บท 107: The Favour (10)
Of course Lin Kang could have explained everything to Xiu Ling directly and got everything cleared up but the man wanted to get even. Since Xiu Ling refused to communicate with him, then he was not going to communicate with her either.
Yes, this was an understandably silly thing to do but from certain aspect, the man was not that much more mature than a mere child.
First, Lin Kang understood he needed to deal with the issue at hand. Why did his wife act so coldly towards him all of a sudden? She did not act that way the day before this.
What was unique about that day was he had offered the wildly inappropriate contract to Joann, his wife's close friend that morning. It did not take a genius to put one and one together, and Lin Kang was a veritable genius, at least in terms of business management.
He knew the two had to be related. He assumed Joann had called Xiu Ling on the phone and had told her everything. That perfectly explained why Xiu Ling was acting the way she did that night.
Lin Kang got the assumption about Joann revealing everything to Xiu Ling on the phone part wrong but it did not matter, because he knew he had to solve this problem of Xu Corps to move forward. He got that part right and that was the most important.
Overturning his own words, while it might please Xiu Ling, would not fly over well with the people at his company. They might see this conflicting orders as a sign of weakness and confusion. He might lose confidence and faith from his people. In the world of business, that would be a fatal mistake.
Therefore, Lin Kang needed to find someone whose words carried more weight than his and there was only one such individual at the Lin family. With the cooperation from said person, he could pretend that he was forced to rescind his orders.
...
"Come in," said the strong male voice.
Xiu Ling stepped into the study and the first thing that hit her senses was the fragrance of tea. Xiu Ling's father-in-law, Elder Lin was seated at the sofa in the middle of the room, steeping a pot of tea.
"Xiu Ling, so nice of you to come visit me." Elder Lin smiled at her. It was not a friendly smile but it was not really a hostile smile either. For Xiu Ling, Elder Lin was the only individual at Lin family that she could not read.
Unlike Mrs. Lin who treated her with open hostility, Elder Lin kept his distance from not only Xiu Ling but practically everyone at the Lin family. The elderly man spent most of his time traveling overseas. According to members of Lin family, the travel was for work but from how Xiu Ling understood it, Elder Lin had given up most of the company duties to Lin Kang so she did not understand the need for Elder Lin to continue travel so extensively for his work. In any case, this was not her concern to worry about.
Xiu Ling moved into the room and she told her father-in-law, "Father, I came to visit because I have a favour to ask of you."
"Is that so?" Elder Lin crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Why don't you come over here, sit down and tell me all about it?" He nodded at the empty seat across from him.
Xiu Ling moved to oblige.
As she sat down, Xiu Ling began, "Father, Lin Corps is currently in the middle of a hostile take-over on Xu Corps, Xu Corps belongs to my best friend's husband so I hope you will be able to stop Lin Kang from doing this."
After Xiu Ling made her request, Elder Lin was incredibly silent. Xiu Ling assumed he was thinking. However, the silence had gone on for so long that Xiu Ling feared her father-in-law had fallen asleep if not for the fact that his eyes were zeroed in on her like he was trying to appraise her.
Then, Xiu Ling thought perhaps her father-in-law did not understand what she had told him. After all, Elder Lin had given control of the company over to Lin Kang for years already. It would be natural for him to not be updated on the company's latest affair.
Just as Xiu Ling was about to fill her father-in-law in on the details, Elder Lin leaned forward to grab the tea pot and poured out two cups of tea.
'So he was waiting for the tea to get ready?!' thought Xiu Ling.
Xiu Ling attempted to bring her father-in-law's attention to the hostile take-over when Elder Lin said in a soothing tone, "Thank you Xiu Ling for bringing this tea back from Japan. I hear you pick the leaves yourself."
"Huh?!" Xiu Ling was dazed by this sudden change in topic that was apropos to nothing. With a blank expression on her face, she answered as dictated by politeness, "Father, you're welcome."
While she had not recovered from her daze, Elder Lin continued, "You know, Xiu Ling, I've always admired the Japanese people for their sense of community. I feel like that is one thing that our culture lacks.
"There is a sense of bond among the Japanese people as they form a cohesive collective. Unlike most societies in this world, theirs operate as one because the people look out for each other."
Xiu Ling did not know where Elder Lin was going with this but for now she was going to sit quiet and listen. Perhaps he had a point at the end of this tale, at least Xiu Ling was banking on that.
"In fact, Japan is a country where its community or society is seen as more important than the individuality, everyone is expected to contribute and sacrifice to the betterment of the society as a whole. However, its biggest strength is also the country's biggest weakness."
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