In the second-floor living room, Li Huiran asked with delight, "Mom, you're not leaving this time?"
"I'll go back after you have your wedding," Xia Yi replied, holding Li Huiran's hand with a gratified smile.
Li Huiran looked distressed. "Dad already knows he was wrong. Can't you just forgive him this once?"
Xia Yi snorted, her face twisting in disgust. "Hmph! Forgive him? Not a chance!"
Seeing that her mother still held a grudge against her father, Li Huiran had a sudden idea. She and Chen Dong only had a fake marriage certificate and had no plans to actually get married, let alone have a wedding. If she just kept stalling, her mom would have to stay. That would give her dad more time to win her mother over.
She decided to keep up the charade with Chen Dong until her father won her mother back, and she absolutely could not let her mother see through it.
The two of them began to chat back and forth.
When Li Jianwen returned home for dinner and saw Xia Yi at the table, he was instantly overjoyed.
"You're back."
However, no one at the dinner table responded to him.
Seeing that things were getting awkward, Li Huiran quickly broke the silence. "Dad, come and eat."
As she spoke, she stood and gestured to the empty seat beside Xia Yi.
Li Jianwen stiffly started to sit down.
Xia Yi's eyebrow shot up. "Sit over there," she said coldly.
Li Jianwen immediately sat down on the other side like an obedient child.
The silence at the table was unbearable. Li Huiran was frantic, trying to send signals to Li Jianwen with her eyes.
But Li Jianwen didn't react at all, just continuing to eat blankly.
Chen Dong had to stifle a laugh. Li Jianwen had always looked down on him; now, someone was finally putting him in his place.
Meanwhile, Xia Yi had been piling food onto Chen Dong's plate ever since the meal began, making Li Huiran a little jealous. Now, seeing how foolish her father was acting and frustrated by his passivity, her cheeks puffed out in a pout as she ate.
Later that night, at bedtime.
Li Huiran asked Chen Dong, "Do you have any ideas on how to get them back together?"
Chen Dong immediately sat up from his pallet on the floor and said haughtily, "Heh! You've finally asked the right person. I've got aphrodisiacs, virility pills, knockout incense... and if you're not satisfied with those, I can get you a Unity Gu, a Life and Death Contract, or a Marriage Rope. There's also..."
Before Chen Dong could finish, a small, fair foot shot out from under the covers.
Chen Dong easily dodged it with a turn of his body.
Perhaps annoyed that she'd missed, Li Huiran frowned and said indignantly, "I asked you for solutions! What is all this nonsense you're spouting?"
Chen Dong looked innocent. "Aren't those solutions?"
Li Huiran turned her back to him and pulled the covers over her head. "Those are horrible ideas! I'd get a better answer from a dog than from you!"
Chen Dong looked at her with disdain. 'What kind of woman is she?!'
The next day, Li Huiran was driving her beloved Ferrari with Chen Dong in the passenger seat, heading to the same familiar spot.
"Get out!"
Seeing they were still some distance from the office, Chen Dong shook his head, opened the door, and got out.
She slammed on the gas, leaving Chen Dong in a cloud of dust.
'Sigh! This woman... When I offered to walk to the office, you insisted on driving me. Now that I want a ride all the way, you make me get out and walk.'
'Seriously, I pity the poor guy who ends up marrying her!'
As Chen Dong was leisurely strolling toward the company, a board meeting was about to convene.
Li Group Headquarters, Conference Room 1.
Li Huiran strode into the room, which was already filled with corporate heavyweights, each one worth hundreds of millions.
Her father, Li Jianwen, sat at the head of the table.
In the next most prominent seat was a well-groomed man in his forties or fifties. He had small, narrow eyes and a perfectly symmetrical mustache. Standing behind him was Lu Chunqing.
The man stroked his mustache with his left hand and spoke. "General Manager Li, perhaps you could be a bit earlier next time. A general manager should set an example."
