Notice Regarding the Dismissal of Researchers Zhao Qing, Li Yue, and Qian Wei for Severe Violations of Professional Ethics
To all departments and staff of the institute.
Recently, based on relevant feedback and leads received, our institute conducted a serious investigation into the alleged severe violations of professional ethics and social morality by researchers Zhao Qing, Li Yue, and Qian Wei.
Furthermore, the aforementioned three individuals have repeatedly started rumors about their colleagues and superiors in the laboratory, fabricating baseless gossip to slander others. They are ordered to publicly post handwritten apology letters to set the record straight before completing their resignation procedures.
Effective today, the employment relationship with Zhao Qing, Li Yue, and Qian Wei is terminated, and they are dismissed from their positions.
All staff members of the institute must take this as a warning, focus on cultivating personal moral standards, and jointly build a clean, upright, proactive, and positive research environment and organizational culture.
Notice is hereby given.
The email from the inbox was CC’d to the entire institute, from the directors of various project teams down to the cleaning crew. As long as you worked within the research institute and possessed an email address, this message was securely delivered to your inbox.
Lin Wanshuang glanced over it briefly. She didn’t particularly care how debased the private morals of those three had been to reach the dean’s ears, her attention was purely caught by the three handwritten apology letters that had to be displayed publicly.
After finishing the email, a smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she tapped open her chat with Qiao Yi.
Lin Wanshuang: Have the apology letters been made public? Snap some pictures for me to see.
Qiao Yi quickly sent over three images with a series of clicks. In an excellent mood, Lin Wanshuang began to read them seriously.
The shortest of the three apology letters was over a thousand words, while the longest spanned a full three thousand words. Every word was earnest and filled with sorrow, besides describing how they had slandered their colleague, the letters were packed with remorse.
Although not a single person mentioned Lin Wanshuang’s name throughout the texts, everyone knew exactly whom they were apologizing to. They hoped to gain the forgiveness of the involved party and the research institute so they wouldn’t be fired.
But unfortunately, by the time these three apology letters were posted on the institute’s bulletin board, their names had already been scrubbed from the system, leaving no room for reversal.
Lin Wanshuang knew all three of them. One used to be a fellow student working under the same mentor, while the other two, though not very familiar, were colleagues whose faces she could recognize. Most importantly, all three of them currently worked under Lan Liru.
The dean must have truly been furious this time, completely disregarding Lan Liru’s feelings to firmly and directly dismiss these three individuals. If Lin Wanshuang hadn’t been away on a business trip right now, there was no telling how Lan Liru would have gone out of her way to look for trouble with her.
However, Lin Wanshuang never worried about things that hadn’t happened yet. After chatting idly with Qiao Yi for a bit, she happily put her phone away.
She couldn’t play with it anymore; if she kept going, she would get dizzy soon.
Pondering carefully for a moment, Lin Wanshuang turned her head to look at Ming Jiao, who was resting one hand on the steering wheel, and asked, “Did you report those three? Where did you find out about their business?”
The car window was open a crack, letting the cold wind brought by their high speed pour into the car, blowing the strands of hair hanging beside Ming Jiao’s cheek. A smile spread across her face, giving her a vibrant and confident look, as if everything was within her grasp. Instead of answering the question directly, she asked in return, “Is the Eldest Miss satisfied with how I handled this matter?”
Resting her hands gently on her thighs, Lin Wanshuang tapped her fingers rhythmically against her legs one after another. Her expression was bright, and her entire aura practically screamed the word “satisfied.” Yet, she feigned a reluctant tone and said, “Mm, it’s alright. Consider it a pass.”
This appearance closely resembled the proud and adorable calico cat in Ming Jiao’s memories. Unable to hold back a light chuckle, she coaxed her smoothly, “As long as the Eldest Miss is satisfied, this is all just what I should do.”
The person she had asked to handle this wasn’t anyone mysterious, she had simply made a phone call to Boss Cai, requesting him to look into those few people. Later, when Boss Cai discovered that these three weren’t particularly clean, he asked Ming Jiao how she wanted to deal with them.
Ming Jiao hadn’t been overly ruthless either, she only asked Boss Cai to have someone get them fired from their jobs and make them write a few apology letters as a side requirement.
Boss Cai had no intention of refusing to help with such a small matter. But in exchange, Ming Jiao had to watch over Xia Chan for a while. This was also the reason Xia Chan had appeared in the underground garage waiting for her this morning.
And at this moment, Xia Chan, acting as the “exchange student,” was sitting in the back seat with her arms wrapped around her legs. Having witnessed the flirting and interaction between these two AOs perfectly clearly, she felt that she shouldn’t be in the car, she should be under it.
Stinky couple!
The stinky couple, plus a tagalong, finally drove into Songyang City two hours later. They were still a twenty-minute drive away from Xinsong Prison, their destination.
There was a minorly famous mountain within Songyang City called Mount Xinsong. On weekends, backpackers would occasionally come here to climb the mountain and watch the sunrise, but since today was Monday, a working day, they didn’t see many outside vehicles.
“The staff from the sampling group have already arrived at the guesthouse next to the prison. We can go straight over to meet up with them,” Lin Wanshuang told the driver, Ming Jiao, while looking at the messages on her phone.
Ming Jiao nodded, checked the navigation, and continued driving forward. “It’s almost lunchtime. Should we eat with them at noon or find a place to eat by ourselves?”
Ming Jiao hadn’t prepared much for breakfast, so naturally, neither she nor Lin Wanshuang had eaten a lot. After this long drive, they would definitely be somewhat hungry.
