Twenty-one hours later, ten o'clock in the morning Milan time.
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II just woke up in the warm morning light, and travelers from all over the world poured in.
This fashion commercial street, which is famous in Italy and even in the world, has gathered countless luxury lovers as always, and the frenzy remains undiminished in the cold early winter season.
Xu Qiao pushed the coat box into the Cross Arcade, stopped in front of an independent store called "Y&E" in the inner side, took off her sunglasses and knocked on the glass door twice.
The Chinese woman who was cleaning the window in the store raised her eyes and waved to her in surprise: "Qiao!"
Xu Qiao pushed the door open and entered.
This is a well-known one-stop private customization brand of jewelry and clothing in the Italian wealthy circle. The hostess Yu Jin is a Chinese jewelry designer, and the host Elio is an Italian fashion designer. The two went from partners to marriage seven years ago, and they are still in love with each other, making a rare story in the industry.
Xu Qiao and her husband met at the Milan Spring/Summer Fashion Week three years ago, and they hit it off because of their similar aesthetic tastes.
"Elio!" Yu Jin yelled into the room while taking Xu Qiao's coat box, "Come on, your muse has arrived early!"
Xu Qiao made a "stop" gesture: "I don't accept flattery, I just blow rainbow farts to him occasionally."
"This is hard to come by! His style is rarely popular in China. Every time you praise him, he can sit in front of the computer and draw design drafts all night excitedly! I didn't see you this autumn and winter fashion week, he Depressed and refused to work for a whole week!"
There was an Italian sentence from inside, and it was Elio who said, "I'll change and come back again."
Yu Jin rolled her eyes: "Listen, I'm going to be jealous of you!"
Xu Qiao could roughly understand a few words of Italian, raised her hands in surrender and said, "Don't worry, I'm not interested in men with beards."
In the middle, Elio replied in broken Chinese: "I'll cut it right away!"
This is of course a joke.
When Elio dressed up to meet Xu Qiao, she still saw his full beard.
"Didn't you say you will come the day after tomorrow? I'm not ready!" Elio complained, spreading his hands.
The smile on Xu Qiao's face faded.
According to the original plan, she would go shopping in Milan for a few days before finding Yujin and Elio to talk about the past, but when she just arrived in Milan from Paris, she received a message from her father. Remit some of the remaining money in the card to him, and then return it as soon as possible.
She turned her head away, and she only kept pocket money on her side. After a day, she spent a lot of money. This morning, she urged her father to help her, but found that the family's mobile phones were collectively turned off, while the company's phone was connected. No one answered.
She wanted to ask Zhu Li if something went wrong in her family, but Zhu Li also lost contact.
She didn't even have the money left to buy a plane ticket to return home, and she was a little flustered. She was alone in Milan and had no relatives, so she could only turn to Yujin and Elio for help.
When the two heard this, they restrained their joking attitude.
"Of course we are willing to lend you money, but I think you should find out what happened at home first, and rush back like this, what if something bad happens?" Yu Jin said, "You still have close friends in China. Friends? Get in touch and try, it’s impossible for everyone to disappear!”
Xu Qiao's restlessness was completely exposed under the reminder of these words, and her hand trembling slightly while flipping through the phone's address book.
Before finding the right candidate, there was a sudden vibration in the palm of my hand.
She almost dropped her mobile phone, but when she managed to hold it steady, she saw a text message from Xu Kangrong. The message bar displayed the opening sentence: "Qiaoqiao, Dad, I'm sorry..."
Her heart sank to the bottom in an instant, and her fingertips hung above the screen without pressing it down.
All bad conjectures flooded into my mind in an instant.
Yu Jin held her shoulder: "Look quickly, at least it means that your father is fine, doesn't it?"
Xu Qiao nodded in a daze, and clicked on the SMS details page.
"Qiaoqiao, Dad is sorry for you. Dad thought everything would get better, so he kept hiding it from you. In fact, Jinlu encountered a huge financial crisis in the middle of this year. Dad worked hard for half a year, but he still failed to save the company. I took out a large loan from the bank. The company will enter bankruptcy liquidation soon, and all the movable and immovable properties of our family, including your luxury goods, will be forcibly auctioned by the bank. I'm sorry, Qiaoqiao, Dad has nothing left for you. Dad can only promise that these debts will not fall on your shoulders... "
Xu Qiao looked at the densely packed screen in confusion. She knew how to write and read these words separately, but what they meant and what they meant when they were combined made her extremely puzzled at this moment, so that every sentence was so confusing. You have to go back and read it twice to understand.
