Chapter 139: Contradiction (3) |
The meeting entered its break, and Tai Liqun leisurely rose and walked out of the conference room.
Most of the other shareholders also left their seats, some heading to the restroom, others to the adjacent lounge for a smoke. A few strolled over to the wide floor-to-ceiling windows, stretching their arms and loosening their backs.
Those who remained in their seats were either chatting with neighbors or silently flipping through the meeting agenda with heads down.
Dai Songquan sat upright at the head of the table. Not a single shareholder came over to make small talk with him, nor did he actively approach anyone to speak.
Ji Yongsheng, Gu Shiming, and the others standing behind Dai Songquan took in the scene, understanding the situation perfectly.
These shareholders had clearly coordinated and communicated among themselves before this meeting. Their interests and demands were largely aligned, so naturally, they displayed a unified front.
During the pre-meeting waiting period, they could laugh and chat with Director Dai, because after all, they were all people of some standing and had to observe basic social etiquette.
Once the meeting started, with different stances, they followed the principle of "those with different paths have nothing to plan together." Even Presidents Li and Liu, who held a wait-and-see attitude, were no exception.
Though they were many in number, the equity they represented was still a minority. Using this tactic to pressure Director Dai wasn't particularly surprising.
Wu Wenjun, sitting next to him, lightly patted his back. "Take a seat and rest for a bit. You'll have plenty of time to stand later."
Wei Hongsi sat down and asked, "Director Wu, that President Yu sitting in the right-hand row—what position was he responsible for in the company before?"
"I'm not sure about that." Wu Wenjun shook his head. "By the time I joined the company, he had already withdrawn from management."
Wei Hongsi's voice wasn't loud, but Jiang Kai, sitting on the other side of Wu Wenjun, still heard him.
He leaned over and said, "President Yu was mainly in charge of market promotion before, basically the predecessor of what I now oversee as the Application Promotion Center."
Among the company executives seated in this row, Jiang Kai was the oldest, the same age as Dai Songquan, and had joined the company earlier, so he was quite familiar with most of the former senior executives.
Wei Hongsi asked again, "And what about President Hua, sitting two seats away from him?"
Jiang Kai said, "President Hua was previously the General Manager of the Cognitive Research Center. You could consider him Director Gu's predecessor."
Wei Hongsi nodded lightly. "Thank you, President Jiang. I'll go have an exchange with a senior colleague."
Wu Wenjun couldn't help but feel a bit stunned as he watched Wei Hongsi get up and walk toward President Hua. He turned to Jiang Kai and asked, "Won't this be too obvious?"
Jiang Kai smiled slightly and said, "A young person greeting and exchanging with a senior—who can say that's wrong?"
Ji Yongsheng, Gu Shiming, and the others on Jiang Kai's other side were also a bit surprised to see Wei Hongsi heading over to President Hua. When they heard Jiang Kai say he was going to exchange with a senior colleague, they all just smiled.
Though they didn't know what Wei Hongsi was planning, given the current situation, having someone stir things up a bit was a good thing.
They, as the current senior executives, couldn't easily do it, but Wei Hongsi wasn't constrained by that. As long as he didn't cause any major trouble, if Director Dai just said, "Ah, young people," who would actually argue with him?
Wei Hongsi walked up to President Hua, first greeted him, briefly introduced himself, and then sat down beside him.
President Hua was somewhat baffled, but the other party claimed to be a junior from the Cognitive Research Center coming to seek work insights. His words and demeanor were proper, so President Hua couldn't very well chase him away and had to respond perfunctorily.
Little did he expect that once Wei Hongsi opened his mouth, he wouldn't stop. Starting from a minor technical issue, he expanded the discussion, and what he said actually had substance, so President Hua mustered some energy to offer guidance.
It wasn't until the shareholders who had gone to the restroom or for a smoke returned to their seats that Wei Hongsi stood up and said, "Thank you for your guidance, President Hua. I've gained a lot. When I give my formal report later, I hope you won't hesitate to offer your corrections."
President Hua nodded dismissively. "Alright, alright."
Wei Hongsi thanked him again, then headed back to his seat. As he passed by President Yu, he leaned down and said, "President Yu, thank you!"
President Yu frowned and looked at Wei Hongsi, but the young man had already returned to his seat.
The conference room doors closed, the attendees settled into their seats, and the room fell quiet.
Dai Songquan announced the start of the third agenda item.
Wei Hongsi stepped onto the podium, first bowed to the audience in greeting, and then began his report.
Due to the need for case confidentiality, the report couldn't mention the Paradise advertising case or Li Yunxiang's death, so he had modified and packaged the content.
The background analysis of the project was reframed as a discussion of widespread psychological issues in current society. He argued that certain video content, especially the most popular short videos, contained subconscious negative emotional guidance that triggered many adverse effects.
From this entry point, he proposed the need to establish an evaluation standard for negative emotions in video content and to build a comprehensive prevention and treatment system.
He also emphasized that this research was aimed at a national security-level application, holding strategic significance for the company's long-term development.
By this point in the report, he had only just completed the project overview. Wei Hongsi could already see disdain or contempt on the faces of many former executive shareholders.
As for the investor shareholders, most of them had their minds wandering off. If everyone's phones hadn't been temporarily confiscated for this meeting on this floor, some would definitely be playing on their phones by now.
Clearly, no matter what he reported, it didn't matter to them. The final result would simply be rejection.
For these people, Wei Hongsi really had no good solution. Most of them had only a superficial understanding of technical matters; perhaps they never intended to understand from the start.
But those former executive shareholders were the ones he had to find a way to get to speak.
Usually, those listening to a report would wait until it was over to offer their opinions. But Wei Hongsi strongly suspected these shareholders wouldn't give him that opportunity.
If they acted like they did when listening to the second half's R&D investment budget—not taking a stand on the spot and simply voting no at the final decision—it would be no different from hitting him with a sucker punch.
So, after finishing the overview portion of the report, Wei Hongsi stepped down from the podium, walked over to Tai Liqun, and said, "Director Tai, do you think the concept and positioning of my project are quite outstanding?"
Tai Liqun had been navigating the professional world for many years but had never encountered a situation like this. The project applicant's report had barely begun, and he had already come down to seek opinions, and with such brazenness.
A hint of contempt in his eyes, he replied dismissively, "Not bad."
Wei Hongsi smiled and nodded. "Thank you for your affirmation, Director Tai. With your support, my progress will be much smoother."
Tai Liqun nearly laughed in anger. "When did I say I support you?"
Wei Hongsi asked in surprise, "Didn't you just say 'not bad'?"
"'Not bad' means I support you?"
"Well, does 'not bad' mean 'no good'?"
