Chapter 103 Nightmare

Chapter 103 The Nightmare

Was it a moment of weakness?

Or was it the unique resonance of the name Yu Dong?

Perhaps it was simply compassion for a woman in distress?

Whatever the reason, Jiang Luo stepped out of the car, opened an umbrella, and walked through the rain towards Yu Dong, who remained sprawled in a puddle outside the gate, unable to rise.

"Can you get up?"

Jiang Luo approached, tilting the umbrella over Yu Dong's head.

Yu Dong looked up at him, her face and hair streaming with rain, a picture of utter dishevelment, far worse than a drowned rat.

She tried, but couldn't get up. Jiang Luo bent down, offering her the umbrella. "Hold this."

Yu Dong took the umbrella, holding it aloft. Jiang Luo, using his uninjured hand, supported her and, with a gentle pull, helped her out of the puddle.

"Come on."

Jiang Luo retrieved the umbrella, holding it over both their heads. He stepped forward decisively. "Come inside. You need to change into some dry clothes."

Yu Dong hugged her soaked shoulders, shrinking under the umbrella as she followed Jiang Luo through the factory gates.

Jiang Luo led Yu Dong to the former factory manager's office, which now served as his temporary office at Hongming. He then dispatched Old Fourth to fetch a clean towel and some clothes from a female colleague, allowing Yu Dong to change in privacy.

While waiting outside, hands in his pockets, Jiang Luo watched the torrential rain and found his thoughts drifting to the past.

In his previous life, driven by business, he had often waited in the rain, rushing to tap on car windows, hoping for a chance when a potential client appeared.

Once, he had chased a car, tapping on its window as he ran alongside. The window never lowered, and he eventually stumbled and fell in the rain, his legs and sleeves caked in mud, his elbow scraped and bleeding—a sight even more wretched than Yu Dong today.

"Mr. Jiang, I'm done."

Yu Dong's calm voice drifted from inside the office.

Jiang Luo pulled his gaze from the rain and his wandering thoughts, turning around.

As he pushed the door open and stepped inside, closing it behind him, he caught a glimpse of something in his peripheral vision. Jiang Luo quickly spun to face the door, then turned his head to snap sternly over his shoulder, "Miss Yu! Have some self-respect!"

Yu Dong, clad only in her underwear, crouched down, hugging herself, and began to weep.

At her tears, Jiang Luo's reprimand died. Facing the door, he silently took a deep breath.

When he spoke again, his voice was noticeably softer. "Please put your clothes on first."

"You can cry, it's alright. Go ahead and cry while you get dressed."

Yu Dong, still crouching, obeyed, crying as she put on her clothes.

A short while later, Yu Dong spoke. "I'm dressed."

Jiang Luo didn't turn around. "Are you sure?"

Yu Dong sobbed, her voice catching, "Do you think I want this? I have no choice. If I don't do this, if I don't find a way to make the factory profitable, my family will truly face bankruptcy."

Only then did Jiang Luo turn to look. Yu Dong was wearing an old Hongming women's work uniform, looking dowdy and plain. Her hair, towel-dried and still damp, clung to her scalp and cheeks.

Jiang Luo stood his ground, his expression neutral, and said calmly, "Miss Yu, there's a saying in the business world: in the realm of fame and fortune, men enter on their knees, and women enter bare."

"If you take off your clothes just once today, you may never be able to put them back on."

Yu Dong, still crying, wiped her tears with her hand. "Is it really my choice whether I take them off or not?"

"Li Fengrui wanted me ruined, didn't he? Yet he still threatened my reputation, forcing me to either cooperate with him or sleep with him."

"When I refused, he tried to destroy me."

The truth behind the car accident was finally revealed.

Jiang Luo didn't want to dwell on it; the past was the past.

"Don't worry, I'm not Li Fengrui."

Perhaps overwhelmed by injustice, Yu Dong continued to shed large, uncontrollable tears, no matter how much she wiped them away.

