After I Was Laid Off, My Boss Begged Me on His Knees to Return to the Company - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

We staged the final confrontation at the industry joint launch event for Nebula 2.0.

This was the appearance Xu Baiyan valued most.

If the launch succeeded, he could use the project to stage a comeback, packaging all the recent crises as “normal fluctuations during technical adjustments.” But if something went wrong on stage, the reputation he had spent years building would collapse along with it.

So, this game had to be played under the brightest lights.

On the day of the launch, Xu Baiyan was dressed to the nines, exchanging pleasantries with partners backstage as if the recent turmoil and the candid videos had nothing to do with him.

Watching him made me want to laugh.

People like him believe that maintaining appearances is a life-saving grace.

Unfortunately, I was here today specifically to tear that appearance down.

Halfway through the proceedings, the giant screen began playing the history of the Nebula Project’s development.

Xu Baiyan had requested that part, saying they needed to “tell the project’s story to strengthen brand identity.” I was more than happy for him to include it, because the longer the story went on, the harder the eventual slap in the face would land.

Three minutes into the video, the screen suddenly went black.

Xu Baiyan frowned and looked back, assuming it was a technical glitch.

A second later, the screen lit up again.

What appeared was not the promotional film prepared by the company, but a page from the project’s first draft five years ago.

The document title read:

Nebula Risk Control Middle Platform First Edition – Chen Ruoqi

The entire venue fell silent for a moment, followed by an immediate uproar.

Xu Baiyan’s expression changed instantly. He roared toward the backstage, “Who switched the screen?”

I stood up, took a microphone, and walked into the light.

“I did.”

As the spotlight fell on me, for the first time, I didn’t feel like I was being pushed forward.

I was walking up there on my own.

“Partners, members of the media, hello everyone.” I looked out at the audience. “My name is Chen Ruoqi. I’m not here today as a guest speaker. I’m here to talk about something far more valuable than Nebula 2.0.”

“The truth.”

The cameras in the room pivoted in unison to focus on me.

I pressed the clicker. The second slide showed a comparison of the project’s underlying hash values; the third showed internal records of name deletions; the fourth was that recording from two years ago.

Xu Baiyan rushed forward, trying to snatch the clicker from my hand, but Qin Yanchuan stepped in and blocked him first.

“Qin Yanchuan!” Xu Baiyan was nearly losing control. “Are you crazy? Do you have any idea that if she does this, the company is finished-”

“The one who’s finished is you,” Qin Yanchuan interrupted coldly. “Not the company.”

I didn’t let myself get distracted and continued presenting the materials.

Shell companies, consulting fee transfers, abnormal outsourcing interfaces, and Board of Directors meeting minutes that vetoed my right to be credited-one by one, I stripped away the layers of paint to reveal the rotted wood beneath.

The final page was that equity incentive list I had never seen before.

I looked at the audience, my voice steady.

“Three years ago, I thought I just wasn’t that important.”

“Two years ago, I thought if I just endured a bit longer, my name would eventually be restored.”

“It wasn’t until the day I was laid off that I realized it wasn’t because I wasn’t good enough. It was because someone had decided from the very beginning that I would only ever be a nameless tool.”

The room was terrifyingly quiet.

I shifted my gaze to the shareholders in the front row-the ones who usually loved spouting empty pleasantries.

“You wanted the project.”

“You wanted the performance metrics.”

“You wanted a story for the investors.”

“So you took the project’s Initiator, builder, and maintainer, and forcibly erased her into an ordinary employee who could be discarded at any time.”

“Now that the project is in trouble, you want me to come back to take the fall, fix the holes, and shut my mouth.”

I smiled.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t come back today to be used by you again.”

“I came to take back my name.”