Chapter 44

The tense atmosphere, forcibly switched to a home channel by the irritable big boss, was destroyed.

Fortunately, Su Tao was mentally strong. She patted the table to forcibly recall everyone's attention. The conference room quieted down again.

Su Tao directly clarified the matter, "Director Liu, do you admit that you leaked company information to other companies?"

Everyone's expressions changed slightly.

If it had gone according to Liu WanTao's accusations earlier, it would have been at most Su Tao made a mistake that caused losses to the company.

But if what Su Tao said was true, then Liu WanTao could be charged with stealing and selling company secrets, which was no small crime.

"Don't spit blood at others, you say it was a mistake to release it? I'm saying you're being unreasonable!" The contract signing news was confirmed by Wusida and Xianshu. Do you dare confront President Xu of Xianshu? "

Liu WanTao's words were conclusive, making this multi-twist interrogation reach a deadlock. No one knew who to believe for the time being, so they handed over their brains to the two masters of debate.

Su Tao's bright eyes glanced mockingly, seeming to laugh and not to laugh as she ridiculed, "Oh? I didn't expect Director Liu to be so close with Wusida that she would know such detailed matters confirmed by him. I can do it, let's confront each other."

"Don't beat around the bush, of course I have to understand clearly before I can question you!"

Liu WanTao's eyes widened, and her sharp voice sounded so guilty compared to Su Tao's sonorous and forceful tone.

"Then let me make a phone call." As an outsider to this dispute, it would be most fair for Liang Ke to make the call.

The call was answered shortly. Liang Ke turned on the speakerphone and exchanged brief pleasantries with President Xu before getting to the point.

Liang Ke: "President Xu, there is something I need to confirm with you."

President Xu hesitated on the other end without answering immediately. Su Tao timely spoke up, "President Xu, this is Su Tao. Have I signed a contract with you?" President Xu: "Yes, signed."

There were sighs from those present, and Liu WanTao immediately raised her neck arrogantly, with the corners of her mouth almost reaching her ears, as if announcing to everyone: See? It was Su Tao who lied!

President Xu didn't seem to have finished speaking, and quickly followed up, "Signed the TV and film contract for Tong MengXuan."

Everyone was rendered speechless by President Xu's breathless way of speaking, and they couldn't help but wonder if he was deliberately creating suspense.

"President Xu, have you signed JiangQi's TV and film contract with Director Su or not?" Liang Ke asked again rigorously this time and got a positive answer.

President Xu: "No."

"That can't be right! That's not what Wusida told me. He said you told him you signed JiangQi's TV and film contract with Su Tao!" Liu WanTao immediately yelled and refuted.

President Xu: "JiangQi is not Director Su's artist either, so how could we sign with her?"

President Xu asked back matter-of-factly, as if to say, are you taking me for a fool?

After some more small talk with President Xu, Liang Ke hung up the phone.

Putting away his phone, Liang Ke looked at Liu WanTao with a serious expression and asked, "Director Liu, do you have any other evidence or explanation?"

Liu WanTao frowned, her eyes darting around, somewhat disoriented and flustered.

She didn't seem to have figured out what to say yet when Su Tao took the lead in asking, "Director Liu, now that it's proven the contract doesn't exist at all, it's your turn to explain how Wusida knew about this fake news? And why did you team up with Wusida to interrogate me? Isn't it because you secretly unsealed my confidential documents, thinking I had already signed JiangQi, deliberately leaked the news to Wusida, and put the company in a position to be sued?"

"I didn't, why would I harm the company? I just..."

"You just wanted to harm me!" Su Tao finished the sentence for her.

In fact, everyone present had naturally thought of Liu WanTao's purpose after hearing this. Although she didn't mean to harm the company, ignoring the company's interests was a fact, and she couldn't clear herself no matter what.

"Then Director Su, there is one thing I don't understand. Since the contract doesn't exist at all, what was your purpose in making such a fake contract?" The head of the publicity department suddenly spoke up, starting off by questioning Su Tao.

Su Tao's piercing gaze fell on the face of the head of publicity. The corners of her mouth curled up as she slowly said, "The purpose, of course, was to ferret out the insider who has leaked company internal information many times."

Everyone was shocked. Did Su Tao mean there were multiple leaks of the company's internal information?

