Lin Shiya’s face flashed with a hint of displeasure before she quickly returned to her usual composure.
"Alright, everyone is here. Let's officially begin our dinner."
She signaled the waiter to serve the dishes, then looked around at everyone with a smile.
"I'd like to say a few words. Recently, the company has been following up on a new energy materials project, and we've now made breakthrough progress. The contract is basically finalized and will be signed very soon."
"Throughout this follow-up process, Manager Xu has performed exceptionally well. Whether in terms of planning or decision-making, he has shown great foresight."
"Our proposal has also received full affirmation from President Zhou. Therefore, I have decided to award Xu Lang a bonus of 200,000 yuan!"
As soon as these words were spoken,
the room fell into absolute silence.
As key members of the company, everyone knew the truth in their hearts.
The reason the new energy materials project proceeded so smoothly was entirely because President Zhou was giving Su Chen face.
If credit were to be given and rewards distributed, it should have gone to Su Chen.
Those plans and policies had all been personally devised by Su Chen from start to finish.
It wasn't that Xu Lang had contributed nothing, but all he did was run errands and handle printing tasks!
If even Xu Lang could get a bonus of 200,000 yuan,
then how much would Su Chen get?
Although nobody said anything out loud, everyone was secretly guessing.
At that moment,
Lin Shiya's voice sounded once again.
"I've finished what I wanted to say. Let's all give a round of applause to congratulate Manager Xu on receiving his bonus."
With that, she took the lead and began to clap.
Everyone was struck dumb with astonishment.
Wasn't Lin Shiya being far too partial?
With just a few words, she had completely buried all of Su Chen's contributions!
Amidst the general shock, Secretary Zhang suddenly stood up.
"President Lin, when it comes to following up on this project, Vice President Su contributed the most by far. President Zhou himself said that without Vice President Su, he would never have signed the contract with us."
"Moreover, in order to formulate the proposal, Vice President Su worked straight through several consecutive nights of overtime and conducted a tremendous amount of research..."
"Zhang Xi!"
Su Chen interrupted in a cold voice.
"Sit down and eat!"
"But, Vice President Su, this isn't fair!"
"Sit down!"
Su Chen reiterated firmly.
He was indeed sick, but he wasn't yet so weak that he needed his secretary to speak up for him.
Zhang Xi's face was full of bitter reluctance.
Even if President Lin favored someone, she couldn't just ignore Vice President Su's hard work.
However, as Su Chen's secretary, since Su Chen told her to sit down,
she had no choice but to bite her tongue and obey.
Lin Shiya glanced around the table.
"Everyone is well aware of Vice President Su's abilities, and everything he did was simply part of his duties."
"On the contrary, I feel that Xu Lang has only recently joined the company, yet his development has progressed by leaps and bounds—that is something much more worthy of our recognition!"
"Once the contract is signed, the company will also hold a celebration banquet for Manager Xu in the name of the entire team."
Just as her voice faded away,
"Clap!"
"Clap!"
"Clap!"
Su Chen took the lead in applauding, and actively stood up from his seat.
"When it comes to following up on the project, Xu Lang has indeed worked very hard. To be able to make President Zhou sign a contract with the Lin Group at a price lower than cost is truly a remarkable feat."
"Why don't you share with us how you managed to convince President Zhou?"
"There are outsiders present today as well, and such rare experience is worth sharing, isn't it?"
Before his voice had even died away,
everyone was struck dumb, and you could hear a pin drop in the room.
Xu Lang was shivering uncontrollably, looking thoroughly flustered and uneasy.
It was true that he was in charge of this project.
However, the follow-up process had been exceptionally difficult, and after half a month, there hadn't been the slightest bit of progress.
President Zhou had even put the word out that if Xu Lang bothered him again, he would block his number.
Xu Lang hadn't dared to act rashly and could only wait passively.
Yet who could have imagined that two days ago, President Zhou had suddenly completely changed his attitude—not only taking the initiative to call him, but also stating that he wanted to sign the contract at a price below cost!
Why?
Who on earth knew why?
Now that Su Chen was asking him to explain his experience, what kind of experience could he possibly talk about?
He certainly couldn't just say that President Zhou was getting senile or had lost his mind!
"President Zhou... thinks highly of our company and sees development potential in it, plus... after all, new energy has now penetrated all walks of life; although new energy vehicles have just started out, President Zhou is very optimistic about them."
