After telling a rather unfunny joke, Zhou Zhengxiang sighed again and said, "Although the Zhou family will eventually go bankrupt, before it completely collapses, I've already readjusted the company's shareholding. Now you own 51% of the Zhou Group's shares, becoming its absolute controller. This can be considered my way of returning the company to you before I die, according to your mother's wishes! Alas... I've hated you my whole life, but only now, on my deathbed, do I realize that my hatred was completely unreasonable. From beginning to end, none of this has anything to do with you. You had no right to choose your parents... All the sins were committed by our ancestors in the previous life, why should you have to pay for them... Now I just want to tell you... Although I'm not your biological father, Xiaoxu is truly your younger brother... I hope you two brothers can get along well... Even if the Zhou family is destroyed, you are still young, and you will have a chance to rise again sooner or later..."
Zhou Ziwei smiled faintly and said, "Don't worry! As long as Zixu treats me as his brother, I won't mistreat him. Besides... once you hand the Zhou family over to me, you won't have to worry about it collapsing anymore. With me here... the Zhou family won't go bankrupt."
Zhou Zhengxiang's eyes lit up upon hearing this, but he immediately shook his head and said, "It's beyond saving... Even I can't do anything about this situation where credibility has been completely lost, so what can you, a newbie with no experience in the business world, do?"
Zhou Ziwei didn't explain further, but confidently said, "Then you don't need to worry about it. Just know that... the Zhou family will only become stronger in the future, and that's enough..."
"What you're saying is true."
When Zhou Zhengxiang saw Zhou Ziwei's confident demeanor, he was startled and struggled to sit up. However, he felt his life force gradually fading away, and speaking became increasingly difficult. Sitting up was now impossible for him.
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei gave a bitter smile and said, "What... are you regretting transferring some of your shares to me again? What you said earlier sounded nice, but in reality, it was only because you were convinced that Zhou's Group would go bankrupt that you gave me 51% ownership... so that when the company went bankrupt, I would be the main creditor, thus reducing the pressure on Zhou Zixu... right? Now that you hear I'm confident I can revive Zhou's Group, you immediately regret it... Why do you always hold grudges so easily, unable to let go even until the moment you die..."
With a sigh from Zhou Ziwei, Zhou Zhengxiang finally closed his eyes, filled with helplessness and resentment.
He was already a dead man, but when Zhou Ziwei arrived, all his physiological functions had just been lost. Although he could be considered a dead man, his soul had not yet risen from his body.
It was precisely because of this that Zhou Ziwei had the opportunity to revive him for a moment; otherwise, once his soul left his body, even a god would find it difficult to save him.
However, even Zhou Ziwei could only give Zhou Zhengxiang a few minutes of lucidity before he died; he couldn't truly save him.
After all, he had been injected with a large amount of barbiturates, and once the dosage of this injectable drug used on death row inmates exceeds a certain level, the damage to the body is irreversible.
The reason Zhou Ziwei noticed something was wrong with Li Zhongquan on the stairs was because he smelled barbiturates on him...
Zhou Ziwei didn't feel much sadness about Zhou Zhengxiang's death, after all, this person had nothing to do with him, and even his current body had no blood relation to Zhou Zhengxiang.
Furthermore, Zhou Zhengxiang had once hired assassins to try to kill Zhou Ziwei. Although he later regretted it and even hired an assassin organization to protect Zhou Ziwei, Zhou Ziwei still didn't have a good impression of him.
However, once a person dies, it's like a lamp going out. Now that Zhou Zhengxiang is dead, all the grudges and grievances between the two are naturally wiped clean. Zhou Ziwei should now be thinking about how to deal with the endless pursuit from the two assassin organizations, and how to get the Zhou Group out of its predicament.
In fact, Zhou Ziwei wasn't too worried about the Zhou Group's affairs. The problem stemmed from a quality issue with a health product, which might have been an irreparable disaster for others, but Zhou Ziwei wasn't too concerned about it.
So far, the number of people actually affected by those health products is very limited, just a few cases, and it is even unknown whether there were any cases of people taking advantage of the situation to extort money.
