67: Chapter 67 A Thousand Pieces of Gold for Bones, A Bank's Backstabbing

Wei Jianguo looked at the mess all over the floor, then at the thirty million on his phone screen. The humiliation, frustration, and despair that had been bottled up for three whole years completely broke through at this moment.

His knees went weak, and he fell heavily onto the grease-stained floor tiles, covering his face with his hands and wailing loudly. The sound of his crying echoed in the cramped rental apartment, tearing at the heart.

After crying enough, Wei Jianguo wiped the tears and snot from his face, grabbed his ID card from the table, and rushed out the door.

"Tell the boss, even if I, Wei Jianguo, have to crawl, I will crawl all the way to Jiangcheng!"

Beijing, at a certain 211 university.

In the Underground Level 3 server room, the servers hummed, and the cold air made one's bones ache.

Professor Wang Shouyi was wearing a thick overcoat, sitting at a broken table writing code. Ten years ago, a foreign company came to the school for collaboration and brought an academic report with serious biases and technical traps for him to sign.

Wang Shouyi overturned the table on the spot and refused to sign. The consequence was that he was directly exiled by the school's upper management to this underground server room where he couldn't see the sun. He managed the servers for ten whole years and couldn't get a single cent of research funding.

The iron door of the server room was pushed open with force.

Three men in black suits walked in, and the leader walked straight up to Wang Shouyi.

"Professor Wang, it's quite cold here." The leader didn't waste words, pulling out a latest-model tablet and bringing up a file. "I'm from a headhunting firm. Take a look at this."

Wang Shouyi pushed up the heavy reading glasses on the bridge of his nose, his face full of vigilance.

"I don't take private work. You all leave."

"This isn't private work; this is a full-authority research funding authorization letter." The headhunter shoved the tablet into Wang Shouyi's hand. "Jiangcheng Chenguang Electronics Factory is currently poaching people all over the world; they want to build their own chip production line."

Wang Shouyi glanced at the screen.

Funding authorization limit: One billion. Research direction: Next-generation semiconductor underlying physical architecture. Authority: Full responsibility, no interference.

"Is your boss sick?" Wang Shouyi snorted coldly, pointing at the screen. "Handing over one billion to an old man who watches servers in a server room?"

"Our boss says that from the moment you refused to sign ten years ago, you were worth this price." The headhunter looked at him steadily. "He said the academic circle is not worthy of your integrity. He wants to build a brand new ultra-clean laboratory, and as long as you nod, you will be the general manager."

Wang Shouyi was stunned. His withered fingers caressed the edge of the tablet, and an uncontrollable fervor surged in his eyes.

Ten years of being sidelined; he thought he would just rot in this basement for the rest of his life.

"When do we leave?" Wang Shouyi asked decisively.

"The car is waiting for you outside to take you straight to the airport," the headhunter said.

Wang Shouyi stood up without any hesitation. He ripped off the university ID badge he had worn on his chest for ten years and tore it in half with force.

The ID badge snapped in two and he tossed it into the trash can.

"Let's go." Wang Shouyi pushed open the server room door and strode into the hallway.

That night, similar scenes were playing out simultaneously in corners of dozens of cities across the country.

Those top technical experts who had once refused to bend, who had been cornered by capital, and who had been heartlessly abandoned by the industry, were being forcibly reconnected and awakened by a cash flow so massive it defied reason.

Jiangcheng, Jinlan Hotel temporary office building.

Lao Zhou burst through the door of the factory director's office, looking like he had been fished out of the water; he was carrying his suit jacket in his hand, and his tie was pulled crooked.

Lu Chen had just sat down on the sofa, with Wu Dong and Da Biao following behind.

"President Lu! Something big has happened!" Lao Zhou's voice cracked, and he rushed straight to the coffee table.

Lu Chen glanced at him and picked up the stainless steel tea mug on the table.

"Has the sky fallen? Speak properly." Lu Chen took a sip of tea, his tone steady.

