Chapter 1718 - 700: Brotherhood in Our Hearts (Part 2)

Chapter 1718: Chapter 700: Brotherhood in Our Hearts (Part 2)

"What?!"

Xu Wenqian’s expression changed, and she asked in panic, "Boss, h-how could this happen..."

Zhou Wang had said before that he was "bankrupt," but a dead camel is still bigger than a horse. In the subconscious of every woman in that room at the time, they all thought that even if Zhou Wang’s assets were temporarily frozen, there was no way he’d fall straight into the dust.

Not to mention tens of millions, at least a few million should be something he could casually take out.

But hearing Zhou Wang now, he actually only had a little over a hundred thousand?

Forget Xu Wenqian— even Lin Ran’s current savings should be more than that number.

Zhou Wang caught the doubt on Jiang Qingkui’s face out of the corner of his eye, so he deliberately acted indifferent and pulled out his phone, giving a bitter little smile. "Here, Qianqian, see for yourself..."

This was probably the first time Zhou Wang had handed his phone over for someone else to look at. Xu Wenqian was very well-behaved; she directly ignored the chat window and tapped open Zhou Wang’s "wallet."

The WhatsApp balance and the balance account did indeed have over a million sitting there, but the problem was...

They all had that gray "Frozen" label on them.

This was undoubtedly a kind of hard evidence: once someone’s WhatsApp is frozen, his bank cards are basically done for too.

For a moment, Lin Ran and Xu Wenqian both had subtle changes in their expressions, rushing to be the first to say something.

At this point even Jiang Qingkui couldn’t maintain her former coldness; her red lips parted slightly.

"Don’t. I know what you’re about to say."

But Zhou Wang spoke up in time, stopping them. "What I need now is not financial help or pity. Trust me, this is an agreement between me and certain people."

"An agreement?"

It was the first time Jiang Qingkui spoke. She no longer stood by the mahjong table, but came over and sat down beside Zhou Wang.

"Yeah. I did temporarily lose in the internal power struggle in the group, but Cloud Trust was founded by me from scratch. It’s not like I didn’t leave any backup plan. Because of certain reasons, even though they tried to make me completely bankrupt, they didn’t dare push me too far, so we made this agreement."

Zhou Wang improvised smoothly. "I’m not allowed to accept any help in any form from anyone. In return, they won’t touch my group assets for now. Of course, likewise, I can’t interfere in the operations of those companies anymore..."

"So that’s why there’s that power of attorney between me and Qi Jiayi?"

Something stirred in Jiang Qingkui’s heart, and she followed up with a question.

"Exactly."

Zhou Wang sighed. "Qingkui, that’s what I came to tell you today. I hope that when I’m not around, you can help me manage Wangzhou Group. And besides, this was something I promised you back then. So no matter what happens to me in the end, I will definitely protect everything you have now..."

This seemingly heartfelt confession instantly made Jiang Qingkui fall silent.

Fog gathered in her eyes. When she realized she was losing control and tried to turn her head away, she heard soft sobbing sounds.

Turns out Xu Wenqian and Linlin were already crying uncontrollably, and Lin Ran also had her face covered—though she wasn’t making any noise, her shoulders were shaking.

"Zhou Wang..."

At this point Jiang Qingkui no longer felt she was being overly sentimental. Her expression softened, and just as she was about to say something, Zhou Wang had already stood up with resolve.

"Sister Qingkui, I don’t know what kind of person I am in your eyes. But you have to believe me—Zhou Wang may have a ton of flaws and plenty of ugliness, but the way I feel about you... is real."

After saying that, Zhou Wang didn’t care how Jiang Qingkui reacted. He turned and strode straight out of the room.

...

When Zhou Wang walked out of the study, he vaguely heard Jiang Qingkui calling out from behind him. But he didn’t respond; instead, he pulled the study door shut with a bang.

Once he got into the hallway, that steely, frosty look on his face finally relaxed all of a sudden. He hummed smugly to himself:

"Stupid big sister, just wait—I’m going to move you to tears. You can cry your eyes out in that study..."

