In the morning, Ling Ruonan went to the ministry to handle the backlog of matters.
She didn’t rest at noon either, continuing to take care of things, and asked her secretary to get her a simple meal at the cafeteria.
Around one o’clock, she finished handling everything.
After dealing with the affairs, she left her office and went to meet the Chen brothers, Chen Yihe and Chen Yiping.
Ling Ruonan met with Chen Yihe first.
The conversation with Chen Yihe was relatively "pleasant."
During the chat with Ling Ruonan, Chen Yihe handed some incriminating evidence about the Chen Family to Ling Ruonan at her request.
To Ling Ruonan’s surprise, the documents Chen Yihe gave her included dirt on his brother, Chen Yiping.
Ling Ruonan glanced through briefly and did not express much, only mentioning that she would go back to study them well to see which documents might be useful.
Subsequently, Ling Ruonan secretly arranged to meet Chen Yiping.
Chen Yiping was a bit more cunning than Chen Yihe; he didn’t submit all the materials he had organized, not even the most crucial ones, keeping them back and not handing them to Ling Ruonan.
While chatting with Ling Ruonan, he also vaguely criticized Luo Ziling for having private meetings with Chen Yining several times.
Ling Ruonan didn’t hesitate to tell Chen Yiping directly that she didn’t quite trust the Chen Family; she’d cooperate with whoever showed sincerity.
Ling Ruonan’s attitude was quite different from before, which surprised Chen Yiping. Yet, he didn’t show any concession in front of Ling Ruonan, only saying he sincerely hoped to collaborate with her for a pleasant partnership.
To Ling Ruonan’s astonishment, the documents Chen Yiping gave her also included quite a lot about Chen Yihe.
This kind of mutual conflict between blood brothers left Ling Ruonan in a bit of a dilemma.
But what shocked Ling Ruonan more was the news she received after the meeting with Chen Yiping.
Someone informed her that Chen Yining had recanted his confession, denying all the previous statements, and pushed all the blame for plotting against Luo Ziling and Ling Ruonan and planning the assassination of Luo Ziling in the Northwest onto his father Chen Ruchang and brother Chen Yijing. He claimed that his admission of guilt was only coerced by his father and brother, saying he was actually innocent.
Luo Ziling had visited the detention center that morning and successfully persuaded Chen Yining to retract his confession, which Ling Ruonan found quite surprising.
Originally, she thought Chen Yining would surely make many demands and need some benefits before changing his mind and retracting the confession.
It seemed that Chen Yining was a bit impatient.
Being there for too long, losing freedom for such a length of time, one’s spirit gets worn down, patience diminishes.
Specific circumstances and potential changes in the situation need to be clarified by Ling Ruonan.
Thus, she immediately instructed several trusted aides, as well as Lin Lan, Wuyue, Wang Zhenjun, and others, to closely monitor the relevant personnel.
Ling Ruonan was eager to know what Luo Ziling and Chen Yining had discussed, so on the way to the Northern Group headquarters, she called Luo Ziling, asking him to come over.
After leaving the detention center, Luo Ziling went to the school. He gave a lecture to students and attended a session on Diagnostics, and just after finishing the diagnostics session, he received Ling Ruonan’s call.
Initially, he planned to go to the Northern Group around four o’clock to conveniently handle some issues there.
After Hu Jianbo and others were singled out, the internal structure of the Northern Group still stirred up quite a ripple; at such a time, Luo Ziling thought he and Ling Ruonan needed to visit frequently to calm the staff.
Even if Ling Ruonan didn’t instruct him to go over, he felt the need to check on the situation there.
After receiving Ling Ruonan’s call, he immediately asked Zhu Yijun to drive him over.
Meanwhile, Wuyue was busy again.
Wuyue had a lot to do during this period, looking visibly thinner, which made Luo Ziling feel a bit concerned.
However, there were too many matters that required Wuyue to handle them, coupled with Wuyue’s propensity for such tasks, Luo Ziling could only let her be.
Thankfully, Lin Lan had joined, allowing her to assist with many of the tasks.
When Luo Ziling arrived at the Northern Group headquarters, Ling Ruonan was already there.
The people Hu Jianbo had identified had been cleared out.
Most of them resigned voluntarily, while those who were not quick to react were dismissed.
In one sweep, more than a dozen middle and senior management personnel were expelled from the Northern Group, causing quite a stir.
Ling Ruonan planned to hold a meeting later to make everyone understand the situation and calm anxious minds, encouraging everyone not to be surprised and to focus on their work.
When Luo Ziling entered the president’s office, Ling Ruonan was discussing matters with Lin Lan.
Upon seeing Luo Ziling enter, Ling Ruonan asked Lin Lan to attend to other matters.
Lin Lan had started working beside Ling Ruonan, but she lacked experience in handling these issues, needing to learn from scratch.
Ling Ruonan didn’t mind Lin Lan’s unfamiliarity with these matters, patiently teaching her hands-on.
Ling Ruonan trusted Lin Lan a lot.
Ling Ruonan, like Luo Ziling, believed Lin Lan would be more loyal than anyone, as she could only rely on them mother and son after leaving Dragon Rise.
Added to that was her relationship with Luo Ziling, so Ling Ruonan was willing to entrust tasks to Lin Lan, instructing her tirelessly.
After Lin Lan left, Luo Ziling told Ling Ruonan about visiting Chen Yining today.
He said he was also surprised when Chen Yining immediately raised the appeal and recanted his confession upon meeting him.
For specific details, he wasn’t very clear and needed to investigate further.
"It looks like we need to take action too." Ling Ruonan, after hearing it, instructed Luo Ziling to expose some incriminating evidence against the Chen Family, thrusting them into the spotlight.
"In a while, I’ll release a major piece of news on Weibo." Luo Ziling accepted Ling Ruonan’s arrangement, planning to broadcast several messages on Weibo soon.
"Later, we’ll go see your grandfather and discuss this." Ling Ruonan further outlined her plan.
Luo Ziling naturally agreed.
After the mother and son discussed their strategy, they brought the company’s senior staff together to announce Hu Jianbo and others’ departure.
As for the reasons behind these departures, Ling Ruonan glossed over them, saying they had let the company down, but the company appreciates their years of contribution. Their departure won’t negatively affect the Northern Group’s normal operations, and she required everyone to stick to their posts and perform their duties diligently. The vacated positions would be immediately filled through public competition.
She directed the head of the HR department to post the competition notice before the end of the day, instructing everyone to view the detailed requirements on the company’s intranet.
After announcing this, Ling Ruonan then left the Northern Group headquarters with Luo Ziling and went to Ling Mingrui’s residence.