Chapter 37  : The Wu Family Goes Bankrupt

Jonathan stared at the news in a daze.

After a long while, he raised his head.

The older, the wise. Jonathan’s expression did not change. He looked at Alexander and said, “Ask the Lockes what’s going on with them now.”

After receiving the order, Alexander quickly turned around to walk to the balcony to make a call.

The people in the room, especially Jenifer, Jasmine, and Joshua, looked at each other. They were probably plotting something.

Jeanne was relatively calm. Jonathan was also expressionless.

After a while, Alexander returned to the study and said respectfully to Jonathan, “Dad, something has indeed happened to the Lockes.”

Jonathan’s expression changed slightly.

“When MUK moved in, they didn’t think of working with any other companies. They have long gotten independent rights in Harken and were building their own e-commerce platform. As a result, all the investment of the Lockes has been wasted. Coincidentally, today is the maturity date of the Lockes’ loan. The Lockes intend to mortgage the e-commerce companies they acquired to the bank, but the bank won’t accept it. At the end of the day, once MUK enters, how can small e-commerce companies have the chance to survive? The Lockes have lost a lot this time,” Alexander said with some fear.

Fortunately, they did not impulsively take out funds for the collaboration back then, or they would have suffered too.

“Can the Lockes still delay the bank’s loan?” Jonathan asked.

“It’s very difficult. Not only did the Lockes face the inability to repay the bank’s loan, but their business also has a broken capital chain now. If they still want to get up, they’ll have to continue the loan. However, the Lockes’ traditional business no longer has prospects for development, and there’s no market for the e-commerce companies they invested in. The bank can’t continue lending them money without an end. According to what banks usually do, they’ll probably recover all of the Lockes’ mortgaged assets and auction them off to cut their losses.”

Jonathan nodded as if he was clear about this matter.

At the same time, a phone rang in the study.

Alexander took a glance at the caller. He hurriedly said, “It’s Damian.”

“He’s going to borrow money from you.” Jonathan went straight to the point

“I...”

“You should reject him, of course,” Jonathan said, “Give me the phone.”

Alexander gave the phone to Jonathan.

Jonathan picked it up. “Damian, it’s me.”

“Uncle Jonathan, it’s best that you answer my call. I was just about to look for you,” the other party said anxiously, “You know that I’ve been investing in e-commerce platforms during this period. E-commerce is the trend in the future, where a lot of money can be made. That said, at this juncture, I’ve invested too much money in this, so I don’t have enough funds at the moment. Yesterday, I also told Alex that as long as the e-commerce platform is built, we’ll split it 50-50. So, Uncle Jonathan, can the Lawrences finance a portion of the money first? I’ll return twice the amount to you including interest.”

“Damian,” Jonathan said unhurriedly, “In the past, I would’ve helped you even if you went bankrupt, let alone for the sake of investing. The Lawrences have always been loyal. However, while I wholeheartedly let my granddaughter be married to your son, your son did such a thing to let her down. What’s more, your family acquiesced to it. I can’t swallow this grievance. Since our families have fallen out, there’s no possibility of further cooperation between us.”

“Uncle Jonathan...”

Jonathan immediately hung up. He did not listen to Damian’s explanation at all.

He handed the phone to Alexander. “Whether it’s the Lockes or the media, you’re going to give the same answer. It’s not that the Lawrences are heartless; it’s just that the Lockes’ actions were too disappointing.”

“I understand.” Alexander hurriedly nodded.

Fortunately, the engagement with the Lockes was broken off yesterday, and it was still the Lockes’ fault. Otherwise, if something happened to the Lockes at this time, the prospective in-laws would be considered ungrateful for not helping them, and the Lawrences’ reputation would then be tarnished. It was good that the Lawrences had sufficient reasons to reasonably reject the Lockes’ request for help at this moment.

“So...” Jeanne asked coldly in the room, “Am I still in the wrong?”

Everyone instantly looked at her.

Jonathan said coldly, “Do you think you’re right for breaking off the engagement without discussing it with your elders?! You should be thankful that you’re lucky. Something happened to the person you broke off the engagement with! Otherwise, think about the consequences you’ll face!”

‘Luck?!’

Jeanne sneered and did not say a word.

Jonathan continued, “For the sake of not causing a huge disaster in the end, I can let bygones be bygones but...”

Jeanne’s eyes moved slightly.

“Return the 5% of the shares that you previously took!”

Jeanne asked sarcastically, “You want to take back what you gave me?”

“I gave them to you because I wanted you to marry Thedus Locke. Now that you’re not marrying him, shouldn’t you return them?” Jonathan made it sound like it was a matter of fact.

“Grandpa, I don’t want to reason with you. At your age, you should know more about reason than I do. Even so, I feel that you’re too overbearing now!”

“Jeanne, how can you talk to your grandpa like that?!” Alexander’s face darkened.

“Speak!” Jonathan said sternly.

Alexander paused.

Jeanne looked straight at Jonathan. “When you gave me the shares back then, you didn’t say that you’ll take them back if I end up not getting married to Thedus.”

“I gave you the shares on the premise of becoming a Locke.”

“Compared to the benefits of a joint marriage with the Lockes, breaking off the marriage has also brought benefits to the Lawrences. Not only did we not lose out on our investments, but we also kept our reputation.”

“One thing is not another. I gave you the shares back then just to make up for you. Now, you don’t have to marry Thedus, so we no longer have to make up for it.”

“No. You just said that as long as I can bring benefits to the family, I can do whatever I want.” Jeanne looked at Jonathan. “I’ve never thought of doing whatever I want. All I want is 5% of the shares. Grandpa, are you planning to slap your own face?!”

Jonathan glared at Jeanne.

He had never thought that one day, he would be rendered speechless by his granddaughter.

“Grandpa, 5% of the shares is nothing to you. Nothing will change for you because of this small amount of shares, whether it’s in the Lawrence Enterprise or the Lawrence family. On the other hand, it’s very important to me.”

“What’s so important?!” Jonathan snorted coldly.

“It means that I’m a Lawrence,” Jeanne uttered word by word.

Jonathan seemed to be stunned for a moment.

Jeanne said in a slightly lower voice, “I was chased out of the family by you, so I once suspected that I wasn’t my dad’s biological daughter. These shares at least give me a reason to convince myself that I’m a Lawrence.”

Jonathan looked at Jeanne, and at that moment, he seemed to be sizing her up.

It was probably the first time in the 25 years since Jeanne was born that he looked at her so directly.

Jonathan, who had always valued sons over daughters, had always treated the daughters of the Lawrences lightly. This was the case for Jasmine as well; he was just using her as a tool to gain benefits.

This time, Jonathan was shocked by Jeanne’s explosive power.

Whether it was her imposing manner earlier or her softness at this time, they gave him no reason to reject her.

Jonathan’s eyes narrowed.

Perhaps Jeanne was more useful than he thought!

Just like Jeanne’s mother...