Zhou Meixin came to the office earlier than usual. She did not expect the traffic to be smooth this morning. She had to prepare breakfast and send her daughter safely to the school, and still, she came early. There were only a few janitors in the office. This rare occurrence made her feet feel exceptionally light today. For some reason, she had a feeling that today would be a wonderful day.

Life, however, was full of surprises. When Zhou Meixin stepped into the CEO’s office to prepare for this morning’s meeting with the board of directors, she saw Chen Jinxuan in his seat behind the mahogany desk. Chen Jinxuan had a cup of coffee in one hand with the newly issued annual financial report of Hongming Equity Firm in the other hand.

“G-good morning, Director Chen.” Zhou Meixin quickened her steps and made a light bow at Chen Jinxuan before rushing to sort the documents for the meeting.

“Good morning.” Chen Jinxuan replied without raising his eyes to look at his secretary.

“Director Chen, lawyer Liu contacted me in the afternoon yesterday. She told me that the demand letter will be delivered today.” Zhou Meixin observed Chen Jinxuan’s expression as she laid out documents based on the sequence they were going to be discussed; from the revenue anticipation notes, the executive apartment project, and a draft for a possible future project.

Chen Jinxuan made no comment and there was no change in his expression. He put his focus on the financial report, running simulations and calculations to Hongming Equity Firm’s current state.

“Is the meeting room ready?”

“It should be ready. It is Miss Yu’s shift to prepare. I will go and take a look.” Zhou Meixin carried Chen Jinxuan’s notebook computer and left.

When there was no one but himself, Chen Jinxuan set the report down on his desk and sighed. It was without a doubt that Hongming Equity Firm’s annual financial report was immaculate. When Tang Weixia was leading the operation, the annual key performance indicator for each of their analysts escalated by twenty percent and this quality of performance was maintained for the fifteen years of her management.

Now that her son, Tang Yi, was the CEO of Hongming Equity Firm, there was no way of knowing what direction the company was going. To know your enemy was to know yourself, such was the struggle of war, and such was the struggle of business.

As a prestigious and wealthy company, it was not impossible for Hongming to acquire Xiuyan Real Estate. What made them fail was the persistent delay from Chen Jinxuan and his taunt during their critical state. He met with Tang Weixia once to negotiate the acquisition plan when Hongming Equity Firm needed financial resources for their project. He offered a deal with her; twenty percent of Xiuyan Real Estate’s shares with one-time payment or leave. Clearly, this angered Tang Weixia. For the sustainability of Hongming Equity Firm, it was a poor choice to accept his offer. As expected, Tang Weixia left and ever since, they had not managed to advance their plan.

Glancing at the wall clock, Chen Jinxuan stood up and gathered the documents that Zhou Meixin had arranged for him. He procured a red flash drive from his pocket and placed it in the drawer where two boxes of rings were. His movement stopped as he began to ponder. Subsequently, he took all three items and put them into his pockets.

He headed to the meeting room. Seeing that everything was neatly arranged, he placed himself in the seat where his name plaque was set.

The door to the meeting room opened. Zhou Meixin came in with a pot of Chinese tea along with a dozen cups on a tray. She placed them on the long desk as she said, “Director Chen, lawyer Liu is on her way.”

Chen Jinxuan nodded lightly and instructed, “When she arrives, let her wait in my office.”

“Yes, sir.” Zhou Meixin excused herself out and guided the arriving directors into the meeting room. Fang Yaowei sat across from Chen Jinxuan. While everyone else was busy reading the brief report about what was going to be discussed in this morning’s meeting, Fang Yaowei threw a glance at the CEO and smiled at him.

Chen Jinxuan glanced at the other directors and turned his gaze back at Fang Yaowei, glaring at him.

Fang Yaowei pressed his lips together as he moved his gaze to the report in his hand, holding himself from laughing.

The last to enter was Chen Zhuoheng. The moment he entered Fang Yaowei straightened his back with his smile vanishing from his face. Along with everybody, he stood up and greeted Chen Zhuoheng who sat at the end of the long desk, just between him and Chen Jinxuan.

“Let’s start.” Chen Zhuoheng said as he looked at Chen Jinxuan.

Zhou Meixin turned the screen projector on. Chen Jinxuan connected his notebook to the screen projector and started the first topic.

“Our first project for next year is the executive apartment. The agreement has been signed with two other investors, Director Wang from Yongjian Construction and Director Xie from Liumin Equity Firm. The design and materials are fixed in which the procurement will start next week. The financial plan has been revised by Director Fang and will be sent to the other two investors for finalisation.”

“When will the construction start and when is the estimated completion time?” Chen Zhuoheng asked, his eyes sharp and stern on Chen Jinxuan.

“The construction will start in another two weeks and the project is estimated to complete six months later.”

Chen Zhuoheng nodded and added, “What about our loan to the bank?”

Fang Yaowei raised his hand and as the person in charge, he answered. “The financial plan has been approved by Director Xie yesterday afternoon and the loan to the bank has been requested. We should receive the approval today or tomorrow.”

Chen Zhuoheng made no response to Fang Yaowei. He waved his hand, beckoning Chen Jinxuan to continue.

