Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Four: Panic
Even though the scroll was supposedly left behind by his ancestors, it seemed extremely unreliable. At least Xiao Yu now knew the conditions of his transformation. He could now avoid the tragic situation of suddenly transforming into a hamster in public.
If anyone were to find out about these unscientific events, he could really be taken to a research center for further investigation. Or worse, if he was not sure what would cause the pattern of transformation, it may even threaten his own safety, and he would have to consider not leaving the house at all.
Two days ago, Xiao Yu had been worried about this issue and did not sleep well at all. At last, the burden was finally lifted off his shoulders.
The problem with consuming alcohol was not a big issue at all – he could simply avoid drinking.
In fact, Xiao Yu had a high alcohol tolerance – a talent that he was born with. However, his father pa.s.sing away due to liver cancer caused by overconsumption of alcohol left a mark on Xiao Yu’s mind. While he did not have the habit of drinking regularly, he would drink during SI’s department gatherings and year-end parties or when he was feeling down.
That being said, he no longer had to attend SI’s department gatherings any more because he had already been officially dismissed by SI.
As a matter of fact, Xiao Yu’s contract was not up yet. He had planned to ask about the penalty fee issue, but the squabble at SI that day had been used against him by Zhou Jinrong. If he were to pursue the penalty fees, then the damages for his fight with Lin Zhou would have to be pursued as well.
It was weak for an individual to challenge a company to begin with. In addition, Xiao Yu was tied down by other matters. He simply did not have the extra energy to fight with the company over such matters. Without a choice, he could only accept the arrangement by the company. Every industry had their own practices.
Based on his work experience, even if he had resigned from SI, he should have no problem looking for a decent workplace elsewhere. That was why he was not too worried about his career.
That was what he had thought initially.
Until the third batch of resumes had sunk into the sea like stones.
Something was amiss.
In the second week after Xiao Yu had become unemployed, he realized something was amiss.
Initially, he had sent resumes to the big companies and enterprises located in other cities. As expected, he did not receive any replies. However, the second batches of resumes were targeted at well-known companies that were interrelated. Honestly speaking, with Xiao Yu’s standards, he would be treated as a chief designer regardless which company he worked for. But, there were no replies from those companies as well.
For the third batch, Xiao Yu decided to test the waters by sending his resumes to those smaller studios that were unheard of. With his ident.i.ty, it should be like winning a five-million-dollar lottery for those studios. Yet, not even this batch of resumes had any responses.
Instead, there was a private studio that replied him instantly, stating that he could start work immediately after he verified his ident.i.ty. They would offer him the best employee benefits and he would have priority to choose which work he wanted – all in all, he would receive the best offer and do the least work. Even if Xiao Yu did nothing, he could be just a walking sign board for them. However, when Xiao Yu had replied the email to confirm his ident.i.ty, there was no reply from them since then.
Xiao Yu knew that something was not right, but he did not know what it was. So, he could only aimlessly send his resumes to cities further away or to companies that weren’t doing too well and wait at home doing nothing.
Oh right, he wasn’t doing nothing. He did have a new member in the family now. Without a job, Xiao Yu’s daily mission was to take care of Faye, snuggle with her, and post pictures of her to his social media.
Besides. .h.i.tting the wall repeatedly on his journey to find a new job, there was one other matter that made Xiao Yu even more upset.
That was how to contact Yan Jin.
At first, Xiao Yu did not think that it was a difficult task. After all, he was a man who knew Yan Jin’s pa.s.swords for his main QQ account, side QQ account, WeChat side account and even his credit card authorization key. Contacting Yan Jin would be an easy task at the snap of his fingers.
Yes, that was what Xiao Yu had thought back then. So, two days after he had turn back into a human, he sorted his feelings out and then embarra.s.sedly, hesitantly drafted a long message containing his confession explanation, and logged into his Fishy’s account. That was when he paid the price for his a.s.sumption.
Fishy’s account had already been deregistered. Disappearing along with it was every side account that Yan Jin had. Also, Yan Jin’s main account had been completely converted to the official account meant for the company’s operation and was protected with a new second pa.s.sword, which Xiao Yu could not log in to at all.
And for the following one week, Yan Jin had held a week-long funeral, which everyone in S City could go, but anyone whose surname was Xiao was excluded. In addition, with Xiao Yu’s exceptional ident.i.ty, he may be dragged away by the securities before he even reached the main door. Xiao Yu simply had no guts to risk his life that way. And so, with the problems that had followed closely upon each other, he had decided to wait till everything had been settled before he thought of another way. There would surely be opportunities for SI and YL to have collaborations. In the worst case scenario, he could just stop the chairman at YL just like how he did back then…
That was the second time he paid the price for his a.s.sumption.
After the week-long funeral, Yan Jin did not return to the company.
When Xiao Yu realized that something was amiss, it was already too late.
He thought of many ways and asked many people. The only information he got was that YL’s chairman was currently an unreliable subst.i.tute.
