Chapter 141: Clash (2) |
The shareholders who raised objections mainly challenged the proposal around two points: "excessively high R&D investment" and "high project risk." But upon closer examination, one could see that their emphases were still somewhat different.
This distinction could be broadly summarized as "blocking" versus "guiding."
The former was represented by President Hu. Although the questions he raised were relatively objective—such as unclear budgets, lack of quantified data, absence of risk contingency plans, and so on—his purpose was to use these points to block Wei Hongsi's mouth and tell him this project simply wouldn't work.
Most of the shareholders who spoke belonged to this category.
The latter was represented by President Hua. He raised issues like technical barriers, patent layouts, team building, and so forth. While questioning, he also offered some guidance, essentially telling Wei Hongsi that to reduce project risk, these problems must be resolved.
Those with similar views included President Liu, who had been taking a wait-and-see approach.
Their remarks were influenced by their technical backgrounds, but this was also an external manifestation of a subconscious inclination.
During the subsequent presentation, Wei Hongsi responded to the issues raised by the various shareholders, using this opportunity to further probe their attitudes. At this point, a clearer distinction could be seen.
The "blocking faction" shareholders either looked displeased, seemingly not expecting Wei Hongsi to have a countermove that defused their earlier objections, while also harboring more resentment toward this scheming young man—with Tai Liqun being the most obvious example;
The "guiding faction" shareholders, in contrast, responded relatively mildly, with less aggressive wording, and sometimes even a hint of appreciation appeared on their faces.
At this point, Wei Hongsi knew that his task was basically complete.
Although the "guiding faction" shareholders were few in number, Director Dai didn't need the support of a majority of shareholders. As long as three or four people could change their stance and support the company's development direction, it would be enough to achieve an absolute majority (two-thirds).
In the latter part of the presentation, Wei Hongsi no longer needed to deliberately pull strings; shareholders with opinions would speak up on their own. And once the content entered the technical domain, he handled it with ease, even sharing some cutting-edge industry trends along the way to support his arguments.
Most of the shareholders either didn't understand the technology or were retired or semi-retired, no longer familiar with industry developments. So Wei Hongsi felt these explanations were quite necessary.
But for different listeners, the feelings they took away were vastly different.
Tai Liqun was among those who found it increasingly unpleasant to listen, feeling like this young guy was teaching him a lesson. Some of the content was clearly directed at him, as if mocking him for being outdated.
Wei Hongsi finished his presentation, walked to the front, and bowed: "That concludes my report. Thank you all for listening. Thank you for the guidance, seniors. I appreciate it!"
The group of current senior executives seated in the observer section led the applause.
Dai Songquan clapped as he looked left and right.
The shareholders' applause was sparse and perfunctory at best. A few people remained completely unmoved, though President Hua and President Liu's applause was relatively sincere.
This gave Dai Songquan considerable comfort. Not everyone was blind to industry trends, and not everyone viewed him as an enemy.
Wei Hongsi stepped down and walked toward his seat.
As he passed behind Tai Liqun, Tai Liqun turned his head to look at him and said, "Kid, no matter how much scheming you do, it's useless. This project won't fly with me!"
Wei Hongsi paused his steps and said with a faint smile, "I know."
Tai Liqun felt like he had punched empty air. His chest tightened as blood surged upward, and he desperately wanted to grab this detestable young man and beat him up.
Wei Hongsi walked toward his seat. Some executives raised their hands to applaud him, while others gave him a thumbs-up. Wei Hongsi smiled and nodded at them before sitting down.
Dai Songquan heard the applause behind him stop, then spoke into the microphone: "Director Tai, do you need another break?"
Tai Liqun pulled a long face and said, "No need. Let's speed up the agenda and wrap things up early. I have other plans tonight."
Dai Songquan said, "Director Tai might not need a break, but we should ask others too."
"Director Dai, I need to use the restroom," Jiang Kai said as he stood up, then smiled at the shareholders and added, "Sorry, everyone. I'm not getting any younger either."
Dai Songquan said, "Then let's take a short break. Try to keep it within five minutes. We don't want to interfere with Director Tai's evening plans."
"Alright." Jiang Kai acknowledged, then left his seat and walked out. As he passed Tai Liqun, he said to him, "Director Tai, sorry about that."
Seeing Jiang Kai take the lead, several shareholders also left their seats to use the restroom.
Wei Hongsi's presentation had consumed quite a bit of time during the Q&A session, lasting over an hour in total. Many people hadn't used the restroom during the previous break and had drunk plenty of water and eaten a fair amount of fruit during the meeting, so they really did need to go now.
Additionally, some shareholders were heavy smokers who couldn't light up during the meeting. After enduring for over an hour, they had basically reached their limit and took the opportunity to step out for a fix.
These people were in the same camp as Tai Liqun, but while they didn't say it out loud, they resented him deeply in their hearts.
Just because you're inconvenienced, does that mean no one else needs to go? Just because you have plans tonight, does that mean no one else does? If you really have something that important, why didn't you arrange things in advance?
In truth, many knew that Tai Liqun was just making a fuss, but his excessively selfish attitude was really hard to accept.
Seeing a large group of people stream out, almost as if deliberately undermining him, Tai Liqun's face turned extremely dark.
His gaze shifted to an investor shareholder across from him. The man gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Tai Liqun nodded slightly in return, then leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.
Truth be told, he kind of wanted to use the restroom himself at this point. After all, he was in his mid-fifties, and certain organs weren't functioning as well as they used to.
But since he had just spoken so definitively, he couldn't very well slap himself in the face. So he made up his mind: not a single sip of water until the next break.
Jiang Kai used the restroom and returned in less than five minutes. But the other shareholders who went to the restroom or for a smoke didn't trickle back until seven or eight minutes later.
Seeing everyone had returned, Dai Songquan announced the start of the next agenda item.
This item was a discussion on the equity incentive plan, presented on behalf of Dai Songquan and the Board of Directors by Qian Jiayu. Besides being the General Manager of the Risk Response Center, Qian Jiayu also served as the Board Secretary.
The shareholders all knew that Dai Songquan had long wanted to push this through and also wanted to reclaim the 1.5% equity they held on behalf. Since it affected everyone's actual interests, naturally they all listened quite carefully.
