Chapter 247: Lesson
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The gathering ended in a sour note. After consoling Randy who kept apologizing to him, Zhang Lisheng stopped a taxi and went directly to the factory in the suburbs.
In truth, his heart was not as calm and fearless as he looked. After all, the expansion of the LS Group was related to the screening of the transformed wizard gu and obtaining more capital gains and potential influence on Earth. If an accident occurred, it might affect Zhang Lisheng’s overall influence in the future.
As he pondered over it, he decided to summon the manager and chief legal officer who managed the company on behalf of him to gather in the office so that they could discuss a countermeasure face-to-face.
It took him an hour to finally summon the two confidants to hastily appear in front of himself. Immediately, Zhang Lisheng described the ins and outs of this troublesome incident to them and finally added, “It’s like this, Charlie, Edward. That Mr. Emerson plans to use ‘extravagant vulture who enjoys despair the most’ as a t.i.tle and add my face in to publish news, saying that I even hosted a meal to entertain my family and friends in a luxurious Upper West Side restaurant in New York while the unemployed worker who protested the expansion of the LS Group died by accident. Not only that, I showed no sense of sympathy when I was faced with questioning. Did you guys hear that? He said I have no sense of sympathy! Don’t tell me that it’d only be considered reasonable if I had given up on my lunch and attended the funeral of that idiot who protested in the wild during winter and who in the end died due to suffocation?”
“It would be best if you’re willing to attend his funeral, boss!” Zhang Lisheng was merely complaining but Charlie, who was still panting for just running into the office, answered at this opportunity with a wry smile. “Our expansion has indeed caused a lot of people to be unemployed. Although this can be said to be the inevitable result of the subversive innovation of the entire slaughter industry, it’ll still cause many adverse effects if somebody purposely incites this problem. It’ll make our acquisition path difficult as well…”
“So I’d need to attend the funeral of the protester today and give all unemployed workers a job opportunity tomorrow and wait for the fate of bankruptcy to arrive the day after? Is that so, Charlie?” The young man stopped his manager’s words and turned his attention to the legal officer. “Edward, from a legal point of view, do we have an advantage in this matter? ”
“Boss, at present, unless a company is willing to spend a lot of money to explicitly file an anti-monopoly lawsuit against the LS Group, the Ministry of Commerce will not take the initiative to initiate anti-monopoly procedures on us. The US government has always been tolerant of industrial renewal caused by new technology. However, if that Mr. Emerson or something really publishes an article that is not good for you in the media, then I’m afraid that we won’t have any good methods to stop it. After all, ‘freedom of the press’ is one of the basic civil rights stipulated in the Const.i.tution. As the chairman of the board of directors of the LS Group, you can be said as a public figure already, and the ‘privacy’ you can enjoy is very small. ”
“Oh? Suddenly having a successful career has become a bad thing now?” Zhang Lisheng sat on the large, comfortable office chair and frowned. “If we hire the best lawyer…”
“Boss, I’m one of the best lawyers in the US for civil lawsuit cases. I can tell you clearly that a tough att.i.tude in this kind of thing will only be counterproductive and will increase the impact of adverse events.”
“It looks like my only option is to shut Mr. Emerson directly!” Upon hearing Edward’s warning, Zhang Lisheng remained silent for a moment before suddenly relaxing his frowns and smiled sinisterly. Without any scruples, he shrugged and said, “I didn’t want to do this originally but it looks like it’s most effective to deal with this kind of thing in the most simple way… Charlie, Edward, forget about this matter. Let us talk about constructive topics. I’ve asked Maddie to buy…”
“Boss, even if you let Emerson ‘shut up’ this time, as long as the expansion of LS Group continues, there’ll be some people named Emerson, Somerson or any other name who’d question us.” After a moment of hesitation, despite feeling chills running down their spines, Edward still stared into Zhang Lisheng’s eyes and interrupted him as he said in a heavy voice, “You can’t possibly make everyone ‘shut up’.”
“Then what should I do, Edward? Let the matter go on like this?”
“Boss, Edward is right! In fact, when any big company grows up, it’ll inevitably face the public’s various criticisms and scrutinization.” Charlie, who was by the side, also pondered and chimed in. “Rockefeller’s Standard Oil company has been broken up into four companies like Mobil, Chevron Corporation and more. Microsoft has also faced several anti-monopoly lawsuits. it’s not feasible to use the forced ‘m.u.f.fling’ method in this matter… Oh, wait a minute! There is a way! I have an idea, boss! Instead of suppressing it, why don’t we let it erupt? We’ll countermeasure it by letting you act a show in your true color.”
“What do you mean by act a show in my true color?” Zhang Lisheng asked the manager whose eyes were glowing in confusion.
“It’s very simple boss, very simple! Didn’t you always say that your purpose of starting the LS Group is not to become a billionaire to enjoy the luxuries of life, but to have enough money to build the world’s largest biological laboratory, did you? In fact, your investment in research is really amazing, especially the recent donation to Stanford University that was an amount so huge that it’s completely terrifying. For this reason, we can say that your intrinsic nature is not an industrialist but a scientist!”
