Chapter 92

Midsummer has arrived in the blink of an eye, and it's so hot that people don't even want to go outside.

The story of Chairman Xu and Attorney Li had been circulating in the business world for quite some time, but then it came and went like a storm, and hardly anyone came to Jiang Yu to ask if the gossip was true or false.

Although Xu Shenzhao and Xu Xuanming felt ashamed, they had achieved their goal. Although Xu Wanyi was still the chairman of Leguang Group, major decisions were actually controlled by the father and son. Because Tonghua's vote was naturally cast for the proposal of the Xu family, the two of them turned a blind eye and did not cause trouble for Xu Wanyi.

Xu Jing was naturally the most upset. She once wanted to hold a family meeting, but none of the other three paid any attention to her, so it was eventually dropped. As a result, she went to work at Leguang Group every day, followed Xu Wanyi in and out, and kept lecturing her.

Xu Wanyi knew her mother's methods, so this time her style changed drastically. She hardly argued with her mother, nor did she take the initiative to reason with her. She let Xu Jing come and go freely in and out of the group, muttering to herself.

However, Xu Jing didn't dare to go too far. After all, her vote earlier had directly handed over control of the group. Now, Xu Wanyi had to manage the group's daily operations while also being overwhelmed by proposals from the Xu family father and son every now and then. She was afraid that if she went too far, Xu Wanyi might really disown her as his mother.

Li Ye was a shrewd man. Knowing that Xu Wanyi had been having a hard time lately, he never mentioned these things, as if the entire Xu family had agreed with them. Whenever he had time, he would cook a meal, take Xu Wanyi out for a stroll, and help her look at Xu Xuanming's inexplicable proposals, such as entering the film and television industry and developing the cultural tourism industry in Yunzhou, etc.

It's obvious he's using his position for personal gain, to facilitate his hooking up with beautiful women, and to have a perfectly good reason to go to Yunzhou.

Developing cultural tourism in Yunzhou is obviously not feasible, but venturing into the film and television industry was actually approved by the shareholders' meeting. Xu Xuanming didn't know what kind of medicine he gave Xu Shenzhao, or did the two father and son have the same idea? As for why Xu Jing agreed, Xu Wanyi was even more confused.

However, shortly after the resolution was passed, Xu Wanyi received an official notification from Tonghua Group.

"What's wrong, Chairman Xu? Why did you take time out of your busy schedule to summon me?"

On a sweltering summer day, Li Ye was taking a nap on the sofa in his office when Xu Wanyi called him up.

"Tonghua's notification has arrived, take a look."

Li Ye touched his head and exclaimed, "Oh dear! I've been so busy I forgot! The agreement was signed on May 15th, and now a quarter has passed. As expected, President Su didn't disappoint. It seems he didn't give me even a day's grace."

"It really is a state-owned enterprise. They even use official red lettering when sending notices to their partners. That's quite something," Li Ye muttered.

"Chairman Xu, your company's profits this quarter are not good, a full 30% lower than the agreement. Is it because the chairman is out dating and not focused on work?" Li Ye hugged Xu Wanyi from behind, pressing his face against her neck and said shamelessly.

They're really getting too big for their britches.

"Attorney Li, you've had a great quarter. You didn't even lose a difficult client like Mr. Xiao. I heard you just took on a big client, and your legal fees are almost seven figures."

"That's right. Don't you know who Attorney Li is? So, even if the profits really go up and we lose control, we're not afraid. I'll support you."

Xu Wanyi gently rubbed Li Ye's face with one hand, "It's a pity that your wife's management skills are not very good. She didn't meet the target this quarter, so Attorney Li, hurry up and get things moving. Draft a repurchase agreement for me, and contact President Su again to finalize this matter as soon as possible."

"Let me hold you for a while, I'll go once I've charged up."

While the two were enjoying their time together in the office, Xu Shenzhao and Xu Xuanming were getting restless. They had also received a notification from Tonghua stating that because Leguang Group's performance this quarter had not met the target, they were required to fulfill their repurchase obligations.

"Old Xu, a buyback is really bad for us," Dai Feng said with a worried look.

"Why didn't you say so then? What's the use of saying it now?" Xu Shenzhao didn't say anything, but Xu Xuanming started complaining first.

