The Cold, Aloof Dominatrix After Parasitically Entering a Rich Family - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Boss Shark — Gong Shayu Felt Her… After Seeing These Three Big Characters

Gong Shayu, who had remained silent all this time, finally spoke slowly: “The layoffs—begin now.”

Her voice was calm, as if discussing an ordinary matter.

But this “ordinary” statement made the noisy conference room instantly fall silent; if Tina’s words had been a stone dropped into a calm lake, Gong Shayu’s words were a torpedo.

Naturally, what was being bombed was their mental defenses.

The people who had just been vociferous were now meekly bowed, afraid to make eye contact with Gong Shayu and be shot down as a live target.

Fang Yu cleared her throat and stated seriously: “Firstly, I must clarify one point, and I ask everyone here to listen carefully. For the employees who are not laid off, their performance bonuses will increase: 30% for staff, 20% for mid-level management, and 10% for senior executives. Only employees whose performance appraisals are substandard will be let go. Everyone can rest assured.”

Some secretly breathed a sigh of relief; others’ hearts clenched tighter.

Tina laughed loudly and mockingly, dropping the pretense: “Layoffs?! Fine! Compensate me 2N+1 according to labor law! I don’t care about this crappy job!”

The managers who had just been nervous immediately relaxed again. That’s right, Tina is the HR Director. If we follow her standard for compensation, what’s the harm?

Gong Shayu twisted the snake bone chain on her wrist twice, her scrutinizing gaze settling on Tina, a hint of coldness flashing in her eyes.

Assistant Fang understood instantly and looked at Tina with pity. She deeply appreciated the saying: If you don’t court death, you won’t die. Talking law with Gong Shayu was like borrowing a gun from the King of Hell—she was in too much of a hurry to meet her end.

Fang Yu: “Following company research, we have decided to terminate the employment contract with Miss Tina because: during her tenure, Miss Tina was guilty of gross negligence, conducted fraud for personal gain, and caused ICC economic losses totaling 5 million Huabi.”

“You’re full of nonsense! You need evidence!” Tina cursed loudly, completely abandoning her image. Then, she aggressively charged toward Fang Yu, raising her hand as if to strike.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t given the chance to throw a fit. Tina’s raised wrist was quickly clamped by a stronger hand. Gong Shayu sneered, “Courting death.”

No one saw how Boss Gong moved, but Tina was already subdued. Those who had been feeling smug earlier remembered the commotion when Gong Shayu first arrived and immediately shrank back. A few who had close ties with Tina exchanged glances and drew back their necks: This new boss looks like she’s from the Triads.

Seeing the situation, Security Manager Lu Beizhi quickly stepped forward, taking Tina from Gong Shayu. “My apologies, Director Tina.” With that, he pulled a gray-white nylon zip tie from his waist and cleanly bound her wrists.

Lu Beizhi had interacted with Gong Shayu on the night of her assassination attempt. He had been recruited by Tina, and before joining ICC, he had been a fearsome mercenary. In his heart, Tina had always been his benefactor, which was why he hadn’t immediately subdued her when she lashed out.

“Pah! Lu Beizhi! I didn’t think you’d be the first to betray me… Hahaha!” Tina laughed maniacally, her exquisite makeup twisted, her eyes wild and ferocious as she glared at Lu Beizhi. “Don’t get too smug! It’s me now, but you might be next!”

Gong Shayu motioned for Fang Yu to continue.

Fang Yu opened the PPT, detailing every instance of Tina’s embezzlement and self-enrichment since joining the company, down to the thousands of Huabi. Every single item, backed by images and data—evidence that even Tina didn’t know still existed—was presented to the audience in a timeline format.

“Totaling 5.12 million Huabi acquired through abuse of power,” Gong Shayu asked with a smile, “Do you want life imprisonment or the death penalty?”

Hearing this, Mark, the CFO who had been playing possum, fell heavily to the ground, his eyes rolling back as he passed out.

