Earth – Junhi Country – Star City.
The Blackheart Investments Company building.
Exactly one hour after Gu Zhongchen gave the order, every executive and employee was in the meeting room. The meeting room was very large,everyone easily fit in the meeting room. Everyone in the room seemed confused and nervous.
After everyone arrived, Gu Zhongchen entered the meeting room and sat at the head of the table. He looked around the room, noticing the somber mood. Everyone he wanted was here.
"You guys are probably wondering why you are here?" Gu Zhongchen asked, addressing the question that was on everyone's mind. "You will get to know in a minute. But first, Assistant Zhou, do you have the list that I gave you?" Gu Zhongchen asked, mentioning the list he gave Zhou Long.
"Yes, sir. I have it in my hand," Zhou Long replied.
"Good. Now read out the names that have a star on them," Gu ordered.
"As you wish," Zhou Long said, doing as he was told.
Zhou Long started to call out the names that had a star on them. There were 22 names on the list, and 12 had a star. Two were department heads. One was the head of the Marketing Department, and the other was the head of the HR Department. Six were team leaders in various departments. The rest were low-level employees.
Gu Zhongchen's investment company was different from most other investment companies. Although he was the CEO, he rarely did anything other than signing the deals. The executives handled everything else; he just told them which company to invest in. However, any big decisions would have to be approved by Gu Zhongchen first.
All the executives held the same amount of power in the company. The company also had different departments, like the HR Department, Finance and Accounting Department, Marketing Department, etc. There were 10 in total. Each department had a department head and three teams.
After Zhou Long called out everyone that had a star on their name, Gu Zhongchen said in a cold voice, "All of you are fired. You will hand over your company ID, take your personal items and leave. You will not be given this month's salary. You may go now."
Hearing what Gu Zhongchen said, everyone was shocked. The ones fired immediately started protesting.
The Marketing Department head protested heavily and said, "You can't fire us without any reason. We have worked tirelessly for your company for years. We—"
Gu Zhongchen interrupted the blabbering idiot and said, "Two months ago, you stole money from a project."
As soon as Gu Zhongchen said that, all the protests stopped. Everyone was again shocked. But no one was as shocked as the Marketing Department head. He immediately started sweating, afraid of what was going to happen to him
Paying no heed to the shocked mass, Gu Zhongchen continued, "Each and every one of you has betrayed the company. I just don't want to get into any legal problems and make a scandal, so I am letting you guys go without much drama. But if you don't cooperate, I will take legal action."
Truthfully, Gu Zhongchen had no evidence. He only arrived in this world today. But he knew about these guys. These guys sold company secrets to rival companies in the novel. But they didn't know that. So they were likely to go away after hearing his threat.
As expected, after Gu Zhongchen said that, every one of them complied and went away, regretting their life decisions.
Zhou Long, conflicted, asked Gu Zhongchen, "Are you really letting them go without any retribution, sir?"
Hearing the question, Gu Zhongchen smirked and said, "Of course not. Nobody betrays me and gets away with it. Handling it legally won't make them suffer as much. Having three meals a day isn't suffering."
He then ordered, "Blacklist them, and after the meeting, call Dad and ask him to blacklist them too. Make sure they can't get a good job but also make sure they get a low-paying job. Make their living arrangements miserable. I want them to suffer for years."
Hearing this, everyone was again shocked and afraid. Everyone except Zhou Long. Zhou Long looked at Gu Zhongchen with awe and thought, "Young master seems to resemble Master more now."
After giving the order, Gu Zhongchen pointed at the remaining employees and said, "Team Leader Lu, you will head the Marketing Department, and Team Leader Chen, you will head the HR Department. The rest of you will fill the vacant team leader positions in your respective departments."
Hearing this, the remaining employees looked surprised and happy. They immediately started thanking him.
Gu Zhongchen then said, "I am trusting you guys. Work hard. You may go now."
After thanking him one more time and telling him that they will do a good job, the employees went away.
After the employees went away, only silence remained. The executives were thinking if the same thing was going to happen to them and were nervous.
As if reading their thoughts, Gu Zhongchen smiled and said, "You guys don't have to worry. I know all of you are loyal." It was true. Every one of the executives was personally vetted by his father.
Hearing this, all of the executives sighed in relief. Then they started thinking about why they were called.
Again, as if reading their minds, Gu Zhongchen said, "I will tell you guys about why you were called to this meeting later. First, give me the investment reports of your respective companies."
Gu Zhongchen's company had 9 executives. Seven of them handled matters related to one company that he told them to invest in. The remaining two handled two companies each. Altogether, his company had invested in 11 different companies involved in different industries.
Each executive helped their respective companies grow. They also made monthly reports and sent them to him.
The executives started giving reports about the company they were responsible for. It took some time to finish.
After the executives finished giving the reports, Gu Zhongchen checked the time. It was currently 1 p.m. The meeting started at 10:30 a.m.
After checking the time, Gu Zhongchen said, "I am sure you all are dying to know about the reason I called you all for a meeting. However, I am tired and hungry, so you will have to wait. We will take a lunch break for an hour and a half. The meeting will continue at 2:30 p.m.," and left the meeting room.
Gu Zhongchen ordered Zhou Long to bring something to eat and went to his office. In the meeting room, the executives were discussing amongst themselves and thinking about why they were called.
"Why do you guys think this meeting was called?" asked Executive Lee. He handled a company called Shi Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company.
"I think some of us are getting fired," said Executive Lu. He handled a garments company called Lexus Clothing.
"Are you deaf? Young Master Gu just said that we weren't going to get fired," said Executive Han with a little venom. He handled a fast food company called Pizza King. He seemed to have a problem with executive Lu.
"Don't start a fight, you two. I am sure Young Master will tell us soon," said Executive Zhou. He was one of the two who handled two companies. He seemed to have a little bit of authority over the others, as they became quiet as soon as he spoke.
"Whatever it is, I am sure it's very important," said executive Bai. He was the other executive with two companies.All the other executives agreed with him, thinking the same.
While the executives were discussing the reason for the meeting, Gu Zhongchen was currently eating a burger while watching a TV show, completely unbothered by anything.
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That's it for today folks. Hope you liked the chapter. Se you on the next one. Bye