A king crab in the company's storage is about to die. In order to prevent the company from suffering a loss, I decided to buy it at the price of 480 dollars and treat my friends to a nice feast.

The next day, my boss, Mitchell Wright, calls me to his office.

"Ms. Langford, it's true that the net price of a king crab is 480 dollars. But the company has a rule that states that if an employee buys the company's products, they still have to pay according to the selling price."

While I'm quite displeased, I still transfer an additional 400 dollars to the company's bank account.

But Mitchell raises his voice at me. "Stop being a smartass! The selling price of a king crab is 88 thousand dollars, not 880 dollars!"

I do my best to refute. "But we give all of our customers a 99% discount! Surely you can't force me to spend 88 thousand dollars on a crab!"

Mitchell just chuckles icily in return.

"Rules are rules! While customers are always right, you're nothing but a corporate slave! What makes you think you deserve to receive the same treatment as the customers?

"If you refuse to pay the selling price for the crab, then don't blame me for being ruthless!"

As I watch Mitchell, who keeps yelling at me with spittle flying everywhere, I find myself filled with an eerie sense of calm.

I hope that Mitchell will still be able to chuckle when he finds out that my dad is the biggest seafood supplier.

"Since you're not willing to foot the bill, we'll just deduct it from your year-end bonus. It's also 88 thousand, anyway. That settles things between you and the company. Now, get back to work."

My boss, Mitchell Wright, waved me off, already leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, as if the matter was wrapped and signed.

I was so pissed I couldn't get a word out. I turned and walked straight out of his office.

Back at my desk, Cole Winter, from the next cubicle, leaned over.

"Hey, Louise. Mr. Wright just brought in a young guy," he said. "I heard he's some distant nephew, newly hired as procurement. Apparently, he's supposed to take over your job."

I let out a cold laugh.

No wonder Mitchell suddenly put me on the spot today, insisting I approve an 88-thousand-dollar king crab purchase. So, that was the play to push me out and free up the headcount for his relative.

I joined this online seafood company right after graduation. Over the last eight years, it wasn't like I hadn't received better offers. I stayed because I felt a sense of loyalty to the company. I didn't want to job-hop.

It turned out that loyalty carried no weight in Mitchell's eyes.

I had barely settled back into my seat when he walked over with a young man in his early 20s. "Ms. Langford, this is Zachary Dunn, our new procurement hire. Please get him up to speed and handle the transition."

I looked up at Mitchell and asked calmly, "A transition? I don't recall submitting a resignation letter, Mr. Wright. Are you terminating me? If so, under labor law, when can I expect the severance package?

"Please calculate it based on my tenure."

He reacted as if he had just heard the biggest joke of the year. A short, dismissive laugh slipped out.

"Compensation?" he jeered. "You've been using your position to take in kickbacks from suppliers for who knows how long. The fact that I'm not holding you accountable is me cutting you some slack."

After I joined the company, I built the entire procurement system from scratch. To secure better pricing and higher-quality supply, I traveled across every coastal city on my own.

I have not taken any advantage of the company. If anything, I paid out of my own pocket more times than I could count.

"So, what you're saying is, you plan to terminate me and not pay a single penny in compensation?" I asked.

"Have some self-awareness, Louise," Mitchell said, raising his voice. "I'm just cleaning house for the company!"

"If that's how you want to play it," I said evenly, "what makes you think I'll hand over all the supplier data?"

Mitchell didn't get angry. Instead, he let out a low chuckle. "I figured you'd try that. Do you honestly think those supplier files are that confidential?"

The smug look on his face was hard to miss. "I'll be honest with you. I've installed monitoring software on your computer long ago. Supplier lists, pricing, order volumes—I've got backups of everything.

"Oh, and I also came across your chat logs. You've been flirting with men during work hours. You look all cold and professional on the outside, but in secret, you're surprisingly open-minded."

The moment he said that, a few colleagues who had been quietly listening in turned their heads toward us. A chill shot up from my feet to my scalp. This bastard had installed surveillance software on my computer!

"That's a direct violation of my privacy, Mr. Wright!"

Mitchell looked unfazed. "If I hadn't, you might've actually tried to leverage supplier data against us today. And don't get so worked up. Seeing those chats with all those different men was only incidental."

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone and showed Zachary screenshots of the chat records. They exchanged knowing, unpleasant smiles.

Those so-called different men were nothing more than blind dates my mom had set up, worried sick that I was still single at my age. I tried to keep those conversations after work hours, but a few were persistent.

Messages kept rolling in one after another, and I would reply with a few perfunctory lines just to keep things courteous. I never imagined this would be twisted into so-called evidence that I was flirting with men on company time.

