In the "Guanhai Tingtao" teahouse, inside the "Lu Yu Brewing Tea" private room.
A middle - aged man wearing rimless glasses and a Tang suit was sitting behind a tea table carved from a huge tree root, brewing tea.
His movements were as smooth and graceful as flowing clouds and gentle waves. As he moved, the aroma of top - grade white peony tea wafted out of the teapot, and the curling white mist rose. Combined with the antique decoration in the room, it looked quite artistic.
If only they could ignore the trembling, half - bald man kneeling opposite him. This man, whose presence seemed out of place, ruined this otherwise elegant scene.
He was Lei Ke, the deputy general manager of the Pei Group.
"Brother Ye, I guarantee I'll pay you back the money in three days! We'll get paid that day! They're going to settle my dry - share dividends from last year. I roughly calculated that I can get 8 million this time. I'll give you every single cent of it!"
Xu Chengye said, "A Ke, it's not that I'm not willing to give you more time. You're my sister - in - law's elder brother. I'll always give you face. But you know, the inspections have been strict lately. Our business has been bad. We have to close the shop for rectification every now and then, which has a great impact on our profits. To keep the capital chain from breaking, we have to find other ways. You say to wait for you for three days, but if I don't get this money today, my shop will face the risk of closing, and the clerks will be unemployed. I can't live with myself."
"But... but I really can't come up with that much money all at once..." Lei Ke said.
Just then, there was a knock on the door of the private room, and the voice of the waitress came from outside:
"Boss Zhao is here."
Then the door opened, and Zhao Quanjing walked in. As soon as Lei Ke saw him, he immediately crawled towards him on all fours: "Brother Jing! Help me again! Help me again!"
As soon as Zhao Quanjing saw him, he immediately remembered what Fang Ruiyang had told him about the resume and the problems found in the Pei Group's financial report. His anger flared up, and he kicked Lei Ke directly.
Seeing this, Xu Chengye said to Lei Ke, who was knocked to the ground, "A Ke, I'll give you one more day. Don't make me wait any longer. Figure out how to get the money yourself." After saying that, he left through another door of the private room, leaving the space for Zhao Quanjing and Lei Ke.
Lei Ke was no longer young. After being kicked by Zhao Quanjing, he lay on the ground gasping for a long time and couldn't come to his senses. And Zhao Quanjing wasn't satisfied with just one kick. He continued to punch and kick Lei Ke.
At first, Lei Ke was stunned by the beating. When he came to his senses, in order to pay off his debts, he cried and begged for mercy.
"Brother Jing, I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me..."
After a while, Zhao Quanjing got tired of beating and stopped.
Lei Ke seized the opportunity. Enduring the pain, he stepped forward obsequiously and wiped Zhao Quanjing's shoes: "Brother Jing, your shoes are dirty. Let me clean them for you!"
This time, Zhao Quanjing didn't refuse. Then he took out a cigarette from his pocket. Seeing this, Lei Ke crawled up from the ground obsequiously and lit the cigarette for him.
Zhao Quanjing took a puff of the cigarette and blew the smoke directly into Lei Ke's face. Lei Ke endured it and said with a flattering smile:
"Brother Jing, Brother Ye is having a capital - chain problem now, so he's urging me to pay back the money. But I can't get that much money right away. Can you lend me some more? I'll pay you back as soon as I get my dividends! I can get 8 million this time!"
"Damn it! You couldn't even handle the things I told you, and you still want money from me? Get out of here! I don't have any money!"
Lei Ke looked extremely anxious: "I... I've always done things for Brother Jing whole - heartedly. I've tried my best to handle every single thing well. My loyalty to Brother Jing can be witnessed by heaven and earth!"
"Loyalty?" Zhao Quanjing kicked him again. "Then let me ask you, why was Fang Ruiyang's resume initially screened out during the interview?"
When Fang Ruiyang told Zhao Quanjing about this before, Zhao Quanjing didn't take it seriously. At that time, his trust in Fang Ruiyang wasn't that high. Now, he still didn't fully trust Fang Ruiyang, but compared to Fang Ruiyang, he trusted Lei Ke even less.
After all, if a gambler's words could be trusted, he wouldn't have owed so much money in the gambling house.
Especially when Fang Ruiyang told him that the loopholes in the Pei Group's financial report had been discovered, combined with the previous resume incident, Zhao Quanjing's suspicion of Lei Ke had outweighed his doubt about Fang Ruiyang.
Lei Ke was a bit slow in recalling this long - ago event. He was confused and said, "No, I remember that I specifically confirmed the day before the interview notice that he was on the list. That's why I served as the interviewer for that interview. He also successfully passed the interview and got the job in that project."
Could it be that Fang Ruiyang was lying to him?
Zhao Quanjing squinted his eyes slightly and said, "Let's forget about this matter. But do you know that the things I asked you to do have been discovered by the Pei Group? They found loopholes related to those things in the financial report. Now they're investigating and have started to suspect the internal staff. Is this the loyalty you're talking about? Is this how you handle things?"
Zhao Quanjing patted Lei Ke's face and said fiercely, "Now you should explain to me what's going on."
"What?" Lei Ke was shocked. "A loophole in the financial report is big news. If this is true, with Pei Jun's personality, he will definitely call a meeting for everyone. But I haven't heard a single word in the Pei Group these days. Brother Jing, are you sure your information is correct?"
"You fool! If they publicize the discovery of an insider, how can they catch the culprit?" Zhao Quanjing scolded angrily. "That project has just started. If the Pei Group finds out that we're behind this because of you, they will surely conduct a thorough internal investigation. All our efforts will be in vain! And you still want to borrow money from me?"
"I'm telling you, I won't lend you a single cent. Coincidentally, one of our old scenic spots needs to update its public facilities. You still owe me 40 million. Pay me back this money." Zhao Quanjing said.
Lei Ke turned pale. He owed Xu Chengye 50 million and Zhao Quanjing 40 million. Both were asking him to pay back the money. How could he pay back nearly 100 million? What could he do?
At this moment, he began to regret getting involved in this. If he hadn't come to this place out of curiosity with his brother - in - law that night, none of this would have happened.
When a person is pushed to the brink, their mind works very fast. He suddenly realized something: "Brother Jing, something's not right."