In addition to his residence, Yi Anguo's company office was furnished entirely with pieces made from fine Laotian rosewood. The large tea table used for hosting guests was especially impressive. It was crafted from a single, thick slab of wood, measuring nearly 1.3 meters wide, 16 centimeters thick, and 3.5 meters long, exuding an air of high-end luxury and grandeur. Every visitor who laid eyes on it couldn't help but marvel, praising Yi Anguo for knowing how to truly live well.

Yi Anguo, of course, seized every opportunity to promote his rosewood furniture factory. Thanks to his salesmanship, he sold quite a few pieces, which turned out to be a nice, unexpected windfall.

One day, Ou Xiaolong, whom Yi Anguo hadn't seen in a long time, suddenly paid a visit. Upon seeing the office's complete suite of rosewood furniture, he couldn't help but heap praise on it. Naturally, Yi Anguo couldn't resist advertising his rosewood furniture factory again, transforming into a dedicated salesman.

Ou Xiaolong couldn't help but laugh. "I had no idea you knew so much about rosewood furniture! Anyone who didn't know better would think you were a professional salesman for it!"

"Haha! To be honest with you, I started my apprenticeship in making rosewood furniture when I was seventeen," Yi Anguo explained with a laugh. "For many years, my biggest dream was to open my own rosewood furniture factory and be my own boss."

"Are you serious?" Ou Xiaolong said with a chuckle. "Back in my hometown, before I left, I also studied carpentry. Before I met my wife, I worked as a carpenter on construction sites, specifically nailing together formwork."

"Really? So you used to nail formwork on construction sites," Yi Anguo remarked. "That was pretty lucrative work back in the day!"

"Back in 1997, right after the New Year, I followed a fellow from my hometown, planning to work as a carpenter on a construction site," Yi Anguo continued. "But they didn't have a spot for me, so I just went on with my rosewood furniture apprenticeship.

"Later, I completed my training and became a master with my own apprentices. Looking back, I don't think I would have been cut out for construction site carpentry anyway.

"Even though they're both called 'carpentry,' they are two completely different things. If you brought those construction site carpenters into our factory and asked them to make rosewood furniture, they wouldn't be able to do it."

"You're right," Ou Xiaolong said, nodding in agreement. "Even though I learned carpentry back home, if I were to join a furniture factory here, I'd have to start all over."

"The carpentry I learned back home was all traditional. We used tools like axes, planes, and saws to make furniture," he continued. "Here in the factories, they use machines for everything. How could I possibly do it without learning from scratch?

"Still, this rosewood furniture is truly impressive. I'll have to get my office decked out just like yours one day."

Yi Anguo nodded. "It's all part of the cultural heritage left to us by our ancestors. It's not just the office; my entire home is filled with rosewood furniture. I have large beds, top-box wardrobes, round dining tables, sofas, TV consoles, desks, dressing tables... everything is made from precious rosewood.

"This furniture isn't just practical and beautiful; it also has great collector's value. As time passes, pieces made from precious rosewood will only become more valuable!

"It's not like modern furniture that becomes useless after a few years. Once it breaks, you can only throw it away. They're made from junk like particleboard and plywood. Those materials swell up if they get wet or are exposed to humidity. In any case, you end up having to replace them every few years."

After chatting about rosewood furniture for a while, Ou Xiaolong finally revealed the reason for his visit.

It turned out that Ou Xiaolong had recently had a complete falling out with his wife's side of the family and was no longer willing to endure the humiliation. He had spent years collecting evidence against his wife's family—her uncle, aunt, and several nephews. They had been constantly dipping into company funds, embezzling money without any regard for the business's interests. They colluded with outsiders to supply the company's construction sites with substandard building materials, yet charged prices even higher than for premium-quality ones. This was especially true during the recent renovation of a high-end property, where they drastically cut corners on the quality of the décor, furniture, and appliances, pocketing a fortune in the process.

Faced with this irrefutable evidence, Ou Xiaolong's father-in-law was so enraged that he fell ill. However, this made Ou Xiaolong's father-in-law finally realize that no matter how close a brother, sister, or nephew might be, they ultimately couldn't be trusted. The only people he could truly rely on were his own daughter, his son-in-law, and his granddaughter. After falling ill, he transferred all his shares to his granddaughter. However, until she came of age, his son-in-law—Ou Xiaolong—would exercise all shareholder rights on her behalf.

Once in control of these rights, Ou Xiaolong immediately turned the tables. He began to settle accounts with his wife's uncle, aunt, and nephews. He reported them directly to the police, and all who deserved to be were arrested.

The public funds they had embezzled over the years had long since been squandered. Now that they were required to pay it all back, where could they possibly find such a large sum of money? If they didn't return the money, they would rot in prison. If they did, however, they could hope for more lenient sentences.

At this point, their only option was to sell their shares to raise the money. However, the company wasn't publicly listed; it was a family enterprise. Furthermore, according to the rules Ou Xiaolong's father-in-law had established when he gave them the shares, they had no right to transfer them to outsiders. Simply put, they only held the rights to annual dividends.

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