"This is a text message sent regularly. When you read these words, Lie Lie has already gone to other countries with his mother, and his father has also gone to Southeast Asia. Dad has some old friends here, and he will find ways to find business opportunities to make a comeback, but here is too much. Good and evil are mixed together, so it is inconvenient to take you with me for the time being. You listen to your father, go back to China and find a friend to take care of you for a while, and when your father is stable, he will contact you as soon as possible. In the end, father knows that compared to those luxuries, you can't give up your mother's letter , Dad took them out of the safe before leaving, and entrusted them to the second son of the Cheng family, you can ask him to get them. Take good care of yourself, don't spoil your body, be worthy of your mother, and wait for Dad to come back to pick you up. "
The store was so quiet that a needle could be heard, Xu Qiao held the phone expressionlessly and said nothing.
In the dead silence, a customer pushed the door and entered, and Elio waved his hand to express his apology, and we can't open today.
Xu Qiao seemed to be awakened by this movement, and finally understood what was going on. She raised her head dully, looked at Yu Jin and said, "Our family has nothing, I have nothing..."
—
Yu Jin felt that Xu Qiao's reaction was considered calm as a wealthy daughter who had undergone great changes in her family.
She didn't cry or run wild, and after half a day without a drop of water, she seemed to suddenly remember her father's advice to take good care of herself, saying that she had hypoglycemia and had to eat, so she immediately stuffed it with milk for three days. Slice of toast.
Although Yu Jin and Xu Qiao are very speculative in jewelry design, their understanding of her is only superficial, so they can't tell whether she is really calm or pretending to be calm.
But no matter what, from the perspective of a bystander, Yu Jin's mind is clearer than that of Xu Qiao who was hit hard.
So in the evening, when Xu Qiao proposed to listen to her father and buy a ticket to return home, Yu Jin stopped her.
"I don't think you can go back to China now." Yu Jin said, "You haven't contacted your girlfriend all day today. Will you be able to find her when you go back to China?"
Xu Qiao lowered her eyes: "Her family really doesn't like our family very much, maybe..."
"It may be that their family is unwilling to disturb this muddy water. She was forced to cut off contact with you because of her family's obstruction. So if you go back now, you may not be able to find her to take you in. Your company has not officially entered the bankruptcy process, and the salary of employees They didn't get liquidation compensation either. If you don't have a place to stay in Beicheng, you're likely to run into trouble."
"You don't have any family members there anymore, and it's unknown whether you still have friends from the past. Why rush back and put yourself in trouble? Your visa hasn't expired yet, why don't you stay here to avoid the limelight."
Xu Qiao shook her head: "But I'm penniless now, and I can't afford Milan's high board and lodging expenses."
Yu Jin laughed: "How come? Your talent is the most valuable thing in you. Why are the jewelry and clothes you fancy always sought after by fashion authorities, and they say it's koi luck? I don't believe it, Qiao, it's obvious It’s strength. Elio and I don’t mind an extra pair of bowls and chopsticks at home, and the value you can bring to us may be a thousand or ten thousand times the cost of board and lodging.”
"When I say this now, maybe I mean to take advantage of the fire..." Yu Jin stood up and stretched out his hand to her, "But I'm really glad that you are willing to trust me when you are in trouble, and when your father comes to pick you up to be the eldest lady Before, would you like to work for me for a few days?"
—
Xu Qiao temporarily accepted Yu Jin's proposal.
Although she believed that Yu Jin asked her to work for her in order to protect her self-esteem, but at present, it seems that the risk of returning to China is indeed greater than the meaning, so after thinking about it for a few hours, she decided to stay and wait and see. Change.
Maybe, maybe Dad will come to pick her up soon.
It's just that there are still things in the country that need to be explained.
That night, Xu Qiao brought her luggage to Yujin and Elio's home in Milan. Before going to bed in the early morning, she held her mobile phone and repeatedly checked Xu Kangrong's text messages. puzzled.
Xu Kangrong's cell phone has been turned off, so she can only contact Cheng Lang first to try.
After releasing Cheng Lang's number from the blacklist in the address book, she dialed his phone, which rang three times and the phone was connected.
It should be early morning in China...
At this moment, Xu Qiao felt a strange sore nose.
Throughout the day today, she made countless phone calls and listened to the cold mechanical female voice over and over again. Only this call that was made at a slightly disturbing time received an unexpected response.
Perhaps because of this, she suddenly couldn't hold back the tears she had endured all day, and when her eyes were hot, she subconsciously hung up the phone.
On the other end of the phone, Gao Rui in the office was so anxious that a girl stomped her feet!
"Oh, are you too slow to pick up?" Gao Rui looked at Cheng Lang with hatred, "You picked up the phone at the first sound, what do you want to do if you let it ring three times?"
Cheng Lang glanced at him, looked at the phone screen and said nothing. Five minutes later, the phone never rang again, so he called back.
After the same three times, Xu Qiao's voice mixed with a strong nasal voice sounded from the other end: "Hello..."
Cheng Lang let out a "huh".
Gao Rui: "..." Uh, what, are you constipated? Can you speak nicely? This is all imminent. Remember that you two are in a cold war
Apparently Cheng Lang's "um" which sounded weaker than boiled water also impacted Xu Qiao. She suddenly fell silent.