“That’s amazing! Charlie! It’s really wonderful!” Edward, who was by the side, had his eyes lit up right away as he clapped and said, “This is really the most amazing idea you’ve ever come up with in your entire life!”
“Thank you for your compliment, Edward, my good friend,” Charlie said proudly.
At this time, Zhang Lisheng waved his hand in confusion. “Charlie, what is the relations.h.i.+p between what we are talking about and whether I’m an ‘industrialist’ or a ‘scientist’?”
“The relations.h.i.+p is huge.” A sly smile crept upon Charlie’s face. “Boss, the degree of psychological tolerance the public has towards a greedy ‘capitalist’ whose purpose in life is to extract every profit that can be extracted from the general public is completely different from a scientist who is obsessed with scientific research till he neglects his sleep and meals! It’d definitely cause an uproar if the former still holds a feast to entertain his guests when he knows that a protestor has died…”
“It can’t be said as a feast! It’s only a simple meal and it’s Randy who wanted me to go…”
“Boss, trust me, not many people will pay attention to the details in the news! Only the thrilling t.i.tle alone raises dissatisfaction from a lot of people. Therefore, our counterattacks must be simple and powerful, such as an article like ‘The Einstein’s world that you’d never know’ or, um a signature article like ‘The vulture actually enjoys feasting on truth the most’. Adding on to the salary of the LS Group employees that are generally higher than other similar companies…”
“Oh, I kinda get what you’re trying to say now. Will this work, Charlie?”
“Of course, boss! When the emotions of the people are shaken, they’ll suddenly find that the greedy ‘businessman’ they’re targeting is actually a ‘mad scientist’ who spends all his life in the lab and actually has a life harder than theirs. That haggard face and slightly spa.r.s.e hair is not a result of the overindulgence in the mellowness of alcohol, and the gentle embrace of pretty girls but a result from terrible chemicals that have corroded your health! And the so-called denouncement of throwing a feast to entertain your guests after knowing that a protestor has died is nothing but a goodbye meal with your family, for you’re about to leave the bustling New York City to head to the dangerous and terrible supernatural realm’s island to carry out your scientific expedition…” As Charlie was speaking, he was immersed in the play too deeply and began to recite in an operatic aria.
“Hey Charlie, enough, enough! I’m not that miserable yet!” Zhang Lisheng interrupted his manager’s recitation with a chuckle. “However, your approach sounds quite feasible.”
“It’s not ‘quite feasible’, boss! It’ll certainly work! Not only that, it’ll have a great effect too! There’s a regular pattern to public opinion. As long as you’ve grasped this regular pattern, you can turn bad things into good things. As the saying goes, a lie will eventually become the truth if it’s repeated thousands of times!” Charlie blurted out confidently before adding in consciously, knowing that he had made a slip of the tongue. “But, of course, boss, other than the exaggerated description about your appearance, everything else is not a lie…”
“Alright, Charlie. You don’t have to beautify it anymore. I know how horrible I look right now.” Zhang Lisheng grinned. “In this case, shouldn’t I leave New York immediately and go to Shrimp B1 Island according to your plan?”
“It’s better to not fake this matter, boss. Since you’ve already planned to leave recently, you just need to leave a few days ahead of schedule.” Charlie smiled.
“But I have a lot of things to settle in New York… Ah forget it, get me a ticket heading to Shrimp B1 Island tomorrow afternoon,” Zhang Lisheng thought about it and said. “Also, I’ll inform Professor Steven about those tailored sails that I asked Tina to buy, so remember to s.h.i.+p them to the island a few days later along with the added equipment for the lab.”
“Okay, boss.” Charlie gave his words.
Zhang Lisheng nodded and turned his gaze to his own legal officer. “Edward, I suddenly feel that LS’ ‘legal department’ should be expanded. You can add some good lawyers to the company but remember, don’t calculate the cost, for I only want the best!”
“Boss, in fact, the legal department of the group has hired enough outstanding lawyers…”
“It’s not enough. It’s still far from being enough.” A strange expression suddenly appeared on Zhang Lisheng’s face as he shook his head and interrupted Edward’s words. “Have you heard the story of Hernán Cortés?”
“W-What did you say, boss?”
“The legendary story of the Mexican conqueror Cortés who conquered Mexico. You’ve never heard of it before, Edward?”
“I know the story, boss,” The LS’ legal officer replied with still a bit of confusion.
“I’ve only heard of this legendary story recently and I feel that it’s unfair for Cortés. He has conquered millions of square kilometers of land without any help from Spain but in the end, he only won an interest of less than one-thousandth. Do you know what lesson this story tells us?”
Edward shook his head in a daze.
“It tells us that once you’ve found that the aborigines have started to wors.h.i.+p you as a G.o.d, you should immediately prepare a team of lawyers who can legitimately and reasonably win the best interest for you,” Zhang Lisheng smiled and said in a whisper.