The afternoon of the impeachment of Sangle’s CEO, Hong Weiguo. 1 PM.
Shanghai Tianhai City, in Li Jing Hotel, where Hong Weiguo and his wife Lan Ruoxi were staying.
Hong Weiguo sat in front of his laptop and took a deep breath.
“What’s wrong with me? Isn’t everything arranged? Why do I feel so anxious?” Hong Weiguo shook his head and smiled. He took another deep breath and accepted the video call request from his father, Hong Tu. Being impeached from the Resource Chamber of Commerce was a big matter, he ought to report to his father.
After about five minutes, the video call connected.
When Hong Weiguo was about to speak, without asking if anything happened, Hong Tu said, “Weiguo, why are your spirits so low? Are you still the pride of our Hong Family?”
“Father, did… you notice something different about me?” Hearing what his father said, Hong Weiguo was shocked. “Can you tell?”
“Something happened, right?” Hong Tu touched his beard. He didn’t seem worried. “Probably something like being impeached from the Chamber of Commerce. Such a small matter worried you so much?”
“Impeachment is a small matter?” Hong Weiguo was speechless. After a while, Hong Weiguo said anxiously, “Impeachment is followed by a full-scale encirclement. Once it begins, it will strike like a lightning bolt. It’s impossible for any company to escape it. An official investigation will be carried out, and major companies will jointly besiege. No matter how resourceful or competent I am, it will drain me of my energy. By then, even if things have changed for the better, there will be huge losses…”
This was what Hong Weiguo was really worried about. Facing the encirclement, even if his arrangements worked out, there would definitely be losses, and it wouldn’t be a small sum!
“Weiguo.” Hong Tu shook his head but did not speak about the impeachment. “In the Hong Family, from the top to the bottom, have you seen anyone collapse after one setback? Was there anyone who was anxious about gains and losses, hesitating to move forward, like how you are now?”
Hearing that, Hong Weiguo thought carefully and shook his head. “No. No one, indeed.”
“Weiguo, you have always been the pride of the Hong Family.” Hong Tu was not upset. He laughed as he said, “When you were in school, you became the king of the school without depending on your family background. Back then, you were high spirited and arrogant. You used the starting capital of fifty million that you were given to set up Sangle. Within two years, the value of your assets increased to 1.5 billion. How brilliant you were. When the Qian Family saw the potential in the search engine business, they tried to claim the business by investing 3 billion yuan. With just a few tricks, you managed to defeat them, causing them to shun the internet business for ten years. How domineering you were.
“But look at you now. Unsure and anxious.” Hong Tu sighed. “When the other descendants looked down on the rascal, Dali, excluding him. At the family meeting, you were willing to turn your back against everyone just to keep Dali’s position in the family. How decisive and aggressive you were.”
“That’s right. What… what has happened to me?” Hong Weiguo ruffled his hair and mumbled. “What is wrong with me?”
“Weiguo, I know that you are under a lot of stress.” Hong Tu’s voice was full of compassion. “You are my son. I watched you grow. I know you will definitely make me proud. It’s common to encounter setbacks in life. In recent years, your business has been too smooth-sailing. I knew that was not a good thing. When you get used to the little things going smoothly, when you encounter setbacks on bigger things, it’s easy to feel disheartened and discouraged.
“All humans have passions and desires. Your business is on the right track, with Dali exemplary performance recently, you started to slacken. That’s common. After all, there isn’t many who are as unfeeling as Dali. You are different. No matter how much of a genius you are, you are just a normal person. You suffer blows and you feel helpless. That’s nothing. Heavenly State has an old saying—money comes from danger. The impeachment could be a turning point.”
“Turning point?” Hong Weiguo mumbled, then his eyes suddenly lit up. “Father, you mean…”
“Haha. It seems you realized something.” Hong Tu laughed with his beard and eyebrows moving along. “You are indeed the genius of the Hong Family. You get the point.”
“The Resource Chamber of Commerce started one hundred years ago. It was during wartimes when times were bad. Heavenly State was big and had lots of resources. Many countries had their eyes on us. Especially Merika, Jaban, etc. When the government decided to form the Resource Chamber of Commerce, its intention was to gather all the rich businessmen in the country. Once any traitors were spotted, they’d be impeached and mangled to death so they wouldn’t cause much damage.
“But things changed. It was impossible for the Resource Chamber of Commerce to remain as it was one hundred years ago. Hence…” Hong Tu looked at Hong Weiguo. “Money comes from danger. My son, I think you already know what to do.”
“Yes, I understand!” Hong Weiguo’s eyes sparkled and suddenly looked more energetic. “Father, I know what to do now!”
“Hahaha, you are indeed the pride of the Hong Family! Go on. No matter what happens, the Hong Family has your back. There’s no need to feel anxious.” Hong Tu laughed. “It’s no big deal. At most, we’ll start from scratch again!”
