It’s Not Okay to Kiss Me as Soon as We Meet (ABO) - Chapter 7

Lin Huaiyi had done import and export trade before crossing over, and to avoid being cheated by partners, she had studied a lot of patent-related matters. After all, if the intellectual property chain for product technology was unclear, not only would she not make money, but she would also face huge compensation.

When she heard Yang Qiang say that the company’s product had been complained about for infringement, Lin Huaiyi felt that her previous experience in handling work might come in handy. She already felt guilty about accidentally marking Shen Li that night when she crossed over. If she could help this time and share some of Shen Li’s worries, it would make her feel a bit better inside.

The seniors in the product department were unusually serious today, completely different from their laughing and joking selves at the welcome party.

The X1 water purifier equipment had been the department’s main promoted project that year, and everyone in the department had participated in it to some extent. Now that the product had a problem, no one felt good about it.

The complaint had gone to the sales department, and although the people in the product department had come to the company early to hold a meeting and discuss emergency plans, they had not seen the complete materials yet, so the root of the problem could not be traced. Everyone could only review work documents in the archived data and check if there were any deficiencies in the authorization-related materials for the X1 water purifier equipment.

In the product department director’s office, Shen Li rarely lost her temper for real.

Shen Yan had shown an active attitude in front of Shen Jun and promised to send the complaint materials received by the sales department to Shen Li that very night. Now six hours had passed, and there was still no sign of the complaint evidence. Shen Li had called Shen Yan multiple times, but no one answered.

It was said that history was written by the victors, and the current problem was mainly the product department’s responsibility. If it was not handled well, even if she could sue the sales department for lack of cooperation, it would not change the consequence of Shen Li having to pack up and leave. Shen Li had already made a military order in front of Shen Jun to come up with a solution in three days, and Shen Yan was dragging his feet and not cooperating. Shen Li knew exactly what little schemes he was playing.

Lin Huaiyi was a new employee who had just joined, and according to Shen Corporation’s rules, a senior would normally be assigned to guide her hand-in-hand through some basic work. But now the department was facing an emergency, and everyone was in danger. Everyone worried that it was a mistake in their own work and was busy checking past work records. No one had time to guide the newcomer, so Lin Huaiyi ended up idle instead.

When Lin Huaiyi had participated in the onboarding training, a sister in the product department had sent her an “onboarding gift package” that included Shen Corporation’s company introduction, organizational structure, a basic introduction to the product department, and some successful project cases that the product department had done before.

Lin Huaiyi sat at her workstation, opened her computer, and started looking at the materials. This kind of “onboarding gift package” was usually a condensed introduction from the company, the most convenient way to understand a company. Since Lin Huaiyi wanted to use her abilities in this product infringement incident, she had to first understand the project involved in the infringement issue.

In the afternoon, Shen Li finally received the materials sent by the sales department. She clicked open the email and quickly scanned it a few times, and her brows furrowed deeply. The matter was even more serious than she had expected.

This document pointed out that Shen Corporation had been complained about by a client regarding a part of its best-selling product of the year, the X1 water purifier equipment, which was suspected of infringing on a patent technology of a certain Japanese company. This complaint required Shen Corporation to immediately recall all X1 water purifier equipment already on the market. If Shen Corporation did not respond, the complainant would next notify the Japanese company and let the rights holder sue Shen Corporation. At that time, Shen Corporation would face huge compensation.

Shen Li quickly pulled up internal data and checked the global sales figures for the X1 water purifier equipment from its release to now. Just as the complaint letter said, this equipment was Shen Corporation’s best-selling product of the year, and one-third of Shen Corporation’s current cash flow came from this product. If they really had to recall the product, the amount involved would not be a small sum.

Shen Li quickly ran through the worst-case scenario in her head: recall all products, replace the infringing parts, and re-release the equipment in the future. This would inevitably create a huge funding gap in between, conservatively estimated to reach nine figures.

This year, land prices were booming, and Shen Corporation had passed a resolution at the board meeting a few months ago to enter the real estate market. The huge budget for auctioning land blocks had already been allocated to that real estate project, and Shen Corporation’s current cash on the books was not enough to refund consumers. According to the complainant, if they did not recall the infringing equipment, Shen Corporation would face lawsuits and huge compensation, and they would have to sell land blocks at a low price to cover it first. Such a hasty sale of land blocks would definitely get them slaughtered, and at that point, whether the company could continue operating would be in question, and someone would have to take responsibility, either Shen Jun or her.

