“We’re in public, you’d better not feed me.” said I.
“Can’t I feed my wife some sweets in a public place? Who says I can’t do this in public?” Leon refuted.
He kept insisting on feeding me, so I didn’t want to refuse his offer. I just stood there and took a bite of the cake he fed me. It was sweet and I really felt better after eating it.
Thinking of gaining one pound lately, I really needed to eat fewer sweets.
When we arrived at Maple Villa, Leon looked at his watch and said that it would be almost time to wait another half an hour.
I asked him what his words meant. He said it was morning in America now and Alex wanted to have a video chat with me.
As soon as I heard that I was going to have a video chat with Alex, I immediately got very excited. I started to feel like time was going by so slowly. I looked at my watch from time to time and hoped that I would see my son soon.
After waiting for about ten minutes, Alex appeared on Leon’s computer screen. He seemed to have grown up a lot and was handsome in a white children’s tracksuit.
When Alex called me mom with a crying voice, I burst into tears.
Sometimes the internet was delayed because we were so far away, and it would take a few seconds for Alex to hear what I said. But that didn’t take away from the joy that our meeting brought.
Alex told me that his school had Chinese teachers and many Chinese children were his classmates, so he was not lonely there. He just missed me a lot.
This time I had enough video time with Alex, and it lasted for half an hour before Alex went to school.
After the video was turned off, I sat alone in front of the computer and cried. Leon came by and gently patted my shoulder to comfort me.
“Alex is studying and living well there. You don’t have to worry about him. He will definitely have a good time there.” Leon said softly.
“But he’s still so young. I’m so worried about him.” I still couldn’t hold back my tears.
“He’s a little young, but it’s good for him to be independent sooner, isn’t it? The most important thing is that he doesn’t have to take those risks with us in Hai City, right?” Leon said.
I know that’s the main reason that Leon sent Alex out. There were too many people targeting Leon and me in Hai City. Our child was also our biggest weakness. It was really best to send him out when we couldn’t control over the situation.
Even though I know that, I was still sad. All the joy after the video with Alex slowly turned into sadness.
“Do you want another piece of chocolate cake? Eating sweets can make you feel good,” Leon said.
“Nope. I can’t eat so many sweets anymore. You’re trying to make me fat.” said I.
“No, you are wrong. Other people may be fat when they gain weight, but you’re plump when you gain weight. Whether you’re fat or thin, you’re still beautiful. It’s just that you go from slim beauty to plump beauty. Your style changes, but your beauty stays the same.”
I was really uncomfortable that Leon could say these words to please me. But the fact that he was joking like that did ease some of my sadness.
“Tell me what’s going on with the $300 million dollars?” He changed the subject.
“I don’t know. The company suddenly informed me that $300 million dollars was missing from Tonyu Technology’s books and that there was evidence that I had authorized the transfer. That means they think I misappropriated the $300 million dollars. They only gave me two days to find it out or they’ll hold me accountable.”
“This must be done by the people of your company, and there must have someone from finance department involved. This is a blatant attempt to set you up. The executives of Nanhe Group could surely have found the problem. They must have kept the police out of it. If they’d let the police get involved, it would have been an easy case to solve. There are always traces of the 300 million dollars that flowed out where it went.”
“You’re right. They said if the police were called, the story would get out and it would affect the group’s reputation, so they won’t call the police.” said I.
“That can only be investigated internally. But you definitely won’t be able to find out anything. Since those people set you up, everything must have been arranged. It takes expertise and technical skills to find out why the funds went out, and those skills only the police have. It’s too difficult for you to investigate it.”
“So what should I do? I can’t just admit that it was my doing. I didn’t do it, so why should I take the blame for it?”
“Since this was prepared for you by someone, of course you have to carry it. I have told you that I can lend you 300 million dollars, and then you can take your time to find out what happened to that account. After you find out where that money went, you can just pay me back the 300 million dollars.”
“But I didn’t take the money, so why should I have to borrow it from you to fill the gap? 300 million dollars is not a small amount. If I can’t get the money back, wouldn’t you lose a lot of money?” I objected.
“It doesn’t matter if you can’t get the money back. It’s just a loss of $300 million dollars. Besides, what is the purpose of his doing this? Of course he’s not really stealing the money. He’s just trying to prove that you’re not fit to be in this position. He’s trying to get you kicked out of the company. If the $300 million gap is filled, then naturally he would have no reason to pursue the matter. If he were to pursue it, then he would have to make the case that you borrowed the $300 million dollars, not that you actually find out where the money went. The one who targets this matter is the mastermind.”
Leon’s words did make sense, but I thought it inappropriate to ask him to put up $300 million. It was directed at me. I deserved to take responsibility for it and didn’t have Leon help me whenever I was in trouble.
“I’ll try to deal with this one first. If I really can’t fix it, I’ll use your solution.” said I.
“How do you want to handle it? Do you have any plans?”
“I don’t know the details of this at all right now. I’d like to find out more about the situation from the company first. There are still a few people I can trust in the company. I’ll listen to what they say about the matter first, which may help solve the problem. What do you think?”
Leon thought about it and said, “Okay, you get to know the situation first. If you have suspicions about someone, you tell me. I’ll let Xuanlong investigate them.
I nodded, and then I walked out of Leon’s study. I called Wei Wang. I hope to get some information from him.