“Xianming, how dare you talk to your Uncle Dai like that? Wasn’t it you who was making a fuss about not taking on the repurchase obligation and insisting that your sister be the primary repurchase obligor?” Xu Shenzhao frowned.

"I didn't know she was so incompetent that she couldn't even achieve this profit."

"This profit?" Xu Shenzhao didn't expect Xu Xuanming to view these figures this way. "I remember you said it was nothing, do you know where these numbers came from?"

Xu Xuanming remained silent. In fact, he hadn't even looked at the numbers on the agreement carefully, thinking that as long as they were roughly correct, it was fine, since there were professionals overseeing things.

“Young Master, this profit is 20% higher than the historical data. Our group’s overall profit margin is only 10%. To achieve this figure, we have to work extremely hard.”

Dai Feng and Xu Shenzhao discussed this figure at the time, but after listening to Deng Hui's analysis of the new energy industry, they believed that the industry's prospects were very bright and that even this figure was very likely to be achieved. Therefore, they agreed to use this figure to determine the repurchase benchmark.

“Dad, Uncle Dai, I think this was Xu Wanyi’s doing. She deliberately kept the profit margin low. Leguang Group should have achieved its profits according to this growth rate.”

Dai Feng and Xu Shenzhao were utterly speechless. They had been working at Leguang Group for the past few months, attending every shareholders' meeting, board meeting, and management meeting, signing every resolution, and offering their opinions on every process. These were all traces of their involvement in the management, which Xu Wanyi had undoubtedly preserved well.

In this situation, can we say that she deliberately aimed for low profits?

"Old Xu, go talk to General Manager Feng. See if you can get Tonghua Group to withdraw this notice. Everything else can be discussed later."

“You’re right, I’ll ask.” With that, he dialed the number of General Manager Feng from Tonghua’s parent company.

"Mr. Feng, this is Xu Shenzhao. Ah, yes, it's been a quarter, and I just received your repurchase notice."

"A buyback notice? You didn't make a profit? Didn't you look at this profit target back then? What do you want now?" General Manager Feng was completely confused. Did Xu Shenzhao not even know whether his company could make a profit?

"I've looked at it, but, well, things are too complicated. I wanted to ask you, can the buyback notice be withdrawn? Or can we issue another notice changing it to not buy back?"

“Old Xu, I’m not like you big bosses. Our repurchase notices are all official documents with red headers and require collective approval. It’s basically impossible to change them unless there’s a legitimate reason. I can’t find any legitimate reason right now. We can’t just say it was a mistake on our part, can we? The company’s disciplinary committee is very strict. If we’re not careful, we could be investigated.”

"I'm sorry, Lao Xu, I can't take that risk."

"Yes, yes, I understand. It's just a question. If it works, great; if not, forget it. I won't bother you anymore. Thank you!"

After hanging up the phone, the room fell into a deathly silence.

"I will never let her succeed so easily!" After a long while, Xu Xuanming slammed the door and left.

"Xiao Liu, stay with him, don't let him do anything foolish." Dai Feng quickly told his assistant to follow him, afraid that Xu Xuanming might do something rash.

Xu Shenzhao looked at Dai Feng and shook his head, feeling utterly disappointed in him.

Li Ye quickly drafted the repurchase agreement, and Xu Wanyi gave the agreement to a lawyer in Beijing. Since it was an agreement that had already taken effect and all the documents were complete, Tonghua Group quickly approved it. Le Guang was naturally no problem either. The Xu family originally planned to block it through the shareholders' meeting, but the subsequent execution of the agreement did not require the shareholders' help. Xu Wanyi's approval was sufficient.

Three months later, Xu Wanyi bought back 80% of Leguang Group's shares from Tonghua at 1.2 times the selling price, ultimately holding 51% of Leguang Group's equity.

After the agreement was signed, Li Ye took the original documents and personally went to the Market Supervision Bureau to process the equity transfer, leaving Jiang Yu and Gao Gu speechless—it had been many years since Attorney Li had stepped into the Market Supervision Bureau. It seemed that it was indeed a family matter, and she wouldn't trust anyone else to handle it.

Once the equity transfer was finalized, Xu Wanyi's first action was to halt Leguang Group's decision to enter the film and television industry. She hadn't even sorted out her own affairs, so why was she venturing into the film and television industry?

Jiang Yu and Gao Gu thought they would have a big celebration or use it as an excuse to go on a trip. No one expected that Xu Wanyi would ultimately decide to cook a big meal for Li Ye as a way of expressing her gratitude.