Jiang Luo said nothing, patiently waiting for a while, letting her cry.

After a long moment, Yu Dong stopped crying, wiped her face with her sleeve, and composed herself. She spoke as calmly as possible, "Thank you. You are indeed different from Li Fengrui."

Jiang Luo had no interest in discussing Li Fengrui. Hands in his pockets, he spoke plainly, "Why are you coming to me again?"

"You said it."

Yu Dong took a step forward, closing the distance slightly, standing about three meters away. She looked at Jiang Luo with earnest eyes. "You said that if I ask, you would help if you could, and we could become friends."

Jiang Luo nodded. "Yes, I did say that."

His face conveyed a calm expression that seemed to say, "Just speak, I'm listening."

Yu Dong spoke, very concisely and clearly: "Our family's garment factory in Singapore can't stay afloat any longer."

Jiang Luo: "How long has this been going on?"

Yu Dong: "Over a year now. It's been losing money the whole time."

Jiang Luo asked pointedly: "Why not shut it down?"

Yu Dong: "The investment was too significant. Keeping it open still generates some revenue. If we shut it down, it would be completely finished."

Jiang Luo: "What's the core problem?"

Yu Dong countered: "Do you know what the biggest, and most easily overlooked, risk is in running a garment factory?"

Jiang Luo said calmly: "The speed of earning money can't keep pace with the depreciation of machinery."

Yu Dong was stunned. "You actually know that?"

Jiang Luo: "Miss Yu, I'm asking you, what is the problem with your factory in Singapore?"

Yu Dong finally explained: "The year I graduated from university, my father borrowed a lot of money from friends to upgrade the factory’s equipment."

"We all thought that with the latest equipment, the best machines, we could improve efficiency in making clothes and also reduce costs."

"But the new equipment didn't improve efficiency much. In those two years, the factory’s order volume also decreased, labor costs increased significantly, and the factory quickly started to fail. At first, we noticed profits were shrinking, then we weren’t making money at all, and later we even started losing our initial investment."

Jiang Luo: "So you returned to China, hoping to move the factory to a place with lower operating and labor costs, to revive it?"

"Yes."

Yu Dong nodded.

Jiang Luo was very direct: "How do you want me to help you?"

She took two more steps forward, looking at Jiang Luo with sincere and pleading eyes. "We bought Hongming's shares a long time ago. Can you let me move the factory from Singapore here, give me the factory, and let me manage it?"

Jiang Luo said calmly: "You know very well that's impossible."

Yu Dong could only ask: "Then what is Mr. Jiang willing to help me with?"

Jiang Luo looked at Yu Dong: "If I were you, I'd immediately shut down the factory in Singapore, cut my losses, and then reopen a factory domestically."

She struggled to accept it, her expression distressed. "If that happens, it would mean true bankruptcy. My parents would be burdened with immense debt."

"And I wouldn’t have the money to start over, to choose a new factory, or invest in its operation."

He suddenly asked: "Where are your factory’s machines from?"

Yu Dong: "All imported from Japan."

Jiang Luo: "What models are the sewing machines and ironing machines, roughly?"

Yu Dong listed the models. Jiang Luo thought for a moment: "The machines aren't old; they're new."

"Your biggest problem is that the factory operating costs in Singapore are too high, and labor costs are high too. If the order volume is high, you can make a little profit, but once orders drop, you immediately start losing money."

He found it a bit strange: "What do you supply? How did your order volume drop so sharply?"

Yu Dong: "Exports, all sold to Europe and America."

Jiang Luo understood immediately: "Not making money is partly due to exchange rates, but the key issue is that your market has been undercut by domestic competition. The clothes you sell for $5 can be made in China for $1, or even less."

Yu Dong: "That’s right. That’s why I came back to China."

