"It’s okay, I can handle it. Don’t tell Dad, he might scold you or even go to your workplace and cause trouble. Let me deal with it, he loves me the most, there won’t be any problems." Shi Yu feigned a relaxed tone.

"I’ll say it." Qiao Zhen couldn’t bear to let his beloved wife take the blame, even though it was his fault, despite not having any control over it.

"If you say it, this matter won’t end. Remember, when has Dad ever been truly angry with me? History tells us, he loves me the most, none of these problems will be an issue."

"Thank you... Once I’m done with this, I’ll give you a surprise, alright?" Qiao Zhen felt both relieved and distressed, his wife had matured so much in these past couple of years, she was becoming like a grown woman.

"Alright, you should rest early, I’m sleepy."

"Okay, love you, honey!"

After hanging up, Shi Tou hugged her knees and cried silently.

She wished someone could share her sadness at this moment, but there was no one.

Her two good friends couldn’t be reached when she needed them, and her husband was stationed in the military camp. Distracting him was a minor thing, but distraction could lead to major issues, and in his position, distraction could be life-threatening.

And her father, who she loved the most and loved her dearly, was nowhere to be found at this moment...

Thinking of her missing father, Shi Tou sniffed her nose, and tears started to flow again.

"Xiaoyu!" Her mother called from inside the room, Shi Tou quickly wiped her tears, swiftly pulled out some loose powder, and patted her face to make herself look less haggard.

"Coming!"

She jumped down from the bed with her laptop in her arms, and within a minute, she restored her usual vibrant girl appearance, only the dark circles betrayed her worries.

On the sickbed, the once high-spirited Mrs. Shi from the pharmaceutical factory lay haggardly, with an IV drip in her hand.

"Xiaoyu, did Qiao Zhen say when he’ll be back, your wedding—"

"Of all times, you’re still talking about this?" Shi Tou went over to check the IV bottle, used a cotton swab to disinfect, and quickly changed her mother’s medicine.

"Ah, I’m sorry, my dear, you’re about to get married, and our family’s factory is facing the risk of bankruptcy, yet your father still hasn’t come back. I may not be able to give you a grand wedding..."

"Mom, of all times, do you still care about this? What difference does a big or small wedding make? It looks lively and harmonious, but when something really happens, who will remember us?"

Shi Tou’s words carried a tone of lamentation.

Mrs. Shi on the bed sighed, watching her beloved daughter transform from a naive little girl into someone who understood the intricacies of life, feeling deeply heartbroken.

"It’s all your father’s greed, rushing to expand the scale, blindly reducing prices to win bids, causing the factory’s cashflow problem, and later taking loans to buy equipment, miscalculations in cost estimates led to a broken capital chain..."

The Shi Family Pharmaceutical Factory was quite large, able to rank among the top in the country, Shi Touyu never thought she would one day go from a carefree little princess to a bankrupt daughter.

Over the past two years, with medical reforms, many drugs were publicly tendered to ensure low-cost services for the people, and the factory’s profit was less than before. Many small pharmaceutical factories started to close down, and Mr. Shi wanted to expand the business, took a bold step for policy support, and deliberately lowered prices to win bids.

However, he didn’t realize, the bidding price was too low to have any profit margin, coupled with emphasizing output, a lack of timely business strategy adjustments, led to a broken capital chain, and signs were already visible early in the year.

At that time, Mr. Shi still didn’t realize the risk and didn’t make decisive decisions, still thinking their large ship could withstand the storm, continued bold expansions, but when he realized something was wrong, the company was already in serious crisis.

When Shi Tuoyu graduated and returned home, she hadn’t realized there was already such a big problem at home, she was still enthusiastically thinking about her wedding, preparing to be a happy bride for the Qiao Zhen brother she had thought about for many years.

It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon when her father suddenly disappeared, and her mother suddenly fell ill, that she realized the household was in such deep trouble.

Mrs. Shi was actually ill from acute anger, not very serious, but the family’s problem was already pressing, at a critical moment, her father who went out to seek help never returned, his phone was unreachable and he couldn’t be contacted.

The bank’s urging calls came, and Shi Tou’s legs were running tirelessly.

She begged everyone she could, but those uncles and aunts who once kindly called her Xiaoyu, either were on business trips or refused to see her, only one met her, said a few useless words, and then handed her a 50,000 yuan check, Shi Tou threw it at his face.

That person, once benefited from her father’s guidance, one could say his success today was inseparable from her father’s initial support and funding.

Ten years ago, when this uncle wanted to start a business, Shi Tou’s father gave him 50,000 yuan.

What was the concept of 50,000 yuan ten years ago?

This person, with the money given by her father, the connections provided, the sponsorship he pulled, little by little became a restaurant tycoon, and after his wealth reached tens of millions, when her father was in trouble, he just said a few lukewarm words, gave Shi Tou 50,000 yuan, and nothing else.

What does it mean when they say human warmth is thin as paper, what does it mean when they say when the wall falls, everyone pushes, what does it mean when they say wealth in the mountain has distant relatives, and poverty in the bustling city has no one asking? She learned it deeply!

Just as Qian told Yu Minglang, Dalong needs to see the cruel reality to grow, so does Shi Tou.

The previous incident of being abducted with Qian had already made her grow once, and then the faces of those people in the afternoon made her grow again.

In this bitter cold night, she had no support.

"Mom, forget it, even if our family goes bankrupt, the house and car Dad left you before is enough for you to live stably, Qiao Zhen is a good kid whom we’ve seen growing up, when we were rich he never feared our family’s threshold, now that we’re poor, he won’t look down on you, you should live a good life with him, if your dad doesn’t return, I’ll take his place and go to jail."

These words coming from Mrs. Shi’s mouth carried an indescribable sense of sorrow.

At this point, she already saw that their family might not escape the disaster, and might even go to jail for being unable to pay debts. For an entrepreneur who fought all his life and suddenly lost everything, this was a disaster.

"Mom, I don’t want the house or the car, sell them and pay the workers their wages." Looking at her mother like this, Shi Tou felt an indescribable sadness.

"Silly girl, that little money is just a drop in the bucket, it won’t solve the problem, but don’t be too pessimistic, there may be no way for you to live like a little princess, it’s all your father’s fault..."

Mrs. Shi felt most regretful towards her daughter, and just as she finished speaking, Shi Yu’s tears started to fall.

"Why are you saying this... things are already like this, just take care of yourself, getting angry at your age, how can your body handle it, money is just an external thing, I’ll find a way."

That’s just something to say, but who can really remain untroubled?

It feels like just yesterday she was in the clouds, and the next second she fell into the abyss, the mental gap was surely huge.