At the start, I had to choose one of four options, and I immediately picked the Brahmin from the cou

Sun Dewang and Bald Liu looked at each other, their minds instantly clear.

It wasn't that Zhao Bin couldn't control the situation; he was simply watching his own father fall from grace and the company become a bottomless pit on the verge of collapse. To protect his own assets, he made a drastic move, sacrificing the pawn to save the king. He cleanly and decisively shoved the blame onto his stepmother, whom he had long disliked, into an abyss of despair.

When disaster strikes, everyone flees for their lives; even his own son runs far away. Old Zhao's life has truly come to an end.

"Brother Sun, Brother Liu, you two are usually closest to Lao Zhao. Now the company is leaderless, and the suppliers outside have somehow gotten wind of this and are calling my phone non-stop to collect payments. The bank is also saying they're going to withdraw their loans early..." Duan Xue gripped Sun Dewang's sleeve tightly, her knuckles white, as if clinging to the last piece of driftwood. "You're both very capable people, please help Lao Zhao! He'll definitely repay you when he wakes up!"

Sun Dewang and Bald Liu exchanged a glance, a deep sense of helplessness and bitterness flashing in their eyes.

Help? With what can we help? It's not 300,000, it's not 3 million, it's a hole of 30 million!

These people may seem to have a glamorous life in Jiangyang County, but in reality, they have staked their entire fortunes on steel, cement, and bank loans. Who can magically produce tens of millions of yuan in cash flow to help others fill their holes?

Sun Dewang sighed and quietly pulled his sleeve out of Duan Xue's hand, bit by bit.

"Sister-in-law," Sun Dewang's voice carried a cruelty and helplessness born from years of experience in the business world, "It's not that I'm heartless as an older brother. We're more heartbroken than anyone else that Old Zhao has fallen. But that business in Linjiang is just too big. Thirty million is just the beginning; there are still penalties for breach of contract, construction costs, and interest to come. Even if you tied all the bosses we're having tea with today together, let alone me and Old Liu, we still couldn't fill this hole."

That's a bit untrue. Although 30 million is a lot, they could still scrape it together if they pooled their money. The question is, why would they help?

In the business world, there are countless people who add flowers to brocade, but very few who offer charcoal in the snow. Everyone is here to make money, not to be a benevolent benefactor.

If Lao Zhao can still stand up unscathed, with the connections and skills he's accumulated over the past half-life, the group of them could pool together tens of millions to help their brother out, considering it a high-return venture capital investment based on personal connections.

But what about now? Old Zhao is lying in the intensive care unit with tubes inserted, and it's uncertain whether he can even open his eyes; Duan Xue is just a pretty face who only knows how to buy bags and spend money, and has no other skills; and his own son has simply disappeared.

Throwing that 30 million into the mess of the Linjiang project is like throwing good money after bad; it won't even make a ripple.

To put it more cruelly, Sun Dewang and his gang of old foxes probably had no intention of filling Zhao's hole. Instead, they were secretly plotting how to join forces and tear a piece of fat off Zhao's fallen corpse once his company's cash flow completely broke down and it entered bankruptcy liquidation.

Those well-located ground-floor shops, prime mortgaged land, and Old Zhao's private luxury villas... these are all readily available assets that can be sold at low prices immediately. Big fish eat little fish—that's the most real and bloody law of business.

"Sister-in-law, listen to my advice. Before the court comes to seize your property, quickly liquidate all your valuable jewelry and watches privately. Keep some money for yourself as a safety net. You, as a woman, can't possibly handle tens of millions of dollars in bad debts. Don't end up dragging yourself down with you."

After saying that, Sun Dewang sighed and shook his head. He didn't look at Duan Xue, who was slumped on the ground, again. He gave a wink to the people next to him, and they hurried towards the elevator.

Old Ma didn't leave.

After Sun Dewang and Bald Liu turned and walked toward the elevator, Old Ma stood still.

He glanced back at Duan Xue, who was slumped on the bench. The woman's makeup was ruined from crying, but it still couldn't hide the truth of her face.

The phrase "pear blossoms in the rain" seemed surprisingly fitting for Duan Xue at this moment. Old Ma licked his dry lips and pulled back the step he had already taken.

"Girl,"

Old Ma turned back, took out a pack of tissues from his suit pocket, pulled one out and handed it to Duan Xue. "Don't cry. Old Zhao may be lying here, but the doctor said his life has been saved, right? As long as he's alive, there's always a chance to turn things around."

Duan Xue took the tissue and looked up at him.

Old Ma is not particularly noticeable in the industry, and his relationship with Old Zhao is not the closest. He always sits in the corner during meetings and doesn't say much.

Everyone else had left, but he remained, and Duan Xue felt a surge of inexplicable gratitude.

Little did she know that when Old Ma looked at her at that moment, he wasn't thinking about offering help in her time of need at all, but rather about taking advantage of her misfortune.

To be honest, Lao Ma's feelings for Duan Xue have been brewing for quite some time.

Last year, Lao Zhao brought Duan Xue to the Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting. Duan Xue wore a wine-red velvet dress with a very slim waist and a slit in the skirt that went up to her thigh. She held a champagne glass and followed Lao Zhao, smiling gracefully.

That night, the business owners present openly praised Lao Zhao for his good fortune, but behind his back, they made a lot of jokes about Duan Xue, and Lao Ma was one of them. However, his thoughts were a little different from the others—while the others were just trying to get the better of him verbally, he was genuinely interested.

He usually acts like a grandson in front of Lao Zhao and his group of wealthy and powerful people, and doesn't even dare to look Duan Xue in the eye, for fear that Lao Zhao will see through his act.

But things are different now. The tiger that monopolized the best resources has become a living dead man with tubes inserted, while the lost lamb in front of us is on the edge of its most vulnerable and easily breached state.

"Brother Ma..."

Duan Xue, as if grasping at the last straw, cried even harder, her tears streaming down her face. "Brother Sun and the others won't help me. I'm truly desperate. Those debt collectors said they're going to smash up the door tomorrow..."

"Sigh, Old Sun and the others are also in trouble. Tens of millions is no small sum."

Old Ma sat down next to Duan Xue, his rough, thick hands seemingly comforting her by patting her back, but actually slipping subtly down her silk dress to her waist and giving it a gentle pinch.

Duan Xue froze, but didn't dare to break free completely.

Although she didn't understand the intricacies of the business world, her woman's intuition told her that something was off about Lao Ma's eyes.

Old Ma didn't seem to care about her dodging. Seeing that she didn't resist, he was delighted and became much bolder.

"But sister, Brother Ma is a sentimental person. I can't come up with thirty million all at once, but I can help you advance a few million to shut up those debt collectors and pay for Old Zhao's ICU fees for the second half of the year. That's manageable. It's just..."

"But Brother Ma, this money doesn't come from thin air. If you really want to save Lao Zhao, come back to the Emperor Hotel with me tonight. We're a man and a woman alone, so let's open up and discuss the specific loan terms, how about that?"