Chapter 2 Loan

• After a long while, Lu Yao got up. Her face a mask of calmness, she went to the kitchen and washed the plates before placing them in the disinfection cabinet. Then, she changed and went to the garage to start her car. After driving for half an hour, she arrived at her office.
• When the employees saw her, they all greeted her, “Good morning, Manager Lu.”
• “Morning.” Lu Yao smiled and inclined her head at them. Upon entering her office, she took off her coat and asked her assistant, “Is President Ji in?”
• “Yes, he’s in his office.”
• Lu Yao went to the president’s office and entered after knocking on the door.
• “Manager Lu, you’re here?” When President Ji saw her walking in, he put down the document in his hand at once, invited her to have a seat at the reception area, and even made her tea. “Manager Lu, is there anything I can help you with?”
• “It’s about the loan I asked you for.” Lu Yao cut to the chase. In a half-begging manner, she said, “President Ji, I’ve been with the company for three years, and you know me well. I hope you can lend me the two million I mentioned.”
• President Ji froze for a second, then appeared conflicted. “Manager Lu, I don’t have absolute power here in the company. Plus, this is such a huge sum. Even if I agree, the board of directors won’t agree to it.”
• “I know. Can I borrow it from you personally?” Lu Yao added, “Don’t worry. I’ll definitely return the money to you in half a year at most. I’ll even pay you an interest of five percent.”
• “Manager Lu, I really can’t help you. My money is controlled by my wife, and you know how my wife is. If she finds out the loan is for you, I’m afraid I won’t be able to go home anymore.”
• Seemingly having thought of something, President Ji asked Lu Yao, “Hmm, I remember that your husband is in the investment business, no? Two million is a drop in the bucket to him. Why don’t you ask him?”
• “He’s just doing some paltry investments; he doesn’t make that much.” When Lu Yao said this, anguish swelled within her.
• After three years of marriage, she only knew that Shao Yunchen was an investor. As to where his company was and how much he made a month, she had no idea at all. Furthermore, they had a contract which stipulated that his money remained his money.
• “Manager Lu, it’s not that I don’t want to help, but I really can’t help you.” President Ji poured her a cup of tea. “Let me see if I can get the finance department to increase your salary next month. After all, you’ve been working hard all this time.”
• Lu Yao knew that it was meaningless to continue begging her case, so she got up to leave. “President Ji, I’m sorry to have intruded for so long. Thank you.”
• “It’s okay, I didn’t help you much either. Why don’t you try to get a loan from the bank?”
• “Thank you.”
• After leaving the president’s office, she felt troubled and went to the washroom. Seeing that no one was there, she went into a cubicle. Taking out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter from her pocket, she then lit a cigarette.
• She was not addicted to smoking; she only smoked for fun. Ever since she got married to Shao Yunchen, she stopped smoking after she found out that he hated the smell of it. She had only resumed smoking recently and got addicted to it.
• She sat on the toilet lid and puffed away, her expression solemn.
• Ever since she was young, she had always been proud of having a father who worked as a judge. When she was at college, she even considered majoring in law, but since her interest in law was not all that great, she ended up choosing finance.
• In fact, she had long since felt that her family was too ‘rich’. When she got married, her dowry was very generous, and her family had moved into a three-story villa. She had always felt that her father was making a bit too much money, but she never gave it much thought.
• She only knew that her father had been arrested a month ago when he did not return home and news of his embezzlement broke out.
• Her mother cried so much that her eyes became swollen, and her hair turned white from all the anxiety.
• Lu Yao, however, remained calm. She soothed her mother on one hand, while contacting a lawyer on the other, trying to figure out how to slowly return the money that her father had embezzled.
• They had sold off several houses, including the house and car that made up her dowry. She had even brazenly moved into Shao Yunchen’s apartment, but they were still short of two million. Their relatives were all trying to avoid contact with their family, let alone lending them money.
• In the past half month, she had contacted all the good friends she had, but she had not gotten anyone to loan her a single cent.