Thinking it through to this point, Shen Li understood that this complaint incident was extremely strange. Shen Corporation’s style of doing things had always been steady and solid, and the product department had no shortage of technical experts who held several patents in their hands. Developing equipment was not a problem at all. The former director, Zhang Luming, had a background in science and engineering, and before joining Shen Corporation, he had accumulated years of experience in the industry. He would not be ignorant of industry rules, and there would not be a situation of misuse. Misusing someone else’s patent rights was the most despised tactic in the industry. This complaint incident had blown up so big, so it was probably not as simple as someone fabricating false information for a prank. Looking at the current situation, the biggest possibility was that someone had done it deliberately, and the person behind the scenes wanted to force them to abandon the pawn to protect the king.

Shen Li turned her gaze back to the complaint document. This document was vague and did not directly specify which part of the X1 water purifier equipment was involved in the infringement. She could conclude that this was a premeditated attack, probably planned for a long time.

The person laying the pieces was cunning and insidious, knowing to strike at the vital point, and every move had to hit the mark.

Shen Li’s mind was in chaos when the phone rang without mercy. Shen Li wanted to hang up, but she glanced at it and saw that it was Shen Yan calling.

Shen Li: “Shen Yan, you had better really have something to say.”

Shen Yan chuckled lightly and said in his usual lazy tone, “Aiyo~ Li Li, don’t be so irritable. How about it? Did you receive the documents from our sales department?”

Shen Li gritted her teeth. “Shen Yan, you had better have nothing to do with this matter.”

Shen Yan: “Yah yah yah, you can’t just say things like that. Our sales department has already done you a great favor. Brother told you early on that Omegas are not suited for business. You should stay home and learn flower arranging or cooking or something. With that little face of yours, brother guarantees you can marry into a good family. Brother has Alphas around him that I can introduce to you. Your brother Wang Lian has been talking about you for a long time. Last time we were drinking, he even asked me to call you out…”

Before Shen Yan finished nagging, Shen Li hung up on him. He was not annoyed at all and even hummed a little tune leisurely, propping his legs up on the desk and swinging them back and forth. Secretary Wu Yun came in to pour him coffee, and Shen Yan casually pulled her over, hugging the beautiful secretary with the great figure onto his lap. Wu Yun let out a soft cry, and a blush quickly climbed up her cheeks.

Compared to Shen Yan’s relaxed ease, Shen Li’s side was like a storm brewing. Shen Li had just spoken with Shen Jun on the phone, and Shen Jun confirmed her guess: the company’s cash on hand was far from enough to cover the refunds for a full product recall.

Shen Li went to the pantry to get a cup of coffee to perk herself up, and she heard employees whispering and pointing at their phone screens. An ominous premonition rose in Shen Li’s heart. She carried her coffee back to the office, opened a news website, and saw the glaring red headline of the top news:

[Shen Corporation’s X1 Water Purifier Equipment Suspected of Infringement, Stock Price Plummets Today!]

Shen Li clenched her fist, took a deep breath, and clicked on the news. The report content was basically consistent with the complaint letter. She did not know if the sender of the complaint letter had proactively contacted the media or if someone inside the company had leaked it.

Shen Li’s eyes turned cold, or perhaps, the two were actually in cahoots.

She clicked open the Shen Corporation stock interface, and the green downward arrow still showed a continuing downward trend.

The news release was issued at 13:00 in the afternoon, and in 10 minutes, Shen Corporation’s stock had already dropped five points rapidly, with shareholders wailing in the comment section.

The company internal line rang, and the secretary notified Shen Li to attend the emergency board meeting convened internally by the company at exactly three in the afternoon.

The board meeting time was also perfectly timed, at three in the afternoon, right when the stock market closed.

By three o’clock, Shen Corporation’s stock still had not been pulled up and stayed at the limit down until closing.

