It was Monday morning.Xue Jinxu was woken up by calls. Butler Lee has been trying to reach her as early as five in the morning, as evident with the missed calls that were displayed on her phone"s screen. Even Mother Xue was calling Xue Jinxu several times already.
Xue Jinxu picked up her mother"s calls. "Xu-er, have you checked the news? The news of your brother"s pa.s.sing… It"s out! Somebody leaked it in the middle of the night last night! Hurry, check it out!"
"Okay, mother, I"ll take a look. I"ll call again."
After ending the call, she immediately browsed the internet. Actually, it wasn"t hard of a search because it had been the headlines of the business world. Usually, there were very few exciting happenings in the business world so news of this caliber was the bomb. It really made the cut to be on the headlines.
"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no." She was reading the published articles. Quite a few articles were written about it. One article exposed the Xue Family"s secret, and went like "Xue Family"s Young Master Long Dead". Other news were "Xue Family, Credible or Not" and "Xue Young Master a Ghost or Impostor?", with the latter publis.h.i.+ng Jinxu"s version of the young master. The latter articles were specifically written to attack the credibility of the Xue Family. More articles like these were written and scattered all over the internet.
The stocks of the company instantly plummeted to a new low. More clients decided to cancel their contracts with them, choosing to settle fees for breaching the contract. They did not want to work with people with low integrity.
Xue Jinxu went over to the guest room to check on the sleeping Kang Sola. She quietly left since she didn"t want the commotion to startle or wake her up.
She then called Xue Guangxi who was staying at the Xue mansion with their parents. He was already up, and apparently, the family was involving him, too.
"Xu-jie, this is terrible. What should we do?"
This was exactly what she had feared for years. This was what the family had been trying to prevent from happening. Ever since she left the company, bad incident after another happened, and things only became worse. Although Chen Linyun"s subst.i.tution improved the situation, they only came in second after Zhu s.h.i.+pping Lines. They were struggling to s.n.a.t.c.h back and sit at the top rank, their place for the past years.
Just last Sat.u.r.day, they were successful to garner the second highest market share with the collective efforts and superb teamwork of the employees and management, albeit Chen Linyun"s absence. Come Monday morning, at the opening of the stocks exchange, their market share already went down to fifth. It was the lowest that a big s.h.i.+pping company such as Xue s.h.i.+pping could go down to because from sixth onwards were the independent and emerging small s.h.i.+pping lines already.
Her world was whirling. "What can we do in this situation? Come clean? Keep silent?"
"Guangxi… Honestly, I don"t know." She furrowed her brows with too much worry as she responded to her brother.
"For now we have to face our employees." Xue Guangxi suggested.
"No, I"ll be headed now to the Xue mansion and discuss what we have to do."
"Alright."
At the Xue Mansion, at the Chairman"s study, all were present except for Grampa Xue. They were discussing the best options to solve the problem.
"At this point, the best option is to come clean. We have to arrange a press conference to admit that indeed the Xue"s young master had pa.s.sed. However, we need to build up Guangxi too. We have another heir!" Father Xue, Xue Mingli shared his thoughts. "Guangxi"s turning eighteen in a couple of months!"
They all agreed to it.
A few days after, Xue s.h.i.+pping"s PR department arranged a press conference to clear the rumors and the news. It was scheduled on a Wednesday.
The PR Head, Director Xiao Ye presided the press conference. He was with the Chairman, Xue Mingli. He greeted the media people first, then gave the floor to the Chairman.
"Friends from the media, welcome. We"re gathered here today after such distressing news broke out this week about our dearest Young Master, Xue Minhe."
He paused for a while, trying to allow the media to take in his next words.
"Indeed, Xue Minhe had left the family. That is the only information that I can share with you."
"But to our stakeholders, employers, investors and clients, worry not, because our family still has a strong heir. For sure you know who I am referring to. It"s my second son, Xue Guangxi. He entered the company a year ago as a Marketing Director and even a.s.sumed the position of the Chief Operating Officer or COO for a while. If not for his studies, we would have continued with this setup, but of course, we need to prioritize his foundations first. He"s turning eighteen very very soon! He"s our pride and joy, and the future of Xue s.h.i.+pping!"
"Aside from this, my extremely capable son-in-law, Chen Linyun is the current Officer-in-Charge in Xue s.h.i.+pping. He is also the popularly a.s.sertive, rising business tyc.o.o.n, who, at his young age, had already been acknowledged by our government for breakthroughs and initiatives."
"There"s no need to worry! No reason, at all! Hehehe!"
The audience applauded for a while, but the media did not come for that.
"Chairman, what happened to the Young Master?"
"Please elaborate Mr. Chairman, and please confirm or deny the news of his pa.s.sing."
"Sir, the public has the right to know. Your company is publicly listed."
"Chairman Xue, can you tell us, who was the Young Master that attended the events last year? Was he the true Young Master or an impostor? Did you hire an actor to pretend like him?"
They were bombarded with questions. Chairman Xue looked at Director Xiao Ye to handle them.
"We"re sorry we cannot disclose any more information about the Young Master. Please let us respect the privacy of the Xue Family. As the Chairman said, the future of the company is still bright. We still have our competent Second Young Master in line in the succession." Director Xiao Ye apologetically stood firm.
With that Chairman Xue made his exit.
Xue Jinxu who was watching the live telecast at home was quite confused. She immediately called Father Xue. "Father… I thought we"ll come clean… Why…"Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
"I cannot do it, princess. At least, not totally. I can"t confirm his death to the public. This will come to pa.s.s. The issue will get buried eventually. I can"t let them know the finality of Xue Minhe"s status." He sighed. "Director Xiao Ye was correct. It"s a private family matter. They have to respect that."
A day after the press release, the stocks of Xue s.h.i.+pping slowly increased. The trust of the stakeholders and the market had been established with the presence of the Second Young Master and Chen Linyun. Even their clients who wavered showed interest to work with them again. What"s important, after all, was the continuation of the family"s legacy in the succeeding generations.
However, come Friday, two days after the press conference, the internet was abuzz again. This time news about Xue Guangxi was published. It was about his womanizing habit.
Some of the articles were…
"Second Young Master Xue Guangxi a womanizer, exposed!"
"Xue s.h.i.+pping"s heir changes girls like clothes!"
"Future of Xue s.h.i.+pping had commitment issues!"
Chairman Xue was furious in his study that Friday morning. He crumpled all the broadsheet newspapers that he could set eyes on. His eyes were blazing with rage.
"Where"s Guangxi right now? I want to beat the life out of him!"
"How did this news come out? No one screened them?"
"Hurry, clean this mess up! Butler Lee!"
"Understood, Chairman. I"ll coordinate with the PR Team." Butler Lee acknowledged the instructions.
Chairman"s eyes squinted. "Somebody"s up actively going against us."
Before rumors came out about a young heir being a womanizer but no name was mentioned. This time, it was all over the news, published in papers and on the internet, naming Xue Guangxi specifically without any solid evidence or basis.
It was clear that the intention was to destroy the Second Young Master"s reputation.
At the Chen dream house.
Kang Sola had seen the news and was worried for her friend. "Xu-jie…" She fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat.
"Don"t you worry, Sola. Guangxi will outlast this. It isn"t the first time he encountered something like this."
"…And Xue s.h.i.+pping still has Chen Linyun…"
"And me." She added in her mind and clenched her fists with resolution. For sure, Chen Linyun would be needing a lot of her help too. It"s her family"s mess, after all.
She calmly stared at the horizon, albeit the boisterous drumming of her heart and flickering eyes full of anxiety.