Chapter 1457 Stealing His Thunder
Watching the cooperative dialogue between his half-brother and half-sister, Long Hui scowled even harder. He was having a difficult time controlling his expression.
He didn"t believe that his half-siblings didn"t coordinate this proposal together beforehand. He suspected that they did this today to undermine him.
In fact, Long Hui"s suspicion was completely wrong. Iris and Long Jian didn"t coordinate today"s proposal at all.
Iris had no idea that Long Jian would make this proposal beforehand. He was the one who went ahead and created the proposal by himself. He got the idea after hearing Iris" actions of providing the Marketing Department with nice lunches and drawing the envy of other departments including his own.
Of course, he only submitted the idea after asking the opinion of his immediate superior, the COO, who gave him the go-ahead.
Iris stepping up today was just an impromptu reaction to the series of events. Although they didn"t practice it beforehand, the two had a tacit understanding to cooperate in order to mutually strengthen both their influence in the company while at the same time weakening Long Hui"s prestige.
"As you"ve already noticed, I"m in favour of Deputy COO Long Jian"s proposal," Iris said.
Long Hui interrupted, "Well, I am NOT in favour of this proposal at all. As the deputy of the Finance Department, I know that we don"t have the budget for this. Other more important projects need funding more than a cafeteria!"
Most of the executives nodded at his words.
The company budget had already been allocated at the beginning of the year. It was not convenient to allocate another budget to a cafeteria. They didn"t think that it was as important as what Long Jian and Iris were trying to claim.
As executives, they could always ask their a.s.sistants to order food from their favourite high-cla.s.s restaurants whenever they wanted if they didn"t want to eat at the company cafeteria. They didn"t care much about what the employees ate.
Iris shot Long Hui and others who nodded with a cold smile.
"I knew you might say that. That"s why I decided to donate a new cafeteria to the company, not as the Deputy CMO but as the daughter of President Long Tengfei. I"ll use my own money, not the company funds, so n.o.body can complain. If some people still dare complain, then just treat it as President Long"s daughter"s selfish motives because she doesn"t want to eat subpar food at the company"s cafeteria. I, Long Xiulan, want to eat better and healthier food whenever I come here to work. I"m a celebrity and need to watch my figure all the time. What the current cafeteria currently offers falls short of my strict diet requirements. If you don"t like it, then don"t eat in the cafeteria I"ll donate."
Long Hui opened his mouth to refute her words but nothing came out. He closed his mouth again in a huff.
Long Jian was also surprised by her sudden decision to donate a new cafeteria. This wasn"t part of his plans. He was ready to fight for company funds but now it seemed that it was no longer necessary to do so. Initially, he wanted the full credit to belong to him. Now, however, the credit would be halved between him and Iris.
No, if things went according to her way, then most of the credit would belong to her. Long Jian didn"t know exactly how to feel about it.
He pursed his lips and took a long look at his youngest half-sister. She might be impulsive, but she was also extremely cunning.
She was able to steal his thunder under his nose. Lesson learned. Next time, he would be more careful in protecting his credit.
The two of them might be allies right now. But at the end of the day, they were still rivals.
Despite his original selfish motives, Long Jian found that for quite some time now, he no longer hated Iris. What he felt about her was no longer hatred but (friendly) compet.i.tiveness instead.
As for the others, they were speechless for a few moments. They thought that the President"s youngest daughter was indeed still as willful as ever. She hadn"t changed her core after all. She was still the same spoiled brat.
In the end, Long Tengfei was the one who made the final decision for everyone.
"This proposal, I approve it! Deputy CMO Long Xiulan will donate the new cafeteria as per her suggestion." Then he stood up. "The meeting is dismissed!"
The other executives wanted to argue but Long Tengfei already left the conference room. As he exited the door, he glanced at Iris and Long Jian and said, "You two, follow me to my office."
"Understood, President," Long Jian responded.
Iris smiled and nodded.
The two followed Long Tengfei out. Long Hui watched them with a dark expression. His hands curled into tight fists.
Their father called his half-siblings but not him. What did this mean? Was their father starting to exclude him now?
"Young Master, we must do something," one of his allies whispered to him. "They"ll surely use this cafeteria project to gain more supporters to their side. This is clearly a bribe!"
"What if we sabotage the cafeteria and cause it to be delayed for a long time?" another ally suggested.
"That might work. Then we can spread bad rumours about Long Jian and Iris Long—"
"Enough," Long Hui interrupted them in a bad mood. "We"ll talk another time. I need to hurry for another important appointment."
His allies watched him rush out of the conference room.
Long Hui walked away fast. He didn"t know where to go. Rus.h.i.+ng to another important appointment was a lie he told his allies. He didn"t know what was wrong with himself.
Usually, he would plot with his allies and do everything to reach his goals. Earlier, however, he felt extremely uncomfortable listening to his allies plotting against his half-siblings. This was so unlike his usual self.
He stopped right in the middle of a hallway. The employees stopped to greet him but he didn"t respond to them. He was in a daze.
They looked at each other and thought that their Deputy CFO was becoming weirder and weirder.