Chapter 23: 022 Turn Our Problem Into Their Problem

Gui'ai Wang just showed signs of promising development when it suffered heavy losses.

This time, not only the legal representative, but also the finance head, marketing head, co-founder, and major shareholders were all taken in!

The good news is, all these titles are now shouldered by Brother Zhong alone.

The bad news is, we don’t know how tight-lipped he is.

Yu Xing received the call before Lu Haiying; after learning the news, he immediately weighed this unexpected situation. Logically, Zhong Zhiling should know what to do—worst case, he’d just describe what had already happened.

But what if he doesn’t act logically…

If he doesn’t, and Zhong Zhiling gets spooked, he might blurt out everything—the direct sales elements, the two sets of books, the tens of thousands in amounts, even the investment shortfalls…

Even if precautions were taken from the start, there’d still be plenty of trouble.

Yu Xing didn’t want trouble; he didn’t want this to interfere with his own cover-up operation.

By the time he received Lu Haiying’s call again, his mind had already spun eight hundred times—he ruled out fleeing with the money first. From the start of the club, only five days had passed; worst case, he could return the money and shut it down.

Besides, whether it was “stolen money” still needed calculation.

Second, if they could quickly clear the third-in-command of suspicion, the project needed to accelerate—not just stay in Jin Ling, but split teams to other cities within one or two weeks, and ramp up online resources.

Finally, getting him out…

Yu Xing mentally sorted through it all, then moved his hand off the suitcase.

He transferred all his belongings, the Xiangjiang company registration documents, and the official seal from the suitcase into his backpack, grabbed his white coat and student ID, then rode his bicycle straight to Lu Haiying’s dormitory.

Lu Haiying was already waiting downstairs, pacing anxiously; the moment she saw her senior brother, tears welled up, barely held back.

“Don’t cry. It’s useless.” Yu Xing stopped his bike, spoke sharply, and extended his hand. “The ledger.”

Lu Haiying suppressed her urge to cry and swallowed her worries, pulling out the ledger her boyfriend had left her last night—a reduced “external ledger” with fewer customers and amounts.

Yu Xing flipped through it: detailed customer names, order times, and amounts, but the total numbers were drastically reduced.

One club event, one internship promotion, one day of daily marketing, plus Lu Haiying’s activities and orders from Zhong Zhiling and Liu Wan, brought Gui’ai Wang’s total orders to 219, with a case amount of 69,702 yuan.

This amount, under contract fraud laws, could constitute both individual and organizational criminal liability…

For individuals, criminal liability triggers above 20,000 yuan; for organizations, above 100,000 yuan—different regions have varying thresholds based on economic conditions.

Of course, Yu Xing’s knowledge of this was merely academic curiosity; the romantic contract didn’t fit such legal definitions. Given the subsidiary hadn’t been registered yet, this was likely just “unlicensed operation.”

“Unlicensed operation,” not “illegal operation.” Legally, it fell under the jurisdiction of the Industry and Commerce Bureau, with penalties limited to shutdown, confiscation of illegal gains, and fines.

If they relied solely on this external ledger—with only 21 orders and a case amount of just 6,279 yuan…

They might not even get fined.

Yu Xing tucked the ledger away, briefly explained the situation to Lu Haiying, then asked: “How much money did you put in?”

“Senior brother, I put in forty thousand—all in my bag.” Lu Haiying was overwhelmed; her boyfriend had only said the project was promising, never that it was criminal. “Why would Zhiling be taken away…?”

But then again, the company’s money-grabbing speed was indeed fast—nearly 70,000 yuan in under a week.

Could such a rapid money-grabbing pace really be safe?

Yu Xing sensed the second-in-command’s panic and comforted her with a small, kind lie: “They’re probably just asking for details. Don’t worry—I’ve already consulted a lawyer.”

Hearing this, Lu Haiying’s worry visibly eased.

She asked again: “Senior brother, what do we do now?”

Only then did Yu Xing notice the shift in her address.

“Why are you calling me ‘senior brother’ now?” he said, then continued: “Xiao Ying, stay calm. Only when we’re calm can we avoid mistakes. Come with me to the Industry and Commerce Bureau—we’ll talk on the way.”

Yu Xing patted his bicycle.

Lu Haiying glanced at it and suggested: “Senior brother, use my electric scooter.”

Yu Xing readily switched vehicles, riding toward the bureau as he laid out his plan: “We go register a subsidiary right now—speed is critical. We should’ve done this the moment we had the funds yesterday.”

“Can we register a company now, in time?” Lu Haiying asked, facing the wind.

Yu Xing replied: “Trust the fixers.”

As for why the fixers worked…

Well, they just did.

