A few members of the board had ugly expressions on their faces. They didn"t expect that the chairman, who had previously chosen to skip all the company"s year end parties, would suddenly turn up at today"s banquet. No wonder Li Yu could so brazenly brush them off just now, his big backer is here today.

“It"s already been seven years since the company has been established, but the chairman has never once appeared. Why is he or she suddenly making an appearance?”

“Is the chairman planning to declare something big this year?”

“How exciting! I wonder how old the chairman is.”

While everyone was watching the stage intently, they were also actively conversing with the people around them.

“Wait a moment, isn"t that Xu Jiaojiao? Why is she going on stage now?” A person with good eyesight spotted Xu Jiaojiao walking up the stage.

Even though Li Yu already said that they were going to invite the chairman on stage, n.o.body could connect the dots and infer that Xu Jiaojiao was the chairman. Instead, they thought that she ran up on stage because she wanted to ride on the chairman"s coattails.

Everybody knew that Xu Jiaojiao grew up in a single-parent family. Although her biological father seemed to be wealthy, she and her mother had only ever relied on each other. They did not receive any help from others. Ever since she was young, she and her mother had to struggle daily, just to survive. Also, she was only nineteen this year, and the company had been established seven years ago. How old would she have been then? Twelve?

When the crowd saw Li Yu bow politely to Jiaojiao, before moving away from the microphone, they were stunned. Once Jiaojiao opened her mouth and started to talk, everybody had no choice but to accept that Xu Jiaojiao was actually the chairman of Entertainment International.

“h.e.l.lo everyone. Today, allow me to reintroduce myself. I"m Xu Jiaojiao, owner of a 51% stake in Entertainment International. According to the company rules, the biggest shareholder is the chairman, so right now, I am the chairman of Entertainment International.” Sheng Jiaoyang spoke steadily and confidently, without the slightest trace of fear in her voice.

“Impossible!” Director Zhu shouted out. He couldn"t believe that the little girl was actually the chairman.

Director Liu also stood up to question her. “How old are you? Entertainment International has been established for seven years. You were still in your early teens back then!”

Li Yu stepped forward and spoke into the microphone, “Director Liu, you may not believe Xu Jiaojiao, but we will present the evidence and doc.u.mentation at the next shareholders" meeting.”

“Could it be that our previous chairman was actually Miss Xu"s father?” a board member asked.

n.o.body believed that the founding chairman was Jiaojiao. After all, at that time she was just too young. If she really was the chairman, then how did stories about her poor family background come about?

Those who followed Jiaojiao all knew who her birth father was, due to the dispute over Sheng Xun"s inheritance. The story would only make sense if the founding chairman of Entertainment International was Jiaojiao"s father.

Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at Li Yu and signalled for him to take a step back.

“I don"t want to hear any rumours about me flying around, so I"ll just clarify things today. Our company"s previous chairman never appeared, because all his businesses are situated abroad. Hence, he has always been sending a subst.i.tute to attend our yearly stockholders" meeting. Currently, he has already transferred all his shares to me, and he won"t be attending the meetings in the future. After saying all this, I believe that everyone present should have an inkling as to who he is.”

After pausing for a moment, she smiled and said, “He is my fiance, Mr. Shen.”

“Wow!” The audience broke out into a commotion.

n.o.body thought that the former chairman would actually be Mr. Shen. After all, they haven"t tied the knot yet, so n.o.body would have expected that he would give a hundred million dollars worth of stocks to his fiancée. Such an extravagant move was unimaginable.

But once they knew about it, they suddenly didn"t find it strange, especially when they thought about all the things that happened between the couple.

Many people had watched the reality show that featured Team Super Tall, and their tacit understanding and deep love for each other was so strong and intense that people could feel their bond through the TV screens.

However, the thing that really resonated with viewers was the way Mr Shen showered his affection all over Jiaojiao - he could really be called the king of PDA.

“Mr. Shen"s really too generous. He actually gave all his shares in Entertainment International to Jiaojiao as a betrothal gift. If such a handsome and dedicated man gave me so much money as a betrothal gift, I would"ve married him instantly,”

If this annual meeting was broadcasted online, there would definitely be a flood of comments covering the screen right now.

“Still,” Sheng Jiaoyang continued, “I don"t want you guys to misunderstand. I bought the shares off Mr. Shen.”

n.o.body believed her words.

It had only been a year since Jiaojiao"s debut, so where would she have gotten so much money from? Even if she really bought the shares, it was definitely purchased at such a low price that it was practically a gift from Mr. Shen.

Of course, everyone only thought like this because they didn"t know about the gold mine sitting behind Jiaojiao.

“When Jiaojiao said that she bought the shares off Mr. Shen, a cute scene suddenly popped into my mind. Mr Shen was probably thinking of giving the company to her, but Jiaojiao objected to it, and insisted to buy the shares off him. Then, Mr. Shen thought about Jiaojiao"s savings, and decided to just sell the shares to her at 1/10th of the price.”

“Pft, how cute! In the two episodes of "Journey of Love" that they appeared in, you can really see just how much Mr. Shen loves to pamper her. The situation probably played out exactly as you have described it. Hahaha, how funny! You can write it out and post it on Weibo, I"ll give it a like later.”

In a corner, two girls were laughing as they commented.

