Chapter 408: I Will Do My Best
Timothy was furious and slapped his hand heavily upon the table. His hand clenched into a fist and he said grimly, "We’ve been working with this manufacturer for many years. You’ve always been in charge and nothing has ever gone wrong. I didn’t expect you to screw up this time.
Something must have gone wrong, I will find out who’s behind all this!"
Wendy knew Timothy would be suspicious of her. Indeed, she had been leading this project all along. If something went wrong, she would certainly be the first one to be suspected by Timothy.
Wendy had long thought of how to respond to Timothy’s suspicion towards her. With an incredulous look on her face, she looked at Timothy with disappointment and shook her head, "Mentor, are you suspecting it’s me?"
Wendy smirked, "The last time when something happened in your office, you suspected me as well. Are you suspecting me again this time? Mentor, am I that untrustworthy? Have you ever trusted me? Whenever something happens, I’m always the first one that comes to your mind?"
Timothy had said what he said to test Wendy’s reaction. Her words made Timothy doubt her a little less. Just a little.
Timothy hurriedly waved his hand and explained, "That’s not what I meant. I don’t suspect you."
"No? Then what did you mean when you said that I was the one in charge all along?
You’re saying that something went wrong under my supervision, isn’t it?"
Wendy shook her head and laughed, "Mr. Timothy, since you suspect me, it’s better for us to make things clear. Indeed, I am in charge of all the Moonlight projects.
From design to production, I am fully responsible. However, it was you who asked to move up the schedule.
"According to the original plan, it would have taken us another half a month for the clothing to be available to the market. But you wanted to bring it forward by half a month.
"And those designs which I thought could be better improved, you felt they were good enough. What we normally do is complete five sets of designs before putting them into production. This time around, only three sets of designs were been completed before you wanted it to go into production. Very well, we did as you wanted.
"From manufacturing to quality control, I have personally inspected the everything and found nothing amiss. You’ve even seen the samples yourself.
"During the most crucial time of the IPO, I didn’t want to go to Christian’s press conference, but you said that we need to have a good relationship with Christian and mustn’t miss that opportunity, right? I went anyway because you said so.
"HG Enterprise faced a major problem just after I left for a few days.
Now, as soon as I’m back, you’re telling me that this batch has quality issues and we are going to lose money for breach of contract.
"I didn’t encounter any problems during the production before this happened. You took over for a few days, and when something went wrong, I’m the first one you suspect?"
Wendy looked disappointed. She smiled sardonically and shook her head, saying, "You really disappoint me."
After saying that, Wendy pretended to turn around to walk out the door.
Sure enough, Timothy got anxious and immediately stepped forward to grab Wendy.
"Aren’t you suspecting me?" Wendy asked. "And what do you mean by that?"
"No. I’m just anxious. Please don’t take what I said to heart." Timothy was afraid to let go of Wendy’s hand for fear she would turn and walk away.
"That’s what you said the last time there was a burglar in your office."
Wendy looked at Timothy and said, "You don’t believe me at all."
...
Wendy knew that Timothy was doubting her. However, at this critical juncture, Timothy did not dare offend her.
Just like the last time, if Timothy doubted her again without evidence, he would have no choice but to apologize to her. After all, Wendy was very important to HG. In the recent years, ever since she started leading HG’s major projects, half of HG’s profits were brought in by her. Falling out with Wendy meant that HG would also be negatively affected.
"I absolutely didn’t mean it that way." Timothy was embarrassed and helpless. "I shouldn’t have said that. But our top priority now is to reassure our partners as much as possible and minimize contract cancellations. Otherwise, HG will have a big problem.
"Corrine, no matter what, you are now a shareholder of HG. You’re obliged to help HG tide over this difficulty. I’m not afraid to tell you the truth. It’s not me who suspects you, but the board of directors. They’ve been suspicious of you right from the start.
"Of course, I certainly wouldn’t believe that you would do anything that will harm HG. But you are indeed responsible for the Moonlight Project. If something goes wrong, you’d definitely be the first person the board of directors confronts. I hope you can understand, HG is not only about me."
Timothy isolating himself from the board of directors was really a good move.
Indeed, even if Wendy had nothing to do with this matter, as the person in charge of the project, she needed provide an explanation.
"Board of directors?" Wendy frowned and asked in confusion. "There’s a meeting for the board of directors? I’m a member of the board of directors. Why didn’t I know about that meeting?"
Wendy had asked to own some of HG’s equities in order to be part of the board of directors. Only then could she get to know the important people who helmed HG.
They didn’t just serve HG, but also had dealings with the mafia behind Christian Lucas.
"The directors are very busy people. They couldn’t make time for a board meeting, but we had a video conference," Timothy explained. "You were on the plane and couldn’t participate in it. That’s why I didn’t invite you."
This sounded reasonable. It seemed really difficult for Wendy to assimilate into the board of directors.
"Corrine, you have to trust me. I’m not suspecting you." Timothy reached out and patted Wendy on the shoulder to comfort her. "It’s just that, I’m facing immense pressure from the board of directors. What we need to do now is to overcome this difficulty. Otherwise, even I would not be able to stay on in HG, let alone you " "Mentor..." Wendy’s voice trailed off as she wore a sad expression. She was trying to be cooperative.
Timothy sighed. "We have a lot to do. Since you’ve taken over the liaisons with many of the partners, you’ll need to deal with this on your own. I’ve asked the secretary to sort out the list of partners. You’ll need to prioritize the important ones. Reach out to appease them. Corrine..."
Timothy paused, and solemnly gave Wendy a bow, "This really depends on you."
"Mentor, please don’t do this," Wendy hurriedly stopped Timothy from bowing to her.
Timothy stood up straight, and he became a little emotional. "Thank you, Corrine."
