Chapter 10 — From Grandmother to Capitalist Queen

She silently calculated in her heart. The Board of Directors of Dinh Xuyen Group currently has seven seats: Co Dinh Xuyen holds one seat, Chu Minh Vien holds one seat, three independent directors, and two representatives of small shareholders. If she gets 5% of the shares to join the Board of Directors, Chu Minh Vien supports her, and the other two small shareholders will most likely also lean towards her - because those two shareholders are the ones who helped Co Dinh Xuyen negotiate investments in the past, and have a very good personal relationship with her. So it's four against three. She will hold the majority on the Board of Directors. This thought made her heart beat a few times faster, but she quickly suppressed her excitement. The road must be walked step by step, rice must be eaten bite by bite. The most important thing right now is to force Co Dinh Xuyen to sit at the negotiating table. Getting into the car, she turned on her phone. There were a few hundred more messages in Wechat, but she didn't read them one by one. She directly opened Co Dinh Xuyen's chat box - last night he sent eight messages, from "Tri Y where are you" to "Let's talk" to "Don't be too much", the tone went through a complete spectrum of emotions from panic to threat. The latest news is at 7:00 a.m. this morning: *[Co Dinh Xuyen: Tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., my office, we'll talk. I came alone.]* Lam Tri Y stared at this message for ten seconds, then typed one word: *[Okay.]* Then she threw the phone into her bag and started the car. Returning to the small apartment, Duong Duong left, leaving a note on the dining table: *"Sister, I went to investigate To Van Tinh's background. In the refrigerator there is silver ear soup with lotus seeds that I stewed, remember to drink it. PS: You are very beautiful today."* Lam Tri Y smiled and put the note in a drawer. She opened the refrigerator, took out the lotus seed silver ear soup, scooped a bowl, sat in front of the window slowly enjoying it. Outside the window is the idyllic afternoon of the northern old town — the lady across the street is drying her blanket, the children downstairs are chasing each other, and in the distance there is the sound of buying junk. Everything is very noisy, everything is also very quiet. She suddenly remembered seven years ago, the scene of Co Dinh Xuyen proposing. It was at a restaurant on the banks of the Seine River, he knelt on one knee, took out a two-carat diamond ring, and said: "Tri Y, marry me. I will make you the happiest woman in the world." Other guests in the restaurant started clapping, some saying “felicitations” (Congratulations) in French. She smiled and said, "I agree." That moment, she truly believed. Believe in love, believe in promises, believe that two people can stand together until the end. Later, she gradually understood that when they say "I will make you happy", they really believe that they can do it. But they forget, happiness is not something that can be "given away". Happiness is something you sow, grow, and reap yourself. If you rely on others to give, be mentally prepared for them to take it back at any time. Lam Tri Y finished the last sip of soup and put the bowl in the sink. At two o'clock tomorrow afternoon, she will go see Co Dinh Xuyen. It was the first official negotiation of the battle. She needs to prepare carefully — not just legal and financial preparation, but more importantly, psychological preparation. She had to face a man who betrayed her, a person she loved for seven years, devoted herself to for seven years. She had to sit across from him, calmly, rationally, cutting off every inch of connection bond between two people. This requires something stronger than anger. Requires a level of alertness that is almost cruel. Lam Tri Y walked into the bathroom and looked at her bare face. Without lipstick as a weapon, her lip color was a bit pale and looked tired. But the eyes were very bright — that light was not excitement, but the light that shined from the strike of a forging hammer after it had fallen to the bottom of the abyss and bounced back up.