As it turned out, my spider bot was so (commercially) successful that the government decided to sell several of them overseas.
This wasn't them being stupid (though greed was admittedly a part of the reason). After all, the strategists at the ministry of defense knew how impractical the spider bot was. Well, not so much impractical as it was not invincible. Like me, they were aware that, as powerful as the spider bot was, it wouldn't stand up to a nuke. It would offer a tremendous advantage in conventional warfare, but anybody trying to conquer countries with it would end up receiving a nuke to the face.
That was why they were not worried about selling the spider bot to other countries. Furthermore, they generated a ton of profit, a significant percentage of which was flowing into my company's coffers. My staff received bonuses, of course. What, you think I was the sort of CEO who would hoard all the money for myself and neglect my employees?
Most CEO novel writers tended to be extremely self-centered and only focus on the female lead and CEO male lead, and how they enjoyed the high life of luxuries and wealth, but they blatantly forget about or ignore the "mobs" and employees who made up the CEO's company. Maybe both readers and writers just didn't think they were interesting or didn't care about them, but let's be honest. The whole reason why the CEO could become rich and run his company was because of these unsung heroes. They were normal people too, with their own dreams, ambitions and needs. But the writers tended to forget that and reduce them to villainous caricatures who schemed against the female lead because they were jealous, and their oh-so-ideal CEO male leads tended to neglect the poor employees and not reward them for their hard work. After all, only the female lead deserved to enjoy the riches and wealth. All the other characters could go to hell, for all the author and her self-insert female lead cared.
I vowed not to fall into that trap and treat my employees in the best manner possible. I was more aware than most CEOs that they were the bedrock of my company, that without the labor of these countless men and women doing mundane yet absolutely necessary jobs, I would never be able to succeed. How did you think I built the spider bot? Obviously I enlisted the help of my employees, from the hundreds of technicians and laborers handling an assortment of tools and machinery to a core team of elite engineers that picked out the flaws of my design and improved upon them. Even the cleaning crews performed a vital task, making sure accidents didn't happen in the workplace and ensuring an optimal environment for the construction crews.
The administrative staff helped facilitate orders and shipment while the drivers and logistics were important in ferrying supplies, equipment, parts and necessary tools from various warehouses to the garage. The whole company consisted of many tiny gears, each of them performing vital roles. With a single gear out of place, the well-oiled machine that was my company would break down and screw up its functions.
I must never forget the labors of my staff. I might be the CEO of Shen Industries, but I was just one cog. Without all the other cogs, I would never be able to achieve what I did. Therefore, I couldn't possibly hog all the credit and profit for myself. I was determined to share them, to distribute the income evenly among every single person. Yeah, some people worked harder than others, but I refused to downplay anyone's contribution and deprive them of their rewards.
"Thank you, boss!"
"You're the best!"
"Great! Now I can take my wife out for a vacation!"
"I'll buy a cake so that I can celebrate with my husband and kids!"
My staff were celebrating after I made the announcement and deposited the respective salaries and bonuses in their bank accounts. A lot of them came by to personally thank me. Unlike most CEOs, I was proactive in interacting with every level of staff. I wasn't the type to stay aloof, locked up in my office and acting like some king who was above everyone else. You know, like those arrogant bastards who thought they were too good and busy to talk to the staff that helped run their company.
Speaking of which…
"Yeah!" I beamed broadly. "If you guys want to take a holiday, feel free to. We just completed a big project, after all. It's time for a break. Everyone should have some downtime. Relax for a bit, make use of your bonuses. I think I'll treat everyone to a company dinner sometime at the end of the month."
"Oh! Thanks, boss!"
"You're the best!"
"I'll book the restaurant," William Wang said, already taking down notes on his smartphone. "I'll check our schedule and pick the best date. I'm guessing the usual? Imperial Jade Restaurant?"
"Sounds good to me." I nodded. "They have some amazing dishes. Book the restaurant and arrange tables for everyone in the company. I'm guessing we'll have to rent out an entire ballroom for our hundreds of staff."
That might cost me a fair bit of money, but they deserved it after working so hard. I wanted to reward my employees. They helped me so much, treating them to a lavish dinner was only fair recompense for everything they had done for my company.
