I AM

Chapter 8

Later that night, Zhao Yunlan put another cash card into his drawer with the other unused ones, and sat in the dark, thinking.

Every night before he slept, Shen Wei asked to be himself in the morning. So far it seemed to be working, and he was able to meet Zhao Yunlan in the morning for a quick light snack at the house in the morning before going to the gym. Zhao Yunlan politely demurred at first, and said he would wait in the car, not wanting to cause extra work for the house staff. But Jia Qiu went outside and pulled Zhao Yunlan out from the car and literally dragged him in to the kitchen where everyone, including Shen Wei, was sitting, waiting for him. The staff had regular breakfasts, and he and Shen Wei had light, nutritious snacks that would carry them through their workouts without upsetting their stomachs.

"Jia Qiu, this is really not necessary for me," Zhao Yunlan apologized as Shen Wei pulled him down into the chair next to him.

"Nonsense. We entrust Shen Wei's life to you whenever he leaves the house or the office. It is good to finally put a live face to the name," Jia Qiu was all smiles. He could see the change in Shen Wei in just the short time since they started going to the gym together.

"Resistance is futile with Jia Qiu, Zhao Yunlan. It's easier if you just say 'yes' and listen to him," Shen Wei said, all smiles.

Zhao Yunlan admitted to himself that it was much more enjoyable to eat with others, versus chewing on a dry energy bar while getting dressed alone.

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It was a rough day. Shen Wei was in a meeting with Zhu Jiu and other executives who were obviously not his supporters. They were discussing how to handle an upcoming acquisition of a publishing company called Dixing Energy. The executives wanted to immediately lay off the existing management and staff and replace them with people from Shen Enterprises.

"We will give them good severance packages with additional bonuses. That should be able to last them for about a year," one said.

"We'll also help them find jobs elsewhere if needed," another added.

Shen Wei felt differently.

"The company is their life, and I don't mean that in just a monetary way. Many of the employees have been there since Day One, and they built the company up. It is like their child," he started.

"And those older employees are the ones who will give us trouble when we start to make changes," the first executive spoke up.

"Remember how difficult it was when we took over that grocery store chain? Your father insisted on keeping on everyone, but then they kept arguing about management. If theirs was so good, they would not have been so vulnerable financially."

"Yes, I remember that. And I also recall that it was not handled very well when our company sent over our executives -" Shen Wei pointedly, " - who barged right into their offices and started giving orders to everyone. It was callous and insensitive. Of course their management and senior people got upset and fought us."

Until then, Zhu Jiu had been silently watching and smiling as the others in the room argued with Shen Wei. Although he had pledged his loyalty to him that day, Shen Wei could not fault him if he said he also agreed with the other executives who opposed him. But that smiled faded when they brought up the grocery store chain. Zhu Jiu had been the one who led the others onto the premises. It was his first time to handle something so big, and the power had gone to his head. Damn that man for bringing it up, he thought as he glared at the executive who realized his mistake too late. They would definitely have words, maybe a fist or two later.