Chapter 301

65 vouchers.

“Therefore, as decided by the institute’s leadership, intern Kyle will not be offered a position and will be asked to leave immediately.

“A verbal reprimand shall be issued to Hadley Rogers, the leader responsible for recruiting him, and a penalty shall be imposed by deducting the performance pay for the current month.”

Upon hearing this, Josie finally understood why Hadley was here. She blinked and looked at Jeremy.

Jeremy remained silent for a moment.

The director asked, “Jeremy, are you satisfied with this disciplinary decision? If you have any concerns or objections, you may raise them, and the leadership will consider them.”

The director, looking helpless, saw that Jeremy was silently staring at him and had no choice but to speak first.

Jeremy said, “You have not yet stated whether our research methodology may be made available to David’s team.”

The director waved his hand and said, “This is not a major issue. As Mrs. Kinberg just mentioned, according to institutional regulations, once a research method developed by in-house researchers is discovered, it must be promoted within the institution. They will naturally be able to use it.”

Josie pursed her lips. “What if the person who discovers it is not a researcher at the institute?”

Audrey looked pleased as she said, “Josie, what do you mean by that? Joseph signed a probationary contract with the institute long ago. According to the regulations, he is a member of the institute, and we have the right to use his discoveries.”

Josie thought, ‘I don’t know what she’s so smug about. Wasn’t the slap in the face just now painful enough? If so, I will give her another slap!’

Josie smiled and said, “Certainly not. When Joseph was drafting this research methodology and applying for its patent, he was not yet an intern at the institute.”

Upon hearing this remark, Hadley’s expression froze, and she was about to interject to stop Josie from saying more. Josie, however, beat her to it.

She said, “After all, Joseph’s formal letter of employment was only processed a couple of days ago. As I recall, the official contract was also signed just two days ago. Is that correct, Joseph?”

“That’s right!” Joseph responded promptly, then turned over his employee badge for everyone to see. The date of hire was clearly indicated, making any attempt at deception impossible.

The moment he saw Joseph’s nameplate, the director could no longer contain himself and immediately jumped to his feet. He said, “Ms. Rogers, what exactly are you here for? Joseph’s team joined the institute at the end of last year. However, you took more than two months just to complete a single onboarding process. You should consider yourself lucky. Fortunately, nothing has happened to them over the past two-plus months. Otherwise, our entire research institute would have been implicated because of you!”

He thought, ‘Oh my, this is really driving me mad. These people are getting more and more outrageous. They even dare to delay the employment contract. This is just too much.'

Josie sighed, “Of course, we’ve been implicated. The advanced research technique we had secured, which could have been made freely available throughout the institute, will now likely require payment. What a pity. The research institute isn’t short of money, right, Ms. Rogers?”

Hadley’s face alternated between pale and ashen, and she was so furious that she wished she could tear Josie’s mouth apart. However, confronted with the director’s anger, she found herself powerless to act. Her face was burning intensely, as if it had been torn apart. Even at her age, she still had to be criticized by the director in front of several people in their twenties. It was truly humiliating.

She thought, 'I actually believed Audrey’s lies and ended up doing something so foolish. I truly regret what happened in the past. If only I had known then…'

However, it was too late for her to regret.

Josie said, “Joseph, since the patent is in your hands, you have the authority to decide how it will be used.”

“Understood.” Joseph nodded in acknowledgment. “Director, I can freely promote this research method throughout the entire institution. However…” He turned his head to look at David, Gavin, and Kyle.

He added. “Professor Lawson’s team is not permitted to use this research methodology for the current project, even if they offer to pay.”

Josie thought, “You are such a savage!”