Chapter 19 — Reborn to Love the Perfect One

The annual shareholder meeting of Vệ Thịnh Group took place in the largest hall of the five-star hotel in the city center. More than three hundred shareholders, strategic partners and financial reporters filled the seats. The stage lights are bright. The atmosphere is solemn but tense like a guitar string.

Ánh Vy sat in the chair row, next to her father. She wore a jet black suit, her hair tied in a bun, her eyes calmly scanning each row of seats. She knew the attack would come. She just didn't know exactly what minute it would come.

The quarterly financial report went smoothly. Vệ Thành Lâm presented business results, his voice full of pride about the growth numbers. Applause rang out. Everything seems like a normal shareholders' meeting.

Then came the open question session, Bách Nam stood up, microphone firmly in hand.

"I would like to raise a serious issue, directly related to the transparency of the company's leadership." His voice echoed throughout the hall, loud enough for all eyes to turn to him.

Vệ Thành Lâm frowned. "Please present."

"I have evidence that Ms. Vệ Ánh Vy, the president's daughter, secretly established a close relationship with a Strategy Department employee named Bạch Dịch Phong. This person is not as simple as it seems." Bách Nam stopped, letting the tense atmosphere spread throughout the room. "He is the son of Mr. Bạchấn Vũ, chairman of Bạch Dương Group, a direct competitor in many of our investment projects."

The whispers rose like waves. The reporter's camera flashed continuously. Kiều Ý Nhi, sitting in the guest row, smiled slightly, her eyes full of pride.

"The question is," Bách Nam continued, his tone strong with every word, "why did an heir to a rival corporation hide his identity and work as an employee at Vệ Thịnh for the past three years? And why did Ms. Ánh Vy, who holds the most important strategic information in the company, develop a close relationship with that person?"

The whole hall was in an uproar. An elderly shareholder stood up. "This is an extremely serious allegation! If true, the company is being infiltrated by commercial espionage from the inside!"

Tưởng Bảo Long, sitting in the boardroom row, immediately spoke up, pretending to be worried. "I propose to immediately suspend Ms. Ánh Vy from her position to facilitate the investigation, and at the same time terminate the labor contract with this person named Dịch Phong immediately, to protect the company's information security." Many shareholders nodded in agreement. The pressure of the crowd creates a fierce wave, threatening to sweep everything away.

Vệ Thành Lâm slammed his hand on the table. "Order to maintain order! We need to consider this matter fairly, based on evidence, not on rumors."

"This is not a rumor." Kiều Ý Nhi stood up, walked out into the middle of the aisle, her tone was confident. "I have documents officially confirming Bạch Dịch Phong's identity, provided by a reputable investigative journalism unit." She held up a file. "And I also have evidence that Ms. Ánh Vy met this person privately many times outside of work hours, sharing sensitive internal information about the company's financial situation."

She showed on the big screen several secretly taken photos of Ánh Vy and Dịch Phong chatting at a cafe and in the parking lot, along with text messages cut out of context, making them look like shady secret exchanges.

Ánh Vy sat still, her heart beating rapidly but her face did not reveal any panic. She glanced at Dịch Phong, sitting in the row representing the Strategy department. He nodded slightly, his eyes determined. It's time.

"I propose to vote immediately to suspend Ms. Ánh Vy from her position!" Another voice rang out, seemingly prearranged. A few other shareholders followed suit, the atmosphere in the hall seemed to explode.

"Wait." Vệ Thành Lâm raised his hand, his tone determined even though his face was pale with surprise. "Before voting on anything, I suggest giving the people involved a chance to present themselves. This is a basic right that anyone deserves, even before a shareholders' meeting."

Bách Nam smiled faintly. "Okay, just let her explain. I believe, the more I explain, the more obvious the truth becomes."

Ánh Vy stood up and walked towards the speaking podium. The spotlight shined directly on her. Hundreds of eyes turned towards her, some were curious, some were skeptical, some were ready to accuse.

"Thank you everyone for giving me the opportunity to present," she spoke, her calm voice echoing throughout the silent hall. "First of all, I would like to confirm, yes, I know Mr. Bạch Dịch Phong's identity. And yes, I have feelings for him."

The whispers rose again. Bách Nam smirked, believing he had won.

"But," Ánh Vy continued, her tone becoming sharper, "the corporate espionage story that you two just made up is completely fabricated. And I have enough evidence to prove that the two people standing in front of this hall accusing me are the ones who conspired to appropriate company assets, falsify documents, and collude with a member of the board of directors for personal gain."

The atmosphere in the hall froze for a second of suffocating silence, before breaking into an even more violent tremor than before.

"These are baseless accusations aimed at misleading public opinion!" Bách Nam screamed, his face red with anger. "You don't have any evidence, you're just trying to defend your own wrongdoing!"

"Then everyone please watch," Ánh Vy replied, her tone not wavering at all. She gestured, and on the big screen, a photo appeared: a transfer statement with red text marking the large amount of money transferred to Tưởng Bảo Long's account from an anonymous media consulting company.

Tưởng Bảo Long's face was pale. "This... this is a misunderstanding..."

"Not yet," Ánh Vy continued, her voice sharp as a knife. "This is a metadata analysis, proving that the set of documents slandering me at the board meeting a few months ago was created from Ms. Kiều Ý Nhi's apartment."

The whole hall was in a violent commotion. The eyes of all shareholders now changed from being suspicious of Ánh Vy to examining the three people standing in the middle of the room.

At that moment, Dịch Phong stood up and walked next to Ánh Vy on the speaking podium. The whole hall held its breath.

"I would like to confirm, yes, I am the son of Mr. Bạchấn Vũ, chairman of Bạch Dương Group," he spoke, his tone was calm but each word resonated clearly. "But I did not come here to be a commercial spy. I would like to present the entire truth, and invite my father, who is present in this hall, to confirm it directly before you."

From the back row of guests, Bạchấn Vũ stood up and walked forward in the surprise of the entire hall. Bách Nam took a step back, his face showing panic for the first time during the meeting.

"I'm Bạchấn Vũ," he spoke, his tone was warm but full of authority, causing the entire hall to immediately fall silent. "I confirm that my son works at Vệ Thịnh purely according to his personal wishes, wanting to prove his own abilities before inheriting the family business. Bạch Dương Group does not have any policies related to collecting internal information or hostile takeovers of Vệ Thịnh. On the contrary, we always appreciate and look forward to long-term cooperation with this group."

The confirmation from the chairman of Bạch Dương Group was like a hammer blow to the entire story that Bách Nam and his accomplices had worked so hard to create. Many shareholders began to look at Bách Nam and Kiều Ý Nhi with completely different eyes, no longer suspicion for Ánh Vy, but anger for those who dared to fabricate such a serious story in front of hundreds of people.

"This... this can't be..." Bách Nam stammered, taking another step back, his eyes wandering around looking for a way out but not finding anything that could save the situation that was collapsing piece by piece before his eyes.

Kiều Ý Nhi stood still, her face pale, her hands clenching the file that had become useless. As for Tưởng Bảo Long, he tried to sneak out the door, but was held back by the angry eyes of the surrounding shareholders.

"I think," Ánh Vy said, her voice ringing through the heavy silence of the hall, "it's time for us to clarify the whole truth, every detail, before any of us leave this room today."