Chapter 324: Chapter 324

Gong Zheng always felt a sense of panic today. When he returned to the office, before he even sat down, he noticed that everyone in the office was looking at him in the same brief, disdainful way.

"Not working anymore." Originally, Gong Zheng didn’t want to intervene. Being someone who’s about to leave, why bother causing unnecessary unhappiness with them?

Unexpectedly, when he decided not to manage them, one by one started to climb over his head. He hadn’t even left yet, and the tea had already cooled?

"We’re willing to work, but we’re waiting for the new section chief to assign tasks." One subordinate remarked with a smirk.

What, a new section chief? Gong Zheng felt a glimmer of joy inside; having a new section chief meant he was about to get promoted.

Thinking about being able to return gloriously, how could it not make Gong Zheng happy?

See, he just knew this guy was gloating inside, "Sure, a new section chief is coming, but Xiao Gong, you’ll continue to stay in the technical section as a minor staff member."

"Oh, and starting today, remember to clean the office."

What, a minor staff? Gong Zheng was stunned. What’s going on? How had his status suddenly dropped so much?

"Xiao Gong, you should go see the notice the plant department just posted; you’re going to have three years of salary deductions."

"You also need to take most of the responsibility for this matter."

"And there’s a five-year ban on promotions for you."

This was precisely why everyone treated Gong Zheng so unkindly; otherwise, for the sake of his father-in-law Wu Zhen, they wouldn’t have said such things.

By the time the opportunity for a promotion came around in five years, Wu Zhen’s son would have already entered the plant to work. Why groom a son-in-law when you could groom your own son, especially when this son-in-law clearly had no future?

Gong Zheng was stunned. What’s going on? No bonus he could accept, given that such a big issue had occurred, but why couldn’t he be promoted for five years and was stuck in this department as a minor staff?

Although there was hope in five years, by then, his brother-in-law could already be working in the plant. Would his father-in-law still nurture him?

Gong Zheng’s heart was cold, so cold he nearly fainted. He really didn’t anticipate how things could have developed to this extent.

Forget about a glorious return; just avoiding ridicule would be nice. Oh my god, Gong Zheng really didn’t understand how it ended up .

Seeing Gong Zheng in a daze, everyone around him just kept shaking their heads, but who would pity Gong Zheng? He wasn’t blameless in this matter.

Ever since he knew he was being transferred back, his work attitude became increasingly detached. If there were no new projects, it’d be fine, but when the new project ran into issues, someone had to take responsibility, and it happened to be Gong Zheng.

Gong Zheng was stunned for a moment and then quickly went to find Wu Zhen. He could only plead with his father-in-law; otherwise, his life was pretty much over.

Wu Zhen was even more surprised; he hadn’t expected that just when they were about to leave, such an issue would arise so close to success.

Five years of salary deductions, being reduced to a minor staff, these things didn’t bother Wu Zhen. Once a year or so passed, they could be worked around.

But this darn five-year rule left Wu Zhen feeling helpless. If it truly took five years, by then, would this son-in-law be able to rise?

Once at a certain position, wanting to rise further is truly not an easy task, it involves negotiation between all parties. Why did he end up being undermined? Did he really offend someone?

If there weren’t so many people driving the situation along, would things have reached this point?

Having finally seen a glimmer of hope, why did it have to end ? Could this son-in-law really be a misfortune bringer? Otherwise, why did trouble arise whenever a promotion was in sight?

It seemed since Gong Tao got into trouble, no matter what the Gong Family did, everything was just full of setbacks. Was it really due to doing too many unethical things and now facing retribution?

Thinking of this, Wu Zhen’s face turned pale. If that was true, there was really no point in pouring many resources into this son-in-law.

Previously, he thought once the son-in-law was settled, he could help the younger son a bit, but now it seems better to forget it.

When Gong Zheng, looking extremely pale, rushed to Wu Zhen’s office, it was actually too late. Wu Zhen had already decided not to invest too many resources for this unlucky son-in-law unless Gong Zheng could prove he would surely advance this time; otherwise, everything was off the table.

Having made up his mind , Gong Zheng’s arrival clearly wasn’t going to get any support.

While Wu Zhen was determined, he couldn’t afford to offend Gong Zheng now either. What if he did make a comeback? Wu Zhen being the shrewd person he was, of course, offered all kinds of persuasion, mostly stating the inevitable, "How can you compete when the manager’s got more connections, he can even bang the table with headquarters."

"Plus, among all these department heads, who do you think can easily take the blame?"

"Your experience and network can’t match theirs, and didn’t you previously have some issues with the manager?"

Gong Zheng was speechless. What could he say; his father-in-law laid everything out plainly, could he deny it?

Even knowing clearly it was his father-in-law giving up on him, Gong Zheng had to wear a smile and face him. No matter what, he could only hope his father-in-law would show some favor for Wu Rui’s sake and give him a little boost.

Gong Zheng truly regretted being so high-profile before; otherwise, after the incident, even if not everyone would push him down, at least someone might console him a little.

"Can I switch departments then?" Knowing promotion was off the table, Gong Zheng considered whether he could transfer to another department. If he stayed in the technical section, he already figured out how his days would be.

Having unpleasant relations with colleagues was one thing; what’s more, remaining as a former leader-turned-subordinate did him no good, especially becoming a small staff member, wasn’t that an eyesore for the new leader?

Changing departments wasn’t impossible, but without help, his daughter would end up crying back home with his grandson. Imagining that scene gave Wu Zhen a headache, yet it wasn’t something that could be handled immediately anyway.

"Once the dust settles, I’ll look into it. If you swap departments just like that, not only will the big leaders be unhappy, but no one will be willing to assist." Even though Wu Zhen had some solid connections, their help wasn’t certain enough to oppose the big leaders.

"I know, I know." It was just that the coming days would be tough; Gong Zheng remarked he had been through it before, just behaving meekly. What reason was there he could endure before but not now?

Gong Zheng’s conceding finally relieved Wu Zhen. If he was unreasonable, Wu Zhen really wouldn’t know what to do, "Just endure it. They’ll only mock you here and there."

"Actually, calming down and learning some things might not be bad." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novᴇlfire.net

"If you’re truly skilled, worthy enough for headquarters to recognize your caliber, what five-year-not-promotion-fixation is mere nonsense talk." Wu Zhen didn’t believe this big leader would be their leader forever; things shouldn’t be this unlucky.

Alright, Gong Zheng could only agree helplessly. Truthfully, he didn’t want to look at all that data; it was truly boring. But Wu Zhen was right, if his colleagues’ words were harsh at times, better to focus on improving his business skills.

Gong Zheng didn’t believe that once he improved his business skills, those people could continue holding him down.