If Zhou Ziwei, after taking over the management of the company, first treats the few patients affected by the health products and minimizes the previous impact, and then launches a more effective product at the right time so that everyone understands the benefits of this new product, then the public will naturally gradually forget the negative image of the Zhou family in their minds.
After all, the health products produced by the Zhou family had a very small target audience. Apart from the locals in Dangyang, not many people knew about them. So, once Zhou Ziwei launches a product with the potential to sell well nationwide or even worldwide, he can quickly use this new wave to sweep away the negative impact of the previous health products.
Zhou Ziwei had originally planned to enter the health supplement market. Inspired by the nutritional supplements Sun Xiaoyu drank to maintain high levels of excitement, he had developed a relatively complete formula for his own health supplement, only lacking final implementation. However, launching such a product required a large-scale production and marketing company.
If Zhou Ziwei has to build everything from scratch, then the initial investment will be a bottomless abyss. He'll likely have to throw almost half of the jade scraps he just dug up in Tengchong into this investment. And who knows when the product will actually turn a profit?
Moreover, even if Zhou Ziwei can solve the funding problem, the talent problem is even more troublesome when it comes to building a large-scale company. Currently, apart from Luan Yuqing, Zhou Ziwei seems to have no one else available.
If everyone has to go to the job market to recruit, then it will be very difficult to manage the company once it is established.
However, now that we have the Zhou Group, a mature pharmaceutical conglomerate, all the problems are no longer problems.
The Zhou Group has relatively mature software and hardware facilities for production and sales, so Zhou Ziwei doesn't need to worry about these things. As long as he designs a complete formula and hands it over to the production department, production can start almost immediately. The initial investment is almost zero, and the later sales and promotion work is handled by a highly professional department. What Zhou Ziwei needs to consider is how to get rid of the problem of being ordered to suspend business for rectification by the government.
If Zhou Ziwei only owned 38% of the shares in the Zhou Group, even if he was still the largest shareholder, he might not have considered directly providing his nutritional product formula to the Zhou Group for production and sales.
However, now that he owns 51% of the shares, which is equivalent to having absolute control of the Zhou family, there is naturally no need for him to spend so much money and energy to start from scratch.
What's giving Zhou Ziwei the biggest headache right now are the two assassin organizations. There was already a Dark Elf assassin organization commissioned by Zhou Zhengxiang that was constantly sending people to assassinate him, and now an international black market assassin network has put a bounty on his life. This is a disaster. Moreover, as far as he knows, it seems that the names of several major and minor shareholders of the Zhou Group are all on the black market assassin network, the only difference being the amount of money offered. Among all the bounty lists, the highest prices are undoubtedly for Zhou Zhengxiang and Zhou Zixu, making them the most vulnerable.
No one knew that Zhou Ziwei was the largest shareholder of the Zhou Group before this, so the bounty on his head was not very high. After being assassinated in Tengchong, no international assassins took on the job.
Obviously, in the eyes of most assassins, the mission to kill Zhou Ziwei was clearly not worth the difficulty and reward. No matter what the reason, Li Minghui was very powerful, but the assassination of Zhou Ziwei had already led to the annihilation of the entire team. Why would an assassin risk their life for a mission with such low pay? No assassin would be so foolish as to do such a losing business.
However, that was in the past. Now that Zhou Ziwei has become the new controller of the Zhou Group, who knows if the guy who was turned into a "widow" by Zhou's health products will still be angry and raise Zhou Ziwei's value again? Therefore, Zhou Ziwei must remove the bounty title on the black market assassin website, and the guy who put the bounty on him must also die.
The best and most thorough solution is to completely eliminate that black market assassin network and the dark elf assassin organization. Otherwise, Zhou Ziwei will have to live under the constant shadow of death. How can he possibly go on living like that?
Zhou Ziwei let out a long sigh, gently opened the door and walked out. Ignoring Captain Lin's questions, he quickly went downstairs and left…
After returning home, Zhou Ziwei sat on the sofa in a daze for a while, then rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen.
"Hey... Your dad just passed away, and you still have the mood to cook?"
