Chapter 122: Mom! Are You Sure You Want to Do This?!

Chapter 122: Mom! Are You Sure You Want to Do This?!

Madam Su was in a genuine rage.

When others supported Su Qingying, she had only been shocked. But Chen Lei supporting Su Qingying—that sense of betrayal she simply could not accept on an emotional level.

Chen Lei was not one of Jinfu’s founding veterans, but she had joined Jinfu Group very early all the same—it came to nearly twenty-eight or twenty-nine years now. She had entered the company straight out of university, starting as a financial clerk, entrusted with more and more over time until she reached the position she held today.

The 1.1 percent of equity she held had been given to her a few years after she joined, when the company carried out an equity incentive plan. At the time that sliver of equity hadn’t been worth much. Now it was worth several hundred million.

That Chen Lei had flourished inside Jinfu Group was inseparable from Madam Su’s support and patronage.

In her second year at Jinfu Group, Madam Su married Su Ruiwen, and the two women came to know each other after that. Their friendship ran more than twenty years. Their private relationship truly was excellent, and Madam Su trusted her greatly.

And the better that private relationship, the greater Madam Su’s fury now.

Faced with Madam Su’s demand, Chen Lei avoided her eyes and gave no answer.

She was suffering inside.

She had no choice.

If Madam Su ever learned that after her second divorce Chen Lei had once tried to seduce Su Ruiwen and failed, then she truly would be finished.

Madam Su was on good terms with her partly because she was so capable—and partly because she was plain-looking, which set Madam Su’s mind at ease about her.

In truth Chen Lei bitterly regretted what she had done back then. At the time she had just come through another failed marriage and her life was at its lowest ebb. Su Ruiwen had comforted her as an “elder brother” would, and then, on the strength of the drink in her, she had acted on impulse…

She regretted it deeply. She even carried a sense of guilt over it, because Madam Su had always treated her so well.

But when Wu Chen had spoken with her, he had guaranteed that neither Su Qingying nor Madam Su would ever learn of the matter—provided she supported Su Qingying at the board meeting. It was only after the two of them finished negotiating that Su Qingying entered the private room.

Chen Lei didn’t want to hurt Madam Su.

So she absolutely could not let Madam Su learn of that affair. Supporting Su Qingying was a betrayal too, yes—but only a temporary one. In future they would certainly be able to make peace. After all… Su Qingying would take over sooner or later.

“Chen Lei! I need an explanation from you!” Seeing Chen Lei dodge her gaze, Madam Su shouted again in anger.

Chen Lei said nothing. She was one step from following Yao Honglin’s lead and studying the ceiling.

“Mom! Don’t disrupt the voting!” Su Qingying spoke up.

Madam Su looked at her daughter with the eyes of a woman looking at a stranger.

Because all at once she couldn’t read this daughter of hers. And it wasn’t only her—everyone else was the same. They couldn’t read it. They didn’t know why these people were supporting Su Qingying.

But in this moment they all shared one thought—

this had been plotted for a long time.

Su Qingying had been plotting this for a long time.

Quietly, in secret, she had won a group of people over. She hadn’t rebelled on a sudden impulse. She had made her preparations long ago. She must have.

Madam Su drew a hard, deep breath, her face dark, then slowly sat back down.

“Continue the vote!” Su Qingying turned her head and swept her gaze around the table. “Who else supports my proposal?”

The six people Wu Chen had dealt with had all declared themselves. There was nobody left.

But Wu Chen had told her that not everyone needed to be approached in advance. Setting the fence-sitters aside, there were some men who—so long as Su Qingying could show her attitude and display her power and toughness—would support Su Qingying.

Li Ruobing had never been able to see how Wu Chen could possibly bring this off, because she didn’t understand the inner workings of Jinfu Group and didn’t understand the Su family.

Wu Chen did.

The conference room fell into a “long” ten seconds of silence.

Su Qingying still didn’t have enough votes.

And just as the furious Madam Su had begun, inwardly, to breathe a little easier—

the man seated at one side of the conference table, the one who looked like Maitreya Buddha, raised his hand.

Tang Deyang.

Tang Deyang’s stance on the board carried enormous weight. He was a founding veteran. He was Su Ruiwen’s most trusted man, his closest brother. And he… had turned as well.

Madam Su stared at Tang Deyang, so angry she nearly couldn’t get her breath.

