Lü Shiyu refleksively took out her phone. The screenshot from the computer, she backed up on her phone. The paper Linda took, she later asked the secretariat for a copy. It was unlikely that there would be any errors. Besides, the final document Sheng Xu'an needed was still in her hands. So what could Linda have submitted?
Did she have evidence in her hand to prove her innocence?
Just as she was lost in thought, Sheng Xu'an suddenly bellowed from inside, "Come in!"
Lü Shiyu's body stiffened.
Caught...
She shrank her neck slightly and gave herself a pep talk, then bravely pushed open the office door, "Mr. Sheng."
Sheng Xu'an glanced at her with a hint of lingering anger, "Next time you do something like this—snooping around—I expect you to resign voluntarily."
"Sorry, Mr. Sheng," Lü Shiyu bent over and bowed to apologize.
Sheng Xu'an seemed to feel better because of her action. He pointed his pen tip at Lü Shiyu and turned to look at Linda, "See that? Caught red-handed, admitting it will only speed up my process of firing you."
Linda's standardized smile had completely fallen off.
She really wanted to give a slight smile, even if just a little, to make herself less embarrassed, but in the end, all she managed was a smile worse than crying, "…Sorry, Mr. Sheng, I understand."
"Go out," Sheng Xu'an didn't even lift his eyelids as he moved his chair closer to the desk and stretched out his palm towards Lü Shiyu, "Hand it over."
He was directing the latter part at Lü Shiyu.
Linda didn't want to stay any longer and walked out quickly in high heels.
As she passed by Lü Shiyu, the latter accidentally noticed her red eyes.
Lü Shiyu handed over the document in her hand.
She had intended to leave immediately, but she felt she should explain her actions. She hesitated whether to submit the evidence to Sheng Xu'an while holding her phone.
While she was hesitating, Sheng Xu'an had already quickly read through the document, "Okay, no problem. Tomorrow we'll have a video conference with the French side; you should participate too."
"Sure, Mr. Sheng," Lü Shiyu's mind hadn't answered yet, but her mouth quickly agreed.
Sheng Xu'an looked at her, seemingly confused about why she wasn't leaving after the matter was settled.
That suspicious glance made Lü Shiyu snap back to reality. She mumbled, "Mr. Sheng, I'll go first," before turning and leaving.
With no major work or pressure, Lü Shiyu left on time for home. She took Eight Steps for a walk first and followed the boss's special instructions by sending him a photo of Eight Steps. Only then did she slowly lead the dog back home.
The next morning, she was full of energy to attend the meeting.
Sheng Xu'an clearly didn't understand French. He wore translation headphones, but even so, he frowned occasionally.
Lü Shiyu wrote quickly, recording every key point from the French representative.
As she listened, her ears perked up.
She stopped writing and frowned, gesturing, "Mr. Sheng."
The camera captured everyone in the meeting room, including Lü Shiyu's gesture which was also visible to the French representative.
The rapid speech paused abruptly. Sheng Xu'an instinctively turned to look at everyone in the meeting room.
Then he saw Lü Shiyu still making a pause gesture, "What's wrong?"
"Mr. Sheng," since Lü Shiyu's seat was far away from him, she stood up and walked towards him, bending down to whisper near his ear, "The French representative said something vague. The translator usually translates directly, but it's a French proverb whose meaning is opposite to the direct translation."
She laid out her notes on the table in front of Sheng Xu'an and circled some words with her pen, "If we agree to their demands, then this item where Universe can get seventy percent profit will drop to thirty percent."
"And this part—the cooperation requires three years of technical support from them—but now it will become us paying them salaries without them sending technicians here."
Sheng Xu'an narrowed his eyes.
He trusted Lü Shiyu's French skills; during university, she practically spoke French as if it were her native language.
So...
He glanced dangerously at the camera and patted an Universe executive's shoulder, "You go to the back."
Then he pointed and signaled for Lü Shiyu to sit next to him, "I'll translate."
"Mr. Parker, for our cooperation to proceed, I hope both sides are sincere."
Fluent French flowed from Lü Shiyu's mouth as she stared intently at the French representative.
"Universe has already offered its most sincere cooperation plan; we've made significant concessions on profits. If anything isn't suitable, we can negotiate further rather than using such deceptive methods."
"You doing this makes it hard for Universe to cooperate with you."
At the last syllable, Lü Shiyu glanced sideways at Sheng Xu'an.
His face was not good. If it were just a failed negotiation, Sheng Xu'an wouldn't be so upset. But he hated being deceived, especially with vague words.
He couldn't imagine how much loss Universe would suffer if Lü Shiyu weren't there.
The French representative exchanged glances and seemed surprised that their trap had been exposed by a seemingly unimportant assistant.
They smiled awkwardly and tried to salvage the situation.
Initially trying to blame it on a slip of the tongue, but Lü Shiyu quickly pointed out that it was a rare word not commonly used in everyday speech; thus, it couldn't be a slip of the tongue.
Their explanation changed to greedily wanting more benefits and offering ten percent more concession along with unconditional five-year technical support as an apology.
Sheng Xu'an's expression softened slightly.
If they could cooperate, he wouldn't want to give up either.
A temporary deception could be tolerated, but if it continued...
He narrowed his eyes again and asked Lü Shiyu to relay, "Universe accepts your apology but hopes future cooperation won't involve similar incidents; otherwise... there's an old Chinese saying: 'Injuring eight hundred while self-damaging one thousand.' I hope Mr. Parker understands this."
The French representative stood up and removed his hat before bowing towards the camera and apologizing again.
Sheng Xu'an nodded his chin and indicated for Lü Shiyu to draft a new contract based on their concessions.
After showing the contract to the French representative and confirming there were no issues, they set a date for signing before ending the video call.