"If she truly loved Jingchen, how could she disregard his future and reputation this way, making such a scene with her radical methods and bringing along so many women? Clearly, it was premeditated. I may be old, but I’m not senile. Yuan Jiayin is probably not the same Yuan Jiayin I knew."

Ye Lu fundamentally respected Old Sir Shang’s insight. She also thought that Yuan Jiayin was not so simple, but after all, this was the Shang Family’s matter and it was inappropriate for her to voice her opinion.

However, is Yuan Jiayin really as severe as Old Sir Shang described?

Old Sir Shang made it sound like Yuan Jiayin was a great threat to the Shang Family. If she were to marry Jingchen in the future, they would be husband and wife. How could she harm the Shang Family?

"I can’t let the fruit of the Shang Family’s lifelong toil fall into that woman’s hands."

Ye Lu too was troubled: "But when Jingchen comes back and sees all this, he will misunderstand me even more."

"I know this is unfair to you, but I can’t find anyone else who can help me. My daughter is not strong enough and she can’t see the reality of the situation. A year should be enough for Jingchen to see her true face. When that time comes, if you want to leave, I will understand."

Seeing him so sick and worrisome, Ye Lu couldn’t bear it.

"Okay, I promise you. But when I leave the Shang Family, I will return all my shares and won’t take a single penny."

Old Sir Shang looked at her moved. He was indeed right about her.

...

The next day, news spread within the corporation that the granddaughter-in-law of the Shang Family, Ye Lu, had been appointed as the executive director of the Shang Family Group and a shareholders’ meeting was immediately convened to introduce her to all shareholders.

The news shocked the entire industry. Such a large corporation as Shang Family Group was letting a woman serve as an executive director. Everyone was in a state of watchful anticipation.

Old Sir Shang got his special assistant Qi Xiu, who had accompanied him for over twenty years and was now in his forties, to serve as her assistant and help her familiarize herself with the group’s affairs.

Ye Lu appeared outside the Shang Family Group premises dressed in an international brand suit, her makeup professional, hairstyle simple, quite portraying the aura of a major corporation’s female director.

Actually, she was very nervous. She had led as a student leader in her school, but sitting in such an important position for the first time was causing her head to spin. Facing the strange, questioning gazes of the higher-ups and group employees, it was impossible not to be nervous.

"Let’s see how she handles it. Heard she is the daughter of a nouveau riche and was even abandoned by President Shang during the wedding."

The whispering high-level execs coming to welcome her all had the attitude of sitting back and watching a good show.

"Today, the Vice President purposely gathered all higher-ups and had all employees come to greet her, just to intimidate her and make her embarrass herself in front of everyone. This way, no one will respect her afterward."

Seated in the Rolls-Royce, Ye Lu opened the car door and saw row upon row of executives in neat suits and a crowd of group employees wearing name badges behind them. The grand welcome scene, like welcoming a national leader, was both astonishing and daunting.

Ye Lu looked surprised at all this. She had asked to keep things low-key on her first visit to the group. What was happening?

Glancing over those smug, anticipatory executives, she immediately understood what was going on. Balling her fists, these people were purposely trying to belittle her.

"Chairman Ye, it’s time to get out of the car!" Even Qi Xiu was worriedly looking at her, afraid that she would lose her nerve in front of the executives.

Because it was their first meeting, if she couldn’t demonstrate the power of an executive director, she would be looked down upon by the executives, laughed at privately by the group employees, lose her prestige, and it would be harder to carry out her work in the future.