Chapter 572 The First Loss (1)



A day later, Zhan Yahui walked along the corridors of Shi Publishing towards the conference room where an important meeting was set with the board. She flashed a smile at all the employees greeting her but inwardly, she was extremely furious at this last minute meeting.

That bitch Shi Zhelan! The moment her daughter got out of trouble, she didn't waste any time to call for this meeting!

Zhan Yahui didn't have to guess what her agenda was. It was plain and simple.

To kick her out of Shi Publishing. Shi Zhelan would now naturally pin point all of her fallacies and failure in protecting Huan, which she would use as a reason to single her out.

I won't back out. No matter what you throw at me, I won't let this power slip out of my hands…

She stopped in her steps for a moment and looked down at her trembling palms.

After waiting for so long, I am finally here. I am finally at a place where I could fight with that bastard Liu Jun at an equal footing. No way I would lose now.

She sneered.

As long as Yao Guo and the other shareholders with him are on my side, Shi Zhelan cannot do anything.

With this confidence, she opened the door to the conference room and stepped in with a curt smile on her lips. "Good morning, everyone. This meeting is called on a very short notice, isn't it?"

There was a hint of tension and unease in the air, which Zhan Yahui felt to be quite odd. She glanced at Shi Zhelan, who looked to be in a good mood.

Wipe that smirk off your face you bitch, Zhan Yahui inwardly snorted. You are gonna lose today. Again.

Shi Shuren kept quiet but with his body language clearly showing signs of stress, which she didn't care about.

Zhan Yahui took her seat and addressed all the board members. "I believe I know what this meeting has been set for and by whom. I am well aware of Sky's press conference. Naturally, I am deeply disturbed by our employee Lu Bohai's actions. I am glad he is out of the company and taken in by the police for questioning. Of course, Shi Publishing will issue an apology for all the misgivings that Sky's Chief Editor, Miss. Sun Bai, had to face because of Lu Bohai."

Shi Zhelan sneered. "Aren't we a little late in our apology? Sky didn't waste a single moment apologizing to my daughter on behalf of their newbie author's false accusations against her. And this is when CEO Liu proved that somebody…" She narrowed her eyes, "pulled the strings and ordered Cui Fen to do things in their favor. In a sense, poor Cui Fen was a naive innocent girl who was just a new joiner in Sky, and somebody took advantage of the fact."

Zhan Yahui smiled. "Whether there was this person to pull strings or not in the first place is yet to be proved, Mrs. Shi."

"Both Lu Bohai and Cui Fen have admitted that somebody was telling them what to do."

"But Sky hasn't gotten a name yet. Until then, this theory doesn't hold water at all. Rather than chasing after an invisible shadow, we better work towards the betterment of our company, shouldn't we?"

Shi Zhelan pointedly said, "Aren't you being too quick to dismiss this 'invisible shadow?' As if you want everyone to forget about the matter. Which reminds me that such similar ambiguity happened at the Authors' Summit too. One of the judges even died. I wonder if it's the same person behind all this…"

She didn't outwardly take any name, simply expressed her guesses yet the air turned more stifling. 

Zhan Yahui wished she could strangle Shi Zhelan, but she had to maintain her composure. "I am sure this meeting is not set to discuss conspiracy theories."

"It surely isn't, but it's fine to talk about it a little, right? After all, my Huan had fallen sick and had to be dismissed from the competition. The two judges had set their minds to make Cai Guiying win, which…is a writer under you, is she not? So convenient for you and Dream High."

The atmosphere became more suffocating with Shi Zhelan's indirect nuances at Zhan Yahui.

"I hope you don't mean what I think you mean, Mrs. Shi. That's defamation without any evidence, and I could charge you for it."

Shi Zhelan chuckled. "What's wrong Zhan Yahui? You look very edgy today. You were so calm and confident the day you took the CEO's seat but now you seem to be riled up. Are you okay?"

I will fucking kill this woman! She gnashed her jaw inwardly.

"I am sorry for my rudeness Mrs. Shi as you are an elder, but aren't you wasting everybody's time here?"

"My apologies. I only thought I would be a little gracious and let you enjoy your position for some more time."

Zhan Yahui squinted her gaze. "What do you mean?"

"It's very simple," she smiled. "You primarily took over the position to help Huan. But instead of you doing your job, Sky did it themself."

Her brow twitched ever so slightly.

Shi Zhelan snorted. "Can you believe it? A company proved a writer of their rival company innocent when it was supposed to be Shi Publishing taking charge. Sure, Liu Jun's cousin was also involved, but I am sure Huan was in a more dire situation than Chen Yunru. Liu Jun could have easily handled his matter internally in the company but what about Huan? We are all very grateful to Sky, but what did you do?"

Zhan Yahui grimaced. "Finding evidence and proving someone's innocence is not a child's play. I was doing my very best to help Shi Huan and it was taking time. I assured you that I will definitely take her out of this pinch, but I didn't commit that I would be able to do this so soon."

"But Sky did."

"You are giving Liu Jun too much credit. He might have very well taken quick action only for his brother's sake and here you are thinking that he was so kind to Shi Huan. You are assuming a bit too much for your own good, Mrs Shi."

She snickered. "I think you are simply trying to run away from taking any responsibility for the lack of your actions and instead dragging Liu Jun down who did his job. But that ends here, Zhan Yahui. We are taking back the CEO authority you hold."