So Gu Jia said to Xiao Rui, Shen Jie's wife, "Two weeks ago, Shen Jie and I discussed merging our two companies. That would cut some expenses and let us pool our resources.
"Now that this has happened and Shen Jie's been sent to prison, why don't we merge our companies anyway? The fireworks company brings in one or two million a year. That's better than you going to Australia and shutting it down completely."
Xiao Rui had wanted to leave because she had no idea how to run a company and couldn't deal with the families of the deceased. She thought it would be better to simply sell the company and take the money abroad.
But after hearing Gu Jia's suggestion, she thought it made a lot of sense.
Before the accident, their company had been making good money. They'd even considered moving into a mansion, but Xiao Rui had strongly opposed it, so they never did. Otherwise, now that the company was in trouble, the mortgage alone could have crushed them.
After hesitating for a long while, Xiao Rui finally said earnestly, "I'll discuss it with Shen Jie. I can't make this decision on my own."
Of course, Gu Jia didn't expect Xiao Rui to decide on her own, so she urged her to take advantage of a prison visit to discuss it with Shen Jie.
Shen Jie was feeling pretty frustrated, too. The explosion had happened because one of his employees had violated the rules and smoked at the factory. But the employee who'd been smoking had died in the blast, leaving Shen Jie to shoulder all the blame. That made him feel deeply aggrieved.
When he learned that Gu Jia and Xu Huanshan were willing to go ahead with the merger, Shen Jie was more than