I Secretly Read My Boss' Diary (GL) - Chapter 9

September 20th: The Day Silly Failed Her Exam

Today I heard Silly failed her exam. When I saw her listless expression in the cafeteria, she looked like a newborn puppy from next door who had just ruined its favorite toy. It made me want to hold her close and give her a good squeeze.

Even though I enjoy seeing her like this, I can’t just ignore her failing. So I reorganized my notes, printed them at the copy shop, rebound them, and secretly placed them on her desk. I hope this silly goose doesn’t fail again!

*******

The issue with the erroneous order was ultimately resolved with each party bearing half of the compensation.

Yan Zhao, as the primary responsible party, received a fine of 300 yuan and was required to write a letter of self-criticism to demonstrate future improvement.

Sister V was deeply dissatisfied with Gong Muyu’s punishment, feeling it was too harsh. She initially intended to appeal to Gong Muyu in the General Manager’s Office, but Yan Zhao stopped her.

“Sister V, General Manager Mu is right. If I hadn’t been lazy and failed to reply to the email, this whole mess might have been avoided. The company lost tens of thousands of yuan because of my mistake. I think her punishment is actually quite lenient.”

“Sigh, who in this industry doesn’t make mistakes? If I had just checked the authorization letter more carefully and asked you to double-check, this could have been prevented.”

Seeing Yan Zhao’s sheepish grin, Sister V felt a mix of pity and amusement. She flicked Yan Zhao’s nose and gently pushed her off her shoulder.

“Don’t you know your own weight? Get off me; you’re crushing me!”

With that, Sister V straightened up, opened a Word document, and said to Yan Zhao without turning around, “It’s too hot to go out for lunch today. I’ll write your apology for you, but bring me back a beef and potato rice bowl.”

Yan Zhao, who had been fretting over how to write the apology, perked up at Sister V’s offer. She cheerfully agreed and skipped off to find Dong Wan.

Sister Fang, watching Yan Zhao’s childlike behavior, shook her head with a smile. Leaning closer to Sister V, she said, “Zhao’s been with the company for years, but she still acts like she hasn’t grown up at all.”

Hearing this, Sister V glanced at Yan Zhao’s retreating figure, recalling how the younger woman had clung to her arm and acted affectionately. Her heart softened like a pool of clear water.

“It’s fine for a young girl to be like that,” she replied. “At least she’s better than Zhang Rui, right?”

Zhang Rui had been Sister V’s protégé. But after a minor disagreement, Zhang Rui had stormed into Zhang Sheng’s office, crying and demanding to resign.

Zhang Sheng, exasperated by her theatrics, had let her quit without even completing her handover. In their tight-knit industry, word soon spread that Zhang Rui had tried to poach company clients for a rival firm, only to be double-crossed. In the end, she lost everything, ending up worse off than before.

Compared to someone like Zhang Rui, Yan Zhao, though somewhat naive, had the virtue of genuine sincerity. It was this quality alone that made Sister V help her without reservation.

When Yan Zhao returned with the packed meal for Sister V, Sister V had already written Yan Zhao’s apology letter and placed it on the desk.

After thanking Sister V profusely, Yan Zhao signed her name and headed toward the General Manager’s Office.

At that moment, Gong Muyu had just finished her meal and was taking out the trash. Seeing Yan Zhao approaching with a document, she immediately recognized it as the apology letter. She told Yan Zhao to wait in the office while she disposed of the trash and washed her hands.

Recalling the embarrassing incident when Yan Zhao had pointed out a grain of rice stuck to her face, Gong Muyu checked her reflection in the mirror. Finding no other food particles, she confidently returned to her office.

Inside, Yan Zhao sat at the desk like a well-behaved kindergarten student, her legs neatly together and her posture upright, waiting obediently for Gong Muyu’s return. As soon as Gong Muyu entered, she stood up and greeted her with a respectful, “General Manager Mu.”

“Sit down and let’s talk,” Gong Muyu said, wiping the lingering dampness from her fingers with a tissue. She glanced at the neatly placed apology letter on the desk, picked it up, and casually flipped through it.

After reading only a paragraph, Gong Muyu knew this self-criticism wasn’t written by Yan Zhao. However, the purpose of having Yan Zhao write it wasn’t to punish her, but to help her learn from her mistakes and prevent similar errors in the future. Fortunately, Yan Zhao wasn’t the type to stubbornly refuse to change, so whether she had actually written the document or not didn’t matter much to Gong Muyu.

“You finished this quickly. Since the mistake wasn’t entirely your fault, I’ll let it slide this time. But remember, this can’t happen again.”

Hearing Gong Muyu’s warning, Yan Zhao immediately nodded and promised to be more careful.

“CHI has been undergoing frequent personnel changes recently, and their new General Manager is auditing all clients’ accounts for the past several years. As the primary account manager for this client, you need to be extra vigilant during this period. If you encounter any issues you can’t resolve, contact Manager Zhang or me immediately.”

CHI was one of their company’s oldest clients, having partnered with them since the company’s founding. Zhang Sheng had assigned Yan Zhao to manage this account precisely because of their long-standing relationship, believing that familiarity would ensure smooth communication.

Now, the sudden transfer of CHI’s previous leadership had caught them completely off guard. Changing account managers at this point would likely arouse suspicion from CHI’s new General Manager.

“The supervisor already spoke to me. I’ll be as careful as possible,” Yan Zhao replied.

Gong Muyu nodded. She turned her laptop to face Yan Zhao and pointed to the email icon on the desktop. She opened an email from CHI and, with a serious expression, began explaining, “You must pay close attention to who’s copied on these emails. Take this one, for example…”

As she spoke, Gong Muyu swiped her finger to open the email, allowing Yan Zhao to read the contents.

Yan Zhao was slightly nearsighted but rarely wore her glasses due to the mildness of her prescription. Now, to read the tiny font on Gong Muyu’s laptop screen, she had to lean forward, pressing herself as close as possible.

This brought Yan Zhao so close that she was practically touching Gong Muyu’s hand, resembling a scene from a fairy tale where a prince kisses a princess’s hand. The warm breath brushing against the back of Gong Muyu’s hand felt like it was scorching her chest, making her feel as flushed as if she had just sprinted a long distance.

Without betraying her inner turmoil, Gong Muyu subtly withdrew her right hand, calmed her racing heart, and asked, “Do you notice anything unusual?”

Hearing Gong Muyu’s question, Yan Zhao looked up and replied, “They’ve added their supervisor and manager to the CC list.”

“Hmm, it started as a regular email, but once they copied in the supervisor and manager, the nature of the communication changed. It suggests this seemingly ordinary email is anything but. You’ll need to be extra careful when replying. At this point, you might consider copying in Manager Zhang.”

Seeing Yan Zhao grasp the point, Gong Muyu retrieved her laptop. Her gaze flickered to the self-criticism report lying beside her before she pushed it across the desk to Yan Zhao. Just as she was about to speak, a knock sounded at the door. Both women turned to see Zhang Sheng standing in the doorway.

“General Manager Mu, Alex, the business supervisor from CHI, just called me privately. He said their leadership is auditing our company. Also, all their company’s phones and emails are being monitored. He warned us to be extremely cautious about what we say in future communications.”

Yan Zhao had initially dismissed the personnel changes as routine. But hearing Zhang Sheng’s news—that even clients’ phones and emails were being monitored—she froze in place, petrified.

Ah, this… She’s just an ordinary office worker. How did things escalate into a full-blown crime drama?

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