Chapter 40: Two Signatures

"Don't sign it," said Shen Yan through the door.

"Tell me why."

"Because he asked you at night, with a smile, and asked for nothing else."

Shen Yan's voice shook.

"Bring it to Chen's chambers on Tuesday. Don't sign anything till then."

The floorboards creaked as Mr. Shen went away.

On Tuesday at ten the ninth-floor chambers on Harbour Street held four people and one pot of tea.

Xiao Chen sat behind his desk with his bandaged thumb flat on the blotter.

Shen Yan sat beside him with a pencil behind his ear.

The old secretary sat at the end, upright and anxious.

Across from him sat the executor of Shen Yan's mother's will.

The executor was a thin man with grey hair and a quiet, dry manner.

He had brought two things in a leather folder.

"The trustee form," he said. "Which Mr. Gu asked the chairman to sign on Saturday night."

He laid a second paper beside it.

"And the articles of association, as they stand since last spring."

"Read the form first," said Xiao Chen.

The executor read it aloud.

It named Gu Zhengnan interim trustee over the chairman's personal shares.

That would last "during any period of ill health or absence."

"Mr. Shen is not ill," said the old secretary.

"No. But the form does not say who decides he is."

"Who does?"

The executor turned the page. "The deputy chairman."

Shen Yan put his pencil down.

"He wanted my father to sign himself out of his own company."

"With a silver rattle for the grandchildren on the table," said Xiao Chen.

The old secretary made a small sound in his throat.

"Now the articles," said the executor. "Amended last spring on a motion of Mr. Gu. Article eleven."

He read it twice, slowly.

At the annual meeting, any vote on a shareholder's block had to be signed in person by every signatory.

There could be no proxies, and no signature on a stranger's behalf.

A block that was not voted was left out of the count.

A resolution carried on the votes that were cast.

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