Chapter 33 - 33 029 The Filth Among the Corporate Executives

33: Chapter 029: The Filth Among the Corporate Executives 33: Chapter 029: The Filth Among the Corporate Executives Around seven or eight in the evening, Ye Fan and Cao Guoqiang were pushing cups and changing goblets at a middle-grade Chinese restaurant. Cao Guoqiang could hold his liquor, but Ye Fan’s capacity was even better. As a master of internal energy with robust Qi and Blood like a dragon and tiger, the alcohol he consumed was covertly metabolized into sweat or urine and excreted almost immediately. When they had drunk quite a bit, Ye Fan began to extract more detailed information about the new biomedical project. Cao Guoqiang, who was originally unguarded against Ye Fan and considering that the details of the biomedical project were not entirely secret, spilled everything as soon as Ye Fan broached the topic. It turned out that after years of rapid development, Emali Group had gradually hit a development bottleneck since the second half of the previous year and needed a large new project to sustain its growth. Against this backdrop, Li Zhaojun, who was the chairman and president, strongly promoted the biomedical project. However, the investment in the biomedical project was massive, and the risks were high. Particularly, the first phase of investment almost drained Emali Group’s financial resources. Therefore, the other shareholders, led by the second and third largest shareholders, Gong Yongfu and Sun Yuan, were fundamentally opposed to this new project. Gong Yongfu and Sun Yuan together proposed launching a real estate project, which Li Zhaojun strongly opposed. In the midst of this, Cao Guoqiang also revealed the relationships among the group’s executives. The hierarchy within Emali Group was not so harmonious; although Li Zhaojun controlled the overall situation, Gong Yongfu and Sun Yuan constantly looked for ways to weaken her influence. The other small and medium shareholders also collaborated with Gong Yongfu and Sun Yuan, either intentionally or unintentionally. Li Zhaojun was under considerable pressure. “How many shares does Director Li actually have in Emali Group?” Ye Fan couldn’t help but ask. Cao Guoqiang, with a slurred speech, said, “34.6%.” “That little?” Ye Fan said, frowning. Cao Guoqiang chuckled and said, “That’s actually quite a bit. Though she started from scratch, how could Emali Group develop so swiftly without financing and bringing in a significant amount of capital? The faster Emali Group grew, the larger its scale, the more her shares were diluted.” “And how many shares do Gong Yongfu and Sun Yuan each have?” Ye Fan asked. Upon learning that Li Zhaojun was being ganged up on, he felt somewhat angered. Cao Guoqiang said, “Vice Chairman Gong holds 16.8% and Vice Chairman Sun holds 11.2%. However, they have several sycophantic small and medium shareholders backing them. So together, they could control about thirty-four percent of the shares. If it weren’t for Director Li also serving as the president, Emali Group really wouldn’t be hers to dictate.” Listening to this, Ye Fan thought to himself, “Given this trend, the biomedical project will likely be aborted. No, my one million can’t be wasted like this!” Thinking this, he asked, “What’s the main excuse Gong Yongfu and Sun Yuan use to oppose Director Li’s proposal for the biomedical project?” “Of course, it’s the financial issue,” Cao Guoqiang said, “With a total investment of 3.5 billion, the first phase itself is 1.5 billion. Even if they take loans from banks, the input is still too large. If the project fails, it could very likely drag the entire Emali Group into bankruptcy. Although Director Li has done a lot of preparatory work on the biomedical project to ensure its success as much as possible, she still can’t convince other neutral shareholders.” He paused for a moment, then continued, “The positions of the small and medium shareholders often do not fully align with those of the major shareholders. Most of them prefer to receive dividends peacefully rather than take risks.” … Around eleven o’clock at night, Ye Fan drove back to his villa. The first floor of the villa was quiet, but there was light coming down the stairs from the second floor which probably meant Li Zhaojun hadn’t slept yet. After closing the front door, Ye Fan didn’t immediately turn on the lights. He looked up at the staircase leading to the second floor. Thinking of the information Cao Guoqiang revealed, he couldn’t help but wonder, “She’s still awake at this hour. Could she