Chapter 275: Changes in the Ezaki Family
The next morning.
Inside the meeting room of the Ezaki Group office building in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo.
Naoto Esaki calculated the time and appeared in the meeting room at fifty-nine minutes.
Seeing his late arrival, the board members who had been waiting for a long time all showed dissatisfaction.
This cannot be blamed on them. After all, except for a few directors with different surnames, all the other directors present are internal members of the Ezaki family, and the youngest is Naoto Ezaki's uncle.
It would have been fine if the junior had sat at the front of the meeting room, but the other party was the last one, coming in at the exact moment and in a swagger, which undoubtedly showed that he looked down on everyone present.
Of course, if it were a weekday, everyone would be amused by Naoto Ezaki's punctual behavior, and would even joke whether he was busy with official business until late at night last night.
The reason why they showed dissatisfaction now was that the forces of both of them were on the verge of a falling out, and they were also certain that Naoto Ezaki was not far from defeat.
Once a person shows signs of decline, those who usually flatter you will be eager to regain their lost dignity from you.
As expected, as soon as Naoto Esaki walked to the front of the meeting room, before he even had time to sit down, someone started to make trouble.
"Naoto."
The man with glasses and a bald head suddenly asked him, "Shouldn't the person who was almost late express his apology?"
"And why didn't you say hello? Normally it would be fine if it was just us uncles, but this time Director Ishikawa and his men were also present. It's a great disrespect to our Ezaki family to just ignore them, isn't it?"
"Ok?"
Hearing this, Naoto Ezaki, who was about to pull out a chair, paused.
Looking at this uncle who usually smiled at him and now acted condescendingly, even if he was slow to react, he understood what the other party meant at this moment. What's more, Naoto Ezaki was not stupid at all.
Is this a decision to remove myself from my current position at this board meeting?
No wonder the idea of convening a meeting of all board members was suddenly proposed today.
After thinking for a while, Naoto Ezaki looked at the other person with a half-smile.
"Uncle Yuzhi is right. I was inconsiderate and impolite."
The ending was somewhat beyond their expectations. Naoto Ezaki chose to "surrender" without hesitation.
However, this seemingly friendly attitude did not seem to give other people in the audience a satisfactory answer.
Another old man who was about sixty years old snorted and said to Naoto Ezaki as if accusing him, "Naoto, you don't pay enough attention to these details, which is why Suguha has also lost the good family education of our Ezaki family."
"Like brother, like sister. Even if they are not biological siblings, they will inevitably have a bad influence as they spend more time together."
"That's why Suguha ran off with a man who appeared out of nowhere. You know, Miki was so angry that he couldn't eat in the hospital."
As soon as these words came out, several voices of agreement emerged.
As the primary target of the sudden accusation, Naoto Esaki did not show any panic, but looked at everyone present with a calm look.
This skill of cultivating one's energy without showing any emotion on one's face eventually made the noises at the scene gradually become quieter.
Seeing this, Shintaro Furukawa, one of the non-family directors, tried to smooth things over.
"Okay, okay, maybe Naoto is just too tired from too much work."
He smiled and helped to clear the situation: "Looking at his appearance, with such heavy dark circles under his eyes, it is obvious that he has not had enough rest in the past few days. He was just distracted and didn't say hello. We are all family, so what's the problem?"
"As for Suguha's matter, it is a private matter between the mother and daughter after all. We should not interfere too much."
These impartial words gave the other people who were gradually losing their temper a chance to pause.
However, Furukawa Shintaro changed the subject the next moment and said, "However, too much work pressure is indeed not good. If I remember correctly, Naoto's father met with misfortune because of this pressure."
"Plus, we just happened to encounter the cooperation of multinational chambers of commerce and a new round of elections recently. Naoto might have been dragged down by these things, so I think..."
He paused for a moment, pretending to be nonchalant and said, "Is it necessary to renegotiate the personnel matters?"
The dagger is revealed when the plot is fully revealed.
It seems that there is room for maneuver and Naoto Ezaki is not specifically asked to step down from his current position, but considering the implicit meaning of the words, it is nothing more than asking everyone to unite and force Naoto Ezaki to step down.
As a group of such a large scale, it is impossible for Naoto Ezaki, as the chairman, to be removed easily. The problem does not lie with their board of directors, but with the fact that most of the people present are members of the Ezaki family.
After all, this group is surnamed Ezaki, and only if these people surnamed Ezaki unite can they drive the current Naoto Ezaki out of office.