Lin Wanshuang turned her head to look at Xia Chan, who was sleeping soundly sprawled across the back seat. After thinking it over, she decided it would be better to eat separately from the sampling group.
“Let’s find a place to eat first. The sampling group should be eating at the prison cafeteria. I’ll tell them they don’t need to wait for us.”
“Alright.”
In the end, Ming Jiao picked a random, clean-looking little restaurant by the roadside, planning to settle their lunch there.
Xia Chan woke up the exact instant the car came to a stop. Wiping away the non-existent drool from her chin, she sat up. A sudden wave of cold made her sneeze, which, combined with the unhealed bruises on her face, made her look both pitiful and comical.
Lin Wangshuang had never seen a child like Xia Chan, who seemed to grow wildly like weeds in the dirt. She felt a unique curiosity toward this thin, small, yet cheerful and resilient girl, prompting her to approach her proactively.
Selecting a jacket from her own luggage, she threw it right over Xia Chan’s head from behind as soon as the girl got out of the car, draping it over her shoulders. “I heard you sneeze just now. Wear my jacket. I brought several.”
Xia Chan looked up at Lin Wanshuang with a pleasant surprise, her expression a mix of comical exaggeration and deep gratitude. “Oh my god, thank you, Shiniang (Master’s wife)!”
Leaning against the car door, Ming Jiao stared fixedly at the two of them. She had originally intended to let Xia Chan wear her own clothes, but looking at it now, it seemed unnecessary.
Lin Wanshuang could always break Ming Jiao’s stereotyped impressions of her in unexpected ways.
The Eldest Miss was truly a very, very good person.
The three of them walked into the restaurant one after another. There were only two tables of customers inside, scattered across the shop. Ming Jiao subconsciously scrutinized their outfits, they were all dressed in standard windbreakers and outdoor gear, likely backpackers planning to climb the mountain.
The proprietress, wearing an apron, walked up with a smile to greet the guests. “Hello, just three of you? Sit wherever you like.”
Ming Jiao nodded and followed Lin Wanshuang to a seat against the wall. “Let us see the menu.”
The proprietress handed the menu to Ming Jiao, who, without even looking at it, passed it directly to Lin Wanshuang sitting on her inner side.
Lin Wanshuang didn’t find anything unusual about this either. After asking Xia Chan if she had any dietary restrictions, she casually ordered a few dishes.
The proprietress was a very talkative middle-aged woman. While waiting for the food to be served, seeing that Ming Jiao was wearing a thick windbreaker, she assumed her to be a backpacker here for mountain climbing as well.
“Are you ladies also here to climb Mount Xinsong?”
Instead of denying it, Ming Jiao nodded. “Is there something wrong? We specifically picked a working day to come, it shouldn’t be too crowded, right?”
The proprietress sighed, looking at them with pity. “Oh, then you’ve really run into bad luck. Mount Xinsong stopped letting people up two days ago. Didn’t you see the notice posted on the official account?”
“Hmm? We didn’t notice, we were working overtime these past few days. Why did they suddenly stop letting people go up? Did something happen?”
The proprietress waved her hand. “Yes, someone reported to the relevant department saying they captured a photo of a tiger in the mountains. They are currently investigating it these past few days, so you definitely won’t be able to go up today.”
Saying this, the proprietress pointed toward the two tables of customers behind them. “Those folks over there were also planning to climb the mountain. They all intend to leave right after finishing their lunch.”
Ming Jiao nodded. “Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, we would have definitely made a trip for nothing. Then we’ll just wander around a bit after eating and head back too.”
No wonder Ming Jiao felt that the number of tourists here was pitifully small. It turned out it wasn’t just because it was a working day, but also because the mountain was closed.
However, how could a tiger suddenly appear on Mount Xinsong? Mount Xinsong wasn’t some uninhabited, deep primeval forest, the probability of a tiger appearing was close to zero.
Unable to figure it out, Ming Jiao stopped thinking about it. After all, they weren’t really here to climb the mountain anyway.
After finishing lunch, the three of them continued toward Xinsong Prison. By the time they arrived at the guesthouse, it was already nearly one o’clock.
The team leader of the sampling group this time had received Lin Wanshuang’s message and was already waiting at the entrance of the guesthouse.
Lin Wanshuang spotted her the moment she got out of the car. It was a slightly plump young lady who looked a bit older than Lin Wanshuang. “Director Lin, over here!”
Lin Wanshuang walked over, wrapping her jacket tighter around herself, and asked, “Thank you for your hard work. Is the sampling going smoothly?”
The team leader nodded with a beaming smile. “We’ve been here several times already, so it’s going very smoothly. It’s just that I went to see that B-class individual.”
Her expression turned a bit strange. “They are a serious offender and very uncooperative, so you will need to go check the specific situation yourself, Director.”
Lin Wanshuang nodded, then turned her head to look at Ming Jiao. “You stay here to unpack the luggage. I’ll head over first.”
How could Ming Jiao possibly let her go to the prison alone? She immediately stepped forward. “Let Xia Chan unpack the luggage. I’ll go inside with you.”
After pondering for a few seconds, Lin Wanshuang agreed.
Left behind like a foster child, Xia Chan stood beside their luggage, staring melancholically at their receding figures.
Fine, this family would fall apart without me.
She pushed the luggage toward the guesthouse. The team leader from earlier had already handed her the room cards, so she could go straight to the rooms now.
Except, just as she passed the guesthouse front desk, a figure flashed past her side.
Huh? That looked a bit familiar.