Chapter 17

The press conference was to be held conference hall on the second floor. It was held to formally introduce the new chairman. All the reporters were already seated, waiting for the event to begin.

Li Chuanmo and Pei Yueran walked in at exactly 5pm and the conference started. Pei Yueran was the moderator for the event. She thanked everyone for coming and then handed the floor to Li Chuanmo for his speech.

After he finished, the floor was open for questions. The reporters began raising hands to ask questions, and Li Chuanmo answered accordingly.

One reporter asked, " The Li Conglomerate has always been a trendsetter in City M and the entire country. What are the company's plans for expansion abroad?"

Li Chuanmo replied, "Thank you for the question. Right now, our main goal is to focus on developing domestically. When there are plans to develop abroad, we will inform the public."

Another reporter asked, "It's no news that the Li Conglomerate is developing a brand new AI technology that will change the world of technology as we know it. When will it be released?"

"Thank you for the question. The technology in question is still being developed as we speak, and when it has been fully tested and functional, it will be released for use in our electronic products."

Other reporters continued to raise their hands. Pei Yueran picked a lady wearing glasses and a baseball hat. She asked, "The public is curious about the new chairman. Let me ask on behalf of the public sir, are you married?"

Pei Yueran immediately replied, "This press conference is about the future direction of the company only. Please refrain from personal questions. Thank you. Any other question? Next please" The reporter tried again, "Mr Chairman, what is your ideal type?"

Pei Yueran was getting angry. She could see that Li Chuanmo's expression had changed and although she didn't know him well, she knew no one would be happy to be asked such personal questions.

She said, " Since you don't have any other question, next person please!" The reporter tried to ask another question, but Pei Yueran chose someone else, this time a man.

"We know this is an official press conference, but people are really curious about who the new chairman is as a person. So I will ask Mr Chairman, what are your views on love?"

Pei Yueran was totally annoyed by this time, but she calmed down. "Since there are no more questions, the press conference is ov...."

"I....don't believe in love."

******

Li Chuanmo had prepared his speech for the press conference a while ago. He had a grand vision for the Li Conglomerate, and he was glad to share a part of it with the public.

He didn't like having anything to do with the press — they were always snooping around and looking for bad news. He remembered how they came at him when Li Qianye and Zhang Heying adopted him.

Reporters hounded him, so much that Li Qianye had to get him bodyguards, and after a while, put him in the dormitory before his life became quiet again.

They were like dogs looking for juicy meat to bite into. Once they had their attention on something or someone, they never let go under their victims were bruised and bleeding.

That was why he stiffened when the first question about his marriage was thrown. He knew the conference was going too smoothly. He just wasn't really expecting such pointed questions.

Although his divorce with Xie Weiwan wasn't publicized — since it happened abroad — he was sure that it wasn't a secret, and he was not ashamed to speak of it.

But on second thought, it was his private life and not anyone's business, so he declined to answer. He was satisfied when Pei Yueran gave the same excuse and moved on to the next question.

When he was asked about his ideal type, he just felt irritated. Who cared about that? If he was to answer honestly, his ideal type was someone that could truly love him, that would share joy and sorrow with him, that loved him for who he is and not what she could get from him.

But as Xie Weiwan and the other women who had ever come into his life had proven, he could only get that in an utopian world. So he wanted to get the event over and done with. He planned not to sit with anyone from the media for anything else — for a long, long time.

He felt a fire begin to burn in his chest when he heard the last question. Love? What was that? He stopped believing it existed long ago.

Despite the love his adopted parents had shown him, it had not been enough to heal the hurt he had been living with. Since he was adopted as a teenager and spent a lot of time away from them afterwards, they didn't have enough time to bond.

So, even though Li Qianye and Zhang Heying have always treated him sincerely and loved him as much as they could, he wasn't as free with them as he should be.

The scab that had formed on his wound due to being loved by the Li couple was ruthlessly pulled open by Xie Weiwan.

So love? He sneered. Sorry, it wasn't for him. He could hear Pei Yueran saying something, but he just cut in, his voice overriding hers.

"I.... don't believe in love!"

*****

The entire hall fell into pindrop silence. Then, the reporters exploded. Camera lights flashed and many reporters were shouting.

"Look here, Mr Chairman!"

"We still want to hear more!"

"I have a question!"

Amidst the clamour, Pei Yueran hastily said, "That would be all for today, thank you for coming" and removed the microphone. She and Li Chuanmo were then escorted out by the protocol team.