Back on the stage, Sheng Jiaoyang continued to address the crowd, “I"m announcing my ident.i.ty today because I want to prevent the spread of any bad rumours about the company. I hope everyone will try their best. Those who work hard will be rewarded. If you contribute to the company"s success, we definitely would treat you well.”

Sheng Jiaoyang"s speech ended with thundering applause, and she walked off the stage. As she walked gracefully down the steps, she glanced at the board members, and she saw that they were looking mightily unhappy. After getting off the stage, she moved to rejoin Lina and the others, but on the way there, many people came up to greet her. She acknowledged each of them with a slight smile and a perfunctory nod.

If she simply nodded like this before she revealed her ident.i.ty as chairman, people would definitely think that she was acting pretentious. However, it was completely different now. Even if she didn"t reply, n.o.body would think that she was being too arrogant. At most, they would just feel that she was a bit aloof.

“h.e.l.lo, Chairman!”

Sheng Jiaoyang paused briefly as she glanced at the frightened manager who greeted her. “Manager Fang, was it? Do you remember what I said earlier?”

“I… I remember,” Manager Fang hastily replied.

“Then please repeat for me.”

Manager Fang was stunned, and her mind went blank for a moment. She tapped her chin and nervously replied, “In the future, I have to pay attention… pay attention to my artists"… manners, so that they don"t… don"t ruin the company"s… reputation.”

“Since you are aware, make sure you do it. It doesn"t matter who it is, everyone needs to learn how to behave before going out.” Sheng Jiaoyang didn"t make things difficult for her and walked back to Lina"s side.

“I really didn"t expect you to be the chairman.” Gu Zhou smiled.

“It only happened recently,” Sheng Jiaoyang replied.

“Now that your status is so high, I guess I can"t invite you to shoot movies anymore, huh?” Gu Zhou said jokingly.

Sheng Jiaoyang laughed, “One"s social status and one"s worth are different. In the entertainment circle, I"m just a newbie who debuted not too long ago.”

“A newbie? Who would dare to call you a newbie now?”

Lina tugged at Sheng Jiaoyang"s hand. “Jiaojiao, I feel like you always manage to easily resolve any problems you face. Remember what I told you before? In the past, when I had just entered the entertainment circle, you said I would become a big star. I responded that if you were to enter the circle, you would definitely be able to reach a higher peak than me. Now look, wasn"t I right? In just one year, you"ve reached where I am, whereas it took me multiple years of hard work.”

“You"re exaggerating. I only have a little influence in China. Mei Niu, you"re different, you"re an international superstar.”

Lina giggled, “Please take back the word "super". I may want to be a superstar, but I haven"t reached that step yet.”

Finally, Li Yu already announced the start of the banquet and asked everyone to enter the banquet hall.

With Sheng Jiaoyang"s current status, she was naturally seated at the very front of the hall, and she pulled Lina along with her. As for Gu Zhou, he wasn"t just an actor in the company, he was also a stockholder with a high status, so he also sat with them. The rest of the table included Li Yu and a few of the board members.

There was good liquor, fine food, and wonderful entertainment.

The banquet hall was lively.

However, the table"s atmosphere was a bit cold. It couldn"t be called completely cold, because the group around Jiaojiao was still chatting merrily and commenting on the show on the stage. Meanwhile, the atmosphere was totally different on the other side. The board members simply sat there with an awkward expression. They wanted to say something but didn"t know what to say.

The other tables weren"t so awkward. Even if they despised each other in private, they had to get along during the banquet, or it wouldn"t be good if it was seen by the company"s higher-ups.

The managers at Xu Ping"s table were all well-esteemed professionals who were respected in the industry. Gu Zhou"s manager, Wen Ge, was one such example. As he was Gu Zhou"s manager, he also had a group of fans. Usually at these meetings, the managers would all praise Wen Ge, but today, everyone changed targets and said all kinds of good things about Xu Ping. They boasted about her foresight, said she was blessed, and even discreetly asked if she could help rope their artists into the projects that Jiaojiao was planning for.

Whenever the topic moved to Jiaojiao, Xu Ping could only talk vaguely about it. Jiaojiao"s work was all handled by Jiaojiao herself, so she wasn"t clear about it. As for whether their artists could take part in her projects, Xu Ping said that it all depended on Jiaojiao"s opinion.

Right now, n.o.body dared to ask Jiaojiao if she could work with their artists. If they left a bad impression on the chairman, wouldn"t their lives at the company become more difficult?

The actors" a.s.sistants also sat together. When Zeng Huan attended the annual meeting last year, she was isolated by the other a.s.sistants. This was because Jiaojiao appeared out of nowhere and s.n.a.t.c.hed the female lead role for "Redeeming my IGD Boyfriend", and this caused the actresses who had been fighting hard for the role to have a mutual opponent they could direct their hatred towards. Naturally, the a.s.sistants would side with their actresses, so n.o.body wanted to talk to Zeng Huan.

But now…

“Sis Huan, where did you buy that hair clip? It looks so good.”

“Huanhuan, in the past, when we were training together, I always believed that you would succeed. Now you"re even our chairman"s a.s.sistant! You really reached the top with just a single step.”

“Sis Huan, do you need an a.s.sistant?”

“…”

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