A Traitor Among Us - Extra Chapter 22 for Alliance Leader Rui Long
"Most of the people have reached their due dates, so let's officially begin the first Board of Directors meeting of the United Development Company. First, we should all introduce ourselves so that others can get to know us, starting with me..."
The speaker was sitting in the head seat. He looked to be in his sixties, with gray hair, but people here don't judge their age by their appearance alone.
Most people here have a good living environment and social networks that are hard for ordinary people to match. Their pampered lives allow them to avoid most of the factors that would make them age, so they all look younger than their actual age.
The Old Gentleman looked to be around sixty years old, but he was probably closer to or over seventy. However, his physical abilities were like those of an average sixty-year-old.
Money cannot stop time from moving on, but it can slow it down a little to the greatest extent possible.
As the gentleman introduced himself, the most prestigious Board of Directors Presidium of the United Development Company was fully revealed to the public.
If someone were to compile a list like "The Top Ten Conglomerates of the Federal" or "Which Conglomerates are the Most Influential in the Federal?", then the very top ones would appear here today.
People already knew about these things; they had seen the list of the Board of Directors Presidium when they invested in the United Development Company. But seeing these people in person at this moment was still very exciting.
Some people were so excited that their lips were trembling and their eyelids were twitching uncontrollably. People's awe of capital and money has been ingrained in the bones of capitalists.
If a member of the presidium were to extend his hand to others at this moment, many people would probably line up to shake his hand and act humble.
Each individual's self-introduction gave people a deeper and more comprehensive impression of the Board of Directors of the United Development Company.
Soon it was Lin Qi's turn. He stood up, smiling at everyone, "Chairmen, directors, some of us are meeting for the first time, while others we already know well. I am Lin Qi, and it's a pleasure to meet you all..."
It was a very ordinary self-introduction, without much personal flair, but in this kind of setting, ordinariness was all that was needed.
Being unconventional works well for ordinary people at the bottom of society. They are immersed in a gray world and find it hard to break free. Only unconventional things can brighten their eyes and add some color to their gray world.
But for the social elite, who are already incredibly diverse and vibrant, being unconventional means being a misfit.
You can say outrageous things, you can do outrageous things, even absurd things, and no one will condemn you, because people know "we are all the same kind of people".
But being unconventional won't work; it will make people exclude him from "us." Lin Qi knew this very well, so his self-introduction was very ordinary and unremarkable.
It took more than half an hour for everyone to introduce themselves. Some people may speak a little slower or have more to say. In any case, after half an hour, the last shareholder excitedly took his seat, and the Old Gentleman in his sixties who had spoken first spoke again.
The Old Gentleman's name is "Jieluno," you can call him "Jieluno," and his surname is "Duncan." Jieluno Duncan is a name that sounds a bit odd and doesn't seem like the name of a very important person.
But its owners are indeed very different. The Duncan Family belonged to the first group of adventurers who immigrated to the Federal. As long as they were among the first group of adventurers and did not "die" halfway through, they are all doing quite well now, such as Patu's "Akiner Family".
The Duncan Family is the same, except that they are not as well-known among the public as others because they are very low-key.
They distributed the shares roughly fairly among each clan member, along with various foundations both domestically and internationally, which meant they seemed to have no prominent, well-known representative figures to speak of.
However, in Upper Class circles, among the truly elite, the Duncan Family is the most formidable family, as they are very adept at investing.
Their family has produced three Federal President and is the largest landowner in the Federal. They have close ties with the five major Federal oil companies and hold significant shares in them.
Most of the companies related to mining also have ties to their family; in short, apart from themselves, no one knows exactly how wealthy they are.
But people know one thing: Patu's Star Dream Butterfly Conglomerate, the consortium behind Wo Delike, and even other large consortia have their people and their shares. This is why Jieluno can speak on behalf of the Board of Directors Presidium.
Others are not quite qualified. Whether it's Wo Delike, who is quite familiar with Lin Qi, or Patu, who is already somewhat familiar with him, if they were to speak on behalf of the other chairpersons, there would certainly be some dissatisfaction among some people.
