Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 1125: Extras in Place

Chapter 1125: Chapter 1125: Extras in Place

Back then, rumors were flying everywhere, everyone was saying that X Fund had suffered significant losses and had squandered all the money invested by people.

Therefore, many buyers of X Fund flocked in, demanding an explanation or even attempting to withdraw their investments, causing the office of X Fund Company to be packed with people.

Facing this situation, the staff at X Fund were dumbfounded. They couldn’t remember so many people investing money, and withdrawing funds was not supposed to be done this forcibly. They wondered where all these people had come from.

Moreover, the minimum investment in X Fund started at ten million yuan. From the clothes and behavior of those demanding their debts, it was clear they weren’t the type to have that much money.

Lu Yi was outside, looking at the activity inside the X Fund Company through a telescope, and then made a phone call, "Hello, Xu Haowen, when will the next batch of extras arrive? Hurry up."

"I’m already moving as fast as I can," Xu Haowen replied, while grabbing a passerby, "Big brother, I need a favor. Go to that X Fund over there and stir up some trouble. Afterwards, I’ll give you fifty yuan."

Besides a regular job, Xu Haowen had joined several part-time job groups, doing gigs occasionally to make some extra income. Xu Haowen never dreamed that these part-time groups would come in so handy.

Now, besides personally pulling people to X Fund to create a scene, Xu Haowen had also posted messages in his part-time groups. Many people from these groups saw the message and rushed over to do the job, get paid, and then leave.

Lu Yi was recording videos with his phone at the entrance of X Fund Company, then edited the footage before posting it online with a sensational headline, "Severe Losses at X Fund, Hundreds of Clients Mob The Office, Investment Potentially Lost."

Naturally, the people at X Fund were not naive either; they realized something was off about these ’extras’ and started demanding proof, thinking that without evidence, these people had no right to continue causing trouble.

But all this was within the expectations of Lu Yi and Xu Haowen. They had already instructed their hired extras not to mind what X Fund asked, like how they bought the shares or their responsibility for the losses. If they answered based on the questions from X Fund, they were likely to slip up, so they were told just to lament, curse, and blame.

The extras followed the instructions, and an old man burst into tears, "I trusted you X Fund because everyone raved about how good you were. I put all my life savings in it, and now it’s all gone. How am I supposed to live?"

The people at X Fund remained patient and asked, "Old man, do you have any proof of your initial purchase of our X Fund?"

The old man looked regretful, "Of course I have proof! It was your people who recommended it to me. You promised it would be profitable, but who could have imagined you’d be such a rip-off?"

The people at X Fund maintained their smiles, "Old man, did you really buy our X Fund? Can you show us your proof?"

The old man suddenly started sobbing loudly, "My life savings! You are driving me to my grave. I scrimped and saved that money, how could you ruthlessly scam me like this."

"..." X Fund’s faces grew slightly more troubled, then they turned to ask another middle-aged man, "May I ask how you initially purchased our X Fund? Did you sign a contract?"

X Fund thought, as long as you describe the wrong purchasing process, it proves that you never bought our X Fund.

The middle-aged man looked distressed, "I’m begging you, can you please return my money? It was for the down payment on a house and the bride price, arranged by my parents for my marriage. If my parents find out I invested it all in your X Fund and lost it, I don’t know how I’d face them."

X Fund suppressed the impatience in their hearts and asked politely, "Could you please show me the basis on which you made the purchase?"

The middle-aged man became frantic, "I’ve been dating my girlfriend for half a year, and now we’re talking about marriage. If she finds out I’ve lost all our money, she will definitely leave me. I beg you, you must return the money to me no matter what."

"Sir, we can return the money to you, but you at least have to show us the basis on which you purchased our X Fund, including the amount involved." No sooner had the person from X Fund finished speaking than the crowd actors burst into an exhilarating cheer, "Did everyone hear that? X Fund said they can return our money."

The crowd actors were overjoyed, each pushing forward energetically as the crowd surged, frightening the people from X Fund into retreating.

After that, there were many people like the older man and the middle-aged man, speaking unpleasantly and with heavy accents, hassling and causing chaos, basically refusing to communicate properly with the people from X Fund.

When some passersby saw that X Fund was being approached for debt repayment, even more people took out their phones, recorded videos, and uploaded them online. The scene was simply worse than delaying payment to migrant workers.

Just like that, the reputation of X Fund was ruined, and the internet was filled with curses and accusations.

This was Gu Fan’s ultimate goal. With X Fund’s reputation in shambles, even if he called on those company CEOs to continue buying stocks with him, not many would respond. This meant the crisis was completely resolved.

Gu Fan watched the video sent by Lu Yi, laughing joyously. Looking at the robust curses from the evening, Gu Fan felt a great sense of relief that his efforts had not been in vain.

"All right, Lu Yi, and Xu Haowen, you can stop now," Gu Fan decided it was time to wrap things up since he had more important things to do.

Lu Yi immediately pulled back, pretending to be a passerby and left the scene. As he left, no new crowd actors arrived, and the old ones gradually left too. Naturally, these crowd actors would still need to go to Xu Haowen to get their pay.

For an entire afternoon, X Fund was tormented, finally enduring until all the crowd actors had left. They were extremely frustrated internally because they knew someone was sabotaging them, but they had no clue who it was.

This was a severe PR crisis. The internet was filled with extremely negative news about X Fund. If not managed well, X Fund’s reputation could suffer greatly, potentially ceasing their business worldwide.

As the people from X Fund were uncertain how to handle the situation, they had no choice but to call Haywes, hoping he could resolve the issue.

At that moment, Haywes had also seen the videos online about what happened at the X Fund Company’s entrance. He was bewildered by the situation – when had X Fund accumulated so many clients in this city?

"Gu Fan, did you do this to prevent X Fund from making a comeback and to eradicate the threat completely?" Haywes was no longer just hateful towards Gu Fan; he now also harbored a sense of fear, wondering just what kind of person Gu Fan was to be able to go this far.

Haywes once again remembered Helen’s warning that if he went to war with Gu Fan directly, he could lose disastrously.

Nevertheless, he had to resolve the current predicament first. Haywes didn’t dwell on it any further and set out for the location of X Fund Company. But before he left, he reminded his subordinates to keep a close watch on Li Shi – she was their last card to play.

(I’m not very versed in finance, so I can only write based on my imagination. Please forgive me, everyone.)