The two cars were less than ten meters apart; it was impossible for them not to see each other.
They nodded slightly to each other as a greeting, too lazy to say much more.
The security guards were quick to read the room and pressed the buttons for different elevators for Mo Yushen and Mo Lian.
Mo Yushen and this brother, who was not related by blood, had never been close.
Mo Lian is his father's stepson. His father and mother divorced when he was five years old. His father remarried, and Mo Lian is the son of his father's current wife and ex-husband.
Mo Lian was a year older than him. After coming to their family, he changed his surname to Mo. His father had treated this stepson as his own son all these years.
After entering the elevator, the two never met again.
Secretary Ding was busy and was surprised to see Mo Yushen appear.
Early in the morning, Mo Yushen called him, saying he had something to do and wouldn't be able to come, but he still came to the company on time.
"Good morning, Mr. Mo."
Mo Yushen nodded.
Secretary Ding had just received an email from the company secretary. There was a high-level meeting at 9:30, and he was planning to report to Mo Yushen on how to ask the chairman for leave.
We don't need it now.
"Mr. Mo, it's 9:30 in the conference room on the 36th floor. Chairman Mo is starting a meeting."
"A meeting?"
Secretary Ding: "Yes, the board secretary just informed us."
Mo Yushen couldn't immediately guess the resolution of this meeting.
Less than an hour later, Mo Yushen saw Mo Lian again in the conference room on the 36th floor, where Mo Lian was sitting at the end of the conference table.
This time, the two acted as if they had planned it, ignoring each other.
At 9:25, the directors began to arrive at the meeting room.
Chairman Mo also arrived, and everyone greeted him. Chairman Mo's seat was right next to Mo Yushen's. Mo Yushen's face was expressionless, and his gaze was fixed on the computer screen.
He seemed nonchalant.
Chairman Mo asked in a low voice, "How's Jiajia doing lately?"
Mo Yushen: "The same as always."
Seeing that Mo Yushen was not very enthusiastic, Director Mo stopped there.
The time was almost up, and everyone had arrived, so the meeting began.
Everyone present was shrewd and had already sensed that this meeting was unusual. So Chairman Mo didn't beat around the bush and brought up Mo's Real Estate, a subsidiary of the Mo family.
First, he praised Mo Yushen, noting that Mo's Real Estate had encountered a bottleneck in its development a few years ago, but under Mo Yushen's management, its performance improved rapidly.
Both the project's reputation and the return on investment exceeded expectations.
Mo's Real Estate's overall ranking has jumped to the top three in the industry.
Last week, a project in Shanghai that the Mo family and the Ji family were collaborating on received approval from the relevant local authorities.
After making those affirmative statements, Chairman Mo then moved on to the main point of today's meeting: "Mo's Real Estate has achieved its current success thanks in no small part to Yu Shen, and the current real estate business model is mature."
Then, the conversation shifted.
"However, the profits of the pharmaceutical company have been declining year by year, and the R&D center has not made any breakthroughs in the past year. If this continues, Mo's Pharmaceuticals will be left behind by its peers."
As he spoke, Chairman Mo looked at Mo Yushen and said, "After much consideration, I still think that you are the most suitable person to manage Mo's Pharmaceuticals. Perhaps you can create a miracle for 'Mo's Real Estate'."
Mo Yushen did not appreciate such high praise, and his face remained indifferent.
He understood his father, and the decision that followed was the key.
Chairman Mo continued, "From now on, you'll be in charge of pharmaceuticals, and you probably won't have time to focus on real estate. So, I'll hand this task over to Mo Lian, who can also help you share some of the burden."
As soon as he finished speaking, Mo Yushen let out a "heh".
Not too light, not too heavy.
However, the tone was quite sarcastic.
This immediately put Chairman Mo in an awkward position.
Apart from Mo Lian, everyone else present looked at each other in bewilderment.
Mo Lian remained calm and collected, rhythmically tapping the rim of his cup with his fingers.
The atmosphere was tense, tinged with awkwardness.
After that, Mo Yushen didn't say anything more. He crossed his legs naturally, leaned back casually in his chair, and his face was expressionless. No one could guess what he was thinking at that moment.
Mo Yushen's imposing aura, even without anger, surpassed that of Chairman Mo; no one could suppress him.
The quiet, spacious conference room was filled with a tense atmosphere.
The Mo Group was founded by Mr. Mo, who retired a few years ago.
Originally, Mr. Mo wanted to hand over the group directly to Mo Yushen, but after some consideration, he decided to let Chairman Mo take over for a few years, which would also help ease the relationship between Chairman Mo and Mo Yushen.
