護花近衛 - 第283章 董事會上的變故 - 墨香閣

To raise a hand against Gu Pengzhan's proposal might well win favor with Jin Gubang, but it would offend both Gu Pengzhan and Xie Guangbo at once—two major shareholders in one stroke. In a bargain like that, every one of those shareholders would know perfectly well how to choose.

This too was a clever move on Gu Pengzhan's part: to transfer the power to another major shareholder, leaving Jin Gubang and the rest with nothing to say, nothing to find fault with.

Yet clever as the move was, Gu Pengzhan had still miscalculated.

When Jin Gubang heard Gu Pengzhan's proposal, he was stunned for a moment—and then his heart bloomed with joy. Gu Pengzhan, oh Gu Pengzhan, you old fox, you schemed so painstakingly to whittle down the power in my hands—but what now?

If you had simply forced the power back into your own grasp, the board would have approved it readily enough; after all, you are the chairman, and no other shareholder would care to embarrass you. At worst it would have left the impression that you were heavy-handed. But now—you have actually handed the entertainment business to Xie Guangbo?

Ha, ha! Jin Gubang nearly laughed aloud. This Xie Guangbo was his ultimate weapon, his last card.

In truth, obtaining that last card had been pure luck, an accident. Had Gu Pengzhan made his move a few days earlier, Jin Gubang would truly have had no countermeasure at all—back then he and Xie Guangbo had no ties whatsoever.

But now, Xie Guangbo needed him. Without his help, Xie Guangbo could forget about ever getting his son back.

Xie Guangbo had a son abroad who indulged in every vice—wine, women, gambling, drugs. Besides running up enormous gambling debts, he had taken to narcotics, and in the end owed more than a hundred million in loan-shark money.

Though Xie Guangbo was the company's third-largest shareholder, he did not have much cash on hand; most of his assets were blue-chip stocks and real estate. So for him to produce a hundred million at once to settle his son's debts was all but impossible.

Yet the money had to be paid. His son was abroad, held in the grip of the local underworld. If the debt was not raised and settled within a month, they would cut off his son's hands and feet.

With no way out, Xie Guangbo could only exploit his position overseeing the company's finance department and try to misappropriate a sum of public funds, intending to pay it back once he was more flush.

But though he managed the finance department, moving a sum that large required the signature of the chairman or the vice chairman. He dared not speak to Gu Pengzhan, so he could pin his hopes only on the vice chairman, Jin Gubang.

Naturally, he did not dare raise it outright either; he only hinted at the matter obliquely to Jin Gubang. To his surprise, the two hit it off at once. Jin Gubang had no other demand—he asked only that Xie Guangbo give him his full support whenever he should need it.

Xie Guangbo knew what that meant: taking sides. In most companies the three major shareholders were relatively independent; if any two of them grew too close, it was a threat to the third.

But Xie Guangbo had no choice. Compared with everything else, his son's life mattered most. If his son died, everything was over—what use was making more money then? He had already lived more than half his life; how much could he spend in the years remaining? Would it not all go to his children and grandchildren anyway? If his son was gone, grandchildren were out of the question.

So Xie Guangbo made a hard decision: to throw in his lot completely with Jin Gubang. He knew very well what that meant. Since Jin Gubang had made this demand for allegiance, he was telling Xie Guangbo plainly that he meant to contend with Gu Pengzhan for power.