Chapter 98 Suicide

Chapter 98 Self-Sacrifice

Pan Xiao lowered his gaze to look at the suitcase, his feelings uncannily similar to that time on East Nanjing Road when Li Fengrui presented a suitcase to Jiang Luo.

Both instances carried the intimidation from authority, creating considerable pressure.

Pan Xiao’s expression turned cold. He felt that his suspicions were justified—bosses were bosses, and the tricks they played were something ordinary people could never learn in a lifetime.

Jiang Luo sat to the side, completely at ease, and smiled. "What’s on your mind, Pan Xiao? Thinking I’m here to bribe you like I did with those leaders?"

Pan Xiao raised his hand, pressed down on the suitcase, and pushed it back. With a cold expression, he said, "No need to spend on this."

As he spoke, he started to stand up and take his leave.

"Hey."

Jiang Luo gestured for Pan Xiao to remain seated while reaching to undo the clasp of the suitcase. He lifted the lid and said, "Don’t overthink it. This isn’t for you."

Pan Xiao paused, sat back down, and glanced at the money inside. "What do you mean?"

Jiang Luo gestured toward the money in the suitcase and said evenly, "This is for those fifty-plus workers who bought shares. Each will receive a portion—it’s not much."

"You could also consider it a bribe."

?

Pan Xiao still didn’t understand.

Jiang Luo leaned back in his chair, his injured arm slung in front of him, one leg crossed over the other—his usual rakish demeanor.

He explained unhurriedly, "I’ve given gifts to the former factory director and the other leaders. Naturally, you worker shareholders should get something too. Consider it a standard welcoming gift from me."

"Call it a bribe if you will, but in the subsequent operations, I truly need the workers’ support, especially from you shareholders who together hold 15%."

He asked: "Do you know why I’m doing this?"

Pan Xiao looked at Jiang Luo.

Jiang Luo said, "With my 45% and your 15%, I’ll have absolute control in the factory."

"Instead of having to court each leader with gifts just to run the factory the way I want."

Jiang Luo raised an eyebrow and looked at Pan Xiao. "Do you think I have so much money I don’t need to use it myself and just give it away instead?"

"I’ve just arrived. If I don’t spend money to win people over, how can I get that Singaporean to leave?"

"If he doesn’t leave, how can I come?"

"Now that I’m here, I have to find ways to establish my position."

"With the workers’ support, I’ll have more strength to stand strong."

"Once I’m firmly in place, Hongming can hopefully become like Shengfei that you’ve seen—using good machines and plentiful materials to produce clothes that will eventually sell nationwide."

Pan Xiao thought for a moment but still raised his hand and slid the suitcase back. "There’s no issue with you wanting our workers’ support."

"As long as you can run things properly, you don’t need to spend this money. The workers would support you anyway."

"You, and all of you."

Jiang Luo smiled lazily and pushed the suitcase back again. "Be more flexible in your thinking."

"If I don’t hand out this money today, the workers will always remember that I bribed those leaders."

"If I spend it today and distribute it, they’ll know that all shareholders got something and will quickly forget about any bribery."

"I’m smoothing the path for myself."

"Besides,"

Jiang Luo looked at Pan Xiao, "isn’t getting money a good thing? At the very least, it gives the workers who bought shares some confidence. Let them know that because they invested back then, they’ll get more than those who didn’t. Otherwise, everyone will think of them as fools."

"In a way, it’s also about calming people's concerns."

"You understand this yourself. You have a scale in your heart, a measure. Compared to ordinary workers, you favor those who put up money for shares, right? After all, they contributed when the factory needed it most."

"They’re not fools; they’re 'heroes.'"

These words immediately resonated with Pan Xiao.

As the leader who organized the fundraising, hadn’t Pan Xiao been bottling up frustration? He wanted to keep the factory going, to ensure the restructuring succeeded, and not be seen as a fool—especially not as the leader of fools.

The Manager Jiang before him called them heroes, and suddenly, Pan Xiao’s long-held grievances and patience had an outlet.

Pan Xiao’s eyes grew slightly red.

He thought: Yes, fools. The factory leaders saw him and them as fools. The bystanders, those workers who mocked them for throwing their money away, also saw them as fools.

Were they foolish?

They just wanted the restructuring to succeed and the factory to recover.

They were certainly not fools.

Today, someone called them "heroes."

Holding back tears, Pan Xiao said, "The workers who bought shares all stayed. They all want the restructuring to succeed and the factory to recover."

"Alright, I’ll accept the money and distribute it among them later."

"Thank you. Thank you for understanding us."

Jiang Luo reached out with his good hand, patted Pan Xiao’s shoulder, and gave it a squeeze. "Don't mention it. This is for my benefit too."

He promised, "Rest assured, as long as I can take over the factory smoothly, I’ll run Hongming just like I did Shengfei, reviving it."

"Tell the workers who bought shares that as long as they support me and back my management, they’ll definitely get better treatment than other workers."

"They deserve it."

Hearing "deserve" made Pan Xiao’s eyes grow even hotter.

He raised his hand and rubbed his eyes to keep tears from falling.

Pan Xiao lowered his hand and reached out to shake Jiang Luo’s good hand. "On behalf of all the workers, and especially those fifty-plus who bought shares, welcome, Manager Jiang."

"Don't mention it."

Jiang Luo smiled and gave Pan Xiao’s shoulder another reassuring pat.

Thus, Jiang Luo successfully won the workers over, gained comprehensive support, and officially moved into Hongming.

Upon entering Hongming, Jiang Luo immediately arranged for Pan Xiao to take people and count the remaining workers and the condition of the equipment.