"Let me do it, Wanyi. You've worked so hard these past few days." Hearing this, Li Ye couldn't help but wipe his sweat.

"No, I said I'd do it, so I will."

"This is a big meal, not the simple one we had last time." Although Xu Wanyi had cooked a meal for Li Ye last time, Li Ye was still not confident in her cooking skills.

"I've specifically studied it, don't worry."

"when?"

"While you were busy signing agreements and handling formalities, I hired that chef who often appears on TV to teach me step by step, so don't worry." Xu Wanyi revealed a confident smile.

Li Ye was skeptical, but he didn't try to dissuade her anymore, letting her fuss from morning till night. Before it got completely dark, he finally got to eat the feast prepared by Miss Xu.

It has to be said that Mr. Xu's studies were worthwhile; he actually learned a thing or two. Sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried shrimp, braised pork and bamboo shoots, pickled mustard greens and yellow croaker soup, and home-style tofu—these are truly home-style dishes, and they look and smell delicious. The presentation is also very good. I just don't know if they taste good.

"Let me have a bite first." After the two sat down, Li Ye couldn't wait to pick up a piece of pork rib with his chopsticks.

"Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a perfect balance of sweet and sour, Mr. Xu is quite something. Now your culinary skills are top-notch too. Do you even need to let us ordinary people live?"

"Attorney Li, no matter how much I cook for you, it won't shut your glib tongue. If you like it, eat more." After saying that, she peeled a shrimp and put it in Li Ye's bowl.

After finishing their meal, Li Ye brewed a pot of fine tea, then sat with Xu Wanyi on the balcony, enjoying the air conditioning and admiring the night view outside the window and the quietly flowing Wu Su River.

"Li Ye, there's something I've been wanting to ask you, but I've been waiting for you to tell me first..."

"My family?" Li Ye could roughly guess that there weren't many things she was hiding from Xu Wanyi: one was her own family, and the other was the details of her departure ten years ago.

"Do you think I was born from a rock? I've never heard you mention my parents."

"Why are you so talkative?" Xu Wanyi lightly slapped her.

“I just find it strange that you are the kind of parent who can raise a child like you. But you never mention your family. Ten years ago, it was one thing, but now we are no longer young and have decided to live together, so I feel I have the right to know.”

"Well, I didn't mean to hide it from you. It's just that I didn't think it was necessary to say it before, and now I can't find a suitable opportunity to say it."

"Do you know about the massive earthquake that struck the west in the 1990s? Many people died." Xu Wanyi was somewhat confused. A massive earthquake? When?

“You probably don’t know, but I was eight years old that year, and you were only a little older than me, so you probably don’t remember much.”

"Your parents...?" Xu Wanyi suddenly felt a pang of heartache.

"No, my parents and younger siblings are still alive. I watched them pass away."

"What?!" Xu Wanyi suddenly sat up, staring at Li Ye in surprise.

“Our family was too poor to support so many people. I was buried at the very bottom. After my parents dug out my younger siblings, they stopped digging.”

"Are you sure you didn't misremember?"

"No, even though I can't see, I can hear what they're saying. For an eight-year-old, even if they're frightened, it's more than enough to understand what the adults are saying."

"So, after the rescue team rescued me, I pretended to have amnesia and was taken to Haixi, where I grew up in a welfare home in the west of the city."

This was nothing short of a human tragedy. Xu Wanyi never expected it to be such a tragic story. She turned over and sat on Li Ye's lap, cupped her cheeks in her hands, looked at her with red eyes, and didn't say a word. Then she directly pulled her into her arms.

Having emerged from that environment to become the sunny, mature, and responsible lawyer he is today, Xu Wanyi knows that Li Ye must have endured a lot of hardship and spent many sleepless nights.

At this moment, any further comfort would be superfluous; Li Ye's very existence today is a declaration to the world that she needs no comfort from anyone.

"You won't be alone anymore, I'll always be with you." Overwhelmed with emotion, Xu Wanyi said these words.

"Um."

Looking at the messy head in her heart, Xu Wanyi felt a surge of warmth. She gently lifted Li Ye's head, looked at this face that could make anyone lose their mind, and kissed her lips.

Their breathing became erratic, and Li Ye then simply carried Xu Wanyi into the house...