Chapter 39.1 “I’m already changing you, aren’t I?”

Bai Duanduan did not know what Ji Lin, who was silent beside her, was thinking. She only knew that, since Guifeng Communication could not claim that the contract was invalid, so Dai Qin’s employment contract would naturally continue to be honoured, and her sick leave was all legal and genuine, so the company would not be able to fire her during her pregnancy.

This result caused Dai Qin to be so emotional that she sobbed in a low voice, Du Xinyi to look blue, and Li Wanjun to look ugly. She had just jumped into Bai Duantuan’s trap, and she was really resentful, and now when she looked at Dai Qin, she looked even more displeased.

“Even if you can’t be fired during your pregnancy, Dai Qin, do you think it’s fun for you to continue to stay in the company like this? Do you think you can still fit in with us as a group? Don’t you claim that you are weak and that you need to recuperate to protect your baby once you are pregnant? Then you are quite strong mentally as you can still take it in stride after all this. I, Li Wanjun, am really willing to bow down to you.”

Li Wanjun’s face, which makes people feel connected to her, was now full of malicious contempt at that moment, “And don’t say anything about me being a woman making things difficult for other women now and being deliberately mean to you, precisely because I’m also a woman and I’ve had given birth too.  I know that it is not as hard to stick around as you claim it to be. You’ll miscarry if you don’t take leave? Dai Qin, I was 36 years old when I got pregnant in my career, a proper advanced maternal age, and I had two natural miscarriages before. Am I not in worse shape than you? You young girls are like that, you simply can’t afford to suffer. As soon as you get pregnant you start not being able to do this or that and you have to take time off for the smallest of things.”

Dai Qin was unable to lift her head because of Li Wanjun’s words. For a moment, she even felt that Li Wanjun was right. Maybe the situation was not as bad as the doctor said. Vitals of her child were very strong, since the company cannot fire her now …… she mumbled for a moment, made a decision and apologized with a crying voice, “I am sorry for the company, I …… will come to work next week, Sister Wanjun, I am also willing to insist ……”

She was about to say a lot of silly things to show her determination but Bai Duanduan stopped her right there —

“It’s time to rest, Dai Qin, and follow the doctor’s orders. There is no need for you to give up your legal rights, sacrifice your body and put your child at such great risk just to please others.”

Li Wanjun, true to form, snorted, “That’s how young girls are nowadays, they simply don’t have the means to suffer ……”

“It’s not a matter of suffering or not.” Bai Duanduan looked at Li Wanjun. She stared at the other party with her eyes firm and spoke in a strong tone, “Every person is different from each other, and their physiques are even more different. There are some people who have cancer who can still survive healthily for more than ten years with conservative treatment. So Manager Li, let me make an inappropriate assumption offensively and ask you, if you are unfortunate enough to have cancer, would you seize on such a special case as a reference and give up open surgery in favour of conservative treatment? Just because others have survived healthily with conservative treatment, is it that you must be able to do the same?”

Li Wanjun choked, seemingly wanting to retort, however, Bai Duanduan drummed, not giving her the opportunity to speak at all.

“Historically, when it comes to education, we all know that we need to teach each individual according to their needs, and this is the consensus of almost everyone, but why is it that when it comes to treating pregnant women, we don’t see the differences between each individual person? Every pregnant woman is a unique individual, some will have morning sickness, some won’t; some will have gestational diabetes, some won’t; some will have a difficult labour, some won’t …… You are very strong and admirable for insisting on going to work during pregnancy under adverse conditions, but if just because you have done it yourself, you presume to universalise this standard and have to promote it for everyone to follow, then in my opinion, that’s women making things difficult for other women. Because you are you and Dai Qin is Dai Qin.”

The look on Li Wanjun’s face was already very unpleasant, yet Bai Duanduan looked at her and did not flinch in the slightest, “Looking back on your past moments of insisting on going to work during pregnancy, even now you know very well that it was very hard for you but in the end of course you were very lucky that your good fortune allowed your child to be born safely, but can you guarantee 100% that Dai Qin would also have that same good fortune? Can you take full responsibility if Dai Qin’s baby is lost like that?”

“You’re superwoman, but not everyone in the workplace is, so you’ve been rewarded accordingly. You made it to Personnel Director of Guifeng Communications, whereas someone like Dai Qin couldn’t.” Bai Duanduan laughed softly, “Everyone pursues different things, you think it’s worth risking your unborn child for the sake of your job, but Dai Qin doesn’t. Under the law, she wants the right to sick leave and she wants the treatment of a pregnant female employee, what’s wrong with that? Do you know what you look like now? Like the kind of woman who, after having endured the abuse of a wicked mother-in-law before and finally after being a mother-in-law herself, sees her own daughter-in-law as same and wants her to live as hard as she did in the first place.”

At this moment, Bai Duanduan was like an open and sharp blade. She was sharp, decisive and cold, not the least bit gentle and not the least bit circuitous. So eye-catching that Ji Lin couldn’t open his eyes to her charm at all. She just bluntly said what Dai Qin didn’t dare to say, then she didn’t look at Li Wanjun again, but pulled up Dai Qin, “I believe the negotiations have ended here. Dai Qin will return to work when the fetus is stable, but when it’s time to take a sick leave, she will still take a sick leave.”

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Because of Dai Qin’s wish, Bai Duanduan did not tell the truth about the father of her child. After leaving the conference room, Bai Duanduan gently patted Dai Qin’s shoulder, “You know what this child means to you, just stay true to your heart. Don’t worry about staying with Guifeng Communications, there’s no way they can fire you, but looking at Li Wanjun’s attitude now, I’m afraid you won’t have a good time after you stay.”

Bai Duanduan did not want to give Dai Qin a blow at a time like that. It was also not her duty as a lawyer as she had already completed her representation perfectly. However the less complications the better, she thought about it and still did not hold back from saying, “If you want to stay in this company, if you want to be recognized by Li Wanjun or the rest of your colleagues, if you want to get a foothold, a promotion, a future in this company, I’m afraid you’ll have to work many times harder than others, and you’ll have to go through a million times harder setbacks than others. For your own sake and for the sake of your unborn child, you… have to be strong.”

Li Wanjun was the HR manager, it was easy for her to make Dai Qin’s life hard and disgust her. Besides, when Dai Qin first joined Guifeng Communications, she hadn’t had the chance to make friends yet, and it was probably predictable that she would be isolated and misunderstood by the rest of her colleagues because of the current scenario. And Bai Duanduan has understood from her interaction with Dai Qin that she was not much of a tough person. She may not be able to hold out afterwards. Eventually under the pressure from all sides, most likely she would choose to take the initiative to leave in disgrace…..

It’s just that this was Dai Qin’s life and Bai Duanduan can’t interfere. She can help her defend against Li Wanjun only for a while, but she can’t help her for the rest of her life, and there were many things that she would have to bear on her own after all.

Now that the negotiations had been settled, Bai Duanduan was ready to go home. Dai Qin was pregnant, and after obtaining Ji Lin’s consent, Bai Duanduan offered to take her for a ride and send her home first, for which Dai Qin was naturally very grateful, “Thank you both of you. Last time I just came to the company to ask for leave and left in a hurry. There are still some documents on the table that I want to take home together. Can you wait for a while?”

Dai Qin pointed to the office area not far away, “It’s right there, I’ll be quick, wait for five minutes.”

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