Chen Linyun was on speaker phone while he was driving for work. "I'm almost done here. Guangxi wanted me to tour around for a day to 'flush away bad memories' as he puts it. He said he wants me to at least have good memories of the place. I agreed to it since it isn't a bad idea, is it? It's just one more day… I'll be back tomorrow, love…" Apparently, it was Xue Jinxu on the other line.

"Good to hear. I am barely surviving without you here." He smirked. "Just joking, but you know, jokes are half meant… I'm on my way to the office right now. Later this afternoon I'll be heading towards the airport. I will be visiting the s.h.i.+pyards in Shanghai. Hopefully, I'll be back in Beijing tomorrow too. See you tomorrow, then, love. Take care." He answered while concentrating on the road.

"I love you, Chen Linyun."

"I love you, Jinxu." He retorted then hung up.

As soon as he parked his car, Butler Lee came to his side. He briefed him of his schedule for the day while they were walking towards his office.

"There's another executive meeting scheduled today as a follow-through for the last meeting. The executives felt the need to discuss the agenda further." Butler Lee oriented him.

"Who's calling the shots for these meetings?" Chen Linyun wondered. 'Shouldn't I be the one initiating these meetings?'

"For now, Sir, the executives are on a consensus. They have one voice." Butler Lee answered.

"One voice for what? Do they somehow want to oust me that soon? Alright, then. Gather all the directors and the board of executives and stakeholders for the meeting. Let's do it now."

The scheduled executive meeting was originally to be held in the afternoon that day. Chen Linyun requested to advance it since he has a flight to catch in the afternoon.

A few minutes later, all the important officers in the company were present. Even the board of directors and stakeholders who weren't hands-on in the day-to-day operations and management were there in the conference hall. They most probably are up for something. It looked like a blockbuster carnival show. Most probably so, they were waiting for Chen Linyun to commit an irreversible mistake.

In a normal day-to-day meeting, only the directors were usually present, however for matters that will affect the profitability of the whole company, the invitation to the meeting was extended to the board of executives and shareholders. Although initially at the start of that year, 70% of Xue s.h.i.+pping shares were owned by the Xue Family, it went down to 65% and the rest, the 35% was owned by various stakeholders, one of which was Chen Linyun. He had already acquired 7% of the loose shares, unbeknownst to most people, including the Xue Family.

"Let's settle the matters one by one quickly." Chen Linyun started and asked the Commercial Marine Director, Mr. Cao. "Mr. Cao, give us a detailed status report since the last meeting the other day."

"Ahh, yes, Sir!" The Commercial Marine Director was in a jovial mood. "I'm pleased to inform everyone that the contract of affreightment between Xue s.h.i.+pping and Shuilong Trading has been signed by the authorized signatories – yours truly and Mr. Jin Yuan for Shuilong Trading. We've not only met with them, they even agreed almost instantly with our proposed terms and conditions. I have here with me the duly signed contract for a period of one year."

He retrieved a folder from his pile of doc.u.ments and waved it in the air. He appeared as if he had just witnessed a miracle. "We have been trying to reach out to Shuilong Trading these past months!! Would you believe, Mister Jin Yuan even contacted me first the other day! I don't believe in coincidences! I think our OIC pulled some strings for us! As I remember correctly, he said last meeting, 'Consider it done.' And it definitely is done!"

There were murmurs among the crowd.

"There's no proof that it's the OIC's doing!"

"What can he have done?"

"It's pure luck!"

"Yes, he's just lucky! We've been reaching out to Shuilong Trading for too long! It's just coincidental the contract was signed under his leaders.h.i.+p!"

Butler Lee stepped in to hush the crowd back into silence.

"Although we cannot be the main charteree for the vessels requirement of Shuilong Trading since they have already chartered Zhu s.h.i.+pping Lines' vessels first, they've chosen us as their alternate and second-in-line vessel provider with a constant and a.s.sured volume monthly. It's good enough, better than nothing!" The Commercial Marine director added.

More sane executives supported the outcome.

Chen Linyun spoke. "Let's review the vessel requirements of other industries. Let's make this incident with Shuilong Trading a precedent of a better, more suitable, more flexible approach of growing the business. If we cannot be their main service provider, explore the idea of signing a contract as an alternative vessel provider. I would suggest to adopt the strategy of penetrating the other businesses first, establish an excellent impression so that they would prefer to choose Xue s.h.i.+pping as their main charteree once their contract with the other company expires."

Again, unbeknownst to the audience, Chen Linyun already had a conglomerate of his own under Chen Holdings. He had a presence in several industries as well, such as food, textile, IT and semiconductor, and other manufacturing fields, which involves the import and export of goods from several locations. For sure, there were vessel requirements that Xue s.h.i.+pping can serve.

Only Butler Lee knew of this little information, although as to how deep his understanding and knowledge is, might still be flimsy, not barely scratching the surface.

Such was Chen Linyun – a low key, low profile entrepreneur and trader by heart who had been acquiring shares in businesses in his free time. Although he's not familiar with the s.h.i.+pping industry per se, he's adequately equipped with market intelligence. Not to mention, he's also a strategist by nature and is extremely keen to detail.

"Regarding the s.h.i.+ Corporation's response to our increase in freight rates, what's the update?" Chen Linyun inquired.

The Commercial Marine Head answered, "We are going to send out a follow-up letter with a deadline as per advice. Failure to respond within a week from now would mean concurrence to our proposed increased rates."

"Revise the deadline. Make it three days from now. No, make it two days from now." The OIC, Chen Linyun interjected. "Close this issue as soon as possible. They were given enough time to ponder on it. They should have a clear answer by now. Agreement by default is still an agreement whether they want to engage with us or not."

Chen Linyun continued. "I have reviewed the performance of the company historically from the reports that I have requested from Butler Lee. I have initially identified areas for improvement. Although the demand growth for vessels now is almost flat, we can improve our margins through operational excellence – that is, through increasing the efficiency of the vessels. The turnaround should be maximized, as much as possible no idle times, and no downtime for repairs. To achieve this, the vessels should have a well-planned preventive maintenance schedule. The voyages should be plotted accordingly in the calendar. Does the company use a computer program for that? If not, I suggest we utilize automation in our daily operations. I guarantee it will definitely incur savings. Through that, coming from our internal improvement, partnered with expansion outward in the market, I am so sure we can bounce back to the company's previous prestige."

The conference room was dead silent. How long has he been in the company? Merely three days.

"If there's nothing else, meeting adjourned. I have a flight to catch." When no one was speaking, he stood up and left, without giving the executives the opportunity for retaliation of any form.