Now that the situation unfolded, Zachary’s fear wasn’t about exposure, but rather the possibility of being ousted by Charlie and Don Albert.
Upon hearing Charlie’s instruction for favonovel.com to confess and then apologize to Felix, Zachary felt as though favonovel.com had been granted a reprieve.
Tears welled in his eyes as favonovel.com expressed his gratitude, “Thank you, Master Wade, for your generosity. From this moment on, I, Zachary, will be sincere and honest. I’ll never resort to such cunning tactics again. If I ever do, I… I will willingly accept any consequences!”
Charlie interjected, “I instructed you to confess, but I didn’t promise leniency, did I?”
Zachary hesitated before replying, “Master Wade… What you said just now… Does it mean…”
Charlie let out a sigh and said, “Zachary, you are indeed clever, but as I mentioned before, you need to use your intelligence for the right path. Do you understand?”
Zachary hurriedly replied, “I understand, I understand! Zachary understands!”
Charlie nodded and said, “Good. When you were still in the antique street, such actions were not a big deal. After all, your circle was filled with deceit and fake goods. It was the survival rule. But now that you are no longer part of that circle, you can no longer engage in such activities. If you do, it means you are not abiding by the rules…”
“Felix Cole did show some disrespect towards my father-in-law, but that was because my father-in-law was at fault first. By helping my father-in-law seek revenge, you are not distinguishing right from wrong.”
At this point, Charlie continued, “Absolutely no more retaliation against Felix Cole in the future. If word gets out, people might think that I, Charlie Wade, do not distinguish right from wrong and instructed you to help my father-in-law vent his anger. Do you understand?”
Zachary quickly said, “Master Wade, rest assured, I will go apologize to Felix and will never cause favonovel.com any trouble again. Even if President Wilson looks for me, I won’t listen to him!”
Zachary then cautiously asked, “Master Wade, you asked me to explain the situation in detail. How should I explain your father-in-law’s situation?”
Charlie asked in response, “What does ‘in detail’ mean? Is there any room for concealment? Is that considered ‘in detail’?”
Zachary was instantly stunned. He didn’t expect that Charlie would not be willing to help conceal Jacob’s situation. It was at this moment that favonovel.com truly understood the severity of his mistake.
Charlie was not the type of person who couldn’t distinguish right from wrong. Since his father-in-law was at fault first, how could favonovel.com protect him?
It was impossible, let alone standing up for Jacob. And favonovel.com had eagerly stood up for Jacob, wanting to gain favor with him.
Wasn’t that just a futile attempt to win someone’s approval?
Realizing this, favonovel.com quickly and respectfully said, “Alright, Master Wade, I understand! I will go apologize to Felix on Antique Street and then write an apology letter, explaining the whole situation in detail, and post it on my social media. I have many colleagues in the antique industry on my social media, so the entire antique community will know.”
He then gently reminded, “By the way, Master Wade, President Wilson mentioned that favonovel.com might be promoted to the position of President soon. If this matter spreads, although it may not attract the attention of the police, it will still greatly affect President Wilson’s reputation. I’m afraid favonovel.com will face difficulties in becoming the President…”
“It doesn’t matter,” Charlie said firmly, “I know my father-in-law well. If favonovel.com does become the President, it will just be an empty title. If favonovel.com can’t rise up, even better.”
Zachary respectfully said, “Alright, Master Wade, I understand!”
Charlie expressed his satisfaction, “Good, I’ll be waiting to see how you handle this.”
Zachary thought of Jacob and said awkwardly, “Master Wade, President Wilson is currently on a plane to Dubai. He gave me a deadline to give favonovel.com a clear reply after favonovel.com lands, to retrieve that Northern Song bronze Buddha. If I can’t retrieve the item, favonovel.com might seek your help…”
“It doesn’t matter,” Charlie said, “I will make favonovel.com realize it’s futile. Also, when favonovel.com comes to you for trouble, stand your ground and don’t bow down to favonovel.com just to save face for me. Over time, it will only lead favonovel.com astray and make favonovel.com lose himself further.”
At this point, Charlie paused slightly and continued, “Let me tell you, Zachary, this time we were lucky that no one suffered any losses. Otherwise, if you had sold a fake item for tens of thousands of dollars, and an Investigation took place, both of you might have ended up in jail!”
