Chapter 12 - Family Dinner

After her grandfather left her office she closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down. Whenever she remembers that man her blood boils with anger. When her mother died, that man decided to leave disregarding the fact that he has children that needs him. She doesn't have any idea what that man is doing with his life, when he decided to leave she also decided to forget that she even has a father.

When she finally calmed down she gave Lim Yi Sheng a call. After a few rings, he already picked up. "Are you busy?"

- - -

"Did you think that just because I'm not around you're allowed to slack off? These reports are nothing but trash, do you expect me to clean after your mess every time you make a mistake? We're not doing charity here, if you can't improve yourself then you have no place in this company." it's a rare for him to speak a lot of words but this meeting is making him really upset.

The people inside the conference went very still. This is not the first time that the CEO lose control of his anger but if it happens it only means that he's more than disappointed.

"Redo all your reports. One-by-one go in front and point out the things that needs to be worked on your report." they never thought that the first day of their CEO after his accident would be like this. This meeting has been going on for three hours, it is already 6:00 pm and hearing what he said it will take them at least another four hours to finally wrapped up the meeting.

As instructed, one by one the presenters stood and pointed the problems with their reports. Basically, they know what's the problem with their reports it so happen that they were not able to fix them before the deadline. They really did take for granted the days that their CEO isn't around and now they are reaping what they sow.

In the middle of the meeting, the CEO's personal phone rang. Upon seeing the caller ID his expression softened which made all the people inside the conference room left in shock. Just who is this caller that can make his expression so soft as if he was not angry just a couple of minutes ago.

Lim Yi Sheng signaled the person in front to pause and immediately picked up the call from his wife, he never expected her to call because it has always been him that's making the call.

"Are you busy?" hearing her voice made him smile involuntarily. Since he didn't bother to stand and leave his seat, his expression is visible to all.

"No, why did you call?" the woman on the other line seems to be upset over something, as much as he wanted to know the reason why he just held it in.

"Grandfather wants to have dinner with us, he did something to cancel my meeting tonight so I was wondering if you can spare some time to make it home before 9:00 pm? I had Xi Chen pick him at the old residence, I already called Imperial about their arrival after all their information is already their a few weeks ago.." so that is what made her upset.

He glanced at his wrist watch which says that it's already 7:20 pm, if he leave now he will be able to reach home at 8:00 pm. "I'll be there at 8:00 pm." the employees mood was lifted upon hearing the CEO's words. It is most likely that the meeting will end earlier than they expected.

"Sorry for the sudden change in your schedule. Take care and see you later." his wife's words is enough to soothe his feeling.

"It's okay. See you later." he was about to end the call when Xi Ana said something that made him smile even more than he already is.

"I'll have to trouble Feng Jinnian even though he just came back from the business trip, you are not allowed to drive for now." though her words were supposed to be a sweet reminder for a husband, her tone is more like someone who is scolding her son. The thought almost made him laugh.

"Tell him then." he passed the phone to Feng Jinnian who is seated on his right. His ȧssistant and all the employees were confused as to why the person on the other line would like to talk to the CEO's ȧssistant.

Though confused, Feng Jinnian took the phone. "Feng Jinnian, speaking."

When Xi Ana heard the voice she immediately told him about not letting Lim Yi Sheng drive and she needs to trouble him a bit earlier today.

"I understand, Madame. I'll take care of the CEO." Xi Ana then hanged up the phone and the ȧssistant gave the phone back to the CEO and whispered about the instruction given by the Madame and Lim Yi Sheng just nodded before turning his glance towards the crowd and ended the meeting without a second thought.

"We will continue this tomorrow. Meeting adjourned."

All the employees felt so delighted with the confirmation. They were all silently thanking the person who called the CEO and made him stop from making them suffer for two more hours. To whomever you are, you're an angel, is what they thought.

They looked at the man who just left the room, the handsome yet cold CEO who can easily make people within his grasp without lifting a finger. He's like an emperor clothed in modern suit.

---

The smell of sauteed onion is lingering when he reached home, he thought that Auntie Bai, their only helper at home is the one preparing meal but as soon as he entered the kitchen he saw his wife cooking by herself.

