"You, come with me!"

As soon as the old lady left, the smile on Director Hu's face vanished instantly. Looking at Huang Yun, who had initially handled the matter, he couldn't help but feel angry. What was originally a trivial matter had escalated to this point; the department store's reputation was now completely ruined! How could he hold his head high in front of other department store directors now?

Huang Yun shrank back in fright, barely daring to breathe, and followed timidly behind him.

Upon entering the office, Director Hu sat heavily in his office chair, leaning back and slamming his right hand on the desk with a loud "thud," exuding a strong sense of oppression.

"I heard...someone reported that the numbers didn't match up?" He stared at Huang Yun, his voice cold and deep.

Huang Yun lowered her head even further, her voice barely audible: "...Mmm."

Hu Yi slammed his fist on the table, barely containing his anger: "Then why didn't you report it? Were you sleeping during training? Any quality issues with the products you handle must be reported immediately. How long have you been working here?"

Huang Yun trembled with fright, her voice growing weaker: "I thought it was all staged by those people... and besides, I... it's been two years already."

"Two years!" Hu Yi's voice suddenly rose, his eyes filled with disbelief. "Two years and you still can't grasp these basic procedures? I seriously doubt your work ability now!"

Huang Yun lowered her head, twisting the hem of her clothes with her fingers, and almost subconsciously whispered in defense, "This...this has never had any quality issues..."

Hu Yi was so angry that his fingers trembled. He pointed at Huang Yun's nose and said sternly, "You... you're hopeless! Putting aside everything else, just look at what happened today. If you had handled it properly, would it have caused such a big impact? So many people were watching, and you still dared to make sarcastic remarks about them. Who do you think you are? Who gave you the courage?"

Huang Yun kept her head down, but couldn't help muttering under her breath, "I...I've always done it this way, and everyone else does it too..."

"How dare you talk back!" Hu Yi was furious. He waved his hand and said, "Go back and write a 1,000-word self-criticism and hand it in tomorrow. You need to deeply understand the problem, find your shortcomings, and explain how to improve in the future! If it doesn't pass, go to a political education class! Wake up! Now, get out of here!"

As for the "theft of rice candy", it was easy to investigate. The previous batch had just sold out and the warehouse had been restocked. Director Hu made a phone call to the pastry factory and invited a deputy factory manager to conduct a self-inspection. Sure enough, one-fifth of the rice candy in this batch was not filled to the required amount, and each box was still missing one piece.

Since it wasn't the department store's fault, things were much easier to handle. They could deal with the rest themselves. Director Hu personally visited the elderly woman to explain the situation and gave her a bottle of malted milk powder, a pound of biscuits, and ten boxes of rice candy.

At the same time, an announcement was issued stating that customers who had previously complained about incorrect quantities, as well as those who had unopened rice candy packages, could come to the store for replacements.

"Do you know why there's one piece missing from each of these batches of rice candy?" Ma Yan and Zhan Chunlan were focused on their work when Xiao Hong, who was usually a bit quiet, suddenly chimed in.

Recently, after that incident at the department store, they started enforcing discipline. Sales staff can no longer move around and chat as freely as before. These past few days, Ma Yan and Zhan Chunlan have basically been communicating with each other through eye contact, understanding each other implicitly but not explicitly. They're also less adept at catching up on gossip than he, a male colleague.

"Speak! Speak!" the two said in unison, unable to wait even a moment longer.

"Let me tell you, this is actually an earth-shattering love story!" Before officially starting, this sets the tone for the story, and then we slowly begin to tell it.

The incident occurred to a worker on the assembly line of the pastry factory. He happened to be in the last boxing stage, and he would randomly pick a box each time and steal one piece. Once he had enough, he would take it out to sell, claiming it was a benefit from the factory. The only difference between the pastries sold in department stores and those sold in department stores was that they didn't have packaging boxes; everything else was the same.

He usually appears honest and unassuming, and he does indeed work at a pastry factory. He bought some to try for the first time and found that they were no different from those in department stores, but the price was half the cost and no coupons were required. More and more people started buying from him.

In the end, he stopped drawing randomly and started stealing rice candy from his line. He accumulated several hundred yuan this way, and if it weren't for this incident, who knows when he would have been caught.