“The fixer will pay, and the company registration process will go fast,” Yu Xing continued. “We’ll make the procedures compliant, then I’ll take the ledger to the bureau to explain the situation—before Zhong Zhiling blurts out something stupid.”

Lu Haiying’s lips moved, wanting to defend her boyfriend, but she held back. This was official business—she needed to assess the risks posed by the third-in-command.

“I don’t yet know why Zhong Zhiling was taken, but aside from the company registration, we’re mostly fine,” Yu Xing’s voice drifted to her on the wind. “But sometimes things are hard to explain, so we need help.”

“Should we call a teacher? The school?” Lu Haiying asked.

“First, contact the media—Sina, NetEase, Tencent reporters. Tell them we have a ‘China University Dating Survey Report’ we want to publish,” Yu Xing had already inventoried his few remaining cards. “Don’t call under our company’s name. Use the school’s name—say a student entrepreneur created this survey and wants media coverage.”

“Then call the school yourself—pretend to be a website reporter, requesting an interview with the student entrepreneur to report on this survey.”

“If reporters come, great. If not, at least make the school aware.”

“Finally, I’ll call Teacher Liu and ask him to tell the school that a student entrepreneur has been taken in.”

Lu Haiying was confused: “Will this work?”

“The survey report itself has some value. Originally, I planned to publish it ourselves,” Yu Xing sighed. “But we can’t solve this alone—so we turn ‘our problem’ into ‘our problem plus their problem.’ Then they’ll step in.”

He suspected nothing major was truly wrong, but since he couldn’t reach Zhong Zhiling and didn’t know the real situation, he had to do everything possible to mitigate risk.

No money, no resources—fine. He’d still do everything he could.

If he had connections, maybe a single call would suffice.

“Senior brother, let me go see Zhiling—you handle things outside,” Lu Haiying volunteered to switch roles.

“You might not even get to see Zhong Zhiling—that’s point one,” Yu Xing disagreed. “Even if you do, you might not speak well—that’s point two. And I hold the largest stake—that’s point three. I expect a call for me soon.”

Lu Haiying could only agree, silently repeating: turn our problem into our problem plus their problem.

Yu Xing stopped the scooter, turned back to the second-in-command, and smiled: “Don’t worry. Once the school steps in—once it actively steps in—this isn’t even a real problem.”

He truly didn’t think it was serious. But beyond solving Zhong Zhiling’s issue, he had to protect Gui’ai Wang’s fragile operation—it couldn’t be shut down so easily.

Hmm, if it got shut down, should he go plant grapes…

Or maybe go back to his old trade—he was pretty good at selling houses.

A faint thought of an escape route crossed Yu Xing’s mind.

“Senior brother, will the school believe us?” Lu Haiying still doubted.

“That’s why we call multiple portal sites. If any of them verify with the school, confusion will naturally arise,” Yu Xing insisted on precision, then reassured her: “Don’t fear—the world is just a giant makeshift stage. Be bold.”

Lu Haiying fell silent, recalling her senior brother’s past advice—was this a kind lie?

He told her to be bold—but the third-in-command had already been bold enough to get taken in…

She watched helplessly as her senior brother easily found a fixer, handed over documents—but to their surprise, even the fixer said registering a mainland subsidiary under the Xiangjiang company would take at least a month due to notarization and approval procedures.

But the fixer offered an alternative: register a new company outright, then later transfer Xiangjiang’s ownership.

Yu Xing immediately agreed—and added a little extra money.

Fastest: tomorrow. Slowest: day after tomorrow.

“When you actually act, unexpected things always come up,” Yu Xing said after completing the fixer’s procedures, immediately searching for portal site contacts. “Zhong Zhiling’s trouble was unexpected too—but it’ll get resolved.”

Just as Yu Xing demonstrated to Lu Haiying how to contact reporters, the call he’d anticipated finally came—the uncle demanded he go to the bureau to explain.

Yu Xing felt calmer after answering: “Just explaining the situation—tone wasn’t harsh.”

“Then… should we still contact the websites and school?” Lu Haiying hesitated.

“Yes. We must seize the initiative,” Yu Xing said firmly. “I’ve called Sina. You call NetEase. I haven’t found Tencent yet—I’ll call Sister Ying on the way and ask if she has contacts.”

Lu Haiying watched her senior brother hop onto the scooter, nervously asking: “And then?”

“Remember to call the school. I’ll find a teacher on the way,” Yu Xing grinned. “Stay sharp. Don’t lose face—you’re our second-in-command! Myself and the third-in-command are both going in—this is all on you!”

He waved, then stopped, reached into his backpack, and pulled out clothing.

Lu Haiying saw him shake out his white coat, slip it on, and walk off without looking back—straight to surrender.