Chapter 2 Do You Have Three Hundred Thousand?

As soon as Fan Ming left, Lin Yijun’s eyes grew dull and despair crossed her face. “Lu Chen, could your pride be more important to you than Qiqi’s life?” Lu Chen was silent for a moment. He put the confectionery box he was holding down onto the table. “I’m going out to borrow money,” he answered in a low voice. “You’re going to borrow money? Where are you going to get it? Right now, other than Director Fan, who else can lend us three hundred thousand?” Lin Yijun demanded resentfully. “I have my own ways,” Lu Chen replied as he shook his head and walked out through the corridor. He’d launched businesses and failed, but over the years, he’d made some friends along the way. “Lu Chen!” Lin Yijun‘s voice rang out from behind him. “Don’t make me hate you!” Lu Chen shuddered and sped up his footsteps. Lin Yijun watched Lu Chen’s figure disappear from sight. All the strength drained from her body and she slumped down, her heart so wretched that it felt like dying embers. She regretted it! Regretted her impulsiveness in the past, regretted marrying him! Lin Yijun’s gaze suddenly fell upon the confectionery box sitting on the table and was slightly stunned. Lu Chen walked out of the hospital and lit a cheap cigarette, drawing in a deep breath. He choked, his chest wracked with coughing. His eyes turned red. Money! Money! Everything was because of money! Money wasn’t everything, but without it, it would cost him his daughter’s life! Lu Chen found a place to sit down and made multiple calls in a row. But they hung up without fail each time they heard that he wanted to borrow money. At the end, he sighed before pulling out his phone and dialing an unregistered number. “It’s me,” Lu Chen announced coldly. “Oh! It’s Little Master!” an old man exclaimed agitatedly over the phone. “Little Master, are you calling this number because you’ve thought it through and you’re going back with me?” “My apologies. I can’t go back,” Lu Chen flatly refused. “Uncle Zhong, I’m calling you regarding a different matter. Can you lend me three hundred thousand privately? I need it urgently.” “Little Master may not be aware, but everything under my name belongs to the Lu Family. Let alone three hundred thousand, you can take my decrepit life if you wish and I wouldn’t breathe a word of objection,” the old man chuckled over the phone. “But only on the grounds that you sign a contract of succession. You will only be able to receive the money after you sign it.” “We’ll talk about signing the contract later. I really need the three hundred thousand urgently,” Lu Chen insisted. He didn’t want to be associated with the Lu Family in any way, but he had no choice—his daughter was already in such condition. “No. The Master gave specific instructions that Little Master is only to use the family’s resources after signing the contract of succession.” The person on the other end of the line was adamant. Lu Chen clenched his teeth. “There’s no room for negotiation?” “I’m sorry, Little Master.” Lu Chen took a deep breath and looked up at the blue sky, the hint of a self-deprecating sneer on his lips. Was he finally going to give in? Yes, for his daughter, he had to give in! “Fine. I’ll sign it,” Lu Chen said. He felt a vaguely painful sensation on his cheeks. “Where are you now?” “I’m at Jun Yue Tower. May I know where you are? Why don’t I send someone to pick you up?” the person at the other end of the line enquired. “No need. I’ll head over right now.” Lu Chen hung up. Between him, Lu Tianxing, and the Lu Family, flowed a river of blood. He had thought that he would never cross that river. But now that his daughter was seriously ill, and he had no one else to turn to, he’d chosen to lower his head and had actually taken the initiative in letting go of his hatred. Life was so f*cking ironic! Lu Chen spat the cigarette butt onto the ground, then turned and hailed a taxi, heading straight for Jun Yue Tower. At Jun Yue Tower, Lu Chen had just stepped out of the car when he saw his mother-in-law, Wang Xue, exiting the building. He instinctively wanted to avoid bumping into Wang Xue, but saw that she was already walking toward him. “You said that you were going to borrow money. What are you doing here?” Wang Xue looked at Lu Chen with distaste. If it wasn’t for her daughter already having had a child, she would have told Lin Yijun to divorce this useless man. Lu Chen saw that speaking to Wang Xue was unavoidable and could only respond with embarrassment. “I’m here to borrow money.” “Lu Chen, Lu Chen. Can’t you see what kind of place this is? Even the red carpet before their doors is worth more than your life. Who are you to enter this place to borrow money? You think too highly of yourself!” Wang Xue sneered coldly. Wang Xue was the assistant director of sales at Xia Kang Pharmaceuticals. Lately, they had been discussing a large business deal with Jun Yue Group; Wang Xue had rushed here straight from the hospital for it. However, she hadn’t expected to be barred from entering the doors of Jun Yue Tower, and this made her furious. Naturally, she wasn’t in a good mood after having had the door shut in her face. She took it out on Lu Chen since she just happened to bump into him. “Trash, my sister has to work and take care of Qiqi while you’re out here having a good time in the name of borrowing money. And you call yourself a man?” Lu Chen’s sister-in-law, Lin Yijia, glared