Copycat - Chapter 43
Chapter 43
◎I Lost Her◎
“Let’s solve the problem together, okay?” In the cramped room, the woman sighed softly. She broke free from the other’s embrace. “It’s just a matter of money.”
Li Qing was slightly stunned. Zhou Ziyan pulled open the locked drawer. Li Qing’s head immediately leaned over. In the crumbling old drawer were two bank cards. She saw a flash of black on the card underneath and couldn’t help but reach for it.
“What are you doing?”
A slightly cold voice stopped Li Qing’s action. She came to her senses and quickly explained, “I was just so shocked. I wanted to get a closer look.”
Zhou Ziyan looked at her suspiciously.
When she was at the villa, Wen Jiao had given her a supplementary card. There was no limit on this card, but more importantly, the identity it represented could help her solve some unnecessary problems.
“I really was just curious. You know what kind of person I am, don’t you?” Li Qing pretended to be angry. “I’m the only teacher in this town. Do you think I’d be greedy for your money? You really don’t trust me.”
Maybe it was just her being too sensitive, Zhou Ziyan blamed herself. She quickly went along with Li Qing’s words and apologized repeatedly. The two of them reconciled.
Li Qing looked at the bank card she had taken out. “What is this?”
“Didn’t you say the town hasn’t paid you for several months?” Zhou Ziyan handed her the platinum card. “This is a little money I’ve saved over the years. It’s about three hundred thousand yuan. It should be enough to support us for a while.”
Li Qing’s eyes lit up. She took the bank card as if she had received a treasure. She quickly asked, “What’s the password?”
Zhou Ziyan, who was sweeping up the broken pieces of the teacup, paused slightly. She pursed her lips for a long time and didn’t speak. Li Qing thought she wasn’t willing to tell her and became a little anxious. “How am I supposed to use the money if I don’t know the password? Our wedding needs a venue booked in advance, and we need to prepare wedding favors. These all cost money. My salary card alone definitely isn’t enough…”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you.”
Outside the window was the endless drizzle unique to the south, damp and sticky, clinging tightly to her clothes, just like the memory she wanted to forget but that kept缠绕 and wouldn’t let go of her.
This was the first time Zhou Ziyan had mentioned that person’s name in this town, even if it was just spelling out the Pinyin letters.
“The password is wenjiao1101.”
After the news of the Wen’s Group CEO’s car accident and her being in a coma was released, the company’s stock price plummeted overnight, hitting the limit down on the same day. Many people lost everything and sold a large number of their stocks.
At Wen’s Building, the office lights were bright. The employees who were working overtime, with dark circles under their eyes, stared at the stock market. Almost the moment the small investors sold their shares, the stocks were bought out at extremely low prices.
The secretary who had just been promoted was nervously staring at the numbers on the screen. Finally, when the shareholding reached 67%, all the employees who were working overtime stood up and erupted in loud cheers.
The secretary covered her mouth, so excited that she was about to cry. The numbers on the screen kept changing and stopped after reaching 68.73%.
“CEO Wen’s controlling stake is 68.73%! That’s great! We no longer have to be at the mercy of those big shareholders from M Country.” The secretary laughed through her tears, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.
People’s joys and sorrows are not the same.
“Year-end bonus is doubled! Awooo—” A man with dead fish eyes jumped up from his seat. “I’m going to buy a new skin for my wife in the game!”
In the corner, a short-haired girl with a look of despair on her face wearily put away her keyboard. “So that means I can finally go home and sleep.”
Another girl with a ponytail looked down at her watch. “It takes two hours to commute. By the time you lie down in bed, it’s already time to clock in.”
The people on the same floor were all working overtime, but their joys and sorrows were different. The secretary felt that these people had no sense of the bigger picture and were very noisy, which was really ruining the corporate atmosphere of their Wen’s Group.
She coughed. The office instantly fell silent.
“CEO Wen has recovered and will return to the company tomorrow. Please don’t be late.”
A wail of despair immediately filled the office. The secretary smiled and deliberately waited for the wails to end before she slowly said, “But—”
“CEO Wen has booked the five-star hotel next door for everyone!”
“The annual leave for all staff who worked overtime tonight will be doubled, and they’ll also get a round-trip ticket to a foreign country reimbursed!”
The rising sun had not yet had a chance to rise from the east, but there were already old people walking their dogs on the small road. An old man with a Labrador on a leash was suddenly startled by the excited cheers from above his head, and the leash in his hand also slipped.
The Labrador ran far away in one breath.
“Are they sick? What’s with all the noise so early in the morning?”
The old man complained as he chased after his dog.
Private hospital.
“Wen, is this why you called me here?”
The blonde, blue-eyed woman in a red dress leaned against the hospital bed. She seemed to be amused, and she gave off a strong sense of aggression. “Do you know how much money you have to compensate me for doing this?”
