Chapter 7: 7. Meng He's Decision (Contracted, Please Invest with Confidence)

"Dad, Dad." Just as Meng He and his two children were chatting, the villa door was pushed open violently, and a young man rushed in hurriedly.

As soon as Meng He saw this young man, his face immediately fell. "Look at you, what have you become? You're never serious all day long, always so rash. When will you ever be a bit more mature? Huh!"

If it were in the past, Meng Mingxuan would likely have honestly admitted his mistake upon seeing his old man like this, but today he really had an urgent matter.

"Dad, stop lecturing me for a moment, I have something to ask you," Meng Mingxuan said hurriedly.

Meng He frowned. Seeing that he really had something important, he stopped rushing to scold him and asked, "What is it?"

"Uncle Zhang, the Uncle Zhang you two always talk to me about, oh, the Uncle Zhang you say I'm his son." Meng Mingxuan didn't even know how to express it.

Meng He frowned again. "We know who you're talking about. What's wrong?"

"It's, it's... what was the name of the cruise ship Uncle Zhang was on back then?" Meng Mingxuan swallowed and said.

"Goddess of Destiny," Lin Meizhi blurted out.

"Mom, are you sure?" Meng Mingxuan's voice began to tremble slightly.

"Of course I'm sure. Even if I forgot you, I wouldn't forget that name. Alright, what exactly happened?" Lin Meizhi seemed to have sensed something at this moment and spoke urgently.

"Dad, Mom, look at this news." Meng Mingxuan swallowed and handed over his phone.

Meng He took the phone, and after one glance, his eyes immediately widened into ovals, and his hands began to tremble.

"What on earth is it? Give it here for me to see." Lin Meizhi snatched the phone from Meng He's hand and hurriedly flipped through it.

Upon seeing it, she also froze on the spot, and Meng Zixuan, who was on the side, also saw the content above and was simultaneously stunned. They had just been talking about Zhang Ran, and the next moment, there was news about him.

"Is this true? Huh?" Lin Meizhi stood up with a start, her eyes filled with anticipation as she looked at her son.

Meng Mingxuan knew what this Uncle Zhang meant to their family, so he replied very firmly, "It's true, it has already been confirmed."

"That's great, that's great, Brother Zhang has returned, I knew it, I knew it." Lin Meizhi suddenly began to cry, tears instantly drowning her eyes.

Perhaps she had long since lost the romantic love for Zhang Ran that she had in her youth, but it was undeniable that Zhang Ran still held a very important place in her heart.

"Go to Shanghai!" Meng He stood up abruptly and said, appearing steady.

"I'll go book the tickets immediately," Meng Mingxuan said at once.

"Dad, don't be in such a rush. You won't be able to see him even if you go now. Given the current situation, who knows where he is? Let's wait for official news," Meng Zixuan said immediately.

"Right, right, right, no rush for now. It's good that he's back, it's good that he's back. Right, the phone, the cell phone." Meng He was flustered at this moment. The joy and excitement in his heart had filled him, along with some fear—fear that this news might be fake.

Although he appeared calm, deep down he was actually at a loss; his behavior just now was proof of that.

Meng Mingxuan, being observant, handed the phone over. Meng He first searched through his contacts, found a number, and immediately dialed it.

The call was answered quickly, and Meng He shouted excitedly, "Did you see the news? Haha, Brother Zhang is back! I knew it, Brother Zhang would definitely be fine, hahaha."

Meng Mingxuan and Meng Zixuan both looked at their father in a daze; they had never seen their father lose his composure like this before.

However, very quickly, they saw the excitement on their father's face disappear, replaced by a frown.

There was no sound from the other end of the line for a long time. Meng He was not impatient and just waited quietly. After a long while, a faint voice came from the other side, "I know."

Then there was no more movement.

Meng He did not speak either, just hung up the phone dejectedly, and couldn't help but say, "He's changed. Actually, he changed a long time ago! Heh."

Afterward, he just lay on the sofa like that, losing all the energy he had just had. He suddenly felt a wave of distress; if Brother Zhang saw the current situation, how heartbroken would he be!

"Dad, what's wrong? Do you need to see a doctor?" After a long while, Meng Mingxuan asked cautiously.

Hearing his voice, Meng He came back to his senses. He took a deep breath, sat up slowly, and seemed to have made a decision, looking at Meng Mingxuan with an incomparably solemn gaze.

Meng Mingxuan suddenly felt his body stiffen; he had never seen his father look at him like this before.

"Ming Xuan, Xuanxuan, Dad has some things to tell you." Meng He seemed to have made an important decision, his tone very serious.

And Lin Meizhi seemed to have guessed what Meng He wanted to say; there was a trace of gratification in her eyes. She really hadn't misjudged the man back then!

In fact, back then, among Zhang Ran's group, apart from Zhang Ran, Meng He could be said to be the most unremarkable one. And the Lin Meizhi of that time had beauty, education, and temperament, and there were no shortage of people who had a crush on her, but she ultimately chose Meng He, which left many people unable to understand what was going on.

"Dad, go ahead," Meng Mingxuan also became serious for once.

