Chapter 190: with translation of chapter title

Huang Qiu was right—Su Ruo currently has no 500,000‑worth of orders in hand, but she believes she will surely get them, and indeed far more than 500,000.

Because Xia Hua is preparing the autumn clothing line, the patterns and sales plans have already been fully prepared.

After buying the Clothing Factory, Su Ruo immediately cancelled her previous cooperation with all fabric suppliers.

Although her previous cooperation with these suppliers had been good, now that she has her own Cotton Spinning Factory, naturally she won't let the benefits flow to outsiders.

Moreover, producing the fabric herself gives her better control over quality and output.

Su Ruo also knows that to make the Cotton Spinning Factory thrive, she absolutely cannot rely solely on her own Clothing Factory's self‑production and self‑sales.

But with Xia Hua backing her up, it's enough for her to help the Clothing Factory get through this difficulty smoothly.

After the all‑staff meeting ended, Su Ruo immediately convened the sales department and all its members for a meeting.

Unlike last time, this time when Su Ruo called the meeting again, every person in the sales department felt uneasy.

Because only they themselves know what they have done during this period.

Actually, after Su Ruo's previous meeting ended, many people were itching to make a big move.

But with Huang Qiu and his gang pressing from above and Li Furén threatening from outside, they didn't dare to act properly even if they wanted to.

So everyone could only lurk secretly; aside from Huang Qiu's few confidants, the rest watched, wanting to know who would win the showdown between Su Ruo and Huang Qiu, and then decide whom to side with.

Everyone thought wisely, after all the law does not punish the many; even if Su Ruo were furious, she could not fire them all.

But seeing Su Ruo's face as cold as frost, they couldn't help feeling nervous.

Actually, Huang Qiu also felt uneasy inside; he sensed that Su Ruo would make a big move today, but he kept a strong façade of composure.

"Director Su, why are you calling another meeting? Everyone is quite busy."

Su Ruo snorted coldly: "Busy doing what? Busy sipping tea and chatting, or busy conspiring with the former boss to run the factory into the ground?"

After Su Ruo finished speaking, she suddenly slammed the documents in her hand onto the table, and everyone present immediately sat up straight.

His thoughts exposed, Huang Qiu's face also changed involuntarily, but he forced composure and said: "We are all loyal to the factory; its poor performance is not what we want to see, Director Su. You cannot blame us just because the factory's performance has declined."

Su Ruo's gaze grew sharper: "Do you want me to remind you—who you were with and what you said on the afternoon of the day before yesterday and the night before that?"

"You're spying on me!" Huang Qiu's face changed instantly upon hearing Su Ruo's words, because on the afternoon of the day before yesterday and the night before that, he had been with Li Furén in a private room at the State-run Hotel, discussing how to force Su Ruo to submit and gradually take back the Cotton Spinning Factory from her.

Su Ruo's face turned even more sternly cold as she said: "The factory is busy every day; I don't have the leisure to monitor you, but if you want something to stay unknown, you must not do it yourself—you think no one knows what you've done, yet everyone around you will be loyal to you."

Since ancient times, victors become kings and losers become bandits; Li Furén trying to take the Cotton Spinning Factory from my hands is absolutely impossible—after all your years as sales department manager, you don't even understand the principle that a fine bird chooses its tree.

Huang Qiu's face instantly grew even uglier; he glanced at the few people behind him, wanting to know exactly who had betrayed him.

The few people he glanced at all showed frightened expressions, waving their hands repeatedly to indicate it wasn't them.

Su Ruo's lips curled slightly—good, she had remembered those few people!

Actually, no one had informed on Su Ruo; she knew these things only because, fearing Li Furén might harm her, she had set the system to monitor him, never expecting such an unexpected windfall.

What Su Ruo just said was merely a bluff against Huang Qiu, aiming to undermine his small clique from within, make them distrust each other, and end up with dogs biting dogs and losing fur.

Unexpectedly, Huang Qiu couldn't contain himself and directly exposed all the core members of their small clique.

That's fine; now that she has targets, she can pick them off one by one and thoroughly eradicate these malignant tumors.

Now is the time to clean house; Su Ruo had not rashly fired Huang Qiu earlier only because she lacked evidence, fearing that a rash dismissal would unsettle the factory's morale.

But now that she has such solid evidence, how could she let this opportunity slip?

Su Ruo said with a solemn face: "Huang Qiu, I originally wanted to keep you, considering you're an old employee of the factory, deserving of recognition for your hard work even if you lack merit."

I never expected you to push your luck, again and again testing my limits, and now you've even teamed up with outsiders to plot against me!

This time I will definitely not keep you—go! Settle your wages at the finance office; from tomorrow on you need not come back.

Since you are so loyal to your former master, go follow him! My little temple cannot accommodate a great Buddha like you.

Huang Qiu looked at Su Ruo in disbelief and said: "You want to fire me?"

Su Ruo's face grew colder: "Someone like you who eats inside and steals outside—shouldn't I fire you? If I don't fire you, am I to keep tolerating you like a termite gnawing at the factory?"

Huang Qiu's face turned livid with anger, yet he could not utter a single rebuttal.

"If you fire me, do you know I alone control fifty percent of the factory's orders? Fire me, and you'll be left drinking northwest wind!"

Although Huang Qiu is loyal to Li Furén, he does not want to be fired by Su Ruo; although Li Furén's father‑in‑law is very powerful, in the end he is just an idle person now—if he were fired, Li Furén could not possibly pay to support him.

If Li Furén were to make a comeback, he would surely follow Li Furén's lead, but before that he still needs to eat and make a living.

Moreover, seeing how formidable Su Ruo is, it's truly uncertain who will win in the end.

So Huang Qiu's threat toward Su Ruo now is also meant to make her wary and keep him; at worst, he'll just sign a few orders for her each month.

Huang Qiu thought well in his heart, but he didn't expect Su Ruo to completely ignore his threat.

"You needn't worry about that—without you, the factory will only get better. I cannot tolerate sand in my eyes, nor can my factory tolerate termites."

Over these years, relying on Li Furén and the Clothing Factory, Huang Qiu has been prosperous; whoever sees him must address him as Director Huang, and he has never suffered such humiliation.

Even if he does not want to leave now, he is unwilling to lower himself again and let Su Ruo humiliate him.

So Huang Qiu gritted his teeth and said: "Fine, very good! I'd like to see how well you can develop the Clothing Factory after driving me out—let's wait and see!"

Huang Qiu flung those harsh words away and left without looking back.

Su Ruo swept an icy gaze over the crowd: "If anyone wants to leave with him, you may go now—I will not stand in your way."