The woman she was talking to was leaning against the head of the bed, holding a book. She was completely unfazed and calmly turned a page. “Of course I know. That’s why I called you to talk.”
Alice was amused by her again. “Talk?”
“Do you think I’ll give up this large amount of compensation, Wen? I admit that Wen’s Group is a business empire you created, but don’t forget, without my family’s support, you wouldn’t be where you are today!”
Alice was so angry that her hair stood on end, but the person sitting on the head of the bed still looked indifferent. Unable to bear it any longer, she snatched the book from her hand and threw it on the floor. “You have the leisure to read? Wen Jiao, you have to give me an explanation today!”
The book in her hand was snatched away, and Wen Jiao finally looked up. Her light gray pupils stared firmly into the woman’s eyes. “I already said that if you are willing to negotiate and terminate the agreement with me, I will pay you one-third of the original compensation, plus 1% of the shares of Wen’s Group, exclusively for you.”
“If you want to live a free life away from your family in the future, I don’t think this is a deal that will result in any loss for you.”
Alice was stunned for a moment.
While she was in a daze, Wen Jiao walked over and picked up the book she had thrown. “Can we sit down and talk calmly now?”
With the lawyers from both sides as witnesses, the cooperation agreement between Wen Jiao and Alice was quickly terminated.
Alice couldn’t understand the complex words, but she just leaned against the wall and watched as her “wife” signed her name without any hesitation. Her Adam’s apple bobbed with difficulty, and she felt a bitter, sour taste in her throat.
“Wen,” she couldn’t help but say.
Wen Jiao looked at her. Alice was surprised to see a sense of liveliness in the eyes of this person, who was as cold as a robot and had never shown any extra emotion. Her red lips were slightly pursed. “Are you that happy to end our marriage?”
Wen Jiao closed the pen and handed her one of the two copies of the agreement. “Not really.”
The three-year marriage had been a transaction from the beginning, but Alice still felt a little bitter. Her nominal wife had never touched her, and she didn’t even care that she was fooling around every day.
Alice took the agreement and said through gritted teeth, “Then please have the one hundred million US dollars and that stingy 1% of shares transferred to my private account as soon as possible.”
Wen Jiao nodded slightly. “I will have the legal department contact you as soon as possible.”
“My private doctor will be here soon. Please make yourself at home, Miss Alice.”
Alice sneered. She proudly tossed her golden hair. “Do you think I want to stay in this hospital that smells of disinfectant?”
However, the moment she opened the door, she still turned back. The woman who had been cold to her for three years was now looking at a bear-shaped toy with a gentle expression. Alice could guess who had left it for her. Her throat bobbed a few times.
“What do I lack compared to her?” Alice still couldn’t hold back the confusion in her heart. She had seen a picture of the girl. She was just an ordinary girl with a little bit of looks and a decent family background.
But Wen had remained chaste for her for many years and had been acting crazy for so long.
“I’m sorry, I…”
“That’s enough,” Alice interrupted the woman who was about to speak. She tilted her chin, and the corners of her eyes lifted, regaining her arrogant expression. “Transfer the money to my bank account as soon as possible. The sooner it arrives, the sooner I wish you success.”
As soon as the news of Wen Jiao’s recovery came out, the major media outlets went wild. The stock price of Wen’s Group rose to the limit, and the group announced changes in its shareholding. Only then did the media gradually come to their senses.
“CEO Wen, was the car accident just a carefully planned accident by you to consolidate the shares from the major shareholders? Do you know how many families went bankrupt because of you?”
At the press conference, a reporter, filled with righteous indignation, ignored the rules and stood up, snatching the microphone to question the powerful person on the stage.
Wen Jiao’s face was cold. “Next.”
The reporter tried to ask another question, but she was immediately grabbed by the security guards at the press conference. The press conference returned to normal. As the press conference was about to end, a reporter arranged by the organizer finally got the microphone.
The secretary standing backstage slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
The reporter picked up the microphone. “CEO Wen, you have just recovered from a serious illness. Besides explaining the latest shareholding situation of Wen’s Group to the public, is there anything else you want to say to the public?”
“There is indeed one thing I would like to ask everyone for help with.” Wen Jiao straightened her back, and her expression became serious.
The spotlight shone on her somewhat pale face. The entertainment reporters who couldn’t squeeze into the back rows keenly sensed a headline and held up their heavy cameras, almost right in the speaker’s face.
Just as the entertainment reporters expected, a group photo of two people in college uniforms appeared on the large screen behind her.
The two women, who looked young and naive, stood shoulder to shoulder. One held an ice cream cone and had a gentle smile, while the other had a smile on her lips and her eyes were filled with overflowing affection.
“I lost someone.”