All Chapters of One Overpriced King Crab, One Bankrupt Boss: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

"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 h

Chapter 2

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 ju

Chapter 3

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 th

Chapter 4

Two hours later, I stood in front of Blue Harbor Seafood Select's office building. The receptionist saw me and immediately averted her gaze. She picked up the phone and spoke a few hurried words.Soon, Mitchell stormed out of his office, his belly leading the charge. "You've got some nerve showing up here again, Louise! What, your livestream business is falling, so you're crawling back to me?"He sized me up and down with open contempt. "Let me be clear. We don't take in trash, and you've been fired!"I ignored him and simply stepped half a pace to the side, revealing the person behind me."Hello," the man behind me greeted flatly, showing his credentials. "I'm Dominic Simpson from the FDA. We received a report that your company may be selling non-compliant aquatic products. We're here to conduct an on-site inspection."Mitchell's face twitched violently. He pointed at me and cursed, "Here this bitch goes again! I fired you, and this is your way of retaliating? That's the lowest o

Chapter 5

The FDA worked efficiently. Within a day, the inspection results and penalty notice were published on the official website.The report was written in plain terms. A portion of Blue Harbor Seafood Select's goods was found to have serious excess levels of heavy metals and bacteria.More alarmingly, illegal chemical preservatives had been used during transport and temporary storage. These additives could make near-dead seafood appear fresh and lively, but the harm to human health was irreversible.The news triggered a chain reaction.Blue Harbor Seafood Select's livestream was ordered to suspend operations immediately, while Zachary's so-called supply chain came under formal investigation. Under mounting pressure, he quickly broke and confessed the truth.It turned out he had indeed connected with a relatively large domestic seafood supplier. Instead of sourcing quality goods, he specifically bought their discarded stock—the sick, the dead, and all the unsealable rejects.He got the

Chapter 6

Thanks to the traffic from Blue Harbor Seafood Select, everyone surged into my livestream.I faced the camera and introduced every seafood product over and over again, explaining its origin, its characteristics, and the best ways to cook it.At first, I could still handle the pace with ease. Later on, however, my throat was so dry it felt like it was on fire. No matter how much water I drank, it didn't help.On the screen, the comments were scrolling so fast my eyes could barely keep up."Just take a break, Louise. Your voice is already hoarse. You don't need to introduce them anymore. We know what to buy!""Exactly. We're good as long as you're okay. We trust your products enough to buy them blindly.""I just came over after receiving my refund from Blue Harbor Seafood Select.""Your pricing is too good, Louise. Have you considered raising it? We're willing to. Don't let yourself take the loss!"Somehow, a wave of agreement followed.I looked at the screen, my eyes turning a

Chapter 7

Just after I finished showering and was about to collapse onto the bed to enjoy this hard-earned victory, my phone chimed. A bank SMS popped up."Your debit card ending in xxxx has received a transfer of $360,000. Account balance…"I stared at the string of zeros and counted them three times. 360 thousand dollars? Where did this come from? Did some rich fan accidentally send it to me?Amid my confusion, a message from Mitchell popped up on the screen. "Hey, Ms. Langford. Are you still up? I just transferred some money to you. It's your year-end bonus and severance pay. Keep it."I raised an eyebrow but didn't reply. He probably didn't get the gratitude he was expecting. A second message followed almost instantly, clearly a bit anxious."Honestly, this is all my fault. I was blind. I listened to that snake and pressured you into leaving. I owe you an apology. I'm extremely sorry, Ms. Langford."At the end, he even added a kneeling apology sticker. It looked both ridiculous and bit

Chapter 8

The downfall of Blue Harbor Seafood Select came even faster than I had expected. Just a few days after the fiasco, I got a call from Cole. The background was noisy, as if he were at a job market."I'm unemployed now, Louise," he said with a surprising hint of relief, not a trace of displeasure."The company couldn't even make payroll last month. After you left, Mr. Wright basically lost it. He kept trying to find someone to replace your dad's supply line, but he either got outrageously overpriced vendors or subpar goods."Honestly, even worse than what Zachary sourced. Competitors circled like sharks smelling blood. They kept hitting our livestreams head-on, undercutting prices nonstop. The price war escalated fast."Mr. Wright couldn't hold the line. Once the cash flow snapped, he filed for bankruptcy.""And what's he up to now?" I asked."What else other than drowning in debt?" Cole replied, chuckling dryly. "His house and car were all seized and auctioned off. A couple of days

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