Chapter 297: What are these guys up to?

However, at that moment, a meticulous executive frowned.
"Wait a minute… everyone, don't you find this a bit strange?"
His words silenced everyone.
"Even if it's to appease the EU and split up the company, is it really necessary to sell off everything except the core business?
Wouldn't it be better to keep some high-quality assets? Isn't this a bit too much?"
This question was like a pebble thrown into a still lake of emotions, stirring up ripples again.
"Besides, didn't Chairman Su say there wouldn't be any layoffs?
But we've sold off the vast majority of our shipping company, leaving so many people just sitting around doing nothing…
Isn't this practically charity?"
This hit the nail on the head.
The company was shrinking drastically, yet there were no layoffs.
This operation seemed suspicious no matter how you looked at it.
"Yeah, right!" another person chimed in, realizing what he meant.
"He even made the guys who were split up 'endure' there for two years, even going so far as to write that into their contracts…
This doesn't feel like selling the company; it's more like… temporarily hosting these companies in someone else's house?"
Hostage?
The moment those two words were uttered, the entire conference room fell into a deathly silence.
It was as if a thunderbolt had exploded in everyone's minds.
The more they thought about Su Hao's series of moves, the more they realized how brilliant the analogy was.
If the company were split up, layoffs would be inevitable.
But Su Hao was different. He wanted to retain all the employees, giving them only the bare minimum of work.
This wasn't like cutting off an arm to save a life; it was clearly…
disguising a tiger as a kitten, temporarily boarding it in someone else's house, waiting for the storm to pass before bringing it back?
"Could it be... that the shipping industry's prospects are bleak?"
"Impossible! Quite the opposite!" Another executive in charge of market analysis immediately retorted.
"All institutions' assessments suggest that the shipping industry will only boom even more in the future!
The BDI index is breaking new highs every day!
Otherwise, why would those bastards in the EU be so envious, so eager to dismantle us and divide the spoils?"
This is the universally acknowledged fact.
Then what exactly is Su Hao... this monstrous man, up to?
"Do you think Chairman Su might be treating this like a stock market transaction?
Like his usual style, he'll sell all his shares at the peak, and then...
buy them all back when it hits rock bottom?"
"What a joke! The shipping market will only get better in the future, where's the bottom?"
"That's true, but..."
For a moment, everyone fell into deep thought.
***
Meanwhile, at Fang Huan Investment headquarters, the eye of the storm, an eerie peace prevailed.
"Chairman Su, these are... the reports and materials you requested."
"Oh, okay, put them there," Su Hao replied.
Out of the corner of his eye, however, he clearly caught the employees in the office, who, having finished their reports, were all cowering before him like quails, barely daring to breathe.
He sensed that the atmosphere in the entire company was a bit off today.
From the receptionist to the senior executives, everyone looked at him with a mixture of cautious probing and pity.
Even Huang Fengwen, who had just called to chat, spoke haltingly, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
Everyone in the company was watching him closely.
He was incredibly suspicious. What were these people up to?
Could some shocking secret be circulating in the company that he didn't know about?
Or…had he been unknowingly ostracized by the entire company?
No way!
"Sister Huilin, could you stay for a moment?"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone else in the office seemed to have received a pardon, and they all scurried out, running faster than rabbits.
Only Li Huilin remained, frozen in place, her body stiff, as she slowly shuffled to his desk, her face deathly pale.
"Mr. Su…is something the matter?"
"Why are you trembling?" Su Hao was amused by her appearance.
"You suddenly asked me to stay behind alone, I... I thought I'd done something wrong..."
"Nonsense," Su Hao smiled, "You've always helped me the most, I remember it all, I'm grateful to you."
Although Li Huilin held the title of deputy department manager, she actually did all the work of his personal secretary.
Su Hao had told her it wasn't necessary to go through all that trouble, but she insisted that only this way could she accept that ridiculously high salary without feeling so guilty…
“Alright, let’s get down to business.” Su Hao’s smile faded.
“What happened at the company?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t play dumb, it’s written all over your face. Everyone’s looking at me like mice seeing a cat?”
“That’s because…” Li Huilin hesitated for a long time before cautiously speaking,
“Everyone… thinks you must be in a particularly bad mood today…”
“Me?” Su Hao pointed to himself, “Why wouldn’t I be in a bad mood?”
“Well, it’s just…” Li Huilin’s voice trailed off,
“The Fang Huan Shipping thing… it’s all over the news now.
Everyone knows how much effort you put into building the shipping company.
And then, it was suppressed by those thugs in the EU, forcibly dismantled into pieces… so…”
Oh, so that’s what it was about.
Su Hao almost burst out laughing.
He thought he'd been secretly bullied in the office, or that some huge scandal had happened that he hadn't heard about.
After all that, this is it?
"You...you're really not upset at all?" Li Huilin's eyes nearly popped out of her head at his nonchalant demeanor.
"If I were really in a bad mood, why would I even come to work today?" Su Hao leaned back in his executive chair and said leisurely.
"Go tell them that tonight, we're having a team-building dinner!
Tell them not to look so gloomy, to get back to work, the sky's not falling."
"Ah?! Really?" Li Huilin's eyes lit up instantly.
"Really, go ahead, tell them all to come in."
"Okay!"
Li Huilin instantly perked up, reverting to her usual energetic self, and scurried out of the office.
A burst of chatter came from outside the door, and soon a group of people, all smiles and laughter, poured in, instantly restoring the office's lively atmosphere.
Only Liang Haiyuan remained, his face grave.
"Chairman Su, are you... really alright?"
"I'm really alright."
"But I... I was so damn angry I couldn't sleep all night!"
Liang Haiyuan slapped his thigh, cursing through gritted teeth.
"These damned EU dogs! They act all high and mighty all day, but when it comes to their crimes, they're more shameless than thugs! Isn't this blatant robbery?!"