Luan Yuqing stood at the door with her arms crossed, watching Zhou Ziwei's busy figure with great interest. She couldn't help but shake her head repeatedly, as if expressing her dissatisfaction with Zhou Ziwei's carefree attitude.
Zhou Ziwei gave a soft hum and said, "He's not my dad."
"Oh...right, I almost forgot..."
Luan Yuqing was one of the people who shared the most of Zhou Ziwei's secrets, which made her feel proud, but at the same time, she suddenly felt sorry for Wang Xuewei. Although that woman was Zhou Ziwei's wife in name, she seemed to know nothing about him. It was really unfair...
Zhou Ziwei ignored her, but kept processing the various ingredients they had bought from the supermarket that morning, as well as the Chinese herbs they had bought at the pharmacy on their way back.
"Hey... are you cooking or brewing medicine? Why did you add so much medicine to the rice water... Oh my god, you've ruined it like this... is this even edible?" Luan Yuqing complained angrily when she saw Zhou Ziwei pour the Chinese medicine he had brewed from another pot into the rice water and continue to cook it.
She was already a little hungry and was just about to try the pot of porridge that was almost cooked when she found that it had been mixed with a bitter-smelling Chinese herbal medicine. She felt very sorry for the pot of porridge. Although she knew that Zhou Ziwei was very rich, she thought that even if he was rich, he shouldn't waste things like that!
Zhou Ziwei, however, had no time to pay attention to Luan Yuqing. He was still focused on simmering his pot of rice porridge and medicinal juice, adding various seasonings from time to time, and finally pouring in half a bucket of fruit juice. The pot of things that were no longer recognizable as medicine, porridge, or fruit juice suddenly began to emit an extremely tempting aroma.
The aroma filled the entire kitchen the moment it appeared, making Luan Yuqing, who was standing at the kitchen door, drool in embarrassment...
"Hiss—" Luan Yuqing sucked hard on the saliva that was dripping from the corner of her mouth, and then exclaimed in surprise, "What is this... what is this? It smells so good... quick... let me have a taste... oh my god... it smells so good."
Zhou Ziwei ignored her completely, staring blankly at the aroma wafting from the pot that seemed to naturally make one's mouth water. He stammered, "No way! I just messed around with this stuff and it actually... tasted like this! Damn... I'm rich now! Even if this stuff is garbage with no nutritional value whatsoever, just selling this aroma alone would be enough to make it a global phenomenon! Hahaha... I'm rich!"
As Zhou Ziwei spoke, he scooped half a spoonful of the pale green liquid from the pot. Ignoring the fact that it was still scalding hot, he immediately drank it all in one gulp. Then he closed his eyes and savored the taste for a long while before reluctantly opening them. He then saw Luan Yuqing scooping half a bowl of soup from the pot into a large bowl and shoveling it into her mouth without any regard for her image, slurping her words as she drank.
Unlike Zhou Ziwei, she wasn't tough-skinned. It would be strange if she didn't get blisters in her mouth after drinking that huge gulp of scalding soup…
However, at this moment, Luan Yuqing felt no pain in her tongue and mouth at all. She was simply enjoying the alluring aroma as it traveled through her mouth, nose, and stomach, as if the fragrance permeated her entire body. The comfort and pleasure she felt were indescribable, giving her a feeling of floating on air...
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 188: The Useless One Takes Charge
After being interrogated by the police, Li Zhongquan quickly confessed everything.
It turns out that the Zhou family's situation has been very bad recently, causing everyone to panic.
Li Zhongquan's wife and son, through his connections, both worked in companies under the Zhou Group. Moreover, Li Zhongquan's son worked at the health product company that had run into trouble. Li Zhongquan was worried that his son would also be implicated, so he asked his wife to take their son on a trip abroad, and they could return after things were resolved here.
Since he didn't know how long he would have to hide away, and if he were to travel to countries like Europe or America, the expenses would probably be too much for Li Zhongquan, he chose to travel to Southeast Asia, such as Thailand and Malaysia.
