Chapter 1

On the day of the year-end settlement meeting, I pushed the financial report to the center of the conference table.

"Profits grew forty percent this year," I said, looking from one side of the long table to the other. "Year-end bonuses will be three months' salary, and the money will be in your accounts by the end of the day."

Two dozen department heads sat along the sides of the table.

I waited for the smiles to spread across their faces. In past years, someone would have started clapping by now.

But this year, no one did.

Polly Malfoy, a newcomer who had joined three months ago, was the first to lift her head. She said, "Mr. Bassett, I heard that at Midea Tech's annual meeting, everyone got two big boxes of cherries."

The room fell abruptly silent.

I frowned. "What did you just say?"

"Cherries," she repeated, tracing a small circle on the tabletop. "Imported ones.

"One box costs seventy or eighty dollars. Two boxes are 160 dollars—and that doesn't even include the extra two months' salary they give."

I smiled, a thin, sharp smile. "Polly Malfoy, right? How much is your three months' salary?"

"6,000 dollars," she said, uncertain.

I scoffed. "And you think we should compete with them on perks? Or that I should swap three months' salary for a few boxes of fruit?"

She shook her head but didn't flinch. "It's not about competition. It's a matter of difference. And thoughtfulness."

"Thoughtfulness?"

"Yes," she said, leaning slightly forward, locking eyes with me. "Salary—more or less—is one thing. But they also gave their employees something tangible. Cherries on the coffee table, sharing them with the whole family… that's the feeling of the holiday."

At that moment, Lucy Rue from HR spoke up meekly, "Actually, I saw it on a friend's social feed. The cherries at Midea Tech were perfectly dark and red."

Another veteran employee spoke up, avoiding my gaze. "My wife asked me yesterday… She said our company did well this year, so why are we getting less than a smaller company next door? She said her friends' group chats were comparing who got more and better perks."

Then someone else hesitated before adding, "Mr. Bassett… employee happiness matters too. If we get more, we are motivated. We feel loyalty to the company."

One by one, it came out like a line of dominoes.

Six managers chimed in quietly. Their voices were soft, but each word cut deeper than any shout could.

Those avoiding my gaze chilled me more than those who dared to look directly at me.

I let out a cold laugh and swept my eyes across the room in silence.

It turned out that what I thought was generous—three months' salary for year-end bonuses—was considered "too little" when compared to two months' salary plus a couple of boxes of cherries elsewhere.

A chill ran through me. My eyes darkened with a cold, unreadable light.

The room went silent.

I said nothing. After a full minute of stillness, I finally said, "Meeting adjourned."

The scrape of chairs echoed sparsely as people got up.

I stayed seated, watching them leave in single file.

Polly glanced back at me as she walked out. Not with defiance, but with a trace of sly satisfaction.

I watched her retreating figure and remained thoughtful.