…

Morning Meal

The next day, news that two people had fainted and three had been arrested at the Yalu Port ICC management meeting spread throughout the ICC headquarters. Combined with Gong Shayu’s assassination attempt, it became the hottest gossip within the Gong Consortium.

In the following days, Gong Shayu’s stepmother and half-siblings gradually returned to Z City. Gong Shaodong, Gong’s elder brother, sat at Gong Shayu’s usual dining spot, eating the soufflé she detested. He sighed longly: “Home is comfortable.”

Gong’s father, Gong Zhongshan, was watching the Yalu Port police press conference about Gong Shayu on his screen.

“Don’t watch that, have some porridge.” Stepmother Chen Pingping personally served Gong Zhongshan a bowl of seafood porridge.

“Dad, don’t worry, I asked friends over there. Second Sister is fine.” Gong Shaodong also received a bowl of porridge personally served by Chen Pingping.

Gong Zhongshan turned off the screen, huffing a sound through his nose. “If she can’t handle something this small, she doesn’t deserve to be a Gong daughter.” Even so, everyone present could hear the pride in his tone.

Gong Shaodong and Chen Pingping exchanged a look. The former said, “The scale of these layoffs is significant. I’m afraid it might affect ICC’s normal operation.”

Gong Zhongshan was in a good mood today and was willing to speak a little more. “The Yalu Port branch is a leech; the board was already thinking of pulling it out. High-profile layoffs may not be a bad thing.”

Chen Pingping smiled and said, “Let’s not talk about work at home, dear. Shaodong, prepare some pickled vegetables for your father. These were just airlifted from Fuling.”

…

Three hours later, Gong Shayu and Tu Si were also having breakfast. This was the first time the two had ever sat down to eat a meal together.

On the table sat a glass jar of dried pickled vegetables. Tu Si picked some up and ate them with her porridge, chewing loudly with a “crunch, crunch” sound. Gong Shayu glanced away in disgust, feeling her brain must be malfunctioning to agree to eat salted vegetables and steamed buns with this woman here.

“Boss Gong Jie (Sister), have some. My friend A Jie gave them to me.”

Saying this, Tu Si tore a steamed bun in half, stuffed a few strands of the pickled vegetable inside, and offered it to Gong Shayu. Clearly, she wasn’t very skilled with chopsticks; the pickled vegetables were scattered messily, making the bun look somewhat like vomit being spat out of a bun’s mouth.

Gong Shayu took the bun and, compelled by some strange impulse, took a bite. The pickled vegetable was savory and salty, with an indistinct taste that felt somehow familiar. She tried another bite, but her sense of taste vanished completely. She suddenly remembered her childhood days with Weng Hongye at her grandmother’s house.

“What’s wrong?” Tu Si saw the complex look in her eyes and thought the taste wasn’t to her liking.

Yesterday, Wang Wei introduced Tu Si to Wu Li (the person Tu Si was originally meant to go to in Yalu Port). Throughout the conversation, Tu Si only remembered one key task: help Wu Li find out which people in their engineering department were going to be laid off.

Tu Si’s reply at the time was: “Why should I help you?”

Wu Li kindly said, “You and Wang Wei are friends, and Wang Wei cares about this too.”

Tu Si was still puzzled, so she consulted the Human User Manual. The manual told her that if she considered Wang Wei a good friend, she really should help her.

“Who gave this to you?” Gong Shayu asked.

“My friend A Jie. He’s a chef. He barbecues all the seafood we bring back from beachcombing. It’s delicious!” Once she started talking about food, Tu Si couldn’t stop. “The sea cucumber and gooseneck barnacles he made yesterday were truly divine…”

“Wait, what did you say you did yesterday?” Gong Shayu expressionlessly interrupted the beaming Tu Si.

Tu Si: “B-b-beachcombing.”

Gong Shayu asked thoughtfully, “Was it interesting?”

Talking about beachcombing was perhaps second only to food in Tu Si’s heart. “It was very interesting! I saw sea lilies, sea anemones, sea sponges, coral, jellyfish… I even saw two giant sharks embracing.”

“Sister, look…” Tu Si generously held out her slow, freezing phone for Gong Shayu to see.

