Now, she finally understood. Chen Xiao wasn’t out of money; he was just pretending to be.
What a deep ploy...
She was completely dumbfounded by this sudden blow. After all, since her debut at eighteen, she had never experienced such a defeat. Moreover, this one was enough to plunge her into hell...
She sat there lifelessly, her eyes devoid of spirit.
Xiao Defeng’s lips were dry as he reported, "Miss Lu, the other party is still injecting funds. From the market’s opening until now, they have already invested forty billion."
"I know..." Darkness swam before Lu Rugao’s eyes, and her red lips tightened involuntarily.
Lu Corporation had already stopped infusing capital, yet Chen Xiao’s side kept raising the stakes. It was an obvious and blatant provocation.
But what could she do? She was already utterly defeated.
After Xiao Defeng’s figure vanished from her sight, the last shred of her feigned defiance completely disappeared. Su Linger quickly supported her trembling body.
"Ruge, Ruge, hold on!"
"Ling’er, this ti, I’ve lost..." Lu Rugao was despondent. "I’ve lost completely! I just can’t accept it! Why would I lose to a few ants!"
She, Lu Rugao, was the most talented of the Lu Family’s younger generation. Since childhood, she had always been a Heaven’s Chosen One. Yet she had lost to people she had never even taken seriously. How could she possibly accept this?
"Ruge, maybe we haven’t lost yet! We still have Elder Li! We have the Lu Family! And my Su Family!"
Lu Rugao gave a bitter smile. "The hole I’ve dug is too big now. No one dares to try and fill it, not even the Lu Family. The Lu Family is probably in a complete uproar right now... After all, far too many people want to see , Lu Rugao, ruined."
She could already foresee her own downfall.
"We can’t escape now. Once Chen Xiao begins the real squeeze, our two hundred billion in funds will be devoured so quickly that not even a tenth will remain!"
Hearing this, Su Linger’s pretty face turned deathly pale. She herself had invested fifty billion. It now seed impossible to get it back, and the Su Family would surely hold her accountable. However, seeing Lu Rugao in this state, she chose to stand by her side.
At worst, I’ll be scolded a few tis, grounded, and then my future will be arranged by the family... The more she thought about it, the more miserable she felt.
After a long mont, Lu Rugao took a deep breath and said, "Ling’er, you should go back to Capital City. What happens next between and Chen Xiao isn’t sothing you can get involved in. I don’t want to drag you into this. But to accept defeat like this... I refuse!"
Lu Rugao’s words made Su Linger’s eyes tremble slightly. "Ruge, are you thinking of..."
"I’m out of options," Lu Rugao said with another bitter smile. "At this point, what does my pride matter? If I have to be despicable, then so be it."
Su Linger took a deep breath. In the end, she could only respect her decision. "That man is no ordinary person. You have to be careful he doesn’t bite back."
Only now did she realize just how terrifying Chen Xiao was. Even her brilliant friend, who had never known defeat, was nothing more than a plaything in his hands.
Lu Rugao nodded.
Soon, her phone rang. It was the only son of a corporate president who had loaned her several billion during the financing conference.
"Miss Lu, I’m so sorry, but I need to get the money I loaned back... Really, I’m terribly sorry. My dad said the corporation is facing a bit of a financial crisis, and we need the money for turnover. We won’t even ask for the interest you promised. Can we just get the principal back?"
The man’s words made Lu Rugao’s breath catch. "I will return the money to you soon."
"Miss Lu, I don’t an to rush you, but it’s really urgent..."
The man rambled on, but his core ssage was clear: he wanted his money back. It was obvious he was beating a retreat. Seeing her at a complete disadvantage in this confrontation, he was terrified he wouldn’t even get his principal back.
Lu Rugao coldly hung up the phone. However, other calls began pouring in one after another. Without exception, they were all from people wanting back the principal they had lent her at the financing conference. After answering six or seven such calls, Lu Rugao’s heart sank to rock bottom. Where could she possibly find the money to pay them back now? The funds she had invested in the stock market were completely locked up.
Finally, even Murong Lin called, making up an excuse to take his twenty billion back. Lu Rugao gave a few perfunctory responses and hung up, utterly exhausted.
Su Linger was furious. "These people! When they saw a profit to be made, they all wanted a piece of the pie. Now that there’s trouble, they just want to save their own skin. It’s disgusting!"
"They ca for a piece of the pie in the first place," Lu Rugao said flatly. "It’s only normal for them to turn on now. The business world has always been about self-interest." These people were not her family or friends; now that they saw the risk, it would be stranger if they didn’t run.
Su Linger sighed, sensing the depths of Lu Rugao’s despair. Two hundred billion was an enormous sum, enough to cripple any major family, let alone a single person like Lu Rugao.
After a while, the sound of an approaching car was heard from outside. Jin Zilong, his body wrapped in bandages, walked in slowly.
Lu Rugao looked at him with an indifferent expression. "Jin Zilong, are you also here to ask for money?"
Jin Zilong smiled. "Ruge, how could I be that kind of person? I understand your current predicant. I want to help you."
"Help ?" A faint smirk touched Lu Rugao’s lips. "This hole is too big. No one can help ."
"As long as... as long as you agree to marry , I’ll risk everything to scrape together another hundred billion for you! The alliance between our Jin and Lu families is a match made in heaven! Ruge, please, just say yes! You have no way out, and I’m the only one who has stood by your side supporting you! Don’t you understand how I feel about you?" he pleaded, gripping her arms and shaking them with a frantic look in his eyes.
However, Lu Rugao simply shook her head. "The Jin Family would never take such a risk. Even if they would, I wouldn’t agree. I lost this battle on my own, and I’ll accept it, even if it ends in failure. I will pay you back the fifty billion I borrowed from you. And finally, I’m warning you, don’t you ever threaten with marriage again."
With that, she wrenched her arms free from his grasp, turned around impassively, and walked away.
"Why?! Why?!" Jin Zilong demanded, his eyes bloodshot.
"Because Ruge has no feelings for you," Su Linger said, patting his shoulder, finding it too cruel to say what she was really thinking. It wasn’t just that Lu Rugao had no feelings for him; she was utterly repulsed by him.
Lu Rugao walked gracefully to a door and pushed it open.
Inside the room, Li Xianqun, who was deep in ditation, slowly opened his sharp eyes.
Lu Rugao spoke respectfully, "Elder Li, from this point on, I must trouble you."
Li Xianqun looked slightly surprised, then sighed under his breath. "So, in the end, it still falls to this old man to make a move."
"I... I am at my wit’s end," Lu Rugao admitted with a bitter smile.
"What do you have in mind?" Li Xianqun asked.
"Negotiate a truce," Lu Rugao enunciated each word clearly.
"And if that fails?"
"Then," Lu Rugao’s voice turned cold, "we will have no choice but to et them in battle. I’m not being unreasonable. I only want to take back what I’ve lost. Even if I can’t win, I absolutely cannot lose."
Because the price of defeat was far too high, and it was a price she could not afford to pay.
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