Beauty and the Bodyguard

Xie Guangbo was the third-largest Pengzhan Industries shareholder- in other words, the strongest power within the company other than Chu Pengzhan and Jin Maosheng. Pengzhan’s suggestion of handing over the entertainment industry to Guangbo’s management should most likely be accepted by other members of the board.

Raising your hand and rejecting Pengzhan’s suggestion would naturally win the favor of Gubang, yet with the cost of crossing both Pengzhan and Guangbo- tyrants at the board. No one would go for something with an opportunity cost like that.

This was Pengzhan’s move on the chessboard- a move the other shareholders wouldn’t go against, since the target benefactor he was moving the authority to was one of the biggest shareholders.

Yet even that excellent move was a misstep.

Gubang froze upon hearing Pengzhan’s suggestion, followed with pure joy! _Oh, Chu Pengzhan, you old fox! You were thinking of cutting my authority, but……_

Chu Pengzhan was the chairman- pulling the entertainment industry back into his own hand wouldn’t yield any rejections from the other members. The only real consequence was the strong impression people would have, yet now this man had chosen to transfer that authority to Xie Guangbo?!

_Haha, hahaha!!!_ Gubang had to consciously hold in his laughter- this Xie Guangbo was his _trump card_!!

This trump card was something Gubang had acquired out of coincidence and accident- should Pengzhan have done this a couple days earlier there really wouldn’t be any countermeasures Gubang could take, since he’d not have gotten into contact with Guangbo yet.

Yet now, Guangbo needed his help- his son might as well be dead if Gubang didn’t provide said help!

Guangbo had a son overseas, constantly drunk on gambling and racking up an excessive amount of debt- he even got into drugs and developed an addiction problem on top of that… The man was now over hundreds of millions of kuai in debt!!

Guangbo was the third-largest shareholder, but he didn’t have that much cash on him- most of his assets were shares and real estate, making it almost impossible to pull out hundreds of millions of dollars for his son to pay off his debt!

This was a sum that had to be paid! The mafia of the country his son was in had taken ahold of him, threatening to have his legs cut off if the debt weren’t paid off within the month!

Helpless, the only way he knew to go about this was by moving the company’s finances so as to have the debt paid off- he’d fill the gap back in afterwards.

He was in charge of the finance department, but even he couldn’t pull out a sum like that without the chairman or vice-chairman’s signature. He didn’t dare bring this to Chu Pengzhan, and decided to have his hopes pinned on Jin Gubang instead.

Naturally, it wasn’t something he’d brought to Gubang blatantly- he only hinted and hit at the topic, not expecting for the two of them to end up on the same side! Gubang hadn’t any requests, only hoping that Guangbo would support Gubang with his full strength when he would need it!

Guangbo understood the situation that moment. The three biggest shareholders of a company were usually independent against each other- two of the shareholders getting too close would always be a threat to the other shareholder.

But Guangbo had no other choice- to him, his son’s life was more important. What use was money if his son were dead? He’d spent half his life already, how long did he even have left? The money was to be left to his children and grandchildren, his descendants! How would he have grandchildren without a son?!

Guangbo made the decision there and then to fully support Gubang- he understood what that notion entailed perfectly. Gubang’s wish for the two of them to team up meant only one thing: he was preparing to go to war with Pengzhan.

He hadn’t expected for Pengzhan to go against Gubang this soon during today’s meeting, and he hadn’t expected to be the benefactor of their battle! Any other day before that and he’d take the gift, no questions asked… But he wasn’t in that sort of position anymore.

He was now in an alliance with Gubang- he needed to constantly have Gubang’s benefits taken into consideration! He raised his head to look at Gubang to find that the man was looking right back at him. Guangbo nodded very slightly to signal that he understood.

Only then did Gubang turn to Pengzhan with a smile on his face. “Haha, Chairman Chu makes a good point. This incident relates back to me- I’ve nothing to say in defense.”

Pengzhan paused at Gubang’s words- he’d thought that the man would be the first one to jump up against his suggestion! Why was he being so compliant, letting go of this authority in silence? Pengzhan saw something wrong in that attitude instantly.

Could it be that there wasn’t any evidence left over at the theme park Pengzhan could use against him? He frowned- something was wrong, but he didn’t quite understand where…

Gubang not rejecting Pengzhan’s suggestion meant that no one else would- after all, the members of the board wouldn’t piss Chu Pengzhan off for Gubang’s sake when Gubang himself was complying.

With that- the notion for Gubang’s ‘burdens’ to be lessened passed.

“Haha, since we’re all in agreement… Let’s have Mister Xie manage the entertainment industry from now on.” Pengzhan hadn’t expected for things to turn out so smoothly- something felt wrong, but cutting authority from Gubang was always a good thing.

“Chairman Chu, if I may?” Guangbo spoke faintly.

“Oh?” Pengzhan’s heart tensed up. “Do speak your mind, Mister Xie.”

“Haha, I feel that Vice-chairman Jin’s been managing the entertainment industry perfectly well… I don’t see the need for it to be passed onto me?” Guangbo said. “We cannot use a slight accident like this to nullify Vice-chairman Jin’s accomplishments and capabilities- after all, the company has benefitted with profits of tens of millions yearly under his management! I wouldn’t dare put myself on the same level as the vice chairman in terms of management skills...and thus I don’t see myself agreeing with the authority transfer. My apologies, chairman- I can’t quite handle this large a workload- I must reject.”

Pengzhan’s pupils shrunk as he stared at Guangbo! When had he allied himself with Jin Gubang?! Why was he speaking for him??

This was more than just regular help, he wasn’t just standing up for Gubang- throwing away a cake this big when put right in front of him? The two had come to a private agreement- that was the only explanation.