"Don’t worry. I’m a part of HG, and this is indeed the project I am responsible for. I will definitely do my best," Wendy made a solemn promise. "We’re in this together."
"Yes, indeed." Timothy raised a clenched fist.
Wendy followed suit and bumped fists with Timothy.
...
Timothy wanted to say something when the phone rang again. He didn’t need to look at it to know that it must be an irate partner who wanted to argue over compensation fees.
Timothy sighed, waving Wendy away before taking the call. "You may leave now. I’ll take you out for dinner after this crisis is over."
"Please take care of yourself. When I first saw you earlier on, I was a bit scared. You look very sick." Wendy pretended to be concerned. "You must take a good rest whenever you can."
He would definitely like to do so, but Timothy was obviously unable to rest at this point in time.
"Thank you, I’ll definitely do that." Timothy waved his hand again.
Wendy nodded and turned to leave. As she left, she heard Timothy taking the call politely and apologetically.
Before Wendy could settle down in her office, Rosa walked in. She was holding a document in her hand. Seeing Rosa, Wendy politely stood up and gestured for Rosa to sit next to her.
Rosa waved her hand, she seemed very anxious. "I won’t sit. I’m just here to send you this." Rosa handed the document to Wendy and said, "This are the list of clients I compiled. The emergency response plan is based on the clients’ importance, their attitude towards this incident with HG, and their relationship with HG."
Wendy took the file and glanced at it, frowning. There were hundreds of clients on the list. HG had many partners right from the start. In order to maximize profits, most of the distributors around the world were affiliated to HG. This allowed HG to save on the large expenses that could otherwise be incurred if they engaged middlemen.
Wendy had been liaising with a dozen of the largest national distributors before the incident. It would certainly be impossible for Wendy to reach out to all the other customers as well. For most of these customers, the liaison personnel was actually the head of HG’s marketing department.
This time, however, the matter was too grave. The marketing department obviously could not deal with this.
"The ones marked in red are the customers who must be handled by you within three days," Rosa said. "These are the major clients who’re at most upset. We can’t lose these customers, you must do your best to keep them.
"The yellow ones are those who have been dealt with by your mentor, but their attitude remains tough. Your mentor can manage them for now. The batch marked blue will be temporarily handed over to the marketing department. Now, Ms. Swift, whether we can keep the most important first batch of clients depends on you. You must do your best to make them stay. Otherwise, I believe you know the consequences better than I do.
"You can contact me any time. If it’s not convenient for you, I can send someone over as a middle person to help you handle your communications."
Wendy could guess that the last sentence was from Timothy. He was obviously suspicious of Wendy and wanted to send someone to monitor her.
Wendy refused the offer. "I have several assistants and there are many people in the design department. I’ll delegate some responsibilities to other staff if need be. You don’t have to worry about the lack of staff."
After Wendy finished speaking, she looked down at the document in hand. She changed the subject and said, "But there are nearly ten customers in the red batch, and they’re situated in different countries. I can’t handle these in three days. This is too much."
...
"You should first give them a call. If they remain unyielding, you’ll probably have to go to them in person," Rosa said seriously. "Your mentor has contacted these clients, but obviously, they’re not backing down. They only wanted to speak to you."
Wendy was downcast. She could only sigh and said, "Well, I’ll do my best."
"Thank you, Corrine." Rosa took a step back and bowed to Wendy.
"Please, don’t do this." Wendy hurriedly reached out to stop Rosa.
Both Timothy Woods and Rosa Perrie were trying to put pressure on Wendy. Their attitude towards her changed dramatically since they needed her at this point in time.
When this crisis is over, they would definitely start finding fault with her. Wendy was well aware of this, but she couldn’t show it. After all, she was currently under cover and it was not time yet to reveal her identity.
"I will do my best," Wendy said with a nod to Rosa.
"I shan’t disturb you further." Rosa quickly left.
Wendy sat down and looked at the list again. There’s CCTV in the office, so Wendy couldn’t be blatant about her indifference. She was soon planning to make calls to the customers, but Zen came in with a plate of fruit a few minutes later.
"Ms. Swift, you’re finally back." Zen looked sympathetic as she set the fruit in front of Wendy. "You didn’t even rest after you got off the plane. At least have some fruit."
Wendy did not forget that Zen’s allegiance lay with Christian. When she came, it was like Christian was watching her. However, at this time, Wendy did not want to expose her identity. So she dialed a client’s number and then gestured for Zen to be silent.
Zen obliged. Wendy then turned her back to Zen and made the call.
When someone answered the call, Wendy said with a smile, "Hello, Mr. Shawn, it’s me, Corrine."
"Finally, Ms. Swift. You owe me an explanation."
"I’m sorry, Mr. Shawn. I was on a business trip. I booked the earliest possible flight when I learnt of the bad news. I just got off the plane and you’re the first one I’m calling. You don’t have to worry. HG will certainly take responsibility for what happened. This isn’t the first time we worked together, isn’t it? Mr. Shawn. This is probably the best thing to do now. We will take back the goods you have on hand.
Within half a month, we’ll give you a new batch of good quality clothing. How does that sound?"
"That’s it? What about my losses?"
"Mr. Shawn, we will definitely offer you some form of compensation."
"Ms. Swift, you shouldn’t fool us. This is not a small matter, and it is not just my company that’s been affected. As far as I know, all of your goods have been pre-sold and HG has received a large amount of advance payment. According to the contract, HG is required to pay three times the compensation if something goes wrong. I paid HG because I believed in you. Ms. Corrine, now that something has gone seriously wrong, you’re really the one to be blamed. I hope you can act in accordance to the contract."
"Mr. Shawn, please do me a favor. I guarantee that the new batch of clothing will be delivered to you within fifteen days. Could you please give me and HG another chance?"
