Chapter 58 – Nomination

Although Kang Jian was naive from the beginning, it wasn’t as though he didn’t have any suspicions at all about this seemingly perfect investment opportunity.

However that night at the club Xiao Chen seemed to have a wide network. Almost all the bosses present greeted him and seemed to know him familiarly, and this made Kang Jian believe him already 20%. After that, Kang Jian made enquiries about Xiao Chen with Brother Dong and confirmed the two of them knew each other. Although Brother Dong said he wasn’t very clear about XIao Chen’s business, however Brother Dong said Xiao Chen was pretty good at borrowing and then repaying money. He wasn’t the kind of client that was struggling with debt. This made Kang Jian believe him 30%.

After that, Kang Jian tested the temperature first and picked the smallest investment available at the real estate company which was 2 million. After two weeks, just as the company promised, he earned about 60,000 yuan of profit. It went into his account, not even a cent was missing. Kang Jian’s heart immediately heated up.

Following that he put in 3 million, 5 million. All of the smaller investments were tested by Kang Jian. As he saw the profits flow unceasingly into his account, Kang Jian’s heart became more and more secure and he also trusted the company more and more.

All the way until Kang Jian finally made up his mind to put in a big amount. At this time it was unknown whether or not the company was too experienced with this type of greedy person or not, but they were very good at seizing the correct timing. Just at this time they threw out a very large-scale and extremely profitable big project. This was precisely the renovation of the old buildings in an elite area that Xiao Chen had talked to Kang Jian about before.

This time the real estate company provided a benefit which was the more you invested, the higher your return percentage would be. For anyone who invested over 30 million, they could get back over 30%. However if you invested over 50 million, then your return was over 50%. And the profit would be distributed over 12 months, every month you would receive a fixed amount into your account.

Such a high rate of profit. That meant that one year later, 30 million would turn into almost 40 million. Then if you invested the 40 million again, the second year it would turn into almost 55 million. The entire project would take about three years to complete. After the third year when the old buildings were completely renovated, their market value would approximately increase tenfold. It would be more than enough to support the earnings of these investments, they wouldn’t have any problems paying out.

When Kang Jian who already trusted the real estate company 90%, heard about this heart naturally beat in excitement. As for the 10% remaining, when he saw Xiao Chen also took out several tens of millions to investment, he didn’t have any hesitation left. He directly jumped over the 30 million option and went for the 50 million. This way he could earn the highest amount of interest. After two years ago, the value would be almost doubled and there will be nearly 100 million in his account book!

In order to achieve this beautiful future, Kang Jian who only had some 20 million or so on hand went around everywhere borrowing money. But if he wanted to use savings of 20 million to borrow another 20 million or more, than actually it was impossible by legitimate means. After all these were savings and not tangible assets.

However if legitimate means weren’t possible, then there was also illegitimate means. The first person Kang Jian thought of was Brother Dong. However Brother Dong actually went overseas on holidays at this crucial time. Thus Kang Jian asked Xiao Chen to help him, and Xiao Chen introduced him to a private money lender. Although the interest was very high, however compared to the earnings from the investment, it wasn’t anything.

Thus Kang Jian got his hands on 50 million. After he transferred the money to the real estate company happily, Qiu Qian received notice. He immediately made a few calls and instructed his people to “flip the cards”. “Flipping the cards” meant anonymously reporting the illegal activities of the real estate company to the authorities.

After all this real estate company had a very tempting structure. Normal people would not be able to see through it however if people in the know examined it, they would know that many of its practices were illegal. If the police investigated it, whether or not the people behind it would get prosecuted would have to be determined slowly, but the very first step would be freezing the accounts and assets of the company. This first step would be enough to knock Kang Jian over on the head. In addition, even after it was investigated for three to five years, it didn’t mean the investors would be able to get their money back. Because if there were any other people who have been victimized by the company, then the company’s assets would first have to be used to compensate these people.

