The Scheming Billionaire's Heartfelt Devotion-Chapter 848 - 863: Why Change Sides at the Last Minute?

"Old Xia, what is it that you wanted to talk about today?"

Xia Wanming bent over to pour brewed Longjing tea into a purple clay teapot, signalling everyone to drink. "I’m here to be a lobbyist for Qi Shangyu, hoping my old friends can support him at the board meeting for my sake."

"Since when did you start taking an interest in our company’s matters?" one of them picked up the tea and took a sip.

"My daughter has taken a liking to that young man and insists that I come here to ask for your help."

Xia Wanming placed the teapot on the table, paused, and then spoke: "I’ve looked into Qi Shangyu already. There’s no doubt about his abilities, and he’s brought significant profit to the company in recent years. There’s no mistake in voting for him. After all, Qi Weidong is getting old, and future growth will depend on the young people."

In fact, they’ve been observing for a while, and now that Xia Wanming has come forward to speak on his behalf, it’s certain that Qi Shangyu and the Xia Family will form an alliance in the future. It would be a strong collaboration, and they have no reason not to support him.

"Since Old Xia has spoken, we have nothing to say. We will definitely vote for Qi Shangyu during the board meeting, don’t worry."

Xia Wanming smiled and nodded: "When I have time, I’ll treat you all to a good meal."

"We’ll be waiting for that then." With that, they all burst into laughter.

They chatted until late before leaving. Just after finishing a cigarette and preparing to head back to the private room, Gu Nanxi happened to meet them in the hallway.

"President Gu is here too." The shareholders greeted Gu Nanxi.

Gu Nanxi nodded briefly, said a few words, and returned to the private room.

......

Today is the day of the company board meeting. Qi Weidong sat upright in the chair: "I assume everyone already knows the main purpose of today’s meeting, so I won’t say much. Whoever agrees to Qi Shangyu taking the position of chairman, please raise your hand."

The shareholders looked at each other, whispered among themselves for a few minutes, and then gradually raised their hands to vote.

Originally, Qi Shangyu was confident and thought victory was assured, but he never expected that the shareholders whom Xia Wanming lobbied would change their stance at the last minute, and not support him at all.

Qi Shangyu’s face turned grim as he looked at them, his hand on the conference table clenching into a fist.

Sitting beside him, Li Jiaxue, who had remained silent, angrily picked up a water cup from the table and smashed it to the ground, scattering glass shards everywhere: "Qi Weidong, if you think this means you’ve won, you’re mistaken. I said I won’t let you have peace, and I mean it."

Li Jiaxue, now nearly driven mad with anger, couldn’t care less about maintaining her composure.

Qi Weidong gazed at her indifferently: "Do whatever you want, it doesn’t concern me."

Qi Shangyu had nothing else to say either. Since things had come to this, he could only accept the outcome. He stood up from his seat and strode towards the exit.

The board members also dispersed. The few people swayed by Xia Wanming last time were stopped by Li Jiaxue: "We had an agreement, why did you change your minds at the last minute? Don’t you realize that because of you, my entire plan is ruined?"

"President Li, we are also helpless. Last time we did agree with Old Xia to support President Qi. But later, Gu Nanxi approached us, saying that if we supported President Qi at the board meeting, their company would cancel all collaborations with us, and he also has leverage against us. We were left with no choice."