The mother and son were kidnapped shortly after arriving in Thailand and disembarking from the plane. Immediately afterward, one finger from each of them was chopped off and mailed directly to Li Zhongquan. Along with the fingers came a CD containing a clear recording of the scene of Li Zhongquan's wife and son having their fingers cut off. The kidnappers then made their demands… that Li Zhongquan kill Zhou Zhengxiang within three days, no matter what method he used, or his wife and son would be dismembered and thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
If Li Zhongquan killed Zhou Zhengxiang within the stipulated time, they would take responsibility for smuggling him out of the country, allowing him to reunite with his wife and children in Thailand, provided he could escape to the nearest port to Dangyang. Frankly speaking, Li Zhongquan had followed Zhou Zhengxiang for most of his life, and Zhou Zhengxiang had indeed treated him very well.
If it were just a matter of Li Zhongquan betraying some information about Zhou Zhengxiang, he wouldn't be too troubled. But now the kidnappers are asking him to kill Zhou Zhengxiang with his own hands, which makes it very difficult for him to do it. Even though they are threatening him with his family, he can't make up his mind right now.
However, when the kidnappers produced evidence that Li Zhongquan had embezzled 1.8 million yuan from the Zhou Group three years ago by abusing his position, and said that if Zhou Zhengxiang was still alive in three days, the evidence would be sent to Zhou Zhengxiang immediately, Li Zhongquan completely broke down.
If he sacrifices his wife and son for Zhou Zhengxiang, only to have Zhou Zhengxiang spit in his face in the end... then wouldn't his current persistence become a joke?
So Li Zhongquan gritted his teeth and finally had to make this difficult decision... After analyzing the evidence obtained by the police, it was concluded that the kidnapping of Li Zhongquan's wife and son and the coercion of Li Zhongquan to kill people should be a Southeast Asian assassin organization, and the assassins who shot Zhou Zhengxiang earlier were likely members of this organization.
Indeed, that was the case. The assassin organization "Shadow," which frequently operated in Southeast Asia, was the first to accept the mission to assassinate Zhou Zhengxiang on the black market assassin network. However, because Zhou Zhengxiang's protection measures were very good, they finally found an opportunity to assassinate him. Although they managed to injure Zhou Zhengxiang, they failed to complete the mission.
Afterwards, the police raised the level of protection for Zhou Zhengxiang, and because of his serious injuries, Zhou Zhengxiang was unable to leave the hospital. As a result, the assassin organization had even less opportunity to make a move.
However, the deadline for completing the mission they had accepted was fast approaching. If they failed to complete the mission within the agreed timeframe, the assassin organization would not only lose the county reward, but the mission deposit they had previously paid to the black market assassin network would also be lost.
Left with no other option, the assassin organization turned their attention to those close to Zhou Zhengxiang. Just then, Li Zhongquan conveniently sent his wife and children to Thailand, and they naturally wouldn't let such a golden opportunity slip by…
After learning the truth, Zhou Ziwei breathed a sigh of relief. He had been truly afraid that Zhou Zixu was behind it all. Although he felt no affection for the Zhou family, he couldn't deny that the blood flowing in his veins was inextricably linked to Zhou Zixu.
Although he only mentally acknowledged his parents and sister, who still lived in Zhongdu, as his family, he was physically his brother, Zhou Zixu. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei instinctively didn't want Zhou Zixu to be a ruthless person capable of killing his own father. Now that he knew this matter had nothing to do with Zhou Zixu, he was naturally very happy.
Now that Zhou Zhengxiang is dead, Zhou Zixu's risk level has increased significantly. Zhou Ziwei will become the absolute controlling shareholder of the Zhou Group after Zhou Zhengxiang, and the de facto chairman of the group. The bigwig who is behind the scenes offering bounties for the heads of the Zhou Group members is also likely to raise the price for Zhou Ziwei's head. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei is also in a very dangerous situation.
Zhou Ziwei didn't want to live in constant fear from now on, nor did he want his "younger brother" to be killed like Zhou Zhengxiang. Moreover... if the Zhou Group wanted to get out of its predicament and emerge from its slump, it wouldn't be enough for Zhou Ziwei to simply inject a promising project into the company.