Mo Yushen has never been close to Chairman Mo since childhood, and their father-son relationship has grown increasingly distant over the years.
Old Master Mo was also dissatisfied with Chairman Mo's attitude towards Mo Yushen, especially after Chairman Mo remarried. However, both sons were his flesh and blood, so despite his dissatisfaction, he still tried to find a way to ease the tension between father and son.
Today's situation has finally come to pass.
Chairman Mo was used to seeing things, and before making a decision, he had anticipated what would happen. Everything was still under his control. "Tell me your thoughts."
What else can I think?
Of the board members here, apart from one who is on good terms with Mo Yushen, the rest have all worked alongside Chairman Mo all the way up, so they naturally support all of Chairman Mo's decisions unconditionally.
Even if it's a vote, it still requires more than two-thirds to pass.
This duel took place quietly.
Mo Yushen, caught completely off guard, lost utterly.
The project I worked on for half a year, which I secured in partnership with Xi Jia, was just signed last week. Now I'm handing it over to someone else, having done all the work for them.
The meeting lasted for half an hour, and the rest of the meeting was just a formality.
Next month, Mo Yushen will concurrently serve as the general manager of Mo's Pharmaceuticals, while Mo Lian will take up his post at Mo's Real Estate.
Mok Properties and Mok Finance were both previously under Mok Yu-Shen's management, and the two companies' businesses complemented each other.
Now that Mo's Real Estate has been separated, it's unclear whether Chairman Mo intends to have Mo Yushen and Mo Lian check and balance each other, or whether, after some time, he will simply put Mo's Financial under Mo Lian's management as well.
Everything is unknown.
The meeting adjourned.
The directors left one after another.
Mo Lian glanced at Mo Yushen, then closed his notebook and left.
Silence fell over the meeting room.
Neither Chairman Mo nor Mo Yushen moved, and the atmosphere remained tense.
With a 'snap', Mo Yushen closed the laptop lid.
He didn't even look at Chairman Mo. "It's one thing for outsiders to laugh at me, but you should make a fool of yourself for them to see."
Chairman Mo glanced sideways and vaguely saw a blurry outline of Mo Yushen. “As the leader of the Mo family, one must naturally make long-term plans for the Mo family and not be limited to existing achievements.”
What Mo Yushen found most annoying was the official rhetoric.
I don't know when it started, but this father and son became like strangers.
Mo Yushen screwed the water glass on. "I was afraid that I would team up with my father-in-law and undermine your power as chairman, so I decided to strike first." He then looked at Chairman Mo. "Am I right?"
Ignoring Chairman Mo's reaction, Mo Yushen picked up his water glass and laptop and got up to leave.
Secretary Ding did not attend the meeting and was unaware of what happened during the meeting.
When Mo Yushen returned, he was expressionless.
He didn't dare ask any more questions.
Several documents were later delivered to him, requiring Mo Yushen's signature, so he went to knock on the door.
"Enter."
When Secretary Ding opened the door, a faint smell of tobacco wafted towards her.
He doesn't smoke, so he's quite sensitive to this smell.
"Mr. Mo, this is the project progress payment, which is due at the end of the month." Secretary Ding handed over the documents.
Mo Yushen quickly got into work mode.
Secretary Ding glanced at the ashtray on the corner of the table; it contained more than half a cigarette, but less than a third of it had been smoked.
Next to the ashtray was a freshly torn box of cigarettes and a lighter.
The office had just been cleaned this morning, and no one else came in except for Mo Yushen.
Mo Yushen used his cigarettes to entertain guests; he never smoked them himself.
The cigarette in the ashtray was undoubtedly the one smoked by Mo Yushen.
He had been by Mo Yushen's side for almost seven years, and Mo Yushen had never touched a cigarette before, no matter how difficult the situation was. This was the first time.
However, only a third of the cigarettes were used; it's unclear whether Mo Yushen wasn't used to them or simply restrained himself.
Mo Yushen signed the document, closed it, and handed it to Secretary Ding, instructing, "From now on, all payments to the real estate company exceeding 100,000 must be signed by me."
Secretary Ding was completely confused, but still nodded: "Okay, I understand."
Mo Yushen took the ashtray to the bathroom. Perhaps because he was bored, he turned on the tap and cleaned the ashtray.
He didn't care about money or power.
If he wanted to, the Mo Group would have been his alone long ago.
Today at the meeting, my father was so wary of him; it was utterly pointless.
By noon, news of the high-level personnel changes had quickly spread throughout the Mo Group.