Transmigration: On the Gossip Front
Chapter 384 Unlucky Female Educated Youth 84_1

Chapter 384: Chapter 384 Unlucky Female Educated Youth 84_1

Despite being a busy person, Huang Lei occasionally thought of the day Wang Nan, spurred by a comment from Zhang Xia, stormed out and never appeared again.

She just briefly reminisced about it before quickly moving on to other matters.

It had been a long time since she thought of Fan Xiaofei and his wife as well.

Had Zhao Aoran not returned to Capital City to take up a post and invited them along with Zhang Xia for a dinner, she would not have remembered them at all.

After various experiences thriving in the outside world, Zhao Aoran gradually climbed up the ranks. This time, his return to Capital City likely meant he wouldn’t be going anywhere else, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

As a discarded scion from a small local family, reaching his current status far exceeded his expectations.

Even if it was a lateral move into Capital City, Zhao Aoran was very happy and stated that unless there were too many unexpected events, he could still make slight progress.

To ascend any higher in this lifetime would be impossible; his wife’s family wasn’t from a notable clan either. It was already impressive that they could help him reach his current position.

Now, he was looking forward to strengthening his wife’s family’s power. That way, when his son entered the bureaucratic path, he could provide more support for his child.

When Zhao Aoran’s wife saw Huang Lei, she was slightly taken aback. Over the years, despite following Zhao Aoran all over, she occasionally returned to Capital City and saw the couple in the news.

Although they were of similar ages, Huang Lei always seemed much younger.

Mrs. Zhao actually had many thoughts about Huang Lei. She knew if Huang Lei hadn’t been disinterested in Zhao Aoran, outright rejecting his courtship,

who Mrs. Zhao would be was an unknown.

After many years of marriage, she was well aware of Zhao Aoran’s regard for power and status. She couldn’t be sure which was more important to him, his position or herself.

The only certainty was that if Huang Lei ever needed help, as long as he knew, he would definitely search for connections to get things settled quietly.

He wouldn’t mention it to Huang Lei, acting as if the problem’s resolution had nothing to do with him.

Seeing Huang Lei, Mrs. Zhao couldn’t help feeling a sourness, despite knowing their relationship was impossible—it was sourness through and through.

Huang Lei was used to Zhao Aoran’s wife’s strange expressions.

After all, there was no affair between her and Zhao Aoran. Not only were they already each married, responsible for their own families,

but even when they were both single, she could assert that there was absolute transparency between them.

Huang Lei greeted them with a smile, "Congratulations, congratulations."

"Congratulations to you too," replied Zhao Aoran, knowing that Huang Lei had secured another base. "By the way, many companies are seeking to go public now."

"I haven’t considered it," Huang Lei replied promptly. "I haven’t thought about going public."

Ho Ming wasn’t hesitant either, "I haven’t considered going public, either."

He had thought about going public before, but decided against it in the end.

Knowing how founders could be swiftly pushed out by investors after a company goes public made him completely lose interest in the idea.

Though such events hadn’t occurred domestically yet, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t happen to him.

By then, he would have no choice but to obediently follow the investors’ decisions, something Ho Ming could not accept.

Not going public? Zhao Aoran was surprised. The dinner invitation for Huang Lei and her husband harbored a small ulterior motive on his part—that Huang Lei’s enterprises would consider going public.

The more companies listed, the better it reflected on the leadership’s achievements. He had thought it was a win-win situation.

Nobody expected Huang Lei and her partner to answer so promptly. "Isn’t it a good thing, why wouldn’t you?"

"You forget that I studied finance."

"Even though I’m not in the finance industry now, I’m still well-informed."

"Once a company goes public, I have to be responsible to a broad spectrum of shareholders and investors. What are investors? They aim to make the maximum profit with the smallest investment."

"And all these ideas are contrary to ours."

"What’s more important is that it’s unknown who will have a say in the company by then."

"We don’t want to struggle and strive only to make a wedding dress for someone else."

"As for going public, many do it just to raise funds, and we don’t need to."

"Companies that don’t go public don’t need to disclose their financial statements."

"Outsiders won’t know the extent of our family’s wealth."

Although Zhao Aoran had been in charge of financial matters for years, it was the first time someone had spoken to him so directly about these theories.

"Many family businesses’ parent or core companies won’t go public. Even if they do, it’s usually subsidiaries."

"Moreover, our company’s annual profits are sufficient for our needs. There’s no need to share them with others."

"To lose the company over some petty cash, forget it."

Huang Lei and her spouse insisted on not going public, so Zhao Aoran couldn’t force them and switched the conversation to other matters.

They had both spent time on a farm, so they discussed gatherings at the farm and the current circumstances of people they knew.

As such, there was no way to avoid talking about Fan Xiaofei and Wang Nan, "The last time I saw Fan Xiaofei, he looked haggard."

Fan Xiaofei? "Is he living in a very wretched state now?" Since moving, Zhao Ya had not gone back many times.

Later on, when they brought up the topic, they mentioned that family had sold their courtyard house because of business failure and no one knew where they had gone.

Knowing that they had fallen to such a state, one could guess that Fan Xiaofei was no better off.

"He didn’t want to have anything to do with me, but seeing how he looked, I inquired about him." Zhao Aoran never expected that Fan Xiaofei would end up in such dire straits.

"He put all his wealth into some Capital City magnate’s project."

"Initially, things went well, and he received a considerable dividend. He got so excited that he reinvested the dividends, and even put in money he earned from outside."

"And then the people took the money and ran."

Zhao Aoran really didn’t understand how Fan Xiaofei, who’d been in the business circle for so long, could have been deceived like that.

"Took the money and ran?" Huang Lei looked at Ho Ming, who thought for a moment before explaining, "The investment projects, actually, most of them incur losses."

"They weren’t supposed to lose that much, but that guy had a first love overseas. She said there was a lucrative project and promised big returns."

"He secretly moved the money over, thinking he could gain huge profits at a small cost."

"Only later did it come to light that his first love abroad was squandering the money on various indulgences, wasting it all away."

"There are also rumors that they planned to move the money overseas, and they’re living quite comfortably there."

"Of course, I’m not entirely clear on whether this is the case."

Since all the people involved have vanished, no one knows the specifics of what happened.

"I see." Huang Lei was curious, "But if it affected so many people, how come there was no uproar?"

Otherwise, she would have known about it for sure; they weren’t small amounts of money involved, and anyone would feel the pinch.

"How could there be an uproar? They sold the house, paid the workers’ wages, and took care of the taxes before they disappeared."

"They also repaid the loans they owed the bank."

"And the debts for goods were paid off too."

"The only ones left owed were those who were lured by high returns."

"They invested under the pretense of investment, and now that the project has failed and the money is gone, what can they do?"