Chapter 38: Power
The news about the incident from this morning. had spread to everyone at the company within the span of a few hours.
Zen gave Wendy a call, inviting her to lunch at the cafeteria. When Wendy arrived there, she heard the employees still gossiping about her.
Having long grown used to this, Wendy simply ignored it and headed to Zen’s table.
Zen had already gotten a meal for her. She pushed the plate to Wendy and said happily, "Wendy, after the commotion this morning, my supervisor was fired. He packed up his things just now and has already handed over his responsibilities. And I..." Before she could finish talking, a young man ran up to her and knelt before Wendy. He said, "Maam, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I should not have taken my personal vengeance to the Workplace. It’s all my fault, I was completely bewitched by Quinnly, which was why I agreed to make things difficult for Zen. I did not know that Zen was your friend. If I had known, I would never have done that to her. Ma’am, please give me another chance and let me stay in my job."
Wendy had never seen this person in her life, but she could guess who he was by what he was saying.
Before Wendy could say anything, Zen spoke up.
"She bewitched you? You need to take responsibility for this. "
"I..." Her supervisor was filled with regret. He slapped himself and said, "You’re right, I was blinded by lust, and I deserve to be reprimanded for that. But I beg the both of you to take pity on me. I have a family to take care of, and I’ve worked hard in this company for over ten years. Even if I don’t deserve credit for anything, I’ve surely invested a lot of effort here. Please, Ma’am, and Miss Zen, just give me another chance. I promise that I’ll focus on working hard from now on and never do anything like that ever again."
The incident from this morning had been blown out of proportion. After the manager of the design department found out about it, he decided to fire Zen’s supervisor. As this unfortunate man did not have the courage to go to the vice-president’s office to ask Wendy for mercy, he could only hang around the cafeteria and wait for his chance to come. He did not expect Wendy to really show up here.
Quinnly had entered the cafeteria at the same time. She did not expect to see the man kneel before Wendy, much less sabotage her by shifting all the blame to her. Many people within the company knew about what they had done to Zen. Initially, Quinnly was under the impression that Wendy was simply an insignificant figure who did not know her place here. Since she had offended Yvonne, Quinly thought she would suck up to the president’s girlfriend by taking matters into her own hand and dealing with Zen’s rudeness. However, she never expected Wendy to be the president’s wife.
Now that even her boyfriend was kneeling before Wendy and begging for mercy, Quinnly grew afraid that she would be next. At this moment, she could only clear herself from any involvement in this situation.
Pointing at her boyfriend, Quinnly said, "What nonsense are you spouting? What do you mean I bewitched you? You’re from the design department, and I’m from the HR department. Our departments are so far apart, and I don’t even know who you are. Cut your crap!"
"Our departments are indeed far apart, but don’t you visit the design department multiple times every week? And aren’t your visits always to look for my supervisor?" Zen turned to Wendy and said, "Wendy, don’t listen to her lies. Most people in my department know about her relationship with my supervisor. It’s a shame that they’re both married, cheating outside of their relationships. They’ve never thought about whether this is fair to their family members."
Wendy abhorred being labeled as the mistress. After being forced into becoming the third party in Yvonne and Michael’s relationship three years ago, she had been living a life of condemnation.
Wendy felt that the biggest mistake she made in life was falling in love with Michael and marrying him. It did not matter who the real third party was, be it Yvonne or herself. Wendy only knew that their existences had always caused each other pain.
"Zen!" Quinnly raged, pointing her finger at Zen furiously as she said, "Don’t get ahead of yourself just because you think you have Wendy to back you up now. Let me tell you, I am still the manager of the HR department, which means that I have a management position in this company. You’re just an insignificant designer here. Even if you get a promotion, you’ll still be beneath me."
"What are you doing? Are you trying to threaten Zen?" Wendy spoke up for the first time, "Your name is Quinnly Zara, you’re the manager of the HR department, and you think that you have a superior management position within this company, right? In that case, let me ask you this: how much power do you think I have within this company as the president’s wife?"
Being the president’s wife did not grant her any actual rank in the company. Wendy’s words were merely to intimidate Quinnly.
Quinnly Zara did not dare to refute Wendy. After all, Wendy was indeed still the president’s wife. However, Yvonne did tell her that they would get divorced sooner or later. And when that happened, Quinnly believed that she would be able to do whatever she wanted in this company with Yvonne backing her up. She thought, so what if Wendy is the president’s wife right now? I just have to bear with it for a little longer.
"Fine, you win this round," said Quinnly. "But no matter what, I still work as a manager here. Unless you have concrete evidence of my alleged relationship with this man, you don’t have the authority to fire me, even if you are the president’s wife."
"Ah, I was wondering where your confidence came from. It seems you believe that I can’t get you fired" Wendy chuckled, causing Quinnly to break out in goosebumps.
Since she was asking for it, Wendy would not go easy on her. "Please get up and sit over there," Wendy told the man who was still kneeling on the floor.
She thought that this was a very embarrassing thing for him to do in public. The man did not know what Wendy wanted to do. He fearfully followed her instructions.
"As long as you have evidence that Quinnly Zara was the one who approached you and seduced you first, I can ask your manager to let you keep your job," Wendy declared.
