Chapter 250: Minfa Securities Office

"Whoa!"

As the woman on the third floor flailed while falling from the height, both Li Xian and Xu Maohuo instinctively reached out their hands.

It was too late to run upstairs and save her—they could only hope she would somehow be saved.

As if the combined power of their thoughts had worked, the woman, after a series of screams, miraculously got lucky. As she was plummeting toward the second floor, she suddenly hit a signboard from the department store, which slowed her fall.

"Oh my God!"

Taking advantage of the situation, the woman quickly grabbed the sign. Despite being shaken and hurt, she clung desperately to the signboard with both her hands and feet.

Seeing the woman hanging from the neon sign that read "Clothing, Shoes, Daily Goods," Xu Maohuo slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "What a move!"

"What move! It's late at night, and you're yelling like that! Hurry up and get me down!" The woman, who had been scared by Xu Maohuo's loud shout, was now angry. Seeing that he wasn't even trying to help and was instead making jokes, she turned her head and yelled at him with a sobbing tone.

Li Xian couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the woman, now dangling from the neon sign and speaking with a thick Northeastern accent.

The department store in front of them was an old-style four-story building, but the ceilings were quite high for a commercial building. The third floor was about six meters off the ground, but now that the woman was hanging from the second floor, she was only about three to four meters above the ground—a height that likely wouldn't kill her if she fell.

Now that he saw she was relatively safe, Li Xian relaxed.

Whether or not she intended to jump, it would have been pretty unlucky to watch someone get seriously hurt right in front of them.

Hearing the woman scolding them, Xu Maohuo was both amused and annoyed, "What's wrong with you? Who's the one screaming like a ghost late at night?"

Seeing that the woman was about to lose her temper, Li Xian quickly signaled to Wang Tiecheng to help her.

Wang Tiecheng didn't look for any other way up. He simply assessed the height and surroundings, then took a few steps back, ran forward, and leaped high to grab the first-floor overhang, using the momentum to vault himself up to the second floor!

This maneuver left Xu Maohuo stunned.

"Whoa! I didn't know Old Wang had such moves!" He looked at Li Xian, his face full of disbelief.

During their trip to Russia, Xu Maohuo had assumed this quiet guy was just a cautious person whom Li Xian brought along for company. Though the journey had some hiccups, it went relatively smoothly, and Wang Tiecheng mostly played the role of a bag carrier. Later, when they visited the warehouse in Harbin, Wang Tiecheng barely spoke, and Xu Maohuo often forgot he was even there.

Given this, when Li Xian gave Wang Tiecheng 20,000 yuan, Xu Maohuo thought it was too much.

But now, seeing this near-superhuman move, Xu Maohuo realized that they had had a real expert with them all along.

Li Xian smiled but said nothing.

Wang Tiecheng used to work in the forestry system, and all the security officers and forest police there reported to Old Wu. During their idle chats, Old Wu had mentioned Wang Tiecheng. According to him, Wang had served on the Laoshan Front and performed very well. He had been part of a special attack team and had earned a second-class merit, but later got into trouble for mistreating prisoners and was disciplined, which is why he returned home.

Although Li Xian didn't know the details of the Laoshan incident, anyone who could be selected for a special attack team at that time and return alive with honors had to be quite capable.

But in peacetime, especially when everyone was focused on making money, these skills were mostly useless unless you went down a bad path or became a hired bodyguard.

As he was thinking this, Wang Tiecheng had already reached the second-floor balcony, carrying the woman under his arm. Since the department store was closed for the night, all the windows were sealed with shutters. As he had on the way up, Wang Tiecheng didn't look for an exit; he just lifted the woman, grabbed the railing with one hand, and climbed down.

The whole time, the woman stared at Wang Tiecheng, wide-eyed, as if she had seen a ghost.

...

At a small restaurant near the stock exchange.

The woman, who introduced herself as Xin Rumei, a 31-year-old native of Shuangcheng, now had Xu Maohuo talking non-stop. "Sis, what kind of trouble could drive you to sit on a balcony and cry at night?"

There's a saying: "When fellow countrymen meet, tears fall." But Xin Rumei's tears were one-third from fear, one-third from anger, and the last third from grievance and helplessness.

She gave Xu Maohuo an annoyed look but nodded in gratitude to Wang Tiecheng, who had just saved her. "I got screwed over."

"Screwed over?"

Seeing the curiosity in the three men's eyes, Xin Rumei sighed and recounted her misfortune:

The securities office on the upper floors of the department store was run by Xin Rumei and her husband. Xin managed the dealings with the stock exchange, while her husband handled customer relations at the office. Although they were among the first wave of stock traders in the country, Xin Rumei wasn't very good at trading stocks, so her husband took care of most of the operations.

The business was going well, but then her husband strayed. With a bit of money and free time, he started an affair with a hostess at the office. They were caught by Xin Rumei while fooling around after work.

So, they got divorced.

Since the securities office was registered in Xin Rumei's name, it naturally became hers after the divorce. Determined to make it on her own, Xin Rumei hired a high-paid analyst to keep the business running smoothly, and things were going well for a while.

But then the analyst, having been there long enough, got greedy and resigned, taking most of the office's clients with him.

With hardly any business left and no savings because her ex-husband had taken everything in the divorce, Xin Rumei couldn't even pay the rent.

With the department store pressuring her for rent, Xin Rumei became increasingly upset, which is why she ended up crying on the balcony late at night.

Hearing her story, Li Xian sighed deeply. Knowing they were from the same hometown and that she was older than him, he called her "Sister Mei" and tried to console her: "Sister Mei, don't worry too much. They say bad luck is followed by good fortune. Maybe things will turn around soon."

Xu Maohuo, however, crossed his arms and laughed at himself. "Too reckless. Knowing that a securities office makes money from clients, you still let yourself get caught up. No wonder you got screwed over."

Although his words sounded harsh, Li Xian knew Xu Maohuo was probably thinking about his own past mistakes.

Xin Rumei, on the other hand, wasn't as understanding. "How dare you! I just wanted to get some fresh air, and you almost scared me to death! Talk about bad luck!"

Xu Maohuo didn't back down, "At first, I thought it was a stray cat in heat, but then I realized the timing was off and figured it was a ghost! I haven't even complained about bad luck, and you're the one with grievances?"

Seeing that the two were about to start bickering, Li Xian quickly intervened.

Remembering that he was looking for a securities office, he asked Xin Rumei, "Sister Mei, is your office still operational?"

"Operational? No way, not without an analyst. I can't keep it going on my own, and there are no clients left. Rent is due next month, and I'm thinking... I might just close it."

Xin Rumei glared at Xu Maohuo, then sighed deeply.

"Is that so?" Li Xian rubbed his chin. "I might have a job for you. Are you interested?"