Chapter 463 Encounter Five Years Later
Li Yuwei and Zhou Mubin stayed at the same hotel, but on different floors. After checking in, the two had no further contact.
After settling in, Zhou Mubin began investigating the matter concerning the person involved's wife.
He planned to meet the woman first. Her main demands were to fight for custody of the child and to obtain his share of the marital property.
If negotiation is possible, that would be best; if not, he will have to take other measures.
Mingda Technology.
As the clock struck nine, Cui Xiao entered the company gate and headed straight for Conference Room No. 1 on the top floor.
She wore a tailor-made dark gray suit with sharp, clean shoulders, and her long hair was tied up in a high ponytail, the ends of which swayed gently with her steps.
A minimalist platinum necklace adorned her exposed neck, exuding both professional dignity and a touch of competence.
When the conference room door was opened, more than ten employees from the finance department had already arrived, each with financial statements from the past three years spread out in front of them.
On the table were numbered highlighters and a calculator, and the air was filled with a faint aroma of coffee and a barely perceptible tension.
Cui Xiao walked straight to the head of the table and sat down, placing her black briefcase on the corner of the table and pulling out a list of questions that had been marked with a red pen beforehand, pushing it to the center of the table.
He then picked up the laser pointer and lightly tapped the sharply rising profit and loss curve on the projection screen with his fingertip. His voice was clear and penetrating, "Everyone, please look at the Q3 data first. There is a significant anomaly in the allocation of R&D expenses, which is a full 15 percentage points higher than the initial budget. I need to know which specific sub-projects this overspending went to, and whether the approval process for each expenditure was complete?"
Manager Zhang, who was in charge of R&D expense accounting, hurriedly stood up, frantically flipping through the folder in front of him, fine beads of sweat already forming on his forehead. "Vice President Cui, this situation is because..."
Before he could finish speaking, Cui Xiao raised her hand to signal him to interrupt.
She tapped her fingertips lightly on the table twice, her tone decisive and leaving no room for negotiation, "Skip the background and get straight to the core reasons and feasible solutions. We're here to solve problems, not to review processes."
Supervisor Zhang composed himself, quickly flipped to the page marked "Problem Projects," and announced the names of three sub-projects: "Smart Hardware R&D," "User Platform Upgrade," and "Data Security System Construction."
The explanation is that the cost allocation discrepancy is caused by inconsistent cost accounting standards during cross-departmental coordination.
As Cui Xiao listened, she circled and marked the words "inconsistent standards" in her notebook with a red pen. As soon as the other party finished speaking, she looked up and finalized the plan.
"Manager Zhang, please submit the recalculation and allocation sheets for the three projects to me by 6 PM today. A detailed cost breakdown signed and confirmed by each department is required. Also, starting next week, a new cross-departmental approval process will be implemented. The R&D department must include the project code when submitting expense requests. The finance department will assign a dedicated person to review and verify these requests, and a progress report on expenses will be provided every Friday before the end of the workday."
The entire communication process took no more than eight minutes, and the responsibilities and timelines for the three core issues were clarified. Sitting to the side, the financial director, Xiao Hong, quietly exchanged a glance with the deputy director next to her.
After the meeting, the employees quickly left with their reports, leaving only Cui Xiao and Xiao Hong in the meeting room.
The two pulled their chairs closer together and huddled in front of the projection screen to discuss the budget adjustment plan for the next year. Xiao Hong drew a horizontal line in the "marketing expenses" column with a highlighter. "Vice President Cui, I think this part can be reduced by another 5%. Offline activities can be combined with online live streaming, which can save a lot on venue fees."
Just then, Xiao Hong's phone, which was on the corner of the table, suddenly vibrated and the screen lit up.
She glanced at the screen out of the corner of her eye, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the report in her hand, and without much hesitation, she pressed the hang-up button.
He then casually placed his phone face down on the table and continued pointing to the report, saying, "Look here, last year's offline exhibition costs accounted for 12% of marketing expenses..."
Cui Xiao's gaze moved from Xiao Hong's tightly pursed lips to the phone lying face down, then back to her slightly trembling fingertips. Her tone softened a bit, "Xiao Hong, I heard you've been going through a divorce lately?"
Xiao Hong paused for a moment, a hint of panic flashing across her face, then she forced herself to remain calm and said, "Vice President Cui, don't worry, I will definitely not let it affect my work."
He quickened his pace as he spoke, his fingers slid rapidly across the report, explaining the details of optimizing marketing expenses one by one, though his voice carried a barely perceptible urgency.
By the time the two finalized the last detail of the budget adjustment, the sunlight outside the window had already slanted across the center of the conference table, casting long shadows on the reports.
Xiao Hong glanced at her watch; the hands were just past 12:10. She closed her folder and smiled, suggesting, "Vice President Cui, you must be hungry after a busy morning, right? There's a new Shanghainese restaurant downstairs. I tried it last week, and their braised pork and stir-fried eel with sizzling oil were especially authentic. Today, I'll treat you to some."
Cui Xiao rubbed her slightly sore shoulders, put the notebook and question list into her briefcase, and readily agreed, "Then I won't be polite."
The two walked into the elevator side by side. Xiao Hong was still chatting with her about the restaurant's signature dishes. When the elevator doors opened, the office building lobby was full of people looking for food after get off work. Men and women in business attire were chatting and laughing as they walked towards the door.
The moment Cui Xiao stepped through the revolving door, her smiling steps suddenly stopped.
As if nailed to the spot, the smile on his face froze instantly.
Her fingertips unconsciously tightened their grip on the bag in her hand.
Not far away, a man wearing a light gray shirt was standing next to a car making a phone call. The top two buttons of his shirt collar were casually undone, and the profile of his face was particularly clear in the sunlight.
He was none other than Zhou Mubin, who had disappeared from her world for five years.
Just as Zhou Mubin finished hanging up the phone with the person involved, his gaze swept across the doorway, and he suddenly stopped in his tracks, his phone falling to the ground with a "thud".
His expression instantly shifted from professional composure to extreme surprise, and his pupils contracted slightly.
He never expected that he would run into Cui Xiao here, the same Cui Xiao who had resolutely packed her bags and left five years ago without even a word of explanation.
She stood by the revolving door. Cui Xiao looked more mature than she had five years ago, but the astonishment in her eyes was exactly the same as his.
People passed between the two, some carrying takeout and hurrying by, others holding their phones and walking by with their companions, but the bustling atmosphere seemed to be shut out by an invisible barrier.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment, and the two looked at each other from a distance of three or four meters.
Zhou Mubin's knuckles turned white as he gripped his phone, staring intently at Cui Xiao.
Faced with this unexpected reunion, Cui Xiaochui's eyes were filled with a complex and indistinct expression.
He found it?
Did he come specifically to question her?
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