Work Prophet
Chapter 423 - 41 Li Yu’s Examination Question

Chapter 423: Chapter 41 Li Yu’s Examination Question

Li Yu noticed that the documents indicated Hao Xiaoxiao was expelled from the university for organizing cheating, not just cheating. Although the two sound similar, the severity of the offenses was clearly different.

In reality, getting caught cheating in college usually resulted in a warning or severe warning. More serious cases could lead to demerits or probation, but expulsions were rare.

"What happened in your junior year?"

"I hacked into the academic system and changed the scores of the final exams," Hao Xiaoxiao said. "Since you agreed to interview me, you must be interested in my skills in this area."

Li Yu was noncommittal, "Changing just your own grades shouldn’t amount to organizing cheating."

"I changed the grades of other people in my class too."

"Why? Did someone pay you to do that?"

"No, the professor always used course papers for the final assessment, but he never actually read those papers himself; he left it to his graduate students to mark.

"There were a few girls in our class who were quite friendly with one of the TAs. They often took her out for meals, and their grades were somewhat inflated. Conversely, some others’ grades were pushed down.

"However, that TA was very careful not to give unreasonably high grades to terrible papers or super low grades to deserving ones. There was just a variation of about ten points from the original score, so even if you appealed to the administration, a recheck wouldn’t change much.

"I only learned about this by chance, and because I was upset, I went into the system and changed the scores."

Hao Xiaoxiao paused, "If you’re looking for a stellar hacker, you might have the wrong person. Although my grades were decent before I was expelled, they were just that—decent. There were several in my class better than me, and even more in my grade.

"I could hack into the school’s academic system because I accidentally discovered that the server hosted other websites which had an unauthorized access vulnerability. That vulnerability had existed there for many years, and I’m sure I wasn’t the first to find it, but others simply didn’t bother with it."

"What about your first job?" Li Yu continued to ask.

"The company had money but delayed payments to suppliers as long as possible, and many small suppliers were driven to bankruptcy because of it.

"One such supplier was in a pathetic situation, with his wife seriously ill and desperately needing money for treatment; I just went into the company’s OA system and completed the process for him, using no special skills since I was maintaining that system anyway."

"And the second company?"

"They were interested in my resume and wanted to hire me to do something unethical. I disagreed, and they fired me."

It was clear Hao Xiaoxiao didn’t really want to talk about this, but reiterated, "I’m not the kind of hacker you imagine. I won’t hack into systems or databases for you, nor send out ransom emails like other hackers.

"I just want to avoid trouble and do a job I’m skilled at."

"Are you not satisfied with your current job?"

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t have come here to apply,"Hao Xiaoxiao tapped her foot on the ground rapidly.

"How much money do you still owe?"

Hao Xiaoxiao fell silent upon hearing this, and after a while, said, "About six to seven hundred thousand, that was one of the conditions for a private settlement."

"The salary we’re offering isn’t really high."

"I know, but someone like me, who has been expelled from both school and two companies, and doesn’t have great technical skills, doesn’t have many options. Moreover, you offer weekends off, and I can use the extra time to take up another part-time job," Hao Xiaoxiao said.

"Is that so... I think I understand your situation now," Li Yu said. "You probably saw the other candidates downstairs earlier; you’re all very qualified, but there’s only one position available at the company right now.

"I want to see who is the most suitable for it, so I gave you all a test to do."

"What test?" Hao Xiaoxiao asked.

"I need you to investigate someone for me. I’ve sent all the details to your phone. The location is in G city, you have three days, and the company will reimburse the return plane tickets. Additionally, there’s a budget of two thousand yuan for you to manage freely. Please ensure you send the report to my email by the deadline; failures to do so will be automatically eliminated.

"Afterwards, I’ll make the final selection based on the assessment results and your personal backgrounds," Li Yu finished, then looked at Hao Xiaoxiao, "Do you have any other questions?"

Hao Xiaoxiao opened her mouth as if to say something but ultimately didn’t speak.

She just nodded silently and left Li Yu’s office, just like the other candidates before her.

After that, only the last interviewee remained.

The man with the limp had arrived early and was waiting in the hallway. As soon as Hao Xiaoxiao left, he went straight in.

"Lai Zhenfa," Li Yu looked at the documents.

"That’s me," Lai Zhenfa plopped down on the chair across the desk, grinning, "Boss, did you just get back from a trip?"

"Oh, how could you tell?"

Lai Zhenfa pointed at Li Yu’s neck, "You got tanned here. The weather in B city has been poor the past few days, barely any sun and it’s cold, everyone’s bundled up tight. Getting your neck tanned isn’t easy, so you must have been to the south for your trip."

"Your observation and deduction skills are quite impressive."

"Thank you for the compliment," Lai Zhenfa’s grin almost reached his ears, always proud of his abilities, and self-recommended himself, "Miss Zhang told me your company is looking to hire another HR specialist, specifically for background checks, which is my forte."

However, Li Yu’s next words were a splash of cold water, freezing the smile on his face.

"Were you scheming against the other candidates downstairs just now?"

"I... don’t quite understand what you mean."

"In front of everyone, you implied Hao Xiaoxiao was a shoo-in, attempting to affect her performance during her interview—that’s one thing. Then you antagonized Zhang Hai, urging him to complain to me. Whether it’s true or not, my impression of both Zhang Hai and Hao Xiaoxiao has been tainted."

"I didn’t do that," Lai Zhenfa protested, "You think too poorly of me; I just like chatting with people."

"That’s fine, it’s a skill in itself." Li Yu extended his hand, "Thank you, Mr. Lai, for taking the time to come for the interview. You can ask Miss Zhang to reimburse you for your travel expenses on your way out."

"Am I being eliminated just like that?" Lai Zhenfa’s expression soured, "But I’m clearly more suited for the job than the other candidates."

"There’s no doubt about your abilities; it’s just that personally I don’t care for people who smoke in the office area," Li Yu said mildly.