Chapter 99：The Favour (2)

Mrs. Xu went on her knees before Joann. Joann immediately reached forward to stop her mother-in-law, gasping, as a normal person in her position would, "Mother, what are you doing? Please get up!"

Mrs. Xu resisted her pull. "I won't get up unless you agree to do me a favour!"

"Of course, mother! I'll do whatever favour you have of me, please, just stand up!" Cornered, there was nothing else Joann could say in that situation. She would say anything to get her mother-in-law off from the floor. As headstrong and as modern as Joann was, she also found it to be highly disrespectful to have your elders kneel before you. That was something that was 100 percent unacceptable in Chinese culture.

Before entering the office, Joann expected a war of words, a shouting match but never in a million years did she expect her mother-in-law to kneel before her. This naturally caught her by surprise. This was so out of the ordinary that thinking back, Joann wondered how did she even manage to get her words out considering how baffled she was by the whole situation then.

When she got Joann to say yes, Mrs. Xu relaxed her stance slightly and Joann took the opportunity to straighten her mother-in-law from the half-kneeling position that she had been maintaining. Then, Joann moved her mother-in-law to the sofa that was placed across from the office table.

When seated, Joann tried to get Mrs. Xu to elaborate on the situation. Even though she had said yes, Joann technically had no clue what kind of favour she had agreed to.

With a despondent tone, Mrs. Xu explained that while Xiu Ling and Joann were on their overseas trip, Lin Corps had finally made their move. They had been eyeing Xu Corps for months now, after Elder Xu's untimely death. They had initiated their hostile take-over.

This was not something that came out of the blue. Mrs. Xu had been trying to fix the holes in the dam but eventually the dam still broke. Essentially this was inevitable. However, this did not mean that she could accept the result with an easy heart. She still had not come to terms to losing the company even though she had been given plenty of time to prepare for it.

"I was on the phone earlier to talk to the shareholders. I've pleaded and begged but they refused to budge. Then again, I cannot really blame them. We're business people, at the very essence, we will always go for the highest bidder," Mrs. Xu said before adding, "But that doesn't mean that I'm not disappointed. These people have been around and have fought the good fight with your father-in-law since the very beginning. To think they would turn around and sell his life's work to an outsider… he would be turning in his grave."

Sitting beside Mrs. Xu, Joann listened quietly. She did not anticipate so many things would have happened in the short period of time she was away with Xiu Ling. The dubious part of her suspected Lin Kang sent her on this trip with Xiu Ling just so he could do something like this. However, the thought was removed from her mind the moment it appeared because she understood Lin Kang would have done this even when she was in the country.

Drawing Joann out from her thoughts, Mrs. Xu continued, "Xu Jing is now at the company, salvaging as many things as he can. You can imagine how that is helping the morale at the company. Then again, with the ship sinking…" Mrs. Xu allowed her sentence to trail off and she ended it with a sigh.

Then, Joann was reminded of something important. "Mother, that is horrible but how is that related to me? I'm not a businesswoman so how I can possibly help with this situation?"

Mrs. Xu turned to look at Joann and she answered, "Because you are close friend to the wife of Lin Corp's CEO."

It dawned on Joann then. Her mother-in-law wanted her to stop Lin Kang via going through Xiu Ling. It was honestly quite ingenious if a little immoral. Essentially, Mrs. Xu was asking her to leverage her friendship with Xiu Ling to stop the hostile take-over.

The fact that she did not know how much weight Xiu Ling carried within Lin Kang's heart aside, Joann did not want to place such a pressure on her best friend. Who knows, perhaps this might strain the relationship between Xiu Ling and Lin Kang. Joann did not want to be the culprit responsible for breaking up a marriage.

It ashamed Joann to admit it but she wished she did not agree so easily to her mother-in-law's demand earlier. This favour was much more complicated and demanding that she previously assumed.

Just as Joann was about to say something to backtrack on her words, as if sensing her plan, Mrs. Xu continued, "To be perfectly honest, with the money Lin Corps is willing to pay to buy the company from us, we can live an acceptable, if not a totally comfortable life for the rest of our lives."

Joann was about to persuade Mrs. Xu to do just that. There was nothing wrong with taking the payment from Lin Corps. It was about time for Mrs. Xu to retire, perhaps she could travel the world with the money and the money could also be used as the capital for Xu Jing to start a new endeavor so why not?

Joann did not anticipate the 'but' coming.

"But… this company is the only thing that is left behind by your late father-in-law. Before he passed way, he told me how regretful he was that he only had the company to leave behind for his son. By his deathbed, I told him it was already more than enough and I would help him make sure that Xu Jing would take good care of it, to use it to continue to write the Xu family's legacy."