Volume 3 - Chapter 166: Commercial Espionage
Since New Century started its business with text recognition technology, speech recognition could be considered part of the same category. Although the development engine for both of them is different, they can be part of a single series. Everyone in the group agreed.
Just when Chu Gao and I wanted to discuss it further, someone knocked on the door of the conference room.
“Come in!” With my permission, Chu Gao said to whoever was outside the door. Although I am officially only a consultant in the company, everyone in the board of New Century already knew that Chu Gao asked me about everything related to the company. Though they don’t know my real identity, everyone respects me just like Chu Gao.
How could they not? After all, even their boss asked me for advice, so how could they ignore or offend me?
“Reporting to Chief Chu, Director Liu. Our security department just caught a thief. At the moment we caught her, she was copying files from a computer in the Server Room. We suspect that it is a case of Commercial Espionage!”* The security captain entered the room. The company’s employees had already developed the habit of mentioning me together with Chu Gao whenever they saw me present. It was a form of respect. My title of advisor was also changed to project director after the group established.
Chu Gao looked towards me. Although this brat had improved a lot when it came to his business abilities and also experienced a lot of things, it was still the first time that he had met the situation of a Commercial Espionage. After all, it wasn’t just ordinary thief stealing some money. And so, he didn’t know how to deal with this matter.
Looking at the helpless eyes of Chu Gao, I sighed and said to the security captain, “Just take back the copy she made and had her over to the police.”
“Director Liu, she put the disk in… we…” The security captain didn’t know how to explain the matter.
“What’s the matter? You have already caught the spy yet you can’t even take back a disk!” After I had taken the initiative, Chu Gao also understood what he had to do, and so, he said in a haughty tone that only a boss would have.
“Chief Chu, our security team only has males. None of them can bring themselves to do it…” the security captain tried to explain.
“What men and what women? Can you not take it back from women unless you are a woman yourself?” Chu Gao felt somewhat unhappy. After all, he didn’t want to lose face before the actual chairman due to the inadequacy of his subordinates. He thought that he had lost all face today.
“Yes, if we have a female member, we won’t have so many issues!” The security captain said with a nod.
As I heard these words, I suddenly felt enlightened and understood several points that the security captain had said. Just as I was going to tell Chu Gao to stop, the man finally exploded, “Just how great is the matter? Can’t you see that the company is holding a board meeting, yet you came to disturb everyone? If you don’t give me a proper explanation, you better not come to work from tomorrow onwards!”
“I…” the security captain was a former soldier who changed his career. He was a simple man who came from the village area. Hearing that the Chief would dismiss him if he didn’t give a proper explanation, the man started to sweat. Finally, his worry overtook his hesitation, and he said loudly, “Yes, reporting to Chief Chu, Director Liu. That Commercial Spy placed the disk with the data inside her tits.”
As they heard the word ‘tits,’ and looked at the red face of the security captain, everyone in the board present here was stunned and smiled. But as they saw that Chu Gao’s complexion was getting darker, they held their smiles back and didn’t dare make a sound.
The moment Chu Gao heard his words, his heart overflowed with anger. Everyone on the board was a white-collar elite, yet this guard dared to say such vulgar words before them. Chu Gao couldn’t stand it.
Chu Gao felt that he had lost all face today, and he lost it in a big way. He was so angry that he wanted to do something to this security guard. He felt that just dismissing him won’t be a good enough punishment.
But I didn’t care too much. Looking at this interesting security captain, I started to laugh. As the members of the board saw me laugh first, they all started to laugh as well. Holding back their laughter till now wasn’t easy.
As Chu Gao saw me laugh, and that I didn’t blame him for anything, he felt relaxed at heart. All his anger vanished.
“Let’s go, we will see who this female thief is!” I said to Chu Gao as I stood up with a smile.
“I and Director Liu will go and deal with this matter. All of you may continue the discussion that we were having just now.” Chu Gao said to everyone and walked out of the conference room with me.
“Guys, what do you think is the relationship between Director Liu and Chief Chu?” The Manager of the Investment department was the first to speak when he saw that we had left.
“What relationship? Aren’t they just a subordinate and a superior? What other relationship could there be?” The manager of R&D department was a typical research madman, and so, was ignorant of most of the secular matters. He couldn’t take the hint from the Investment Manager’s words.
“Che! What would you know!” Yang Mei, the Manager of Public Relations department said. She was grinning and looked towards the Manager of R&D department with contempt. She was the only woman on the board of New Century and graduated from college recently. Everyone on the board treated her as a younger sister and didn’t haggle over anything with her. The Manager of R&D department was a stubborn man. As he heard her contempt, he said, “Then you understand, right? Why don’t you tell us then?”
Yang Mei smiled charmingly. Her smile was so radiant that the male members on the board were dazed. Even the Manager of R&D department stared at her in a daze, waiting for her reply. It was no wonder that Yang Mei could become the Manager of Public Relations at such a young age. Being so charming, it was easy for her to deal with people, making her work more convenient and success rate higher. [TL Note: You may let your imagination run wild.]
“Ahem, now this great manager will explain it to you. All of you better listen and analyze it clearly.” Yang Mei put on the appearance of a leader, cleared her throat and said, “I don’t know if you all have discovered, but whenever Chief Chu makes an important decision, he always looks towards Director Liu. If Director Liu nods, the decision will definitely be accepted. If Director Liu didn’t agree, then the decision will enter a deadlock and go through changes and revisions, before the process repeats!”
“That’s true!” The various managers agreed and nodded.
“And? Director Liu is the project manager, so Chief Chu naturally needs to consult with him!” The manager of the R&D department said as rolled his eyes, “In our company, Director Liu is the most knowledgeable person. Even the juniors in the R&D department address him respectfully as Teacher Liu! These brats are the same guys who won’t put anyone in their eyes and even despised to come in contact with average people. Even I have to agree that Director Liu is no ordinary person!”
“Humph. Were you sleeping just now! Didn’t you see how it was only Director Liu who laughed even though Chief Chu’s expression was turning so sour? Moreover, once Chief Chu saw Director Liu laugh, he also smiled. Don’t you think it is somewhat strange?” Yang Mei wasn’t the Public Relations Manager in vain. Her small mouth overflowed with eloquent words, not giving an inch of retort to others.
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1. Commercial Espionage is the act of stealing information from rival companies.