{T/N: So legally speaking, after a company is declared fraudulent/proceeds of crime, it will be liquidated and people who have been victimized it will get paid. However the law generally takes into account how innocent you are. For example if the company owes money to construction companies, contractors etc. who are unaware of their fraudulent activities, then they would get paid before someone like Kang Jian who strictly speaking, should have known that there was something dodgy about he was getting himself into. Plus that’s if the money hasn’t already disappeared somewhere to the Cayman Islands lol.}

In other words, as soon as Qiu Qian made the phone call then Kang Jian’s 50 million were as a good as thrown into the bottom of a lake.

As for Kang Jian, this was something he would only learn much later.

***

Just as Kang Jian was walking, step by step, into the valley of despair, “Ending” finished its run in the cinemas. The total box office earnings was a beautiful 6.3 billion. For a movie like “Ending” which didn’t have any special effects, and was purely a plot-driven drama, to be able to surpass an entertaining movie like “Gold” really showed that it was one of the most popular movies in this last couple of years.

For this the Director Xu Wei was so happy she couldn’t stop smiling. Originally when she decided to make this movie she had already prepared herself mentally to lose money, for this reason she had even invested a lot of her own money. She thought this way she could help shoulder some of the losses and prevent too many problems when she wanted to look for funding down the road. However now that she achieved this kind of result, it meant that she actually earnt a good amount. And not just that, the main investing owner was even more overjoyed and almost wanted to set Bai Lang up on a pedestal.

As for why he wanted to put Bai Lang up? Because at the end of filming reception, Xu Wei had shared her thoughts that in this movie, other than her own personal experiences, Bai Lang had also provided a lot of insight into the pain and suffering of someone who had a terminal illness. It was through the two of them sharing and inspiring each other that such heart-rendering and realistic scenes could appear in front of the camera.

Qiu Qian heard about this late. Only then he did he realize that while filming this movie, Bai Lang’s unstable mood was because he was constantly immersing himself in the scenes and feelings of his death from three years earlier. He was extremely angry and almost, almost… actually not anything really, because he could not bear to hurt Bai Lang even a little bit. He could only grab the person, rub him and bite him, as though he wanted to eat this person into his belly.

So all Bai Lang needed to do was pretend to be even more obedient in front of Qiu Qian to pacify him.

About two months later, the “Golden Emperor” awards published their nominations for the best male actor. For the second time Bai Lang’s name was among them. Invitations to various awards again came falling in like snow, however because of Qiu Qian’s black face, Bai Lang pushed them all to Fang Hua to deal with. And since Fang Hua was Qiu Qian’s underling, how else could she deal with it? She could only laugh mirthlessly as she pushed away all these invitations that if it was given to anyone else, would be golden opportunities.

From the above it may seem that Qiu Qian was being a bit overbearing towards Bai Lang, however in actual fact it was only that Bai Lang was happy to let him behave that way. Because if Bai Lang really wanted to do something, then the person that would have to give way in the end would be Qiu Qian.

A prime example of this would be the brand representation for Rong Air.

As Rong Air’s brand spokesperson, Bai Lang had actually skipped out on Rong Air for three years. When Bai Lang had come out of the closet, Rong Air had supported him and signed a five year contract with him. However not long after, Qiu Qian had had a car accident and Bai Lang had thrown everything aside and left the country to take care of him. Naturally his contract with Rong Air was delayed.

Because the reasons behind it were understandable, so of course the Rong family didn’t mind. When Bai Lang returned, although the contract was still in effect, whether or not to continue it was something they could choose. After it wasn’t as though in these three years Rong Air didn’t have a spokesperson, of course they had found a new one. So it wasn’t as though it had to be Bai Lang and no other. Under this kind of circumstances, the decision whether or not to cancel the contract of course lay with Rong Air

So of course when he received Rong Air’s inquiry whether or not he was available to continue the contract of being their spokesperson, Bai Lang immediately agreed.

“What did you say?” Qiu Qian’s breathing went short and his face went black.

Since he wanted to challenge Qiu Qian’s bottom line, Bai Lang cleverly picked a time when he was eating.

