The Heart of a Smith

Chapter 56: Curtains Closing

(Unedited)

On the other end, the voting in the conference room had also reached the climax. The number of votes on both sides continued to increase neck-and-neck. The tense atmosphere enveloped the conference room. Fortunately, except for the initial three shareholders who changed sides, everyone else voted as Li Sui had anticipated. In the end, Li Sui only had 6% less than expected.

Although they had done their best, they still made a wrong move and fell short. Li Sui felt disappointment surging in his heart. The feeling of disappointment had yet reach its height when Fang Miao walked up to cast the final vote, with trembling hands, he raised his note, “Li Sui.”

As soon as the two words were uttered, everyone, including Li Sui himself were in a daze. Liu XinTian gave him a dark look, Fang Miao smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He retreated half a step and said clasping his hands together, “I’m sorry, Mr. Liu.”

The dramatic reversal of events disorientated Li Sui, at that moment, he did not realize what had happened. Xe WeiLan was the first to react, “We won.”

In the chaotic room, Li Sui slowly recovered, he was still puzzled and whispered, “Why did he vote for me? Isn’t he a close friend of Liu XinTian?”

Xe WeiLan shook his head and analyzed the situation for him, “Fang Miao is not anyone’s confidant, he is a loyal confidant of money. In the whole company, he has the clearest purpose, he follows whoever that could give him money. He doesn’t think about the company’s prospects, nor does he care about his face. He definitely knows about all the dirty things Liu XinTian did behind people’s back. He originally wanted to leech off of Mr. Lu, but he didn’t pay any attention to his sweet talks, that was why he went to Liu XinTian in the first place. Now, seeing that you actually got the 40% of shares from Lu Shang, it’s quite normal that he’d rather side with you instead.”

Applause rang out in the meeting room. Li Sui stood up, he had sweat all over his palms. He glanced at Fang Miao, the latter was looking back at Li Sui as if he was a huge piece of gold.

Li Sui’s gaze wandered between Fang Miao and Liu XinTian for a moment. Then he took his gaze back. Sure enough, the world was always like this. The people who would side with you immediately when the situation called for it, would also be the people who would abandon you the quickest. Liu XinTian was well versed in this basic principle and he had benefited from it for most of his life, but he never expected to one day fall on that as well.

“Our new chairman is born! Everyone, applauds!” Fang Miao made a fuss.

This person truly didn’t care one bit for his face, he was just so thick skinned that even Li Sui felt a bit embarrassed.

“Who said that this is the new chairman,” Liu XinTian interrupted their applause, the veins on his forehead popped up, “The Meng’s have not arrived yet, what are you all celebrating about?”

The people present discussed and someone said, “Quick, someone call the Meng’s.”

Fang Miao took the lead and pulled out his mobile phone, he dialed Meng XinYou and turned the speaker on.

“Director Fang, what’s the matter?” The phone was picked up quickly.

“Miss Meng, our shareholders’ meeting is almost over. Are you coming or not?”

“I’m still stuck in traffic. I can’t get through.”

“Traffic jam?” Liu XinTian understood now, he glanced over at Li Sui. He was so angry that he pulled the phone from Fang Miao and said, “You Meng’s have helicopters, right? You can come here by helicopter. I’ll pay you the cost.”

“Oh, is that Mr. Liu. Didn’t you read the news? There are air defense drills today, no flights for the entire city, unless you want me dead that is.”

Liu XinTian’s tone froze, “Does official Xu have no opinion on your current actions?”

Meng XinYou was obviously unhappy, “Director Liu, please get things straight. Tong Yan’s shareholder is me and only I can exercise the rights as a shareholder, this is related to the Meng’s family interests. If he supports you, then that’s just something that allow. If I had decided on something, even he have to stand aside. So, are you trying to interfere with my decisions?”

Meng XinYou was not holding back at all, she sounded quite rude. Li Sui almost wanted to bow in admiration for the woman. She was strong and her family was also powerful, so naturally the weight of her words was different from the rest. No wonder even Lu Shang used to be weary of her.

“Then the shareholders’ meeting…” Fang Miao asked in a rush.

“I don’t think I can make it today. I abstain. Anyway, as long as 80% of the shareholders are present, the meeting will still be effective. I have other things to do here. I’m hanging up.” After that, she hung up without hesitation.

There was a few seconds of silence in the conference room, Li Sui didn’t know that Xe WeiLan had already prepared the follow up after they had won. The lawyer quickly took the opportunity to step onto the stage and said, “Everyone, Mr. Li Sui currently owns 40% of the shares, he has 14% of votes on his side, so it is a total of 54%. Due to Miss Meng’s abstention, the total percentage of votes he obtained is 67.5% of the total voting power present. It has exceeded two-thirds of the total, as such he has the right to change the company constitution.”

Liu XinTian stood still for a long time, his eyes fixated on Li Sui, “So this is your goal?”

