Xie Zhenxing still held his chin high. “I told you, I’m not signing this. Dream on if you think you can divide up the assets with me at a time like this!”
Guo Wenli hadn’t expected him to be so stubborn. He still refused to sign, and the look on her face turned ugly.
Xie Shen gave his mother a reassuring smile before facing him directly. “Father, you should sign.”
“I told you—I’ll help Leyuan break free from Leno Capital’s control and save the company.”
“Think carefully, Father. Which is more important: the portion of the assets you’d have to give up in a divorce, or the entire company?”
With that, he glanced at Xie Zhenxing, who was desperately trying to interrupt. “Don’t rush to argue. Think about it carefully. Do you even have a choice?”
“Are you counting on that useless bastard son of yours to get you through this crisis? Then ask him whether he has the ability to do it.”
His words were aimed directly at Li Boyan. Li Boyan’s face turned livid, and the words seemed to be forced out through clenched teeth. “I may have misjudged Leno Capital, but there’s no need for you to be so arrogant!”
“The projects I invested in for Dad have made enough profit to prove my ability.”
“Besides, you haven’t been with the company for long either. What makes you so sure you can get it through this crisis?!”
Xie Zhenxing did not refute Li Boyan’s words. Xie Shen had returned from studying abroad less than two years ago and had only truly joined the company a little over a year ago.
Of course he didn’t believe that Xie Shen could hold his own against the old fogies on the board, much less deal with Leno Capital, which they had practically invited into the house.
What could a young man like him possibly do? Even if he was currently on good terms with the main branch of the Xie family, Lu Huaiyu wasn’t the sort of person who would casually lend a hand.
So Xie Zhenxing simply didn’t believe that Xie Shen had really managed to climb onto Lu Huaiyu’s towering tree.
Xie Shen could naturally see exactly what the father and son were plotting. Once again, he was grateful that he had inherited his mother’s excellent genes.
Thankfully, he hadn’t inherited the scumbag’s stupidity.
The only reason Xie Zhenxing had managed to become chairman of Leyuan was that his late father had paved the way for him far too thoroughly.
That was precisely why Xie Shen had gone to such lengths to push Leyuan, step by step, into its current predicament.
Many members of the board had been left behind by his grandfather. They could hardly be called loyal to Xie Zhenxing.
But unless those people were driven out, Xie Shen would never be able to take true control of all Leyuan.
“Mr. Li, you make it sound wonderful, but are you sure you can even understand the company’s financial statements? You’ve gotten lucky a few times and now you really think you’re the chosen one in some novel?”
“A middle-school dropout who spent years stealing and causing trouble, then spent several more years singing and dancing in the entertainment industry—now he’s switched halfway into the business world and become a god? Are you kidding me?”
“And don’t tell me you taught yourself. I admit that in this vast world, geniuses like that do exist. But you? A shameless, self-important, two-faced idiot? Absolutely not!”
“I already had someone test you. You couldn’t even understand the proposal for the most basic small-scale project. Only a fool like Father would hand a project over to you!”
“The old fossils on the board are just as stupid. That’s how we ended up in this mess.”
He addressed Li Boyan as “Father” with impeccable respect, but every word he said sounded as though he were trying to anger his father to death and then visit his grave.
Li Boyan was furious and humiliated. “You…”
He managed to say “you” several times, but couldn’t get anything else out.
What could he say? That he was the child of destiny and the world was supposed to revolve around him? That he had been reborn and knew everything that would happen in the future?
If he really dared to say that, he would probably be lying on a dissection table in some research institute the next second.
Besides, everything Xie Shen had said was true. Without the aura of destiny, Li Boyan was nothing more than an utterly ordinary man.
The vein in Xie Zhenxing’s temple throbbed as his blood pressure shot straight up.
“You’re good at making snide remarks, but don’t forget that you also own shares in the company. If the company collapses, you won’t benefit either!”
“The company is in desperate need of working capital right now. Even if we get divorced, I don’t have any assets to give you!”
Xie Shen might not have been as shameless as Lu Huaiyu, but he was just as ruthless when it came to playing dirty. With a flick of his lips, he delivered an even more infuriating reply.
“No divorce and no division of assets? Then we can go down together. I don’t mind causing Leyuan a little more trouble at a time like this.”
“I have hands and feet. It’s not as if I can’t survive without the company. The question is whether you can survive without it.”
“If the company really collapses or falls into someone else’s hands, I wonder whether my grandfather, who’s been dead for so many years, will be angry enough to rise from his grave.”
Xie Zhenxing was once again enraged half to death. It was a wonder he still hadn’t suffered some kind of medical emergency.
Xie Shen secretly thought that his father was shameless beyond belief—and felt faintly disappointed that he hadn’t actually keeled over.
Xie Zhenxing took several deep breaths and forced himself to calm down. When he looked at his son again, there was a new scrutiny in his eyes.
“All you want is to use this opportunity to force me out of my position. You want to swallow up all of Leyuan. Do you have the ability to do that?”
Xie Shen casually raised a hand, unwilling to waste any more time arguing with him. “Then take a look at these first.”
The young assistant, who had been waiting nearby for some time, immediately handed Xie Zhenxing the evidence they had gone to considerable lengths to obtain against many members of the board.
Naturally, that evidence included Xie Zhenxing as well.
Misappropriation of company funds, embezzlement, bribery, malicious competition using insider information—their entire list of criminal activities had been laid out in meticulous detail.
There were even official seals and audio recordings to back it all up.
When Xie Zhenxing saw the contents, his face paled. “How did you get these?”
He truly hadn’t expected Xie Shen to uncover even matters this secret.
Some time ago, he had misappropriated company funds to invest in the supposedly guaranteed-profit projects recommended by Li Boyan. He had planned to return the money once the investments paid off.
Those projects had indeed turned a profit at first, so he had reinvested the earnings. He never expected problems to arise afterward.
Every cent he had put in was lost. There was no way he could replace the company funds he had taken.
“What exactly are you trying to do? Are you planning to send your own father to prison?”
At that moment, Xie Zhenxing had no choice but to take Xie Shen seriously. This was the son he had always believed was inferior to Li Boyan. Who would have thought his methods had already become this ruthless?
The materials in his hands contained not only evidence of the board’s past crimes.
They even detailed how, after Leno Capital injected funds into Leyuan, the board members had colluded with one another, embezzled money, and fawned over Leno Capital.
Xie Shen smiled and had his assistant hand Xie Zhenxing another document—a share transfer agreement.
“Sign it.”
“If you sign, I’ll cover the company funds you misappropriated. If you refuse, I’ll transfer my shares immediately and take the money anyway.”
“I won’t even have to clean up the mess Leyuan is in now. For me, it would merely mean losing one avenue for sustainable development.”
“But you? You’ll be going to prison.”
Xie Zhenxing’s face looked as though he had been dead for three days. “Are you threatening me?”
Guo Wenli and Xie Shen rolled their eyes at the same time.
“Obviously!”
Wasn’t it blatantly clear? Why was he still asking questions like an idiot?
