Contractual Marriage: We’re Meant to Be Together

246. A Dire Situation

Translator: Bryan

“It’s true what they say, ‘What’s meant to happen will happen’,” she thought.

Li Hushan left the hospital with a heavy heart. Instead of going back home, she went straight to the company to see Song Huaiqi.

Song Huaiqi was now in charge of most of the day-to-day running of the company. She needed to tell him that Wei Qing was about to launch a hostile takeover of companies registered in her son’s name. He must take precautions.

However, taking precautions was one thing, and resolving the crisis was quite another.

In the next two months, Song Huaiqi was fully occupied, solving one troublesome problem after another in his company.

First, all the major suppliers of construction materials in Song City ended their cooperation with him for no reason, and then the financial records of his company didn’t tally with the tax records.

The suppliers who had terminated their partnership with Song Huaiqi said that an anonymous company owner offered to purchase their construction materials at a high price.

They were businessmen, and profits were the only thing they were after. They would only sell their products to the one who offered them the highest price.

Therefore, all the suppliers that Song Huaiqi had been cooperating with stopped providing him with construction materials.

Without building materials, the real estate development project that Song Huaiqi’s company were working on had to be suspended.

But suspending the project meant a breach of the contract. If he failed to finish the construction work of the buildings, he would only suffer greater losses.

Having no alternative, Song Huaiqi painstakingly set out to purchase building materials from abroad at high prices, but the tariff and the transportation fees made the overall cost four or five times higher than the original one.

The project had gone well over budget. He had no choice but to loan money from a bank to fill the hole.

However, that was just the beginning.

He had just settled the matter of construction materials when a new problem emerged in the financial department.

The tax authority suddenly called and informed him that one of the taxes his company paid two years ago was found problematic.

That was two years ago!

Song Huaiqi knew that it was Wei Qing’s doing. He had anticipated that Wei Qing might resort to that method. Therefore, after Li Hushan told him, Song Huaiqi had pulled out all the financial records of his company and re-checked each and every single one of them in an effort to make sure that all the taxes he had paid was unproblematic. However, it had never crossed his mind that Wei Qing would dig into his past.

To be honest, no businessmen’s account books were flawless. If the amount was small, the tax authority would turn a blind eye to it, and Song Huaiqi would be able to muddle through. But if anybody maliciously informed on him, the situation would be dire.

“Mr. Song, we got another problem.”

The anxious voice of the accountant of his financial department came from the other end of the phone.

Song Huaiqi’s heart sank. He frowned and said, “Go on.”

“Just now the tax people paid us another visit. They said that Wanfeng didn’t pay tax for a deal it closed the year before last. They ordered we pay all the back taxes within three months, or they’ll suspend all our projects until we fix all the problems.”

“Wanfeng?” Song Huaiqi sprang to his feet from his chair, his eyes reddish. “This can’t be happening. I called you guys days ago telling you to put extra efforts into sorting through Wanfeng’s financial records, didn’t I?!”

That company was the apple of Song Huaiqi’s eyes. He had founded Wanfeng unaided. It meant the world to him.

“We did as you asked, but… we only double-checked the transactions made in the past half a year. Nobody could’ve foreseen those people would look into the deals we made two years ago.”

“Is that tax money really problematic?”

“It’s… It’s indeed a bit problematic…”

Song Huaiqi’s back relaxed as he limply flopped down into his chair. After a long moment’s silence, he asked gravely, “How much tax are we supposed to pay?”

“It’s 4.72 million RMB.”

“Have them advance us the money and pay the tax. No matter what, we can’t let them close down the company. The project must continue.”

The accountant on the other end of the phone lapsed into silence.

Song Huaiqi knitted his brows. “Why are you not speaking?”

“Mr. Song,” the accountant said in a low voice after hesitating for a moment. “We don’t have enough cash to pay the tax.”

“What?” Song Huaiqi raised his voice in disbelief. “When I asked you about it the day before, you said we still had over ten million!”

“Part of that money was used to pay the tariff, and we used another part of it to fill the tax holes found in other branches. Right now we have only one million or so on the account, which is far from enough.”

Song Huaiqi’s stomach clenched violently. He felt at the end of his rope.

Having perceived Song Huaiqi’s silence, the accountant called out to him anxiously, “Mr. Song? Mr. Song?”

“I’m fine,” Song Huaiqi said, coming to himself and rubbing his eyebrows wearily. “Wire the one million RMB into their account. I think the tax authority will give us a day or two’s respite. I’ll figure out a way to handle the rest.”

The accountant sighed deeply and said after a moment of silence, “Mr. Song, actually… it’s okay if you suspend Wanfeng for a while.”

“I can’t do that,” Song Huaiqi said firmly. “Wanfeng is my own company, the fruit of my years’ work. I can’t watch it fall.”

“Mr. Song…”

“I can’t live without it! Understand?”

After a silence, the accountant replied with a little sigh, “I understand.”

Song Huaiqi hung up and grabbed his forelock, a slightly vacant look on his face, lost in thought.

After paying one million RMB, he would still have four million RMB to pay.

Four million RMB. If his relations with his partners had not changed, he would be able to call any of them and have them loan him the money, but now things were different. His company was in deep trouble. Outsiders might not know about it, but his partners in this industry were fully aware of it.

His company was on the verge of bankruptcy, and he would soon lose all his clients. Nobody wanted to get dragged into the mire.

None of his partners would lend him the money.

Could he ask his parents for help?

He thought, “Alas. I should forget about that. They haven stayed out of the family business for years, living an enjoyable life of retirement. Chances are that they don’t have that much money either.”

Who should he ask for help?

Song Huaiqi pondered for a while, tapping at the table with his fingertips automatically. Suddenly, his eyes grew grave and he sprang to his feet, grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair and strode towards the door.