word sharp: "Nine million four hundred and twenty thousand yuan resulted in eighty-seven students getting diarrhea, and a bunch of posts online criticizing Sohu. How are we going to write this in the roadshow materials?"

No one responded in the meeting room.

Chen Yizhou gritted his teeth and shifted his gaze from Zhao Minghua to Wu Tao.

Wu Tao was looking down at an unrelated document, his face expressionless, like a stagnant pool of water.

It wasn't until this moment that Chen Yizhou truly realized that he was facing not only external pressure from Qihang Technology and Bai Yuhang, but also the intricately operating meat grinder within Sohu—and that he had been placed on the conveyor belt from the very first day he stepped into the Sohu building.

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