Chapter 145: Breaking the Deadlock (3) |
There were only two people in the car. Liu Zhifeng focused on driving, so Wei Hongsi didn't feel it was appropriate to ask too many questions.
After more than ten minutes, the car pulled up in front of a courtyard. It stopped at the entrance for a moment before the iron gate let out a "clang" and swung open automatically.
Liu Zhifeng drove inside and parked in a spot off to the side. Turning to Wei Hongsi, he said, "Engineer Wei, we've arrived."
"Alright." Wei Hongsi acknowledged and got out of the car. He heard another "clang" as the iron gate closed behind him.
Before him lay an open courtyard. Two rather thick ginkgo trees stood within, their trunks over a meter in diameter—likely over a century old. Between the trees was a small pond, its gurgling water lending the space a quiet, serene atmosphere.
Behind the pond stood a two-story building in the style of an early twentieth-century mansion, with a stone foundation, gray tiles, and green bricks, radiating a sense of history.
"Engineer Wei, this way, please." Liu Zhifeng gestured and led the way from slightly ahead.
Wei Hongsi followed him inside, noticing three other cars parked in the spaces besides the one they'd arrived in.
The two of them passed through the building and walked along a corridor behind it until they reached a room.
Wei Hongsi nodded and stepped inside. He turned past the entryway and saw a large square table with four people seated around it.
Facing him at the head of the table was Dai Songquan, with President Hua and President Liu seated on his left and right. The figure with his back turned to Wei Hongsi appeared to be Ji Yongsheng.
"Hongsi's here!" Dai Songquan waved him over with a smile.
Wei Hongsi stepped forward and greeted everyone. Ji Yongsheng patted the armrest of the chair beside him, where a set of utensils had been laid out. Wei Hongsi took a seat next to him.
The table held seven or eight exquisite dishes, only a small portion of which had been eaten. Each person had a wine pot and cup in front of them, giving off a strong aroma of alcohol, though it didn't seem they had drunk much.
President Hua looked at Wei Hongsi and asked, "Do you drink?"
Wei Hongsi replied with a smile, "No, I don't."
President Hua let out a soft sigh and said, "Young people these days don't like drinking anymore, especially baijiu."
President Liu said, "It's not that strange. Drinking feels nice, but the stuff itself really doesn't taste good. Right, young man?"
Sensing there was more to their words, Wei Hongsi replied, "I don't drink for personal health reasons. Quite a few of my classmates do drink, though mostly beer."
"I think it's a natural choice based on different eras and age groups. I've heard black coffee doesn't taste good either, but plenty of people still drink it."
President Liu chuckled twice and asked, "So, by your reasoning, baijiu is already outdated for young people?"
Wei Hongsi asked in return, "President Liu, do you ever drink other alcoholic beverages besides baijiu? Like red wine, whiskey, or something like that?"
President Liu was momentarily taken aback.
Dai Songquan laughed and said, "Old Liu, don't you sometimes drink beer too? It's just a medium—why get so worked up about it?"
President Liu shook his head with a smile and said, "Alright then, let's have a toast together. Young man, what will you drink?"
"I'll go with mineral water," Wei Hongsi said.
Someone quickly brought him two bottles of mineral water. President Liu told him to pour it into a wine pot, then picked up his own pot. "Cheers!"
Seeing this, Dai Songquan looked troubled. "Old Liu, let's take it slow."
The pot contained nearly two liang of alcohol—downing it in one go was quite a lot.
President Liu laughed. "When Grandmaster Tai and I signed that treaty under duress with you, can't you at least let us save a little face?"
Hearing this, President Hua also raised his wine pot.
"What treaty under duress?" Dai Songquan retorted.
"Then surely this isn't a 'Banquet at Hongmen,' is it?" President Liu pressed.
"You're always obsessing over useless things." Dai Songquan helplessly picked up his own wine pot.
President Liu then looked at Ji Yongsheng and Wei Hongsi, who also raised their pots.
The five of them drained their drinks in one go. President Liu drank with unrestrained abandon, President Hua with generous heroism, Director Dai with a grimace, President Ji with a forced smile, and only President Wei drank without showing any expression.
But despite their varied expressions, that single pot of alcohol finally loosened everyone's tongues, and the table suddenly grew lively.
Drawing on the experience he'd learned from Li Xuan, Wei Hongsi stood up and refilled the wine pots of the four others.
From their conversation, he learned that President Hua and President Liu had reached a consensus with Director Dai—they would align with him on future board decisions, while Director Dai had fully guaranteed their interests.
Such matters couldn't be settled by words alone; the three of them had signed an agreement in black and white. Though the details were unknown, Director Dai had clearly achieved his goal, which was why President Liu had used the phrase "treaty under duress."
Wei Hongsi couldn't help but feel astonished. The meeting had only ended two hours ago in the afternoon, and these two had already shifted their stance—they made their decision remarkably quickly.
What he didn't know was that President Hua and President Liu had sized up the situation and made a deliberate choice after careful consideration. Once they had thought things through clearly, there was no more hesitation.
Among the former shareholders, President Hua and President Liu had been among the last to leave Zhiwei, and they had no major conflicts with Dai Songquan. The grudges from back then had long since faded with time.
Earlier, Tai Liqun had been the one organizing things, stirring people up to push for Zhiwei's listing. Since it benefited everyone, they naturally had no reason to object.
At first, they hadn't known Dai Songquan's stance, nor had they expected him to be so firmly opposed. From a wealth-growth perspective, Old Dai stood to gain the most. Back when they started the company together, going public had been the shared goal of everyone, including Dai Songquan.
It wasn't until the matter was formally raised at the board meeting that they learned Dai Songquan's opinion, leaving them unable to understand it for quite some time.
Both men had technical backgrounds, and after that, they began paying attention to Zhiwei's development again. Gradually, they came to understand Dai Songquan's reasoning.
So this time, they had attended the board meeting with a "wait and see" attitude, which was why they weren't strongly opposed to Wei Hongsi's project proposal.
But people always have their selfish motives. If Dai Songquan had been swept up by Tai Liqun's agitation and agreed to the listing, they would have been happy to see it happen.
However, when they saw Dai Songquan skip the voting process and directly adjourn the meeting, they knew Old Dai had made up his mind to cut through the tangled mess swiftly.
Based on their understanding of Dai Songquan, anything he was determined to do, he would almost certainly accomplish. Otherwise, Zhiwei wouldn't have developed to where it was today under his leadership.
And Old Dai was not lacking in methods. If he had managed to oust the others from the company back then, did they really think he had no way to deal with the scattered shares now?
That equity incentive plan looked more like a blade Old Dai had raised. Where would the 15% of shares to be placed in the option pool come from? They had to think carefully about that.
Once they gave that question serious thought, the choice was not difficult to make.