“Back then when I signed the contract with them, I asked them to pause it for three years. Now they’ve come to ask, and I looked at the content and it’s just filming a short advertisement and some calendar events. There’s nothing heavy or difficult…” Bai Lang trailed off as he turned to look the messily eating Qiu XiaoHai. He reminded him, “Xiao Hai, eat slower. If you eat slower it’s better for the digestion.”

However Qiu XiaoHai didn’t reply. His two large and shiny eyes showing over the curve of the bowl turned around a few times, then he buried his face in the bowl and began slurping the noodles again vigorously. He wasn’t wrong. Just by looking at Qiu Qian’s face it was easy to see the best move would be to eat quickly.

Tonight Bai Lang had made them clam, radish and spring opinion noodles. The broth was clear and fragrant, the clams were slightly sweet and the radish was slightly bitter. And there was also a heap of spring opinions. The flavor was delicious and not heavy. The Qiu family big and small had both asked for a second bowl.

At this time Qiu Qian, with a [kuang!] sound, placed down his bowl. “You told me before that you would listen to me regarding this half year of work.”

“Of course, I’ll listen to you.” Bai Lang said reassuringly. “That’s why I’m asking you for your opinion. Rong family has given has a lot of support over the years, including when we came out of the closet and also during your accident. If there is a chance to repay the Rong family, just being a spokesperson should be anything right? What do you think?”

Qiu Qian narrowed his eyes and didn’t fall into Bai Lang’s trap. “I don’t mind repaying them, but you can wait until your body is better.”

Bai Lang sighed. He admitted honestly, “I’m very sorry to have made you worry before. If I knew it would be like this, then I would definitely have allowed the medical team on set. I didn’t expect that my mood would run into a problem.”

“So in the future you need to listen to me.” Qiu Qian picked up his bowl again slowly, indicating the discussion was at an end.

Bai Lang nodded his head. He said, “Okay. So when I’m filming the advertisement, the medical team can definitely come.”

Qiu Qian discarded his bowl again. His face sunk. “You really insist?”

Bai Lang’s smile was a bit complicated. “…. actually, when Er Hong told me that you had your  accident, the Qiu family was in a bit of chaos. He wanted to call out the Qiu family’s private airplane but ran into some problems. We were standing at the airport and every minute, every second, was hard to bear. Luckily the Rong family intervened and transported us to your side earlier.”

When he spoke of this, Qiu XiaoHai also put down his bowl. His face was conflicted.

Bai Lang saw this and rubbed Qiu XiaoHai’s head. “That’s why we need to remember when other people have helped us, got it?”

“En!” Qiu XiaoHai nodded his head vigorously. Then he got up from his chair and threw himself into Bai Lang’s lap, he wanted Bai Lang to hug him. Every time when he thought of those gray days full of darkness, Qiu XiaoHai would want to be comforted. “I will be very, very good to Ah Zan oh.”

Bai Lang kissed Qiu XiaoHai’s forehead. The next second it was his turn to be tightly embraced by Qiu Qian who came over. Even Qiu XiaoHai was enveloped in the same hug.

“I owe the two of you. I will pay you back well.” Qiu Qian voice was a bit thick.

“That’s not called owing,” Bai Lang rubbed himself against Qiu Qian’s chest. “It’s called letting one feel even more grateful and treasuring what one has.”

Qiu Qian’s heart went warm, and hugged them even tighter.

Of course, regarding Rong Air’s job, Bai Lang had gotten the permission he wanted.

***

An amusing interlude that happened the next day was when Qiu XiaoHai arrived at school, he brainlessly ran to embrace Rong Zan and patted his back.

“Ah Zan, if you want something just tell me ah. I will be really, really, really good to you oh.”

Rong Zan’s beautiful eyes blinked. He returned Qiu XiaoHai’s hug. He didn’t demur but accepted it straightforwardly, “En. It’s a promise.”

Qiu XiaoHai vigorously nodded his head. He completely didn’t know that from this moment on, he had already sold himself.

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