Free Web NovelChapter 894: Chapter 337: If Only Time Could Turn Back (Part 6)_4
The person who exposed the scandal is the country’s top journalist.
Lin Chu’s delicate face turned ashen in just a few seconds. After tossing her phone to the driver, she quickly headed towards where the car was parked.
She had been working at the Lin Family for half a month and had never known about such matters.
Continuous losses in the company were due to a problem in a segment of the production chain. She was by her father’s side every day; if the news were true, it couldn’t have been hidden for so long.
...
When Lin Chu rushed back to the company, the entrance was blocked by journalists with microphones and cameras, making it hard to move. The noise was unbearable, and a dozen security guards could hardly hold back the agitated crowd.
She had to enter through the back door.
Ten minutes after the news broke, chaos erupted in the Lin Family. All employees were at a loss, and the PR department immediately held a meeting to discuss ways to suppress the heat.
Lin Zongjun was not in the office; he was so busy that he didn’t have a single extra minute to spare.
The secretary said to Lin Chu, "Miss, the Chairman asked you not to leave for the moment, just wait in the office. He’ll come over after the meeting."
Lin Chu wasn’t just someone who understood textbook knowledge anymore; when she served as secretary to Lu Huai’an, he truly taught her with dedication.
She bore responsibilities on her shoulders and couldn’t stay under her father’s wing forever.
"Can’t I attend the meeting?"
"The meeting room is filled with the board’s senior members, and it’s been going on for half an hour. It’s not appropriate for Miss to interrupt halfway."
Indeed.
Lin Chu nodded, "I understand. You can go ahead with your work."
She didn’t understand the situation in detail now, and apart from waiting for her father to come out of the meeting, she couldn’t do anything.
Over the years, the Lin Family’s reputation in the industry was among the top. Not to mention that cases had already occurred before where unqualified dairy products led to infant illnesses and deaths, companies in the industry would all take heed from that.
She had never doubted her father’s character and professional ethics.
Breaking the law knowingly, how could that be possible?
Her phone kept vibrating repeatedly, with calls from Jiang Muzhou, Ji Wanxia, Xu Qiubai, and others.
Lin Chu didn’t answer any of them.
She merely sent texts to those three people, with only three words: "I’m okay."
...
Lin Chu waited in the office for two hours before Lin Zongjun finally finished the meeting.
She immediately stood up; her anxious heart hadn’t calmed down, but she didn’t know what to ask, "Dad..."
Lin Zongjun lowered his gaze to hide the fatigue in his eyes and patted his daughter’s shoulder reassuringly, "Don’t worry, first make me a cup of tea, I’m a bit thirsty."
His voice was hoarse, a result of excessive tobacco consumption.
Severely sleep-deprived and physically exhausted, only tobacco could keep him awake.
Lin Chu pressed her lips together, looking at her father’s face, which had aged overnight; her heart felt like it was being stabbed.
In the end, she didn’t ask anything and quietly went to make tea.
Although Lin Zongjun’s body seemed very uncomfortable, he endured it without showing any sign of abnormality, so as not to let his daughter notice.
Taking advantage of bending down to pick something up, he swallowed pills from the drawer quietly and naturally drank tea to swallow them down.
As the piercing pain alleviated a bit, his slightly trembling hands also calmed down.
"Xiao Chu, you’ve seen the news, haven’t you?"
Lin Chu nodded, "Yes."
"The situation isn’t as severe as reported. It’s only been exaggerated by the media. The company previously produced a batch of unqualified products, which, due to quality control personnel’s mistake, made it to the market. Those sold in stores have been recalled, and we’ve located the few consumers who purchased these products. Indeed, there have been discomfort symptoms, but they’re still controllable; no one has died."
It’s true.
Lin Chu felt her heart being squeezed, looking at her father with unwavering determination.
"Dad, I believe you. You wouldn’t do such a thing."
Lin Zongjun smiled helplessly, his voice hoarse. "Whether I was aware or not, whether I authorized it or not, it’s my responsibility that the company faced such an issue."
As the Chairman of the Lin Family, the bullets of media and public opinion would all be aimed at him.
————
An City has changed dramatically.
The Ji Family is falling apart, precarious, like flesh without bones after losing its backbone, vulnerable to bites from anyone.
The Jiang Family, once legendary in the underworld, was wiped out overnight, with no trace of its former glory. They fled and hid.
The evidence of Boss Jiang’s drug smuggling and trafficking was reported, leading to the investigation and seizure of the Jiang Family, and Boss Jiang’s arrest and imprisonment.
The Lin Family’s news wasn’t suppressed, remaining the top search trend for several days, pushed to the forefront of public opinion, with netizens unanimously criticizing such ’heartless’ businessmen from a moral standpoint.
The relevant departments have started filing investigations, and they may be seized tomorrow or the next day.
All partnering companies withdrew investment one after another, and the actions of major shareholders to demand debts almost drove people crazy.
Once the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.
Those who had relied on the Lin Family for livelihood turned and accused Lin Zongjun of profiting without conscience.
Some watched coldly, while others added insult to injury.
All the curses and disdain weighed on Lin Zongjun, who had white hair at less than fifty years old.
Meanwhile, Lin Family’s daughter, Lin Chu’s husband, Lu Huai’an, never showed up, and the Lu Group remained uninvolved, showing no intention of coming to the rescue.
People sighed at the absurdity and pity of wealthy marriages, where husband and wife were originally birds of the same forest but flew their separate ways when disaster struck.
But what they didn’t know was that the initiators of this upheaval were members of the Lu Family.
Lin Chu hadn’t rested for two days and nights. At noon, she was sternly sent home to sleep by Lin Zongjun. He escorted her to the underground garage, unable to hide the lingering longing and sorrow in his eyes.
But she was too exhausted to notice.
Later, Lin Chu asked herself countless times why she didn’t turn back to look at her father more. freewebnøvel.coɱ
Why didn’t she stay by his side all the time?
If she had been more alert, perhaps the heart-wrenching event wouldn’t have happened.
But, there are no ifs.
————
Even though her body was exhausted to the extreme, Lin Chu couldn’t fall asleep, tossing and turning for a long time before finally sleeping.
The phone vibrated at two in the morning.
On the second call, deep-sleeping Lin Chu was startled awake, and the phone screen displayed Lin Zongjun’s number.
Upon answering, she heard the ’whooshing’ sound of the wind.
Her brain was muddled, and her voice was still hoarse from waking up, "Dad, where are you?"
On the other end of the line, Lin Zongjun stood atop the company’s building, almost blending into the vast night. "Xiao Chu, you can be on your own, right?"
Lin Chu didn’t understand why her father would ask that.
Propping herself up, she fumbled to switch on the bedside lamp, she was still at the Lin family, the light illuminating the entirely pink room.
"I have you, so I’m not alone."
