Elise frowned.
After the voting session, she was sure none of the 16 shareholders supported her. They all listened to David.
David sat in his chair, looking up as if he didn’t care about anything.
“Ms. Houry, it seems no one is convinced by you after you’ve become the chairwoman of the board. Why don’t you let my younger brother be the chairman instead?” Snowy mocked.
“No, I can’t. Grandpa insisted on letting Elise be the chairwoman,” David flicked his hand, pretending to refuse.
“Elise is incompetent and cannot be compared to you, David. You had a master’s degree in economics.”
“In fact, when David was our acting chairman of the board, I was convinced. He managed the company well. Besides, David is humble. He’s still modest now.”
“Elise is competent actually but cannot be compared to David.”
Others echoed and remarked, belittling Elise and praising David.
“You…”
Elise was enraged by those two-faced employees. Most of them were promoted by her back then, especially Joe. Joe wasn’t from the Houry family, but she promoted him to senior executive for his competence.
However, he also betrayed her.
“Dismiss!” Elise had to let them go.
All of them drifted out of her office. Snowy swung to her and mocked, “Elise, how do you like working as the chairwoman of the board? I hope you enjoyed it.”
“I did.”
Elise wasn’t irritated by her but sneered.
“Humph!”
Snowy became angry. Then she added ironically, “You cannot make others work for you, but you still have your own small firm, don’t you? You can let your employees help you. Ha ha ha…”
Then she left the office complacently.
“Do you have another firm?” Robin asked curiously.
“Right. But it’s not a firm but a warehouse. I have a few employees managing the warehouse. It was registered for the logistic purpose.”
Rubbing her forehead, Elise said, “Follow me. Let me show you.”
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the warehouse. Robin looked around. It was a huge one with a shabby look in an old building. After entering, they saw two old men sitting under the sunlight.
“Good day, Ms. Houry,” they greeted Elise.
“Hello, Ben. Hello, Peter,” Elise responded.
She muttered to Robin, “They are my company’s security guards. Although aged, they can lie on the ground to scare intruders. Besides, there are surveillance cameras at the door.”
Robin looked at Elise in a weird way.
He had to admit she was indeed brilliant.
No one could afford to offend the elders. Also, Elise only paid them a few hundred bucks a month for this simple job.
“Stop looking at me like that. I didn’t mean to hire them. They stayed nearby but felt too bored after retiring. Therefore, they found a job to kill time and received one hundred bucks a month.”
She was forced to hire the two elders back then.
“All right. Let’s go in.”
Robin walked into the warehouse. It was almost empty, and he saw a few goods on several levels. Some employees were at work.
“Good day, Ms. Houry,” a young woman walked to Elise, looking like a college student.
“This is Priya Bates, the warehouse manager. She used to be my subordinate, and we’re close. She’s a nice girl. Without her, I wouldn’t have managed this warehouse well. This is the only property I have,” Elise said to Robin.
“What do you need now?”
Robin looked around. Everything was shabby, as if the warehouse was a dumped place.
“Many things and many people. Engineers, especially civil engineers. All the current ones in Lands Corporation are proud but incompetent. When I contacted them, they refused to answer my call. How annoying! Secondly, I need civil workers. It’s not difficult, though. The workers won’t be obedient to David. As long as we can pay them well, they’ll work. Thirdly, the funds. I’ll try to obtain some investments.”
“Also, the channel clients. I need to contact the clients later. This building is like a dumped one, so I want to remodel it.”
Elise told Robin her difficulties one by one. Although it was useless as he was a security guard, she wanted him to know it somehow.
She guessed she just wanted to share it with her husband.
Actually, she hadn’t realized that Robin had become more important in her heart.
“I can help you find the engineers.”
After a pause, Robin continued, “I have a friend who graduated from the architecture major at the University of Aappitat with a Ph. D. I can let him be in charge of this project.”
“OK. Thanks.”
Unlike others, Elise didn’t doubt Robin, although she didn’t believe Robin could know anyone with a doctor’s degree.
The University of Aappitat’s architecture major was the most famous nationwide. A man holding a doctor’s degree from the major shouldn’t be extraordinary.
However, Elise agreed with Robin to encourage him.
Soon, she started to be busy with the warehouse. Although she had become the chairwoman of the board, David and his supporters had deprived her. Therefore, she couldn’t do anything in Lands Corporation as no one trusted her.
The employees in the warehouse were rejected by Lands Corporation. Elise took them in kindly, so they were obedient to her. They were all trustworthy.
“Honey, I need to start from scratch again now. Although it’s difficult, I won’t admit to being defeated. When I was in college, I could found Lands Corporation. I’m sure I’ll start another company,” Elise said affirmatively, pressing her head on Robin’s shoulder.
“Ehn,” Robin replied with a grunt.
However, he knew how difficult it would be for Elise. It was utterly different from the situation seven years ago. She lacked manpower, techniques, and funds.
It was not easy for her to start from scratch again.
However, Robin didn’t think it was a big deal. He didn’t lie about the doctorate degree holder from the architecture major at the University of Aappitat. He was Robin’s companion when they were begging on the street.
They were fellow suffers back then.