No one knew where Yan Jin went or if he was in S City, when would he return and –
Whether he would return or not.
When the fourth batch of resumes were sent out, it was exactly one month after Xiao Yu had turned back into a human.
Xiao Yu started to panic.
He did not panic because no one had replied to his resumes, but he was panicking because he may never see Yan Jin ever again.
Last week, Lawyer Hu had visited him once again.
After Lawyer Hu had left the previous time, Xiao Yu had been frightened and had consulted a lawyer on his own. The other party suggested that he should try to settle out of court, that it would be the best if he could settle the case by monetary compensation. If they had really went to court for the case, both parties would not gain any benefits. The accusation of intentional homicide wasn’t even valid in the first place. With the lack of evidence, he was undoubtedly framed.
That was why when Lawyer Hu visited again, Xiao Yu was more prepared than the previous meeting.
However, this time, Lawyer Hu did not bring up things like murder to frighten Xiao Yu. Instead, he calmly took out a compensation contract.
The lawyer that Xiao Yu had consulted had told him that without the surveillance camera, both parties would be blamed for the incident. However, as the other party was in possession of the recordings, the majority of the blame would be on him. Xiao Yu had also admitted that he knew that his brake system had malfunctioned and that Yan Jin was indeed the innocent party.
Hence, he had planned to make a full compensation right from the beginning, to be responsible for the mistake he made.
But, when he saw the final amount at the bottom, that unyielding and resolute heart of his instantly felt helpless.
Thirty million.
That amount was not only the cost of Yan Jin’s priceless luxury vehicle, but also included the bunch of random expensive items inside the vehicle.
Xiao Yu was aware of how much those items costed. In fact, if he had to speak with his conscience, thirty million was a considerably humane amount.
However, even if the price was justifiable, that did not mean that he had the ability to afford it.
Thirty million dollars – using his annual salary at SI, even if he had starved, it would still take thirty years.
And he was currently unemployed.
Lawyer Hu maintained his stance that if Xiao Yu was willing to testify of the ‘mastermind’ Lawyer Hu chose, he could not only ignore this compensation, but even receive a cheque of the same amount after he had served his sentence and enjoy his life without any worries.
Of course, Xiao Yu rejected him.
So, he could only try to think of a way to fork out this sum of money.
Lawyer Hu gave a deadline of one month. Xiao Yu did not think much of it and agreed.
After all, there was no difference. Regardless if it was one month, two months, two years or twenty years, he probably could not fork over the money anyway.
The price of that apartment Aunt Fang had in S City was increasing rapidly over the past two years. If she had sold it, she could get ten or twenty million. However, Aunt Fang would never give it to him, so Xiao Yu dared not think of it.
He had little savings. Including the last salary from SI, he had less than two million and a big portion of it was in the stock market.
The help he could get from his friends were limited. At best, he could probably gather about five million.
It was not enough.
Plus, it was vain to think of getting a loan. He had no job and had no place of his own. Neither did he have friends who could be guarantors for him. All that was left for him was probably to borrow from the loan sharks.
And. if he really borrowed from the loan sharks, he may never have any chance of seeing Yan Jin ever again in his entire life. Or more likely never finding Yan Jin again in the time left in his lifetime.
Xiao Yu knew that he could not fork over this amount. He also knew that things would deteriorate further.
But, he had no choice – he could not find the key that would turn the situation over.
He could not find Yan Jin.
Two weeks ago, Xiao Yu even went to that villa Yan Jin used was staying in the city area. However, for such a high-cla.s.s residential area, the security team at the gate wouldn’t even let him in. Even loitering around the outskirts of the property would land him a warning.
Xiao Yu found a position slightly further away and squatted a whole day there from when the sun was s.h.i.+ning brightly in the sky, till it disappeared at the horizon. Yet, there was no sight of Yan Jin.
As the starry night had surrounded the lonely moon and icy-cold starlight had blanketed over him, Xiao Yu went into a state of panic he had never experienced before.
When Lawyer Hu had finished informing the details and was about to leave, Xiao Yu stopped him.
“Is there anything else?” Lawyer Hu smiled very appropriately, but every word he spoke was formulated and detached.
“Could you tell me… where Yan Jin is right now?”
“Hm? Your question makes me think you’re up to something.”
“I don’t mean anything. I just want to know… I-if we have a court mediation, would Yan Jin attend…?”
“You must be joking. After such an incident, of course Mr. Yan wouldn’t meet you again. From here on, the person you’ll have contact with will be me. As for Mr. Yan…”
“You will never meet him in your entire life ever again.”
……
Ever since the first day that Xiao Yu turned back into a human, the first day he had lost Yan Jin, he had been waiting, praying in his sleep for the moment when the chairman would realize everything and take the initiative to look for him.
The first week after he turned back into a human, the first week since he lost Yan Jin, he had encountered a lot of troublesome matters. However, he was not discouraged at all as he tried to resolve everything with his own power and then meet the chairman again.
On the first month he had turned back into a human, the first month he had lost Yan Jin, he finally panicked.