The Great Worm Lich

When Zhang Lisheng went downstairs, Maddie was sitting behind her desk in the lobby on the first floor as she was talking solemnly to Charlie who had walked into the office building not knowing when. “Mr. Charlie, Mr. Lisheng was purposely discharged from the hospital to head to the office for some urgent private matter to attend today. I’m afraid he won’t have the time to see you today.”

The girl’s tone was quite formal and bureaucratic but Charlie was not offended by it. Instead, he replied with a huge smile, “Oh, Miss Maddie! Haven’t I said before? I don’t mean to interrupt Mr. Lisheng. I can wait, I can always wait… Oh Mr. Lisheng, you’ve come down now.”

“Morning, oh wait, it should be afternoon now, Mr. Charlie, is there a reason for you to look for me?” After smiling at Maddie, Zhang Lisheng who had walked downstairs looked at Charlie and asked.

“It’s nothing particularly important. I was supervising the work at the construction site where the factory is expanding when I saw a glimpse of Miss Maddie seemingly driving you back to the factory so I merely came here to greet you. I’m relieved that you look healthy.”

“Thank you. However, why are you the one supervising the work at the construction site? Didn’t the construction company send a project manager?”

“Oh! Usually, such a large-scale project involving hundreds of millions of dollars would have to be supervised by somebody who is especially sent out by the commissioning party and the contractor, Mr. Lisheng. It’s stated in the agreement Edward asked you to sign that I’m the supervisor manager of the LS Group. Maybe you didn’t notice it.”

“Is that so? I’m sorry, Mr. Charlie. My mind was in a blur a few days ago. Alright, since you’re in charge of the supervision of the expansion of the factory, you’ll be in charge of the staff recruitment for the new factory too. What is the high-level position of a company’s managing personnel usually called, Maddie?” Zhang Lisheng pondered over it.

“Human Resource director,” The girl hesitated for a moment before replying.

“Okay, Mr. Charlie. Are you willing to be the HR director of the Lisheng Group?”

“Hey please call me Charlie, boss! I feel very honored to be working for you for a long period of time. Really, I’m truly honored!”

Although it was very absurd to appoint a professional manager who was well versed in business negotiations to become the HR director, Charlie did not have any objections and agreed to it happily right away.

Unlike Edward’s reserved attitude who would become more respectful when he received an order, Charlie was much more direct with his flattering.

“Good! Maddie, draft the letter of appointment for Mr. Charlie. Refer to Mr. Edward’s welfare for the conditions. Charlie, let us wait for your letter of appointment right here. Oh yeah, that’s right! You’re good in communicating with others so is there any method to convince a stubborn doctor to discharge a patient whom he thinks should remain under observation but in actual fact, had completely recovered?”

“You mean?”

“I actually sneaked out of the hospital so I have to go back immediately. I’m being covered in spiderwebs lying on the bed just like that! The only treatment I receive every day is four tablets of vitamins and my attending doctor said that I’d need to spend one to two months of such a life…” As Zhang Lisheng was speaking, a series of ringtones suddenly resonated from his pocket.

Taking out his mobile phone, he sighed and picked up the call.

“Baby, where are you now?”

“I’m at the factory, mom! The second expansion project requires a supervisor manager and the recruitment of personnel must also be…”

“And here I thought you were strolling around the hospital! To think that you actually went to the suburbs instead! Does Dr. Springs know that you’ve left the hospital?” Lili’s voice turned solemn right away.

“Urghh, I only came to the factory to appoint an HR director for the company. It won’t take much time…”

“In other words, your doctor doesn’t know that you left the hospital!”

“Oh, mom! I brought the vitamins with me so I can eat them anywhere! Don’t be angry, I’ll go back to the hospital immediately…” Zhang Lisheng said with a bitter expression. At this time, he also heard Charlie suddenly whispering from the front. “Boss, pass me the phone. Perhaps I can have a way to keep your mother from getting angry.”

Zhang Lisheng was stunned. “Mom, my newly appointed HR director wanted to help me explain to you…” Then, he passed the phone to Charlie.

“Hello, Madam Lily, I’m Charlie. Do you still remember me? We’ve met before in the ward.

“Hi, Mr. Charlie. Of course, I remember you. Hello to you.”

“I’m very sorry about the matter today, Madam. It was me who repeatedly asked Mr. Lisheng to come to Mutteslow. There was a small problem at the construction site and even though it was not too big, it had to be negotiated by the commissioning party and the contractor. Due to my negligence, I left out one document for Mr. Lisheng to sign, causing my identity to be unable to be legally confirmed. For this reason, I had no choice but to ask him to come to Mutteslow to personally meet with the project manager of the construction company. I’m very sorry…”

When Lili heard a man who was older than her by ten to twenty years old sincerely apologizing to her in such a guilty manner, she quickly smiled and said, “Oh I see. It’s normal to leave out some documents. Don’t worry, this child should also go out and have some fresh air as well. You don’t have to be worried about it.”

