I've Come Clean-If You've Got What It Takes, Take Me Down!

The party ended in such a heavy business atmosphere. After the governor's Attendant Official made some "ulterior motives," he and the mayor left first, supposedly to adjust the future development direction of Sabine City.

This is quite normal, though. Although it was a networking reception hosted by members of the Progressive Party, most of the attendees were capitalists and business people.

Having a small number of politicians here is not a good choice. It will give the public a very bad impression, making them think that the politicians they elected are colluding with capitalists, even though the two have never actually been separate.

The atmosphere became more business-oriented in the latter half of the reception. Many people chatted briefly with Lin Qi and exchanged contact information. They were all businessmen in the same camp now, and could provide each other with some small assistance if needed.

In a society based on personal relationships, why should others help you if you don't help them? This is why some people always try their best to get into small circles; in many cases, circles are equated with success.

The impact of this party far exceeded the expectations of those who attended, or rather, as participants, they were unaware of the external changes.

Less than ten minutes after the governor's Attendant Official made the call for "unity," the Board of Directors of the Listoan Group initiated a conference call.

Almost all the directors who had time participated in the conference call, including President Neo, who was suddenly called back.

This isn't excessive tension. Sometimes, figures like mayors and governors can't easily express their stance, preferring to maintain a vague and subtle approach while making possible concessions. However, they can't appear too weak either. What should they do? That's where their close Attendant Official, their advisors, come in. This time, the governor's advisors' words have clearly been interpreted, which is not good news for the Listoan Group.

As a listed company, they are well aware of the elusive yet undeniably close relationship between local government attitudes and stock prices.

If they cannot resolve these issues before the market opens on Monday, it is highly likely that Listoan's stock price will continue to decline.

Just as the mayor initially imagined, when dealing with Group Company like Listoan, if you talk to him about morality, ethics, social responsibility, and rules, he will only pretend he knows nothing; all they ever pursue is more profit.

As long as the profits are attractive enough, violating moral ethics and trampling on the law will not become obstacles to their pursuit of profit.

Only when they feel the pain and their wealth begins to shrink will they start to think like human beings and say what others should say.

Who is currently in charge of the Policy Office?

The conference call had just begun, and before President Neo could even begin to preside over the meeting with his magnetic and well-known voice, a voice suddenly came through that startled everyone. It was the voice of the chairman of the Listoan Group Company Board of Directors, an elderly man named Olben Listoan, whose company was actually founded by his grandfather.

Over the years, this family business, which was originally just a small one, has gradually evolved into a large Group Company under the management of the elderly Olbun and his father.

Of course, strictly speaking, the company no longer belongs to them, but their wealth has increased many times over compared to when they had complete control of the company.

The old man doesn't usually get involved in things, but his first question to the Policy Office immediately made people realize that he was relieving pressure on President Neo. Currently, the Group Company's president, Neo, is the old Olbun's son-in-law.

Every large company has a dedicated policy research office. The name of this department may vary slightly, but their purpose is the same.

They identify policies from government-issued laws that are beneficial to their company's development or potentially dangerous, and then create opportunities for themselves or push the State Senate to reconsider whether the bill has any value.

This is also one of the significant differences between small and Grand Duke. Many small companies have never realized how much proactively seeking out policies can help their company's development.

For example, there is an incentive policy in this state that allows factories or businesses to establish vocational skills training schools and train a certain number of students to receive tax breaks and financial subsidies from the government.

Many people are unaware of this policy, and some even feel it has nothing to do with them after learning about it. However, Grand Duke like Listoan dedicate a room in each of their factories to train workers in technical skills. The training method involves having them work normally, but with someone providing guidance while they work.

Many workers refer to this so-called training as "mentorship holidays." They are not required to work under immense pressure on high-intensity assembly lines. The factory takes turns sending them for mentorship, and in return, they receive tax breaks and education allowances ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

Don't underestimate these policy supports. The combined tax breaks and education subsidies for more than a dozen factories and businesses can add up to approximately several hundred thousand dollars in net profit for Listoan each year.

