All executives, department heads and key personnel were there, as per instruction of the COO.

The lady that was sitting at the head of the oblong-shaped table was tapping her fingers on the table. She was getting impatient.

The Technical Marine Head reported what happened first.

"From the reports this was what happened. Last Friday night, MT [1] Serendipity was carrying Gasoil cargo and was bound to discharge at one of our clients' oil terminal at the West Coast. In fact, she [2] had already completed unloading her cargo at the West Cost and was about to pull out from the pier."

"It was around three in the morning when the pull out operation started. She was maneuvering smoothly when the crew felt something was amiss, then the s.h.i.+p started to wobble."

"They tried to stop and manage the movements altogether and observed. There were no holes as there were no leaks. The captain still did not allow the s.h.i.+p to move. He and the crew contacted the pier authorities and reported what happened."

The pier authorities concluded that MT Serendipity indeed touched the seabed's bottom. How could this happen, you may ask, since the s.h.i.+p should have been much lighter now since she had unloaded her cargo, yet it appeared that it had even sunk lower. It turned out that during that time, at three in the morning, the waters were the lowest. It was inherent to that seaport."

"Good thing the s.h.i.+p was moving relatively slow so the damages were no more than minor abrasions. However, she could not leave the pier until around afternoon of the same day when the tide has risen again."

After his lengthy, very detailed explanation, the Head of Safety, and the Head of PR reported next.

"This incident will be tagged as a near-miss in terms of safety. It was simply providential that only minor abrasions were obtained, and that it happened when the s.h.i.+p was empty. Otherwise…" He shook his head. They all shared his thoughts.

"On our side", the PR Head reported, "We did not do much. It was minor event which did not reach the media."

When they finished, the lady boss asked, "Where's our gap and how can we solve it?"

"We failed to consider the tides." The Terminal Marine Head responded. It sounds a simple matter but failure to do so would end up to grave consequences. "This will not happen again."

"Alright, about the second major issue, they were demanding compensation. How many millions of yuans are we talking about here?" Xue Jinxu continued, moving to the next topic.

The Finance head gave the figures. "About a million yuans."

"Are their claims valid?"

The legal team checked the contracts and all its provisions. The team suggested to have a meeting with their client at Shanghai.

"Alright, Miss Yan. Check my schedule and book a trip to Shanghai. The legal and PR teams will go with me." This time Xue Jinxu decided to discuss with the concerned party first. Probably, meeting in person and some PR could mend or solve this issue.

"Moving forward how can we prevent these instances from happening again?" The Business Development team made suggestions, and the other team leaders contributed their ideas on the feasibility of each options until they came with the final judgment.

She sighed. "The team did well in addressing issues. I'm not blaming anyone for the things that had happened. However, we should not stop here. Remember, 'A fall into a ditch makes you wiser.' We should all learn from this one time and make sure that we prevent it from happening again, or if we failed to prevent it, what first layer of defense or action items can be done to secure our a.s.sets, operations and finances."

"How about our launch for MT[1] Dragon Heart?" She inquired.

The Marketing Director answered, "We were on the polis.h.i.+ng stage. The new s.h.i.+p was done with all the major welding, and only minor painting should be completed. The date of the launch will be finalized. It will fall on an auspicious day next month."

"Good."

Guangxi was also in the conference hall. However, his ident.i.ty was not announced yet so n.o.body gave him too much attention. He was introduced as an apprentice that the Xue Family took in. He was rumored to have come from a significant family however the employees did not know which family he came from.

He was seated along the wall. A chair had been pulled back from him. As an apprentice of the COO he was expected to appear where Xue Jinxu was. He was taking in everything that he could - from the factual detailed run through of the events to the approach of how the whole team of executives solved it. He was having the appreciation of teamwork and brainstorming.

He also noted that there were myriads of terms and concepts which he did not understand. He wrote it down in his notebook to research on in his free time, or he could ask around about these terms. Maybe his sister or Miss Yan or the department heads could explain it to him. Or maybe his teacher Chen Linyun could give him a hand.

Although the meeting was convened on a bad note, he was amazed at how it ended well. The people inside heaved a sigh of relief. Some even had smiles on their faces.

He realized that most of the people here who belonged to the top management and who were even years older than him and his sister were respecting her authority.

Guangxi's eyes were sparkling. He wanted to be someone like his sister. He wanted to also earn the trust and respect of these people – the people who he will be working with, and who he will be leading in the future.

He was filled with pa.s.sion. He vowed to himself that he will strive for excellence, so that these people will also learn to trust him, to respect him because of his capabilities and not because of his background. He wanted to know everything that he needed to know, understand the terms and concepts so that he would not only not get lost in the meeting but also contribute ideas to the team. He was so motivated and pumped up just being there in that morning meeting.

He viewed his sister with a new light. In his eyes, she became some sort of a higher being – a deity, an immortal. Just a little more and he might even say prayers to her. It was absurd. That's the closest description that he could think of of how his sister affected him.

[1] MT stands for Marine Tanker

[2] s.h.i.+ps are referred to with female p.r.o.nouns like 'she' and 'her'