After Bankruptcy, the Billionaire Asked Me to Marry Him!

The November winds in Imperial City were bitterly cold.

As Ye Li approached the entrance of the Yunjing Hotel, she felt almost frozen solid.

Looking up at the top floor, Ye Li bit her lip and pushed through the revolving door.

A week ago, Ye Li was the young lady of the Ye Family in Imperial City.

The fashion shows in Paris, the auctions in London, Ye Li and her close friends from other wealthy families could hop on a private jet and bid on anything they fancied without a second thought.

Overnight, the Ye Group went bankrupt.

Her father passed away.

Her mother nearly went mad from the shock.

Relatives who used to depend on the Ye Family suddenly changed their tune, acting as if they had kept their distance for 800 years.

Those friends who used to lovingly call her "dear" and "sister" now wouldn't pick up the phone or respond to her messages.

Villas, cars, bags, jewelry...

After selling all their assets, the Ye Family still had a debt of a billion.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Li went from a glamorous heiress to a beauty burdened with huge debt.

The Yunjing Hotel belonged to the Zhou Family, and suite VIP9999 on the top floor was never open to the public; it was Zhou Hecchen's private territory.

Usually, he and his friends would gather there for parties, drinking, and card games.

Over the past few years, Ye Li had been there many times.

The Zhou Family and the Ye Family had been close for half a lifetime.

Their elders were as close as family.

She and Zhou Hecchen had grown up together and had been engaged for two years, waiting for her to turn 20 to officially get married.

But she hadn't expected the Ye Family to face disaster when she turned 20.

Zhou Hecchen… should help her, right?

If he was willing to lend her the money, that would be best.

If not...

Then she would think of another way.

There are always more solutions than problems.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Li stepped out of the elevator and walked straight down the corridor to the suite.

She grasped the doorknob, and the door opened at her touch.

Ye Li let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

For the past week, Zhou Hecchen hadn't contacted her.

When she phoned around asking for loans, those fair-weather friends seemed to finally find their chance to mock her.

Their insinuation was clear—if Zhou Hecchen really loved her, he would have helped smooth over her troubles without her having to ask.

On one hand, she felt this was the Ye Family's issue, and Zhou Hecchen was considering her pride by not offering help proactively.

On the other hand, she felt they might be right.

Caught up in managing one crisis after another, Ye Li hardly had time to think about what Zhou Hecchen might really be thinking.

But at this moment, the fingerprint that was still registered gave her a flicker of relief.

The sound of mahjong tiles clattering mingled with voices, and when Ye Li heard her own name, she stopped in her tracks.

"He Chen, you're not going to deal with the Ye Family's problems? I heard that Ye Li has been begging everyone for help recently!"

"Let her beg…"

A lazy, indifferent voice replied, "Initially counting on the Ye Group to support the Zhou Family, it turned out that the Ye Group has been declining over the years. Considering this marriage, the old man's been regretting it so much his guts are green. He's been worrying about how to call off the engagement. With the Ye Group's bankruptcy, it's the perfect excuse to sidestep the old man's dilemma!"

"Mr. Ye died, but Mrs. Ye is still alive. Aren't you afraid that the Ye Family will cling to you?"

"Cling to me? Hahaha…"

Zhou Hecchen chuckled coldly, "If the ox doesn't drink, you can't force its head down. I simply won't marry her; what can she do about it?"

"Are you really willing to let her go? Ye Li's face belongs in the entertainment industry, she wouldn't lose out to those fresh-faced young models. In a few years, she'll be a real beauty. Can you really bear to disregard her?"

"To care for her also depends on the method! If it was just a few million, I'd take care of it! But a debt-laden beauty with a billion? If you want to deal with that, be my guest! I won't be that sucker!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk… Mr. Zhou is truly clear-headed!"

Laughter erupted around the room, and Ye Li's heart sank into an ice pit.

A sharp pain spread from the bottom of her heart. Ye Li bit her pale lips and turned to leave the suite.

