You have quite the temper for someone asking for a favor.
Do you think everyone in the world owes you something? That they have to indulge you?
If you want to leave, then go. Zhan Bei Jue will not keep you.
But Jiang Nan Fang couldn't bear to see him go and reached out to stop him.
"What exactly is going on? Your second brother isn't refusing to help you, so why are you in such a hurry?"
Zhou Jin Xiu stopped in his tracks. At this point, he had no choice but to confess everything.
"I was conned. We agreed to invest in a new project together, he'd put in half the money, and I'd put in half..."
"The company's working capital was insufficient, so the money I invested was borrowed. After months of work, I discovered the project was fake."
"The other party was a shell company. The moment I invested the final payment, they absconded with the funds that day."
"Now, I've lost the project and am drowning in debt. Out of desperation, I misappropriated some of the company's public funds."
"But I didn't read the loan contract carefully when I signed it. The other party set a trap for me, and I borrowed at an exorbitant interest rate. The misappropriated public funds, when sent to them, weren't even enough to cover the interest."
"The company, lacking working capital, can't sustain its ongoing projects. My father is threatening to kill me, and others are threatening to sue me."
"I'm surrounded by enemies. I'm completely ruined now."
Jiang Nan Fang hadn't expected the situation to be so dire.
He had reached a point of robbing Peter to pay Paul, with problems everywhere.
"Who introduced you to this business? How could you be so reckless, investing without even properly reviewing the contract?"
Zhou Jin Xiu said, "I knew you'd say that. It's too late to say anything now."
"Those scoundrels deliberately set out to harm me. I had a professional team inspect it, and they didn't find any loopholes."
Inspected? Not signed blindly?
It was a planned and premeditated commercial scam.
Jiang Nan Fang asked, "Did you call the police?"
Zhou Jin Xiu looked utterly despondent.
"Yes, but the other party's accounts are overseas, and their exact location couldn't be traced."
"It's my own fault for being careless and trusting them too much. The IDs they provided to the police were fake. It's highly likely they've already left the country and are impossible to find."
"What about the loan? Why would you go to private lenders instead of a bank, and not check the contract carefully? How much did you borrow?"
"How was I supposed to know it was a loan shark? If I had known, I would never have signed, even if it meant death!"
The more Zhou Jin Xiu spoke, the angrier he became, so much so that he started pulling at his hair. "Five million."
For such a large sum, not borrowing from a bank but from a private individual, and not even reading the contract carefully…
Hearing this, even a fool would realize that the plan was premeditated, a "pig butchering" scheme specifically targeting Zhou Jin Xiu.
Jiang Nan Fang was speechless.
"What's the total with interest now?"
"Twelve million. I used two million from the company to pay off a fraction of it, leaving ten million outstanding."
Zhan Bei Jue was amused by his foolish explanation, finding it almost laughable.
A man in his late twenties or early thirties, who had received over a decade of education, could be so thoroughly conned from head to toe.
Being burdened with ten million in debt without any valid reason was quite something.
"So what do you want now? You want me to lend you ten million to pay off this sucker's debt?"
Zhou Jin Xiu really didn't want to talk to Zhan Bei Jue.
However, since Jiang Nan Fang was now his wife and had overheard the conversation, he couldn't afford to offend him.
But just because he'd heard about it didn't give him the right to scold him.
"Lend it if you want, don't if you don't. I'm not asking you for anything, so don't act so high and mighty."
"... "
He was actually complaining about his attitude not being good enough?
According to his logic, instead of scolding him for such a situation, he should be applauded?
"Just being tough with me isn't a real skill."
"Zhou Jin Xiu, haven't you figured it out yet? If you had dared to be a bit more assertive with outsiders, you wouldn't have been targeted like a pig."
Zhou Jin Xiu, already embarrassed to come to him to pour out his troubles, was now being openly scolded. His ears turned red.
"Who are you calling a pig? You're insulting me before you've even lent me the money. Zhan Bei Jue, do you think you're the only smart one in the world?"
Useless thing, only knows how to bully those weaker than him.
Zhan Bei Jue couldn't be bothered with him; he had a lot of things to do.
He gestured to Jiang Nan Fang with his chin.
"Ten million isn't a small sum, think it through. He might not be able to repay you, so don't do it just for my sake."
Jiang Nan Fang: "..."
How much animosity could there be between these two brothers?
Couldn't they just talk things out without snapping at each other?
Jiang Nan Fang understood Zhou Jin Xiu. Although his usual behavior was unreliable, he wasn't a bad person.
He definitely hadn't intended for things to turn out this way, and there was no need to kick him while he was down.
Similarly, Zhan Bei Jue was a person with a sharp tongue but a kind heart.
If he genuinely wanted to lend money, he wouldn't refuse.
"It's not that I won't lend it to you, it's just that I don't have that much money on hand right now. Jin Xiu, please be polite and talk to your second brother properly."
"You don't have money? Fine."
Zhou Jin Xiu was immediately deflated, feeling like he had spoken all that for nothing.
"Then that's that. No matter what happens, I'll accept it. It's my own stupidity. I'm leaving."
"So you came all this way just to complain and elicit pity?"
Seeing him about to leave in frustration, Zhan Bei Jue, with his sharp tongue and kind heart, called out to him.
"After all, he's my cousin, Zhan Bei Jue's cousin. To be conned like this, you've embarrassed us all."
Zhou Jin Xiu: "?!"
Just as he was about to retort, his phone rang.
He took it out and looked at it, but didn't dare to answer.
Zhan Bei Jue took in his awkwardness.
"Is that someone calling to demand repayment? When is the deadline?"
Even though he was at his wit's end, Zhou Jin Xiu couldn't bring himself to admit it to Zhan Bei Jue.
He stiffened his neck and remained silent.
Zhan Bei Jue rolled his eyes at him and instructed Jiang Nan Fang.
"We can't get this fake Zhou Jin Bei to come today. Call her and have her come over. I have something for her to do."
Then he looked at Zhou Jin Xiu.
"Stop going out and embarrassing yourself. Come inside with me."
The breakfast on the dining table hadn't been cleared yet. The group went to sit at the table, and Zhan Bei Jue asked the nanny to get Zhou Jin Xiu a set of cutlery.
Zhou Jin Xiu dejectedly said, "Don't bother, I can't eat."
"Is that necessary? Such a small matter, and you're not even eating?"
"Eat what you need to eat, drink what you need to drink. Eat your fill, go upstairs, take a shower, change your clothes, and then I'll go with you to see about this."
"They dared to target Zhan Bei Jue's cousin for a scam? I really want to see who they are, and how tired of living they are."
Zhou Jin Xiu ate a little and was then taken upstairs by the nanny to shower and change.
Zhou Jin Bei arrived at the Zhan residence in a hurry.
Although she had quickly applied makeup to try and hide her fatigue, Zhan Bei Jue and Jiang Nan Fang could tell at a glance that she wasn't in good spirits.
However, since she didn't want to talk about it, they didn't press the issue.
Zhan Bei Jue gave her two tasks.
One: Find the bank presidents in his contact list, arrange meetings, and discuss financing.
Two: Find Shen Min Er and take her mother to the best psychiatric hospital in Nan Cheng for treatment.