Seated next to him was the increasingly frail-looking Wu Haichao, who interjected, "Director Lu, there's no need to be so pedantic. It isn't even the official start of the workday, and we're still early for the scheduled meeting time."
The man said no more.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Li Jianwen rose and addressed the room. "This board meeting was called by Director Lu, so I'll let him explain the reason for it."
Lu Dian stood up, his small eyes sweeping across the room with disdain. "I called this board meeting today for one primary reason: I believe we should elect a new chairman."
Everyone in the conference room was stunned!
Director Lu was going straight for the jugular right from the start!
"Everyone has seen with their own eyes how the Li Group has fared during Chairman Li's tenure. The company's performance worsens by the day, and everyone's profits are dwindling. The reason for all of this is..."
"...that he, Li Jianwen, is incompetent!" Lu Dian shouted, pointing at the head of the table.
"I second that!"
"I object!"
"Seconded!"
"..."
Of the sixteen directors present, not counting Li Jianwen himself, the motion received six votes in favor and nine votes against.
The result brought a wave of relief to Li Jianwen and Li Huiran.
This seemed to be within Lu Dian's expectations as well. He gave a slight chuckle. "Very well, everyone. If you're unwilling to replace the chairman, so be it. Let's move on to the second matter."
This made the father and daughter tense up again. From the look of it, Lu Dian's proposal to replace the chairman was just a feint.
Lu Dian stroked his mustache, a look of pride in his eyes. "Regarding Plot 5 over in the eastern district, I've already reached an agreement with Boss Tang. He will transfer it to our company at the original purchase price."
His words sent a shockwave through the room!
The eastern district was Jiangzhou's next key development zone; the city was expanding eastward. Even the upcoming Qingtian International project, soon to be open for bidding, was located there.
And Plot 5 was the largest and best-positioned plot of land in the area, aside from the Qingtian International site itself.
During the initial auction for that plot, they had all invested heavily and fought hard for it, only for it to be snatched away at a high price by Tang Dan, a tycoon from the neighboring Tianjiang City.
Even the Huang Family had lost out to Tang Dan in the bidding.
There had been no Qingtian International project back then. After news of the project was announced, the value of Plot 5 skyrocketed.
Who would have thought that Lu Dian could pry that land from Tang Dan's hands—and at its original price, no less.
This caused Li Jianwen's and Li Huiran's brows to furrow in concern.
'If he had such a powerful trump card, why didn't he use it to challenge for the chairman position?' they thought. 'He must have a different agenda!'
Lu Dian's sinister gaze swept over the father and daughter from the Li Family. He said gravely, "Yesterday, the Group faced a major crisis. Though it was resolved, our reputation suffered. And the one responsible for this crisis, General Manager Li, cannot escape the blame."
"Therefore, I propose replacing the general manager. Let my son, Lu Chunqing, take the position. Simultaneously, we will establish a Project Group Two, with full authority over the Plot 5 matter, to prevent any further mishaps!"
The faces of the Li Family father and daughter turned grim. So this was Lu Dian's real killing blow.
Director Wang and Director Xu exchanged glances, their faces etched with worry.
Lu Dian's scheme was truly ambitious. He wanted to hollow out the Li Group from the inside. Once Lu Chunqing became general manager, he would undoubtedly purge dissenters, seize control, and effectively change the company's ownership from within.
Lu Dian's eyes gleamed with arrogance. Simply taking the chairman's seat wasn't enough for him. He wanted to be the sole voice in the entire Li Group. He wanted to force the Li Family father and daughter to retire on their shares, and then, eventually, dilute those shares into worthlessness.
He knew that the group's oldest directors were the ones who had built this empire alongside Li Qinghe; they were thick as thieves and unshakably loyal. That's why even the news about Plot 5 wasn't enough to immediately threaten Chairman Li Jianwen's position. He had to offer up a big enough prize to sow dissent and divide them from within.
At this move from Lu Dian, Li Jianwen could no longer remain seated. He started to rise from his chair.