The shareholder huffed. "I have also read the rule book. He has twenty minutes after the meeting has officially started to arrive. You can't terminate him until that time is crossed!" he claimed.

  The speaker nodded. "Indeed."

  But it was highly disrespectful not to be on time at one's own trial. It was saying that he didn't care about the outcome. Qian Meng didn't know which paragraph of the Art of War Bai Ye Qing had taken note of, but this wouldn't work in a scenario where respect for the company and authority was involved.

  "Let's proceed," Mr. Bai announced. "We will wait twenty minutes for Director Bai to arrive. If he doesn't arrive by then, he will be terminated immediately." His voice was confident, leaving no room for dispute.

  The speaker nodded. Silence prevailed and he finally started to speak.

  The attendance was taken, and all members of the board and related personnel were present. Except for Bai Ye Qing.

  "We will proceed with the motion of the day. We have gathered to discuss the removal of Bai Ye Qing, a current Director from financial year twenty-nineteen to twenty-twenty-one. This is the motion. Before we vote, we must discuss." The speaker looked around the room to locate anyone who wanted to speak on the matter.

  A middle-aged man with peppered hair spoke up from the front of the conference room. "I have two questions to ask and some comments here," he announced.

  "Go ahead," the speaker nodded.

  "The two questions are: who was involved in the interview process of Director Bai before he joined the company. And he is Chairman Bai's son, right?"

  The answer to both questions was evident, but Qian Meng perceived that this was a beginning of a trick. She leaned into the chair and watched the faces of the people in the room.

  Someone, a gentleman who looked like he was an employee spoke up. "I am the HR director. Director Bai is Chairman Bai's son, yes. And Chairman Bai and Vice President Bai Wenxi were involved in the interview process. But the previous senior human resource manager, marketing head and chief executive officer did conduct an interview and deemed Director Bai fit to be in that role."

  Qian Meng frowned. This statement could go either way. She couldn't figure out how either of those people were situated.

  "Actually, the senior human resource manager took the lead in the interview. Chairman Bai left it to the right authorities to make the call."

  The previous guy tried to hide his smile. "I had only known that Chairman Bai was involved in the matter. And we hire people all the time. We need to think about the other employees in this case. With Director Bai, it seems kind of slanted. It has created a buzz in the company and being in a situation of parent and son in the same company and now the bond being strained because of this meeting… I think is a huge conflict of interest. I can't support Chairman Bai voting on this matter. I urge the others to help me stand on my ground." He looked around to see who acknowledged his words.

  Qian Meng pressed a finger to her chin. So, this was what they were playing at. They were trying to veil their intentions by saying that letting Mr. Bai vote would be a conflict of interest.

  Clearly, they knew that Mr. Bai was the one who called the meeting and had overall right to terminate his son's employment and involvement in the company, but this man went out of his way to get him out of the voting pool.

  He wanted to control the situation. Now, how would this help Bai Ye Qing? He could persuade the minority shareholders on his side to vote to keep him and it would be fine.

  He wouldn't be thrown out.

  Quite a clever plan.

  It didn't matter what human resources said: the plan was to use their words and keep Mr. Bai from voting.

  Qian Meng had to applaud them for their cunning plan. She looked at Mr. Bai and saw him appraising the man critically. He didn't look back at her, but Qian Meng knew what she was thinking.

  This man needed Bai Ye Qing to lead to make unfair amounts of money.

  Qian Meng decided that he was an important player and named him 'MA1'. Meaning: Middle-aged speaker 1.

  The elderly man beside her who spoke loudly, now became 'B1'. Meaning: Boomer 1.

  "Anyone else want to comment on this matter?" the speaker asked. He urged others to speak up in support or against the words of MA1.

  Indeed, B1 spoke up. "I do have to agree with him. I think it is a conflict of interest, having your own father as your supervisor. I don't think we should be doing that for the sanctity of the relationship."

  What a hypocrite, Qian Meng thought. Just a few minutes ago, he was talking about how children could run amok, and now he had changed his tune.

  The meek man beside B1, hereafter called B2, spoke up. "I can see that there are some concerns. I think we can have this matter be decided by a proxy set by Chairman Bai. An outside eye without a familiar relation," he said.

  B1 and MA1 turned to glare at him. He recoiled and tucked his head down, but never changed his words.

  Qian Meng pressed her lips together. Maybe this man knew that any person appointed to take a decision would be excluded on some pretext. That was why he made the comment. Or he genuinely wanted a fair hearing.

  MA1 had to counter. "Is there anything in the rule book that says something about voting against family members?"

  The speaker thought about it carefully. "The only thing… I would have to check, but there is a policy that family members do not have full control over the decision. Other than that, there is no policy," he announced after a thought.