As long as the shadow of the assassination bounty remains, the entire company, from top to bottom, will inevitably be filled with fear and insecurity. Workers will have no motivation to work, and managers will have no interest in managing the company. In such a case, no matter how much money is invested, it will be a complete waste.
so……
Three days later, after Zhou Zhengxiang's funeral was held in a low-key manner, all the major and minor shareholders of the group company were invited to the largest villa owned by the Zhou family in Dangyang to hold the first general meeting of shareholders after Zhou Zhengxiang's death.
Although Zhou Ziwei was seen by everyone as a good-for-nothing who was more trouble than a good person, he held 51% of the shares in the Zhou Group and had absolute control over it. Therefore, regardless of whether the minority shareholders liked it or not, Zhou Ziwei had naturally become the most influential person in the Zhou Group.
Although in relatively formal large corporations like theirs, having absolute controlling stake does not necessarily mean one can become the chairman of the board. The chairman's appointment still requires consultation and election by all shareholders.
However, Zhou Ziwei now holds 51% of the shares, Zhou Zixu holds 23%, and the other minority shareholders hold a maximum of 8%, while most only hold 3% or 5%.
Therefore, the election of the chairman could only be between Zhou Ziwei and Zhou Zixu. When Zhou Ziwei came in with great force, it seemed that he was determined to win the chairman position. Although Zhou Zixu also felt that his brother was not up to the task, he would never undermine Zhou Ziwei in front of outsiders. So he was the first to express his support for Zhou Ziwei to serve as the chairman of the group company.
Seeing that Zhou Zixu had also expressed his opinion, the other minority shareholders naturally had nothing to say, and so the board of directors passed the resolution to appoint Zhou Ziwei as the new chairman of the Zhou Group in a harmonious atmosphere.
However… to say that Zhou Ziwei was able to successfully become the chairman, Zhou Zixu's support was secondary. The main reason was that the Zhou Group was on the verge of bankruptcy and seemed to have little chance of recovery. Therefore, the small shareholders had basically given up hope on their small shares. And if the company really went bankrupt, the first one to suffer would definitely be the chairman. So… since Zhou Ziwei wanted to take the lead and compete for the position, let him compete! He'll regret it someday.
The minority shareholders shared similar sentiments, which is why they didn't mind appointing a good-for-nothing as chairman. Otherwise, if the Zhou Group were still thriving, they would never have agreed to it. As for whether Zhou Zixu shared the same thoughts… only Zhou Zixu himself knew the answer…
Zhou Ziwei officially assumed the chairmanship of the Zhou Group and immediately announced his first decision: all employees of the entire group, from top to bottom, would be given a month-long paid leave, with further notice to be given regarding their return to work after the month. During the leave, all company financial accounts were frozen to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation.
All the problems will be dealt with after the company resumes normal operations... Luan Yuqing was also officially appointed as the chairman's assistant of the Zhou Group, assisting Zhou Ziwei in managing the entire Zhou Group. In fact, when Zhou Ziwei is not around, she can also handle some less important tasks on his behalf.
Zhou Ziwei's decision surprised the board members attending the meeting. Seeing how enthusiastic he was about the chairman's position, they thought that he would make some big moves and stir things up to show his decisiveness after taking office... But they never expected that Zhou Ziwei would give the whole company a long holiday on his first day in office...
Fortunately, these shareholders had already lost faith in the Zhou family and didn't expect to have many shares left. Before this, the three pharmaceutical factories and one health product company under the Zhou family's name had already been ordered to suspend operations for rectification and investigation. So, although Zhou Ziwei's decision seemed a bit inexplicable, it did not encounter too much resistance from the directors.
There were no obstacles to Zhou Ziwei's appointment of Luan Yuqing. It's normal for a newly appointed chairman to promote one or two confidants; a new emperor brings a new court, as has been the case since ancient times. Although the confidant appointed by Zhou Ziwei seemed a bit too young and beautiful, and her power appeared to be slightly excessive, no one bothered to argue with him.
Zhou Ziwei's outrageous lechery was notorious, so it was no surprise that he would promote a beautiful woman to a higher position. Moreover, this Assistant Luan seemed to be well-mannered and dignified, not like a nightclub hostess Zhou Ziwei had picked up, which already surprised them.
