Restarting life by going to the countryside to support medical work

Chapter 670 Rejection
"You've already reached an agreement?"

Upon seeing Li Yancheng and the other two approach, Chairman Cheng, who was talking to the old man, turned to his eldest son and asked.

"It's settled."

As soon as Li Yancheng responded, he saw several children preparing to board a boat on the lake not far away. He quickly raised his right hand, put it in his mouth, and gave a loud whistle. When the children turned around, he raised his voice and shouted, "Hey, you guys be careful! Pengpeng, Huansheng, you two are the oldest, take good care of your younger siblings!"

"Okay, Dad (godfather)."

After giving the children some instructions, Li Yancheng pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Yan Cheng, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

As soon as they sat down, the old master of the Cheng family spoke, his tone revealing an indescribable solemnity.

“Please speak, sir.” Li Yancheng was slightly taken aback. He didn’t know what the old man wanted to say, but from his solemn tone, he could tell that what he was about to say was quite extraordinary.

He glanced at his wife discreetly, but couldn't glean anything from her face, so he gave up and focused on listening to what Old Master Cheng would say next.

"Yan Cheng, today we are all here, including your good friend, your godfather and mother-in-law. In front of everyone, I would like to extend an invitation to you once again."

Upon hearing this, Li Yancheng's lips twitched involuntarily, and a look of helplessness flashed in his eyes.

We're talking about this again!
The invitation mentioned by the patriarch of the Cheng family was a decision made after discussions between him and his eldest son, Cheng Huaigu, to invite Li Yancheng back to the Cheng family and serve as the next chairman of the Cheng Group.

Cheng Huaigu is almost seventy years old this year. Although Li Yancheng has been taking care of him from time to time in the past two years, he is in perfect health.

But he is getting on in years, and it's time to choose a successor.

The Cheng Group has several companies listed in the United States. As the parent company of these listed companies, the selection of the future chairman of the group is very important, as a misstep could cause stock price fluctuations.

Cheng Huaigu has been cultivating his youngest son, Cheng Jianwen, for many years. He has many strengths, but his weaknesses are also very obvious, namely, a lack of strategic thinking and a decisive personality.

And these are precisely the qualities that Li Yancheng possesses.

Finding a suitable successor is not easy. The successor chosen by the previous head of the Cheng family and the current head of the family happens to be their long-lost eldest grandson. In their view, all of this is the will of heaven.

Therefore, over the past two years, they have repeatedly persuaded Li Yancheng to resign from his current job, return to the Cheng family, and let Cheng Huaigu mentor him for two years. Once the other shareholders recognize his abilities, the father and son can then naturally hand over the reins.

Because he is the eldest son of the current family head, there is unlikely to be any strong opposition within the family to him succeeding as the next family head.

It should be said that the ideas of the two successive heads of the Cheng family were good. If things really go as they wish, then the Cheng family and the Cheng Group, under the leadership of Li Yancheng, who knows the future well, will continue to be glorious for decades without any problem.

But Li Yancheng's ambitions lay elsewhere. He never considered going into business. When he first learned about the details of the biological family of the body he had taken over from Su Xiaotong more than a decade ago, he never even thought about acknowledging the Cheng family.

Later, due to various reasons, after being persuaded by his father-in-law and superiors to recognize each other, it should be said that he never considered himself a member of the Cheng family.

He treated Fu Shuyi's illness, helped the old master of the Cheng family and Cheng Huaigu to improve their health, and even subtly instilled some future development trends in them. All of this was just because he felt a little guilty for taking over the body of someone else's biological son.

So four years have passed, and even though the Cheng family has been very good to him, he still can't change how he addresses them.

How could he possibly return to the Cheng family now and become the next head of the Cheng family? It would make him feel like a cuckoo has usurped someone else's place.

Moreover, he is only 42 years old and has already entered the senior ranks. It can be said that as long as he does not make mistakes and does his job well, the possibility of him taking another step forward is very high.

His biggest advantage is his age, compared to others.

