Not long after the agent spoke out, the door of the room opened slowly yet elegantly.
A man in his thirties could be seen through the slit which became wider as he pushed the door. As soon as he appeared, he made brief eye contact with Xiulan who was stunned into silence.
He wore a simple yet sophisticated ink-black coat above a pure white shirt with a graphite tie gracefully attached to it. His relatively longer hair at the top was neatly combed over which gave him the look of a mature and refined man.
He wore a warm smile on his face as he strolled inside the room. After taking a dozen steps, he halted in the middle and gave a tiny bow to show his respect to the board directors. "Nice to meet you all. I am Liam. First of all, I want to apologize for not being able to come here in person and delegate my work to my agent due to some personal reasons. I'm mortified."
Afterward, he approached the place where his representative was respectfully standing to give him a bow.
Tang Renshu harrumphed his throat before he spoke, "You should come here. You are the CEO of Tang's Electronics now. This is your place." He was referring to the center chair which was surrounded by a unique and magnificent air. It was as if it were made of different leather from the others, the seat was glowing in splendor.
Liam's towering figure nonchalantly moved to the overwhelmingly majestic place.
His slight smile didn't flutter a bit before he opened his mouth delicately to give a brief but eloquent speech that ended with, "Thank you for believing in me. I promise I won't let your hope down and bring only the best to our company."
His imposing manner rendered the board members in awe. They nodded in satisfaction and gave a big round of deafening applause. They were looking forward to his performance in the near future which should meet their expectations.
Xiulan left the room as an outsider shouldn't remain there. As soon as she came out, she leaned on the cold wall behind. She stood like a statue and fell into a trance for a while until the meeting was adjourned and the crowd burst out of the entrance.
She broke out of stupor as she heard the noise and scanned the people before her vision fell onto a certain someone. After walking up to him, she dragged the hem of his sleeve softly, gesturing to him to follow her for a talk.
They escaped to a quiet corner when she lashed out in frustration, "What does it mean? Are you nuts? You didn't do anything despicable like that."
Weimin knew exactly what she was insinuating and replied unhurriedly, "I appreciate you trying it. You want to give the culprit pressure to come around by himself in a short pressing period so as to help me get the fair votes. But... I can't let you take the blame for it." His confession was a mere cover-up for Xiulan's fake accusation.
She blabbed in exasperation. "That's my plan and failure is mine to face. I will take responsibility for it by myself. You should not have done it."
She pulled herself together and cooled down, "Anyways, thank you for saving me. I owe you one." She gave an assuring smile at him. "I am sorry. It was uncultured of me to blame you."
Weimin deprecated himself, "I should be the one to apologize. If I was competent enough, you wouldn't have to go all the way to trick people with an empty memory stick."
Xiulan chuckled loudly at his words and put her index finger on her lips vertically. "Shush… If others overhear it, they will take me as a badge of scam."
Weimin let out a soft chuckle, "How about we have lunch today?" He uttered as he watched the time.
At first, she wanted to be alone to break the news into pieces so that she could take in all the shocking information she encountered at the meeting. But on second thought, "Cool! Let's go." Her contemplation plan was moved on to the other time.
"I have somewhere to go before we leave for the restaurant. Ah, you can also come with me if you don't mind. It won't take long."
"Okay." Her top priority was not to have time to think about Jianyu. So, everything was a yes.
It took about five minutes before they could see three people standing outside a door of a particular room.
What grabbed Xiulan's attention, at first sight, was the one she just met in the meeting. The representative of Liam.
The other one was also the woman she could never forget because she was the agent who sold them a yard for an exorbitant price, Vicki.
Last but not least, the only one left was that man who interrupted the conversation between Xiulan and Jianyu back at the opening ceremony in the countryside.
All three of them depicted vividly a sole possible person who could be in the room which they were tightly guarding.
Li Jianyu!
Xiulan got alerted as she realized Weimin's purpose in coming here. It was to congratulate his big brother.
She blurted out, "Omg!! I forgot I have something urgent that I must do right now. I guess I will meet you at the…" Her words were disturbed by a sudden bang sound from that particular room nearby.
The door was flung open by the raging strength and Grandpa Tang walked out of it furiously while yelling, "How filial of you!!!" It was obvious that he had a fight with a certain someone else in the room.
The sudden change in atmosphere halted Xiulan at her steps of escaping away.
Grandpa Tang glared at the three assistants who were standing stiff in front of him, "Don't you have a brain of your own? You always do what he orders without considering whether it is suitable to do or not! What a bunch of useless people!"
This time it was Weimin's turn to evade. "I suppose I also have something urgent coming up." He lied without even blinking.
Weimin and Xiulan saw eye to eye and nodded in agreement before they turned around to run away as if their lives depended on it.
A group of three didn't barge a bit. They still held the same postures and expressions as they did earlier. It was as if they were accustomed to getting scolded by Grandpa Tang here and there. The most relaxing man was none other than Marcas, the one who worked as the representative for Tang's Electronics. He seemed to have quite a vast experience when it came to Grandpa's temper.
"What did you get by shouting at my underlings?" Jianyu furrowed his brow and rushed to the entrance. He felt offended by other people meddling in his works.
"Can't I? I feel great after lashing out." Grandpa Tang sarcastically uttered.
Jianyu shook his head side to side slowly and put two fingers between his eyes, messaging the exhausted muscles while closing his eyes, "If you are satisfied now, please leave us alone. And I don't want you to treat my assistants this way in the future."
His warning entered Grandpa Tang's ear from one No! It didn't even have a chance to enter! The poor words were swept away unwillingly by a loaf of indifferent air.
Tang Renshu captured two prey intuitively darting away from the danger, at the corner of his eyes.
"Tang Weimin!!! Who are you running from?" Two unfortunate buddies froze, side by side. No one spoke a word.
Xiulan was the first one to react. She quickly greeted him, "Ah, Grandpa! I didn't notice you were here." She awkwardly smiled which failed to reach her eyes.
Well, it didn't make sense since his loud voice could be heard from even the buildings nearby.
"It is good that all of you are here. My grandsons made foolish moves. On behalf of them, I won't say sorry. So, come forward and apologize already!! Li Jianyu, and Tang Weimin, aren't you two adults already?! Do I always have to settle your affairs?" Tang Renshu was enraged that Jianyu used Xiulan in his scheme. Their ways of thinking were so similar that he could clearly figure out how his grandson handled things to get what he desired.
Even if Grandpa Tang didn't bring the apologizing topic up, the two grandsons might have something in their minds to solve it. Since he mentioned it, all they had left to do was not to follow his lead. It was quite embarrassing for two grown-up men to repeat after their grandfather. Freaking absurd!
Both men sealed their lips as if there were a strong glue adhering them together tightly. Making eye contact with everything but Xiulan and Grandpa Tang.
Xiulan stepped forward to dissolve a provoking revolution of two rebellious grandsons.
"Of course! I must get apologies from both of them. But now, I am starving Grandpa. Let's grab a bite." She playfully tagged Grandpa's arm.
The old man's heart melted at the sight of the adorable young girl, "Since Lan'er is famished, I will let it go now. What do you want to eat?" His tone changed drastically fast to a warm one like she was his biological granddaughter.
Xiulan gave a look to Weimin, questioning, 'Do you want to come along?'
Weimin stared at her indifferently, 'Obviously not!'
The old man and the girl duo left without sparing a glance at a hateful man called Liam, also known as Li Jianyu. Such a heartless creature!