The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 833 - 832: Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey

Chapter 833: Chapter 832: Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey

Wen Xiaoqin hastily replied, "Either transfer to another position or retrain for a new role."

Shen Mingzhu looked at the five individuals, "If you can’t accept being dismissed, then choose between transferring and retraining."

Without waiting for the five to answer, Shen Mingzhu added, "The cost of retraining will have to be borne by yourselves. The food factory has already provided one free training, which you gave up. The factory has no reason to pay for your lack of appreciation."

Hearing that they had to pay for the retraining themselves, the employees looked at one another uncertainly.

"Can we start attending the training from tonight?" ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

"Yes, the lessons we missed last night, we’ll find a way to make them up ourselves."

Shen Mingzhu glanced at her watch and said, "It’s nine o’clock now. Meet me in the computer room at one in the afternoon. If you can pass an assessment on last night’s computer knowledge, then I will revoke your dismissal and instead issue each of you a penalty notice."

The five swiftly agreed.

Due to the delay caused by this matter, by the time Shen Mingzhu and Wen Xiaoqin arrived at the conference room, it was bustling with noise, with the managers whispering amongst themselves, clearly waiting for them.

"Sorry we’re late."

Du Juan gestured for her to sit and asked with apparent concern, "Is everything resolved?"

"Yes, it’s all taken care of now."

One of the managers spoke up to plead on behalf of the five employees, "It was wrong for them to miss the training, but they shouldn’t be beaten with a stick over it. They deserve a chance."

"The factory is already in a precarious situation. At this juncture, it disheartens the veteran employees," another manager also shared an opinion.

Sweeping her gaze over everyone in the conference room, Shen Mingzhu smiled thinly, "Since we’re on this topic, let me take two or three minutes of your time to share my thoughts."

"You might think the dismissal of these five individuals is too harsh, but I wanted exactly this deterrent effect!"

"I don’t care about the past, but now that I’m in charge of the HR department, discipline and policy leave no room for bargaining, and this applies to everyone in the factory, including all of you here and myself."

The entire conference room fell silent.

Dozens of pairs of eyes were fixed on Shen Mingzhu.

Even though she wasn’t sitting at the head of the table, her palm-sized face and petite stature, her hair tied into a low ponytail, and her figure dressed in a light apricot blouse dress exuding a serene and elegant demeanor with no aggressiveness, there was an authoritative and dominant presence that seemed to belong solely to those in power.

This aura even made Du Juan, the general manager who sat in the main seat, seem secondary.

Watching Shen Mingzhu, everyone belatedly realized: a tiger is always a tiger, and even when it doesn’t show its teeth, it won’t become a cat.

After making her stance clear, Shen Mingzhu softened her presence and a gentle smile returned to her face:

"The upgrade to office automation is absolutely necessary, and I hope that the managers present can find time to participate in the training. The era is evolving, technology is advancing, and only by continuing to learn and keep up with the times can we avoid being eliminated by society. What do you all think?"

After her words reached this point, who would dare disagree?

During Shen Mingzhu’s month back at the factory, she had been neither hot nor cold, and suddenly this thundering tactic caught everyone off guard, also intimidating the entire factory staff.

From then on, no one dared to criticize her decision to upgrade office equipment anymore. Learning about computers became even more proactive and eager, wary of becoming the next "unlucky one" to be dealt with by Shen Mingzhu.

In the end, all five employees left the food factory.

They first sought help from colleagues within the same department, all of whom refused.

The content of three hours’ of training could not be explained in just a few words. Causing a work disturbance and getting scolded were minor issues. More concerningly, everyone feared repercussions and the potential loss of their own jobs.

The five then contacted Technician Meng through Wen Xiaoqin, asking him to give them private lessons, but his exorbitant fee scared them off.

After finishing the dismissal procedures for the five, Wen Xiaoqin rushed to report to Shen Mingzhu:

"Technician Meng really had the gall to ask for one thousand yuan, scaring them off so badly that they immediately agreed to leave."

The training fee Shen Mingzhu paid to Lihua was three thousand yuan for a fifteen-day program, averaging out to two hundred yuan a day.

But in fact, Lihua had given Shen Mingzhu an internal price for the training fee.

Shen Mingzhu not only invested in Lihua’s projects but also maintained a good relationship with Lihua’s higher-ups over the years.

For ordinary companies that needed Lihua’s technical training support, the starting price was normally at least six thousand yuan.

Technician Meng’s asking price of one thousand yuan was indeed not exorbitant.

...

At five-thirty in the afternoon, Pei Yang personally drove Meng Xiaoyang to the food factory.

Being men, they shared common interests and got along well on the drive.

Upon arriving at the factory, Pei Yang also left his contact information for Meng Xiaoyang and asserted, "If you need anything at all in Fengcheng, feel free to reach out for my help anytime. Don’t be shy."

Meng Xiaoyang was deeply touched, praising Pei Yang for his warm-heartedness.

What he did not know was that Pei Yang’s enthusiasm was solely to prevent him from using any excuses to seek out Shen Mingzhu.

After the evening training ended.

Shen Mingzhu stepped out of the computer room and unsurprisingly saw the tall man standing in the corridor.

During this time, Pei Yang had been taking a taxi every night to pick up both her and Meng Xiaoyang.

They got in the car.

As Pei Yang drove home, he chatted with Meng Xiaoyang in the back seat through the rearview mirror:

"Little Meng, tomorrow’s the last day, right? What are your plans after the training ends?"

"Brother Pei, I’m thinking of staying in Fengcheng a few more days to explore around."

"You might be disappointed then. There’s not much to see in Fengcheng. It’s a small place."

So you’d better hurry on back home to avoid causing any worries here.

However, Meng Xiaoyang took Pei Yang’s modesty for humility and laughed, "Not at all, I think Fengcheng is quite nice. I even want to stay here longer."

Looking at Pei Yang’s speechless and frustrated expression, Shen Mingzhu secretly chuckled.

However, Meng Xiaoyang’s wish to stay longer in Fengcheng was not to be fulfilled. Old Master Meng’s health wasn’t great, and as soon as the training was over, Meng Xiaoyang went back to Quancheng under his family’s urging.

Meng Xiaoyang was very dedicated and professional. On the last night before he left, he helped Shen Mingzhu create several sets of computer application examination questions and saved them onto a floppy disk.

Three days after the training concluded, Shen Mingzhu selected a set of questions from the disk and assessed the employees who had participated in the training.

The results came out quickly, with over eighty percent of the employees meeting the assessment standards.

For those who did not meet the standards, Shen Mingzhu proposed a mentorship program.

Outstanding employees who helped another employee successfully pass the computer assessment would each receive an extra fifty yuan as a bonus.

Once this was implemented, it sparked a fervor for learning about computers throughout the entire factory.