“As for the railway expansion by the municipality, we have successfully secured it. The loan has been sent to the municipality yesterday and we have received the revenue anticipation notes yesterday as well. The copies are on page five.”

“Director Chen, I believe we should do this less. As far as I can see, there is not much benefit from municipal bonds like this.” The head of the human resources department raised his hand, expressing his opinion. "We are giving them a loan and yet, we are taking a loan from the bank for another project."

“Of course. Municipal bonds do not grant high interest rates, but if we can persevere for two or three of their projects, our reputation can rise significantly, and we can have easier cooperation with the government in the future. There are plenty of profitable projects we can do once we establish good terms with the government, and sometimes, we do not have to purchase any land to build a project.” Chen Jinxuan explained, changing the slides on his notebook, and showing a table that stated possible benefits from the loan they gave to the municipality. “I can assure you that it is more beneficial to not purchase any land.”

“In any case, the expansion of the railway will start next week.” Chen Jinxuan took a glimpse at Chen Zhuoheng and found Chen Zhuoheng glaring at Fang Yaowei. Fang Yaowei pretended to put his focus on the report, ignoring the burning stare with all his might.

“We have a project to propose to Liumin Equity Firm. Director Xie seemed interested, but as it is a mere idea, it has not been settled.”

“We can discuss it further in another chance. We should discuss how we should deal with Hongming Equity Firm. They are still adamant about acquiring us.” Chen Zhuoheng shifted his stern stare to the entire room. 

Chen Jinxuan returned to his seat and his eyes coincidentally met with Fang Yaowei’s. Fang Yaowei was looking at him from behind the pages of the brief meeting report. Chen Jinxuan sighed under his breath as he forced a small smile at the pup.

Receiving that rare smile, Fang Yaowei’s lips could not hold back but pulled into a wide grin.

“A proposal was delivered just this morning from Hongming Equity Firm. They want to invest in the executive apartment project.” Chen Zhuoheng announced and immediately, the entire room fell into a state of whisper frenzy.

Chen Jinxuan scoffed lightly. He never thought that this was the first step Tang Yi would take. Tang Yi might as well not take over his mother’s position if he was going to take them lightly.

“Sharing fifty percent of the shares with other two investors is already our limit. He will get nothing.” Chen Zhuoheng chuckled. “Still, we must be careful. We know Tang Weixia, but we do not know Tang Yi. I want each of you to think carefully about how we should deal with their future advances. Let’s end our meeting here. Chen Jinxuan, you stay.”

Everyone else left the office in succession including Zhou Meixin. Before she shut the door, Chen Jinxuan told her to attend to lawyer Liu.

Chen Zhuoheng frowned at Chen Jinxuan and snarled, “You think I didn’t know what you two were doing while we were in a meeting?!”

“The meeting went well, Director Chen.” Chen Jinxuan responded indifferently.

“If a rumour spreads, where will I place my face?! Where will your dignity be?!” Chen Zhuoheng threw the meeting report onto the table, scattering them all over the desk and floor. “Now that the board of directors already know about it, finish what you started.”

After hissing so, Chen Zhuoheng stomped out of the office.

What was unexpected was Fang Yaowei entering after Chen Zhuoheng had left. He was noticeably astonished to see the messy office. He carefully approached Chen Jinxuan and took his hand, caressing it consolingly.

Chen Jinxuan forced a smile at Fang Yaowei and held his hand back. Then, he released his lover’s hand and took his notebook. “Come to my office. I need you to meet someone. She should have arrived.”

Fang Yaowei nodded and followed Chen Jinxuan back to the CEO’s office. Zhou Meixin was already there with another woman in an equally neat suit and a pencil skirt. Upon Chen Jinxuan’s arrival, Zhou Meixin and lawyer Liu stood up.

“Sit.” Chen Jinxuan waved his hand, beckoning for Fang Yaowei to sit on the sofa across from him. He placed himself sitting next to lawyer Liu.

Zhou Meixin excused herself out of the office.

“This is lawyer Liu. She comes once in a while to deal with some of our legal affairs, but you two have never met.” Chen Jinxuan placed his notebook on the coffee table between them as he spoke. “She is here for you.”

“My name is Liu Mingsi. I am the person in charge of any legal affairs for Xiuyan Real Estate under Huaduan Law Firm.” Liu Mingsi stretched out a hand towards Fang Yaowei.

“I am Fang Yaowei, the director of Xiuyan Real Estate’s finance department. Nice to meet you, lawyer Liu.” Fang Yaowei shook hands with Liu Mingsi, smiling politely. He had never met her because there was never any big case involving the finance department throughout his seven years in the company. He could say with pride that his subordinates were people of integrity, and it was natural that the legal team would not find any mishap happening under his department.

“Pleased to know you, Director Fang.” Liu Mingsi took a leaf of paper out of a brown folder and set it on the table right in front of Fang Yaowei. “My purpose today is to become a mediator between you and your litigant pertaining to multiple crimes you have committed including revenue embezzlement, falsification of account books, and money laundering.”

Fang Yaowei felt his breathing stop as if there were a pair of hands strangling his neck. He looked at the demand letter that was laid out in front of him and he looked at Chen Jinxuan whose face showed nothing but apathy.

“…What?”