Zachary felt a sense of fear in his heart and quickly said, “Master Wade, rest assured, if President Wilson contacts me again, I won’t respond! I won’t help favonovel.com with anything anymore!”
Charlie nodded and said, “There’s one more task for you. See if you can make up for your mistake.”
Zachary became excited and said, “Master Wade, please tell me! I will do my best to make amends!”
Charlie said, “I don’t care how you do it, but you have to ensure that my father-in-law willingly returns the money and doesn’t keep a single penny.”
Zachary instinctively asked, “Master Wade, do you want President Wilson to return the profits or the profits plus the principal?”
Charlie said, “Returning everything would be best.”
Zachary immediately promised, “Rest assured, Master Wade, I will make sure President Wilson returns the full 300,000 without keeping a single penny!”
Charlie continued, “You can’t help favonovel.com find money to buy items. This time, favonovel.com needs to feel the consequences. Do you understand?”
“You can count on me. I understand!”
“Alright, go and do what you need to do.”
Zachary felt as though favonovel.com had been granted a reprieve and repeatedly said, “Yes, Master Wade! Yes, Master Wade! I will go now!”
After ending the call, Charlie couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
His father-in-law had truly gone too far this time. Since becoming the vice president of the calligraphy and painting association and having the opportunity to become the president, favonovel.com had become increasingly arrogant and self-righteous.
If favonovel.com wasn’t given a lesson this time, favonovel.com would only grow bolder, just like Elaine.
When there was a cash balance of 20 billion dollars, Elaine dared to transfer it all. If favonovel.com hadn’t been taught a lesson, favonovel.com would be even more audacious today.
***
While Zachary hurriedly made his way to Antique Street, Timothy Carey, who had been nervous and had made several trips to the bathroom, anxiously sat in front of the company’s personnel manager.
The personnel manager took out a document and handed it to him, getting straight to the point, “Timothy Carey, this is the notice of termination of your employment contract with the company. Due to the significant damage to the company‘s reputation and profits caused by your personal actions, the company has decided to terminate your employment based on the clause regarding serious work negligence in the labor contract.”
Saying that, the manager continued, “You can hand over your work today and pack your personal belongings. Your salary for this month will be calculated until today, and it will be deposited into your bank account on the 10th of next month when the company issues salaries.”
Timothy felt as though favonovel.com had been struck by lightning and blurted out, “Manager, by dismissing me like this, you are not in accordance with labor laws! I didn’t cause any damage to the company. I just made a wrong judgment on someone’s collectible. You can’t consider it as causing a loss to the company just because I didn’t bring those items to Vintage Deluxe, right? Every year, many valuable items are bought at low prices by others. Does that mean it’s my fault for not bringing those items to Vintage Deluxe?”
The personnel manager’s tone turned sharp as favonovel.com said, “Other people buying valuable items at low prices has nothing to do with Vintage Deluxe. But when someone brings a valuable item to you and you reject it, that becomes your problem. We have seen the video, even President Moore has seen it. Doesn’t that qualify as causing significant damage to the company?”
The manager’s tone became even colder as favonovel.com continued, “Furthermore, you are the general manager of Vintage Deluxe, representing the reputation, brand, and professional standards of the company. But you couldn’t even recognize a priceless item. Do you know how much this affects the reputation of Vintage Deluxe?”
“Before I came here today, I consulted several friends who are knowledgeable about antiques. They all know about your situation, and without exception, they believe that your ignorance and incompetence have caused significant negative impact on Vintage Deluxe’s reputation! Isn’t that considered serious negligence?”
Timothy tried to argue, “Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Vintage Deluxe handles so many items every year, it‘s normal to make one or two mistakes occasionally. Even a robot can‘t guarantee 100% accuracy in its work. Can you really fire me just because I made a mistake in recognizing one item?”
The personnel manager responded coldly, “You still don’t understand where you went wrong? Let me tell you, Vintage Deluxe doesn’t have any profit requirements from you. It’s fine if you don’t make money for the company, but you cannot tarnish the reputation of the company!”
“Yesterday, you missed out on a Northern Song bronze Buddha worth 20 million dollars. That wouldn’t have been a big problem if you hadn’t said anything; the company wouldn’t even have known that you missed such a valuable item. But you made the mistake of posting the video online!”