He went straight to her and kissed her cheeks. She is still in her business suit and she's wearing an apron to avoid messing her clothes.

"I always knew you were the sėxiest in your bathrobe, I never thought there is something that can beat that." he teased which Xi Ana deliberately ignored.

"Remove your suit and put your things upstairs. They'll be here in a minute." he nodded. Whenever he's this close to her, he always have the urge to hug her tight. He followed the instruction of his wife and went down soon after.

"Where's Auntie Bai? You could have asked her to prepare the meal, aren't you tired from work?" he rolled his sleeves and and helped setting the dishes on the bowls.

Afraid that the dish might be spoiled, Xi Ana didn't remove her sight on it and continued cooking. "I told her to take a day off and go back to her province because she's been taking care of us for two whole weeks without going home. Furthermore, Xi Chen said that he missed my cooking so I decided to prepare the dishes myself."

The first time she saw her cook, he was a bit shocked because it really doesn't fit her cold personality. After finally setting all the dishes on the table, the door bell rang.

"Yi Sheng, can you open the door for me?" holding the utensils with both her hand, she instructed Lim Yi Sheng and he obediently opened the door.

Upon opening the door the old man came in sight, even though he's already in his old age one can easily recognize the charisma that he has, even so during his prime. The man who's following behind him doesn't lose either, his features are quite similar to that of his sister. Small with sharp features, jawline that is enough to attract women and the one thing that couldn't deny that they are family is the feeling they give off which is very similar to that of the royalties.

"Good evening, Grandfather. Good evening, Xiao Chen." Lim Yi Sheng greeted them with appropriate manners.

The old man smiled and looked around for his grand daughter, "Where's Ana?"

Before he could answer Xi Ana went out of the kitchen and greeted them, the young man who's rather reserved since he entered the house smiled as if he's won a jackpot.

"Ana Jie!" he immediately passed the two and went straight to his sister and pulled her in a big hug. Xi Ana laughed heartily at the sudden gesture of her brother but eventually patted his back. She realized that her brother has really grown into a fine young man.

Their hug lasted for a minute and when they finally separated Xi Chen almost felt like he was about to cry. "Ana Jie, I missed you so much."

"Xi Chen, you're already a grown up man, how could you hug your sister like that?" the old man snorted but he was utterly ignored as the young man immediately hide behind his sister.

Xi Ana chuckled, "Never mind, Grandfather. Let's eat, I personally prepared our dinner." the two hosts ushered their visitors in the dining area. With the head of the family at the center, on his right is his grandson-in-law, seated beside him, the only girl in the family, and seated at the left side of the old man is the young master of Xi Family.

They chatted over the meal to catch up with each other especially about the status of the ongoing projects of Xi Corporation, though Xi Corporation is only a part of a larger empire it is the heart of it, without it Xi Empire would collapse, and without Xi Ana no one knows what's gonna happen.

"It certainly is effective to use the traditional methods of approaching the market such as posters, infographics, advertisements, and a lot more but if we don't try to improve the quality of these marketing strategies we'll only be wasting so much time to gather their trust." the old man's interest suddenly rose.

Xi Chen who has been deliberately avoiding any interaction with Lim Yi Sheng suddenly joined in the discussion which surprised him and his wife.

"I agree. Ana Jie, do you remember when you sent me to Italy last time? That is actually one of their biggest problem, they were not able to secure good contracts because the marketing strategy is a mess. They weren't able to fully utilize their materials which caused a huge blow to the branch."

"So how did you manage to solve this particular problem then?" his sister asked. It really excites him whenever he talks about this things to his sister, for him everything he does is for his sister to recognize him, not that she doesn't but he just wanted to make her sister even more proud of him.

To their surprise, the young man's enthusiasm overflowed right before their eyes. He then talked about the things he's done, and the researchers he made even after resolving the issue. He wanted to understand more about ways on how to approach the market efficiently. Grandfather Xi and his grand daughter can't help but be proud.

"It seems like our Young Master is now ready to take over the company, what do you think Grandfather?" flashed before their eyes is the radiantly beautiful smile of Xi Ana, but no one actually considered the meaning behind her words nor her smile.