The Federal is not a country that values subtlety. If you don't assert your own rights, others are even less likely to care about the interests of someone who doesn't even dare to speak up to protect their own rights. There will definitely be some conflicts in the future. But if Jieluno speaks, there won't be so many troubles.
"I've seen the company's financial report for the last quarter of last year, and I have to say we did a good job..." Jieluno said with a laugh. "Everything is going according to plan, and we have found new opportunities in Nagaril."
"New opportunities, new developments, a new future, but also new troubles." Jieluno spoke slowly, as if people slow down as they get older.
It's not that they can't speak fast enough, or that they can't speak clearly; it's that they're afraid others won't understand if they speak too fast, so they slow down their speech.
It's possible they're worried about not expressing themselves clearly enough, but Lin Qi thinks they're more concerned about others not being able to keep up with their pace. He's been old once, and he knows that all too well.
"Some of the natives were not very friendly to us, which we encountered before we developed Nagaril. There are always some ignorant people who think their way is the best. We can't blame them, but they have affected our business."
"Because of the unrest and the protests, the company has lost a lot of money, which is also one of the main topics of our Board of Directors: how to deal with these indigenous people."
Lin Qi noticed that when Jieluno spoke of the Nagaril People, he kept using the highly derogatory term "natives," and his tone was filled with an undisguised arrogance and contempt.
In fact, most of the main members of the large families that have continued from the founding of the Federal have similar attitudes, just like Patu's attitude towards those natives. He even thought about carrying out a cleansing and was not friendly at all.
This attitude actually stems from their "family glory." Anyone familiar with the history of the Federal knows that the Federal's development was built on the continuous massacre of native inhabitants of the Federal.
The larger the family that started around that time, the more indigenous people they massacred. They don't publicize these things to outsiders now, but during the family's internal education, they inevitably instill in their children this thing that they consider "the glory of their ancestors."
It is said to be quite ancient... In fact, the family, which has only existed for a few generations, even has some special spoils of war, some of which came from the bodies of those high-ranking native chiefs, such as some rather creepy-looking, dried thumbs, or some eyeballs soaking in jars.
Of course, these things are not the mainstream. The mainstream are old photos of gentlemen with Little Mustache, dignified appearances, wearing top hats symbolizing civilization, holding Walking Stick, and stepping on the corpses of indigenous people.
These people were the First Generation Immigrants to the Federal. At that time, the Slaughter of Aborigines was considered a glorious thing. These "glorious deeds" permeated almost every important stage of the growth of these family members, and they would naturally reveal their arrogance and contempt for the natives.
Not just the natives of the Federal, but all those they considered uncivilized were natives, and these people in Nagaril clearly fit the characteristics of all natives.
Jieluno's voice did not pause because of Lin Qi's thoughts flashing by like lightning. "There are two opinions within the Board of Directors. One is a relatively mild approach, and the other is..." He glanced at those people who also had deep family backgrounds, "... a little stricter, to let those natives know what the rules are."
"The United Development Company does not belong to any one person, including the members of our presidium. We are not the owners of the company. This company belongs to everyone here, so we need to reach a consensus."
"I must tell you all in advance that once we reach a consensus at the Board of Directors meeting, no one will be allowed to act against our collective will. We are a whole, and any divisive behavior should be strongly condemned!"
The atmosphere suddenly became heavy. On the surface, Jieluno was saying something that seemed fair, but in reality, everyone knew that the only people who could express their opinions and have them accepted were the Board of Directors Presidium.
In other words, the opinions of ordinary people are not important, nor are they required to advocate any opinions; they only need to follow the opinions of the presidium!
It feels a bit hurtful, but there's nothing we can do about it. After all, small arms and legs can't compare to those people with big arms and legs, so everyone can only go along with it.
Then Jieluno looked at Patu and said, "Patu, I heard that you have some opinions on this issue?"