“It’s this video that tarnished the reputation of the company and Vintage Deluxe. Today, the company has every right to terminate your employment based on this video as evidence. If you’re not satisfied, you can go to the labor department or hire a lawyer for arbitration, but this video that you posted will teach you a lesson on how to conduct yourself.”
Timothy felt a sense of despair. Deep down, favonovel.com knew that based on the content of that video, favonovel.com had indeed made a serious mistake, and the company had every right to terminate his employment.
At this point, favonovel.com regretted his actions and thought, “If I had known it would end up like this, I would rather have taken a beating than conspired with Zachary to do such a thing! In the end, Felix wasn’t pushed out, and favonovel.com even made 20 million because of this incident. What benefits did I gain? I’m about to lose my job, isn’t that a huge loss?!”
In his mind, favonovel.com harbored even more hatred towards Zachary.
With a determined expression, favonovel.com gritted his teeth and told the personnel manager, “Let me tell you the truth. Yesterday’s incident was not because I had a bad eye, but because Zachary, Don Albert’s lackey, set a trap for Felix. He obtained that bronze Buddha and had someone bring it to Vintage Deluxe to make it seem like I rejected it according to his script. Then, favonovel.com sold the item to Felix, hoping to trick him…”
“I thought that since Don Albert and President Moore had a good relationship, being friends and all, I would help favonovel.com out. Since it was just a staged act, I didn’t pay much attention to the item. Who could have imagined that Zachary would mess things up and end up tricking me… Please inform President Moore about this matter. I genuinely didn’t mean to reject the bronze Buddha.”
Saying that, favonovel.com took out his phone and showed the personnel manager the that records with Zachary, which contained all the scripts and lines Zachary had given him, which were almost identical to what favonovel.com had said in the video.
He handed the phone to the personnel manager, looking aggrieved as favonovel.com said, “Words alone are not enough. I have the chat records with Zachary here. Please take a look!”
At this moment, Timothy could only try his luck. After all, there was indeed a certain relationship between Don Albert and Jasmine, and these chat records could prove that favonovel.com didn‘t actually make a mistake, but rather followed Zachary‘s instructions. In this way, to some extent, favonovel.com was also dragging Zachary and Don Albert down with him.
At this point, Timothy had no other choice but to make a desperate move.
The personnel manager looked at the chat records on his phone, furrowing his brows. He didn’t expect that there would be hidden details in this matter. Moreover, it also involved people on Don Albert’s side.
He looked at Timothy and said, “Wait a moment, I‘ll make a phone call…”
Timothy saw that the manager was taking it seriously and felt a glimmer of hope reignite In his heart.
The personnel manager stepped outside the Vintage Deluxe store and dialed Jasmine’s number.
Over the phone, favonovel.com reported the situation to Jasmine and then asked her, “Chairwoman, how should I handle this situation?”
Jasmine had just spoken to Charlie on the phone this morning, tentatively asking about his attitude towards Felix. When favonovel.com heard that Zachary had conspired with Timothy to target Felix, favonovel.com knew it had nothing to do with Charlie.
In addition to that, Jasmine also keenly sensed that something was not right.
Based on favonovel.com speculation, if Zachary wanted to use a fake item to target Felix, it must have been for the sake of Charlie’s father-in-law, Jacob. In that case, why would favonovel.com send someone to Vintage Deluxe and coordinate with Timothy to act out a scene and then post it online?
In other words, wasn’t it Timothy trying to use this incident to boost his own reputation by stepping on Felix’s head?
Therefore, without hesitation, favonovel.com said, “Vintage Deluxe has become chaotic and unacceptable. Here’s what you should do go ahead and dismiss Timothy as planned, and terminate the employment of all other employees at Vintage Deluxe on the spot. Compensation should be calculated according to N+1…”
The personnel manager hurriedly said, “Chairwoman, if we do that, Vintage Deluxe might have to shut down…”
Jasmine responded with a hmm and said decisively, “Vintage Deluxe does need to shut down and reorganize. After dismissing Timothy Carey and terminating the employment of other employees, post a notice at the entrance of Vintage Deluxe stating that due to serious internal issues caused by poor management by the company, Vintage Deluxe will be temporarily closed for reorganization, and the reopening date will be announced separately!”
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