Before the head of publicity could ask anything else, Su Tao had already called Le Xuan, "Le Xuan, go get those three sealed documents." Su Tao's clear eyes kept staring at the head of publicity. She continued slowly, "I made three different fake contracts. The three had different drama titles. Just now, Director Liu said I signed the contract for 'Youth Above All'. The three fake contracts were sealed when filed, and all had the department seal stamped on the cover. We just need to see which department's seal is stamped on the 'Youth Above All' contract to reveal who the insider is."

The head of publicity immediately refuted, "Don't bite people randomly! Even if our department's contracts were peeked at after filing, it doesn't prove it was one of us supervisors who peeked!"

"Who peeked is recorded on the surveillance camera. Why are you getting agitated?" Su Tao said lightly, hinting at the inappropriate attitude of the head of publicity.

Just as she finished speaking, Le Xuan had brought the three documents.

Liang Ke carefully inspected the three files and found traces of the seal being peeled off on one, with the publicity department's stamp on it.

He opened the document, which was indeed the 'Youth Above All' contract.

Liang Ke looked up at the head of publicity and suddenly remembered that the head of publicity and Liu WanTao were usually very close.

He looked back and forth between the two and picked up his phone to call Zhang QiGuang, "Hello? Chairman Zhang, I think we need to convene a shareholders' meeting."

The others also understood what was going on. Liu WanTao had always been hostile to Su Tao. Many of Su Tao's confidential information that couldn't be made public was quickly spread in the industry, and Liu WanTao must have contributed.

Such infighting at the expense of the company's interests was simply immoral and stupid!

And Le Xuan, who was standing to the side, finally understood why the boss had deliberately applied the seal stickers with glue and carefully coated them once more.

That way, it would be impossible to peel off the seal stickers without leaving a trace. Even if they were stuck back on, there would be traces.

And the purpose of having her deliberately say that ambiguous sentence was also to attract their attention.

The boss had anticipated that as soon as they got this message that could knock Su Tao down with one blow, they would act swiftly to catch her off guard. Otherwise, they wouldn't have failed to see through even the fake Xianshu stamp.

The big drama was over. Liang Ke could take it from here. She didn't need to get her hands dirty anymore.

Holding her phone, Su Tao disconnected the Bluetooth and walked out of the conference room, sending the same message to President Xu and Wang Quanmin.

【Su Tao: Thank you for cooperating】

On the day she went to Xianshu to sign Tong MengXuan's contract, she had coordinated with President Xu and President Wang about this matter.

Unless it was Su Tao herself calling President Xu, anyone else asking him about Su Tao signing JiangQi's contract must be misled to believe it did happen.

Only then could the play be performed so realistically today, making them firmly believe this fake contract was real, and letting them think they had obtained evidence of her crime.

When Su Tao returned home from work, she found a new ornamental fish tank in the living room with five grass carp crammed inside the square tank, all listless and unable to swim freely.

"Little Tao, you're home." Xie Jin happily poked his head out of the kitchen. He held a cleaver with blood on it, his dark eyes flashing with laughter, and there was a drop of blood on his forehead.

"What are you doing?"

Su Tao looked him up and down. His haute couture shirt was worn over that tender yellow apron.

He seemed to really like this apron. She considered whether she should give it to him as a gift.

"I'm helping you prepare the fish." Xie Jin answered matter-of-factly.

Su Tao pointed at the fish tank in the living room, "What's the situation?"

"I like the boiled fish you make. I wanted to be able to catch and cook one anytime I want to eat it. This house is a bit small. When we can change to a bigger house in the future, we can dig a fish pond."

Xie Jin walked to the fish tank, admiring the delicacies. The fish seemed to sense the killing intent and scattered in fright.

Su Tao sighed silently and said lightly, "Before I get off work tomorrow, I hope the fish tank disappears, and I won't cook for you every day. I hope you have the right understanding."

Su Tao walked up to him. Xie Jin straightened up, his tall figure blocking the ceiling light of the living room canopy.

She pointed to her forehead, corresponding to the position of the blood stain on his head, "There's fish blood."

He wiped it, but didn't wipe the right spot.

Su Tao pointed again, and he wiped three times but still didn't get the right spot. She pushed his hand away, and lightly tapped his forehead with her cold fingertips, wiping away the blood stain. Then she reached out her hand to him again.

Gazing at her intently, Xie Jin pursed his lips and hesitantly put his warm hand on her fair little hand. The soft touch made his heart skip a beat.

Su Tao slapped the back of his hand, her tone a little impatient, "Give me the knife, I'll make the fish. And the apron."

Xie Jin looked at Su Tao's slender back, the corners of his mouth slowly curving up.

