Dawn of Life

Sheng Xing and Qu Liang sat facing each other across the desk. As usual, Qu Liang started his flattery as soon as he entered the office. He began praising Sheng Xing's clothes, but when he got to his complexion, Sheng Xing abruptly interrupted him.

Sheng Xing stared into his eyes and went straight to the point, speaking seriously: "Minister Qu, I received an anonymous report alleging that you abused your position to tamper with renovation materials and embezzled over 50 yuan for yourself. You need to explain this matter."

Qu Liang's face flushed red instantly, and he said in a flustered manner, "President Sheng, who told you this? Someone must be deliberately targeting me." Although he tried his best to defend himself, his voice trembled uncontrollably.

Shengxing had long disliked Qu Liang, but since Qu Liang was a veteran of Wenxing and the internal relationships were complicated, he had devised a strategy of flattering him to death. However, he did not expect Qu Liang to be so greedy and audacious.

Sheng Xing sighed and pretended to be troubled as he said, "Old Qu, why are you getting more and more confused as you get older? You'll go to jail for doing this. Look at these photos. Luckily, we've only used a small portion of the materials so far. If we used them all, who would I complain to if there were problems in the office later?"

Qu Liang's legs suddenly gave way, and he slid off the chair. Sheng Xing was also startled. He had heard that the old man had high blood pressure, and he was worried that something might happen to him.

He rushed over to help him up, but Sheng Xing simply knelt down on the ground, sobbing, "President Sheng, I beg you, please don't hand me over to the police, and don't hand me over to Wen Xing. I have over 300,000 yuan in my account, and another 100,000 yuan is with the contractor. I'll talk to him and return it all to the company immediately, and get back the unused materials too. I still have my elderly mother who's over 80 years old, and my youngest son is about to take the college entrance exam. They really can't take this blow."

Qu Liang looked up at Sheng Xing and saw that although Sheng Xing's face showed a slight change of emotion, he remained expressionless and made no comment. At this moment, he couldn't help but recall the time when Sheng Xing had intentionally or unintentionally persuaded him to return to headquarters. He strongly felt that this matter might have been orchestrated by Sheng Xing from the beginning.

After all, the contract had been approved by Shengxing, and the people who went to take photos on site might have been hired by him. However, Shengxing didn't hand over this solid evidence to headquarters, which meant that Shengxing wanted to do him a favor. So, he stood up, holding onto the chair with one hand and pulling Shengxing's arm with the other, and then sat back down.

After composing himself, he said, "President Sheng, I will apply to Wenxing to return to work at headquarters. You've managed Dasheng so well, I can't really help much here. I've been with Wenxing for a long time, and I'm quite familiar with the internal relationships within the company. Just consider this a chance to make friends with you, President Sheng. If you ever need my help in the future, just let me know."

Sheng Xing sat back down in his chair and said with a smile, "Old Qu is a straightforward person, so I'll consider you my friend. I'll definitely have to bother you once you return to headquarters."

Before Qu Liang came in, Sheng Xing had already decided that it would be more worthwhile to use his evidence to curry favor with him than to completely destroy him. After all, he understood the principle that "if you drive a dog into a dead end, it will surely backfire." As long as Qu Liang didn't cause trouble for Da Sheng, Sheng Xing couldn't and didn't want to interfere with anything else.

After leaving Shengxing's office, Qu Liang quickly dealt with the renovation matters and then submitted a report to headquarters, which approved the original arrangement of spending two years at the branch office.

Sheng Xing hadn't guessed that the anonymous whistleblower was Lin Yue, because in his mind, Lin Yue was still the person who disliked conflict and would choose to protect herself in the face of trouble. The Human Resources Department couldn't be leaderless, so she was still the right person for the job.

So he called Lin Yue to his office and said, "Qu Liang has applied to return to headquarters, and I've reached a consensus with headquarters that I will continue to manage the Human Resources and Administration Department. So you can take over the Human Resources Department again. Since there's no HRBP now, you should go around to the business departments more often and pay more attention to resource allocation and departmental collaboration."

Lin Yue was somewhat surprised when she heard that Qu Liang had applied to return to headquarters. She had originally thought that Shengxing was inherently suspicious and intolerant of any wrongdoing. She hadn't expected that Qu Liang could handle such a serious matter so easily. However, she quickly realized that she had reported the matter anonymously and hadn't been drawn into their schemes and manipulations.

After Sheng Xing finished speaking, he stared at Lin Yue, but couldn't find a happy expression on her face for a long time. He assumed that she had become arrogant after becoming Xiao Feng's girlfriend, and a meaningful smile appeared on his lips. He said, "The administration department doesn't have a director right now, or you could just combine the HR and administration departments."

Upon hearing the word "administration department," Lin Yue was visibly taken aback, then quickly shook her head and said, "No need, no need. Thank you for your trust, President Sheng. I have no administrative experience. Manager Wang has been leading the administration department for years, and she has done a very good job."

The administrative department's work is miscellaneous and lacks specialization, which is definitely not in Lin Yue's career plan. She still wants to solidify her expertise in human resources like Qin Lan, and she is quite certain that the copy of the renovation contract in her folder was placed there by Wang Lu.

Wang Lu would also guess that Qu Liang was reported by Lin Yue. If she took over the administration department at this point, she would create a new enemy. If she didn't, there would be something more subtle and beautiful between her and Wang Lu. Besides, they were both smart people, and neither of them would bring up the matter of exposing Qu Liang again.

Seeing her insistence, Sheng Xing didn't press the matter further. There had just been a major layoff, and the company was relocating. Therefore, headquarters had agreed to temporarily put him in charge of the Human Resources and Administration Department. However, he knew very well that if Xiao Feng didn't come to Dasheng soon, Wenxing would send someone else again. Although Xiao Feng hadn't confirmed his arrival time in Dasheng, his attitude was noticeably more relaxed than before.

Sheng Xing had never seriously discussed with Xiao Feng his plans for Lin Yue after arriving in Dasheng. In Sheng Xing's mind, these were two completely different matters and not comparable. He didn't believe Lin Yue's presence would affect Xiao Feng's decision to come to Dasheng, or even the timing of his arrival.

As for whether Xiao Feng will break up with Lin Yue, Sheng Xing is still uncertain. He seems quite serious this time, but thinking back, he always seems quite serious in the past. Furthermore, Sheng Xing is unaware that Xiao Feng has recently reconnected with his first love.

It was another weekend when Lin Yue received a call from Xiao Feng, saying that he had gone on a business trip.

Although it was early summer, the recent heavy rains had made the weather particularly cool. Xiaoyu wanted to go hiking, and Lin Haifeng and Liu Cuiying naturally went along with their grandson's idea, so the family quickly reached a consensus. They went to the supermarket in advance to buy snacks and drinks, and set off from home at eight o'clock to head to Beigaofeng.