Chapter 73: It Wasn't Me

Xia Xi had figured it out, Zhang Wanli blamed Present Cypress's failure on Jiang Tian, thinking Jiang Tian and Xia Xi had teamed up to screw him over; his anger had nowhere to go, so he immediately called Jiang Tian.

Jiang Tian, who was in the office, saw the incoming call on his phone, feeling guilty like a thief, he got up and locked the door from inside, to prevent anyone from barging in and exposing his secret.

He walked to the sofa, sat down, answered the call, and spoke respectfully and obsequiously: "Deputy General Manager Zhang, what do you need from me?"

"Don't call me Deputy General Manager Zhang!" Zhang Wanli burst with anger, speaking coldly, "You lot at Broad and Elegant really have a clever scheme! Inside and outside cooperation, you've played the double-agent tactic to perfection."

Jiang Tian was startled: "Deputy General Manager Zhang, what are you saying? I don't understand."

"Even now you're still pretending, the act is over already!" Zhang Wanli utterly disbelieved his words, "I was careless, I've fallen for your trick."

Jiang Tian grew more puzzled: "Deputy General Manager Zhang, please speak clearly—what am I pretending about? You promised me that if I got things done, you'd give me one million, and if I later switched to Present Cypress, you'd give me a higher position and benefits. Are you now saying these things because you don't intend to honor your word?"

Zhang Wanli snorted, "You've gotten too deep into the act, can't you get out?" Jiang Tian, believing Deputy General Manager Zhang had burned the bridge after crossing, refused to honor the promise, dropped his fawning attitude, and spoke sternly: "Although Present Cypress didn't end up winning, that was decided by vote, not something I could influence. I followed your request and gave you Broad and Elegant's design proposal. You can't go back on your word."

Jiang Tian's words were like pouring oil on the fire at this moment; Zhang Wanli suddenly exploded, yelling over the phone: "You still dare to bring up the design proposal? You lured me in with a fake, messing me around, and I've noted this debt!"

"No, something's off," Jiang Tian realized there was a problem, feeling a bit panicked: "The design proposal I gave you is absolutely genuine; although I don't know why they had a backup plan, I didn't deceive you."

"Hah."

"Deputy General Manager Zhang, hear me out..."

Zhang Wanli didn't want to hear his excuses, hung up directly; Jiang Tian stood there with his mouth open, a surge of panic rose from his back and spread to his neck and head.

Despite the freezing weather outside, the indoor air conditioning was set to a comfortable temperature, yet Jiang Tian felt as if he'd been splashed with ice water, his whole body chilled.

"What exactly went wrong?" Jiang Tian hadn't figured it out yet when a knock sounded; it was so sudden he shuddered, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, forced his expression to stay normal, then went to open the door.

The person outside was none other than Pei Yichuan, who had left and come back.

Jiang Tian hesitated a moment and asked, "Why are you back again?"

"Oh, I've been looking everywhere for my phone; maybe I left it here." Pei Yichuan smiled innocently, "I came to look for it."

Jiang Tian still had no suspicions at this point, so he let Pei Yichuan in.

Pei Yichuan pretended to search the sofa he had just sat on, and indeed found it in the crevice; when he picked it up, the screen was still lit, the numbers showing the recording length ticking on the recording interface.

He pressed pause, slipped the phone into his pocket without changing expression, and said to Jiang Tian with a fake smile, "I'm leaving."

After Pei Yichuan left, he eagerly plugged in his earphones to listen to the recording, his face growing darker and darker.

Just as Xia Xi had expected, when they were fighting like dogs, Jiang Tian would surely spill something; now the evidence is complete, Jiang Tian can no longer deny it.

Pei Yichuan listened once, didn't want to hear it again, and gave the recording to Xia Xi. * The morning work hours ended; some went to nearby restaurants to eat, some stayed at the office ordering takeout, or brought their own lunches to heat in the microwave.

Since receiving Zhang Wanli's call, Jiang Tian's inner panic hasn't ceased; various speculations popped up in his mind, he didn't know if he'd been exposed, nor dared to find out. If he slipped up and aroused suspicion, he wouldn't be able to stay at the company, and Zhang Wanli's side wouldn't honor the original agreement to give him a high-paying position, leaving him completely unemployed.

Just as he was so anxious he couldn't eat, Xia Xi came over to find him.

She didn't even knock, just barged into his office; after entering, she left the door open, then Pei Yichuan entered, followed by Gao Ge, and after a while the other members of their team also came.

Seeing this lineup, his bad premonition grew stronger, but he's the type who won't cry until he sees the coffin; he kept a calm face and asked, "What is this for?"

Xia Xi didn't beat around the bush, speaking bluntly: "The design proposal was stolen by you, right? You gave it to Zhang Wanli."

She had suspected many people before, but never thought it would be him.

Jiang Tian felt his heart go "thud" like a weight tied to it sinking, his face turned ashen, yet he was certain they had no evidence, stubbornly refusing to admit: "It wasn't me."

Xi Xi didn't waste words, looked at Pei Yichuan, who gave a smirk like teasing a cat, first produced the surveillance video as evidence and tossed it to Jiang Tian: "The day you came to my house to invite me for a meal, you saw my computer left in the living room and copied our design proposal onto a USB drive."

Seeing the surveillance video on his phone, Jiang Tian's complexion shifted slightly; he never imagined that Pei Yichuan's home had cameras installed, capturing his actions.

Pei Yichuan snorted: "I think even if my computer wasn't in the living room that day, you'd still find another way to take the design proposal from me; it's just that you came at the perfect moment—I happened to be working from home, which gave you the opportunity."

Jiang Tian gulped desperately, trying to find a reasonable excuse for his actions, but couldn't; he couldn't explain having touched Pei Yichuan's computer, let alone inserting a USB drive into it.

He simply kicked the issue back like a ball: "Yes, I did touch your computer, but how can you prove I stole the proposal? Which of your eyes saw it?"

The more Jiang Tian spoke, the smoother it became: "I know you're upset about losing the proposal and eager to pin blame on someone, but you can't just grab anyone and make them a scapegoat. If I gave the proposal to Present Cypress, what would I gain?"

He looked at Xia Xi, his eyes full of deep disappointment, thinking, "Am I not good enough to her? Since she joined the company, I've looked out for her everywhere, even fallen out with Gao Ge, yet she actually brought a gang to attack him."

Pei Yichuan suddenly laughed, truly admiring Xia Xi to the point of wholehearted reverence; he even figured out Jiang Tian's trait of being stubborn like a dead duck's beak, knowing that even if Jiang Tian saw the surveillance video he wouldn't just admit it, so he devised a plan: using false words to provoke Zhang Wanli, expecting Zhang Wanli couldn't hold back his anger and would seek Jiang Tian to settle the score, thus having him preemptively open his phone recording and place it in Jiang Tian's office, thereby obtaining more convincing evidence.

"Jiang Tian, I've come to see the lowest limit of shamelessness."

Pei Yichuan took back his phone, opened that recording, turned the volume to max, and Jiang Tian's voice came out of the phone—perhaps because it was close, the recorded sound was crystal clear.

"You promised me that if I got things done, you'd give me one million, and if I later switched to Present Cypress, you'd give me a higher position and benefits."

"Although Present Cypress didn't end up winning, that was decided by vote, not something I could influence; I followed your request and gave you Broad and Elegant's design proposal."

The rest of the words don't matter; just these two sentences are enough to nail Jiang Tian's guilt.

(End of chapter)