Even though mentally it should count as a victory, Zhou Wang still felt a little regret.

Because originally, he could have taken the opportunity to deepen their Bonds physically as well. But since Lin Ran was useless and failed to shoo Linlin and Xu Wenqian away, Zhou Wang could only abort the original plan.

Anyway, the main objective was achieved.

Now with this outcome—just saying his piece and walking off without laying a hand on Jiang Qingkui—maybe it would work even better.

She’d just keep feeling like she misunderstood him, like she was the one in the wrong, and then fall into that Self-Guided spiral of guilt and reflection, unable to pull herself out... Mm, Perfect!

He picked up the map and checked off the last empty study, and Zhou Wang felt like a load had finally been lifted.

It was finally over.

Stretching lazily, Zhou Wang took the jacket from Xiao Wang and shrugged into it, then started humming a little tune as he headed downstairs, planning to grab an ice-cold Coke.

When he reached the first floor, Zhou Wang glanced through the big floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and saw flames flickering and smoke billowing out in the garden. He slapped his forehead, suddenly remembering what he’d forgotten—

Young Master Zhang and the others were still in the estate.

And Zhou Wang had been running up and down this whole time, completely forgetting about them.

Zhou Wang cleared his throat, put the Coke back, and hurried outside.

...

When Zhou Wang appeared on the first floor, the group of men in the garden immediately noticed him. But from how he’d been popping in and out before, they could tell he seemed really busy, so they’d all silently agreed not to bother him.

Now that Zhou Wang finally stepped into the garden, Tang Yiming tossed him a cigarette and grinned.

"Brother Dog, you finally finished being ’busy’?"

Zhou Wang didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but that bastard seemed to put a special emphasis on the word "busy."

Click!

Young Master Zhang reached over with the lighter from the side and lit his cigarette.

"So, is it true?"

Young Master Zhang didn’t act as relaxed as Tang Yiming; he asked with a slightly solemn look.

"It’s true. From now on we’ll end up in two different circles again, so I took the liberty of quitting the group."

Zhou Wang smiled and took a deep, long drag on his cigarette.

"Brother Dog, I really don’t like what you’re saying. Did we become friends because we were judging each other’s net worth?"

Old Ruan said with a distinctly Gao Xing-less face.

"Exactly. To be honest, Uncle Zhou, it was because you were too rich before that you felt kind of distant from us. Now you finally feel more down-to-earth..."

Guo Bing chimed in loudly.

"Brother Dog, I already called my old man. He said if you need it, he can at least put this amount together, and he won’t even charge you interest."

Cheng Qing made exaggerated eye signals at Zhou Wang, then raised five fingers.

"Five million?"

"Five hundred million!"

Cheng Qing loudly corrected Zhou Wang.

"Damn, that’s badass."

Zhou Wang gave him a thumbs-up, then looked around at the guys—joking or serious, but all genuinely supportive—and finally burst out laughing.

"Alright, I’m messing with you. I’m only temporarily bankrupt. Give it some time, and I’ll take back everything I lost!"

"I knew it. There’s no way Brother Dog would just stay down."

"That’s more like it!"

Everyone’s spirits lifted at his words; no one questioned him.

"You know this already—even without leaning on our families, we can always scrape together a chunk of cash. If you ever need anything, just say the word."

Only now did Young Master Zhang speak up seriously.

"I get it. Don’t worry, I won’t be shy when the time comes."

Zhou Wang patted Zhang Zhiyuan’s shoulder.

"Good... You still haven’t answered Yiming. Are you done being busy?"

"I’m done for now. Why?"

Zhou Wang heard the implication in Young Master Zhang’s words and raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, it’s your birthday. You can’t just stand around in the cold out here, right?"

Young Master Zhang smiled meaningfully. "The brothers already set everything up for you. Just say it—are we going or not?"

Zhou Wang was stunned for a moment, then turned back to look at the brightly lit estate. A story about ’three monks and no water to drink’ flashed through his mind, and he said without the slightest hesitation:

"Let’s go. Why wouldn’t we?"