Rather than waste my money on expensive cars, closets of branded clothing for my wife, greedily acquiring other corporations in a fit of petty anger because the CEO somehow offended my wife, going on expensive tours, buying a private jet or taking first class cabins while flying all around the world, hiring a retinue of servants on some luxurious estate, or burning wads of cash on private investigators to tail my wife and everyone around her, bribing people and inserting agents into my wife's company to spy on her and her colleagues (and justify it as looking out for her, and maintaining a private army (Alan Shou and Brad Biao were more than enough for security, I didn't need an entire army of men in suits and sunglasses), I would prefer to sponsor health insurance and worker benefits for my employees, made sure I could take good care of them, and reward them after the success of a major project, whether it was through monetary bonuses or a satisfying dinner.
Money didn't grow on trees, and the world didn't revolve around my wife alone. Rather, the money was earned through not just my own work, but also the hard labors of my employees. So how could I enjoy the fruits all alone? And then splash it all on my wife? It might make for a great CEO story where my wife enjoyed being a princess in some fairy tale, dream-like scenario, but in reality, it ignored the feelings and contributions of my employees.
And I could not condone that.
Fortunately, Lily didn't seem to care about that. She had never once asked me for money, not unless she needed something necessary. She wasn't interested in designer clothing or expensive cars. What she wanted, she sought to obtain it through her own efforts.
That was what I liked about her the most. Her independence and fierce pride, her refusal to just settle for damsel in distress role and let me pamper her. Not that I would pamper her.
"Our relationship should be one of mutual respect…a relationship between equals," Lily had once told me. "It shouldn't be me getting spoiled by you, taking advantage of your company's wealth and enjoying luxuries at the expense of others. I want to be on equal footing with you, not lower or above."
"Thank you."
I had appreciated her sentiment back then. But you know how it was with women. Sometimes they weren't straightforward. And being a guy, I just couldn't read the mood or pick up the hints. I wasn't able to read between the lines, so I wouldn't know why Lily was upset sometimes. Fortunately, she wasn't a petty person who threw a tantrum. She was more the type to withdraw and stay silent, only responding when I talked to her.
Fortunately, that night wasn't one of those days.
"How was shopping today?" I asked when I reached home. Lily had been bringing my parents around for the last couple of weeks. Actually…it had been a month now. Since my house was usually empty, I was actually quite happy to have my parents live in with me. The house was a lot more populated now.
Perhaps…when I finally had kids, the environment would be a lot livelier than now. That would be something to look forward to.
"Cool. Dad is cooking something in the kitchen right now. Says he is going to brew some herbal soup for supplements. He's worried that you've been working too hard."
"Hah! My employees all work harder than me. Speaking of which, I plan to reward them." I briefly told Lily about the bonuses and the dinner. "If you want to attend the dinner, you can too. I extended the invitation to my employees' families as well. So I might as well ask my own to come along. I don't think my parents will want to attend, though. But what about you?"
"I probably have to, don't I?" Lily smiled and clung to my arm. "You'll need a female companion for those sort of events. I won't let any other girl take you. So I have no choice but to go with you."
"I appreciate it." I chuckled. "I'll be counting on you to protect me from other girls then. Well, I'll ask my parents if they want to attend."
As I suspected, they declined.
"Nah, if it's work, it's not appropriate for us to attend," dad explained. "Besides, you're throwing this for your employees, not us. I don't think it'll be polite if we show up."
"I told them to bring their families too," I pointed out. "I'm sure plenty of them will be bringing their families along. I know for sure that William will be bringing his wife along. And Lily is going too. My staff will probably do the same."
"Sure. But they will be bringing their spouses and/or children. Not their parents. Children are one thing, but parents? No. besides, your mom and I won't know anybody there. It'll be super awkward for us."
"True."
"Also, I don't think there will be many children there," mom said. "From what I know, people don't usually tend to bring their children to such events. It'll be hard to take care of them. They will usually see this as more of a social event to make connections. Also, there will be plenty of alcohol flowing about."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
"But it's good that you're thinking about your employees," dad said and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You're all grown up now, eh? Wow…time really flies. You're no longer the same child who left home to study overseas all those year ago."
"People change all the time." I smiled nostalgically, thinking back to the simpler days of my childhood. Halcyon days, or whatever they called it. No matter how fondly I reflected back on them, I knew they wouldn't be coming back. I had to continue pressing forward. "I just hope it's for the better."