Li Sui looked back at him with blazing eyes, “What else?”

There were warm applause in the conference room. Li Sui walked past him and up the stage, he looked at all the different faces below and said, “Thank you for your trust in me. From today onwards, I will be temporarily dealing with all of Tong Yan’s affairs. First of all, I propose abolishing Article 48 in the company constitution. I also suggest changing the company’s nature to a stock corporation at the end of this year, we will strive for listing within five years.”

“Hmn, it’s good to go public.” Fang Miao took the lead in applauding.

Other shareholders looked at each other and applauded sparsely as well after some hesitation.

Li Sui had solid power in his hands now after the voting. Liu XinTian’s people also knew that their upper hand was no more. Even if they hinder Li Sui today, he could just hold another shareholders’ meeting tomorrow. After the papers were passed down, almost everyone signed them.

Liu XinTian was still sitting at the main spot of the conference room, but in the present situation, that position seemed quite ironic. Li Sui noticed that his always straight back seemed to be slouching as the people applauded.

Everything was set now, Liu XinTian fought with the Lu family for half his life, he had exhausted every trick he had up his sleeve, only to final lose to a young boy. Lis Sui tried putting himself in his shoes, surely it was normal for Liu XinTian to feel somewhat depressed.

When the papers were handed to Liu XinTian, he laughed, “How could I have lost to you…”

“You didn’t lose to me,” Li Sui corrected him. “The road leading to today’s result was paved by Lu Shang over years of preparation. I just happened to be the one who picked up his work.”

“So are you happy?” Liu XinTian asked him.

Li Sui did not answer.

“Are you happy, now that you got Tong Yan and lost Lu Shang?” He asked again.

Li Sui clasped his hands together and Xe WeiLan patted him on the back.

At that moment, Li Sui’s cell phone vibrated, he stagnated. He got up and slowly walked to the window. The screen displayed that an advertisement message had arrived. His eyes moved across the screen and his heart shock.

The content was not long. Li Sui moved his hands and opened the advertisement. He stared at the sentence “to unsubscribe, please press ‘Y’”. He looked at it again and again, repeatedly saying it in his heart for three or four times. After confirming that he had indeed read it correctly, he felt his legs go numb and almost fell to his knees.

Xe WeiLan was puzzled and walked up to him nervously, he asked, “What’s wrong? What’s the situation?”

Li Sui shook his head, he pursed his lips together and tried his best to hide his feelings. He turned back to Liu XinTian and said with his usual expression, “You should sign it. Your provocation won’t work on me anymore.”

His heart had long been with Lu Shang, not even a little bit remained here with him.

Everyone was exhausted at the end of the day. Li Sui walked out of Tong Yan’s front door. He heard curses and scorns, some more obvious than others, some had his name in them, but he did not care. Those had nothing to do with him.

On snowy days, the sky got dark earlier, Li Sui could barely see the dim streetlights that were in the distance. The cold wind made the snow dance like feathers floating in air, merrily landing on his feet and melting instantly.

“Director Li, please, may I take up some of your time?” Someone called him from behind.

Li Sui turned his head back and saw Fang Miao walking to him quickly. He smiled and rubbed his hands together, “Hmn… I was blinded before. I apologize for the nuisance I caused director Lu.”

Fang Miao was truly a thick-skinned person, but he was smart, Li Sui could admit that at least. Instead of apologizing to him directly, Fang Miao apologized for what he did to Lu Shang. Li Sui was worrying about Lu Shang, so he was not in the mood to go back and forth with him, “If you have something to say, just say it.”

Fang Miao looked around and pulled Li Sui to a corner, then he whispered, “I’ve come to beg you for something. You know, Liu XinTian has done a lot of bad stuff. I’ve followed him for two years and know a lot of his secrets. Now that I’m up against him, I’m afraid he won’t let me go…”

Looking into the distance, Li Sui sighed softly, “If you know he’s bad news, then why did you follow him in the first place?”

Fang Miao rubbed his hands together again, “Yes, you are right, it’s my own fault, but can please help me this once, for the favor I did for you today?”

Li Sui glanced at him and thought, “I can, but there is one condition.”

“Yes?”

“I want you to be a witness in court to testify against Liu XinTian.”

“But…”

“Yes or no, decide yourself. But, I can promise you, as long as you testify against him, I will guarantee that he will never get the chance to harm you again.”

After hearing that, Fang Miao almost immediately nodded his head with zero thinking, “Yes, I’ll testify.”

That evening, Xe WeiLan went to the police station with Fang Miao and all the evidences he had collected. Li Sui waited anxiously and kept circling outside the door until they came out. He rushed up immediately and asked, “How is it?”

Xe WeiLan said, “The case has been submitted, the arrest is expected to be approved within three days.”

“Three more days?” Li Sui’s voice collapsed. “I can’t wait for three days.”

