Xiulan dialed Hualing's number but she didn't pick it up. She had no choice but to send a text, "Do you know Bai Shen?"
Her friend replied after about thirty minutes, 'We are not friends. He is the main organizer of our orphanage. So whenever there is any occasion, he shows up and we meet. Why? If you want to inquire more about him, you can ask Suying. I guess they are close. Ah, I will come to visit your home tomorrow. Miss you.'
She answered back, 'I will explain to you when you get here.'
It was already past midnight. Xiulan couldn't fall asleep. She knitted her brow and started to toss and turn on her bed. In the end, she couldn't stand anymore and rushed to the verandah to catch some fresh air.
She commenced weighing the pros and cons of Jianyu's solution.
According to the inner circle, Weimin and Delun had the most backing as they were the flesh and blood of the current chairman, Tang Renshu.
Before any incident had occurred, Weimin got more votes down to his competence and his engagement with her. Delun's exceptional business sense had won over the votes as well but slightly less probably due to his arrogance and pompous manner.
Out of the blue, a carefully planned 'accident' surfaced on the front page of many gossip sites. It altered the outcome.
'If I let that happen, it will be unfair to Weimin. He is also a victim of the incident. If Li Jianyu's disclosure is true, Bai Shen is the key to finding the real culprit. Since he couldn't offend Weimin alone no matter how brave he is, he must be under someone else's control for sure. The involvement of Bai Shen in the case makes Tang Delun the main suspect for many reasons including he is the one who will get the most benefits out of it. If the assumption is true, it also solves the association with Suying as she is acquainted with Bai Shen.'
'As for Li Jianyu, no one has exact information about him. His influence upon Tang Enterprise is only a rumor with no evidence to prove it. So he is less likely to pull a trick on Weimin.'
She had been in deep contemplation for about four hours. When she hit the hay, it was already dusk.
She restored her energy by a sound sleep before she was off to take the risk. Last night, she decided that she would do it.
In the meeting room.
All of the board directors, the candidates, and Tang Renshu started voting for the position of the next CEO.
As expected, Tang Delun won the majority of shareholders and was leading the match.
Everything was going smoothly until Xiulan showed up. She informed Tang Renshu's secretary about her visit. He allowed her to go into the meeting room.
Xiulan briefly explained the recent controversial case was the set-up including the publically known facts such as Weimin was just sleeping in his private suite after being drunk and the girl was attacked before she was mindlessly dragged inside. She didn't introduce herself to avoid implications for her family, especially her father. She rarely attended the social occasions of the prestigious family and that had become a perk in this situation.
The concept was roughly explained before she ended, "The perpetrator is in this room."
She made eye contact with each and every one of the members and she spoke with determination, "Chairman Tang, as well as the directors here, valued morality and righteousness. In this envelope is solid evidence of the culprit committing the crime. I hope it will help you decide who the next CEO should be." Her resolute and serious face didn't betray her counterfeited words.
A man in a black tuxedo approached her to get the so-called proof. She handed it calmly while judging the looks of the people who were sitting up front.
The man opened the bag and there was a memory stick. He plugged in the device that was connected to a large screen to share what was stored inside for the shareholders to witness.
Weimin wore a worried expression while furrowing his brow slightly. He gazed back and forth between Xiulan and the screen.
The pair of father and daughter, Tang Renshu and Tang Baozhai were as collected as ever.
What surprised her the most was Tang Delun's poise. His smiling lips were relaxed and he squinted his eyes, amused. He seemed like he was in the front seat of a movie theater, waiting for the movie to start while annoyingly chewing the popcorn. He even winked at Xiulan and mouthed the words, 'Long time no see, Biscuit.'
Xiulan glared indifferently at his weird behavior while the man approached her again, "Miss, we can't play the video inside. It's not working."
"It can't be. Please try it again." She tried her best to conceal her nervousness. She imagined a complete failure and prepared herself to face it beforehand. But the reality was not as easy as imagination.
The man tried his best but the video couldn't be played. In the end, he walked up to her.