His only drawback is his lack of grassroots governance experience. The path he is currently on is about to hit a ceiling. If he can break out of that, his future is limitless.

But jumping out of that situation is easier said than done.

If he wanted to leave, he couldn't stay in Beijing. He would have to go to other provinces and cities to gain experience, which the higher-ups wouldn't agree to. Don't forget, he was also the health care doctor for several veteran comrades.

He had been approached about this issue before, and his father-in-law had also discussed it with him.

In Li Yancheng's mind, whether or not he jumps out of the industry doesn't really matter. What he wants more is to do more things, and the best way to do more things without being restricted is to go high enough.

His current position alone is enough for him to do a lot, and by leveraging the network of connections he has built over the years, especially those of his older comrades, he can make certain changes to some things.

Go into business? He wouldn't even consider that.

"Grandpa, we've discussed this issue more than once or twice, and I don't know how to answer you now that you've brought it up again."

Let's put aside whether I agree or disagree, and focus on your group's internal affairs. As far as I know, the shares of the Cheng Group are not all held by the Cheng family; they are quite dispersed, including those listed companies.

A change of leadership at the head office, if not approved by all shareholders, will inevitably affect the stock prices of listed companies. It might even give competitors an opportunity to complete a takeover or engage in malicious short selling. However, these issues are not the most critical.

"Oh? Yan Cheng, what is the main problem you mentioned?" Cheng Huaigu asked curiously.

"Sir, Chairman Cheng, the most important question is, are you sure that the European and American financial groups that hold Cheng's shares will agree to let a Chinese person take charge of Cheng's? Moreover, this Chinese person is a member of a Chinese organization."

At this point, Li Yancheng paused, his gaze sweeping over the faces of Old Master Cheng and Cheng Huaigu. Seeing that the old master's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, he preemptively raised his hand to signal.

"Grandpa, please don't be anxious. Let me finish. There's another very important point, which is... Have you and Chairman Cheng forgotten that I'm on Section C's list? That means they don't know about our relationship yet. Otherwise, the Cheng family would be in trouble too."

That's why I've never gone out with you guys all these years. I thought you'd remember, but I never expected I'd have to be the one to break the ice.

!!!

Li Yancheng's words caused the Cheng family patriarch, Cheng Huaigu, Fu Shuyi, and Cheng Jianwen and his wife to look at each other in shock.

Cheng Jianwen's wife, Hao Yushi, was shocked and somewhat bewildered.

She genuinely had no idea that her brother-in-law was on Section C's list. She was also quite puzzled, because in her eyes, this brother-in-law was a police chief in China, someone whose position was roughly equivalent to the police chief of the Big Apple in the US. So why would such a Chinese person be on that organization's list?
Moreover, it seems that her husband, in-laws, and grandfather all know about this.

Hao Yushi suppressed her doubts and listened attentively to what they had to say next.

Continue? What should I say?
The old master of the Cheng family moved his lips, but in the end he could only let out a helpless sigh.

In preparation for today's persuasion, he and his eldest son, Cheng Huaigu, secretly visited Old Luo without Li Yancheng's knowledge.

Their purpose in visiting was to gain Luo Lao's support and agree to Li Yancheng returning to the Cheng family and inheriting the family business.

Old Luo did not disappoint them. Although he would not help persuade Li Yancheng, he would not set any obstacles either. As long as Li Yancheng agreed, he would support him unconditionally.

That's what he said, but in reality, Old Luo knew very well that his young son-in-law would never agree to give up everything he had. He was confident of that, which is why he was so generous.

There's one more thing that Mr. Luo didn't mention, and that's precisely the most crucial point.

That is, even if he agrees, it will be of no use, because his son-in-law is now completely powerless, truly powerless.

Even if Li Yancheng wanted to resign now, he could resign from his position as the director of the Public Security Bureau and give up his identity as an interrogation expert, but the identity of the health bureau expert would stay with him for the rest of his life.

Furthermore, his previous work in the Social Affairs Bureau exposed him to a vast amount of classified information. Even now, he still possesses a considerable amount of top-secret information, which makes it impossible for him to do whatever he wants, such as going abroad on official business.

