DLWAV CH11

“Achoo!”

In the outdoor shooting range of the Huangming Clubhouse, Ao Ruize, who was napping on a chair under a parasol, suddenly sneezed.

Seeing this, before he could say anything, one of his scoundrel friends sitting next to him slapped a chubby guy who was puffing on a cigarette: “Still smoking? Didn’t you see Master Hai choking?”

The chubby guy, who was a good two meters away from Ao Ruize and downwind: “…”

But that didn’t stop him from immediately snuffing out the cigarette in his mouth: “I’ll stop, I’ll stop.”

The person who spoke then turned around, opened a folding fan, and started fanning Ao Ruize: “Master Hai, how’s this breeze?”

A tall, thin guy sitting on the other side also quickly poured a glass of water and handed it to Ao Ruize: “Master Hai, have some water.”

Ao Ruize took the glass, drank a couple of sips, and then said leisurely: “Hmm, not bad.”

One can imagine how absurd passing guests found this scene.

Firstly, it was understandable that Xiao Ruize’s scoundrel friends tried so hard to curry favor with him in the past, after all, he was the unworthy crown prince of the Xiao family then.

But now that the Xiao family was on the verge of bankruptcy, these friends were still so servile, even more so than before – did they not have internet at home?

Secondly, the Xiao family was about to go bankrupt, yet Xiao Ruize was still in the mood to eat, drink, and be merry?

He truly lived up to his title as the number one playboy in Qian City.

Thinking of this, the guests couldn’t help but reveal looks of disdain.

That afternoon, this matter spread across most of China, becoming a joke for countless people over tea and meals.

“Hahaha, trash is trash, indeed one shouldn’t have too high hopes for him.”

In Lin Gaolang’s study, Sun Xuebo laughed loudly.

The Sun family was Lin Gaolang’s maternal family. Now that Lin Gaolang wanted to destroy the Xiao family and expand his power, naturally, he wouldn’t leave out the Sun family, his natural ally.

Sun Xuebo had been quite disappointed when he learned that Xiao Ruize hadn’t gotten addicted to gambling.

Because he had originally hoped that after getting addicted, Xiao Ruize would turn the Xiao family upside down, allowing them to reap the benefits.

But now, the Xiao family was simply about to be finished!

Sun Xuebo laughed even louder: “Who would have thought that the person who single-handedly orchestrated such a good show would be our Brother Lin!”

Let’s see what face that old immortal of the Lin family will have to disdain their Brother Lin in the future.

Hearing this, Lin Gaolang couldn’t help but show a hint of smugness.

However, he quickly regained his previous calm.

After all, the dust hadn’t truly settled yet.

Although it was only a matter of time.

Lin Gaolang: “Alright, time to reel in the net!”

“Yes.”

Hearing this, even the secretary beside him got excited.

What they needed to do next was simple.

First, send someone to buy the shares held by the Xiao family at a low price.

Second, go to the three major banks and auction off the 15% of shares pledged by the Xiao Corporation.

The former was Lin Gaolang’s personal trophy.

The latter, plus the 10% of shares they had previously acquired from small shareholders who followed the trend of selling Xiao Corporation stocks, was the trophy to be distributed among everyone involved in this bloodless, one-sided slaughter.

“By the way.”

As if thinking of something, Lin Gaolang said: “Also Le Zhan, get rid of him as soon as possible.”

“Understood.”

Sun Xuebo said.

That guy surnamed Le is probably hiding somewhere gloating right now.

But what he doesn’t know is that disaster is imminent for him—

Thinking of this, Sun Xuebo sneered.

Because in his heart, Le Zhan, who cuckolded Lin Gaolang and still wanted to come back, was much more disgusting than Xiao Ruize.

But what they never expected was that just as they were preparing to negotiate the share acquisition with the Xiao family under the name of an overseas company according to their original plan, news suddenly hit the hot search: the braking system of the Bolang 4, the best-selling car under Hai Run Auto, a pillar industry of the Xiao Corporation, failed and crashed into a kindergarten school bus in Hai City causing five deaths and eight injuries.

Bang!

The coffee cup in Lin Gaolang’s hand fell directly to the ground.

“What did you say, say that again—”

There might be problems with the braking system of the Bolang 4—

If this is true, it means the entire Bolang series under Hai Run might have braking system issues, after all, they use the same braking system.

Total sales of Bolang globally over these years have exceeded three million units.

If there are problems with the Bolang series’ braking system, the Xiao Corporation must recall all these vehicles. This back and forth would mean a deficit of at least 15 billion.

And even if they fill this deficit, Hai Run Auto’s reputation is ruined. To rebuild this brand, who knows how much more money would need to be poured in.

In other words, if they continue to acquire the Xiao Corporation, what they will be taking over is no longer the treasure bowl they thought, but a mess.

Sun Xuebo also looked disheveled: “Brother Lin, what should we do now?”

Thud.

Lin Gaolang sat back down on his chair.

It took him a while to react.

His face turned green and white: “Suspend the acquisition of Xiao Corporation shares.”

Speaking of this, his voice instantly became sharp: “Also, find out as soon as possible whether there is really a problem with the Bolang 4’s braking system.”

Early the next morning, Sun Xuebo returned.

The dark circles under his eyes were almost unconcealable, but he couldn’t care about that now: “The news about a Bolang 4 crashing into a kindergarten school bus due to brake failure is true, the news about five deaths and six injuries is fake…”

“But early this morning, Xiao Ruicheng of the Xiao family took his wife and children abroad. Heard he didn’t even have time to deal with the shares of Mingsheng Securities.”

