Chapter 7

“Will you only be satisfied when I’m fired?”

I pulled my sleeve free.

“I just want a clear record of what I did and what I never did.”

On Monday, the largest meeting room was packed.

Our department, the task force, finance, and HR were all there.

The long table prepared for a contract-signing celebration now held a stack of investigation files.

First, they replayed the final assessment recording.

The late arrival, the email promising the wrong deadline, the unfinished items reported as resolved—each was listed in turn.

Lin Na sat in the front row with her hand pressed over her phone.

Audit asked Manager Zhou why he had signed off when the rehearsal issues remained unresolved.

After a long silence, he said, “I trusted her past performance.”

“We checked her past performance too.”

The screen changed.

On the left were Lin Na’s repeated off-site work applications and requests for retroactive attendance corrections.

On the right were the corresponding work emails, client confirmations, and message timestamps.

I remembered one case very clearly.

That winter, I’d gone through the rain to check stock at the warehouse.

At 9:16, she messaged me:

“I’m still at home. It’s too cold to go out. Send me photos when you finish counting.”

But on her off-site attendance claim for that day, she had written:

“Arrived at the warehouse at 8:30 and completed the inspection.”

The attached photograph was one I’d taken at 9:47.

Only now did I learn that she’d also used the work I did for her as proof that she had been there herself.

It wasn’t an isolated case.

Some recent incidents could be cross-checked against access records and meeting attendance sheets.

For older ones, the auditors checked retained original emails, client confirmations, and her own messages.

The final findings confirmed twenty-three false off-site work or attendance claims in the past year alone.

Lin Na whipped around to look at me.

“She volunteered to cover for me! We were helping each other. How does that become falsifying records just because she says so?”

I stood.

“Is helping you do the work the same as proving you were physically there?”

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“I’ve never clocked in for you or signed your name. Today is the first time I’ve seen these applications.”

I pointed to the warehouse photograph.

“I took that picture. I stood in that rain. You pasted it onto your application, and suddenly even the rain I stood in became yours.”

Someone in the back row lowered their head.

Lin Na pointed at Manager Zhou.

“He approved all of them! He knew people were helping me!”

Manager Zhou immediately said, “You reported that you were working off site yourself. How was I supposed to know you were at home?”

“Did you ever ask? As long as the work got done, did you ever care who actually did it?”

Their voices overlapped.

Audit stopped the argument.

Negligence in approval and fraudulent attendance claims were recorded separately in the findings.

One person’s misconduct did not erase the other’s responsibility.

Next, finance put the milk tea order on the screen.

Ten jasmine milk teas with a green cream topping, plus one complimentary original milk tea. Total paid: 180 yuan.

The cup label in the photograph posted that day also showed the word Original.

That cup’s listed price was eighteen yuan.

The amount actually paid for it on the original order was zero.

Lin Na had placed the order. The original details had been in her account all along.

The pantry surveillance had no audio, but it clearly showed her taking the cup out of the delivery bag, inserting a straw, and placing it beside my hand.

The picture she posted in the group showed only me with my head lowered, drinking it.

Finance announced its findings:

I had not handled the funds involved or taken a client hospitality drink without permission.

The allegation of “embezzlement of company funds” had no factual basis.

I looked at Lin Na.

“You’d already seen that order before giving me the drink. When you accused me, why did you send only the expense total instead of the itemized order?”

She stared at the table.

I waited. I didn’t answer for her.

The meeting room stayed silent for a long time.

At last, she forced out, “I went a little too far.”

“You posted that accusation in the work group. When the manager suspended me, you commented in support. Then you told HR my expenses still hadn’t been cleared.”