be working overtime on the biomedical project?” However, immediately, the image of Li Zhaojun’s haughty expression and her disdainful, contemptuous glance toward him surfaced in his mind. “Ha, she’s a strong independent woman, full of pride. Why should I care?” he mocked himself, turned on the light, and then went to take a bath and get ready for bed. Before falling asleep, he suddenly thought, “However, the biomedical project relates to my one million, I can’t just ignore and lose that. I must find a way to ensure the project successfully kicks off, even if it means giving her a hand on the side.” The next day, Ye Fan arrived at work on time. Lu Xiaoman saw that he wasn’t late and gave him a gentle, sweet smile as a reward. Although he wasn’t late, he had nothing to do sitting in the office. So, he started thinking about how to ensure the biomedical project got off the ground. From the information Cao Guoqiang had shared last night, the biomedical project couldn’t pass through the shareholders’ meeting resolution, mainly because Gong Yongfu and Sun Yuan were deliberately obstructing it, but also because the investment was too huge, and the small and medium shareholders were unwilling to take on such a big risk. “Uh, how high exactly is the risk?” Ye Fan felt it was necessary to understand more. Of course, this wasn’t his area of expertise, so he left the task of assessing the risks to a risk assessment company. Then, he turned on his computer and rapidly wrote a report based on the information he had about the biomedical project. However, he got stuck halfway through. “The new project involves buying a rather mature biomedical patent from a university research institute, but what exactly is this patent, and from which university research institute?” Cao Guoqiang mentioned last night that he wasn’t too clear either. “This issue is too important. Most of the risk comes from here.” He scratched his head in distress, feeling that even the most brilliant risk assessment company in the world couldn’t help him analyze and assess based on the little he knew. “Ye Fan, what are you worrying about?” Suddenly, Lu Xiaoman’s voice reached him. Ye Fan looked up, switched to a lazy smile, and responded, “Hmm, really worrying indeed.” “What exactly are you worrying about? Tell me, I might be able to help,” Lu Xiaoman said with concern. Ye Fan looked at Lu Xiaoman’s beautiful, charming face and teasingly laughed, “I’m worrying about how I can pursue you.” Lu Xiaoman was initially stunned, then her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she rolled her eyes at Ye Fan playfully and pouted, “You’re talking nonsense again! If you keep this up, I’ll get angry!” She said she was angry, but the blush and delight that involuntarily appeared on her face betrayed her completely. “It’s true,” Ye Fan said, feigning distress, “You don’t know, I’m a pure little guy who has never dated before. I have no idea how to pursue you and am filled with anxiety. I didn’t sleep last night or the night before.” “I don’t believe you. With your slick mouth, you must have tricked countless girls!” Lu Xiaoman said with a disbelieving expression, but her heart completely believed it and she was secretly overjoyed. However, discussing such matters to her face seemed too indiscreet. seaʀᴄh thё NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. So, she changed the subject, “Ye Fan, let me tell you something funny. Last night, there was a thief in my neighbor’s house.” “Uh? A burglar at your neighbor’s, and it’s funny?” Ye Fan asked. Lu Xiaoman barely held back a smile as she said, “It’s indeed funny. The thief was so dumb. After entering my neighbor’s house and rummaging for cash totaling a few thousand dollars, he didn’t immediately flee but instead opened the fridge to find beer to drink. There happened to be about five or six beers in the fridge. The thief stood beside the refrigerator and drank three beers. As a result, he got drunk, leaned on the fridge, and fell asleep. Giggles…” By the end, she couldn’t hold back her laughter any longer. “Hahaha, that really is funny.” Ye Fan couldn’t help but laugh, “That thief is truly dumb… Oh, I’ve got it!” He was laughing, and then suddenly, inspiration struck, and he couldn’t help but cry out with joy. “What have you thought of?” Lu Xiaoman asked puzzledly. Ye Fan grinningly said, “Nothing, nothing. I have to go home for a bit, if anyone comes looking for me, help cover for me.” After saying that, he stood up and left the office. 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