What does this mean?

It means he ran away.

But why did he run away?

Just then, Lin Gaolang’s phone rang.

It was his secretary calling, he said: “President Lin, bad news, Old Master Xiao and Xiao Ruize have been arrested.”

The answer was self-evident.

There really was a problem with Bolang’s braking system, and the Xiao family most likely knew about this beforehand, but they continued selling Bolang series cars, so they have now been arrested.

Lin Gaolang only felt his vision go dark.

What he worried about most had happened.

Their plan succeeded, but the Xiao Corporation was also finished.

Lin Gaolang’s nails instantly dug into his palms.

He didn’t understand how a situation that was originally so good suddenly turned into this.

But the most important thing now wasn’t this—

Lin Gaolang forced himself to calm down.

They now had only two choices.

The first choice was to continue acquiring Xiao Corporation stocks.

But they simply couldn’t come up with that much money to clean up this mess.

And there was no guarantee other families wouldn’t use the same means against them after they took over the Xiao Corporation.

By then, they would likely lose everything.

The second choice was to cut losses in time.

Fortunately, they had only acquired 10% of Xiao Corporation’s shares. Including the money invested previously to short Xiao Corporation’s stock, if they sold that 10% now, the loss would only be five or six billion.

Thinking of this, Lin Gaolang’s breathing instantly became heavy again.

Almost at the same time, this news reached Zhong Chi’s ears.

He was discharged ten days ago.

After discharge, he went directly back to the Southwest because it was his grandfather’s eightieth birthday.

He never expected that in just a few days, such a big thing would happen to the Xiao family.

So when Ao Ruize came out of the police station, he ran right into Zhong Chi who came looking for him.

Zhong Chi subconsciously stopped: “Mr. Xiao?”

“You’re okay?”

“Mr. Zhong?”

Ao Ruize was also stunned.

A few minutes later, Ao Ruize got directly into Zhong Chi’s car.

Ao Ruize played along with the script modified by Old Master Xiao and Xiao Ruicheng: “Because I don’t hold a position in Xiao Corporation and don’t know much about its situation, the police just asked me a few questions and let me go first.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Zhong Chi took Ao Ruize directly back to his current residence.

Because he remembered that the Xiao home had already been smashed by those small shareholders of Xiao Corporation.

Ao Ruize originally wanted to refuse.

After all, his relationship with Zhong Chi didn’t seem to be good enough for this.

But thinking that Zhong Chi meant well, and he indeed had nowhere else to go at the moment, plus Zhong Chi’s current place was also temporary, he ultimately didn’t refuse.

Upon entering, Ao Ruize saw a pile of boxes on the table.

Most of the boxes were open, containing pieces of crystal-clear jade.

Several business cards of auction house managers were scattered nearby.

Noticing Ao Ruize’s gaze, Zhong Chi walked over, touched the nearest piece of red jade, and simply said: “If all these are sold, they should fetch over a billion.”

These weren’t all of Zhong Chi’s collection.

Because most of the Zhong and Chi families’ liquid funds had already been borrowed by Lin Gaolang.

So the Zhong and Chi families couldn’t spare more money to support the Xiao family.

Thus, Zhong Chi could only resort to his collection.

Who made Xiao Ruize save him once?

Although Xiao Ruize’s reputation wasn’t good.

But for some reason, Zhong Chi suddenly felt Xiao Ruize wasn’t that kind of person.

He said: “With this billion-plus, if you and Old Master Xiao really knew nothing about the Bolang braking system issues, then keeping you safe should not be a problem.”

The current Xiao Corporation had no other path but bankruptcy liquidation.

But if they file for bankruptcy liquidation, the Xiao family wouldn’t have to be responsible for the entire Xiao Corporation.

The money from selling Xiao Corporation would be enough to cover the mess made by Hai Run and part of the bank loans.

Then the Xiao family would only need to settle employee wages and compensation, and repay bank loans according to their 36% shareholding in Xiao Corporation.

This billion-plus, plus the few billion left with the Xiao family, should be enough for the Xiao family to repay debts.

Ao Ruize was stunned again.

So Zhong Chi planned to sell all this jade and lend him the money to repay debts?

One could tell Zhong Chi cherished his collection very much.

Ao Ruize’s gaze fell on the red jade in Zhong Chi’s hand.

For no reason, he suddenly remembered what happened that day at the Ruifeng Hotel.

Only today Zhong Chi wasn’t drugged, so the boundary between the crystal-clear red jade and his white-jade-like slender fingers was distinct, needing no distinction.

Just for some reason, Ao Ruize felt it was a bit of a pity.

Also, he didn’t expect Zhong Chi to extend a helping hand to him again and again.

And didn’t he know that lending this money out, he might very well not get it back?

Thinking about it this way, Zhong Chi’s character was actually quite good.

As for why he fell for Lin Gaolang.

Maybe he was just simply blind…

Ao Ruize couldn’t help but smile.

He looked at Zhong Chi and just said: “I appreciate Mr. Zhong’s kindness.”

“Because the Xiao family is doing very well now, and should be even better in the future, so you don’t need to worry.”

Zhong Chi was directly stunned.

Author has something to say:

Now

Ao Ruize: Zhong Chi is good in every way, just a bit blind, otherwise how could he fall for Lin Gaolang.

Later, Zhong Chi fell for him

Ao Ruize: …

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