“Madam Lili, you’re really generous and kind. The virtue in Mr. Lisheng’s character must have been inherited from you. Do you know that if we manage to reduce the capital of the factory expansion this time, we’d only need to recruit 320 new employees to maintain good management? However, Mr. Lisheng was generous and offered a total of 400 job opportunities…”

“Wait a minute, Mr. Charlie. Are you saying that my son is going to recruit 400 people to work for him?”

“Yes, not only that, but Mr. Lisheng also told his secretary to contact a private hospital to continue his medical observations, just for the sake of not wasting national public medical resources. I can vouch that there’s no other young industrialist who is as outstanding, excellent and ethical as him in the entire US.”

“There’s no other young industrialist who is as outstanding, excellent and ethical as him in the entire US? Thank you for your compliment. Can you please pass the call to Lisheng?” Lili could not hide her surprise in her tone.

“Of course! Goodbye, Madam Lili,” Charlie said before returning the phone to Zhang Lisheng who was a little dumbstruck now.

“Mom, is there anything else?”

“Hey baby, I remember you only had two employees a few months ago…”

“Yeah! But the company has developed very smoothly and after the factory was expanded, the number of employees has increased to more than 100.”

“Oh! I keep hearing you talking about the factory expansion and I thought that you merely built a few new rooms. I didn’t expect you to manage the slaughterhouse to such a point in such a short period of time. More than 100 people plus another 400 would make it a total of more than 500 employees! It would no longer be a small company, my God! Baby! How did you do it?”

“Intelligence plus luck,” Zhang Lisheng answered casually. “Mom, what do you think about the matter that Mr. Charlie mentioned just now, about me transferring to a private hospital for not continuing to waste public medical resources?”

“Baby, you’d become completely free after you transfer to a private hospital, as you’re going to become a customer rather than a patient, wouldn’t you?”

“I promise that I won’t run around everywhere! On top of that, the private hospital would not let a patient with risk go anywhere or do anything that he liked, would they?”

Lili became quiet for a moment at the end of the phone call. “Alright! It’s indeed not good for you to take four vitamin tablets a day but stay occupying the bed of a public hospital for 24 hours. I agree that you should transfer but I want to look for the hospital myself.

“Okay. But my secretary has already started doing so. She has already narrowed down to a few hospitals and is contacting them right now.”

“Oh my God! Secretary? That’s right! You already have a secretary! Alright then, baby. I’ll let her pick the hospital but I must go have a look at it before you transfer.”

“Of course, mom…” After finally brushing his mom off with two more sentences, Zhang Lisheng hung up without being able to stop the smile on his face.

After the young boy breathed a sigh of relief, he signed his name on the documents that Maddie handed over to him before giving the appointment letter to Charlie. “Charlie, you did very well! It seems like you’re much better in communicating with others than I thought.”

“You flatter me, boss! I’m ready to serve you again anytime soon,” Charlie signed his name on the document without looking at it as he replied sincerely and courteously.

Zhang Lisheng nodded as he chuckled excitedly before walking out of the office building together with Maddie. Before entering the car, he suddenly stood still and said to Charlie who was waving goodbye at him, “I noticed that even if the sellers monopolize the market, a large enterprise above the designated size must still have a modern management organization. For this reason, after the overall expansion of the factory is completed, I intend to improve the company’s management system in one go. By that time, perhaps you can even sit at a higher position too. Please work hard, Charlie.”

Charlie was stunned for a moment and clenched his fist unwittingly before replying loudly, “Oh! Oh! Mr. Lisheng! I won’t let you down!”

The young man chuckled and flashed a thumbs up at the old man before entering the car.

Maddie started the car and slowly drove out of the huge factory area. As she was speeding on the highway, the girl could not help but say, “The LS Group is founded by you alone and by right, nobody has the right to doubt your decision. However, don’t you feel that it’s little reckless by directly appointing the company’s top management just like that? I don’t have any prejudice against Mr. Charlie but I heard that he’s called as the foxhound on Wall Street…”

“It doesn’t matter what Charlie is, Maddie! As long as he’s useful to me, I don’t care if he’s a foxhound or a hounding fox whatsoever. He’d merely have a small part of the share anyway.”

“But the greed in the heart is hard to be controlled! By letting him do everything just like that…”

“If he betrays me, I’ll let him die,” Zhang Lisheng looked out of the window by the passenger seat beside the driver and remarked casually. “And then, I’ll look for a new manager to take over everything. Without any equity, the law will not protect a dead person’s right of management of a company. It’s just as simple as that.”

Maddie choked on her saliva as her body shuddered right away, the various warnings she had in her mind could no longer be spilled out of her mouth. Then, she finally remembered the cruel resolute ability of him in making decisions that night when she first came across this young man beside her for the first time.

“To think that I’d actually be worried that you’d be conned! Looks like I’ve made a fool of myself,” she muttered to herself and heard Zhang Lisheng suddenly say loudly not long after. “Maddie, drive into the forests! I have something to do!”