From humble beginnings to the pinnacle of life

The office fell completely silent. With no outsiders around, President Gao completely dropped his amiable facade.

He took out his cigarette, lit it skillfully, and took a deep drag.

His eyes were full of disdain as he looked at me, his tone indifferent: "I knew you were a smart person. Now that you understand, you should know what choice you should make."

"You want to reassign me to a different area?"

Mr. Gao nodded slightly, his tone seemingly carrying a hint of condescension: "That's right. If you're willing to behave and be obedient, I can give you the North City area and let you start from scratch."

I'm familiar with the northern part of the city; I used to go there often when delivering food.

The entire area consists of old resettlement housing; there are no large factories or high-quality commercial districts.

The school only has one ordinary junior high school, not even a senior high school, let alone orders from large enterprises.

The few small companies that exist have so few orders that they can't make any money at all.

This place, with absolutely no room for development, is supposed to be a chance for me to start over, but frankly, it's just a disguised form of exile to the frontier!

This is not an opportunity at all, it's another, even deeper pit!

If I'm stupid enough to jump in again, I'll never be able to turn my life around; I'll be stuck doing free land clearing for him for the rest of my life.

I took two more puffs of my cigarette, looked directly into Mr. Gao's eyes, and asked calmly but firmly, "What if I don't want to go?"

Mr. Gao sighed softly, as if regretting my lack of tact, and walked over to sit opposite me, his tone becoming somewhat somber:

"Lin Ye, I really don't understand you. The fact that you've made it here proves you're capable. If you're so capable, why not go back to Beicheng and start over? You'll make money too, won't you? Why are you so stubborn?"

"It's different." I interrupted him directly. "You know the situation over there better than I do. Besides, who can guarantee this isn't just another trap you've set for me?"

Mr. Gao was speechless for a moment, staring at me blankly for a long time without saying a word.

Clearly, my words struck a nerve with him, completely exposing his hypocrisy and scheming.

I chuckled self-deprecatingly twice and pressed on, "To put it bluntly, you've been using me from the very beginning, haven't you?"

"All the reputation I've built up day and night over the past month has become your bargaining chip for climbing the ladder and getting promoted, hasn't it?"

Mr. Gao still didn't admit it directly, only smiling faintly, his tone carrying an arrogant condescension:

"You are indeed very smart. But now that things have come to this, you have no other choice."

"I called you here today not to discuss anything, but to inform you. I hope you'll be sensible and not force me to take action."

I felt nauseous listening to this, completely lost my patience, and coldly interrupted:

"Enough! You're still making empty promises? You're a headquarters operations director, wielding resources and power, and all you do is scheme against ordinary people like us who work hard. Is that really meaningful?"

Perhaps realizing he had nothing more to say to me, he stopped rambling and his tone suddenly shifted, becoming full of threat:

"Lin Ye, I'm telling you this one last time, you have no way out. With just a little editing of the surveillance video, I can easily classify you as a perpetrator of harassment, indecent assault, or even attempted rape. Do you believe me?"

I believe it, of course I believe it.

There's nothing a ruthless, vicious, and unscrupulous person wouldn't do.

Once he reports the edited fake video to the police, I will be unable to defend myself.

The surveillance footage was blurry, and there were no third-party witnesses at the scene. Based solely on his one-sided account and the edited video, I would definitely be convicted and face imprisonment.

I'm barefoot, so I shouldn't be afraid of those wearing shoes. At worst, we'll fight to the death.

But my only weakness is my mother who is bedridden at home!

If I go to jail, who will treat my mother's illness and buy her medicine?

I'm really not willing to just accept defeat like this!

I invested hundreds of thousands of yuan, stayed up countless nights, learned express delivery operations from scratch, and led a team to explore the market.

We gradually transformed a bad website into a regional benchmark.

This effort, energy, and money are priceless!

Why should I just accept this?

Do you really think I, Lin Ye, am honest and easy to bully?

I suppressed the anger surging within me, stopped dwelling on right and wrong, and went straight to the point: "Alright, Mr. Gao, I'm just unlucky to have fallen for you this time."

"I'll just say one thing now: you'll return every single penny of my initial private investment to me."

"If you're willing to refund my money, we'll call it quits. But if you're trying to get something for nothing, swallow my principal, and force me to accept defeat, then I'm not afraid. Even if you call the police and sue me, even if I go to jail, I'll fight you to the death and ruin your headquarters' reputation!"

Upon hearing this, General Manager Gao scoffed, his face full of disdain: "After all that talk, it all comes down to money."

"Let me correct you. I don't want the money. This money is my personal investment, it's my rightful capital, and you must return it."

Mr. Gao was too lazy to argue with me, probably not wanting to escalate the situation, and said coldly:

"Okay. Calculate it yourself: a detailed breakdown of all investments made since you took over the site, how much has it cost in total?"

I adjusted my posture and began to calculate the accounts with neither servility nor arrogance:

"I took over this courier station for a transfer fee of 100,000 yuan. The initial investment was 50,000 yuan for renovations, purchasing hardware equipment, and site improvements. Subsequent promotion in the community, online customer acquisition, and Google advertising cost another 10,000 yuan. In addition, I purchased ten delivery vehicles, for a total of 230,000 yuan."

I paused for a second, then continued, "The site has fifteen employees, and we're still short 130,000 yuan in salaries this month. I'll cover that myself; you don't need to pay. I only want my personal investment and all the site's operating profits for this month."

After hearing my account, Mr. Gao was visibly taken aback, then his face was full of sarcasm:

"You really dare to ask for such an outrageous amount!"

"Why wouldn't I dare? This money is mine to begin with. Enough nonsense, are you going to give me the money or not?"

Mr. Gao remained silent for a long time, seemingly calculating, before finally gritting his teeth and saying, "Fine. I can refund you this money, but you must provide me with paper invoices and receipts for all expenses, without exception."

"Simple," I replied casually. "I've kept all the receipts for my expenses, and I also have electronic copies on my phone."

As I was speaking, I took out my phone, ready to show him the receipts in my photo album.

But Mr. Gao raised his hand and interrupted me directly: "I don't look at electronic documents, I only recognize paper invoices."

"The paper invoice is kept in my courier station office." I looked up at him. "You can transfer the money first... No! I need cash. I'll go back and get it right now and bring it to you personally."

He sneered and said, "You want cash? Do you think that's possible?"

"You'd better know whether it's possible or not. I'm telling you this: if you don't settle my debt today, this isn't over."

"Fine, I'll cause a scene at your headquarters and let everyone see how your upper management discards and schemes against grassroots entrepreneurs!"

These words thoroughly enraged General Manager Gao.

His face instantly turned ashen, and he stared intently at me.

After a few seconds of silence, he gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "Lin Ye, have I been too kind to you? The fact that I'm sitting here patiently negotiating with you is already my biggest concession! Don't be so arrogant and ungrateful!"