Chapter 14
In my heart, there are two conflicting voices - one urging me to fight and the other advising against it. The voice advocating not to fight takes priority.
At this moment, Matilda sent me an email inviting me to join her and the HK tailor for a meeting at the management office. Without considering whether it was real or not, I attended the meeting. Upon arrival, I discovered that it was actually a meeting with the landlord.
Both the landlord and I were confused as to why it was labeled as a property management meeting. The landlord expressed dissatisfaction with SB’s behavior during a party amidst COVID-19, which has affected her job and position within their group. Both Matilda and the HK tailor realized that something had transpired with the help of the landlord and me.
After the meeting, we were pleasantly surprised to receive 6 months of free rent due to a new Chinese government policy and our kind landlord. Mathild mentioned that our partner SB believed he had the power to keep the whole street busy. It was frustrating, I eventually realized that they were using me as a bridge to meet with the landlord. No one likes feeling manipulated, and it tested my patience.
Soon.I have sent the lawyer letter to partner SB and I have also included all partners, including David’s wife. My request is simple from my perspective:
1.Please return the company stamp to me immediately if it has been used incorrectly for SB or other suppliers, as this could lead the company into debt. Thank you for your cooperation.
2. Please refrain from advertising partner SB’s new shop as a branch of our own in public. Thank you!
3. Please ensure that our shop covers any medical or immigration costs when partner SB relocates staff to his new shop.
The next day I got company chop from the hk tailor.I was surprised for the power of my first lawyer letter.My partner SB also responded to my email, agreeing to cease advertising in public. It seems that he has already assumed ownership of both shops within his circle.about point3 they told one Philippine employee to not come back to China in case penalty.My goodness.
After discussing with my lawyer.I responded to him and the other partners regarding partner SB’s decision to transfer key staff, such as the chef and shop manager, to the new Italian restaurant. This action appears to violate clause 17 of our investment contract, which states that no partner can open another Italian restaurant within 2 years of our shop’s operation. According to clause 21, the penalty for breaking this contract is a fee of 1RMB to take over his shares.
Partner SB responded that clause 17 was not applicable to our shop since his new shop was not an Italian shop. I then asked why this explanation was not included in the contract we signed, but received no response from him any more.
After some time, Mathild approached me again to reiterate the reasoning of partner SB. It all seems like excuses. They were insisting that I wouldn’t pursue legal action.
At this moment, I was at a loss for words. I was concerned that our partner SB was taking away clients with the help of our shop manager, who talked to them about SB’s new shop while providing service.
I found myself at a crossroads in my life, faced with the decision to accept and change or to leave. It wasn’t easy for me to make this choice, I kept moving forward with my running partner Dutch Bali by my side every Saturday. Bali warned me about the potential danger of losing everything, even with debts in the future. After a week of contemplation, I returned to my 4th lawyer friend and proceeded to sign the contract and pay the initial lawyer fees.
The first round of legal action has begun. My lawyer contacted the government hotline regarding partner SB’s new shop operating without an FDA license under my name, we have not received a response from the government in about 2 weeks.
Instead of addressing the issue, Mathild was yelling at me to stop any legal action against partner SB. The HK tailor sent an email to all partners about this situation, and I responded by suggesting that they send their lawyer to follow up if anyone is engaging in illegal activities. While we are pursuing different legal actions, we have not yet approached the immigration bureau about partner SB illegally working between Pudong and Puxi.
The interesting thing was that the hk tailor insisted on paying dividends to all partners, including me, as soon as possible with our part-time finance guy, Jimi. He was so excited to call me about it, and when I updated my lawyer, he was really happy at this stage.I believed that they wanted me to stop legal actions in which they got no ideas or they just wanted their money back before I blocked the path.
My running partner Dutch Bali was laughing again at how silly my partners were for thinking that the dividend wouldn’t be calculated in the legal case of buying shares.It`s totally two different things.And It’s also my first time learning about this, I didn’t pay much attention to that part.
What really bothered me was why my partner SB was so arrogant in front of me after he got my investment. In a way, he reflected on myself in the business and I might see some of my own flaws through him. Or maybe I was just disappointed in myself about losing the leadership as the only person who opened the restaurant before.
Another funny point.our French designer who stole our chef together with SB had moved away his office from xuhui to jin an after my legal actions.I found his new office on my running area of suzhou greek one day.Dude.what you were scare for if you didn`t do anything wrong during our construction and stealing our key staffs?
It`s a mirror.Everything is relative.