“Yes. I’ll go make arrangements now!”
…
9 PM that night.
“Weiguo, why have you called us here so late?” Liu Yihui and Mu Tie both entered stealthily. Liu Yihui immediately asked, “Have there been any unexpected changes?”
Seeing the two men with whom he had become friends out of discord, Hong Weiguo smiled and said, “Sit, quickly. I have called you here today because I have given the matter more careful thought and now have new plans.”
“Okay, tell us about it.” Mu Tie said in a low voice. “We will try our best to help wherever possible.”
“I would not have called the two of you here if I were not sure of your character.” Hong Weiguo said slowly, “This time, we cannot just resign ourselves to fate and wait for our doom. This is not my style!” As Hong Weiguo spoke, he stretched his hand out and pressed down hard on Mu Tie’s shoulder. He used a veritable amount of strength. Obviously, this time he had come to a firm decision.
“Weiguo, you…” Liu Yihui asked with uncertainty, “You intend to…”
Hong Weiguo gathered his thoughts and answered slowly, “I have thought carefully about things these past few hours and have come to the decision that I will divide Sangle into four parts. Old Liu, you and Old Tie will take one portion each!”
“Weiguo, are you serious?!” Mu Tie said, surprised. “How can we do that? For Old Liu and I to take such a big piece of the pie without doing anything, this…”
“Don’t rush, listen to me first.” Hong Weiguo had the two men sit down before continuing, “The Chamber of Commerce encirclement will strike like thunderbolts. I will not go into details about what will actually happen. The crux of the matter lies in that if I sit here and wait, my company will definitely take some loses no matter what happens in the end. The only one who will benefit is Qian Guangzhao! I will not allow him that victory!”
“But if we were to go along with our previous plan,” Liu Yihui thought about it and said, “As long as we hold on for a few days, things will probably get better…”
“Even if it does, it’s not worthwhile.” Hong Weiguo laughed and said, “If we leave things as they are and allow the Chamber of Commerce to do with Sangle as they deem fit, my losses will be great. That’s not something I will allow to happen. If I divide Sangle into four parts and give one part of it—that’s 25%—to the Hong Family, two parts worth 30% each to both of you, and leave the last 15% under my name. This 15% consists of all the miscellaneous businesses that are not really profitable but would be wasteful if I were to just abandon them. Some of them earn barely enough to cover their operating costs, and others are in the red every year. This portion shall be under me!
“Divide Sangle into four parts. Both of you, look for Wen Jianan and also get the media to make an announcement. This 60% will then be protected. After all, the Chamber of Commerce did not say that my assets cannot be transferred. The two of you have not been impeached, so Qian Guangzhao will not be able to do anything to you even if he wants to. The Chamber of Commerce will probably not dare to go overboard with the portion that’s transferred to my Hong Family based on the connections my family has. That portion is not very big, anyway.
“So, the only portion the Chamber can attack is the miscellaneous businesses under my name! Whether or not I possess this portion will not affect Sangle one bit. They can do whatever they want with it. In fact, I have to thank Qian Guangzhao for helping me finally get rid of this tumorous portion of my business!”
When Hong Weiguo finished speaking, Mu Tie’s eyes and Liu Yihui’s eyes immediately lit up.
Great idea, this was an absolutely great idea!
This way, Sangle’s foundation would not be destroyed. They would be able to get rid of the non-profitable businesses. As for Hong Dali, Liu Yihui and Mu Tie would never betray him—Others may not know just how powerful Hong Dali was, but Liu Yihui and Mu Tie had absolutely no doubts about it!
Old Master Liu, who was stricken with terminal stomach cancer previously, was so healthy now that he could play feather ball…
“Yes, we will do just that!” Liu Yihui palmed his fist vehemently. “The portions that Old Tie and I take over will just be in name only. All the money earned will be transferred back to you. Anyway, they can’t interfere with who we give the profits to!”
Mu Tie said, “Yes, transfer it to Dali’s name. Hehe. Qian Guangzhao cannot do anything about it even if it annoys him. This time, Old Liu and I will be your staff!”
“Right, this is it!” Hong Weiguo laughed heartily. “This time, I, Hong Weiguo, will have an honorable and aboveboard battle with Qian Guangzhao. He better watch out. Actually, he will be doing me a great favor—these businesses left under my name lose about two to three hundred million every year. They are like poisonous tumors and now, I will finally be completely rid of them! Haha!”
“Hahahaha, Old Hong, your fighting spirit is finally back, and it’s even stronger than before, hahaha!”
“After this, we just wait for our plans to come to fruition. Qian Guangzhao, just you wait and see!”
Ooh, the Great Era of the Hong Family was finally almost here!