He stopped looking at Yu Dong and walked over to his desk. As he flipped through the papers he needed to review later, he said: "You can’t save the factory in Singapore. The longer you keep it open, the more you’ll lose, and your debt will only grow."

"You have only one path: close the Singapore factory, cut your losses, and test the waters domestically."

She followed him: "What should we do with the machines in Singapore?"

Jiang Luo: "Liquidate them locally at a discount."

"Surely you're not thinking of shipping them to China?"

"The shipping costs and tariffs alone would be enough to buy brand-new machines imported domestically. Who would buy yours?"

Yu Dong bit her lip, thinking. After a moment, she looked up at Jiang Luo: "Are you truly willing to help me?"

"Ms. Yu, I’m a businessman."

He continued flipping through the documents without looking up: "Your factory in Singapore is too far away. I can't help you, and I won’t interfere."

"But if you’re willing to come to me..."

Yu Dong: "What then?"

Jiang Luo turned to look at her: "Work for me for a few years. Depending on the situation, I might cut you in on some shares in the factory."

"Or, if you save enough money and want to start your own factory but lack the funds, come to me for investment."

Yu Dong was no fool: "What kind of salary are we talking about? I’ve never heard of anyone starting a factory on saved wages alone."

Jiang Luo said unhurriedly: "You have no money, yet you want to have your cake and eat it too?"

"Think it over. When you’ve made up your mind, give me a call. You have my number."

In Haicheng, at the cardiac ward of the hospital, only the couple remained. Zhao Guangyuan finally shared with Su Lan the dream he had while he was unconscious.

"I dreamed that we discovered Zhao Mingshi was switched at birth..."

They discovered the mix-up, did a DNA test, and found out Zhao Mingshi wasn’t their son. They hurriedly investigated who else had given birth in the maternity ward at the hospital eighteen years ago, which led them to Zhang Xiangping and the tube-shaped apartment building at the silk factory.

This part of the dream was exactly the same as reality.

"I dreamed that we went to find Jiang Luo, but he was getting into trouble—hanging out at dance halls, not attending school or working. We were very disappointed and never brought him home."

"Later, he was bothering a girl at the dance hall. When we found out, we disliked him even more and didn’t even give him the job we had specifically arranged for him."

"We just left him alone, letting him fool around at the dance hall."

"In the dream, Zhao Mingshi also went abroad."

"But the incident with the girl’s suicide didn’t happen."

"We sent him off happily."

Zhao Guangyuan’s tone was subdued: "In the dream, we only liked Zhao Mingshi and disliked Jiang Luo. We thought Jiang Luo was rebellious and going down the wrong path, and we were very resentful of him. For the first year or two, we barely spoke to him."

"Later, Jiang Luo left the dance hall and started a clothing business in a small market, making money."

"Only after he started making money and running a proper business did we gradually reconnect with him."

Su Lan frowned as she listened: "In your dream, were we really that mercenary? Did we really not love Jiang Luo at all?"

"Listen to me patiently."

Zhao Guangyuan continued: "In the dream, Jiang Luo was also in the clothing business, selling clothes in a small market and becoming a boss."

"But we still didn’t like him because we found out he frequently changed girlfriends and was seeing different women."

"We thought he was unstable in his relationships, and our relationship with him became very strained for a while."

"But in the dream, Jiang Luo still reached out to us."

"He called us Mom and Dad, phoned us, invited us to meals and chats, came back to visit during holidays, brought us gifts, told jokes to make us happy—he was very filial."

Su Lan tucked the blanket around Zhao Guangyuan and held his hand: "Dreams are often the opposite of reality."

"In the dream, Jiang Luo was filial to us, but in reality, he wants nothing to do with us."

Zhao Guangyuan’s eyes suddenly welled up: "Su Lan, I dreamed that Jiang Luo died. He died."

"We didn’t even get to see him one last time."

"We were in Haicheng, taking care of Zhao Mingshi and Zhao Shuo’s grandchildren, while Jiang Luo died alone in Beijing."