Li Yancheng's words silenced both the old master of the Cheng family and Cheng Huaigu.

They actually knew about it before, but things had been peaceful for the past few years, so they subconsciously put it out of their minds.

But now that they have this problem in front of them, they realize that everything they had considered before is no longer a problem after encountering it.

The Cheng family is a large and powerful family, with 95% of its businesses located in Europe and America. The direct descendants and collateral descendants together number several hundred people, as well as a number of other small families that depend on the Cheng family for their livelihood.

With such a large industry and so many people, even if they were the two successive heads of the family, they wouldn't dare gamble with the safety of the Cheng family.

According to their previous plan, so what if Li Yancheng is Chinese? It doesn't matter; they have plenty of ways to create a new identity for him.

But they dared not gamble with the Cheng family's many relatives and business, betting that the organization wouldn't discover that this person was the one on their list.

If they were discovered, it would mean the Cheng family would be destroyed, a pain they could not bear.

Seeing their silence, Li Yancheng smiled faintly. He knew perfectly well why the two of them were not speaking.

"Grandpa, Chairman Cheng, let's leave it at that. Don't bring it up again. To put it bluntly, my identity has already determined that I can never go abroad for official business in this lifetime."

I know that you originally thought that if I agreed, even if I am Chinese, you could create a completely convincing identity for me in Europe and America.

But I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. Your idea is simply impossible, because I can't even step out of China, and besides, I've never even considered going abroad.

After saying this, Li Yancheng's gaze fell on Cheng Jianwen.

"Jianwen is the same age as the Republic, only thirty-five this year. Chairman Cheng, you are only in your sixties. After my treatment, I dare not say that your body is the same as that of a twenty or thirty-year-old, but it is definitely ten years younger than your actual age."

I'm not saying this to take credit; I just want to tell you that you could easily work for another ten years. Ten years is enough time for you to develop your knowledge and experience.

Jianwen has very strong execution and management capabilities, which can be seen from the fact that he built factories in China from scratch and that these factories are operated and managed in an orderly manner.

As for strategic vision and intelligence, aren't those things developed through experience? No one is born with them. Mr. Cheng, what are you doing at your age?

After spending these past few years together, I'm convinced he'll succeed. He's spending a lot of time in Beijing now, so I can talk to him more when I have time.

Swish

Li Yancheng's words made the eyes of Old Master Cheng and Cheng Huaigu instantly sparkle.

They understood what they meant: if you can't teach it, it just means you're not good enough. Come on, I'll teach you when I have some free time.

Hao Yushi, in particular, was staring at him with such intense heat that it was almost tangible.

As Cheng Jianwen's wife, she was well aware of his shortcomings. When she heard her father-in-law and grandfather say they wanted to hand over the future of the Cheng family to her eldest brother-in-law, it would be a lie to say she wasn't disappointed.

But she was also very clear that entrusting the future of the family to her man was not a good choice.

It must be said that she is indeed a woman who understands the bigger picture.

Even though she was sensible, she couldn't help but get excited when her brother-in-law said he was willing to share some of his experience with her man.

She didn't actually know how capable Li Yancheng was; she had only heard some of it from Cheng Jianwen.

However, she knew one thing: her brother-in-law was able to become the director of the Public Security Bureau at such a young age, which meant he definitely had some real talent.

Moreover, both my grandfather and father-in-law spoke highly of this elder brother-in-law, which proves that he is truly capable.

Cheng Jianwen looked at his brother with a surprised expression.

Li Yancheng refused to return to the Cheng family. He had thought of this. Although he had spent more time in the south and less time in Beijing in recent years, he would always have a good talk with his brother every time he came. He believed that he knew his brother quite well.

To his surprise, his brother was willing to teach him.

You see, he deeply admired his brother's excellent judgment and had tried to subtly ask him to share some of his experience more than once, but each time it came to nothing.

Now my brother has actually brought this up himself, this...

(End of this chapter)