Chapter 4 Emboldened By A Bank Card

At 12:40 pm, Alex Cohen arrived at Hudson Lowe’s office.

It was lunchtime, but nobody in the office was taking a break.

Except for the ones who had gone out to eat and had yet to come back yet, the rest of the employees were busy gossiping about Felix Moore in groups.

As soon as everyone saw that Alex was here, the discussion became even more intense and they all pointed fingers at him.

Alex did not care about those raucous voices. He walked around the office and could not find Felix Moore, so he dialed his number.

"I saw the video Hudson had sent of you fighting with Quinn Shetford. I'm at the office now. Where are you guys?"

Felix, on the other end of the call, was silent for a few seconds before he replied, "Hold on, I'll be right back."

Alex hung up the phone and saw Hudson Lowe coming in from outside, so he walked over to him.

"Mr. Lowe…”

"Stop!"

Hudson Lowe raised his hand and interrupted Alex.

"I don't have any money to lend you and no one else in the company has any spare cash either! Alex, I have to say something. Felix Moore treats you as a friend, but you...you even have the nerve to take the money he saved with his girlfriend? Now they're breaking up because of this and it's all your fault! People like you don't deserve to have friends!"

"I'll take responsibility for what I've done."

"Responsibility for who? Felix Moore or Quinn Shetford?"

"Mr. Lowe, let's talk about business. I'm not looking to borrow money from you, but I want to talk about work…”

Hudson smirked and shook his head.

"You finally had your fun and want to come back to work now? Alex Cohen, back then, you dropped the job at hand without my approval and just left for 3 months. Now you have the f*cking nerve to talk to me about work? You just come and go as you please. Do you think that the office is your vegetable garden?"

Alex's heart did not waver one bit and he even wanted to laugh a little.

"Mr. Lowe, you misunderstood me. I want to resign."

Hudson froze on the spot.

In Hudson's opinion, sooner or later, Alex Cohen would come begging to him to let him resume work. He could then take the opportunity to humiliate Alex properly. He had been looking forward to that day for a long time and even fantasized about that scenario more than once. Now he had finally waited until Alex mentioned work, but he was quitting!

This did not make any f*cking sense!

Suddenly, Hudson had a feeling of desolation.

"Alex, are you sure you want to resign?"

Alex thought about it and shook his head.

"I'd rather not."

"No...what exactly are you thinking?"

"I'm too lazy to go through the resignation process. It's easier to just leave."

"You're sick, aren't you?"

Hudson just had a little anticipation and was once again splashed with cold water. He looked like he had lost hope.

Alex saw that Hudson looked defeated and felt nice. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Felix Moore at the door, so he ignored Hudson and quickly greeted him.

"I'm sorry! You had a conflict with Quinn because you helped me. It's all my fault! Where is she?"

"She went back to her office."

Felix waved his hand and said, "Brother Alex, this has nothing to do with you. I don't mean to blame you."

"But I feel sorry for you. Had I known earlier, I would have returned the money to you yesterday…”

Before Alex finished speaking, a group of former colleagues came around and the atmosphere suddenly became animated.

"Felix Moore, although the fault for this matter lies with Alex, you need to reflect on yourself too. Who told you to ignore Mr. Lowe's advice? You need to be cautious in making friends and be equally cautious in lending money. Mr. Lowe’s so smart, so he surely won’t make us suffer. Now that you've suffered a big loss, you should remember this lesson, right?"

"Who said so? Do you think someone as poor as Alex can afford to pay back a 50,000 debt?"

"I don't think Quinn Shetford is good either. She’s too snobbish. It's better if you broke up with her. Just find another one!"

Felix frowned, scanned his colleagues with cold eyes, and bellowed.

"Enough! Mind your own business! There's no need for all of you to stick your nose into my personal matters!"

Alex had completely given up on this group of unsympathetic little people who only knew how to make matters worse. He turned to Felix and said, "Don't listen to their nonsense! I think Quinn’s quite decent. If it was anyone else, do you think she’ll be able to give you the money for safekeeping? I'll pay you back right away. You should console her and I'm sure your relationship can be fixed."

"I thought your dad urgently needed the money for surgery? Just use it first. I can handle my affairs."

"I just got a sum of money and there's still some left over after I settled my dad’s bills."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie to you about such things?"

Alex urged Felix to click into his Alipay Recipient Code and quickly scanned the code to transfer the money.

In the next second, the familiar alert sounded from Felix’s phone.

“Alipay received, half a million!"

Felix was puzzled.

"Brother Alex, you're really repaying it tenfold, aren't you?"

Those who were watching the fun also heard the alert. One by one, they all looked at each other. They were all shocked and gutted with remorse. Yesterday, they did not lend Alex any money under Hudson’s impetus, and now, they had just missed a good opportunity to turnover tenfold. They felt like they had suffered a big loss even though they had not lost any money.

None of them reflected on themselves. They just scolded Hudson Lowe in their hearts.