Otherwise, if Zhou Ziwei really insisted on getting a nobody to be a senior executive in the group, then they really wouldn't be able to do anything about it. After the board meeting ended and all the directors left under police escort, Zhou Zixu walked over to Zhou Ziwei and sat down silently. After a long while, he sighed softly and said, "Brother... I have no objection to you wanting to be the chairman, but... I hope you can treat this company well for the sake of our deceased mother. After all... although this company is named Zhou's, it was actually founded by our mother. I think if Mother knew in the afterlife, she wouldn't want to see the company she poured so much effort into destroyed in our hands!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei smiled slightly, turned around and took out a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet. He opened it, poured two glasses, and then brought them to the sofa. He handed one glass to Zhou Zixu, raised his glass, took a small sip, and then said, "You don't think I did this to get revenge on Dad, so I specially sought out this chairman position and then ruined the Zhou Group to the point of bankruptcy, do you?"
Zhou Zixu didn't answer, but simply held his wine glass and quietly looked at Zhou Ziwei, though his expression was tantamount to acquiescence. Zhou Ziwei gently shook his head and said, "If you were to become the chairman of the company now and manage it... how confident are you that you can lead the Zhou Group out of its predicament and avert bankruptcy?"
This time, Zhou Zixu frowned and thought for a while before shaking his head with a wry smile and saying, "No... I have no chance at all. But... even if I know it's impossible, I will still try my best to fight for it. Even if the final result is still the same, at least I can have a clear conscience!"
“That’s it…” Zhou Ziwei tilted his head back and drank the wine in his glass in one gulp, then said, “Since even if I were to become the chairman in the normal way, the Zhou Group would still be unable to escape the fate of bankruptcy, then why do you think I should act like a villain and destroy the Zhou Group with my own hands?”
Zhou Zixu was stunned. Yes... even if his brother tries his best to do good, he still can't change the fate of the Zhou Group. So why does he have to act as if he wants to destroy the Zhou Group with his own hands?
Zhou Ziwei put down his wine glass and said calmly, "Although our Zhou Group has a department store and a trading company that are operating normally besides the pharmaceutical factory and health product company, and are temporarily making some profit, do you think the employees of Zhou Group will still have much motivation when the group is on the verge of bankruptcy? How much trust will our clients have left? Businessmen are only interested in profit; they often only add to the good times but refuse to help those in need. In our current situation, those former partners and clients will only kick us when we're down, racking their brains to figure out how to extract a brick from this massive Zhou Group empire and get a share of the profits. Therefore, I believe that continuing to operate the company will only make Zhou Group's situation worse. On the contrary, only by decisively freezing everything can we preserve Zhou Group's existing interests. Therefore, I have no choice but to make this decision."
Zhou Zixu felt that there was some truth to what he said, but after thinking about it carefully, he immediately shook his head and said, "But even if we can maintain the interests of the Zhou family for the time being, what about after a month? If the situation does not change, won't the result be the same? Are we going to freeze it again after a month? If so, it will probably only get worse and worse."
"A month should be enough time to change some things."
Zhou Ziwei smiled gently and said, "Believe me... the Zhou family will rise again."
Zhou Zixu stared in astonishment at Zhou Ziwei's confident smile, feeling quite bewildered... Was this... still his good-for-nothing brother who only knew how to indulge in debauchery and gambling all day long?
The two large boxes of jade fragments mailed from Tengchong finally arrived. After counting them, Zhou Ziwei sorted them again, picking out the more than one hundred most valuable fragments and storing them separately in a bank vault. The rest were taken to the Zhou family's mansion.
Before his death, Zhou Zhengxiang only distributed the shares of Zhou's Group in his possession. As for his personal property, he did not make any specific distribution in his will. Therefore, although Zhou Ziwei is not related to Zhou Zhengxiang by blood, he is still Zhou Zhengxiang's eldest son in law and has the same right to inherit property as Zhou Zhengxiang. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei also has a share in several properties of the Zhou family.