Xe WeiLan got Fang Miao away and pulled Li Sui into the car, he comforted him by saying, “I know you are in a hurry, I am too, but this is a sensitive period, you must not make any mistakes. Or else all the work that you’ve done will go down the drain, endure it.”

“How can I endure it?” Li Sui rubbed his temples in pain. “Lu Shang is struggling between life and death and I couldn’t even stay by his side?”

Xe WeiLan sighed, “If he can get through the operation, I’m sure he will pull through this period as well. There are many things waiting for you in Tong Yan. You are the new director of the company, you can’t disappear as soon as you got the position, at least not the first few days. The shareholders are just barely standing on our side, you can’t fall short of their expectations. Liu XinTian will be trying everything to fight back. If he isn’t gone, you can’t relax either.”

Li Sui buried his head deep in his own arms.

Xe WeiLan was not assured, so he brought Li Sui all the way home before leaving. In recent days, Li Sui had been either intentionally or subconsciously avoiding the Lu family house. He felt that as long as Lu Shang was not there, then something was missing, and that this was no longer his home. Although in Lu Shang’s will, the house was given to him and Li Sui could pretty much guess why Lu Shang decided that. Lu Shang must have thought that as they lived together in this place for seven years, even if Lu Shang was not there, it could still be a place for Li Sui to return to. However, Li Sui knew for sure that his place of belonging was never this house, but the owner of the house.

Li Sui hasn’t been here for a few days, but the lawn in the yard had been repaired, and the snow on the pavement had been cleaned up. Even in Lu Shang’s absence, Uncle Yuen continued working.

When Li Sui entered the house, two dim wall lamps were still turned on in the living room, the fire in the fireplace had gone out, leaving only burnt wood. The pair of turtles in the corner of the living room had been scratching the glass container for two days to no avail, so they just gave up and hid themselves into their shells and hibernated.

Everything was horribly quiet. Li Sui went back out and slowly sat down on the steps leading to the door, he watched the snow drift down and pile up layer by layer onto the yard.

He had already forgotten which winter it was, but he had a small fight with Lu Shang. Li Sui sat at this exact spot and made a bamboo fishing stand. When Lu Shang came back from the airport, he saw Li Sui sitting at the door, Lu Shang was still angry, but he didn’t have the heart to let him freeze outside, he opened the door and hurried Li Sui in the house.

The memories came back as if they happened yesterday, it was so clear that he felt as if he could just reach out his hand and grasp those slightly cold hands.

Time flies like a shuttle bus. In the blink of an eye, so many years had passed by. Lu Shang once said to him with guilt, if Li Sui hadn’t met him when he was young, maybe he would have a normal childhood and perhaps a better life. But Li Sui thought, he could never have a better life, as the one he had now was already the best one in the world.

God is fair, all the pain you have suffered will one day be repaid in a different way, telling you that all is not in vain. And at the end of his misery, after all the hardships and wandering, standing at the end was the gentle and kind man he knew, wearing a kind and warm smile.

The snow weighed on a tree branch in the yard, it cracked being unable to bear with the weight. After a gust of strong wind, it finally turned from dangling to falling.

Li Sui snapped out of his thoughts, he looked at the yard for a long time. Then he got up and went over to pick the tree branch up. The size and shape was right and the wood texture was good as well. Li Sui brushed the snow off, he took out a small knife and sat back on the doorstep, he began to shave the wood.

A few years ago, the fishing rack he made for Lu Shang got washed into the lake. He didn’t have the time to make a new one for him. As Lu Shang’s hands were always too weak because of the illness, holding a fishing rod for a long time would hurt, so he needed a rack to help.

Li Sui shaved the branch inch by inch seriously, all the slightly sharp parts must be polished in detail, he didn’t want Lu Shang to get hurt after all. He was attentive in his work, he was also plotting and planning. When Lu Shang got better, he would make someone deal with the company, then he could take Lu Shang on a world tour and go to see all the beautiful rivers and mountains the world had to offer. After that, they could taste all kinds of food together.

It snowed for the whole night and he sat on the doorstep for the whole night. When the first glimmer of light appeared in the sky, Li Sui raised up his head, that was when felt a light vibration from his cell phone.

Li Sui was petrified, he dropped the knife to the ground and heard it clatter.

“He pulled through,” even Dr. Leung couldn’t restrain his excitement, against his original plan, he directly messaged Li Sui the three words.

Li Sui stared at the words for a long time, the three simple words only barely registered in his brain, I was sure he had forgotten how to read. After a period of blankness, he jumped up and ran around in the snow-covered yard. He ran several times, then just plunged into the fluffy snow and buried his face in it.

The cold snow woke his body up, and Li Sui gasped violently. He turned over with a laugh and laid on his back, tears were covering his entire face.

This is not a dream, it’s real.

“Lu Shang, thank you, thank you…” He covered his eyes and cried out horribly.

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