Even the usually composed and calm Hua Lunxi seemed very irritated.

Ye Lu knew why he was so infuriated; he was indignant on her behalf, anxious for her.

Because in actuality, the events at the shareholder meeting indicated that her exclusion was more disadvantageous than imagined.

Although the majority of the shareholders had not clearly taken sides, one could tell from their subtle expressions that they were more inclined to support Yiren.

What was worse, the key figure CEO Mr. Hoffman was not as impartial as expected.

At the board meeting, Mr. Hoffman proposed that to establish the position of the group’s leader, they must evaluate her and Yiren’s capabilities, specifically through practical experience.

It was said that after a vote, he and the board members decided to give each of them a subsidiary with roughly similar performance, setting a deadline for them to manage the companies and achieve results. Then, based on the results, they would assess their strengths.

"Mr. Hoffman chose two companies, among which Company S has better financial performance than Company D, didn’t he give Company S to me? So it seems I got the better deal, what’s the problem?" Ye Lu was surprised.

Hua Lunxi shook his head, smiling bitterly, with a glint of irony in his eyes:

"The group announced this at a press conference, and now the media reports all say you have the advantage in this competition, seemingly favoring you by giving you a company with better performance. However, the high-level insiders who are aware of the true situation of both companies know that actually, Company D is better than Company S."

"What do you mean?" Ye Lu was even more astonished.

"Performance doesn’t tell the whole story. In fact, both subsidiaries are far more complex than they appear. Company S is at a plateau; although its performance is higher than Company D’s, its revenues have been declining over the past two years, while Company D is in a growth phase with a lot of room for development. Thus, Company D has great potential, but Company S is actually in a precarious position. It looks as though you have the advantage, but in reality, you have suffered a loss in silence, and there’s no way to voice it."

Ye Lu’s complexion turned pale, her blood freezing bit by bit.

She had only recently returned and was not very familiar with the subsidiaries’ situations. Little did she expect that she would fall into such a big trap right after her return to the group, being calculated against.

Despite being daughters of the same father, these people harbored such hostility towards her.

Hua Lunxi: "But what disappoints me the most is Mr. Hoffman; I always thought he was a man who distinguished public from personal matters, who would choose people based solely on capability, but perhaps, I was wrong!"

Ye Lu’s gaze darkened: "Do you mean that he has been swayed by Yiren and her father?"

Hua Lunxi spoke coldly: "I don’t know, but it’s clear that he’s biased towards Yiren. Not to mention the problem with these two companies, you are currently pregnant, inherently unable to compete physically with Yiren, and yet at such a time he proposes that you compete with Yiren. This in itself is the biggest unfairness."

"Even if he truly favors Yiren, there’s nothing we can do now; the matter is already settled, we can only look forward and find ways to reverse these disadvantages." The more they were against her, the less she could give in, needing to work even harder to turn things around, because this concerned the future of her family, and she had to strive for her family.

"I’m sorry, since my father and I are family members, Mr. Hoffman used this as an excuse to claim that to maintain fairness and not show favoritism, he excluded us from the evaluators of this competition. Even if we wanted to argue against this unfair competition, we would have no ability to do so."

Hua Lunxi grasped her shoulders, speaking earnestly.