Meng He was silent for a moment and said, "Do you think Dad is a qualified businessman?"

"Huh?" Meng Mingxuan and Meng Zixuan were both stunned upon hearing Meng He's question. What did this mean?

Although Meng He was not the Richest Person in China, he was on the China Rich List. Even if his ranking wasn't very high, this still meant that Meng He was a genius in business.

Meng He seemed to understand his children's thoughts and laughed at himself, saying, "Actually, your dad here doesn't know how to do business at all."

"The various decisions and strategies your old dad has made over these many years were actually based fundamentally on the development directions your Uncle Zhang told me about back then. I have always been moving forward according to that direction.

If you want to say I am a qualified executor, I could shamelessly accept that, but the decision-maker has never actually been me."

Although Meng Mingxuan didn't manage company affairs much and didn't really want to take over, he knew that his father's prestige in the company was extremely high.

The company's development had never been smooth sailing; their family's company had encountered many crises, as well as development bottlenecks and the impact of technological upgrades.

Every time this happened, Meng He was able to make reasonable judgments, leading the company step by step to its current position.

So everyone admired and recognized Meng He's vision and layout. Now Meng He was actually telling them that all these decisions he made were told to him by someone from twenty-eight years ago.

At this, Meng Zixuan and Meng Mingxuan were both a bit unsettled. Was this Uncle Zhang really that god-like?

Before the two of them could recover, Meng He dropped another bombshell.

"Do you know the shareholding structure of our company?" Meng He asked.

"Of course I know. You and Mom hold 51% of the company's shares, Galaxy Capital holds 11%, Iron Fir Capital 8%..." Meng Mingxuan was very clear about these things.

Meng He smiled and said, "What you mentioned are the current circumstances. In fact, the original shareholding of the company was 80% held by your Uncle Zhang, and 20% by your old dad."

At this, Meng Mingxuan and Meng Zixuan were both shocked, and at the same time, they vaguely guessed what their father was about to say.

Meng He said with a look of reminiscence, "Even this 20% was given to me by your Uncle Zhang. In the early stages of the company, all the capital was provided by your Uncle Zhang, and he also provided the development direction. Let's put it this way: at the time, your Uncle Zhang just gave me 20% of the shares for nothing, letting me guard the company for him."

Actually, what Meng He wanted to say was that it wasn't just his company; other companies were in a similar situation to his.

"After your Uncle Zhang had his accident back then, because these shares were not directly registered under your Uncle Zhang's name, but through an overseas shell company, they were not directly confiscated by the state.

And at that time, with my capital, there was no way to buy back these shares, so your old dad used some means to get these shares under my own name," Meng He said.

In reality, after Zhang Ran had his accident back then, this overseas shell company no longer had the ability to control these shares, and no one came to manage them, which led to many operations becoming easier to handle.

There are not a few people like Meng He; perhaps at the beginning, everyone had agreed on how things would be, that they were only doing this because of such and such, and that if Zhang Ran returned, they would do this or that, but now, who would still remember?

Meng Mingxuan and Meng Zixuan both stopped speaking, only quietly looking at their father; they understood their father's meaning.

Sure enough, they only heard Meng He say: "Now that your Zhang Shu has returned, what should be returned to him, we must return."

"However, your mother and I have put in a lot of hard work over these many years, even if we haven't achieved any great merits, so we will be selfish one last time and prepare to transfer half of the shares in our hands to your Zhang Shu."

"No, this isn't called a transfer, but rather returning them to your Zhang Shu."

Meng Mingxuan and Meng Zixuan both stopped speaking; this was not a small amount, and they had not expected Meng He to actually have such resolve.

Moreover, once these shares were returned, it would mean that their family would lose absolute control over the company, which had been Meng He's bottom line for so many years.

After Meng He finished saying this, his main gaze turned toward Meng Mingxuan; no matter how much he doted on his daughter, as long as Meng Zixuan was going to marry into another family in the future, Meng Mingxuan would still be the primary heir to their property.

Originally, Meng He and Lin Meizhi thought that Meng Mingxuan would find it very difficult to accept, as after all, his net worth would be cut in half overnight, and most people really couldn't accept that.

But Meng Mingxuan's reaction was beyond everyone's expectations; he said with a relaxed face: "Dad, I thought it was something else? What's the big deal? The money in this family was all earned by you and Mom; how it is distributed is your business, and I have no objections whatsoever."

"Besides, just as Dad said, this is just returning it, and come to think of it, our family is still the one taking advantage."

Meng He stared blankly at his son, as if seeing him for the first time, feeling a trace of unfamiliarity.

"Really?" Meng He asked after coming back to his senses.

"Of course it's true; I wouldn't lie to you about this, and you should know that I actually don't want to take over the business. I just want to be an idle rich second generation; half the family fortune is enough for me and my sister to squander," Meng Mingxuan said easily.

"Hahahaha." Meng He suddenly burst into laughter, laughing happily, laughing heartily!

Lin Meizhi also looked at her son with a face full of gratification, while Meng Zixuan's gaze toward her younger brother was very complex; this brother gave her a feeling she had never experienced before.