A moment later, they all jumped in front of Alex in unison like lapdogs.

"Brother Alex, you’re so rich! We're not outsiders. We're all colleagues. If you have a good path, you have to think of us."

"Yeah, Alex! I was going to lend you money yesterday, but I let Felix Moore take the lead."

"I also have 50,000 in my account. Do you still need it, Alex?"

Alex Cohen chuckled.

"Didn't someone just say that when it comes to lending money, we must be as prudent as making friends? Is there a problem with your snobbish eyes or something? I'm a mere poor man who lives on Alipay incentives. How could I afford to pay back a 50,000 debt? Your money should not be loaned out. You should just keep it for your own eye treatment...or perhaps mending your brain."

The crowd was red-faced from humiliation. No one said a word and they all wanted to vanish into thin air.

Alex did not continue to mock them. He turned to Felix and said, "Why don't you take some time off and we'll go find Quinn together? Your conflict started because of me, so I must apologize to her in person."

Felix came back to his senses and brought Alex outside. He asked very seriously, "Brother Alex, where did you get the money?"

Alex had guessed what Felix was worried about and explained, "You should know what kind of person I am. Don't worry, my money is clean! But the details of where it's coming from are a bit complicated and I don't know how to tell you, so I'll just tell you when I get the chance later on."

"Okay, I believe you. Brother Alex, you don't need to apologize to Quinn and I don't need to take the day off. I'll just go to her after work to clear things up. Also, I don't want any of the extra money you gave me. If you still treat me as a friend, just listen to me. Take this money and go about your business first. When I buy a house, and if you still have some spare, then you can just support me a little."

"Well...alright then."

Alex knew that Felix was not a greedy person, so he withdrew the 450,000 and bid him goodbye. He did not even bother to eat and rushed to find Isla. However, this side of the city was remote and there were only a few taxis around. He waited for what must have been 10 minutes before he managed to hail one down.

On the way, Alex dialed Isla's number. The call got through, but no one answered.

Alex was about to continue calling but he suddenly received a text message.

"Funds transfer 5,000,000.00 to ****7171/ALEX COHEN on 25-May-2020, 13:54:00. Current balance 5751266.83 [ICBC]."

Immediately after, Wayne Larson called.

"Son, I asked your mother to transfer 5 million to you. Did you receive it yet?"

Alex did not expect to receive a huge sum of money so quickly and was a bit stunned. He replied while still puzzled, "Yeah, I got it."

"Good. Son, in addition to the money, I’ve also prepared a gift for you. It should be delivered to you later today. Pay attention to your phone, okay?"

"Umm, I haven't finished using the money you gave me yesterday. There’s no need to give me that much."

"Silly boy, whoever complains of too much money? Didn't I tell you? Just spend freely!"

"Oh…”

Alex had not adjusted to his new identity yet, nor had he recovered from the huge surprise.

The call ended but he still held the phone to his ear and forgot to put it down.

Suddenly, the driver came to a sudden stop and pulled the car over to the side of the road.

"We’ve arrived at the Grand Millenium Tower."

Alex's head knocked onto the front seat as he was not paying attention. It was not the driver’s fault, so he did not get angry. After he paid the driver and got down from the car, he suddenly had a realization that he was rich now, so should he just buy a car? Anyway, it had been a few years since he took his driving license, so he was qualified to drive himself and did not need to hire a driver.

He decided without much consideration to buy a car when he had time.

As for now, he had to meet up with Isla.

The Sullivan's Golden Stone Advertising Agency was on the 17th floor of the Grand Millenium Tower. It occupied the entire floor and was a large comprehensive advertising company. The scope of business was quite wide and the business was quite substantial. Victor Sullivan was the chairman as well as the President. Xena Sanders was listed as Vice President and Isla Sullivan served as the Director of Customer Service. It was a veritable family business...

Alex rehearsed what he wanted to say and walked inside. Before he reached the elevator, he saw Xena Sanders walking in.

Xena also saw Alex and said, "You're just in time. I have something to tell you. Follow me!"

Alex thought about it and followed Xena to the Starbucks next door. They did not even order and after they sat down, he directly asked, "Why were you looking for me?"

Xena took out a check from her limited edition Chanel bag, signed it on the spot, and casually threw it in front of Alex.

"As long as you promise to divorce Lala, I'll give you half a million!"

"What do you mean? You want to buy me off by dumping some pocket money?"

"You're a poor kid and you're calling half a million pocket money? Where the hell did you get your grit from?"

"Of course it was...from the card."

Alex shrugged his shoulders, took out his phone, and opened the ICBC's text message from earlier.

Xena picked up the phone and looked at it. Her eyes instantly widened.

"Ones...tens...hundreds...Alex Cohen, how do you have more than half a million in deposits? Honestly, where did you get the money?"

Alex laughed bitterly.

"I suggest while you’re looking for a lawyer to consult on laws and regulations, you should also find a teacher to brush up on your maths…”