The factory leaders were furious. How much face had their pastry factory lost because of this incident? Especially the deputy factory manager who went to the department store to inspect the goods. When they found that each box was missing a piece, his face turned green.

This matter was even reported to the department store. Previously, due to long-term cooperation, the department store was relatively casual in its inspections. Now, they have directly sent notices to various department stores, supply and marketing cooperatives, and other stores, requiring them to strictly inspect the products of their pastry factory!

The entire pastry factory suffered heavy direct losses because of him, both financially and in terms of reputation.

The factory leaders called the police immediately. After the man was arrested, he didn't try to deny it and confessed to his actions, thus gaining the opportunity to be rehabilitated at the farm.

"Hey, I heard he just got married last year?" As Xiao Hong was telling his story, a lot of people slowly gathered around. If this person hadn't spoken up, no one would have noticed.

"His wife is so pitiful; she's now a family member of a bad element." Women tend to focus more on women, and Zhang Yun felt a pang of sympathy for the woman she had never met.

"Pah, what's there to pity? Without her, he wouldn't have done this. How long has he been working at the pastry factory? He's never done anything like this before. He only started stealing pastries after he got married, and wasn't it his wife who instigated it?" Why isn't anyone condemning the person who did the wrong thing, but instead blaming someone else? Regardless of whether she's innocent or not, which man did this? Why act like this? Zhan Chunlan rolled her eyes, speechless!

"If you ask me, you can't sleep in the same bed with two different kinds of people. Nobody forced him to steal. When he was at the factory, his wife wasn't there. If he didn't steal, would his wife have dragged him by the hand to steal?" This was the opinion of an older woman. As expected of an older woman, she has rich life experience and is more experienced than young people who see things in black and white.

"No, let me tell you, the reason he needed so much money is because he has someone else outside. He used to like her, but his mother disapproved and forced him to marry his current wife. His ex-girlfriend also got married, but after marriage, her husband treated her badly, often beating and verbally abusing her, never giving her any living expenses, and making her cook at home. If there was no food when she came home, she would be beaten again. He took the risk to help her; he's a loyal and righteous person." Xiao Hong was also a little anxious. He hadn't finished his story yet, and now a fight was about to break out?

"He does have a conscience; even though she's already married, he still tries to help her." Chen Rong said with some emotion, probably thinking about her own experience.

"He has no conscience whatsoever! He has absolutely no skills, yet he tries to act important in front of others! At best, his behavior was stealing; at worst, it's undermining socialism, using the people's money to support his mistress and harming his own wife. I think he's a complete idiot! A total idiot!" Huang Yun couldn't stand these comments favoring the thief. If it weren't for him, would she have been criticized by her superiors? She even had to write a 3000-word self-criticism. The first time, the superior said her understanding wasn't deep enough, so she had to rewrite it! The second time, the superior said the follow-up improvement plan wasn't comprehensive, so she had to rewrite it! The third time was barely acceptable. At that time, Director Hu said that if she didn't meet the requirements this time, he would send her to night school for political education classes!

She'll hate that thief for the rest of her life!

"I heard that his current wife isn't having a good time at home either. His mother blames her for not keeping an eye on the man in the house, for making him do such a thing. Not only did he lose his job, but he was also sent to a farm. She says he's a jinx, a curse on his husband! His wife wants a divorce, but his mother-in-law disagrees, saying she wants to stay with her for her son!"

Zhan Chunlan was surprised, her eyes widening in astonishment. Xiao Hong immediately understood the meaning in her eyes: "Not a buddy? How did you find out even this?"

Xiao Hong chuckled and replied, "Hehe, it's mostly what my mom found out. She really likes to tell people about it, and she tells everyone the same thing, including me."

Everyone was focused on gossip, but Zhan Chunlan was keeping track of what was going on. An employee had stolen supplies from the factory and made such a big fuss about it. The factory would definitely investigate thoroughly. It wouldn't be as simple as just dealing with the person who stole the pastries, or just a problem with one link in the chain. If they carefully examined the pastry factory, they would probably create many more jobs. Wouldn't that be her opportunity?