A Life Debt Repaid By Cheng Xiaocheng Chapter 15
A Life Debt Repaid
Noel was left feeling awkward right then.
In reality, the mysterious Lovely who ranked first globally had retained her crown for three consecutive years. Noel was far from r eaching her level, and it was by sheer luck that she won fifth place last year.
However, that was enough for her to become a miraculous being at Starstream, with every employee w orshiping her blindly.
Even so, Hank Rogers concluded among the murmurs of disapproval toward Cordy. âWhy donât you jus t be a macro manager instead? Itâs easier for everyone.â
Noel was laughing to herself as he mocked âCordy openly.
After all, she knew Cordy would not have it easy even after she reclaimed Starstream Group. Aside fro m Stephen Lang, everyone here were lapdogs to her and her fatherâ
they did not mind affording Cordy three months until she gave up.
âWhen I worked at Jessop Corpâ¦â
âSure, they are designers of high fashion here in North City, but you only worked in PR back then.â Hank continued to throw shade at Cordy, not even allowing her to finish. âYou had nothing to do with designing. so itâs t wo different issues altogether. Please donât bother to push yourselfâ
Cordy rose from her seat then, but while everyone thought that she would storm off after having enoug h, she remained perfectly calm..
Whipping out a USB flash drive, she plugged it into the conference room laptop and presented several slides.
âThese are all Starstream fashion lines over the past two years. Itâs very obvious that nothing much has changed over each passing season in the last two years, and the design Ms. Noel Sachs presented is now at the point of being identical. Iâd think she was showing me last yearâs draft if not for t he change of dye.â âItâs been the trend for the last two years.
Noel wanted to argue, but Cordy scoffed. âDidnât you get any inspiration while you were visiting Jessop Corp today?â
âIâm a professional. I wonât plagiarize another companyâs work,â Noel said righteously.
âAnd Iâm telling you that since this spring, the trends have been changing drastically. Hereâ
take a look at the brochures of planned releases from several major international brands. Iâm sure itâs n ot that difficult to tell that your designs bear zero resemblance to those trends.â
Cordy was ruthless, but that was because she could not bear with what Noel was doing.
Sticking to a single draft and milking it for two years? It was no surprise that Starstreamâs performance i n the market kept failing.
Noelâs expression darkened even as Cordy shut her down, but it was true that she lacked inspiration an d had not been putting an effort in her designs over the last two years.
Naturally, once Cordy exposed her in front of everyone, she had no retort.
In fact, even though the other heads of department were all loyal to Noel, they could not lie through thei r teeth with such solid evidence thrown in their faces.
Silent, they all felt as if Cordy slapped them in the face.
With that, Cordy told Noel, âFrom now on, all drafts from your department would only go into production . after my assessment. Also, you have one week to prepare a new draft. Submit it personally to me by n ext Tuesday.â
Then, turning to the rest, she announced, âSince none of you prepared the summaries I asked, I want t hem on my desk by nine in the morning tomorrow. If it isnât submitted by that deadline, your respective
departmentsâ performance will be marked as null.â
And with those imposing words, she left.
While Stephen hurried after her, everyone else was left gaping at Cordyâs departing figure, surprised by her charisma and gravitas.
Did she just boss them around? But she was only twentyâfive, and a woman at that!
After returning to her office, Cordy told Stephen, âEvery department manager is Simonâs lapdog. How I would like to shake up the entire company and bring in new blood.â
âA shakeâup would actually make it difficult to win loyalty, and organizations need its members to work as one,â Stephen pointed out worriedly âSo we just fire a handful as a demonstration to the rest. That said, the priority is to get rid of Fiona Lam b, or Simon would have eyes and ears on my every move.â
Stephen actually did a double take, though that was because Cordy far exceeded his expectations.
His loyalty stemmed from an obligation to repay his debt to Cordyâs mother, but Cordyâs performance left his jaw d ropping.
It was almost like seeing Cordyâs mother at the helm again.
Meanwhile, over at the CEOâs office in Levine Ventures HQ, Randy Martin was standing behind John.
Randy had this nagging feeling that his boss was distracted, but did not dare to ask.
After all, he was very much aware that his boss did not like to be interrupted while he was working.
âRandy,â John said, suddenly putting down the document he was holding.
âYes, Mr. Levine?â
âHow are things over there?â John asked right away.
Over there?
Over where?!
The north? The east? The south? Or the west?!
Randyâs mind seemed to travel around the globe for a split second before inspiration struck him. Mrs. L evine!
But did John not say to trust her? That was why he did not keep tabs.
Still, Randy was quick on his feet.
âIâll go ask,â he said and left.
He returned soon after, and reported, âMrs. Levine called for a meeting of the executives, but things probably did not go smoothly. That said, it was not a defeat, since the executives were fuming after the meeting,
and one of our people was saying that Noel left the conference room with puffy eyes.â
Johnâs lips, which were pursed for most of the day, finally relaxed.
Picking up the coffee beside his hand and taking a small sip, he then asked, âMrs. Levine?â
ââ¦Right?â Randy asked with a slight quiver in his voice.
âDonât get ahead of yourself.â
Randy almost wanted to complain because John was grinning earâtoâear To no oneâs surprise, men in love all saw the world through roseâtinted glasses.
âBy the way, Mr. Davis called you while you were at that meeting earlier, Randy said, suddenly remembe âWhat did he say?â
âThat Mandy Jessop charged into his office like a rabid dog, wreaking havoc and almost giving him a str âJust tell him that Iâm helping him discipline Mandy⦠for the contempt she showed him all those years a Randy was speechlessâBob was not about to buy that!
At 10 PM, Cordy was stretching her arms when she realized that she had worked very late Still, she was used to this back when she worked at Jessop Corp.
Putting the past behind her, Cordy picked up her cup of coffee and stood before the glass window to enj All she wanted right now was to set her motherâs company on the right track and to keep it from falling into the Sachsâ hands.
But although she thought to herself that she had already forgotten about love⦠a certain manâs face. su He was tall, aloof and domineering, but had this hidden tenderness at the same timeâ¦.
Cordy pursed her lips, but she eventually chose apathyâ
she held no expectations toward anyone these. days.
Putting down her coffee, she left her office and returned home, only to find a delivery boy waiting outside her door âMs. Sachs?â
Cordy was surprisedâshe did not order any delivery.
âOne portion of heartâ
healthy chicken soup. Please sign here!â the delivery boy chirped and held out a pen.
Cordy was about to turn him down when she saw âDickyâ on the order.
Coming to a realization, she signed it and brought it into her house.
As she drank the delicious broth, she mused to herself if she should thank John⦠but she eventually pu Once bitten, twice shy.