She was finally not so polite to him anymore.

And not so distant either.

The two ate dinner very quietly, neither mentioning any other topics, Including how to deal with Qin Xuexi's problem. Su Tao didn't ask, and Xie Jin didn't dare bring it up either.

He didn't even dare to bring up the topic he had wanted to ask all along - now that the misunderstanding was cleared up, could they start over again.

He was afraid the current harmonious and quiet atmosphere would be ruined by these sensitive topics.

Su Tao had changed into loungewear and sat cross-legged on the sofa, using her phone to handle work.

Xie Jin took the initiative to cut up some fruit and brought an arranged fruit platter over to Su Tao.

Su Tao had just hung up a call and answered another incoming call, "Yes, organize the fan club to vote, there are still two days left. Although he's in first place now, we need to widen the gap in votes. Keep 1/3 of the votes on hand, and if there is a last-minute surge from others to overtake him, mass-release the votes all at once."

Right after Su Tao finished speaking, a strawberry was stuffed into her mouth.

Her bright doe eyes looked towards Xie Jin, who had sat down beside her at some point. She bit into the strawberry, the sweet and sour juice filling her taste buds, relieving the greasiness from dinner.

Seeing that she didn't seem to mind his feeding, Xie Jin picked up a cherry and popped it into her mouth. He then held out his hand near her lips again.

Su Tao looked at his hand, stunned for a moment. She spat the pit into her own hand, tossed it into the nearby trash can, then smoothly picked up another cherry and put it in her mouth, before continuing with her phone.

Xie Jin withdrew his hand awkwardly, undid two shirt buttons, propped one long leg over the other knee, and leaned casually back on the sofa, slowly scooting closer to Su Tao. He craned his neck to take a look at her phone screen.

She had just clicked into a link, a voting page. Before he could take a close look, Xie Jin enthusiastically took out his own phone, "Do you need my help? I can get my company employees to help share and vote. I'll cover the costs."

Su Tao glanced at him and shared the link, "Thanks, then."

Xie Jin's face lit up with delight. He tapped open the link, and as the voting page popped up, the corners of his mouth instantly drooped and his eyes darkened.

Because the photo displayed on the voting page was unexpectedly of Jiang Qi!

"Isn't Jiang Qi already in first place?" Xie Jin muttered gloomily.

"The early leak of the DG endorsement by an internal mole in the company means there are a lot of people eyeing this deal. I must ensure Jiang Qi's data is optimized to sign the contract at the finals and create momentum for his debut," Su Tao patiently explained.

"Mole?"

After listening to Su Tao's patient explanation, Xie Jin's expression grew even darker as he recalled her solemn expression during the video call at the time. So she had been catching the mole then.

"Did you catch them?"

Su Tao nodded, completely oblivious to Xie Jin's abnormal mood, and continued voting on her phone.

Xie Jin asked, "So how many votes are you aiming for?"

While operating her phone, Su Tao answered, "At least double what it is now I guess, the main force is still Jiang Qi's own fan club, he still has a considerable number of fans. But this time I have to ensure data stability, so I've already got the tech team involved."

Xie Jin nodded without further questions. He forwarded the voting link to Jin Chuiven.

[Xie Jin: Get the whole company to vote, including the branch offices.

Xie Jin: Have the information department generate some data, about half of the current vote count.]

Jin Chuiven, who was partying with Wu Xieyu in a nightclub VIP room, received the message.

The boss had been in an unusually good mood lately, seemingly back to the happy days as HR Director. Jin Chuiven was just being his usual scumbag self, surrounded by a few girls.

He took out his buzzing phone, and upon seeing the message from the boss, he cautiously tapped open the chat.

He clicked the link, and a handsome boy's photo instantly popped up - it looked vaguely familiar.

It was the girl beside him who excitedly exclaimed, "Isn't this Jiang Qi?"

Jin Chuiven nudged Wu Xieyu next to him and asked incredulously, "Has our boss gone mad? Asking us to vote for his love rival?"

Xie Jin, who had just been labeled as mad, had a gloomy expression. His dark eyes glinted with icy rays as he violently stabbed at his phone screen.

Sensing the chill and fury emanating from Xie Jin, Su Tao turned to look at him.

With each letter he typed, it was as if he wanted to stab through the phone screen. His face was ominously dark, as if the person on the other end of the phone was his enemy.

"What are you doing?" Su Tao asked.

"Voting," Xie Jin gritted his teeth.

"I can't be his fan?"

Su Tao: "..."