Chapter 346: The Money Was Spent, But the Person Was Gone

"Legal channels, legal channels—the person was sent to the hospital from your place, and now you aren't prepared to pay a single cent, and then you expect us to go file a Lawsuit ourselves? On what grounds!" Jiang Hao roared in his fury.

He did not understand, on what grounds, on what grounds the other party was so emboldened; it was their Employee who had an accident during their working hours, and even a Legal Blind could use their own logic to figure out that, no matter how you put it, they were responsible.

Because Jiang Hao's voice was very loud, many people in the nearby offices ran over to see what was happening.

The legal counsel looked at the time and said, "Mr. Jiang, there is really no need for you to yell at me. I am also an Employee of the Company, and I am just working for a salary. How about this: I will discuss it with the Company's leadership to see if the Company can provide some help now."

Jiang Hao did not speak, the legal counsel went off to make a phone call on the side, and the onlookers were still watching.

For them, when such a thing happened to the Company, they naturally felt a sense of "the rabbit dies and the fox grieves"; after all, everyone was a wage earner, all working desperately and staying up late, and Sun Tiantian was the first, but there was no telling who would be next.

The legal counsel finished the call and returned, accompanied by the HR Manager.

At this moment, the HR Manager looked at Jiang Hao and said, "Mr. Jiang, after consultation with the Company's leadership, we have preliminarily agreed to advance 200,000 yuan for Sun Tiantian's Medical Expenses. After all, you need to pay 150,000 today, so why don't you see if that works?"

"This... how should I put it? Our priority now is to save the person. Neither I nor the Company are your enemies, and you don't need to be so angry. As for the Company, the responsibilities that should be borne will certainly be borne, so please rest assured."

As the HR Manager spoke, he looked at the onlookers and continued, "Alright, everyone go back to work. Such a thing has happened, and our Company's leadership is also very saddened, but work still needs to be done."

No one spoke, but everyone slowly dispersed; after all, it was working hours, and if the Company were to get a bit strict, it would be very troublesome.

Jiang Hao's anger also slowly faded under the persuasion of this HR Manager. Of course, it was mainly because the Company did not shirk responsibility this time and directly said they would advance 200,000 yuan; that was the key.

Having discussed it with the hospital staff previously, according to the current severity, follow-up treatment must be kept up, and it would likely require 500,000 or even more in treatment costs.

With this 200,000, plus the 100,000 he could scrape together and the 100,000 Sun Tiantian's parents had cobbled together, it would be just about enough.

Nowadays, many young people who haven't experienced things have no idea of the blood and tears implied by the term "cobbled together"; the hospital is the place where one can truly see human nature.

They say that birth, aging, illness, and death are common human experiences, but the most terrifying thing is spending a pile of money to save someone, only for it to be like "fetching water with a bamboo basket"—the person is gone, and the money is gone too.

But reality isn't calculated like that; at that time, you simply cannot afford to consider these extraneous things.

"Alright then, Mr. Jiang, saving the person is a matter of extreme urgency. Our Company will send someone to accompany you to the hospital to pay the money directly. How does that sound?" the HR Manager said.

At this, Jiang Hao was a bit moved; this HR Manager was truly a good person!

Without another word, he went directly to the hospital with an Employee of the Company, a finance sister who was about forty years old.

In the taxi, Jiang Hao took out his phone and dialed Sun Tiantian's father's number.

"Uncle, really, the Company is being extremely responsible, not shirking at all. They said they would advance 200,000 for us. Really, the finance person they sent to pay is right here with me. Alright, you guys wait at the payment counter and have all the materials ready."

After hanging up, the finance sister glanced at Jiang Hao and said nothing.

Just like that, they arrived at the hospital, and all the way to the payment counter, Sun Tiantian's parents were already waiting there anxiously.

"Uncle, Auntie, don't worry. Sister Li, do you think we should pay now?" Jiang Hao asked, turning back.

Sister Li nodded, but just then her phone rang. She immediately wore an apologetic expression and said, "Wait a moment, you guys, I need to take this call first."

Jiang Hao could only nod. Although everything seemed to be going smoothly, this phone call made him feel inexplicably that something was wrong.

Sister Li walked to the side, finished the call after some "uh-huhs" and "ohs," and then walked back, an apologetic look appearing on her face once more.

"Um... Mr. Jiang, and you two elders, just now our Company's General Manager Xu called me and said that this situation really cannot be paid for directly by the Company. If we advance it through the Company's account, it will be hard for us to do the accounting later..."