I clenched my fists, holding it together with everything I had, forcing myself not to snap.

Just then, Zachary leaned in toward Mitchell and said, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. "Uncle Mitch, I just took a look. Ms. Langford's supplier list is short—only a couple of major ones. There's barely any maintenance involved.

"I can't believe you've been paying her that kind of salary all this time. That's a terrible ROI. I'll do it for half her pay and still deliver, I promise you."

Mitchell nodded with clear satisfaction and patted him on the shoulder. Then, he shot me a sideways glance. "You hear that? Tenure doesn't always give you leverage. You coast along and act like you're irreplaceable."

I suddenly laughed, a cold breath slipping out through my nose. My short supplier list—indeed, that was true. But what he didn't know was how that pipeline was built in the first place.

Back then, to break through a competitor's price barrier, I went to my dad and asked him for help.

We pulled together dozens of scattered fishermen and small-scale aquaculture farmers from our coastal hometown. Piece by piece, we consolidated them into a single, stable supply chain.

That was the real asset, and it wasn't something any competitor could reverse-engineer overnight.

Over the past few years, labor and logistics costs had gone up year after year. The only reason our margins held was that my procurement prices never moved. That was what kept our products competitive in the market.

Dad complained to me more than once. The people under him thought the purchase prices were too low and were close to walking away. Each time, I smoothed it over, coaxing and negotiating until they stayed.

Meanwhile, this idiot, Zachary, really thought procurement was only about making a few calls and talking a good game.

I stood up slowly and met Mitchell's eyes. "Fine. Since I'm no longer needed, I'll submit my resignation. I've worked at this company for eight years. Under the labor law, the company owes me 280 thousand in severance.

"I expect it to be settled in full on my last working day. Otherwise…"

I paused, pulling a cold smile. "I'll see you at the Labor Arbitration Panel. I've got work to do now, Mr. Wright. By all means, see yourself out."

Mitchell let out a dismissive chuckle and walked off with Zachary.

With Dad's personality, once he found out I was no longer working at Blue Harbor Seafood Select, there was no way he would keep supplying them.

As he liked to put it, "That leech of a boss exploited my daughter, and now, he wants to exploit me too? I'd love nothing more than to punch him in the gut."

I called Dad directly, no small talk, no detours. "Dad, if we stop the company from our distribution line, would it mess up the sales channels?"

There was a brief silence on the other end. His voice turned serious.

"For most products, it's fine, but for the live seafood and a few fresh categories, once they leave the port, they have to go straight into cold chain logistics. They don't store well.

"If your company's line gets cut off, they won't be able to find a buyer that big on short notice. A lot of inventory will probably go to waste. What's going on? Did something happen at your company?"

My heart sank a little. I didn't want the local suppliers and fishermen to suffer losses just because of me. I then quickly gave Dad a brief explanation and hung up.

As I was just thinking about how to secure an alternative sales channel, Cole walked over, looking awkward. "Louise… Mr. Wright, he… He said your resignation is still being processed, so you shouldn't be idle for now."

He avoided my eyes. "He wants you to sort out the warehouse."

Sorting out the refrigerated warehouse?

I raised an eyebrow and followed Cole toward the back storage area of the company. Before we even stepped inside, a thick, nauseating stench hit us head-on. It was so strong it almost made me gag.

The warehouse was in complete chaos.

Crates that were supposed to be neatly stacked were toppled over at odd angles across the floor. Sticky, murky water pooled everywhere. Dead seafood had been dumped carelessly into the corners.

Fish lay with pale, glazed-over eyes. Shrimp had turned black along their bodies. The air was thick with the stench of rot and decay.

"What happened here?" I asked, covering my mouth and nose. This wasn't a warehouse anymore. It looked more like a dumping ground.

Cole looked utterly drained. "Don't even ask. That new guy, Zachary, told Mr. Wright we need to 'cut costs and optimize operations.' Next thing you know, he cut ten warehouse clerks down to just three.

"Now, they can't even keep up with incoming shipments, let alone clean this mess."

He pointed at the mountain of crates and sighed.

"Mr. Wright said, since you're free anyway, you should get this cleaned up by the end of the day. I tried to say that a few of us could help, but he made it clear. Anyone who helps you gets fired on the spot."

I patted Cole on the shoulder but didn't say anything. I looked at the half-human-high stacks of crates. Each one was filled with ice water and rotting seafood. Every crate easily weighed over 100 pounds.

They wanted me to clean all this up alone. It was clearly designed to make things difficult for me.

I was still thinking when a mocking voice came from the doorway. "Hey, Ms. Langford, why are you just standing there? That doesn't really fit your usual get-it-done attitude, does it?"

