I am not just a tycoon

It's not easy to find a job, much less to reach the management level, especially when the company, like Jingfu, offers a decent package.

Given the current economic climate, good jobs are hard to come by, so naturally, everyone would want to stay with the company.

In this oppressive and gloomy atmosphere, the former owner, Shih Wenkuan, entered the room alongside a young man and walked into the meeting room shoulder to shoulder.

All heads turned in unison, their eyes drawn instinctively to the young man.

He was tall and well-proportioned, wearing a black zip-up knit polo shirt, gray wrinkle-free trousers, and a pair of black leather shoes—a definitely stylish dresser.

This must be the new boss.

But his face caused a stir all around.

So young?

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He seemed to be in his twenties and had just directly purchased such a large company?

Throughout it all, the new boss maintained a light smile, which seemed quite approachable.

But seasoned professionals knew that those with imperceptible smiles were often the toughest to deal with.

Once the two men took their seats, one on each side, Shih Wenkuan cleared his throat and said, "Folks, as you all have been notified, I will soon be leaving the Jingfu family. I want to thank everyone for so much—"

Shih Wenkuan offered some pleasantries, bid individual farewells, and finally introduced the main topic, "From now on, this will be your new boss, Shen Yuan."

"Clap clap clap!"

The HR Director Zhong Yu was the first to lead the applause, seizing this opportunity to make a strong first impression on the boss who didn't recognize anyone yet.

Not willing to be outdone, the rest followed with enthusiastic clapping.

Waiting for the noise to subside, Shih Wenkuan made a gesture with his hands to quiet down the room, "Now Mr. Shen will take the meeting from here. I have some things to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

Shen Yuan stood up to shake hands with Shih Wenkuan. Once Shih had left the conference room, Shen Yuan scanned the seated individuals and then said with a smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you all, I am Shen Yuan."

"Today is really just a handover meeting, I have no other work arranged for the moment."

"Aside from the HR Director and the CFO, the rest of you are free to go."

Shen Yuan had not managed a company before, but under Old Shen's tutelage, he knew what to do.

What's more, with his connections and an Xiangjiang EMBA at his back, he felt confident.

Therefore, these members of the management were no different from ordinary people in his eyes.

The crowd was momentarily taken aback, having expected some grandiose task, but since the new boss had said so, they each stood up and filed out of the conference room.

"Mr. Shen, do you have any directions for us?"

Zhong Yu straightened up, placed both hands on the table, and looked at Shen Yuan earnestly.

Shen Yuan glanced at him; it seemed that Director Zhong was eager to show his worth.

After a pause, he said, "I will need the company's financial reports from the past three months, as well as the monthly reports from HR."

"Sure, I'll get the reports to you right away."

Zhong Yu quickly agreed, "Anything else you need, Mr. Shen?"

"No, that's it."

Shen Yuan smiled faintly, "How long have Director Zhong and Director Liu been with the company?"

Zhong Yu had been about to stand up but froze under Shen Yuan's gaze, replying almost reflexively, "I've been here for five years."

"I've been here for three years."

The CFO, Director Liu, a woman in her forties with glasses, also answered.

"Alright, thank you. You can go now."

After the two had left, Shen Yuan moved from the conference room to his own office and stretched out leisurely in the executive chair.

The most important part of managing a company was to keep a tight grip on personnel and financial authority.

So it was essential to assess whether the HR Director and CFO were usable for the roles—having personal loyalists would obviously be ideal, yet he had none at his disposal at the moment.

After resting for a while, Shen Yuan made a call to Fu Yingzi, telling her to start working at Jingfu from the next day.

The incubator project was almost finished; the subsequent tasks like bookkeeping, financial reporting, data compilation, and cost accounting could all be handed over to the specialized Long Jinghan.

The assistant secretary had done a good job during the early stage, proving her competence and execution ability, so Shen Yuan planned to keep her by his side.

He intended to have Fu Yingzi rotate through different positions at Jingfu to quickly get a comprehensive grasp of the company's situation.

"Boss, but I still have half a month before my summer vacation starts and some classes to attend," Fu Yingzi voiced her concerns over the phone.

"As long as you pass your exams, it's fine. Plus, aren't you beginning your internship next October? Now you can start your internship early."

Both were juniors at the moment; after this upcoming summer, they would be seniors and required to start internships, so Shen Yuan was effectively resolving her internship early for her.

"Okay then, I'll get ready."

"Good. Director Zhong will be in touch with you when the time comes."

"Yeah, okay."

After hanging up, the two directors quickly delivered the financial reports and the HR monthly reports to Shen Yuan, who then briefed Zhong Yu on Fu Yingzi's situation before he started reviewing the reports.

With the backing of his EMBA, even these tedious documents were easy to process.

It didn't take Shen Yuan long to get a basic understanding of the company's overall situation.

In short, both fitness centers and yoga rooms were turning a decent profit, and even the worst-performing health check center was barely maintaining a break-even status.

The minor issues were that the company was overstaffed, which in simpler terms meant it was keeping some slackers on the payroll, and the monthly expenses for online stream pushing by the network operation department were too high.

However, these were not big problems.

Without a complete grasp of the company yet, Shen Yuan, an outsider, didn't plan to make any sweeping changes or restructuring, especially since the company was making money.

