Why not just hand over the 24 million worth of assets to the Lu family to settle that portion of the debt, leaving only 6 million remaining?
The Lu family isn’t that naive. Even if they took possession, they would need to sell everything, and rushing to liquidate would result in losses.
Or perhaps hand over all assets to the Lu family at once, letting them handle the disposal however they wished, clearing the entire debt as per the original 30 million loan agreement.
Either way, settling the debt like this would be very disadvantageous.
But creditors don’t consider whether debt repayment terms are fair to the debtor – loan agreements naturally protect the creditor’s interests.
Lawyer Cheng was well-versed in handling wealthy people’s bankruptcies and was particularly skilled at asset liquidation. Xia Ziyu’s case of bankruptcy due to failed investments wasn’t unique.
Lawyer Cheng gave sincere advice: “This approach is certainly unfavorable. Fifth Madam could consider moving to a slightly smaller property and sell the current residence to free up several million. Real estate tends to fetch the best prices – jewelry and cars will face heavy price negotiations. With these extra millions, Fifth Madam could choose to repay the Lu family, or temporarily keep it for daily expenses. Though I suggest that even if Fifth Madam keeps several million on hand, some expenses will need to be reduced.”
For instance, they didn’t need to employ two maids at once.
And besides the chauffeur, there were several bodyguards.
Their monthly salaries, while insignificant before, had become quite a burden in the current situation.
Selling the current house, moving to a slightly smaller one, dismissing excess maids and bodyguards – all these actions represented a downgrade in lifestyle.
Lawyer Cheng had seen too many similar cases. While lifestyle upgrades came easily, downgrades were painful – many wealthy people couldn’t overcome this hurdle.
Sure enough, Xia Ziyu wouldn’t accept it.
Move to a smaller house and dismiss her staff?
Impossible!
She was Du Chengrong’s Fifth Madam – why should she live like that?
She was even reluctant to sell other assets.
Selling property was normal – wealthy people often owned multiple properties, bought partly for asset preservation.
When money was needed, selling one property could generate profits.
But selling cars, unless to upgrade to better ones, would damage a wealthy person’s status.
Let alone selling jewelry and accessories.
All of Hong Kong would laugh at her!
Human nature being what it was, even though Du Zhaohui and Xia Xiaolan already knew about her financial predicament, as long as they weren’t openly mocking her, Xia Ziyu could maintain a facade of dignity.
But truly selling assets to repay debts and dismissing her staff would shatter even this false dignity – honestly, Xia Ziyu couldn’t accept it.
She wasn’t completely out of options yet.
As long as she remained Du’s family’s Fifth Madam, whether Du Chengrong woke up or passed away, she could still turn things around.
“Lawyer Cheng, you’ve misunderstood. When I asked you to negotiate with the Lu family, it wasn’t about selling assets – it was about postponing the repayment timeline. And regarding my second question, with Du Chengrong in a coma, who will cover my living expenses? I don’t want to argue with Du Zhaohui, but since he’s now managing Chengrong Group, shouldn’t he cover my living expenses? If he won’t take care of me, fine, but is he also going to ignore his half-siblings?”
Lawyer Cheng’s expression immediately became constipated.
So she wanted him to negotiate with the Lu family.
And she wanted him to discuss with the eldest young master-
Setting aside the former, just considering the latter – having Lawyer Cheng ask Du Zhaohui for living expenses on Xia Ziyu’s behalf?
Lawyer Cheng was certain he’d face a barrage of angry spittle from Young Master Du!
Did this Fifth Madam truly not understand the situation?
Unless… had they all been mistaken? Although Master Du had testicular cancer, perhaps he hadn’t completely lost his fertility capacity. Maybe the child in Fifth Madam’s womb was Master Du’s – otherwise, where did she get such confidence?
Lawyer Cheng couldn’t help glancing at the closed hospital room door.
“Fifth Madam, I can only do my best with these two matters.”
Lawyer Cheng didn’t kick her while she was down – this was an internal Du family conflict, and he shouldn’t handle it with emotional bias.
The matter of requesting living expenses from Du Zhaohui naturally went nowhere.
When Lawyer Cheng approached the Lu family about postponing repayment, they readily agreed, but the next day, an incident occurred that excited Hong Kong’s tabloids: The Du Fifth Madam was publicly shamed with wall posters demanding repayment plastered all over Central district’s office buildings, complete with photos of the subject.
The “30 Million Debtor Lady” became famous across Hong Kong. Xia Ziyu couldn’t show her face in public and called to blame Lawyer Cheng for his ineffectiveness.
“Lu Yunshi must have done this. I’ll sue her for defamation!”
“…”
Without catching Lu Yunshi in the act, how could they blame others?
Who would be foolish enough to do such things personally?
Even if caught, it wouldn’t count as defamation – the posters’ content wasn’t false, Fifth Madam truly did owe money and wasn’t repaid.
Lawyer Cheng kindly advised Xia Ziyu to repay part of the money first to appease the Lu family. Both parties were prominent figures – why create such embarrassment?
Xia Ziyu wouldn’t budge at all.
“If they dare, let the Lu family forcibly seize the assets!”
“…”
Lawyer Cheng gave up.
Showing weakness could be strategic – such unreasonable stubbornness would only make things worse.
Sure enough, after the debt collection posters, Xia Ziyu was splashed with red paint at her doorstep. With reporters already staking out nearby, photos of Fifth Madam’s embarrassing paint-covered escape made the tabloid front pages!
Utterly humiliated, Xia Ziyu simply refused to leave home.
Lu Yunshi didn’t come looking for her – instead, she took Xia Ziyu to court!
When Xia Ziyu received the court summons, she sat stunned at home for half a day.
These people were all conspiring to destroy her.
They wanted to watch her fall from grace, from glamorous to pathetic.
No, she absolutely couldn’t go bankrupt.
That evil thought Xia Ziyu had suppressed emerged again – the harder the Lu family pushed, the clearer this idea became.
Should she take the risk?
Without taking risks, she was already at a dead end.
…
“30 Million Debtor Lady’s Home Splashed with Paint-“
Xia Xiaolan tossed aside the tabloid.
The jokes about Xia Ziyu seemed endless.
Lu Yunshi was no pushover either, step by step, like a cat toying with a mouse, she had thoroughly humiliated Xia Ziyu. The more glorious ‘Fifth Madam’ had been before, the more pathetic she was now. This was the difference between relying on men versus relying on oneself. Without Du Chengrong as her backing… Xia Ziyu would find it hard to recover on her own.
Xia Xiaolan certainly didn’t want Xia Ziyu to recover either. Let Lu Yunshi toy with Xia Ziyu for now – Xia Xiaolan had other matters to attend to.
“Miss Xia!”
Zhang Bailun entered with an excited expression, “I’ve completed the purchase of 20 million shares of Lu family media as you requested.”
“Good! The Lu family should be aware by now – continue to maintain the appearance of planning large-scale purchases.”
Continue buying more?
Or just pretend to buy more.
Though actual purchases wouldn’t be bad either. After Qihang bought 20 million shares, Lu family stock hadn’t exceeded 5.5 dollars per share – truly not expensive. Miss Xia wanted to become a shareholder in ‘Lu Family Media’, and not just a minor one.
“Miss Xia, the next step…”
Xia Xiaolan crossed her hands on the desk, very relaxed:
“The next step is to wait.”
Wait for the Lu family to contact her again. This time, they would have to treat this “young person” with utmost caution.
The Lu family might be dissatisfied but would have to suppress it. Xia Xiaolan admitted she felt a bit like a villain getting her way- no, how could she cast herself as the antagonist? This was simply her moment of triumph!