E-Ladies: Navigating the Wired World
Chapter 121: Episode 121: Why Not Discuss Your Troubles with Friends?

Chapter 121: Episode 121: Why Not Discuss Your Troubles with Friends?

After the anniversary celebration, everyone worked with even more dedication, and Zhou Xueyin also realized that regular gatherings for eating, drinking, playing, and making merry indeed helped to improve employee cohesion.

So she suggested holding a company dinner event once a month, which was not mandatory—those who wanted to come could simply show up.

At the same time, she also arranged employee birthday celebrations.

She even had Wang Anqi set aside a special fund for team building, to be used exclusively for that purpose. If different departments wanted to have activities on their own, they could apply for this funding as well.

With this proposal, everyone also felt that working for Zhou Xueyin was much more comfortable and relaxed than working for those exploitative capitalists, so they worked even harder, making sure not to slack off during working hours.

On a cloudy afternoon in November 2006, after Zhou Xueyin returned from meeting a client, she found a crowd gathered at the base of the Dinghao Building.

"Such a young man, insisting on jumping off a building... tsk tsk tsk..."

"I heard that this young man’s boss ran off with the money..."

"Hey, hey! I also heard that this kid was set up, lots of companies are suing him for fraud, even if he doesn’t die now, he’ll end up with the death penalty..."

As Zhou Xueyin moved through the onlookers, she heard their whispers. So she too looked up, toward the rooftop of the annex building.

Why does that silhouette look so familiar?

Zhou Xueyin might not usually take much care of her eyesight, but it must be natural, for her vision had always been around 5.0, so she quickly recognized the person standing on the rooftop as an acquaintance of hers.

’This idiot! What kind of problem can only be solved by suicide?’ Zhou Xueyin quickly made her way through the crowd and pressed the elevator button to reach the top floor of the annex building.

The passage leading to the rooftop was encircled by layers of people, and there were many police officers and firefighters present as well.

"Excuse me, let me through... I’m a friend of that person! His name is Da Boyi! He’s definitely not the kind of person to jump off buildings! There must be some hidden story here! Please let me talk to him!" Zhou Xueyin anxiously jumped up and down.

"Are you sure you can persuade him to come down?" Despite the noisy environment, there were police officers with good hearing who picked up on Zhou Xueyin’s words.

"I should be able to..." Zhou Xueyin wasn’t entirely sure herself, but she believed that persuasion from an acquaintance should be more effective than that from a stranger.

So the police officer led Zhou Xueyin up to the rooftop, where the cold wind blew and she couldn’t help but shiver.

She had no idea how long Da Boyi had been standing there, or how much longer he could hold on. They needed to resolve this quickly, Zhou Xueyin commanded herself.

"Big Wave E! It’s Yinyin! Please don’t do anything rash! Please don’t!" Zhou Xueyin slowly moved her feet towards where Da Boyi was standing.

"Yinyin... I... sob sob sob..." They say real men don’t cry easily, but upon seeing Zhou Xueyin, tears streamed down Da Boyi’s face.

It appeared that the gossip of the onlookers wasn’t false; he must have been deceived by his superior...

"Let’s talk this out, come here. It’s freezing..." Zhou Xueyin reached out to Da Boyi, "Come on, slowly..."

"Yinyin, just listen to me to the end... I’ve already written my suicide note, and filled out the organ donation form..." Da Boyi let his tears flow freely. "I can’t let my wife and child bear my debts..."

"It’s not true that by jumping down, you can solve the debt issue! Listen to me, come back here first, and let’s figure out a solution together, okay?" Zhou Xueyin was desperately persuading, her feet also slowly moving towards Da Boyi.

"I bought myself an insurance policy with a coverage of 1 million... With that money, the two of them should be able to live better than being stuck with me and my debts." From Da Boyi’s eyes, Zhou Xueyin could no longer see any spark of life.

"The insurance won’t be effective until three years later! Even if you jump now, they can’t get the insurance money! Believe me!" Zhou Xueyin’s maternal aunt worked at an insurance company, and she had heard about insurance scams involving suicide, so she knew quite a bit about this.

"..." Da Boyi wavered for a moment but still felt a sense of hopelessness.

"How about this, didn’t you invest money with me? Let me first take out a portion to cover this hole in your finances. We can think of other solutions for the rest later, okay?" This was the only rescue plan Zhou Xueyin could think of at the moment.

"No, no, that would bring you losses!" Da Boyi disagreed with this solution.

"Don’t worry, it won’t! The money you invested, we’ve already made back! Quickly come back here! Let’s figure out a solution together! I’m sure your wife and daughter wouldn’t want to go through life without you by their side!"

Zhou Xueyin had slowly moved to Da Boyi’s side. With the help of two police officers nearby, she quickly pulled him back from the edge of the building.

The anxiety that had been gripping her heart finally settled.

"Yinyin... sob sob sob..." At this moment, Da Boyi seemed to come back to his senses and started sobbing uncontrollably as he hugged Zhou Xueyin.

"It’s okay, it’s okay, stop crying. So many people are watching..." Zhou Xueyin patted his back awkwardly.

"Thank you, you saved my life... sob sob sob..."

The Da Boyi who had been standing at the edge of the building just a moment ago, as if possessed, was so hard to persuade back, but now he finally came to his senses. He was crying because of the shock and fear from the experience.

"Alright, let’s disperse... It’s okay now!" Zhou Xueyin took Da Boyi back to the company, having Sun Miao go downstairs to KFC to buy two cups of hot chocolate.

She also turned the heater in the conference room up to the maximum. Not to mention Da Boyi, even Zhou Xueyin herself had been shivering with cold on the nearby building’s rooftop just before. Without something to warm up, she really couldn’t stand it anymore.

"Tell me, what happened?" Zhou Xueyin asked wrapping herself in a blanket and warming her hands with the hot chocolate.

"We colluded with a shell company. They had me sign orders to swindle company investment funds, at least 1.8 million, and then that scumbag ran off with the money." Da Boyi said weakly.

"Did you call the police? Did you report it?" Zhou Xueyin asked anxiously.

"I did, but since I signed the orders and failed to see through the company, I’m partly liable..." Da Boyi sighed, "Even if I managed to recover the funds from the deals I signed, it wouldn’t be enough to cover the loss..."

"But the problem is, it’s not you who took the money. Why should your company make you pay? It doesn’t make sense!" Zhou Xueyin argued on Da Boyi’s behalf.

"But someone has to take the blame... Sigh..." Da Boyi sighed again. He could only say that misfortune had fallen upon him.

"This way, I can promise you a return on your investment of about 800K... that 1 million..." Zhou Xueyin was also feeling distressed.

The year-end was approaching fast. With client gratitude payments, investment feedback funds for Jiang Chunming, plus year-end bonuses for employees, and so forth...

"Getting back 800K would already be a huge blessing! I’ll find a way for that 1 million myself..." Da Boyi looked at Zhou Xueyin gratefully.