As expected and frustrating, the imported equipment Wang Feng had mentioned earlier indeed had significant issues—they were all shoddy defective products, completely unusable.

Pan Xiao was baffled: "These machines were bought and stored in the warehouse, never used. How could this happen?"

Jiang Luo sat in the cleared-out former factory director's office, calmly flipping through Hongming's account books from the past two years, and said, "No wonder they were eating from the same big pot system—so many leeches."

"What else could it be? The leaders in your original factory colluded with each other, used real accounts and real money to buy cheap, defective products, and split the extra money among themselves, lining their own pockets."

He added quietly, "No wonder a factory like this went under."

Pan Xiao was furious and cursed out the former plant manager in local dialect.

Jiang Luo continued reviewing the account books: "Why get angry? Bring the accountant in, record these defective machines one by one, enter them into the accounts, and write them off as needed."

"I'll buy new machines. You take the workers and tidy up the workshop. Write off what's to be scrapped, depreciate what can be, and log everything clearly. The accountants should follow along and keep the books straight for me."

Jiang Luo stayed in Haimen for several days. Huo Zongzhuo called: "With you gone, the house feels too quiet. Even talking on the phone echoes."

Jiang Luo stood outside the workshop, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his mobile phone: "I'm busy, Dad, swamped."

Huo Zongzhuo said with concern: "Take your time, don’t rush, don’t overwork yourself."

Jiang Luo snorted: "Getting tired is good. If I end up in the hospital, you can leave work behind again and come keep me company."

Huo Zongzhuo laughed, his tone indulgent: "Got it. I’ll find time to put work aside and come to Haimen to see you."

While Jiang Luo was busy sorting out the old factory in Haimen, back in Haicheng, Zhao Mingshi returned home and said he wanted to go abroad. He had made up his mind—he wanted to go overseas to study computer science, learn C and other programming languages, and said he believed that in the future, computer languages would be the true universal language.

Zhao Guangyuan and Su Lan heard him out but didn’t agree or refuse right away. They told Zhao Mingshi to go back to school first so they could discuss it.

After Zhao Mingshi left, Zhao Guangyuan and Su Lan talked it over.

Su Lan felt that since Zhao Mingshi had already gotten into Fudan University, going abroad was bound to happen sooner or later. Since the child wanted to go, it might be better to let him study abroad for a couple of years. Who knows, he might even get a green card and stay in the U.S.

Zhao Guangyuan was indifferent about him staying in the U.S. and wasn't against studying abroad—he just didn’t understand what Zhao Mingshi meant by C language and programming languages.

When Zhao Shuo returned home, Zhao Guangyuan asked for his opinion, and Zhao Shuo naturally was all for it.

"Good."

Zhao Guangyuan didn’t hesitate, nodded, and decided to send Zhao Mingshi abroad.

It was a good thing, so of course they supported it.

They would fully cover all the costs of studying abroad to ensure Zhao Mingshi could concentrate on his studies overseas.

Zhao Guangyuan and Su Lan immediately looked into the process and paperwork for studying abroad. Zhao Guangyuan even made a couple of trips to Fudan University to see if the school had any policies to support sending Zhao Mingshi abroad quickly.

Zhao Mingshi, still at school, was very happy when he got the news from home. He started researching study abroad procedures and school policies himself, looking into which U.S. schools might accept him.

Little did he know that news of his imminent departure spread from his dorm, eventually reaching the ears of his ex-girlfriend, with whom he still had unfinished business.

His ex-girlfriend came to confront Zhao Mingshi, asking him pointedly if he was really going abroad soon. Zhao Mingshi felt that whether he went abroad or not had nothing to do with her and admitted it: "I have my own plans. What’s the problem with me going abroad? If you want to go abroad, go ahead. I won’t stop you. What right do you have to question me?"

His ex-girlfriend cried, "Didn’t you say you loved me!?"

"Last time at the hotel, you said it yourself! Have you forgotten already?"

"If you love me, how can you just leave me behind and go abroad?"

"What am I to you?"

Zhao Mingshi felt annoyed and said sternly, "We broke up, okay? You’re not my girlfriend now."

His ex-girlfriend was shocked: "You’re saying this now?"

The girl cried, tears running down her face. "If we broke up and I’m not your girlfriend, why did you go to the hotel with me last time? Why did you say you loved me?"

"You just wanted to sleep with me, is that it?"

Zhao Mingshi frowned: "An Qiao, don’t put it so harshly. I didn’t make you go—you walked there yourself."

"I went to the hotel, and you went to the hotel."

"It was a mutual thing."

"Don’t put all the blame on me."

"And don’t go on about love or not."

"What does it matter, love or no love? Does love trump future opportunities?"

"We’ve already broken up—it was a peaceful breakup. We just happened to sleep together again, and you were consenting too."

"You’re nothing to me now. I’m going abroad, and you have no right to question or accuse me."

Zhao Mingshi didn’t think he was being heartless. He believed everyone had their own views and choices about love and future prospects. Personally, he felt love was love, and future was future—love shouldn’t stand in the way of future prospects, that’s all.

But An Qiao was deeply hurt and sobbed uncontrollably after returning to her dorm.

She was supposed to graduate this June and had recently been preparing for her thesis defense and waiting for her job assignment.

This situation left An Qiao couldn’t focus on anything. She cried incessantly, feeling deeply sad and hurt.

Indeed, in a moment of despair, An Qiao, alone in her dorm, used the blade of scissors to cut her wrist, wondering if something happened to her, Zhao Mingshi would soften and stay instead of going abroad. Would her suicide prove her love? And if it did, would Zhao Mingshi regret it and love her again?

"Beep beep—"

An ambulance drove into Fudan University.