Shen Li knew that Shen Corporation had always cooperated with financial companies, and usually when the company’s stock price fell, the financial companies would notify Shen Corporation to buy back some stocks themselves to stabilize the price. This time, the emergency measure had not worked. That meant that the broad shareholders all believed Shen Corporation would take a big hit this time and were eagerly selling off their stocks, causing a chain reaction. In this situation, no matter how much money Shen Corporation threw in, it would be useless.

Shen Li pushed open the door to the boardroom and saw that Shen Corporation’s uncles had all dressed in suits and were already seated in the conference room.

Shen Jun sat at the head, unable to hide his fatigue. The water purifier track had previously been in a state of wild growth in the country, and the entire industry had not paid enough attention to intellectual property rights.

In recent years, a phrase had become very popular: on the wind outlet, even a pig could fly.

Shen Corporation was now the pig flying on the wind outlet.

When Shen Yan reported this matter to Shen Jun last night, Shen Jun had thought it would be a big deal at most to pay some money and be done with it.

He had never imagined that the product field could also cause shocks in the financial market. Today’s drop had taken away nearly one-tenth of Shen Corporation’s market value.

These uncles of Shen Corporation had not asked about company affairs for many years. Today, no one knew where they had gotten the news, but they had all rushed to the company together, forming a siege.

Shen Li’s heart sank. She had previously thought this was a trap designed by petty people, aimed at kicking her out of Shen Corporation. Looking at the current trend, her thinking had still been too naive.

In this incident, it would not be hard for her to escape responsibility, after all, she had just taken office as product department director. The X1 water purifier equipment was not a project she had led, so as long as she could handle the follow-up issues steadily, the consequences would naturally be borne by the company.

But what about Shen Jun? Today, Shen Corporation had fallen so badly in the secondary market that there were already comments pointing to the chairman’s dereliction of duty. With such a big flaw in the product, the shareholders would definitely demand an explanation. Who could take that responsibility then? Even if she wanted to step forward and take it, the shareholders would not accept it!

This trap was aimed straight at Shen Jun. If the person behind the scenes could really use this to kick Shen Jun out, the consequences for Shen Li would be imaginable.

From the information Shen Li currently had, the biggest beneficiary of this matter was of course Shen Yan. However, with Shen Yan’s pig brain, Shen Li did not believe he could come up with such an exquisite trap.

So who exactly was this person behind the scenes?

Shen Li scanned the people sitting in the conference room. The board members holding more than 5% of shares were Shen Yan, Shen Yan’s father Shen Yi, Shen Da Yu, and the only board member without Shen family bl00d, Wang Feng. Shen Li shook her head; it was too early to draw conclusions now.

When Shen Jun saw Shen Li arrive, he spoke up to greet her to sit down.

Shen Jun: “Li Li, you’re here. You saw today’s news too, right? How has the product department sorted out this incident so far?”

Shen Li organized her thoughts and said, “We are still missing a lot of information for now. The X1 water purifier equipment involves hundreds of parts, and finding out which one is involved in the infringement will take time. This product storm has spread to the financial sector so quickly, so it should be someone who designed and laid it out.”

Shen Yan interrupted Shen Li. “The thing has already happened. What’s the use of you playing hindsight now? This is a board meeting, not a place to listen to your guesses. It’s been almost a day since the incident, and from the three-day military order you made yesterday, there are not even two days left.”

Wang Feng also spoke up. “Xiao Yan’s words are rough but reasonable. I was just preparing to go on vacation in Italy, and when I heard this news, how could I still have the mood? Li Li, you Omegas must not think that business is as simple as playing house. The losses here are all real money.”

The small shareholders nearby also chimed in in agreement. “For Brother Jun’s sake, we didn’t say anything when she wanted to be director. But this time’s matter, I’m afraid it’s not something an Omega can handle well. In my view, Xiao Yan is steady, an Alpha who can make decisions. Otherwise, let Xiao Yan take the lead in solving this.”

Shen Li desperately suppressed the anger in her heart. These people, when the company was going well, called “Brother Jun” so affectionately. When a crisis hit, they immediately started to shift with the wind. Their words seemed to target only the junior Shen Li, but actually, they wanted to mock Shen Jun for not having an Alpha son and pushing the family’s Omega out to take the blame.

Shen Li stood up and said resoundingly, “Uncles, please stay calm. Since I have already made the three-day military order, if the deadline arrives and I cannot come up with a solution beneficial to the company, I will resign myself!”