Chapter 4: Exposed in Broad Daylight

An extraordinary board meeting was called on a Tuesday morning, at Miaomei’s formal request as the group’s largest shareholder. It was her only chance to present the evidence she had gathered publicly, before the entire board and senior management.

The Song Group’s main conference room was packed. Not only board members were there, but also, unexpectedly, several financial reporters whom He Junjie had quietly invited, making sure that whatever happened in this meeting could never be hidden or twisted afterward.

Zhou Yingyue sat in the chair’s seat, her face calm, but her eyes couldn’t hide her tension when she saw Miaomei walk in with He Junjie and a thick file.

“I called this meeting,” Miaomei began, her voice ringing out clear and commanding, a striking change from the meek girl everyone used to know, “to present to the board the serious misconduct in the group’s financial management over the past three years.”

She went through the evidence one piece at a time: irregular transfer-pricing contracts with companies directly linked to the Zhou family, unreasonable expenses disguised as “market development costs,” and above all, the memorandum of the secret deal between Zhou Yingyue and the Chengfeng Group to transfer shares through an arranged marriage.

The room was shaken. A few board members who had stayed neutral until now began whispering, their eyes turning to Zhou Yingyue with growing suspicion.

“These are completely baseless accusations!” Zhou Yingyue leapt to her feet, all her earlier composure gone. “You’re just trying to smear my name because you can’t accept that your marriage failed!”

“Then,” Miaomei replied, unshaken, holding up another document, “I invite everyone to look at the statements of Mrs. Zhou’s personal account at a foreign bank, showing deposits made at exactly the times the three transfer-pricing contracts were signed. I believe the financial investigators will be very interested in these numbers.”

Just as the tension reached its peak, the door suddenly opened. Feng Zhiqiang walked in with two representatives from the Financial Supervision Commission, whom he had contacted in advance to make sure the whole process was legal and fair.

“Mrs. Zhou Yingyue,” one of the representatives said gravely, “we have received a complaint and related evidence from the legal counsel of the majority shareholder. We need your cooperation in providing further information for our investigation.”

Zhou Yingyue stood frozen, her face drained of all color. She looked around the room for support from the people she had thought were her closest allies, but met only averted eyes.

After that tense meeting, the board held a vote of no confidence in Zhou Yingyue’s leadership and temporarily handed management of the company back to Miaomei, pending the official results of the investigation.

When Miaomei stepped out of the conference room, Gu Yichen was already waiting in the hallway, looking at her with rare admiration.

“You did well,” he said. “I didn’t think you could handle it so calmly and so sharply.”

“If it weren’t for Yuelong’s information and support,” Miaomei replied, her voice still shaking a little from the strain, “I don’t think I would have made it this far.”

“This is only the beginning,” Gu Yichen said. “Zhou Yingyue may have lost control for now, but she certainly won’t give up easily. And Bai Chengkang and the Chengfeng Group are still out there, waiting for a chance to strike back.”

Miaomei nodded, her eyes fixed firmly ahead. She knew the road ahead was still full of thorns, but for the first time in three years, she felt she was truly in control of her own fate.