Jin Liwei’s words and posture were filled with arrogance but his tone was very calm. Too calm, most of the people in the meeting room thought, including Rose Young.
His words cut through her pride, angering her, but she redirected all negative feelings Jin Liwei was causing her to his wife instead, that slut Iris Long. She cursed Iris Long nonstop in her mind, wishing torture and death upon the slut, so that she could finally have her chance to seduce Jin Liwei and marry him.
Despite all of these dark thoughts running through her head, she still made sure to maintain the vulnerable-yet-trying-to-be-strong façade that she was showing everyone to acquire their sympathy and have them help her overturn Jin Liwei’s decision of firing her.
“CEO Jin, your decision is certainly not final,” someone finally dared to oppose Jin Liwei to his face. “As elected members of the board of directors representing Jin Corporation’s shareholders, all of us here have the right to challenge the decisions of the CEO if we think that he made an error. And in this case, we do think that you made a big mistake in firing Miss Young. She graduated from the same Ivy-league American university that you attended with almost similar excellent marks. Other multinational companies are vying to hire a talent like her, but she still chose to show her loyalty to Jin Corporation despite all the other more enticing offers from other companies.”
“I agree. Miss Young is indeed someone that Jin Corporation needs. Her foreign experience is a great asset to our company, but she still has a deep understanding of the domestic market. She has only been working in the company for a few months but we’re already seeing noticeable good results from the marketing department. With her excellent performance, we believe that she should return to her position as Chief Marketing Officer.”
There were quite a few people who spoke up for Rose Young. There was even someone who was neutral at first but already sided with her. Most of the other neutral ones were wavering while a handful remained neutral, continuing to wait and see how things would develop before making their final decision. Fortunately, Jin Liwei’s supporters remained loyal to him and weren’t the least bit moved by Rose Young and those who were fighting for her.
As for Jin Liwei, he remained leaning back on his seat with steepled fingers over his chest, looking cold, arrogant and indifferent more than ever. He didn’t interrupt those who were speaking. When the voices slowed down, he finally spoke again in a tone filled with frost.
“It seems like some of you no longer acknowledge my authority as the President and CEO in my family’s own company.”
His eyes swept over all of the board members. Those who challenged him couldn’t help but flinch under his penetrating gaze.
Someone cleared his throat. “CEO Jin, that’s n-not the case…not at all! We still acknowledge your authority as the President-CEO, of course, but we also have our duty as elected members of the board of directors to keep the company in check if we think that it’s heading in the wrong way.”
Jin Liwei started chuckling. If the situation were different, it would be a very pleasant sound. In fact, Rose Young instinctively felt herself getting wet upon hearing his sexy chuckle. To the board members, however, it was a frightening sound, like when the devil was laughing in malevolent mirth before torturing his victims.
“Keep the company in check, huh.” Jin Liwei stopped laughing. The sudden change of his expression into cold viciousness made a lot of them shiver.
The atmosphere was extremely uncomfortable but Rose Young took the ensuing silence as an opportunity to finally speak up for herself.
“President Jin, I apologize that things escalated like this.” This time, she didn’t call him Big Brother like she usually would do in front of other people to make them think that the two of them were close.
Her father’s most recent advice got through her. She had to be careful right now and watch her every words and actions. Her most urgent mission at the moment is to convince these members of the board of directors that her firing was a huge mistake and that she deserved to reclaim her position as Chief Marketing Officer.
She pinched her thigh under the table, causing her eyes to water from the pain. Then she showed everyone her trying-to-be-strong expression. “I think you and your…wife misunderstood some of my words and actions in the past.”
There was no visible change in Jin Liwei’s expression but he was frowning inside, just like how his assistant Xu Tian was frowning now.
So this was how this woman wanted to play, huh?
“I was born in Singapore and grew up there, surrounded by people from other different cultures. In addition, before I studied in the same American university as you did, I spent the yearly breaks going on trips in multiple countries. I think that these experiences made me more liberal compared to people here in China.”
Some of the board members nodded in understanding.
“So I apologize if there were some things I said or did that you and your…your wife find too liberal. Even if you find my normal actions not to your liking, please don’t let it influence your objectivity when evaluating the quality and results of my work.”
A board member on her side immediately exclaimed his support. “Indeed! A person should be evaluated in work quality and not by minor personality flaws.”
Rose Young controlled her expression and restrained herself from snapping at the board member. What personality flaw? Well, at least he said “minor”.
There were murmurs from some of the other board members, expressing their agreement to the rationale. Rose Young felt excited upon seeing that almost all of the neutral board members were starting to tilt in her favour.
Jin Liwei banged his hand on the table to get everyone’s attention. “You keep on dragging my wife into this mess when she has nothing to do with how I run my company. You think that I, Jin Liwei, will fire an executive without good reason?”
