Chapter 2935 — A Friend in Need?

Sitting on the sofa, Wei Zhao started making calls one by one, beginning with the Wu family, to which Wu Chengtian belonged, to borrow money. No single family could lend him much—for a clan like the Wu family, a hundred million was easy enough, but anything beyond that was difficult.

Fortunately, Wei Zhao had quite a few underlings these days; small sums added up, and it was barely enough to pull Fatso Lai through the crisis...

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu did not dare disturb Wei Zhao either. The matter had come so suddenly that even the ever-curious Xiaoshu refrained from asking Wei Zhao about the fun and games of his latest trial.

When trouble struck Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals, the Hidden Zhao family naturally got word of it too! Old Master Zhao laughed heartily, over and over declaring that Heaven was on his side!

Old Master Zhao went straight to find Zhao Qilei. These past two days, Zhao Qilei had had his former treatment as Young Master Tan restored within the Hidden Zhao family—only, every time Zhao Qibing laid eyes on him, his face would flush crimson with fury, and with a cold snort he would turn and walk away.

Zhao Qilei actually understood Zhao Qibing's behavior well enough. Since returning from the trial, he had seized the identity of the young heir and first-in-line successor. Anyone in that position would hardly wear a pleasant expression. It was just that Zhao Qibing probably still thought he had a chance, and was unwilling to burn his bridges with Zhao Qilei inside the family; so although the two were locked in a cold war, they kept a peaceful truce.

"Grandfather, you wanted to see me?" Zhao Qilei was just about to call Wei Zhao and report the good news when, to his surprise, his grandfather came looking for him first thing in the morning.

"Qitan, have you called Mr. Wei Zhao yet?" Old Master Zhao asked, coming straight to the point.

"Not yet, Grandfather. What's the matter?" Zhao Qilei was a little puzzled—why would his grandfather come asking about this first thing in the morning?

"Ah, then you probably don't know yet. Something's gone wrong with Mr. Wei Zhao's company!" Old Master Zhao said. "I thought you already knew, and was just about to bring it up with you."

"What?! Something's gone wrong with the leader's company? What kind of trouble?" Zhao Qilei was briefly stunned. He had joined Wei Zhao rather late, so he did not know much about Wei Zhao's pharmaceutical company.

"It's like this..." Old Master Zhao told Zhao Qilei the news he had received.

"Ah? Then the leader... must be in a terrible spot right now?" Zhao Qilei was startled at once. "Then can we... do something to help?"

"Qitan, that's exactly why I came to talk with you. Since our Hidden Zhao family has already chosen Wei Zhao as our leader, then as a subordinate family, we must do everything in our power this time to help Mr. Wei Zhao through this crisis!" Old Master Zhao nodded and said, "So I wanted to tell you: our Hidden Zhao family may not have much money, but after more than half a year of doing business, we have quite a bit of capital on hand. If we pool it together, we can put up two hundred million! Call Mr. Wei Zhao right now—we'll give him these two hundred million. It may be a meager contribution, but it is the most our Hidden Zhao family can do!"

"Ah?" Zhao Qilei was dumbfounded. He had not expected his grandfather to go this far in his unreserved support of Wei Zhao! The formal banquet to acknowledge Wei Zhao as leader had not even been held yet, and already things had come to this—clearly his grandfather had made up his mind about Wei Zhao!

Zhao Qilei could not say how delighted he was. He had worried before that his grandfather only wanted to acknowledge Wei Zhao as leader to obtain Wei Zhao's protection. But if, while receiving someone's protection, one did nothing and simply took and took, then even if Wei Zhao said nothing out of consideration for him, he would surely be uncomfortable in his heart.

So when Zhao Qilei heard his grandfather say they could put up two hundred million, he was both astonished and overjoyed!

"Grandfather, what you said... is it true?" Zhao Qilei asked hurriedly.

"Of course it's true. Child, do you still not trust your grandfather?" Old Master Zhao laughed. "I've already had Guangyin pool the money together. It's all on this card—the password is your birthday. You can call and transfer it to Mr. Wei Zhao at any time!"

"Thank you, Grandfather!" Zhao Qilei said, wild with joy.

"All right, go make your call. I won't disturb you any longer!" Old Master Zhao nodded, smiled, and turned to leave.

Zhao Qilei, meanwhile, quickly dialed Wei Zhao's number! Previously he had hesitated over how to broach this matter with Wei Zhao. Although the Hidden Zhao family's acknowledgment of Wei Zhao as leader seemed to mean Wei Zhao had gained yet another hidden clan as a subordinate, this trip to the Ice Palace trial had shown Zhao Qilei that Wei Zhao was not short of underlings at all.

So perhaps this whole business was a one-sided enthusiasm—what if Wei Zhao was unwilling? That was why Zhao Qilei had kept hesitating! But now that trouble had befallen Wei Zhao's company, Zhao Qilei hesitated no longer.

"Hello? Qitan? How are you able to call me?" Wei Zhao was somewhat surprised. After Zhao Qilei went back, had he not been placed under house arrest again? He could actually call him?

In Wei Zhao's calculations, once Zhao Qilei returned, he would surely incur even greater suspicion from Old Master Zhao and Zhao Qibing, and would probably be put under house arrest again! But there would certainly be no danger to his life, because Wei Zhao could tell how wary Old Master Zhao was of him, and so the old man would never dare lay a hand on Zhao Qilei.

Therefore, Wei Zhao had planned to go see Zhao Qilei again after some time; if things truly did not work out, he could have him establish his own household, or simply throw in his lot with Han Xiaohu, Pi Zhifeng, and the others.

But the company's troubles had disrupted Wei Zhao's plans. Still, Zhao Qilei would not come to harm anytime soon, so he could just as well let him stay a while longer in the Zhao family.

"Leader, something's gone wrong with your company?" Zhao Qilei asked urgently the moment the call connected.

"Huh? How do you know?" Wei Zhao was rather surprised at Zhao Qilei's words. Zhao Qilei's sources of information should be the worst of anyone's; even if the Hidden Zhao family knew about this, they would not tell him! That was why, when Wei Zhao had called his various underlings to borrow money, he had deliberately skipped Zhao Qilei and Yu Bing—because Zhao Qilei had no say at all in the Zhao family and could not borrow any money, while Yu Bing was in the Ice Palace, and Wei Zhao's relations with the Hidden Yu family were not especially good, so he had not bothered to call.

"My grandfather told me..." Zhao Qilei said. "Leader, you must be badly short of money right now, aren't you? Our Hidden Zhao family can put up two hundred million for you!"

"What?!" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide, as though he had heard the most inconceivable words in the world. Barely trusting his own ears, he asked again, "Zhao Qilei, what did you say? Your Hidden Zhao family wants to lend me two hundred million?"

"Not lend—Grandfather said, we're giving it to you!" Zhao Qilei said.

"Your grandfather... giving it to me?!" Wei Zhao was instantly thrown into confusion. If he had not been certain he was fully awake, he might even have thought he was dreaming! (To be continued)