Chapter 22: The Board Votes

Su Ye had never worn a suit to a board meeting, and the thirty-second floor did not seem to mind.

Under his cuff, the cord on his wrist was still white and faintly warm.

Morbius had said the dinner was not the judgement, and Su Ye had not slept.

The room had glass walls and a table that seated twenty.

Every chair was full.

His grandfather sat at the head in his wheelchair, with a blanket over his knees and the lawyer at his elbow.

The old man had come straight from the hospital against his doctor's orders.

"I will be brief," the chairman said.

His voice did not need to be loud.

"Two weeks ago I changed my will."

He looked at each of them in turn.

"On Monday I signed it in front of my lawyer and two doctors. It leaves my shares in Su Group to my grandson Su Ye."

A murmur ran around the table.

The uncle, a heavy man with a beautiful watch, put his palms down flat on the wood.

"Father, with respect. The boy has been in the family for a month."

"The boy has been in the family for twenty-two years," the chairman said. "We only misplaced him."

Su Ye felt his face grow hot.

"I'm not in any state to run this company," the old man went on, "and I don't intend to try."

He lifted his chin.

"I am asking the board to appoint Su Ye acting chairman for one year. If he is no good, vote him out."

"He has no experience."

"He has a head, and he has the sense to listen." The chairman's eyes moved around the table.

"And he has not stolen forty-one million yuan from me. I can't say that for the last two people I trusted."

Nobody laughed.

The audit chair cleared his throat.

"I second it," he said.

The vote took a few minutes.

Su Ye sat in the chair beside his grandfather and kept his hands under the table, because they were not steady.

Fourteen hands went up for him. Four did not.

The uncle's was among the four.

"I vote no," he said stiffly, "and I would like the minutes to show I wished the boy well."

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