Cheng Lang then answered, "What's the matter?"
Gao Rui: "..." You are indifferent, you are awesome, you are an emotionless cash machine!
"Did my dad give you something?" Xu Qiao said sullenly with a feeling of unwillingness.
"yes."
"You know everything about my family?"
"Um."
"Then..." Xu Qiao hesitated.
This "that" seemed to overlap with a certain moment in the past, and a slight smile appeared on Cheng Lang's serious face: "That?"
"Then can you send me something?"
"..."
As if the national quintessence changed his face, the smile on Cheng Lang's mouth disappeared in an instant: "Where are you sending it?"
"Milan."
"Who is responsible for sending it so far away?"
"Ah, will it be lost? I used to send and receive things across the country, and I never lost them."
"It's a big piece, so thin, what do you think?"
"Then what should I do, I'm not going back to my country now..."
"Not going back home?"
Gao Rui swallowed nervously, and silently lit the wax for Cheng Lang.
To talk about this, we have to start from the night before yesterday, when Cheng Lang got the news that Xu Kangrong had run away.
Cheng Lang had a wide network of contacts in Europe, so he made a decisive decision and asked the people from Milan to intercept Xu Kangrong at the airport.
What follows is a cross-border negotiation.
Cheng Lang asked about Xu Kangrong's debts on the phone.
Xu Kangrong said that the apparent debts of the company and the bank can basically be paid off in full after the company's bankruptcy and liquidation are completed and the properties under its name are auctioned off. What's more troublesome is that he used to have good luck with gambling, and in the past few months he tried to use gambling to turn around and save the company, but his luck ran out, and he owed gambling debts instead, which he had to borrow usury to repay. The final debt is on this usury, and the interest rate has become a bad debt.
However, there was still room for maneuver in the original situation, and it was not serious enough to run away, so he sent Xu Qiao abroad just in case. Who would have thought that Yan Lizhen would suddenly run away with money. If the news leaked out, the creditor must think that the Xu family is ruined after hearing about it, and rush to collect the debt. He was worried that those people of the third class and top class would make trouble for Xu Qiao, so he had no choice but to escape and go to Milan.
The usury owed by Xu Kangrong is of course an astronomical sum for the Xu family facing bankruptcy.
But to the Cheng family, it was just a small amount of money that could be earned back quickly.
So Cheng Lang made a deal with Xu Kangrong - he helped the Xu family pay off the usury at one time, and introduced Xu Kangrong a business route in Southeast Asia, on the condition that Xu Kangrong could not take Xu Qiao away.
Xu Kangrong should understand the meaning behind this condition, but he has no choice.
Those usury creditors are bastards who can chop off people's hands and feet, smash, loot and burn for debt collection. Owing a whole lot of debts, Xu Qiao followed him to eat and sleep in the open, and couldn't even guarantee her personal safety. He couldn't imagine what might happen to a daughter who was so beautiful and living outside.
In such a comparison, it is better to let her daughter stay with Cheng Lang than to be displaced.
The situation has deteriorated to this point, and survival is the most important thing.
So Xu Kangrong agreed to Cheng Lang due to the situation, and according to his account, sent a text message to Xu Qiao, omitting the heavy part about usury and Yan Lizhen's money running away, and evading the important and lightly exhorting a few words.
According to Gao Rui's understanding, the matter is settled here, and the next step is Cheng Lang to take Xu Qiao back to the country to settle down.
But the brain circuits of these high-ranking rich people are really different from ordinary people.
When most people do this, they must feel that "I have spent so much money for you, I must let you know that I am touched right now."
President Cheng Da felt, "You don't care about me, I still spend so much money for you, and I'm not cheap, so I must let you come to me by yourself."
So Cheng Lang sent someone to confirm Xu Qiao's whereabouts in Milan, and after ensuring her safety, he has been waiting for her to ask him for help.
As a result, until now, the little girl said-"I won't go back to China."
Gao Rui was anxious, but Gao Rui couldn't speak.
"What can you do in Milan without returning to China?" Cheng Lang asked.
Perhaps it was the incomprehensible electromagnetic waves that added a contemptuous tone to his ordinary question, Xu Qiao on the other end was silent, and became more serious: "I'm not a waste who can't live without my family! I'm here Milan has found a job! You give me the letter and keep it safe, and I will hire someone to pick it up." After finishing speaking, he hung up the phone.
Rao Cheng Lang, who was so calm and calm, was also laughed angrily. He pointed to the interrupted call interface and asked Gao Rui: "What is she so confident about? I am the penniless person?"
Gao Rui sighed, and said yes, isn't it about love that whoever gets excited first gets poor first
Cheng Lang asked a question, but he didn't seem to expect an answer. He was silent for a while, regained his composure, and explained: "One week, at most half a month, bring people back to Beicheng."