Chapter 87
Everyone knows the workplace isn't fair, but there's still a bottom line.
In less than a day, news of the plagiarism incident spread throughout all departments in the company. People were whispering about it everywhere, and how things developed exceeded everyone's expectations.
That afternoon, Ava and Evelyn went to the restroom together and ran into Ella coming out.
"Ava, you did this, didn't you?"
Ella said bluntly, acting like she was going to get justice for Sarah.
Ava curled her lips calmly. "What did I do? Did I encourage her to plagiarize?"
Someone does something wrong and instead of feeling remorse, comes looking to blame others - that's shameless enough. Given Sarah's current situation, there are still brainless people supporting her, clearly betting on her relationship with William, hoping to climb up by latching onto that connection.
Ella wasn't having it.
"Who are you calling a plagiarist? You're just a little assistant who doesn't even have the qualifications to participate in projects. What right do you have to accuse others of plagiarizing? Ms. Brown must have been framed by you. Just wait, we'll find evidence, and then we'll see how Mr. Morgan deals with you. Get ready to be kicked out of the design industry."
Ava looked at her with contempt. This kind of ignorant person - even one more glance at her felt like dirtying her own eyes.
"Go ahead and investigate. First show proof that she didn't plagiarize before saying such things."
Ava pulled Evelyn around and walked inside, ignoring that brainless fool.
Ella found it boring arguing by herself and left, too, but not before shooting a gloating look toward the restroom.
After she left, Evelyn tugged at Ava's sleeve and asked quietly,
"Ava, did Ms. Brown really plagiarize?"
Ava curled her lips. "If she claims what she submitted was her own work, then it's definitely plagiarism. Everyone has eyes - the similarity is over eighty percent."
As they were talking, without warning, Evelyn fell flat on her back, landing on the restroom floor so fast she didn't even know how she fell.
Ava was startled and quickly crouched down to check if she was hurt.
"Evelyn, are you okay? Did you hit anything?"
Evelyn was dazed from the fall. She couldn't even remember how she slipped. She was wearing low heels with soles that weren't very slip-resistant, but they shouldn't have been that slippery, right?
Ava helped her up, both being very careful.
"Ava, why is the floor covered in hand soap bubbles?"
Ava frowned. With so many bubbles on the floor, someone clearly did this on purpose. And the person who just came out was Ella.
Ava immediately knew the answer. Sarah must have told Ella about her pregnancy, and that idiot was being used as Sarah's pawn while feeling pleased with herself.
Now she had to guard against not just Sarah, but Sarah's lackeys too.
Ava felt lucky she was wearing slip-resistant sneakers, which helped her dodge this disaster. Since having the baby, she'd been extra careful, buying shoes with non-slip soles.
If she had been the one to slip today, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Ava felt her scalp tingle - after all, it's hard to guard against petty people. Her condition was special now; she couldn't afford any accidents.
Coming out of the restroom, Ava was lost in thought and didn't hear Evelyn talking to her. As they walked toward the office, Ella stood in the hallway with her arms crossed, looking their way with an expression like she was watching a show, as if waiting for them.
Evelyn rubbed her elbow - that fall had been quite hard. Luckily, she'd braced herself with her arm, or if she'd hit her head, she'd definitely have gotten a concussion.
Seeing Ava was fine, but a flash of disappointment crossed Ella's eyes.
"Well, well, taking so long just to use the bathroom - constipated, are we?"
Ella's words were provocative.
Evelyn, a newbie in the workplace, didn't dare speak up when faced with this veteran troublemaker's provocation. She glanced at Ava beside her, who had the same position, and swallowed her grievance with trembling lips.
Ava curled her lips in a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Ella, please watch your behavior at the company. You've already wasted company property and caused economic losses. Be careful, or management will find out and deal with you."
Ella laughed coldly. "Are you trying to be funny? What did I waste?"
"You're in charge of the department activity fund, right? I remember the company rules state that each person gets five hundred yuan monthly for team building allocated to the department. I've been here so long and haven't seen the department organize any team-building activities. Where did the money for over fifty people in the design department go? Did you pocket it?"
Ella's face turned red. "You, you're talking nonsense!"
She looked around. Besides the three of them, there was no one else in the hallway. Fortunately, no one with ill intentions had heard. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ava, I'm warning you to behave yourself at the company. If you do anything else harmful to Ms. Brown, watch out when Mr. Morgan comes back to deal with you."
Ella spoke with full confidence, as if she were the boss's trusted confidant.
Evelyn was intimidated by her words. She tugged at Ava.
"Ava, you've offended Ms. Brown. Will Mr. Morgan give you trouble?"
Ava comforted her, "It's fine, don't worry."
Evelyn was a bit scared and whispered in Ava's ear,
"Ava, you should stop provoking them. What if you lose your job? That would be terrible."
After all, being able to get into the Morgan Group's design department was enough to brag about in the design industry. Even if you switched jobs later, having work experience at the Morgan Group was like adding a golden layer to your career. Small companies outside would offer high salaries to poach people.
This opportunity was rare - who would joke around with their own future?
Evelyn thought Ava was really too bold, daring to go up against Sarah, who had backing. She herself would never dare.
Ava patted Evelyn's shoulder. "Don't worry about me. Mr. Morgan isn't that brainless."
This one sentence made Evelyn's eyes widen as she looked at her. No one in the company dared to speak so directly - talking about whether Mr. Morgan had brains or not sounded simply outrageous.
Standing nearby, Ella sneered,
"Still trying to comfort yourself? I'd advise you to quickly find yourself a side job, so you won't end up sleeping under a bridge when you lose your job. If you apologize to Ms. Brown now, there's still time. Maybe she'll be kind enough to put in a good word for you with Mr. Morgan and get him to let you off."
"Don't worry, your whole family's living space combined probably isn't even as big as my bathroom. If you ever lose your job and end up sleeping under a bridge, for old times' sake, as colleagues, I can hire you to clean my bathroom. The pay will definitely be higher than outside."
"Just you wait!"
Ella's mouth twitched a few times in anger, then she turned and went back to her workstation.
Evelyn asked Ava quietly,
"Ava, do you really not need to find a side job? My classmate recently took on a freelance project and needs help. If you need it, I can introduce you."
Ava looked at this innocent young girl and felt a bit reluctant. Thinking about how she planned to find an excuse to quit after the company's launch event, would this girl, who was friendly with her, get bullied by that pest, Ella?
"Evelyn, you should keep your distance from me from now on. I'm afraid of dragging you down."