"Even if he's optimistic, he wouldn't do a losing business, would he?"
"This... perhaps..."
Faced with Su Chen's relentless questioning, a layer of sweat broke out across Xu Lang's forehead.
"Su Chen, there's no need to make things so awkward for everyone. Xu Lang is a newcomer, you should be more tolerant."
Lin Shiya's face instantly darkened, her cautionary words carrying a distinct undertone of threat.
"Tolerant? I've been played around with by the two of you, and you damn well expect me to be tolerant? Xu Lang doesn't know a damn thing about what actually happened. You can afford to be lenient with him, but don't expect me to do the same!"
"I just find this whole thing sickening."
Su Chen sneered, his words dripping with sarcasm.
Xu Lang stood up with a sob in his voice.
"Brother Su, you've already hit me today, so that should be enough to vent your anger. I really am..."
Before Xu Lang could finish, Su Chen had already taken out his phone and pressed the speakerphone button in front of everyone.
The moment the call went through, a steady, calm male voice came from the other end.
"Little Brother Su, what made you think of calling me today?"
"President Zhou, do you have a moment right now? Let's chat."
"Good, good, good. Let me dismiss this meeting first, and we can talk right away."
Before the others could even collect their thoughts, they heard the voice on the phone announce that the meeting was adjourned.
Immediately afterward, the man's voice suddenly turned excited.
"Little Brother Su, have you thought it over? If you decide to come over to my side, I'll add another 500,000 to your annual salary! An annual salary of 3.5 million, plus 15% in founding shares, and you have the final say in the company with the position of president—how does that sound?"
Hearing those numbers,
the jaws of everyone present nearly hit the floor!
An annual salary of 3.5... million!
15% in founding shares!
President of the company?
This was Su Chen's true value!
Lin Shiya was also dumbfounded, staring at Su Chen in sheer disbelief.
All along,
she had known that quite a few groups were trying to poach Su Chen, but she had never imagined they had already offered such an astronomical price!
Before she even had time to re-evaluate Su Chen,
he had already begun to answer President Zhou's question.
"We can talk about that matter later. That contract we discussed earlier—can it still be changed?"
"Little Brother Su, let me be completely honest with you: I had zero intention of signing any contract with the Su Group. If it weren't for your sake, how could I possibly have agreed to a price below cost? I did it entirely to get into your good graces! The contract is entirely up to you; as long as it's not too outrageous, your big brother here is willing to bleed a little more and grit my teeth to make it happen!"
"Alright then, don't sign it."
"What? We're not signing the contract? Didn't you say you wanted to give your fiancée a surprise?"
The man's voice on the other end of the line was filled with puzzlement.
The corners of Su Chen's mouth curled up.
"No need. She's already someone else's daughter-in-law now, and she and I no longer have anything to do with each other."
"Is that so? Well alright then, contract canceled. My friend, let me say one more thing: Lin Shiya marrying you was marrying way above her station. Not choosing you is her loss, and she can just wait around to regret it!"
"Everyone has their own path to walk, and those on different paths cannot make plans together. I'll hang up for now!"
"Alright, but don't forget, little brother, the doors over here are always open for you. Come whenever you want, and name any terms you like!"
"Got it."
...
Until the phone call ended, not a single sound was uttered in the room.
Su Chen put away his phone.
He looked at the crowd of people who were all wearing blank, bewildered expressions.
"Today, I want everyone here to be my witness: my wedding with Lin Shiya is canceled, and from this moment on, we have no relation whatsoever."
Without waiting for Lin Shiya to speak, Su Chen continued, "Since we once knew each other, consider today's events as my wedding gift to you!"
Lin Shiya's head was buzzing, her pretty little face drained of all color.
Seeing Su Chen turn to leave, she hurriedly shouted, "Su Chen, don't go! Listen to me..."
"Bang!"
The violent slamming of the door made Lin Shiya's body jerk sharply.
In an instant,
not a single person in the vicinity dared to even breathe heavily.
Once out in the corridor, Su Chen dialed another number.
"Doctor Lin, this is Su Chen. I'm all set on my end."
"Please arrange the surgery as soon as possible."
"By the way, I wanted to ask—can our hospital handle organ and body donation all at once?"