Chapter 21: (Two different kinds of besties)
Xiao Yanran walked tiredly towards her yard's gate. She had been avoiding Li Wen all through the day. Yesterday, after being called a loser by Li Wen, she had planned to cut ties with her and even returned the video game she had bought for her, but remembering the three years they had spent together.
Li Wen had always been there for her anytime she got bullied, she didn't want to let their friendship end just like that and wanted to apologize to Li Wen but seeing Li Wen today at school, the first thing she did was hide.
For some reasons she couldn't find herself walking up to her. If the person that always cared about her suddenly saw her as a loser, she felt like a much bigger loser going to apologize. Perhaps she should actually forget about their friendship. Li Wen could have called her any other name but not a loser. Li Wen knew just how much she hated that word. Perhaps it was better like this.
Xiao Yanran exhaled pushing the yard's gate open and walking in. The yard was completely dark and quiet. She should have been back earlier since she didn't go for tutoring. Lei Zhang had told her he would be very busy but she still didn't want to be back home early and have her ears swollen by her parents with talks about how great Xiao Wan was so she had been at Hao Ran's place.
Walking towards the porch, she suddenly froze seeing the silhouette of someone seating at the steps of the porch in the darkness.She was frightened and didn't take anymore steps forward.
The person on the other hand seemed to have realized her presence standing up and from the shape, Xiao Yanran could tell it was a female.
Xiao Yanran took in a deep breath taking more steps forward and as she got closer, she realized it was Li Wen.
"Li Wen?",
Xiao Yanran said surprised and Li Wen immediately rushed forward hugging her tightly.
"Oh Yanran, I'm really sorry, i didn't mean any of the things I said, I was just really angry and I let those hurtful words come out of my mouth",
Li Wen said burying her face in Xiao Yanran's shoulder as she tightened the hug.
"Li Wen.. I.. can't.. breath",
Xiao Yanran managed to say and Li Wen immediately let go as Xiao Yanran caught her breath.
"I'm sorry",
Li Wen said again and and Xiao Yanran exhaled.
"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have yelled and call you stubborn. But seriously, of all the words you could call me, why a loser?",
Xiao Yanran said and just hearing the word come out from her own mouth made her eyes wet.
All her life she's always been bullied and that exact word kept repeating. Loser, loser, loser, and what made it worse was even her own family saw her as one.
Always talking about how much Xiao Wan made them proud while she was a waste and sometimes she felt like it was true. Xiao Wan was beautiful, perfect shape and very smart while she, she was made to feel ugly, she always struggled with her grades and deep down, she knew she had a poor IQ.
Mr Chen, Hao Ran and Li Wen could encourage her saying she was still beautiful and if she gave more and deep attention to her studies, she could level up her grades but when she asked about her IQ, they would try changing the subject.
She knew they didn't want to lie to her, at the same time they didn't want to hurt her feelings but she still knew and suddenly being called a loser from the person that had always been by her side was really hurtful.
Xiao Yanran tried her best to battle with the tears welling up in her eyes not wanting to cry so she held herself from blinking but her eyes failed her, she blinked making the tears flow down her cheeks.
Li Wen seeing Xiao Yanran cry and knowing she was the reason made her heart ache. She had wanted to keep her forced marriage to herself so Xiao Yanran could spend more time being happy but she had still hurt her.
"Yanran I'm really sorry",
Li Wen said tears flowing down her own eyes as she hugged Xiao Yanran again but lightly this time and they just stood there in the darkness weeping on each other's shoulders.
It was indeed a beautiful and emotional scene.
Meanwhile,
the next day at Central Shanghai, another two best friends sat opposite each other with a chess board on a table in their middle.
They moved the chess pieces on different squares with alternatives and purpose, but they played not to win against each other but to figure out Yang Zhi's plan.