“Deyang, you—” She wanted to curse him.

“Sister-in-law.” The severely overweight Tang Deyang spoke slowly, soothingly. “Isn’t this enough? Qingying has grown up. Look… look how well Qingying has done.” As he said it a smile appeared, and he gestured toward the supporters with one hand, then glanced at Su Qingying with gratification all over his face.

A moment ago he had been shocked.

Now he was gratified.

Tang Deyang was especially fond of Su Qingying, in the way an elder is fond of a junior. Su Qingying was simply too outstanding. A pity his own family had a daughter as well; otherwise he would have wanted to become in-laws with Su Ruiwen.

He genuinely hadn’t expected Su Qingying to reach this point.

Su Qingying had not only pulled a group of people to her side, she had even dealt with some of the unstable elements inside the group. He meant Yao Honglin. Yao Honglin was second-largest shareholder Xu Zhenyuan’s trusted supporter.

And Xu Zhenyuan was precisely that unstable element.

Now Yao Honglin had crossed to Su Qingying’s side, costing Xu Zhenyuan an important supporter on the board. It truly made Tang Deyang… see her in a new light.

And there was Sun Haomin.

He was an independent director. He could have stayed out of it entirely—an abstention would have done. And Su Qingying had brought even that independent director, that “outsider,” into line.

Tang Deyang couldn’t begin to imagine how she had managed to deal with an outsider like Sun Haomin.

For a long time now Tang Deyang had been somewhat dissatisfied with Madam Su’s excessive control over Su Qingying. It simply hadn’t been a thing he could say. And if Su Qingying couldn’t stand on her own, how could she possibly run the company well in future?

Su Ruiwen wouldn’t be too greatly swayed by Madam Su. He could do the job.

But Su Qingying listened to her mother too much and had no mind of her own. In future, something would certainly go wrong.

And now.

Not only had Su Qingying stood on her own—she was trying to seize power on the board by forceful means. Even some of the thorns on that board had been partly dealt with by her.

Tang Deyang saw Su Qingying’s independence, her ability, her nerve. And her methods.

Before this.

The greatest problem with Su Qingying taking over the company had been her lack of seniority, her shallow foundations. With Su Ruiwen gone, Su Qingying could become chairwoman smoothly enough—but she would certainly pass through a long stretch of instability.

In the early days she would hold no absolute authority. Xu Zhenyuan would certainly stir up trouble.

But now Tang Deyang felt that even if Su Qingying took over the company at once, she could handle it.

She already possessed every condition a successor required. With Yao Honglin’s defection and the independent director’s support, on top of Su Ruiwen’s existing firm backers, Xu Zhenyuan wouldn’t be able to raise so much as a ripple. She even… had the ability to push him to the margins.

Since things had come this far, why not support her?

For the Su family and for Jinfu Group this was no bad thing at all. It was an enormous good thing.

Afterward Tang Deyang would call Su Ruiwen. He believed his Big Brother would understand him.

After Tang Deyang raised his hand, declared himself, and finished speaking—

another man raised his hand. He too was a shareholder of very deep seniority, and extremely close to Tang Deyang.

Nine votes.

For board resolutions, major matters required a two-thirds vote to pass. Ordinary resolutions needed only more than half. What was being resolved today was a small matter, so more than half was enough.

That “more than half” meant more than half of all board members, not more than half of those present.

Which was also why a board meeting could convene once more than two-thirds of the directors were in attendance. Even on especially major resolutions, as long as every director present agreed, the number supporting the resolution would exceed two-thirds of the total.

In which case it no longer mattered whether the others came to take part. Either way it would clear two-thirds.

Jinfu’s board had nineteen directors in all.

More than half meant ten votes.

Which meant they were one vote short.

Su Qingying already controlled half of Jinfu’s board.

Madam Su was beginning to panic. She couldn’t hold this down. She couldn’t hold it down at all. If even one more fence-sitter went over to Su Qingying, it was finished.

“I’d like to see who dares raise a hand!” Madam Su slapped the table and rose, roaring the threat outright. She was on the verge of being driven mad with rage.

Bang!

Another crash.

“Mom! Are you sure you want to do this?!” It was Su Qingying, slapping the table as she stood, staring straight into her mother’s eyes.

Silence.

The final strike.

This was the final strike Wu Chen had drilled into her over and over before they slept. Whether everything could be settled with one decisive blow rested on this moment.