Confession of Haizhou

The next afternoon, Lu Zhou drove Lu Yong's jeep out of the neighborhood, preparing to pick up Ye Qingchen at the station.

Through the soft persuasion and hard probing of yesterday and this morning, Lu Zhou had pieced together some fragments of information about Chen He from Lu Yong's vague words.

When Lu Yong first entered the Binhai Construction Corporation, Chen He was his superior.

The Binhai Construction Corporation was established in the early 1980s by the Binhai Construction Bureau. Within a few years of its establishment, it obtained qualifications for housing and municipal engineering construction contracts, and accompanied the rapid development of Binhai City, undertaking numerous urban construction and large-scale building projects.

In just a few years, the Binhai Construction Corporation became a prominent state-owned enterprise in Binhai City.

Later, when Guobao Automobile arrived, Lu Yong saw an opportunity in the wave. He resigned from the general company and started his own business. Relying on the experience, capital, and connections he had accumulated in the general company, he flourished for a while.

Chen He, on the other hand, stayed in the general company and climbed the ranks. The general company undertook a large number of construction projects pursued by others during that time, and Lu Yong's Haizhou Building was led by Chen He.

When Guobao Automobile left, leaving a mess behind, bankrupting the developers and causing projects to be abandoned, it directly dragged the Binhai Construction Corporation into a quagmire. The general manager even committed suicide by jumping off a building at that critical juncture, as a way to apologize.

However, there was no room for apologies. The workers needed their wages, and the bank creditors demanded repayment.

In that year, Chen He took over the general company under the order of the crisis and also divorced his wife, Ye Ping. The first meeting between Lu Zhou and Ye Qingchen was when Ye Ping came to bid farewell to the Lu family after the divorce.

After Chen He took charge of the general company, through multiple negotiations with the city's high-level officials, he obtained a series of contracts for municipal engineering in N County and raised funds and issued corresponding bonds from banks.

After all, the high-level officials in the city did not want the Binhai Construction Corporation to collapse. The turmoil caused by Guobao Automobile had already plunged the citizens of Binhai City into panic and despair. If the general company with a large number of construction teams were to collapse as well, it would be an added blow.

However, the support from the high-level officials was not unconditional. Chen He had to carry out a series of reorganizations, including incorporating relatively better projects such as Guobao Automobile City and Haizhou Building.

It was because of this move by the high-level officials that Lu Yong was able to avoid imprisonment at that time.

But Lu Yong still had a heavy debt burden at the time. Chen He, who took over the general company, once again extended a helping hand by lending money to Lu Yong and subcontracting some business to him, allowing Lu Yong to gradually repay his debts through project contracts.

In the following years, under Chen He's leadership, the general company gradually recovered and barely escaped the predicament it faced during the Guobao Automobile incident.

At the beginning of the new millennium, led by N County, the Binhai Construction Corporation once again issued bonds to raise funds and collaborated with partners to rebuild Guobao Automobile City.

With the development of the domestic market economy, competition in various industries became even fiercer.

Due to the problems in its early years, the general company of Binhai Construction Corporation had not made progress in terms of technical expertise or contracting qualifications. The entry of

giants like China Construction and Urban Construction into Binhai directly squeezed out a large share of the market.

At this point, the general company was at a disadvantage in terms of relationships and technical capabilities. It couldn't even compete for municipal engineering projects, and all that was left was a developing Guobao residential area. There were even signs of a broken funding chain for the development of the Guobao residential area.

Although Lu Yong had repaid the loan he obtained through the municipal engineering contract orders, he was still caught in a vicious cycle of borrowing new funds to repay old debts. The attempt to find support from banks for the issuance of bonds for the development of the Guobao residential area was unsuccessful.

The general company had already died years ago; it should have gone bankrupt a long time ago. Chen He had struggled for so many years, but all he did was transfer the debts from one side to the other.

In the end, Chen He, who refused to accept his fate, attempted to save the general company. He used his personal funds and even borrowed money in his own name to barely maintain the development of the Guobao residential area.

The personal loan that Lu Yong guaranteed for Chen He occurred during these years.

However, the Guobao residential area became the final masterpiece of the Binhai Construction Corporation, and Chen He chose the same farewell as the previous general manager. On the second day of his suicide, the general company issued a public announcement stating that due to tight liquidity and uncertain payment of principal and interest, the 800 million yuan bond scheduled to mature at the end of February in ten years would face default.

At the intersection, Lu Zhou turned on the right turn signal and waited for the green light. He looked out of the car window on the left side, and Haizhou Building still stood tall.

It witnessed the entangled destinies of many people, silently telling their stories.

Who could understand Chen He's actions? Perhaps no one. Lu Zhou thought so.

After a while, Lu Zhou drove the car to the bus station.

After getting off the car, he went to the exit and lit a cigarette, waiting for Ye Qingchen to arrive.

At this moment, memories of past lives and unfamiliar old stories intertwined, making him somewhat anxious. He didn't know how to approach Ye Qingchen next.

Regaining his composure, Lu Zhou saw Ye Qingchen coming out of the car station with luggage in her hand. He flicked away the cigarette butt, waved to Ye Qingchen, and quickly walked towards her.

Lu Zhou approached her and wanted to help her with the luggage. "Hello. Are you tired? Let me help."

"Hello, senior. I can handle it myself, no need to bother."

"Alright, I didn't expect you to really come to Binhai for a 'trip.' Let's go. The car is over there."

"Okay."

After the two got into the car, Lu Zhou drove quietly, and Ye Qingchen was also not very talkative. The atmosphere between the two was like before, yet somewhat different.

Lu Zhou casually turned on the radio, and the car stereo coincidentally played the theme song of the TV drama "The Legend of the White Snake"...

"Could it be that one glance in the past."

"Just to meet in this life."

"Ah... Ah..."

Click, Lu Zhou immediately changed the channel, "I can't stand seeing Ye Tong as an actress," he thought.

After changing the channel, Lu Zhou didn't pay much attention to the content being played on the radio. His fingers tapped casually on the steering wheel.

"Xiao Ye."

"Yes."

"You knew that we had met before, right?"

Ye Qingchen's gaze shifted from the window back to Lu Zhou. She looked at him and smiled strangely.

"Yes, Brother Zhou."

"..."

"Well, when did you find out? Why didn't you ask me before? I didn't know all this time."

"I had doubts when I heard your name. It was only confirmed yesterday when you said you were returning to Binhai."

"Oh? So you remembered my name all these years. You have a good memory."

"I see the scars on my legs every day."

"..."

"I'm sorry. I was ignorant when I was young and didn't leave any shadow on you, right?"

Ye Qingchen shook her head. "No, it was a happy memory instead."

"Oh haha, I see."

After that, both of them didn't speak again, and silence returned to the car.

Until the Jeep reached an intersection, Lu Zhou looked at Ye Qingchen outside the car window and spoke up.