"After the partnership deal, Yang Zhi keeps ensuring most of the projects are funded through his company's account, but he makes it look like he is generously offering joint funding, but his real idea is to make sure every Yuan I spend comes through his company and within months, my studio becomes financially dependent on his funding then he can freeze funds at any moment in the pretense of budget review or audit. In conclusion, his first goal is to make my company appear weak and unstable if he pulls his funding making investors and partners loose confidence in my company ",
Lei Zhang said, moving a pawn piece twice into a square on its first move capturing one of Xu Jin's pawns diagonally and Xu Jin thinks for a while.
"Based on my findings, Yang Zhi has been inflating operational cost for joint projects. Some server upgrades that had cost three million yuans were reported six million yuans, he's been exaggerating marketing expenses, all of these expenses are shared 50/50 per the partnership contract. His second goal is to quietly drain your cash flow and make you burn through his resources faster and you'll start struggling to meet joint obligations, you'll appear irresponsible or should I say financially incompetent ",
Xu Jin said moving still another of Lei Zhang's chess pieces, the knight this time, two square one way, one square perpendicular removing another Chess piece.
"I must complement, he's smart, if that works out, he'll begin leaking subtle rumours through industry journalists and investors ", Lei Zhang said.
"He'll say your company is facing funding issues ",
Xu Jin said and Lei Zhang nodded.
"He'll use anonymous press releases, financial leaks and fake investor meeting to create an illusion that my company is in trouble ", Lei Zhang said.
"He'll shake investors confidence lowering your valuation", Xu Jin said.
"If those investors pull out or reduce funding, he'll have me cornered and desperate for cash ",
Lei Zhang said and both him and Xu Jin takes the two bishops from Lei Zhang's chess pieces, moving them diagonally and takes out two chess pieces that were guarding Xu Jin's king.
It was obvious Lei Zhang's part of the Chess board was representing Yang Zhi's company while Xu Jin's part was representing Lei Zhang's.
"Once your company looks financially unstable and under performing, he'll make his final move, he'll approach with a sympathetic tone, he'll sympathize with you saying the pressure must be too much and persuade you in letting him buy a controlling stake in your company, you could still lead the creative side but he'll handle the finances ", Xu Jin said.
"If I agree, Yang Zhi legally takes over my company under the guise of a rescue, but if I don't agree, he'll use the funding freezes, inflated costs and media pressure to force bankruptcy then acquire the assets at auction ", Lei Zhang said.
"He'll absorb your company and IPS into his own empire ", Xu Jin said.
"That would make me loose everything, legally at that without Yang Zhi ever looking like the villain ",
Lei Zhang said using his king to checkmate Xu Jin's and they both exhaled leaning back on their chairs.
"Yang Zhi's strategy is short, make your enemy depend on you then remove the support, the fall will look like your own fault ",
Xu Jin said and Lei Zhang heaved a sigh.
"I need to be careful, I need to turn the tables around but that won't be easy. Yang Zhi is a very good player and experienced at that. He's brought down every company who dared to rise above his, turning tables around won't be easy, creating another secret branch in Beijing won't be enough. I'll need you to go to Beijing and have a personal check on how the branch is fairing, then I'll know if it's ready enough to go against Yang Zhi's plan", Lei Zhang said.
"You seem to have a plan", Xu Jin said.
"Yes but I'll need a perfect report on the Beijing branch", Lei Zhang said and Xu Jin nodded.
Xu Jin's phone suddenly rang in his pocket. Taking it out and looking at the contact, it wasn't someone he knew but he still picked up anyways.
"Hello, are you Xu Jun's older brother?",
the person's voice came through the phone.
"Yes, is there a problem?", Xu Jin asked.
"Please come to the school right away",
the person said ending the call and Xu Jin looked at his phone in confusion but a part of him felt like he knew the problem.
If Xu Yun had an episode of his heart disease, they wouldn't have just asked him if he was Xu Jun's brother and Xu Jun would be the first to call. But anytime a call like this came it was always one thing, Xu Jun had beaten up someone in school, was it a mistake to have had those boys learn Martial art. TBC