I AM

Chapter 15

"So, you don't listen to your friends, but you listen to a person you just met because she has a PhD?" Zhao Yunlan joked.

"She is a barista with a PhD and makes great lattes!" Shen Wei joked back, smiling.

The day looked much brighter in Shen Wei's heart.

Six months had passed since President Zhao Xin Chi convinced the board to accept Shen Wei as the interim CEO of Shen Enterprises. The board members met again, and this time, not even Zhu Jiu or his supporters could speak out against Shen Wei's accomplishments during this short time. In addition to acquiring Dixing Energy and the wildly popular "The Untamed," he had also succeeded in improving the image of Shen Enterprises because of the donations to lesser known charities from the sales of the Tomahawk steak at Char Bar and Grill. And although no one would admit to it, they were all relieved when Shen Wei stopped the morning receiving line. Eating lunch in the employee cafeteria had made him seem very approachable, which motivated the staff and increased the company morale. Despite Zhu Jiu's sour face, Shen Wei was unanimously sworn in as the new CEO of Shen Enterprises.

Although such an important announcement warranted an equally lavish celebration, Shen Wei and President Zhao Xin Chi both agreed that due to COVID-19, a large gathering would be a superspreader event. Instead, they sent out invitations to a virtual inauguration gala, and had food and drink delivered to each participant, so that they could all toast and celebrate with the new CEO. It took a lot of coordination, and participants had to be in place to receive their food, but no one dared to miss this event. It was a bright spot in an otherwise COVID-ravaged world, and although all done virtually, was the event of the year. Again, Shen Enterprises received high praises for being responsible.

The day after the virtual gala, Shen Wei, President Zhao Xin Chi and Zhao Yunlan sat in the living room, looking at a playback of the festivities on the big screen TV. Shen Wei turned bright red when he watched himself giving his acceptance speech.

"Do you know that you are now China's most eligible bachelor?" President Zhao remarked, looking at tweets and comments from other websites. "OMG, he's so gorgeous he could be a movie star!" "You don't have to be shy with me," "Looks and money - what more could a girl ask for?" he read some of the comments.

"Stop, stop!" Shen Wei cried as he hid his face in a cushion.

"Your reaction would make your fans go crazy," Zhao Yunlan laughed as he held his fingers in a rectangle, mimicking a film director trying to get a good shot.

"Don't you dare!" Shen Wei threw the cushion at Zhao Yunlan as they all laughed.

Just then, Jia Qiu and a couple others brought in an artificial tree, and began decorating it with ornaments and lights.

"I remember when your father decided use an artificial tree instead of a live one. He could reuse this and save a live tree every year," President Zhao said with a smile.

"I was surprised when I first returned home from the States. I was so used to seeing and smelling live trees there. But I also felt sad seeing all these brown, dried up trees being thrown away after the holidays. They weren't useful anymore and were being abandoned," Shen Wei said solemnly.

"You're thinking you were sent to the States for the same reason," President Zhao said. "It wasn't like that, you know."

"I realize that now," Shen Wei nodded. "It felt like that in the beginning, that Father saw me as a liability or something. But you always kept in touch, telling me about how he constantly worried about me. You also sent me things lots of things in the mail," he smiled.

"Many of those really did come from your father. He would sometimes see something while on a business trip or just walking through the city, and would run in and get it. It used to make his driver crazy at times."