What? This—they were already prepared to pay, how could another complication arise!

Jiang Hao said anxiously, "That's not right, Sister Li. Your Company's people said before they would give 200,000, why are you going back on your word now?"

Sun's father had spent his whole life dealing with farmland and hadn't seen much of the world. Seeing that Jiang Hao was about to start an argument, he hurriedly said, "Don't argue, let's not argue."

Sister Li said, "Mr. Jiang, you really don't need to be so agitated. Can you let me finish what I'm saying? We have always said it would be an advance by the Company. After all, the responsibility hasn't been clarified yet, and the Company only decided to advance it out of certain considerations, but it is indeed difficult to account for."

"So, General Manager Xu just told me that we are prepared to do it this way: the Company can help advance 100,000, but it requires... requires you to sign an IOU for the Company. That way, it's easier for the Company to handle the accounts..."

What? The promised 200,000 wasn't being given, only 100,000, and they still needed an IOU!

"Sister Li, your Company is being a bit too much, isn't it? This—this happened at your Company, and now that you're giving money, you still need us to sign an IOU?" Jiang Hao shouted there.

Upon hearing this, Sister Li stepped back two paces before saying, "Can you stop shouting? If you shout again, I'm leaving right now. You're acting as if someone owes you something. The situation is just like this; if you don't sign the IOU, this money cannot come out of the Company's account, so think about it yourselves!"

"But that HR Manager from your Company said they promised to give us 200,000..."

"Go find whoever promised you, okay? What's the use of yelling at me!"

Jiang Hao was still just a senior student; he had always been in school before, and had only been out for an internship for a month. Where had he ever seen such "unreasonable" people?

It could be said that this incident directly shattered the beautiful yearning he held in his heart for working and for society.

The society of adults is just this cruel. He felt that people should be honest, should keep their promises, and at the very least, for a Company, a promise is something that cannot be easily broken.

But he was slapped hard in the face by reality. What is reality? This is reality!

Even if it is signed in a contract, in black and white, they can go back on it whenever they want, let alone a mere verbal promise.

Otherwise, go to Court and see how so many contract disputes arise. Do you think that just because it's a big Company, what they say is what they mean and they will absolutely never go back on it?

Unfortunately, he felt the other party was unreasonable, while they felt he was too young and only knew how to yell and scream.

Jiang Hao still wanted to keep shouting, but at a time like this, getting angry couldn't solve any problems!

In the past, whenever he saw certain news, he would feel filled with righteous indignation and wonder why the victims' families would issue a Letter of Forgiveness and why they would compromise with those criminals.

The answer is simple: because of reality!

For example, someone driving a luxury car while drunk hits another car, resulting in deaths and injuries, and the injuries are Serious Injury.

Now the person has been caught, but there is still a long time before the trial and sentencing.

Your loved one is lying in a hospital bed needing money for treatment; if you don't issue a Letter of Forgiveness, they won't give you the money. What do you do?

They are clearly threatening you: if you don't give the Letter of Forgiveness, then that's how it will be. Civil Compensation will be paid, but it requires the Criminal Case verdict to come down. They are playing a time-delay game; I ask you, what can you do?

He couldn't understand it before, but now he truly understands.

With his head down for a long time, Jiang Hao didn't speak. Sister Li said she was going to get the IOU; in reality, she just walked around the corner and came back with the printed IOU already in hand.

This kind of IOU issued by the Company was prepared by specialized legal staff; it was just like a Standard Clause, much stricter than the IOUs many people write by hand.

As a close relative, Sun's father signed his name with tears in his eyes and pressed his fingerprint.

There was no need to say anything this time; very quickly, Sister Li went to the side and paid the 100,000 yuan.

It would probably be enough for these few days, but it was still far from enough. What to do?

Jiang Hao was a young person after all, and his mind was quite sharp. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly said, "Right, we can raise funds on that 'Teardrop Crowdfunding'!"

Sun Tiantian's parents were bewildered, so Jiang Hao hurriedly explained that this was equivalent to a platform for everyone to donate money.

That was no problem; they took the materials from the hospital, then began submitting them and waiting for the review. The speed was actually fine, and it was approved very quickly.

Jiang Hao began to mobilize his classmates and friends to share it, but unfortunately, the money raised was not much.

When it comes down to it, are fundraising platforms useful? They are, but if you look at them here, you will find that every family on here in need of fundraising is very miserable.

So in such a situation, do people need to compete on who is more miserable?

