Since her last falling out with her family at the hospital, Zhou Jinbei had kept her distance from home for a long time.
Yesterday, her mother suddenly called her, crying uncontrollably on the phone.
Zhou Jinbei knew something had happened.
Upon entering the house, she found the atmosphere heavy.
Her brother was absent, her father's blood pressure had risen, and he was lying on the sofa with his eyes closed, resting after taking his medication.
Her mother sat beside him, distraught and crying.
As soon as she saw Zhou Jinbei, her mother began to complain about how unfilial her brother was, having misappropriated the company's working capital to cover his personal debts.
The debts remained unsettled, and he had even halted the company's projects.
The family's houses and cars had long been mortgaged, and they were now completely out of money.
If they didn't quickly raise funds to support the projects, the consequences of a work stoppage would be unpredictable.
The unspoken implication was that Zhou Jinbei should raise the money.
But the situation had arisen so suddenly; where could Zhou Jinbei raise so much money for them?
From childhood to adulthood, she had always played the role of a carefree young lady in the family.
Any spare money from her living expenses had been spent on bags, clothes, and cosmetics.
If she had been as capable of earning money as Jiang Nanfang, she wouldn't have sold herself to Jiang Sicheng for a mere betrothal gift.
So, her mother's tears were useless. Zhou Jinbei truthfully advised them.
"They say it's easier to conquer a kingdom than to defend one. My brother isn't cut out for business. If you ask me, you should just give up on him."
"Before he completely ruins the family business, while your retirement savings are still intact, pack up what you can, sell what you can, and let it be."
"Let my brother find a regular job and support himself. I'll take care of your old age."
"If you keep this up, our family will surely be ruined."
Her parents had called her back to help solve the problem, but she spoke such discouraging words.
Zhou Father was almost so angry he couldn't breathe, nearly dying from her words.
"Zhou Jinbei, oh Zhou Jinbei, everyone said you were smart and clever since you were little, and that you'd be extraordinary when you grew up. I never expected you to be so useless."
"You're not good at studying, you're not good at marriage, you even lost your child. And now you're wishing ruin upon us? You're simply a scoundrel!"
"What use are you? Huh? Tell me, I spent so much money raising you, letting you live a life of luxury and ease until you were 20, and you're this selfish?"
"You only think about yourself, not the family at all?"
"I've been in Nancheng for so many years, and now we're going bankrupt, and you want your brother to work for someone else? Do we have no shame?"
"Do you think things are as simple as you imagine? Why are you so stupid?"
"What can I do? My studies are already like this, I can't suddenly get a degree to bring you honor, can I?"
"If you want me to get married, I got married. Jiang Sicheng is a sissy and doesn't like women. What can I do?"
"Were you not born because I was the crystallization of your love, but rather raised to repay you when I grew up?"
"You only bully those weaker than you, and you only argue with me! Fine, you win, I can't argue with you!"
"Anger me to death! The Zhou family is ruined! Let everyone wait and watch us become a laughingstock, is that what you want?"
"I shouldn't have counted on you, I shouldn't have let you come back! It's as if I accumulated enough good karma in my past life to have given birth to you two wicked children!"
"I've seen through you, you're completely unreliable! Get out. Whether I live or die, I'll handle it myself, you don't need to worry about me. Get out!"
Zhou Jinbei looked at her furious father and wanted to ask him.
What right do you have to point at my nose and scold me like this? To call me selfish?
When you were indulging in debauchery outside, spending money on other women, and betraying my mother, did you ever think of these things?
The path is chosen by oneself, and you are where you are today because of your own actions!
But she didn't dare.
He was her biological father, the one who had doted on her like a princess since she was little.
The betrayal was real, but his kindness to her was also real.
Zhou Jinbei couldn't bear to anger him to death.
But she truly couldn't help the family much.
There were many wealthy people in her social circle, but she couldn't bring herself to ask them for money.
Because she knew that borrowing money was easy, but repaying it was difficult.
With her current salary and Zhou Jinxiu's business capabilities, they might never be able to repay the favor.
Feeling very distressed, she stayed in the living room blankly for a while, then Zhou Jinbei pulled her mother upstairs.
She organized all the designer bags, clothes, and jewelry the two of them had bought over the years, deciding to become a temporary micro-business owner.
"Since we don't need these things anymore, let's sell them."
"Sell them if someone offers a price, Mom, don't feel bad."
The family was in precarious straits, on the verge of bankruptcy, and these items were indeed useless.
Her mother worried, however, about how much good selling all these would do.
"Even selling all of them would fetch a considerable sum, enough to support the company for a while. We'll see after this period."
Thus, Zhou Jinbei shielded those who shouldn't see this WeChat Moments post.
She took pictures of all her jewelry and bags, priced them, and posted them.
Due to work requirements, she had added some employees from the group's administrative department on WeChat.
Some people she had only interacted with once and had no further contact with, so she couldn't distinguish who was who, thus she didn't shield them.
At this moment, others finally found gossip about her.
Someone screenshotted it and sent it to the administrative staff group.
"Look, Zhan Zong's former rumored girlfriend, Zhou Jinbei, just posted on Moments. She's selling so many clothes, shoes, and bags. What do you think she means?"
"Rumored girlfriend? Wasn't it clarified that she's his cousin?"
"I always said she and Zhan Zong were not on the same level. With her petty appearance and boisterous personality, how could she possibly be worthy of Zhan Zong?"
"Cousin is fine too. Being Zhan Zong's cousin, even the little she gets from the cracks in his fingers would be enough for us to eat for a while. She shouldn't be short of money, so why is she selling things?"
"Women like her probably have many fish in their pond. She's just pretending to be poor and pitiful for no reason. If some rich second-generation with a screw loose sees it, they might just take her in..."
"That makes sense. Oh well, regardless, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even if she's selling her assets, she's still better off than us."
"Hey, did you see the lanyard she's using for her work badge? It's Balenciaga. A lanyard for seven or eight thousand yuan. Such a showy woman is rarely seen."
A Zhong had joined a group of company administrative staff earlier for work.
Although she no longer worked for the group, the group was usually quiet, so she forgot to leave.
Today, it suddenly started ringing incessantly. When she took it out, she saw it was a discussion about Zhou Jinbei.
Did she have such a bad reputation at the group?
Enough to make everyone curse her behind her back.
And what was with that Moments post?
Selling bags, clothes, and jewelry? Had something happened at home?
However, even if something had happened, it didn't concern her much.