For a long time after her falling out with her family at the hospital, Zhou Jinbei had little contact with them.
Yesterday, her mother suddenly called her, sobbing uncontrollably on the phone.
Zhou Jinbei knew something had happened.
Upon entering the house, she found the atmosphere somber.
Her brother was absent, her father's blood pressure had spiked, and he was lying on the sofa, eyes closed, resting after taking his medication.
Her mother sat beside him, crying and beside herself.
As soon as her mother saw Zhou Jinbei, she began to complain about how unfilial her brother was, embezzling the company's working capital to fill his personal debts elsewhere.
The debts weren't settled, and he had even halted the company's projects.
The family's houses and cars had already been mortgaged, and they had no money left.
If they didn't raise funds quickly to support the projects, the consequences of a work stoppage would be unpredictable.
The unspoken implication was for Zhou Jinbei to raise the money.
But with the suddenness of the event, where was Zhou Jinbei supposed to get so much money for them?
From childhood to adulthood, she had always played the role of a carefree young lady in the family.
Any spare money from her living expenses was spent on bags, clothes, and cosmetics.
If she could earn money like Jiang Nan Fang, she wouldn't have sold herself to Jiang Sicheng for a mere betrothal gift back then.
So, her mother's tears were useless; Zhou Jinbei told them the truth and advised them.
"They say it's easier to conquer a kingdom than to defend it. My brother isn't cut out for business. If you ask me, you should just give up on him."
"Before he completely ruins the family fortune, while you still have your retirement savings, you should pack up what you can and sell what you can. That's that."
"Let my brother find a regular job and be able to support himself. I'll be responsible for your old age."
"If you keep messing around, our family will surely be ruined."
Her parents had called her back to help solve the problem, but she spoke such discouraging words.
Her father, Zhou, was almost choked to death by her words.
"Zhou Jinbei, Zhou Jinbei, everyone said you were smart and witty as a child, and that you'd be extraordinary when you grew up. I never expected you to be so useless."
"You weren't good at studying, you got divorced after getting married, you even lost a child, and now you're cursing us to be ruined? You're simply a scoundrel!"
"What good are you, huh? Tell me, I spent so much money raising you, letting you live a life of luxury and ease until you were 20, and you're this selfish?"
"Only thinking about yourself, not caring about the family at all?"
"I've been operating in Nancheng for so many years, and now we're going bankrupt, and you want your brother to work for others? Don't we have any pride left?"
"Do you think things are as simple as you imagine? Why are you so stupid?"
"What should I do? My studies are already like this, I can't suddenly come back with a degree to bring you honor, can I?"
"If you want me to get married, I got married. That Jiang Sicheng is a sissy and doesn't like women. What can I do?"
"Did you give birth to me not because I was the crystallization of your love, but to repay you when I grew up?"
"You only bully those at home and argue with me! Fine, you win. I can't argue with you!"
"Make me so angry that I die! Let the Zhou family be destroyed! Let everyone wait to see the jokes, is that what you want?"
"I shouldn't have expected anything from you, shouldn't have let you come back! It must be because I accumulated enough good karma in my past life to have given birth to two troublesome children like you!"
"I've seen through you. I can't count on you at all! Get out. From now on, I'll handle my own life or death, I don't need you to worry about it. Get out!"
Zhou Jinbei looked at her furious father and wanted to ask him.
What right do you have to point at my nose and scold me like this? Call me selfish?
When you were out indulging in debauchery, spending money on other women, betraying my mother, did you ever think about these things?
You walk your own path. You are where you are today because you brought it upon yourself!
But she dared not.
After all, he was her own father, the one who had doted on her like a princess since childhood.
His betrayal was real, but his kindness to her was also real.
Zhou Jinbei couldn't anger him to death.
But she truly couldn't help the family much.
There were many wealthy people in her social circle, but she couldn't bring herself to ask them for money.
Because she knew that borrowing money was easy, but repaying it was difficult.
With her current salary and Zhou Jinxiu's business capabilities, they might never be able to repay anyone.
Feeling distressed, she sat foolishly in the living room for a while, then pulled her mother upstairs.
She sorted through all the designer bags, clothes, and jewelry the two of them had bought over the years, deciding to become a temporary micro-business vendor.
"Anyway, I don't need these things now, let's sell them."
"If someone offers a price, sell them, Mom. Don't feel bad."
The family was in a precarious situation, on the verge of bankruptcy, so these items were indeed useless.
It was just that her mother worried about how much difference selling these would make.
"Selling them all will fetch a good amount of money, enough to support the company for a while. Let's see what happens after this period."
Therefore, Zhou Jinbei shielded everyone she shouldn't have seen this WeChat moment from her contact list.
She took pictures of all her jewelry and bags, set prices, and posted them.
For work purposes, she had added some employees from the group's administrative department on WeChat.
She had only interacted with some of them once, and later had no contact, so she couldn't distinguish who was who, and therefore didn't shield them.
At this moment, others finally found gossip about her.
Someone screenshotted it and sent it to the administrative staff group chat.
"Look, Zhan Zong's former rumored girlfriend Zhou Jinbei just posted on her moments. She's selling so many clothes, shoes, and bags. What do you think she means?"
"Rumored girlfriend? Wasn't it clarified that she's his cousin?"
"I always said she and Zhan Zong were not on the same level. With her petty appearance and noisy personality, how could she possibly be worthy of Zhan Zong."
"Cousin is fine too. Being Zhan Zong's cousin, even the crumbs falling from his fingers are enough for us to eat for a while. She shouldn't be lacking money, so why is she selling things?"
"Women like her probably have many fish in their pond. Just pretending to be poor and playing the victim, what if some rich second-generation heir with a screw loose sees it and directly keeps her..."
"That makes sense. Oh well, regardless, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even if she's selling her assets, she's still better off than us."
"Sigh, did you see the lanyard she used to hang her work badge? It's Balenciaga. A lanyard costs seven or eight thousand yuan. It's rare to see such a high-profile woman."
A Zhong had joined a group of company administrative staff earlier for work.
Although she no longer worked for the group, the group chat rarely had notifications, so she forgot to leave.
Today, it suddenly buzzed incessantly. When she looked at it, it turned out to be a discussion about Zhou Jinbei.
Did she have such a bad reputation in the group?
How could everyone be cursing her behind her back?
And what was with that WeChat moment post?
Selling bags, clothes, and jewelry? Did something happen at home?
But even if something happened, it didn't have much to do with her.