No, of course not. When it comes down to it, what they are competing for is traffic, and whether your misery can be seen by many people!

This was Jiang Hao's first time doing this, so he wrote it very honestly; he wrote down exactly how much money there was and what the family situation was.

A week passed in a flash. People from the Company never appeared again, nor did they ask a single question. Jiang Hao remained in the hospital, racking his brain on how to get money. To tell the truth, at this moment, they had no way to spare the time to look for the Company.

The progress of the fundraising was slow. On the first day, the platform helped promote it, and they raised over a thousand yuan, but it went from bad to worse afterward, only one or two hundred yuan a day, which was a drop in the bucket for the medical expenses.

And just as Jiang Hao was at his wit's end, a stranger stopped him at the hospital entrance.

"You mean, you help me promote it, you don't charge a cent beforehand, and you only take money after it's done? But isn't a sixty-five percent cut a bit too high?" Jiang Hao said, looking at the man in front of him.

The man who stopped him was named Chang Guoqiang, who was said to be a professional promoter for fundraising platforms. They had a whole set of promotion methods, had many WeChat groups, and had various cooperative influencers who could help share it and write some very miserable articles to attract attention.

Jiang Hao was stunned listening to the other party's introduction; he really didn't know before that such a profession even existed in this world!

So-called fundraising is essentially multi-party donations, but he didn't expect that some people had already set their sights on this money!

"High? If you fundraise by yourself without traffic or promotion, how much can you raise? I'll help you do it, and even if you have to give me sixty-five percent when it's done, the money you can get will still be much more than now. Is that not good enough?"

"Brother, we take risks doing this, you know. Accounts are easily banned, groups are easily banned, and most of the money collected goes to others. I'm just earning a bit of hard-earned money, okay? On fundraising platforms now, look at those who can actually raise money—who isn't hiring a promoter? Without promotion, who can go viral?" Chang Guoqiang said.

"But..." Jiang Hao vaguely felt that what the other party said made sense, but he also felt there was a problem, yet he couldn't say where the problem was.

They took a sixty-five percent commission, but he could also get more donations; it seemed like a win-win situation...

"Alright, stop with the 'buts'. Think about it yourself. Let me show you the results of our previous promotions!"

Chang Guoqiang let Jiang Hao look at a family that was still fundraising, and the amount raised every day was shockingly high.

Jiang Hao fell into a daze; he felt his worldview was shattering.

…………

At Tengda Company, Boss Zhou came to inspect the work again. He had been briefed by He Ling about Jiang Hao's situation, and since he happened to run into He Ling today, he asked about it casually.

"Don't even mention it, President Zhou. Jiang Hao is just unlucky, I guess. I heard he has started fundraising now. His girlfriend's company seems to have given some money, though I'm not too clear on the details."

Zhou Yi nodded to show he understood. He still felt quite sorry for this young intern.

Zhou Mouren would not engage in company donations. As someone who had been through it all, he extremely detested these so-called donations "in the name of voluntariness." This matter should have been voluntary for everyone, but as it stood now, it had become "forced voluntariness."

If he initiated it in the name of the company boss, everyone would certainly donate, that was no problem, but that would be forced voluntariness!

If he felt the other party was pitiful, he could donate himself, but he could not force others to donate as well.

He Ling also shook her head. She knew the situation at the neighboring company very well: as long as you don't die, you work yourself to death. The salary they gave was really not low, even a bit higher than Tengda.

But this was built on the premise that they dumped the work of five people onto one person.

Moreover, the base salary was not high; what was high were those bonuses and the like, and a large portion was issued at the end of the year. That is to say, as long as you wanted to get more money, you had to work yourself to death.

Everything was so harmonious.

Jiang Hao agreed to Chang Guoqiang's terms and let them help with the fundraising. The effect was indeed very good, but for every ten thousand yuan in donations, the promoter had to take six thousand five hundred; there was no helping that.

After many days of emergency treatment, Sun Tiantian's condition in the hospital ward had improved, but a more realistic problem lay before them: where to find the money?

Today's first chapter; there is another chapter today.

Thanks to Book Friend 2022, Night Intruder into the Boudoir's Short Legs, Yu Qing, Another Newbie Brother, Wenchidage, Youzi Brother, Book Friend 2022, wfei Brother, Lingering Cold Wind, Book Friend 2021. Thank you brothers for the tips, thank you.

The Qidian event starts today. You have all seen the goal for the votes. No more blathering, starting the burst!

(End of chapter)