at him with disgust. Only now did Lu Chen notice that Lin Yijia had been tailing behind Wang Xue with a young man beside her. The young man was called Hu Hong; he was a college friend of Lin Yijia. “Yijia, is this that useless brother-in-law of yours? Your sister has bad taste—he looks just like a migrant worker,” Hu Hong exclaimed as he looked Lu Chen up and down with a taunt in his eyes. He’d once had the honor of having a conversation with the general manager of Jun Yue Group at a reception party. When he’d heard that Wang Xue was working on a large business deal with them, he’d volunteered to accompany Wang Xue to pay a visit to the general manager in the hopes that it would help her close the deal. But the general manager hadn’t bothered with him at all and he’d really lost face. Now that he saw both Lin Yijia and her mother berating Lu Chen, he wanted to vent his anger on Lu Chen as well. “Doesn’t he? I have no idea what went on in my sister’s head that she willingly married such trash. Most importantly, this useless man has no sense of responsibility,” Lin Yijia mocked. “It’s alright if men don’t have money at times, but they must be responsible,” Hu Hong laughed. Lu Chen glanced at them. Instead of saying anything, he turned and walked toward Jun Yue Tower. “What are you going there for? Shouldn’t you hurry back to take care of Qiqi?” Wang Xue frowned and barked when she saw Lu Chen walking into the tower. “I need to discuss something with Lu Zhong,” Lu Chen turned to reply. “What? You’re looking for Tycoon Lu? Do you want to get kicked out like a dog?!” Incensed by his reply, Wang Xue reached out and grabbed hold of Lu Chen. Lu Chen was just a security guard. When he got kicked out, it would be her—his mother-in-law’s—face which would be affected. “Mum, let go. I really do have something to discuss with Lu Zhong,” Lu Chen’s brow furrowed at being held back by Wang Xue. “Do you want to be a running joke?! Lu Zhong is the richest man in Chongqing, and you’re just a lowly security guard. What makes you think that you’ll be able to meet him?” Lin Yijia sneered. “We can’t say that. Maybe your brother-in-law thinks that it’s possible since they both share the surname ‘Lu’. Perhaps, five hundred years ago, they were really from the same family,” Hu Hong exclaimed sarcastically. Lu Chen was seething by this point. Did you eat dynamite today, or did all of you become premenopausal at the same time? he thought. But he couldn’t get mad at Wang Xue; Lu Chen had no choice but to dig out his phone to make a call to Lu Zhong so that Lu Zhong would come down to meet him. Just then, a sensuous, curvy lady clad in uniform walked toward them. Catching sight of her, Wang Xue released Lu Chen and a curious look grew on her face. “It’s Manager Lu’s personal secretary,” Lin Yijia wondered. “Perhaps they’ve changed their stance and are here to ask us to discuss the deal. Aunt Xue, congratulations on your closing the deal soon!” Hu Hong cried out as his eyes lit up. “Are they really here to bring us back to discuss it?” Wang Xue almost couldn’t believe it, but a glimmer of excitement shone on her face. “That must be it. We’re the only ones around here, and we just spoke to them about it. They must be here for us,” Hu Hong nodded with certainty. “We didn’t manage to close the deal with Manager Wang, but General Manager Lu’s personal secretary is bringing us back. It must be under the orders of General Manager Lu. Mum, looks like your huge business deal really will get closed!” Lin Yijia was thrilled. If they managed to close the sale, her mum would get more than twenty thousand! It made sense to Wang Xue. General Manager Lu’s personal secretary was definitely here for them. She couldn’t be here for trash like Lu Chen after all. At that thought, Wang Xue stepped forward with a smile. “Hello, are you here to…” Wang Xue hadn’t finished speaking when the smile froze on her face. The beautiful secretary hadn’t spared her a glance and simply passed by her as she walked toward Lu Chen. She bowed slightly toward Lu Chen and welcomed him sweetly. “Young Master Lu, please come with me.” Lu Chen nodded. His gaze swept across Lin Yijia and Hu Hong’s faces before he followed the secretary into the building, leaving Wang Xue and the others frozen with looks of surprise and incredulity on their faces. …… Lu Chen had a brief discussion with Lu Zhong. He still had misgivings about giving in and inheriting the family property. But Lu Zhong was firm on not lending him the money or allowing him to make a call to Lu Tianxing unless he signed the contract. Lu Chen sighed in defeat and put down his signature, then asked Lu Zhong to help him locate a compatible bone marrow donor for Qiqi. He also asked Lu Zhong for the three hundred thousand and proceeded to leave Jun Yue Tower with it. As for how Lu Zhong would explain it to Lu Tianxing, he really didn’t care to know. After all, he knew that Lu Tianxing wouldn’t call him as long as he didn’t call first. Even if he’d agreed to succeed the family estate, he had no plans to forgive Lu Tianxing so quickly. Back at the hospital, Lu Chen saw that Fan Ming had returned. Moreover, he was sitting next to Lin Yijun by the bedside, chatting with Lu Chen’s daughter who had woken up since he left. Fan Ming sat very close by Lin Yijun and the two of them exchanged snippets every now and then. Lu Chen’s eyes narrowed and he strode into the hospital room.