Chapter Seventeen: Preparing for the Meeting

After two days of preparation, Li Fengyu and his team had everything ready for the meeting. They were about to engage with the premier financial elite of the Shanghai circuit in a negotiation that would determine the survival of their company. While a single business failure might not be catastrophic for the firm itself, it would provide the shareholders with the leverage they needed to target Lin Chu, making it impossible for her to establish authority. For Li Fengyu, Lin Chu, and their associates, the stakes were existential.

Li Fengyu had not slept all night, obsessing over every detail of the upcoming talks. Upon waking, Li Sen saw Li Fengyu’s dark circles and offered words of comfort: "We have gone over the details countless times in the past few days. Man proposes, God disposes; all we can do is our best." Chen Yuxuan patted him on the shoulder as well. "That’s right, Vice President. I may not hold a position as high as yours, nor do I have as much to consider, but I know one simple truth: I am an employee of your company, and you have always treated me with kindness, never as an outsider. I will certainly do everything in my power to help you. It may be fraught with difficulties, but how will we know if we don't try?"

Moved by their words, Li Fengyu felt a shift in his perspective. He realized that while the meeting might be difficult, he had to give it his all. That was the essence of life—no matter the obstacles ahead, one must strive to the utmost. Even if the result were failure, at least there would be no regrets. When looking back on life from a deathbed decades later, how lonely it would be to realize one had never truly fought with all their might or lived for their own aspirations. History was written by those who fought with everything they had and succeeded, while those who held back were left only with the bitterness of regret.

At ten o’clock in the morning, the group stepped out of their hotel, heading toward the headquarters of the Huayu Group in the heart of Shanghai. On the way, Li Sen grumbled, "We are, at the very least, a vice president and a presidential secretary of a company, yet there wasn't even anyone sent to pick us up." Li Fengyu replied calmly, "We are the ones who requested this meeting, and we have little reputation in the financial world. Naturally, they don't hold us in high regard."

Upon arriving at the Huayu Group headquarters, even Chen Yuxuan was stunned. Li Fengyu’s eyes widened as well; the building was even more grand and imposing than that of the Xinmin Group. Towering into the sky, the structure stood proud and arrogant, looking down upon the world below as if it intended to pierce the very heavens. Countless windows glinted with reflected light, densely packed together in a display of magnificent, awe-inspiring scale.

As the group reached the entrance, they were stopped by a security guard who gestured for them to state their business. Chen Yuxuan hurriedly pulled a business card from his bag and said, "We are here to discuss business with your president." The guard glanced at the card and replied, "No one is allowed inside without an entry pass." Just as the situation grew awkward, a tall, well-dressed man in his twenties approached. He turned to the guard and said, "They are the President’s honored guests. I’ll handle this; you can go back to your duties."

The guard stepped aside, and Li Fengyu’s group followed the man into the building. The interior was equally opulent, with decor that spared no expense in its luxury. The man led them directly to the president's office.