Chapter 32: Reminder

Yu Meijuan immediately took a liking to the ready-made clothes in front of her. She really wanted to start embroidering them right away.

But when she thought of the contract, she managed to hold herself back. After a thorough and serious reflection, she had decided to tell Director Zhou about the matter.

After all, Director Zhou had been kind to her. Moreover, his daughter and Mengrui were close friends. Most importantly, Yu Meijuan could tell that this family was kind-hearted.

From Old Zhou’s attitude, it was clear that he was unaware of the problems in the contract. He had been kept in the dark.

Since she had befriended this family, she felt she couldn’t turn a blind eye to the situation from any angle.

With this in mind, Yu Meijuan said to Factory Director Liu, “These clothes are very delicate. Once I finish the final process with Director Zhou, I’ll start working immediately. I came here today to handle some procedures, and I still need to visit Director Zhou.”

Her tone was sincere and calm. Liu Dali even wondered if he had overthought things. She had only seriously examined the contract earlier. After all, the contract had been signed through official channels—how could there be an issue?

Liu Dali realized that he had been overly sensitive. He felt guilty for suspecting this elegant lady earlier. Smiling, he said, “It seems like this is your first time visiting our factory. Let Xiaobai guide you to see Director Zhou.”

Yu Meijuan thanked him gratefully, “Thank you, Factory Director Liu. You’ve been very thoughtful.”

After a few more pleasantries, Xiaobai led Yu Meijuan to Director Zhou’s office. Along the way, Yu Meijuan noticed many curious gazes on her. However, her mind was occupied with other matters, so she wasn’t interested in the attention. As a result, she gave off an impression of being aloof and unapproachable.

Xiaobai, on the other hand, seemed pleased with himself, walking with a little proud swagger. They quickly arrived at the door of Director Zhou’s office.

“Yu Jie, here we are at Director Zhou’s office. I’ll wait for you here,” Xiaobai said before leaving.

Yu Meijuan knocked on the door, and a familiar voice called out, “Come in.”

When she opened the door, Yu Meijuan saw Director Zhou talking to a middle-aged man. The atmosphere between them seemed tense, though not hostile—just uncomfortable.

She wondered if she was interrupting their work. Hesitating, she paused in the doorway.

Director Zhou was surprised to see Yu Meijuan in his office, especially since she looked so elegant and refined today. Her presence seemed to brighten the entire office.

The middle-aged man, upon seeing Yu Meijuan, couldn’t take his eyes off her.

In his mind, he thought, When did Old Zhou meet such a person? Look at her figure, her face, and most of all, her demeanor. She’s undoubtedly a lady from a distinguished family.

With that thought, he couldn’t help but approach Yu Meijuan.

Yu Meijuan felt his gaze and quickly said, “Are you two busy? Should I come back later?” Feeling the two men staring at her in silence, she awkwardly spoke up.

“Oh, no need to, we’ve finished our discussion.” Director Zhou came to his senses, feeling a bit impolite. He hurriedly invited Yu Meijuan in.

He noticed that Cui Mingtao didn’t seem to be leaving, and since he had no reason to ask him to leave, he pointed to him and introduced him to Yu Meijuan, “This is Cui Mingtao, our deputy factory director. He oversees sales.”

Then, he pointed to Yu Meijuan and said, “And this is Yu Meijuan, the comrade who’s doing the hand-embroidery for our foreign trade orders.”

“Ah, so it’s Comrade Yu. I’ve heard so much about you,” Cui Mingtao said, extending his hand.

Yu Meijuan pretended not to understand his intention, simply smiling and nodding as she greeted him, “Hello, Deputy Director Cui.”

She had no intention of shaking his hand, as her first impression of him wasn’t favorable. Besides, she was here for work and didn’t feel the need to flatter everyone.

Cui Mingtao, surprised that the woman didn’t acknowledge him, awkwardly withdrew his hand. In his mind, he cursed Director Zhou for bringing in such a person—someone so ungrateful.

Old Zhou didn’t expect Yu Meijuan to be so dismissive of Cui Mingtao. The man was notorious for holding grudges, and he feared this might cause trouble for Comrade Yu.

He immediately tried to smooth things over by asking, “Comrade Yu Meijuan, have you already met Old Liu?”

Seeing Yu Meijuan completely ignore him, Cui Mingtao sneered inwardly. What a small-minded person.

She’s here to work in the factory, isn’t she? Does she think I won’t have a chance to deal with her? As long as she works here, I have plenty of ways to make her regret this. Let’s see how tough she is then. With that, he stormed off.

After they were left alone in the office, Yu Meijuan shared her concerns about the contract with Director Zhou.

At first, Director Zhou didn’t take it seriously, but when she mentioned that the contract might involve commercial fraud, he immediately became alert. “Please, tell me exactly what happened.”

Yu Meijuan explained that the contract had been signed through an agency, and that future payments were to be settled directly with this agency.

However, according to standard foreign trade contracts, a letter of credit from the agency should have been attached. But she didn’t see anything like that in the contract’s attachments.

Hearing this, Old Zhou understood. Although he didn’t deal with foreign trade, he had some knowledge of it. Without a letter of credit, it indicated that the agency might not have export qualifications. If their goods went out, the payment might not be recoverable.

He began to feel uneasy. If this contract caused a huge loss to the factory, he wouldn’t have the face to continue as the factory director.

If it weren’t for Yu Meijuan’s reminder, a big disaster could have occurred. At the thought, beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

“Thanks to your reminder, we might have avoided a major loss. I’ll start investigating this company right away to see if it’s just a contractual issue or if there’s something more to it.”

“You don’t need to come to work for now. Let me handle this, and I’ll let you know when it’s resolved. I’m really sorry. I never expected this situation to be so complicated,” Old Zhou said with a hint of guilt.

“It’s no problem. As long as the factory doesn’t suffer any loss, it’s worth it,” Yu Meijuan replied before leaving. Once outside, she felt much lighter. She had done what she believed was right.

If the deal fell apart because of the contract, she would lose her job and income, but she didn’t regret it. Life requires principles, and one must understand what can and cannot be done.

When she got home, Yu Zihan had already made lunch. Seeing that her mother didn’t look as excited as she had when leaving, she asked, “What happened? Was work not going well? You don’t look as happy.”

Yu Meijuan sighed and shared the events of the day with her daughter.

Yu Zihan fully supported her mother’s decision.

“Mom, you did the right thing. Even if we don’t know whose interests this might affect, we’ve done our duty to Uncle Zhou. We have no regrets.”

Yu Zihan had succeeded greatly in her previous life, and one of the key reasons was her sincerity. While cleverness and calculation were important in the business world, integrity was the ultimate weapon for overcoming everything. Her mother was capable of this, and Yu Zihan admired it. She knew she wanted to pursue business in the future and didn’t want her thinking to diverge from her mother’s.

Encouraged by her daughter, Yu Meijuan felt reassured. The inner conflict she had felt earlier vanished in front of her daughter.

“Let’s eat. I believe Uncle Luo will handle the situation well. You’ve done what you needed to, and now it’s up to them to sort things out,” Yu Zihan said as she added a bite of food to her mother’s plate.