Brother Hao’s smile grew even wider, like a cunning hunter who had set the perfect trap, waiting for Hualing to fall into it.
“Want to settle this with money? That’s fine by me. Here’s the breach clause, and the penalty is listed at the end. Take a look yourself!”
After Brother Hao spoke, his assistant handed over a new document, filled with dense, mostly useless jargon.
Hualing flipped straight to the last page and saw the words:
“In summary, Hualing is required to pay Zhenghao Group a breach penalty of one billion yuan!”
“What? One billion? You… that’s outrageous! I’ve only earned ten million since my debut, and even if I gave you everything, it wouldn’t cover a fraction of that!”
Hualing seemed genuinely scared now, her pitiful expression enough to tug at anyone’s heartstrings.
But Brother Hao just sneered repeatedly.
“Outrageous? You’ve been in the industry long enough to know other companies’ contracts are even harsher. Besides, this is just your earnings multiplied by a hundred. What’s so outrageous about that?”
“And if you can’t pay, well, compensating with yourself isn’t out of the question. After all, we’re old acquaintances, aren’t we?”
At last, Brother Hao’s true colours showed, his sleazy expression resurfacing.
“You… you’re incorrigible! Believe me, I’ll call the police!”
Hualing, fuming, pulled out her phone to call the authorities, but Brother Hao grew even smugger.
“No need to call. There’s a police station in the next building. But without a shred of evidence, you’ll just be wasting your time!”
Now it seemed like Hualing was cornered. She looked dejectedly at Xu Fei, who took over the conversation.
“You want our Hualing to compensate with her body? You’re dreaming! It’s just money, right? We’ll pay you!”
From the moment Xu Fei strutted in with his brash attitude, Brother Hao had taken a strong dislike to him.
Hearing this now, he was delighted.
“Oh, looks like I’ve met a big shot today! What, you can cough up a billion just like that? Let’s see it then!”
Anyone in the business world knows that so-called net worth or valuations are often just hype.
Unless you’re at the very top of the pyramid or have planned well in advance, no one can pull together a billion on the spot. It takes time to gather that kind of money.
Brother Hao was banking on this, which fueled his arrogance.
But Xu Fei’s next move left him baffled.
Xu Fei cockily reached into his pocket, rummaged around, and finally pulled out a one-yuan coin, slapping it onto the table with a snap.
“There’s your compensation. If you’ve counted it and it’s enough, we’ll be off!”
With that, Xu Fei grabbed his wife and Hualing’s hands, ready to leave. Brother Hao, of course, wasn’t having it.
“Damn it! You’ve been playing me this whole time? Is this one yuan supposed to be for a beggar?”
Xu Fei smirked, feigning innocence.
“Hey, don’t slander me. I was genuinely offering to pay your penalty just now.”
“But you know, your idea wasn’t bad. Let’s say it’s for a beggar. Here, have another one!”
With that, Xu Fei pulled out another coin, but this time, before it even hit the table…
