Chapter 344 — Company Personnel Appointment

Hou Lin already bore a faint air of a man in authority, no longer the naive veteran he had once been. His words were concise, briefly introducing the company's discipline and touching on the key points regarding the rumours circulating in the company these past two days.

"Malicious posts slandering colleagues—such behaviour is strictly forbidden by this company. Everyone now knows the ins and outs of this matter, and we have investigated and determined who did it," Hou Lin said, word by word. "If there are conflicts, you may come to us for mediation, but to frame someone by such means is already criminal—it is libel! We are a proper company, an upward-looking collective, and I will absolutely not permit people of such moral depravity and base character to remain among us!"

Wang Xiaoran had not expected this meeting to be aimed at this matter. Though she had guessed, upon seeing Jing Yu's name on the rostrum, that the meeting must have something to do with Jing Yu, she had never imagined Hou Lin would back Jing Yu so forcefully. It seemed that cousin of Yu Chi's was truly no ordinary person.

Yet when Hou Lin said they had already determined who did it, Wang Xiaoran's heart tightened. Surely not? She had posted very discreetly, after her colleagues had all left work; no one should have been able to see it.

Even if they could trace the post to a company IP, there was no reason to suspect her. Wang Xiaoran knew a little basic computer knowledge: posting on the company intranet would only reveal the company's external IP, and with so many employees all sharing that one external IP, where on earth would anyone begin to investigate?

Moreover, the ID under which she had posted had been registered only moments before—a brand-new throwaway account—which made it all the harder to trace. So thinking this over, Wang Xiaoran concluded that Hou Lin was merely making alarming noises; he had not found out who did it at all. The only certainty was that they had determined the poster was someone inside the company.

At that thought, Wang Xiaoran's heart settled. She adopted an attitude of lofty indifference, as though it had nothing to do with her, and listened to the meeting.

It was only that when the others heard the post had come from someone inside the company, they all wore expressions of surprise. Since none of them had done it, however, their surprise was all there was to it; none of them reacted in any particular way.

The look of sheer terror that flashed across Wang Xiaoran's face naturally did not escape Yang Ce, Hou Lin, and the others. They had been watching this person all along. Seeing Wang Xiaoran put on that air of having nothing to do with it once more, Hou Lin went on in the same mild tone: "This is the first time, so we will not hold this person accountable. But if there is a second time, we will not be lenient—they will be fired on the spot!"

Hearing that no one would be held accountable, Wang Xiaoran felt even safer and let out a breath. But at Hou Lin's next sentence, her heart clenched tight again.

"However, I hope this person will come to me or President Bao after the meeting and own up to the mistake. If they do, we will let bygones be bygones. If they remain obstinate, then they had better not blame us for being unkind." Hou Lin said, "The chance will be given only once. I hope this person does not miss it."

With that, Hou Lin paused a moment, waiting for the reaction of the Prairie employees.

Wang Xiaoran's mind fell into turmoil. Hearing Hou Lin's words, she was somewhat at a loss as to what to do. Confess or not confess? By Hou Lin's meaning, so long as she confessed, all would be forgiven; if she did not, there would be punishment.

But did he really know who had done this? Wang Xiaoran did not believe it! She had done it in the utmost secrecy; no one could possibly have seen. She was certain he was only saying this on purpose to frighten people.

True, if she went and confessed, perhaps Hou Lin would keep his word and not fire her, but there was no guaranteeing it would not leave him with a poor impression of her, and then any future hope of rising through her connection to Yu Chi would be all but gone.

So if she kept quiet and pretended to have nothing to do with it, that ought to be the safer course. Only—did Hou Lin actually know who had done it or not?

Hou Lin waited for the people below to collect themselves, then continued: "All right. Now for the second item on the agenda. President Bao will read out the company's latest rules and regulations."

The old rules had been adapted from the employee handbook of Nevernight, and many parts were inadequate, riddled with loopholes, and simply unsuited to a large company. But at the time, pressed for time and with no harm done to the overall situation, they had been left unrevised.

Recently, however, trouble had come one after another: two vice presidents had absconded with funds, and employee discipline had grown lax. Bao Lin and Hou Lin had gone without sleep all night, consulting several experts and rushing out this new set of company discipline.

This time the company rules were all targeted and specific. The people below listened closely. Yang Shuoxuan nodded to himself in silent approval, while Jing Yu had no idea what the point was in her being called up to sit on the podium.

Jing Yu was clever, but sometimes it was precisely those closest to a matter who saw it least clearly. While everyone else was guessing that Jing Yu was about to be promoted, she herself remained in the dark.

After Bao Lin finished reading out the company rules, Hou Lin continued: "All right. The company rules will be printed shortly and distributed to each of you. They take effect on the first of next month, giving everyone half a month to adjust."

The employees below all breathed a sigh of relief, and one and all felt that President Hou was quite humane—at the very least, he was giving them time to digest the new rules, so they would not somehow, without knowing it, violate the discipline before they had even memorized it.

With half a month, they would basically all be familiar with and adjusted to it. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Next, I will announce several of the company's latest personnel appointments." Hou Lin's voice was flat, but the meeting room fell instantly silent. This was a major company matter; no one could afford to be careless about it.

Although only a minority would be promoted, most people still needed to hear clearly who had been promoted, whether they had any score to settle with that person, and how they ought to respond in the future.

"On the nomination of the company's management and with the approval of the board of directors, Jing Yu, formerly manager's assistant, is to serve as the company's executive vice president, chiefly responsible for the finance, human resources, and marketing departments." Here Hou Lin paused, turned his head, and said to Jing Yu, "Vice President Jing, congratulations."

Warm applause followed. In truth, from the moment Jing Yu had taken her seat on the podium, the employees below had all guessed that she would be promoted, and to no low a position—to sit up on the podium at all, one had to be at least a vice president.

What no one had expected was that Jing Yu would be made executive vice president, which carried far more power than an ordinary vice president. And what surprised them even more was that Jing Yu would be in charge of the three most vital departments in the company, holding the purse strings and the power over personnel! Those had once been the responsibility of Qu Daming and Liu Chan; in their day they had also overseen the purchasing department. But when two people had been responsible for four departments and Jing Yu alone was responsible for three, there was no need at all to compare who held more power.