There are many more policies like this, and it takes dedicated personnel to monitor the government's policy trends and research the relevant content. The tax savings and various subsidies received each year amount to an astonishing figure.

Now, the Chairman of the Board has interrupted the conference call, which was supposed to be led by Neo, and directly shifted the responsibility to the policy research office. Those who participated in the conference call already know what is about to happen.

President Neo followed up by explaining, "Chairman, the Policy Office advisors are not qualified to attend Board of Directors meetings..." After all, they are just advisors with political backgrounds like Ferral, and the company will not give these advisors shares, much less give them the opportunity to attend such meetings.

"Is that so?" His Chairman's voice was filled with a sense of unquestionable surprise. "I'm sorry, I'm getting old, and given what happened last night, our advisor failed to provide timely warnings, and I am very dissatisfied with his work."

That's utter nonsense. Everyone knows what's really going on behind the scenes. If Neo hadn't taken such a hard line and put the mayor in a difficult position, this wouldn't have happened. Even a high-ranking official like the governor has to get involved. This is definitely not good news for Listoan.

Any problem that escalates is never simple. Neo and the mayor's defiant and uncompromising attitude ultimately stems from the internal struggle within the Listoan Group.

Some people believe that Neo is not very suitable for the current position of president, and that if Olbun already occupies the position of Chairman of the Board, making Neo president would allow the father-in-law and son-in-law to indirectly control the Listoan Group, which belongs to all investors.

Yes, the Listoan Group does not belong to the old man Olben Listoan, nor to the president Neo. After it went public, it belonged only to all the investors. Olbun and Neo were also investors, but the investors trusted them and gave them their current positions.

Starting a few years ago, the group's development slowed down, which displeased many shareholders. In addition, Heng Hui Group, which had a close cooperative relationship with the Group Company, was suddenly investigated and went bankrupt, and some of the company's businesses and assets were implicated. Some people on the Board of Directors believed that they should take most of Heng Hui Group's "legacy" to compensate for the assets and businesses that the Group Company had cut off during the investigation.

At the same time, they also want to leverage some of the industries left behind by Heng Hui Group to complete the transformation or upgrading of the Group Company.

This was originally a good idea, but the person who proposed the idea and encouraged the Board of Directors to vote on it was neither Neo nor Olbun, but another major shareholder.

In the world of capital, there is no room for sentimentality. This major shareholder has already begun to consider removing the father-in-law and son-in-law from their positions, which forces Neo to show a tough stance. Otherwise, the other party may convene a Board of Directors meeting to remove Neo from his post.

Meanwhile, the conflict between Neo and the mayor made him temporarily unsuitable for transfer within the group; if he won, no one would mention the struggle that had taken place during this period.

If he loses, the Group Company will need a scapegoat to gain forgiveness from the Progressive Party politicians; a current Group Company is better than a former president.

Faced with immense pressure, Neo and Olbun decided to take a desperate gamble. They originally planned to use the Conservative Party to intensify the competition between the two parties and thus achieve victory, but now it seems that the Progressive Party has no intention of compromising, which has caused a fatal problem to their plan.

After a brief pause, Neo did not shy away from the issue. He first apologized to all members of the Board of Directors, acknowledging that the plan he had been pushing forward had affected the Group Company's strategy and stability, and he bore an inescapable responsibility.

Then, he changed the subject and talked about the current situation.

"I've heard from other sources that even if we back down, if I resign as president and apologize to the mayor, governor, and others, and sincerely repent, our situation will not improve."

"Since the year before last, our financial statements haven't shown any significant improvement. From an outsider's perspective, our operations seem normal, but..." Neo suddenly sighed, "I need to apologize to everyone again. In fact, for my own benefit, I had the Finance Department falsify the financial statements..."

In an instant, the receiver picked up the sounds of a cup shattering, a chair overturning, things being thrown to the floor, and curses...

Among these sounds, there were two faint, almost inaudible laughs, one from Chairman of the Board Olbun, and the other from Group President Neo.