Chapter 15

Li Chuanmo was honestly not expecting any employee to be in the company, much less the new Special Assistant. He was told that she would be arriving today, so he thought the earliest he would meet her was the next day.

He looked at her as she came forward. She looked - soft, for lack of a better word. She was wearing a white shirt tucked into black denim. Her long hair was swept to one side and secured with a hairband. Her sleeves were folded, and she was wearing flat shoes. She didn't look like she had makeup on. She looked like a newbie that lost her way, except that her eyes were full of fire and purpose.

They spoke at the same time.

"Hello, Chairman Li"

"Special Assistant Pei"

It would have been very awkward to a passer-by, but to the people involved, they were talking normally.

"Pleased to meet you", Li Chuanmo held out his hand for a handshake.

"The pleasure is mine", Pei Yueran caught it in a firm grip. They released each other almost immediately, and Pei Yueran went into full-on business mode. "It's a good thing I met you. Were you about to leave?"

Li Chuanmo denied it almost immediately, thoughts of leaving already out of his mind.

"You?"

"Not yet, I wanted to check out the different floors. But I suppose that can wait. I know work starts officially tomorrow, but can we discuss a few things now? that is, if you don't mind?"

"Sure", Li Chuanmo replied. They began walking towards the office again. Pei Yueran dashed into her office for a moment to get her laptop and documents, then knocked lightly on Li Chuanmo's door before letting herself in.

Li Chuanmo invited her to sit on one of the sofas while he took the one across, leaving the table in-between them. Pei Yueran began by giving him a copy of the report she had made, "This is a company overview of the Li Conglomerate and a progress report for the past decade. The outline is as follows: Location, mission and vision, history, management team, organizational structure and legal structure.

I briefly discussed each of these. For location, Li Conglomerate consists of fifteen main companies in various sectors, together with ninety five branches in different parts of the country, and...."

Pei Yueran continued, doing a standard presentation. Li Chuanmo listened seriously, noting down his questions. When she finished, he began to ask her questions. He also added his opinion based on her presentation and his own inference from months of study.

They were so engrossed in their conversation that hours passed by unknowingly. As Li Chuanmo was trying to expound on one of the points he raised concerning the company's organizational structure and its efficiency, his smart watch began to vibrate. Both of them put their phones on silent mode, so this was the first thing to distract them.

Li Chuanmo ignored it at first, but by the time he finished speaking, it had vibrated more than three times. His smart watch was the latest model from AiChen Mobile, and she was personally involved in the design and production. It was released just a month ago.

"Maybe you should check that, it might be urgent", Pei Yueran said. Her head was bent low as she typed a string of letters on her computer.

Li Chuanmo wanted to decline, but when he glanced at his watch, he saw missed calls and messages from Li Yuchen. He took his phone to read the messages.

"Dad, it's urgent. Please call me back immediately you see this!"

"Dad!"

"Dad!!"

Li Chuanmo's heart skipped a beat. What could be so urgent? He immediately stood up, wanting to go to the balcony to make a call.

"I'll be back soon," he said to Pei Yueran, who wanted to tell him that it was very late and she wanted to leave. Seeing the worry in his eyes, she held back and decided to wait for him to come back, in case it was a business issue. She nodded and continued typing.

Even as he walked to the balcony, he dialed Li Yuchen's number. There was no response. His heart sank. Was there a problem at home? He immediately called the landline. The Butler picked on the third ring.

"Good evening Young Master. Are you on your way home?"

"Not yet. What happened at home? Is Li Yuchen okay?"

"Nothing happened. Little Master retired to bed over two hours ago, immediately after dinner."

"Alright. Check if he's sleeping and let me know."

"Alright sir." Li Chuanmo dropped the call and stood there, waiting. The nighttime view of City M from the thirtieth floor was breathtaking, but Li Chuanmo was not in the mood to appreciate it. His rational mind told him to calm down, but he couldn't help but worry. What if something was wrong?

He decided to dial Li Yuchen's number again.

On the third ring, the phone was finally answered. He could hear familiar game music in the background.

"Xiao Chen, you called me. Is everything okay?"

"Dad, when will you come home?"

"Soon. What happened?"

"I encountered a seriously difficult level on Lord-level Kingdoms and I wanted you to help me play."

Lord-level Kingdoms was a game that Li Chuanmo developed six months ago, and father and son played once in a while as teammates and co-kingdom owners.

"Was that the urgent matter?" Li Chuanmo's tone was even, but Li Yuchen could smell the gunpowder nevertheless. The butler had just knocked on the door.

"On second thought, it's not that urgent, it can wait till tomorrow. Drive safely!" Li Yuchen said in a rush and quickly cut the call. He didn't want to get grounded till his wedding day, especially since he wasn't even planning to get married ever!

Li Chuanmo's grip tightened on the phone while he rubbed the space between his eyebrows. Li Yuchen was a test of his patience. He was just about to go back to the office when his smart watch vibrated again.

Looking at the caller ID, it was Jiang Philip, his friend and the co-developer of the new AI technology he was working on before coming back to the country. He was calling to tell him that a technology giant in Country R wanted to buy their technology and offered a staggering amount of money for it.

Li Chuanmo asked about the details, then told him to reject the offer. The AI technology was developed for the Li Conglomerate, so he wanted it to be used in their next batch of new products, before discussing cooperation with other companies. He also asked him to strengthen the cybersecurity, so that their data would not be stolen.

By the time the call ended, It was almost 12 midnight. He started, remembering that he had left Pei Yueran in the office for over an hour.