After all, she did not think that his part in what had happened was particularly horrible. On top of that, he seemed apologetic enough. Right now, Quinnly Zara was the only person that Wendy wanted to deal with. Perhaps the man could consider himself lucky.
He immediately nodded, "Ma’am, can I show you my chat history with her?"
Wendy nodded, "Send your chat history to the company’s group chat."
"I’ll do it right now." The man immediately whipped out his phone to retrieve his chat history with Quinnly, as he was afraid that Wendy might go back on her word. He believed that his reputation in this company was not as important as keeping his job here. Even if he would get demoted, he still wanted to stay. He was almost forty years old. If he was fired from MC Enterprise and other companies found out that it was because he offended the president’s wife, no one would dare to hire him.
After all, no one would want to hire someone insignificant like him at the risk of offending the president of MC Enterprise.
On the other hand, Quinnly Zara’s life would be completely destroyed if he dug out their chat history and sent it to the entire company.
Wendy clearly wanted her out of the company. Once Quinnly’s reputation was ruined, she would lose her job as well.
Quinnly knew what Wendy was trying to do. She rushed forward and snatched the phone away from the man as though she were possessed.
"Are you fcking crazy? Don’t you care about me anymore? You’re not allowed to do that!"
The man immediately pushed her away, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Are you admitting to being romantically involved with him?" Wendy looked down at Quinnly condescendingly. With a cold laugh, she said, "You deserve to suffer the consequences of your own actions."
Quinnly gritted her teeth, refusing to admit defeat. However, she knew very well that if she did not admit her mistake, her life was doomed.
"Ma’am, please have mercy on me. I’m begging you, please don’t make him expose our chat history." Quinnly softened her tone. Even though she was pleading with Wendy, her eyes were still filled with hatred for her.
She did not mind putting up with this for a little longer. Quinnly believed that she could keep her job within MC Enterprise as long as Michael divorced Wendy eventually. However, Wendy saw right through her act. Wendy did not mind letting the man get away with what he did. After all, he seemed sincerely apologetic, and he only did what he did in the first place because of Quinnly.
Wendy thought, does Quinnly think I’ll let her get away with this? That’s impossible! Like I said, I can overlook this matter if what Quinnly did was directed at me. But I cannot allow her to go after my friend like that. If I let Quinnly keep her job here, Zen will suffer endlessly after my departure from MC Enterprise.
Soon after, the man dug out their chat history and forwarded it to the company’s group chat
He said, "Ma’am, I’ve done what you instructed."
Wendy took out her phone and opened the company’s group chat. Indeed, she saw a copy of their chat history. As soon as the chat history was forwarded, the group chat blew up.
Naturally, most people were criticizing Quinnly Zara and Zen’s supervisor. However, Quinnly bore the brunt of it. Quinnly took out her phone despondently and read through the messages in the group chat. She collapsed to the ground.
"Do you really have to be so ruthless?"
"Who started this?" Wendy did not feel any sympathy at all toward Quinnly. She said, "Do you think that everything will be fine just because you suck up to Yvonne so much? Yes, Michael and I will get divorced soon. But until that day comes, I’m still the president’s wife. Are you waiting to receive Yvonne’s protection when she marries him? I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen. If you don’t tender your resignation within three days, I’ll show you what else I’m capable of. I’ll make sure that no company in Lake City will ever dare to hire you again."
Since things had already reached this stage, Quinnly did not have the courage to continue sticking it out at MC Enterprise. Now that everyone in the company knew that she had personally offended the president’s wife, no one would dare to help her. She was all alone and helpless here now. Even if she could retain her position as a manager, nobody would respect or obey her. She would be ostracized wherever she went.
Wendy’s threatening words made Quinnly feel a deep sense of despair. However, Wendy just wanted to intimidate her. Even though she was Michael’s wife, he did not love her at all. In this company, as long as Michael chose not to interfere, Wendy could still rely on her status to get her way. But once she left MC Enterprise, there was no way she could influence other companies.
Zen was in an excellent mood as she watched how everything unfolded before her. She thought that after three years, Wendy had finally learned to fight back for herself.
"Let’s eat somewhere else," said Wendy as she got up and shifted to another table far away.
There were many onlookers around them, but after Wendy went to another table, they stopped watching her so blatantly. After all, Wendy’s persona now seemed completely different than it was before. Nobody in the right mind would dare to disrespect her.
Zen trailed after Wendy. She said, "Wendy, you were so cool just now. I caught a glimpse of the person that you were three years ago, so confident and self-assured. This is who you are meant to be, Wendy Stewart."
Wendy was a little startled. She had almost forgotten what she used to be like. Falling in love with Michael had caused her to completely lose her sense of self. When Zen told her that she saw a glimpse of her old self, Wendy felt delighted. Even if she could not return to being her past self immediately, a bit of resemblance was still good enough.
"When you go back to the office, tell your department head to let your supervisor stay. However, make sure to demote him so that he’s just a normal designer. Now that you’re taking over his position, have him assigned under your watch. If he does anything to make you unhappy or he starts conspiring against you, you can fire him."
"Oh, that sounds good," said Zen. She was in an excellent mood and had no objections to Wendy’s plan.
