Capítulo 745: Chapter 241: Making the Most of What’s Left

Even if it’s just for show, the final judgment result will be enforced. Based on our understanding of their financial situation, they likely don’t have enough money to comply.

So in all probability, their house will be auctioned, but clearly, that won’t cover the debt, so they’ll have to declare bankruptcy. I wonder if this news will make you feel any better.

At least in the future, you won’t have to worry about not being able to pay the inheritance tax. Of course, you don’t need to worry too much about them. There will be someone monitoring them at all times, and until it’s confirmed they have no value left, at least they won’t starve to death from lack of food.”

These words finally made Frank completely quiet.

He suddenly realized that no matter how wrong his parents had been, they were subconsciously his last reliance, his only chance to rise again.

After all, there’s a very peculiar rule in this country. If you want to find a decent formal job, you first need a formal address to receive mail, even if it’s rented. Otherwise, no legitimate company would hire you.

This is also why it’s hard to get back on your feet once you become homeless. So now the situation is, if he’s proven worthless, the whole family will become homeless. Two old people don’t matter, but what about his future?

If he becomes a vagrant, it means outside of those food banks, no institution will serve him. He can’t even buy a ticket back to Huaxia on his own.

Wouldn’t that mean his life is completely ruined? He remembers reading a research report once; in this country, once you become homeless, your expected average lifespan is only about three to four years.

Living in the most chaotic neighborhoods and suffering from long-term malnutrition, if you still manage to live long, then it’s got to be the favor of Lady Luck. If he were so lucky, he probably wouldn’t be in this predicament now.

For a moment, Frank felt lost.

What on earth is wrong with this fucking world? What did he do wrong? Why does it treat him this way?!

…

Huaxia, Beijing.

Qiao Yu had just feasted in the cafeteria and lazily stood by the window in his office, gazing out at the scenery.

He had to admit, Tian Yanzhen’s choice of this office for Qiao Yu had a very nice view.

With just a slight shift in perspective, he could take in two of the most famous sights on campus—Weiming Lake and Boya Tower.

The campus, buzzing with youthful energy in the middle of the semester, made even the faint hints of autumn seem insignificant.

This made Qiao Yu feel a bit melancholy…

His youth had almost slipped away silently. In the past year, he lost his precious first love, first kiss, and wonderful college life.

The woman who took away all the best parts of his life was still irresponsibly attending high school.

Now even his graduate studies would end in less than half a year, and he couldn’t even fight against it.

So this is probably what the person in the White House referred to as life.

This gave Qiao Yu a different insight into life—whenever one gains something, one inevitably loses something as well.

Just like now, he had money, fame, everything he once wanted, but lost his youth…

“Knock, knock, knock”

While Qiao Yu was indulging in his own world of melancholy, a clear knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Come in.” Qiao Yu responded casually, without turning around, knowing it was Zheng Xiweng again.

Every time, the knocking was very rhythmic, always three times, no more, no less, with the same interval between knocks. One might think it was some sort of secret code.

“Not busy anymore?” Zheng Xiweng walked into the office, seeing Qiao Yu’s back facing the window.

Looking at Qiao Yu’s back, Zheng Xiweng didn’t sense any loneliness or nostalgia. On the contrary, he thought Qiao Yu might be celebrating?

Well, he couldn’t guess what was going on in Qiao Yu’s head. Not just him, Zheng Xiweng felt there were few in the world who could guess what Qiao Yu was thinking.

He only hoped that this young genius would focus more on academia and less on pondering over people and matters, which would be a great fortune for the world.

“We’ve pretty much wrapped up the talks. Just waiting on their reply, not busy with anything else. There should be some free time now until the project team gets set up and starts keeping busy.”

Talking, Qiao Yu withdrew his gaze from the window, turned around, and walked to his desk, sitting down squarely.

Qiao Yu felt his series of actions were fluid and mature, almost explosively so because Director Tian often did it this way. In comparison, he just lacked sipping a cup of tea.

Thinking of this, Qiao Yu glanced at his transparent cup filled with plain water, contemplating whether to replace it with a large teacup.

Since youth was gone, it was time to completely sever ties with the past immaturity. Being neither here nor there was the worst.

“By the way, why are you looking for me, Old Zheng?”

Old Zheng…

Zheng Xiweng savored his new nickname, shook his head slightly, then tossed it aside, letting him call whatever he likes.

“We communicated with our counterparts across the way, and if you’d like to bring Feng Yu and his family back to Huaxia, we can arrange that immediately. Considering their current situation, it might be quite troublesome to bring them back later.”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Yu’s mind first conjured up the dilapidated Railway New Village community environment. It’s a pity; he hadn’t gotten to implement the renovation plan for the community.

Otherwise, he might have let them come and see how beautiful the once old community looked, so now was definitely not the time.

So he lazily said, “Why bring them back? Their money’s probably all gone by now, right? Even the retirement money’s gone; are you going to buy them retirement insurance?”

Though he was rebuffed, Zheng Xiweng wasn’t annoyed and continued, in earnest, “For your sake, supporting a few idle people isn’t an issue. To put it bluntly, the main concern is that you might regret it later.”

“Pfft… Me? Regret? No way, Da Qing has been gone for two hundred years; this is New Huaxia now. To be honest, I’ve only met that man twice, exchanged less than three sentences, and never met his family.

You don’t think I’d have any emotional foundation with strangers, right? Knowing they’re in trouble, I’d barely have time to gloat over their misfortune, and you still want me to bring home a live dad? Old Zheng, you’re not trying to make fun of me, are you?”

Qiao Yu scoffed.

When negotiating with Google, including such a clause was purely to facilitate the negotiation’s progress, a bit of waste utilization.

Proposing a seemingly absurd condition with factual reasoning to intimidate the other, once the absurd condition is settled, subsequent negotiations would proceed more smoothly.

This is a basic tactic in game theory, called high-start-point negotiation strategy. Using this method can narrow down the negotiation range of the stronger side into a more advantageous position.

So it can also be called “deterrent pricing.” He just used it casually, leveraging that man’s situation as a cost.

Turns out the strategy worked pretty well.

In the future, that man should thank him for putting everything to good use…

Regret is naturally out of the question.

Only if they can’t overcome this hurdle and can’t come to Huaxia to see how beautiful the new Railway New Village is in the future, would there be a slight regret.

“Then we’ll really ignore it. Their future situation may not be very good. There’s a high chance of becoming homeless, you know…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, homeless… sounds quite tragic… but what’s it to me? By the way, you don’t need to tell me about them in the future, and don’t tell my mom either. I’ve already let go of this matter.”