Chapter 401 - Not An Enemy

Days later, the entire Long clan learned that Iris successfully bought 5% shares of Long Industries. Now she was an official shareholder at the company with the right to vote during meetings.

Although her shares might not seem much, she was actually the second biggest shareholder from the Long family after her father. Long Tengfei was the majority shareholder, owning more than 50%.

Before Iris' purchase, Long Jufang and Long Meng were the next biggest shareholders after Long Tengfei. The two elders each owned 3% shares of the company. This was one of the reasons why the two of them became the most powerful elders in the Long clan.

Of course, they tried acquiring more but just 1% was already expensive on its own. The 3% each that they acquired were something their branch families saved up for many years.

For a long time, the main family owned 100% of the company. Despite this, they still shared the wealth to the other branch families so that the entire clan could prosper together. It was only when Long Tengfei expanded the family business into the shipping industry that shares were made available for purchase in order to fund the massive expansion.

That time, nobody among the branch families could afford to buy any shares. So they could only watch wealthy outsiders buy the available shares. Actually, only the branch families saw these first shareholders as outsiders.

To Long Tengfei, these shareholders were his business partners in making Long Industries a truly international company. Most of them held executive positions in the company just like him. For example, the COO was also a shareholder and a friend to Long Tengfei.

It was only later when the elders Long Jufang and Long Meng had saved enough that they were able to buy some shares from the minor shareholders who were willing to sell. Unfortunately, they could only afford 3% each.

That was why the entire Long clan went into uproar when they learned that Iris acquired 5% shares. FIVE PERCENT!!! How much was that?!

The elders and the other relatives immediately headed to the Long ancestral residence. Long Jufang and Long Meng led them to seek an audience with Long Tengfei.

He owned 2.5% shares. His mother's family financed the 2% while he bought the 0.5% with his own money after he became the Deputy CFO. Of course it concerned him now that his youngest sister owned more shares than him when she wasn't even working in their family business.

Long Hui joined the elders and the other relatives. The old chamberlain led them to Long Tengfei's study.

It was interesting to note that these people formed their own separate groups while walking. Long Jufang had his own group, while Long Meng and her allies walked together with Long Hui.

As for the other elders and relatives, they either chose Long Jufang or Long Meng's groups or formed their own separate little groups. However, their little groups were not very impressive, unable to compare to the groups led by Long Jufang and Long Meng.

Later in the master study.

The husband and wife, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui, sat together. Long Hui sat on a chair near his father, but he was clearly together with Long Meng and her allies. Long Jufang and his group sat on the other side. The other elders and relatives sat on the remaining available spots.

After the customary greetings, Long Tengfei asked them the purpose of their visit even though he already knew.

"Tengfei, did you give your daughter Xiulan the 5% shares?" Long Jufang asked directly, not skirting around the topic.

"No, I didn't give her the shares," Long Tengfei immediately answered. "I stand by my personal policy that I won't give any company shares to my children until I'm dead and they inherit my own shares according to my last will and testament. If they want to own shares before my death, then they have to buy them with their own money. That's what my eldest son Hui did before. And now, my youngest daughter also bought shares with her own money."

"Xiulan is also a translator and interpreter. She did some translation work for Long Industries, not to mention for Jin Corporation. I heard that she has accepted more work from Jin Corporation than from my husband. And I bet they pay her more there," Yang Jiahui couldn't help but defend Iris.

"Madam, I may not know much about the translation field, but I doubt that the Young Miss has earned the millions needed to buy the company shares in the short time that she has been translating and interpreting. I'm guessing that Sir Lu Jianhong provided her with financial assistance for the purchase. That's the only conclusion that I could think of," Long Meng retorted.

Long Hui opened his mouth, about to defend Iris as well, but immediately stopped himself. It was a different situation now. He was aware of the growing support for Iris within the clan. He had already lost the support of Long Jufang, the most powerful Long elder.

And now Iris had acquired 5% shares of Long Industries, surpassing what he owned. Before he even realized it, his youngest sister who he didn't think much of years ago had now become his biggest rival.

If he defended her now and sang her praises in front of the elders and relatives, he was certain that he would lose more supporters. Long Meng was the second most powerful elder in the clan, and he couldn't afford to lose her support.

So he remained silent, not daring to defend Iris from the barely veiled insults in fear that he might really lose his position as successor to her. He surely would never reveal that she was a Cross Academy student and that her fianc was the most powerful man in the country's business world of his generation.

Jin Liwei certainly had a higher status than Lu Zihao. Almost everyone knew that he was the current head of Jin Corporation.

In contrast, nobody really knew what Sir Lu Jianhong's flesh and blood grandson did for work. All they knew about him were the rumours that he was a happy-go-lucky fellow who liked da