When Shen Yuan stayed at the company until 5 o'clock, he left and headed to Guanting Renovation.

Upon arriving at the base of the building, Shen Yuan made a call to Su Xuewei, but no one answered. Then he made another call, and still, no one answered.

It was strange. Su Xuewei usually responded very promptly to calls and messages due to renovation matters.

So Shen Yuan had no choice but to call Foo Zhengmei to explain the reason for his call.

"Mr. Shen, she took urgent leave and went home an hour ago, said there was some emergency at home,"

Foo Zhengmei explained on the phone.

"Did she say what the emergency was?"

Shen Yuan asked over the phone.

"She didn't say, and she didn't answer when I called her just now,"

Foo Zhengmei's voice also sounded worried over the phone.

After hanging up, Shen Yuan directly floored the accelerator, driving towards Guansha.

.....

When Shen Yuan arrived at the U-shaped tenement building, he found the narrow corridor outside Su Xuewei's front door crowded with five or six people, split into two groups, yelling at each other.

"It's just a little water leak; what's the big deal? It'll stop leaking in a bit, you're making a mountain out of a molehill!"

The speaker was the gossipy Zeng Lianfeng, who had not refrained from badmouthing the Su family previously because they disagreed with marrying off their daughter.

"Zeng Lianfeng, your usual nasty talk is one thing, but now you've done something wrong and you still act so self-righteous?"

The one standing up for Su Xuewei's family was Zhang Mei, a good neighbor. Encountering such an event, it was natural for her to draw her sword in their defense.

"What did I do wrong? Who hasn't had a water leak? Does a leak mean I've done something wrong?"

Zeng Lianfeng was entirely unperturbed.

"Your house leaks and you don't come down to notify anyone, nor do you mop up—Xiaojie goes up to tell you politely, and you curse at him. Is this how you behave as a person?"

Zhang Mei stood with her hands on her hips, indignant.

"That kid banged on the door without so much as a hello, no manners at all. Why can't I scold him for his dead dad?"

Zeng Lianfeng spoke without restraint.

In the crowd, Su Xuewei hurriedly covered her brother's ears, and seeing Aunt Zhang about to continue the retort, she gently pulled on her arm, "Aunt Zhang, let it be."

Zhang Mei turned around, "Let it be this time, and next time she'll be worse."

"Let it be, we won't pursue it,"

Su Xuewei shook her head slightly.

"Ah~"

Zhang Mei sighed, then said to Zeng Lianfeng, "At least apologize to the child. He did nothing wrong."

"Apologize?"

Zeng Lianfeng scoffed, "Are you joking?"

Shen Yuan had just come upstairs; the noise from the quarrel was loud, so he pretty much understood the situation.

Zeng Lianfeng's home was right above Su Xuewei's, and the leak from her place had dripped down into Su Xuewei's. Probably Mother Su had sent Xiaojie upstairs to remind them, and Zeng Lianfeng ended up scolding Xiaojie.

Then Zhang Mei, who was eager to help, could not stand by and started an argument with Zeng Lianfeng.

Seeing Zeng Lianfeng unwilling to apologize, Shen Yuan squeezed past the crowd and said to her, "Apologize to the child."

Zeng Lianfeng crossed her arms and gave Shen Yuan a sideways glance, "Yo, you haven't even married her yet, and you're already so eager to stand up for her."

Shen Yuan gave the shrew a cold look, "You cursed at the child, apologize to him."

"I refuse to apologize, what about it?"

Zeng Lianfeng was actually a bit intimidated facing this rich man, but with so many neighbors watching, she needed to save face.

"Fuck, what kind of piece of shit are you to make my mom apologize!"

Suddenly, a thin, spirited young man burst out from behind Zeng Lianfeng, probably just over 170 cm tall.

With menacing eyes fixed on Shen Yuan, he challenged, "Are you tough or something? Making my mom apologize?"

Shen Yuan frowned, "Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm He Liang, and I won't change my name or my seat; remember that—"

"Smack!"

A loud and crisp slap, whipped through the air, landed on his face.

Everyone was shocked, and the young man, in disbelief, clutched his face, never expecting the other party to actually hit him.

"I didn't catch that, say your name again."

Shen Yuan's face was marked with a faint smile.

"Fuck your granddad!"

The spirited young man swung a fist at Shen Yuan, who didn't dodge. His firm pectoral muscle absorbed the punch which felt weak and ticklish upon landing.

Right after, Shen Yuan kicked him in the thigh. He lost his balance and fell to the ground.

If it were just a loud-mouthed shrew, Shen Yuan indeed wouldn't have slapped her. However, this was a brainless hot-headed young man, who was sure to fight back.

Zeng Lianfeng was dumbfounded, not even realizing her son had been struck to the ground.

Under the gaze of the crowd, full of rage and humiliation, He Liang pointed at Shen Yuan from the floor and bellowed, "Just you wait for me, I'm calling for backup right now!"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

With that, he took out his phone to find reinforcements, "Hello, Brother Long, I've been beaten up...."

"Call them, I'll call for help too."

Shen Yuan said with a chuckle, then pulled out his phone and called his cousin, "Hello, Brother Wei, I've been beaten up, right in your Guansha jurisdiction...."