Chapter 56 (1/2)
Chapter 56
“”Can we meet?”
The phone on the other end was silent. Yan Liang was afraid he would reject her pleas when he finally spoke.
But he said only two words, “Time, place?”
“ Half an hour later…” Yan Liang thought and then changed her tone, “You decide.”
She was now trying to be humble, the man said , “ Ming Ting Court Hotel..”
“ .. room 1619.”
Hearing this, Yan Liang finally reacted and frowned. He had hung up the phone. Yan Liang continued to hear the monotonous busy tone as wave after wave of distaste rose in her heart.
Yan Liang drove to the hotel in less than 20 minutes. She stood in front of room 1619. The copper handle, the shining light, the flowers in the corridor…. none of these were unfamiliar to her.
She took a deep breath and pressed the door bell. A moment later the door opened from inside. A man appeared in front of her, the expression on his face changed when he saw Yan Liang.
He signalled her to come in and Yan Liang followed him inside.
On the coffee table, there was half a bottle of whiskey, an ice bucket and a half filled whiskey glass.
Yu Nan offered her a glass of water. He seemed to have drunk quite a bit, as he held the glass close to her, she could smell alcohol on his breath.
She politely moved slightly away.
He did not say anything, did not express the glee of the victorious. He only sat next to her in the single sofa and continued pouring his drink.
Yan Liang picked up the glass but did not drink. The silence was like a mental contest, she felt like she was invisible.
Finally she put down the glass with a bang. “ I can promise that I will allow you to remain on the board, but the chairman’s seat cannot be moved , it has to stay within the family.”
Jiang Yu Nan paused in the act of picking up his glass. Across the edge of the glass, Yan Liang thought she saw him smile slightly.
After clinking her glass with his, he raised his eyes to her, “ How are you qualified to talk to me about conditions?”
“I am still the largest shareholder of Xu.”
“After tomorrow’s opening, Xu shares will continue to fall. All those shares you have will not be worth the paper they are written on.”
Yan Liang paled; she could not defend this statement.
She only had two choices in front of her – continue buying the shares till she gets overwhelmed , apply for bankruptcy, drag down Xu with her, subject Xu to liquidation and restructuring till Li Bo completely wins over.
Or she could give up, cheaply sell her shares to repay the debt partially, allow Li Bo to buy more shares till they become the largest shareholder of Xu and give them the opportunity to ruthlessly kick her out of the board because of her bad decisions and high debt rates.
Both these options were impossible – the only option left was to beg to this man for a way out.
“Would it be better to listen to my offer?” he asked with a smile.
In her heart, Yan Liang did not want to listen to his offer at all , but how would she say so ? He was well aware of that; she had no other option.
“If you give up the chairman’s seat, I will allow you to retain a seat on the board. In addition, I will ensure that the Xu brands are retained and not merged with Li Bo or sold off in parts to other businesses.”
“……” “…”
Jiang Yu Nan slowly shook his glass. The ice bumped against each other , creating a pleasant tinkling sound. Even his voice was coated with an illusion of pleasantness, “ What do you think of my proposal?”
She made rapid calculations in her head. She thought of what had happened in the past and all kinds of sarcastic comments came to mind. At that time, she had been confident that she could repel him, that she had friends in high places, in the banks, in the industry , even with the Ming group who would help her. Even Zhou Cheng and her mother had enough contacts, they too could help in pulling in more capital so they could sweep the capital market and reap the benefit.
In contrast, she was sitting here now, considering this humiliating proposal.
“I need time to think about it.”
It seemed that he expected her to say so, he decisively nodded, “Ok”.
Time means opportunity; if this man was willing to give her an hour, she would utilise that hour to find a breakthrough.
She was about to relax her high strung nerves when she heard his follow up comment, “ But..”
“……” “…”
“You do not have much time,” Jiang Yu Nan looked at his watch, “after all, the stock market opens in less than 5 hours.”
How astute he was, with one whisper he had dashed all her hopes of stalling for time.
“If I don’t get your reply by that time, I will assume you have rejected the offer. Is that clear?”
He raised his head slightly as he spoke to her, his attitude like that of a nobleman explaining something patiently and systematically. Yan Liang wished she had a knife in hand so she could murder him and remove this man forever from her life.
( Miumiu : I think this is inspired by what the author’s friends told her/him)
But rational thinking was a terrible thing, also the best thing to help Yan Liang calm down and abandon this unrealistic idea.
She had rushed out in a hurry and therefore forgotten to wear a wrist watch. She now looked at her mobile phone to check the time.
She also saw that she had six calls she had missed in the last quarter of an hour when she had put the phone on silent mode. The calls were from Zhou Cheng. He had then texted her saying that the he was rushing to the airport to speak to a consortium in North America who were ready to help them.
All afternoon she was looking for an opportunity and here suddenly one had fallen on her head!
Her cold eyes brightened, she bit her lower lip to avoid displaying any emotions. She stood up to go. The man on the opposite end looked at her with half lowered eyes, “ I will get the contract made in five hours. You get ready to sign it.”
But when she walked past the single sofa where he sat, Jiang Yu Nan called out, “ Wait !”
She stopped abruptly.
She had her phone in her hand.