"The money won't go out!" Lao Zhou pressed his hands on the coffee table, panting heavily. "Just now, I was preparing to transfer the first deposit of 500 million into the joint accounts of three headhunting firms, but Jiangcheng Development Bank popped up a red warning, and the large-sum payment authority was forcibly shut down!"

Lu Chen's hand holding the tea mug didn't move.

Wu Dong, listening from the side, instantly widened his eyes. "Frozen? We have tens of billions in our account! What right do they have?"

"I was frantically calling President Ma Jianping's phone—it's turned off! I called the corporate account manager, and they just refused to answer! Finally, I asked someone I know on the inside and found out that not only is the large-sum payment closed, but even small daily transactions have been changed to manual review!"

Lao Zhou was so anxious he slapped his thigh. "They are clearly trying to lock down our entire capital chain!"

Lao Zhou paced around anxiously, pointing at his bloodshot eyes.

"President Lu, the headhunters have already negotiated with the first batch of over 300 core experts! They are all top-tier technical talents! Relocation fees, house purchase deposits, prepaid salaries—they are all waiting for the money to arrive this morning. If this money can't go out, what will they think of us?"

Lao Zhou's voice was trembling.

"The reputation of our Chenguang Electronics will be bankrupt! The situation we've built by pouring in billions will immediately become the biggest joke in the industry! We might even be labeled as financial fraudsters!"

Wu Dong stood by, cursing furiously.

"That old bastard President Ma Jianping! Damn it, yesterday at the auto show, he was still carrying two boxes of wild ginseng to our booth, nodding and bowing, begging President Lu to deposit more intent money in their bank. Only one night has passed, and he's already turned his back on us!" Wu Dong gritted his teeth. "He must have seen the semiconductor embargo issued by foreign capital and figured we'd be paralyzed without a chip production line. He's afraid we'll use these tens of billions to fill the hole, so he's protecting himself in advance!"

Lao Zhou looked at Lu Chen and said anxiously, "President Lu, what should we do now? How about... how about you call President Ma Jianping yourself? Swallow your pride, and let's get this 500 million transferred first. Otherwise, the headhunters will blow up immediately!"

Lu Chen listened quietly until the end. He didn't frown, there was no emotion of anger on his face, and even the rhythm of his breathing didn't change.

He put down the tea mug, the metal base clinking against the glass coffee table with a dull thud.

"Foreign capital just issued an embargo, and he immediately locked my capital pool." Lu Chen looked up, his eyes extremely cold.

"This is an attempt to let us die before the foreigners' sanctions take effect."

Wu Dong swallowed. "These finance guys are just like that, pure snobs. President Lu, the initiative is in their hands now; they have us by the throat. If we go and beg him, we'll definitely be trampled under his feet and humiliated."

Lao Zhou was also anxious. "But besides begging him, we can't get the money! This is our lifeline!"

Lu Chen stood up. He picked up the old black jacket draped over the back of the sofa, casually put it on, and zipped it halfway up.

"Beg him?" Lu Chen glanced at the two of them. "That word doesn't exist in my dictionary."

Wu Dong and Lao Zhou were both stunned.

"That is money in our own account, every cent is legal. What right does he have to withhold it?" Lu Chen brushed the dust off his jacket.

He turned his head and looked at Da Biao, who had been standing at the door without speaking.

"Da Biao."

"Yes! Boss." Da Biao straightened his posture.

"Get the car ready, and bring twenty brothers." Lu Chen walked out the door. "We're going to the headquarters of Jiangcheng Development Bank."

Lao Zhou was startled and hurriedly chased after him. "President Lu, what are you doing? The bank has heavy security. If this blows up..."

Lu Chen stopped at the door and looked back at Lao Zhou.

"Since President Ma likes to play the game of freezing funds, I'll go over personally to take a look and teach him that the meat on someone else's plate isn't something he can just withhold whenever he wants." Lu Chen's tone was calm, without any fluctuation.

"If we go too late, I'm afraid President Ma won't be able to get off work today."