Chapter 673 - Unexpected Appearance
Long Meng didn't reply immediately but that was enough for Long Hui to confirm that Long Jian told the truth earlier about some board members wanting his resignation. His anxiety intensified until he almost felt like suffocating.
"Calm down, Young Master Hui," Long Meng told him in a low but firm voice. "You'll be fine. We have our own allies in this meeting, you'll see."
He nodded and took a few deep breaths until he finally managed to calm himself again. Indeed, the most important thing for him to do at the moment was to keep his composure. He needed to demonstrate to everyone that he had the ability to keep a cool head in times of overwhelming pressure which was an extremely important requirement to become the head of the company.
Everyone filed inside the large conference room and took their seats. The meeting was scheduled to start in five minutes but not everyone was present yet. There were still people arriving.
Long Hui sat between Long Meng and his superior, the CFO. Directly opposite them sat Long Jian and the COO. They sat close to the head of the table where his father would be sitting once he arrived. Soon, everyone had arrived except for the President-CEO, Long Tengfei. Long Hui took this time to mentally practice how he was going to defend himself against the attacks he expected to be thrown at him shortly.
Two minutes before the scheduled time for the meeting, the door opened and Long Tengfei entered. His right-hand man, Cao Guang, followed closely behind him like always. However, it was the unexpected figure walking beside Long Tengfei that surprised many in the conference room.
Long Hui's expression immediately turned ugly when he saw who it was. It took a few seconds before he was able to smooth out his expression to an impassive one. Fortunately, almost everyone's attention was on the unexpected new arrival so they didn't notice his unbecoming expression.
However, Long Jian noticed and smirked before he, too, smoothed out his own expression.
"Good morning, President Long!"
Long Tengfei nodded. "Good morning, everyone.""Good morning, Xiulan." Long Jian was the first one to greet Iris who arrived with their father.
She flashed everyone her brightest smile, almost blinding them with her breathtaking beauty. It didn't matter if it was male or female. They all found themselves affected by her. She looked fresh and glowing in a vibrant violet business dress. The dress itself was simple and conservative, yet when Iris wore it, it transformed into a high-fashion runway showpiece. Her accessories were minimal and her high heels were lower than usual. Her entire outfit was very business-appropriate, but for some reason, it felt like she was dressed to perform in a grand concert.
"Good morning, Big Brother Jian," she greeted back. "Oh, right. I should call you Deputy COO Long when we're in the company. Please excuse me."
Long Jian waved a hand. "Big Brother Jian is fine. There's no need to be so formal between us. We're siblings, after all."
"Yes, we are."
Long Hui clenched his hands under the table as he watched his half-brother and half-sister chatting with each other and acting as if they were very close. What grated him was that the two were acting as if he didn't exist when he was the eldest brother!
"What is the Young Miss doing here?" Long Meng whispered beside him, so that nobody other than him could hear her.
"She's also a shareholder and has the right to attend this meeting," he replied, immediately knowing the answer despite being surprised at her sudden, unexpected appearance just a few seconds ago.
"Ah, right. I've forgotten that she owns 5%." Long Meng glanced down and saw his clenched hands under the table. "Young Master, please don't worry too much. The young miss might be a shareholder but what does she know about the inner workings of the company? She doesn't understand the work culture here, so she only holds very little power on her own. She won't be able to do anything against you here.""You're right."
Iris went on to greet the other people. Most greeted her back with politeness for the reason that she was a shareholder, if not because she was the President-CEO's daughter.
Some, however, didn't bother to hide their displeasure at her presence. They were the old-fashioned people who still held negative impressions of her from her past reputation as an unreasonable, selfish, conceited, spoiled brat. The previous owner of the 5% shares who refused to sell to her, eventually choosing to sell to Long Hui instead, belonged to this particular group. Iris' expression didn't change. She didn't give a whit about these people.
Two looked extremely excited to the point that they were almost visibly vibrating with happiness. Iris tilted her head to the side, feeling confused by their reaction because she didn't remember meeting these two people before. What she didn't know was that they were actually Black Stars, so of course, it was only expected that they were soaring in exhilaration upon meeting their Boss Iris, their queen goddess, in the flesh! If they weren't in an important business meeting right now, they would have already fangirled and fanboyed over Iris and asked her to sign autographs and take pictures with them before bragging about the unforgettable experience to their fellow Black Stars online. In fact, they were already making plans on doing exactly that after the meeting.
Finally, Iris greeted Long Hui and Elder Long Meng, saving them for the last. Others didn't bother thinking too much about the order she greeted everyone, assuming that she did it randomly. To Long Hui and Long Meng, however, they believed that she did it intentionally to mock them and tell them that they were at the bottom rung of importance to her.
Well, they were half-correct.
Iris indeed greeted everyone at random but left Long Hui and Long Meng for last because she didn't want to ruin her mood so quickly and affect her interactions with the others.