Xiulan saw him coming. The back of her head was burning with anxiety. She closed her eyes and was ready to face the worse when Weimin yelled abruptly. "It was me. I attacked her. I cheated on my fiancee and made up a story to cover my wrongdoing. I sincerely regret my action. It won't happen again."
The room filled with noise and whispers because they were flabbergasted at the sudden turn of events.
Tang Renshu became ugly as he was extremely infuriated. He loathed Tang Boqin for being a despicable bastard and now his grandson followed the shameful steps. He failed to maintain his composure and stood up while pointing a finger at Tang Weimin, "You!!!"
The room fell silent as Tang Renshu raised his voice.
Xiulan quickly put her hand on him and mumbled in a soothing tone, "Grandpa!", hinting to him to control his temper while she could barely control her emotions. She had no clue what Weimin was blabbering about.
The situation was completely a mess. While in turmoil, a man abruptly stood up. The word 'Liam' was clearly visible on the nameplate in front of him. "I propose we hold a revote."
Xiulan digested the name and recalled that they bought his yard exorbitantly. She gave him a look of annoyance. 'So he is that terrible Liam guy.'
Like an erupted volcano, Tang Renshu's raging words came out with no restraint, "You have no right to open your mouth! If you want to redo the voting, tell your boss to come here and pose it in person!" Turned out he was just a representative of Liam.
"I am sorry if I overstep the boundary. I annul my proposal. By the way, Liam told me to convey the message that he is willing to withdraw from the competition and will gladly congratulate whoever won the position whether it is his younger brother or his cousin."
His last sentence rendered almost everyone in the room wide-eyed, including Xiulan.
Liam had been working together with them for over ten years now and yet all these years they failed to realize he was the rumored eldest son of Tang Boqin.
The most astonished of all was Xiulan. Her brain stopped working and she was in a daze, panic. 'How could Liam be Li Jianyu!?'
"How generous of him!" Tang Renshu scornfully sneered.
"Thanks for his benevolence. But I always like to be fair and square. As the most voted person currently, I request to redo the voting process." As a supercilious and condescending young master, Delun believed he was eligible for the position even without Liam's withdrawal.
Xiulan stared at him, awestruck. 'He can just seize the opportunity and be a CEO. Why would he propose that?'
As the voting restarted again, the support of shareholders was quite different from the previous round.
In the elders' generation, the bigoted people followed Tang Boqin just because they hated to follow the lead of a woman, Tang Baozhai. In the present time, they supported his son, Tang Weimin just to evade the monopolization of Tang Baozhai even though they despised Tang Boqin for being a useless sod.
The sexist folk changed their target and voted Liam this time.
Some of the shareholders genuinely admired Liam for his abilities. But they knew they couldn't support enough to be the next CEO. They let their votes in jest in the first round. Now they backed Liam without thinking twice.
Even a few loyalists of Tang Baozhai and Tang Delun were in a dilemma because of Liam's tactical supremacy which could bring heaps of profits to the company.
Last but not least, one or two people who originally voted for Liam, purely for his competency were on cloud nine at the sudden turn of events.
The poll ended without an advantage on either side with the only one left to vote. It was Chairman Tang. As he owned the majority of the shares, his choice was more important than one could imagine. He had to make a final decision and whom he chose would be the CEO.
Tang Renshu was in deep contemplation for a while before he opened his mouth to declare the winner, "Both are exceptionally good at doing what is at their hands. But it is impossible to let both of them be CEOs. For the future of our company, I strongly believe he can bring peace and prosperity to the members more than the other one. The man of my choice is... Liam."
No matter how bad prejudice Tang Renshu had against Li Jianyu, he couldn't decide anything that would bring a relative loss to his enterprise.
Subsequently, Tang Renshu flew into a fury and shouted, "But!!!"
He tilted his head to the agent, "Tell your boss that if he is so busy that he can't come here in person, there is no way I will hand over the CEO position to him no matter how much outvoted he is! I don't want a preening CEO who always delegates his works!"
The representative smirked and said, "Sir Liam will arrive within two minutes!"