Of course, the prerequisite is that the old man has to allow it.
And there is no doubt that they have received a tacit response.
"I've come all this way, and you're waiting for me here."
Naoto Esaki also understood what they meant.
However, he laughed unexpectedly. "It's really strange. I've been the chairman of the group for a long time. Mr. Furukawa has been worried about it for a long time, but why did he choose to care about it at this time?"
"Naoto, don't overthink it."
Furukawa Shintaro smiled like an old fox and explained confidently, "It is precisely because of this timing and seeing so many things happening that I am worried about your health."
"Really? I'm really humbled and honored." Naoto Ezaki said with a wry smile.
"What Mr. Furukawa said makes sense."
Seeing someone playing the role of a weirdo, the bald man who fired the first shot felt even more confident.
Looking at Naoto Ezaki who was still standing at the front of the conference room, he simply tore off his disguise and said with a sinister smile: "Naoto should also understand what the family motto of our Ezaki family is, right?"
"The fact that you have been in private contact with the congressman has made the old man very worried, so after our family meeting last night, we unanimously decided that from today on, Takato Ezaki will be the acting chairman. This means..."
He grinned and said, "You can go back and have a good rest for a while."
The moment the words fell, the entire conference room fell silent.
Everyone looked at Naoto Ezaki, whose face was calm, without saying anything more.
There is no doubt that no one in this conference room stands on Naoto Ezaki's side. After all, Naoto Ezaki has touched the interests of all of them this time.
Feeling the pleasure of having the final say, the bald man looked at Naoto Ezaki with an increasingly smug look.
However, before he could ask the other party to go back and have a good rest, he heard a noisy sound of footsteps outside.
"who are you?"
"Wait, this is an important meeting time and you are not allowed to enter."
A somewhat flustered male voice was heard outside. Shintaro Furukawa listened carefully and found that it seemed to be the voice of his secretary. His expression changed subtly immediately.
However, before I had time to think about it, the next moment, the door of the room was pushed open from the outside with a "bang".
"who are you?!"
The bald man stood up from his chair and yelled at the people who illegally broke into the meeting room.
However, the certificate that the other party took out from his pocket made him stunned.
"Kyoto Prefectural Police Headquarters, Superintendent Nitta Tetsuya of the Second Investigation Division." The leader made a brief self-introduction, and then said slowly, "We now suspect that the Ezaki Group has committed business errors, embezzlement, bribery, commercial fraud, etc."
"Are you kidding??"
After hearing what the other party said, Shintaro Furukawa, who had been confident just now, could no longer sit still.
He was shocked and angry and shouted, "People from Kyoto came to Tokyo to arrest people? What's your reason? Where are the relevant documents to prove it?"
"some."
The leading police inspector nodded immediately and asked the people beside him to produce a large amount of written evidence, including arrest warrants and other documents.
Shintaro Furukawa just took a glance and suddenly felt a darkness in front of his eyes.
These documents are authentic and valid, and even specify the specific contents.
Ignoring the subsequent criminal charges against the board members, most of them were related to the Ishizawa family in the Kansai region, and the reason was that the other party reported that there was a lot of unfair competition within the Ezaki Group against their business activities.
The number of people involved and the number of charges made Shintaro Furukawa feel his scalp tingling. What shocked him even more was that these arrest warrants and other documents were approved by the Kyoto Prefectural Police Headquarters.
"Is the Kyoto Metropolitan Police Commissioner crazy?"
Shintaro Furukawa gnashed his teeth and said, "I don't believe that the people from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department will watch you arrest us and leave."
"So I have to ask you to cooperate with me and leave Tokyo as soon as possible."
The superintendent scoffed at his threat, obviously not intending to take the Metropolitan Police Department, which was higher than their Kyoto Prefectural Police Headquarters, seriously.
It is obvious that he is being instructed by the Ishizawa family and is determined to deal with the board members despite the pressure from within the Metropolitan Police Department.
Those who come to arrest them will undoubtedly be subject to administrative penalties later.
But as long as this group of people returned to Kansai, under the protection of the Ishizawa family, at most they would lose their current jobs, and the Ishizawa family would definitely give them greater benefits in return.
After realizing this, Shintaro Furukawa suddenly fell into despair.
However, what no one noticed was that Naoto Ezaki, who had been standing at the front of the conference room, was escorted out by two plainclothes police officers at some point.
(End of this chapter)
