Song Tianyao also stood up and offered his seat, saying politely, "Young Master Zhong, why don't you sit with Young Master Shun in my seat? The view is better from the window."
Chu Xiaozhong certainly didn't want to sit with Chu Xiaoxin, as the two brothers wouldn't have enough conversation for an eight-minute drive. He wanted to sit on the other side, but upon seeing Kong Wing-yan beside him, he changed his mind, smiling and nodding to Song Tianyao: "Okay, thank you, Secretary Song."
"Just call me A-Yao, Young Master Zhong." Song Tianyao didn't hesitate and gave up his seat, walking from the first row to the second row, sitting right behind Chu Xiaoxin. Kong Wing-yan also sat down behind Chu Xiaozhong, right next to Song Tianyao.
Chu Xiaoxin never expected that his elder brother would actually take Song Tianyao's polite words seriously and sit down next to him. This made him feel extremely uncomfortable. Only after seeing Song Tianyao sit behind him did this feeling ease slightly.
"Ah Sin, weren't you busy arranging to transport some medicine to Macau? How come I heard that you were also on the guest list of Shek Chi-yik, the newly appointed deputy director of the Industrial and Commercial Administration Office, tonight?" Chu Xiaozhong asked his stepmother brother with a normal expression.
Chu Xiaoxin probably still remembered Song Tianyao's words from earlier, and completely missed Chu Xiaozhong's question, blurting out, "Big brother, what kind of relationship do you and Uncle have with Fu Zhong Trading Company?"
Song Tianyao, sitting in the back seat, wished he could smash his head against the wooden backrest and knock himself unconscious!
He had indeed instructed Chu Xiaoxin that if Chu Xiaozhong became aggressive, he should use this topic to provoke him. However, there was no need for his boss, the dignified Commander of Judy's Young Masters' Club, to immediately slap Chu Xiaozhong across the face after Chu Xiaozhong had just tried to ease the tension with gentle words.
Moreover, Song Tianyao noticed that Chu Xiaozhong's face had darkened considerably, and he had even glanced at him sideways. Without a doubt, Chu Xiaozhong was 100% convinced that Song Tianyao had instigated him to pin this on him.
Even Angie Perlis, who was sitting diagonally in front of Song Tianyao, widened her eyes slightly and glanced in Song Tianyao's direction, her eyes full of inquiry.
Song Tianyao pursed his lips. If his boss were to go into the underworld, this kind of style would definitely make him a loyal and valiant general who would always be at the forefront of a battle, Double-Flower Cross Red Pole.
Chapter Ninety: I Won't Be Collaborator
After Chu Xiaoxin asked the question, Chu Xiaozhong gave a few perfunctory replies with an unpleasant expression and then fell silent. The two brothers fell into a heavy silence. Fortunately, Angie Perlis asked Chu Xiaoxin about the movie "The Night Is Still Quiet," which was being shown at the Hong Kong City Hall, thus abruptly covering up the previous conversation.
Kong Wing-yan, the female secretary sitting next to Song Tianyao, had witnessed the brief conversation between the two Chu Family brothers. Turning to Song Tianyao, she said, "This must be Secretary Song. I've heard Mr. Chu mention you many times. Hello, I'm Kong Wing-yan from the Hong Kong Chartered Secretaries Association, currently serving as Chu Xiaoxin's company secretary. Where did Mr. Song work before?"
"Since Miss Jiang has heard of me from Young Master Zhong, you should know that I was a poor boy from Squatter Area with nowhere to work. The Hong Kong Chartered Secretaries Association is something I've never heard of before. Is it like the textile workers' union or the dockworkers' union?" Song Tianyao smiled at Kong Wing-yan. He didn't have a good first impression of this woman. Kong Wing-yan, who looked to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, had slightly rugged facial features and lacked the softness that a woman should have. Although she seemed shrewd and capable, even with a smile, her words, combined with her face, gave off a strong feeling.
In fact, Song Tianyao knew that the Hong Kong Chartered Secretaries Association was probably the early prototype of the Hong Kong Professional Managers Union. At that time, there was no such profession as professional manager. Hong Kong's Chinese business families still maintained the traditional rule of family-run businesses and would not hire an outsider to manage the family business. Therefore, when hiring, they would usually only hire a highly professional secretary on a monthly salary to help them manage their work. The Hong Kong Chartered Secretaries Association was born out of this.
It's not like anyone with a secretary title in a business like Song Tianyao can join the Hong Kong Chartered Secretaries Association. Although the Hong Kong Chartered Secretaries Association and the Chartered Institute of Governance and Administration in Britain are not closely related now, their standards for Secretaries' Union are still highly consistent. Regardless of gender, members must be university graduates with systematic training in corporate management, corporate administration, secretarial practice, Britain and Hong Kong company law, taxation, and other related fields.
However, the current situation for professional secretaries is still quite awkward. Often, after entering a large company and becoming the boss's secretary, they do not gain true trust. Family businesses trust the veterans who have followed them for many years and have been loyal to them in building the empire. Even if those veterans are not capable, in the eyes of the boss, loyalty is more important than anything else, including ability.
Therefore, these professional secretaries mostly serve as translators, document organizers, and assistants for Chinese business owners. When it comes to core business matters such as accounts, finances, and business networking, few people would involve these secretaries.
This also forced these truly promising future business elites, who were not trusted, to join Britain companies in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 60s to serve the Britain.
The reason Song Tianyao knew so much about this union was because he had read about it in his previous life when he was reading some biographies. Lydia Dunn, a director of Swire Group and vice chairman of HSBC, who was known by many Hong Kong people as "Hong Kong's No. 1 Chinese" and "Hong Kong's Margaret Thatcher," had also briefly joined this union after returning to Hong Kong from studying at university in the United States.
Song Tianyao, who came to the profession halfway through his career and worked under the guise of a secretary, was like a rough-and-tumble outlaw compared to a professional secretary. Fortunately, in 1950s Hong Kong, whether one was a rebellious outlaw or a dashing gentleman, as long as one did not bow down and accept one's fate, one could rise to the top.
Seeing that Chu Xiaozhong brought his secretary, Kong Wing-yan -Shek Chi-yik, and hearing Jiang Yong-en introduce herself, Song Tianyao- yao guessed that Chu Xiaozhong must have been provoked by his and Chu Xiaoxin's partnership, and had hired Kong Wing-yan from the Hong Kong Chartered Secretaries Association at a high price to help handle company affairs.