Zachary walked in, pinching his nose with obvious disgust. "Uncle Mitch said the company's been supporting you for years. Doing a bit of labor work is just to get you moving a little. It's good for you.

"If you can't even handle something this small, then you're clearly not fit for the job. And as for severance? You can forget about that."

I glanced at him and suddenly laughed. Slowly, I raised my hand.

"First, my employment contract states my position is procurement, which is a white-collar role. Assigning me heavy manual labor is a unilateral change in job duties. I have the right to refuse."

My gaze shifted to the stacked crates. "Second, each of these boxes is estimated to weigh over 110 pounds. Occupational safety guidelines recommend that adult women should not handle loads above 44 pounds.

"You are openly assigning unsafe work conditions. If I get injured, the company will be fully liable for medical costs and workers' compensation."

My voice was calm, but every word landed with weight. "So, if the company has no professional work for me to hand over, I'll take that as confirmation that my departure process is complete. I'll pack up and go home now.

"Please ask Mr. Wright to transfer the 280 thousand dollar severance to my account as soon as possible."

With that, I no longer looked at Zachary's face as it shifted from pale to red. I turned around and walked out.

Behind me came his furious curses. "Keep that attitude to yourself, bitch! No one wants a troublemaker like you to stay!"

After thinking it through for a long time, I decided to solve the seafood sales problem for Dad, the fishermen, and the aquaculture farmers myself. I would start a live-streaming business.

I didn't hesitate. That same day, I registered an account and set up my streaming equipment.

Back when Blue Harbor Seafood Select was just starting out and severely understaffed, I wore multiple hats. I worked over ten hours a day and handled procurement, operations, and even livestreaming.

I had done it all before. The traffic tricks and livestream scripts were still somewhere in my muscle memory. Now that I was back at it, things felt a little rusty, but still manageable.

The only problem was traffic. The new account had almost no exposure. The livestream room was dead quiet. After a long session, I only got a handful of orders, barely ten pounds in total.

Just as I ended the stream, my phone rang.

I picked it up without much thought, only to hear Mitchell's furious voice exploding through the line. "What the hell did you do, Louise? Our biggest supplier just cut off all our shipments!"

Their biggest supplier? That would be Dad's side.

I leaned against my chair and replied slowly, "Mr. Wright, I've resigned, remember? How am I supposed to know about current matters?"

"Bullshit!" he roared. "I know you're the one pulling strings behind the scenes!"

"Actually, I don't think I told you this, Mr. Wright," I said calmly.

"Your biggest supplier is actually my dad. I never asked him to cut the supply. That was his own decision. If you transfer my severance pay on time, I might consider asking him to resume supply for a while."

After I left, Dad did stop supplying the company, even though it meant taking a loss.

"Your dad?" Mitchell snapped again. "Louise Langford, you parasite! And you still denied that you took kickbacks? I bet you took more than just that!"

His tone then shifted into smug contempt. "But don't get too happy. Zach is far more capable than you. He's already found a new supplier, and the price is lower than yours.

"Good thing I caught it in time. Otherwise, you would've dragged the whole company down."

I didn't bother arguing and simply hung up.

Still, a supplier cheaper than Dad's price? That caught my attention.

The pricing Dad gave them was basically the cost at origin. There was no middleman margin at all. It was already about as low as it could realistically get.

So, where did Zachary even find a channel that could undercut that?

Before I could figure it out, the next day, the viewer count suddenly skyrocketed during my livestream. It went from a hundred to more than ten thousand…

However, they weren't there to buy. The comment section was instantly flooded with insults and abuse, scrolling so fast it turned into a wall of hostility.

"This is the unethical procurement agent. She took kickbacks and jacked up seafood prices."

"No wonder she got fired. Look at Blue Harbor Seafood Select now. Everything is so much cheaper. If it weren't for her, we'd have been eating affordable seafood ages ago!"

"Truly disgusting, exploiting information gaps to profit on both ends. Everyone, report her and shut her down!"

Someone was clearly steering a smear campaign against me. That thought flashed through my mind. I immediately switched to a burner account and slipped into Blue Harbor Seafood Select's livestream.

Zachary was on camera, holding up a live king crab, practically spitting as he spoke. "Guys, I promise you this. Now that we've gotten rid of a certain unethical employee, our seafood is officially the best value on the entire platform!"

Behind him, yellow croaker was listed at 9.90 dollars per pound, and king crab at 88 dollars per pound. The prices were indeed far lower than what I had set when I was still in the company.

I clicked into the product detail images and only needed one glance to understand what was going on. What a way to market those as "best value".

Honestly, I had to thank them for handing me a massive wave of traffic. I exited the livestream and immediately dialed a number.