Fu Duoduo’s blush instantly turned pale with anger.
She wasn't his type? He was overthinking things?
She snapped the box shut and pushed it back, her expression displeased.
“So you weren’t chasing me? You need my help with something? What can I, Fu, do for Young Shao Zhan?”
Through their interactions over this period, Zhan Jingchen had come to understand her somewhat and knew that some things could be discussed.
He then explained his plan to acquire the Pei Corporation, his intention to enlist Pei Kexin’s help, and her refusal.
“Originally, I didn’t plan to approach her again. South City has abundant talent, she isn’t indispensable. However, my investors like certain cases she worked on in the past and specifically requested her, so…”
“So you want me to persuade her for you?”
“Miss Fu is a smart woman. She probably doesn’t want to make things too obvious or unsightly.”
Zhan Jingchen was still being rather proud.
He wanted Pei Kexin to join his team, but he didn't want to give her too much face.
“Let’s be direct. I want her to join my team, but I don’t want to beg her. I want her to beg me. Can you manage that?”
Fu Duoduo: “??”
Zhan Jingchen continued, “Don’t worry, as long as she agrees to join, salary won’t be an issue. And your benefits are more than just this necklace.”
Fu Duoduo had just started her own business and would need a strong backer for many things in the future. Zhan Jingchen’s words had undoubtedly struck a chord with her.
However, making Pei Kexin beg to join his team felt too embarrassing.
“May I ask how much annual salary you plan to offer her?”
Zhan Jingchen, with his deep pockets, said generously, “Don’t worry, she won’t be treated unfairly. As long as she’s willing to come, she’ll be offered the annual salary of a Sales Director at Zhan Corporation. A guaranteed four million, with no upper limit. How much she can earn will depend on her own abilities.”
Fu Duoduo gasped inwardly.
Sales Director at Zhan Corporation? A guaranteed four million?
Oh my, this was indeed the Zhan family, truly wealthy.
With Pei Kexin’s sales capabilities and the prestige of Zhan Corporation, her base salary plus commission would easily reach tens of millions a year.
Tens of millions a year was far better than staying at the Pei Corporation for several years. Anyone who couldn’t seize such a great opportunity was simply brain-dead!
After they parted ways, Fu Duoduo sat alone in the coffee shop for another half hour. After some thought, she drove to the First People’s Hospital.
She found the Neurology department and wandered the corridor for a while, building up her resolve, before squatting on the floor and initiating a video call with Pei Kexin.
Pei Kexin was wearing pajamas at home, reviewing the previous month’s financial statements for the foreign trade company sent by Gu Wei.
Seeing Fu Duoduo’s video call, she answered it casually.
After connecting for several seconds, there was no response from the other end. She had to stop her work and pick up her phone.
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you speaking?”
On the other end, Fu Duoduo was hugging her knees, her face buried in her lap, looking as if she had a stomachache.
Pei Kexin rarely saw her looking so dejected and her heart tightened.
“What’s wrong? Where are you? Why are you dressed like that? Are you not feeling well?”
Fu Duoduo seemed to have lost her soul, her gaze blankly fixed on the phone camera, refusing to speak.
Seeing her like this, Pei Kexin knew something had happened and quickly grabbed her phone, standing up.
Just as she was about to ask her what was wrong and where she was, she saw people in white coats walking around behind her, and someone pushing a wheelchair past.
“Why are you at the hospital? Are you sick? Did you go alone? Why didn’t you tell me? Which hospital and which department? I’m coming to find you now.”
As she spoke, she started to change clothes. Fu Duoduo finally spoke, her voice weak and listless.
As soon as she opened her mouth, tears began to fall.
“Don’t come looking for me. I don’t want to see anyone right now. Kexin, help me, my family is in trouble…”
Fu Duoduo cried bitterly on the phone, and it took her several minutes of intermittent speaking to make herself understood.
Her father’s company was facing liquidity problems. Last year, he had mortgaged everything he could, including his house and car.
He thought that with the success of this investment and receiving the remaining payments, he could make a comeback. Who knew that the person who invested in him ran a shell company, a complete con artist, with headquarters overseas. As soon as they got the money, they disappeared.
Her father had invested over two hundred million yuan, all of which was now lost. He couldn't repay the bank loans, and his properties and cars were to be auctioned off.
If the phone hadn’t called her today, she wouldn’t have known.
Her father was so distressed that he had to be hospitalized. Her family was ruined.
Pei Kexin was shocked to hear that Fu Duoduo’s family was in such dire straits! A deficit of over two hundred million yuan, and their house and cars to be auctioned!
What’s more, Fu Duoduo herself was preparing to start a company and had just invested over three million yuan.
With her father incapacitated, she would surely collapse too, and her three million yuan would be wasted!
Looking at Fu Duoduo’s helpless state, Pei Kexin regretted her own powerlessness.
Her and Gu Wei’s foreign trade company was too small, and it had only just started. Their monthly turnover was at most a little over a million yuan.
Even if she sold the company now and gave all the money to Fu Duoduo, it wouldn’t be enough to cover half of the deficit.
“Can I help you pay the bank interest first and postpone the auction date? I’ll try to think of a way during this time?”
The company was her uncle’s life’s work; it couldn’t be lost like this.
Moreover, without their house and cars, their entire family would be rendered homeless.
Pei Kexin found it unbearable for Fu Duoduo.
Fu Duoduo hugged her knees and shook her head incessantly.
“There’s no time. How can things be postponed just because I say so… My family is really finished. Kexin, I really don’t know who else to ask for help. At this time, I can only rely on you.”
“I don’t want my family to be ruined like this, my father can’t die like this. Please, help me.”
Pei Kexin was also extremely anxious.
“It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but you know the strength of the Pei family… However, don’t worry, I’ll help as much as I can. I’ll go back and beg them now. Even if I have to kneel before my elder brother and the others, I’ll do anything to borrow money.”
Fu Duoduo wiped away her tears and looked at her with disappointment, as if she couldn’t believe her ears.
“Why do you have to go back and beg them? How much money can they have? Besides, even if you kneel before them, what will they give you?”
Pei Kexin: “Then I…”
“Find Zhan Jingchen! You have such a capable ex-husband. No one else can help me at this time, why not go to him?”
Pei Kexin’s eyes widened instantly.
Zhan Jingchen?
She had thought of everything imaginable, but never him.
Could he be considered an ex-husband?
“Duoduo…”
Fu Duoduo started crying again.
“My father was just given a critical illness notice, and they took him in for emergency treatment. My mother is also crying her heart out. Wuwu, I know this puts you in a difficult position and it’s embarrassing, but I really have no other choice…”
“How about this, if you can’t bring yourself to approach him, I will!”
“I’m sorry, using your name to approach him is embarrassing for you, but I truly have no other way. Compared to pride, I value my parents’ lives more. Wuwu, Kexin, please help me…”