Chapter 71 Forced Love from My Archrival 20

Chapter 71: Forced to Love My Worst Enemy 20

"Once the verdict comes down, there'll be fines too. If he refuses to pay up and they seize assets, the company might not even survive!"

"What about all my dad's savings over the years? He wouldn't have left himself with nothing to fall back on."

"That I don't know. But we absolutely can't let your grandpa find out. At his age, if anything happened to him..." Lin Lan buried her face in her hands and sobbed, unable to go on.

"I understand..."

"Ding! Main quest updated. Host must raise 50 million in fines before the trial to complete the 'Villain's Fate' task. Reminder: the rule that you must borrow from the male lead is locked in."

Per the system's notification, this 50 million was the total sum of back taxes and fines owed by the Lin Group. Only by scraping together the full amount could he save the Lin Group and preserve Lin Zhen's life work.

With the task issued, Lin Huaiqing didn't have time to wallow in self-pity. The first person he thought of to hit up for a loan was Lu Yuting.

Thinking back to how stupid he'd been, throwing cash around like an idiot, he felt ashamed of himself!

How could he have been such a dumbass, using his own family's money to play the big shot? What kind of hero does that?

If it weren't for that, that one million alone would've already covered 20% of the goal.

"Hey! Yuting?"

"Huaiqing, what's the occasion? You never call me out of the blue like this." Lu Yuting's voice on the other end was smooth and sweet, with a hint of teasing.

The news about the Lin Group's chairman getting arrested probably hadn't gotten out yet.

So Lu Yuting had no clue he wasn't the rich trust-fund kid who'd drop cash on her anymore.

His title now was: the guy she owed money to!

"Yuting, do you still remember that you owe me one million? Can you scrape together the money and pay me back within a week?"

"Huh?" Lu Yuting on the other end probably hadn't seen that coming. She even dropped the sweet act in her voice. "Huaiqing, didn't you say there was no rush? I..."

"I'm in a serious bind right now! I need this money to save someone's life!"

"Well... my dad's company's been struggling lately. How about this: I'll pay you back 500,000 first—that's every penny I've got stashed away. I'll discuss the rest with my dad."

500,000?!

One million down to 500,000? The rest he'd probably never see again in this lifetime.

Hold on! Who said he couldn't get it back? He could just call the cops and shake down those kidnappers who grabbed Lu Yuting!

God, his brain was so slow! Why didn't he think of that sooner?!

"Yuting, never mind. I just realized I can call the police! How could I hit up a victim like you for cash? Just pretend I was talking out of my head. I'll hang up now."

"Hey?! Wait a second?!" The voice on the other end suddenly got all tense.

"It's been so long—can you even still track them down?" Lu Yuting asked, sounding a little guilty and unsure.

"Of course I can! There are traffic cams on every road these days. Besides, when I withdrew the money from the bank, I filmed it with my phone. I originally wanted to post it on my socials to flex, but then I realized the pics caught the serial numbers on the bills! I'm a genius. Anyway, gotta go—I'm heading to the cops!"

Lin Huaiqing hung up and suddenly realized he wasn't as dumb as he'd thought.

That was a full ten million! The cops would definitely take that seriously! He should get it back in no time.

Though who knew how much those kidnappers had already blown through. At least half of it should still be there!

Just as he was about to pat himself on the back for being so clever, Lu Yuting's call came in.

"Hey, Yuting, why are you calling back?"

"Huaiqing, I talked to my dad. He can scrape together one million. You don't need to go to the police."

"Huh?! But you just said..."

"Never mind. Come to my dad's company later to pick it up. That's it!" Lu Yuting hung up abruptly.

She sounded pretty pissed.

Weird, right? Didn't she just say her dad's company couldn't scrape together that much? Why was she suddenly so easy to deal with?

He drove over to Lu's Weiye Group headquarters, and Lu Yuting was already waiting for him at the back door.

Lu Yuting looked awful—so bad that even her makeup couldn't cover it up.

But when she saw him, she still forced a strained smile.

As he was loading the cash into the car, Lu Yuting asked with some suspicion:

"Huaiqing, what happened to you? Why are you in such a hurry for money?"

Lin Huaiqing was too busy loading the cash to bother coming up with a lie, so he simply told the truth:

"The Lin Group is suspected of tax evasion. My dad got taken in, and I'm scrambling to plug the hole. If I can't, the company will go bankrupt."

"What?! Such a big deal? Why didn't you tell me?"

She had guessed something was wrong—otherwise, Lin Huaiqing wouldn't have been so desperate to collect the money from her.

But Lin Huaiqing's expression was so calm that it was hard to tell his family had fallen into such a crisis.

Now that she looked closer, the car Lin Huaiqing was driving had been switched to a Mercedes, nowhere near the level of the car he used to drive.

Even his hair looked like it hadn't been properly groomed in a long time—it was starting to stick up.

After making sure all the money was loaded into the car, Lin Huaiqing closed the trunk, waved goodbye to Lu Yuting, and prepared to leave.

"Lin Huaiqing!"

"Hmm?"

"What are your plans from now on?"

"Pay off the debts, wait for my dad to get out. Then rebuild with him." Of course, he would never get to see that day.

"And in the future... just..."

The roar of the engine drowned out whatever Lu Yuting was mumbling.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Go!"

Lin Huaiqing watched in the rearview mirror as Lu Yuting stood in place, waving goodbye to him.

Inside the car, a single tear slid down the corner of his eye at that precise moment, as if saying goodbye to everyone and everything from his past.

The original owner must have genuinely loved Lu Yuting.

Too bad he'd clearly caught her last words just now.

She'd said: "After today, let's not stay in touch anymore."

Damn it, she was just a money-grubbing woman—what was there about her worth this body grieving over?

While hauling the cash, he'd already noticed that even though the first serial number on each stack was random, all the rest matched the ones saved in his phone.

Since this was their last time seeing each other, some things were better left unsaid—better to part on good terms.

Carrying that much cash around was way too risky, so Lin Huaiqing drove to the bank and redeposited it.

He still had to figure out what to do with the remaining forty million.

The original owner had plenty of so-called friends, but most were just fair-weather buddies.

Except for Yu Wenle—sure, he often dragged him to nightspots, but he was genuinely the one he trusted most after Lin Zhen.

He drove to the little villa Yu Wenle had bought for himself and hung around outside for a long while.

He'd thought about calling to ask for a loan, but something this big couldn't be handled over the phone. It had to be said in person.

After dithering for a long time, Lin Huaiqing finally rang the doorbell.

About two minutes later, steady footsteps came from inside.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Yu..."

The guy at the door was clearly taller and broader than Yu Wenle. He wore a loose robe hanging carelessly off him, giving off a lazy, seductive vibe.

There were a few rose-colored hickeys on his collarbone and neck—extremely sexy. A total contrast to his usual cold, aloof look.

"Wait... aren't you that Doctor Gu?!"