On the way down in the elevator, Ye Li pulled out her phone and sent a message to Zhou Hecchen: "Let's break off the engagement! From now on, you go your way, and I'll go mine. We have nothing to do with each other anymore!"

She didn't wait for his reply and immediately blocked and deleted him from her WeChat and phone contacts.

Ding!

The ding-dong sound accompanied the slow opening of the elevator doors, and Ye Li walked out with her head bowed.

"Uncle Fu…"

"… careful!"

A chill of sandalwood aroma.

A hard touch.

An icy breath pierced like a blade, Ye Li's body trembled lightly, too overwhelmed to even rub her sore forehead as she unconsciously stepped back.

Looking up again, she paused in surprise.

The lights in the corridor were dazzling, a man in a black coat was surrounded by people like stars around the moon.

The man stood tall, his handsome face looking particularly deep and stern due to the backlight.

Those surrounding him, regardless of age, slightly bowed, as if they both respected and feared him immensely.

"Uncle Fu, are you alright?"

"How do you walk?"

"So young, yet your eyesight is still poor..."

Before the group could finish, a cold glance from the man silenced them all.

The elevator lobby suddenly became quiet.

Her temples throbbed violently as Ye Li quickly glanced at the man and lowered her gaze, "Uncle Fu, I'm… I'm sorry!"

"No harm done!"

The man's voice was cold, his gaze swept over the girl's reddened eye corners, the chilling atmosphere around him dissipating.

Ye Li lowered her head and hurried through the crowd.

It was only when she stepped out of the hotel that she realized it had started to snow, Ye Li stood at the hotel entrance, her expression somewhat blank.

Friends and family had all already been asked for loans.

Anything at home that could be sold had been liquidated.

Her best friend Chu Chu had even sold her only apartment and the new car she had just received, gathering thirty million for her.

Who else could she turn to?

There must be a way.

There has to be a way!

With her teeth clenched, Ye Li stepped into the heavy snow.

…

The petite figure in front of the car kept moving forward tirelessly.

In no time, her hair and shoulders were covered with a layer of snow.

The roads were slippery in the snow, and each gust of cold wind made the figure wobble, as if she would fall at any moment.

Still, after brief pauses to steady herself, she kept moving forward.

Even from just a silhouette, one could feel her helplessness and stubbornness.

Xiang Yang glanced in the rearview mirror at the face showing boundless fury even through the jawline and couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Boss, should we... offer Ms. Ye a ride?"

The moment the words were spoken, the air inside the car turned frigid.

Xiang Yang instinctively shrank his neck.

Just by seeing the Boss's gloomy expression, he knew he had suggested a bad idea.

Wracking his brain for a long while, Xiang Yang finally ventured, "Ms. Ye has been running around for a week, and the Ye Family still has a debt of a billion. If the Boss intends to help, why not…"

"Why not repay this billion for her?"

A cold voice emerged from the back seat.

Xiang Yang immediately fell silent.

After a long wait, just when Xiang Yang thought he would never get an answer, the man in the back seat coldly said, "How can I help without a proper cause? Besides, she is about to get married. Lending a hand at this critical moment isn't helping her; it's harming her!"

Xiang Yang instantly understood.

From both an emotional and logical standpoint, the Zhou Family should be the ones helping Ye Li.

The Zhou Family did nothing, yet the Boss was considering stepping in.

When Ye Li marries Zhou Hecchen, this billion in debt might become an unclarifiable gap between the couple.

Such a pity!

Had it not been for the engagement between Ye Li and Zhou Hecchen, with the Boss's capabilities, the Ye Family probably wouldn't have gone bankrupt at all.

For a moment, he didn't know whether to lament the Zhou Family's heartlessness or to marvel at the irony of fate.

Xiang Yang drove sluggishly, continuing to wrack his brain, trying to come up with a legitimate reason for Ye Li to get into the car naturally.

The next instant, Xiang Yang's eyes lit up.

"Boss…"

He slammed on the brakes and stopped the car, his voice urgent, "Ms. Ye has fainted!"