Upon seeing the image on the screen, Gong Shayu completely lost her composure and nearly choked to death on the memory-flavored pickled vegetables.

The screen showed a high-definition, unedited video of two sharks mating at the bottom of the ocean.

“Are you civilized?” Gong Shayu scolded woodenly. “Boring!”

Tu Si was confused. “Why is it uncivilized? I greeted them, and they didn’t object.”

Gong Shayu: “…Did you film this video?”

Undeniably insane.

Tu Si proudly puffed out her chest. “Mhm.”

Gong Shayu was silent for a long moment before finding her voice. “Do you know that thing can eat people?” She had thought Tu Si’s “beachcombing” merely meant scavenging on the shallow shore. She never expected this boldly clueless girl to go to the bottom of the ocean to film sharks!

Wait, if there are sharks in this area, then her flash of inspiration—to cordon off an area for tourists to experience beachcombing—is impossible to implement?

Tu Si saw Gong Shayu staring at the video without speaking, assuming the other woman liked it. She took her phone and very generously clicked Share—WeChat—Send to WeChat Friend—Boss Shark (Gōng Shāyú).

“!!!”

Gong Shayu saw her own WeChat nickname, which was Fang Yu’s note for her, boldly written as “Boss Shark” (Gōng Shāyú, a homophone for Gong Shayu). Combining this with the video she had just watched, she felt her internal organs spasm.

Unbeknownst to Tu Si, Fang Yu’s sudden arrival saved her life.

Before being ushered out by Fang Yu, Gong Shayu gave her a direct order: she was to write the three characters “Gong Shayu” one thousand times as punishment today.

When Fang Yu reported on the execution of the layoffs, she subtly suggested, “Won’t a thousand times be a bit much?”

Gong Shayu explained the reason. Assistant Fang couldn’t hold it in and burst into wild laughter. In fact, Tu Si’s greeting in every voice message she sent to Fang Yu was always this nickname (Boss Shark), but she didn’t expect Boss Gong to catch her red-handed today, and under the stimulation of a video of actual sharks, no less.

“Are you done laughing?” Gong Shayu cast a cold side-eye at Fang Yu.

Fang Yu vigorously pinched her own thigh to barely control the upward curve of her lips.

Who knew Boss Gong’s next question would be: “Do you think people with high IQs can understand what animals and plants are saying?”

Fang Yu couldn’t hold back a pfft and shook uncontrollably.

Gong Shayu realized the question she had asked and couldn’t control herself either, bursting into loud laughter.

Truly, you are corrupted by those near you, and dumbed down by those who are stupid!

As the laughter slowly subsided, Fang Yu said, “Some people really can understand what pets are saying. I used to have a Poodle, and for a while, she was really unhappy. She walked around with her head down every day, and even after taking her to several vets, they found nothing abnormal.”

“Later, out of options, I found a pet communicator. They said my Mao Mao felt I wasn’t spending enough time with her, that when I came home I only looked at my phone or watched TV, and that the latest dog food wasn’t good; it was too hard.”

“I really had just changed the dog food. Later, I tried to squeeze out half an hour every day to spend with her, and she genuinely got much better.”

Gong Shayu, rarely interested in such topics, asked, “What happened after that?”

What happened after that? Well, I became your assistant.

“After that, I got too busy with work, so I sent her to my mom’s place in the countryside, where she’s incredibly happy.”

Gong Shayu suddenly changed the subject, talking about her idea to cordon off a sea area for tourists to go beachcombing, which Tu Si’s early discovery of sharks had ruined.

Fang Yu: “Don’t we have our own private beach at ICC? What if we designate an area there?”

“That beach is more for leisure. The beachcombing I’m talking about is really experiencing the depths of the sea, suitable for tourists with some experience,” Gong Shayu paused, then added, “That genius Tu said she asked the sharks, and there won’t be any other sharks here. They just came here for a date and will leave in a couple of days.”

Fang Yu: “…”

She felt that spending time with the genius Tu was making her boss adorable.