Chapter 79 — Overwhelming Victory
One of the neutral directors, Feng Caiwen was the moderator instead. After introducing the agenda for the day, he opened the floor for others to speak.
Bu Luwei was the first to talk as the main person supporting the motion of extending the probationary period. He listed the reasons why the probationary period should be extended, with prominent examples — the frequent changes in the company policies, the hit the company's reputation took as a result of the leaked software, and the drop in company shares.
After he finished, Feng Caiwen spoke again, calling on Li Chuanmo to state his case.
Li Chuanmo talked then, presenting his case with the visual aid of a PowerPoint. He spoke of the progress the company had made since he assumed office, the contracts they had executed successfully and lastly, the successful release of GOLEM and the impact it had been making on the market.
Feng Caiwen then opened the floor for the other Directors to support or oppose.
Directors began to speak up one after the other in support of the points Bu Luwei raised.
One director —Cen Wende— even mentioned the first press conference, labelling Li Chuanmo's words as "disgraceful and belittling". Li Chuanmo only raised a brow and didn't bother defending himself.
Fen Wucai sat down on his seat, smiling faintly. He didn't say anything to support or oppose the motion—his people were doing that very well already. Besides, he had to continue being 'neutral'.
Six directors— including Feng Caiwen —were openly neutral, and they did not participate in the debates at all. Normally, they usually claimed to only look at results and did not play favorites. Today, they were all silent.
Only few directors —three to be precise— spoke in Li Chuanmo's favour, explaining that company shares—especially that of a big company like theirs— were often not stable, and the blame could not be laid at the feet of Li Chuanmo alone.
Director Kun especially, shot down Cen Wende's argument, arguing that the reporters were wrong for asking for ridiculous questions. He also added that the employees had been very happy with the recent changed policies and it was obvious from their improved performance records.
Li Chuanmo shot him a look. They had already discussed that he should only defend lightly, without evidence, but Director Kun was too passionate. Thankfully, the other Directors on his side restrained themselves and did not support him. Director Kun mouthed an apology when no one was looking.
Apart from the fact that he did not want to alert Fen Wucai—which he would if he drummed up massive support today— he most importantly didn't want to let go of the extra six months he could spend with Pei Yueran.
He did not want a long distance relationship.
The other Directors in support of extending the probation jumped into battle to "shoot down" Director Kun's arguments, sending spittle flying everywhere.
Pei Yueran frowned in disgust. Only for such matters would these old men be so passionate. She had never seen them this passionate to do charitable deeds or let go of some money.
The back and forth arguments between Director Kun and the other Directors on the opposing side continued for an impressive thirty minutes. Li Chuanmo was quite bored. He had an important date for crying out loud. They were wasting his precious time!
He signalled to Feng Caiwen, this "neutral" moderator discreetly. Seeing the signal, Feng Caiwen cleared his throat into the microphone and the noise subsided.
He said, "Both sides have made salient points and have explained why the motion should be carried out or discarded. Now we are going to vote."
He continued as the secretary present passed small papers around, "As usual, those for the motion should tick "agree", and those against should tick "disagree". If neutral, please indicate. We have two minutes."
Two minutes later, the secretary passed a basket around and collected the folded papers.
Feng Caiwen began collating the results. He would show the piece of paper to the audience while announcing the result. There were only seventeen papers, because he did not vote this time.
"Agree"
"Agree"
"Agree"
"Neutral"
"Agree"
"Disagree"
"Agree"
"Agree"
"Neutral"
"Disagree"
"Disagree"
"Neutral"
"Neutral"
"Agree"
"Agree"
"Neutral"
"Agree"
At the end, the results were 9-3, an overwhelming victory for those in support of extending the probationary period. Those directors were all smiles as they milled around Bu Luwei.
Fen Wucai hurried after Li Chuanmo who was striding away. "Chairman Li, please wait!"
When Li Chuanmo stopped, he continued, "I'm so sorry it ended like that. We all know you've been working very hard, and you're doing well. Just take this extra six months as more practice time." He said, smiling insincerely.
Li Chuanmo just stared at him, trying to disguise his impatience. He then said, "Thank you Director Fen. I'll take your advice and continue to work hard.
"By the way, the coming six months will be very adventurous, you should look forward to it." He finished with a smile. That smile sent cold shivers down Fen Wucai's back and despite his best efforts, he ended up trembling slightly.
Li Chuanmo smirked and left.
Fen Wucai was livid. What made this brat so confident? Or did he know something?
Fen Wucai felt unsettled. He hurried away into his car and drove off, neglecting Bu Luwei who was chasing after him.
*****
After a quick dinner where Pei Yueran did not eat much, Li Chuanmo drove them to a development zone. It was an area that had been bought two years ago by the Li Conglomerate, to be developed, resort-style.
The theme of the resort was "nature". The area had mountains in the distance, and the artificial lake had already been completed. There was also a fountain and some springs scattered around the perimeter. To the west was a forest of trees.
The scenery was beautiful, and Pei Yueran said as much to Li Chuanmo.
"It's still under construction obviously, but its beauty is already beginning to shine through."
"I thought we already awarded the building contract to Paradise Architecture? When were they supposed to commence work again?" Pei asked, taking out her phone to check the email.
Li Chuanmo stopped her. "That's not why I brought you here. I wanted us to talk. It's a date remember?"
"Ohhh, right."