Chapter 448: Ye Tao Becomes Chairman

“Hahaha, you guys are pretty straightforward too.”

The boss came over with some grilled skewers. Clearly, he’d overheard Xu Shaochen’s group talking.

“Looks like the boss has got a story.” Xu Shaochen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The boss sighed wistfully, “A story? More like a disaster. Back then, the skies were still blue, the grass was still green, and black fungus was just used for cooking. I matched with a girl online and spent every day buying her gifts and signing up for membership.”

“But when we finally met up, I found out she was a guy.” Mei Liangxin quickly jumped in, grinning mischievously.

The boss gave him a look and then sneered, “But I didn’t lose out. I still slept with him anyway.”

After finishing his sentence, the boss ignored the group’s stunned expressions and turned, leaving behind a carefree silhouette—the very image of someone who was once unfazed by anything.

“I… Holy crap, this guy’s a real beast!”

Xu Shaochen swallowed hard, suddenly feeling sorry for the man who had met up with the boss all those years ago.

He probably never dreamed that his months of pretending to be a girl for gifts would end up in such a nightmare.

“Why don’t we find another place? I’m starting to feel a bit uncomfortable here.”

Zhang Wei squeezed his legs together and gulped nervously, unable to sit still.

“No worries, he can’t take on all four of us. Who knows, we might even beat him up instead.”

Mei Liangxin said dismissively.

“That’s twisted.”

“Disgusting.”

“Get lost!”

… … …

Morning.

Tianfeng Group.

The conference room was packed with the company’s middle and senior management.

“I wonder what kind of background this new chairman has. Hopefully, he’s not someone who just pretends to know what he’s doing.”

“He probably won’t be. If he really is clueless, then we’ll just ignore him.”

“Ignore him? He’s the person Mr. Xu personally appointed.”

“Sigh, at this point, I really don’t know whether this company belongs to the Du family or the Xu family…”

Everyone was discussing passionately, obviously having already heard the news that Ye Tao was about to take over as chairman.

And from their words, it was clear there was a strong resentment toward Xu Shaochen.

After all, Xu Shaochen had aggressively acquired a large portion of the company’s shares from them, making it impossible for them to be content.

Originally, they thought that with the deaths of Du Ruyan’s father and grandfather, and with her being too young to hold the fort, the company would eventually fall into the hands of the veteran executives.

But they hadn’t anticipated the sudden rise of Xu Shaochen, which caught them completely off guard.

Now, with Xu Shaochen appointing a new chairman out of nowhere, everyone felt anger but dared not voice it.

They could only vent their frustrations quietly like this. But in front of Xu Shaochen, they were all overly respectful.

“Click—”

The office door opened, and everyone fell silent, turning their gaze toward the entrance.

Dressed in a suit and full of confidence, Ye Tao walked into the conference room. This was the beginning of his rise.

“Which department are you from? Do you even know how important this meeting is? Who allowed you to come in here? Get out now!”

“Exactly, you have no sense of propriety. Do you know where you are?”

Seeing Ye Tao walk in, everyone assumed he was just an employee. After all, Ye Tao looked too young.

Ignoring them, Ye Tao walked straight to the head of the table, looked at everyone, and smiled calmly: “Ladies and gentlemen, please quiet down. Allow me to introduce myself. Starting today, I will serve as the chairman of Tianfeng Group. I hope we can work together to take the company to the next level.”

Whoa! As soon as his words fell, the entire room burst into an uproar.

“Are you kidding me? A young kid like this is going to be Tianfeng’s chairman? This must be a joke!”

“Yeah, if Xu Shaochen were taking over personally, that would make sense. We’ve all seen what he’s capable of. But having some unknown youngster assume such an important role—what’s that about?”

“I’m against this! I’m going to see Mr. Xu. We can’t let this happen!”

The bottled-up anger inside everyone seemed to ignite at once. They felt deeply insulted.

To have some unknown youngster manage them—this was an insult as far as they were concerned.

“Have you all said enough? If so, may I have the floor for a moment?”

Despite facing an indignant crowd, Ye Tao remained calm, as he had anticipated this situation before coming.

“I’d like to see if you can talk your way out of this!” The vice-chairman looked at Ye Tao coldly.

He had always thought he would be the one to take the chairman’s position, but now he found out he was just overthinking it.

Ye Tao chuckled, took a seat, and spoke unhurriedly, “Xu Shaochen has already made his decision. Do you really think you can make him take it back? Can you?”

Everyone’s faces turned an alternating shade of green and white. They were furious but helpless.

Because Ye Tao was right. There was a good chance they wouldn’t even get to see Xu Shaochen before being blocked.

“Relax, I’m quite confident in my ability. Xu Shaochen has appointed me to succeed, and if I fail, I’ll eventually make room for one of you. So why are you all so upset?”

Ye Tao initially used Xu Shaochen to suppress these people, and then pointed out that if he failed as chairman, he would be replaced, giving them a glimmer of hope.

Everyone immediately calmed down, convinced that a young kid like Ye Tao couldn’t possibly manage a large company like Tianfeng.

So, in their minds, Ye Tao wouldn’t last long before Xu Shaochen dismissed him, leaving them another opportunity to vie for the chairman’s role.

They had waited this long, so what were another ten days or a couple of weeks?

“Of course, I hope you won’t resort to underhanded tactics during my tenure. I believe Xu Shaochen wouldn’t appreciate seeing that.”

Ye Tao’s strategy was simple—initially suppress them with Xu Shaochen’s authority, and once he had fully grasped the company, he wouldn’t need to invoke Xu Shaochen’s name anymore.

When they heard this, the crowd exchanged smirks.

They certainly wouldn’t defy Ye Tao’s orders. They would eagerly carry out whatever he said.

Because only by not interfering would Ye Tao have more opportunities to make mistakes.

If Ye Tao made errors, not only would he be removed, but it would also be a chance to embarrass Xu Shaochen.

Once Ye Tao was gone, they could clean up the mess, further proving their own worth.

Little did they know, Ye Tao’s words were precisely meant to instill this kind of thinking.

As long as they didn’t use underhanded tactics, Ye Tao was confident he could firmly establish himself within half a month.

By the time they realized it, it would already be too late.

Sigh, you’re all past your prime. It’s time to pass the torch to the younger generation. After all, the future belongs to us young people.