Chapter 117: FIRE

Qi's Mall is one of the main brick-and-mortar businesses of Qi's Group, with a chain of 21 stores in 19 cities nationwide. The mall that caught fire was one of the first to be built and has been operating well for more than a decade.

In the past ten years or so, petty theft has occurred, also due to industry competition in the financial tabloids, but never a human life - or such a large number.

6 dead and 32 injured.

And according to reports, the fire has been extinguished, but rescue efforts are not finished, and the number of casualties is still increasing.

Just look at the pictures sent back to the scene, Xingchen Qi eyes can not stop a burst of black.

After explaining carefully with his father and mother, Ye Bai drove him back to Qi's Group headquarters in H City.

Before getting out of the car, Ye Bai patted him on the back soothingly, "Call me anytime you need something."

"Well ...... I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you this time."

"It's okay, family matters are important, go ahead."

Xingchen Qi looked at Ye Bai for a moment, gritted his teeth and jumped out of the car and left.

This is the first time after he wore the book from the family business, estimated that the original owner also do not often come to the company, swipe his face to enter, the security guards at the door and the receptionist looked at each other, did not react.

When they recognized who he was, a large group of people hailed him and escorted him outside the chairman's office.

Master Qi just happened to put down the phone, looked up and saw his youngest son, surprised: " Xing Xing, how come you're back?"

"I saw the heat," Xingchen Qi asked, "Is it serious."

"So many lives, how can it not be serious. But Yun Xiao has gone to deal with it, you don't have to worry."

The mouth says not to worry, Xiaoming Qi face of worry is obvious. Xingchen Qi suppressed the anxiety in his heart and made a cup of tea for his father.

After staring at him and taking a few sips, Xingchen Qi continued, "Did you find out the cause?"

"The preliminary findings are that the electrical fire was caused by deteriorating electrical conduits," Xiaoming Qi said, "and started in a warehouse on the first floor of a clothing store."

"Electric Fire ......" Xingchen Qi puzzled, "If it is a garment warehouse fire, smoke should be relatively large, did Tiancheng did not an smoke alarm?"

"An, and Tiancheng every month to overhaul the circuit and smoke alarms, every year as required to replace the fire appliances, a year has not fallen. The evil thing is, this time the fire, all smoke alarms actually sounded at the same time, security departments received the alarm also the first time to go to the sub-floor evacuation of people, but unfortunately ......"

Speaking of this, the character of the strong QI old man choked down, after drinking a sip of water to smooth the air continued: "Unfortunately, the fire warehouse is not far from the safety channel, everyone withdrew to the first floor, only to find that the channel door handle has been fire melted dead, can not be opened. At this time, the safety channel is full of smoke inside, everyone scrambled to run back ......"

The most deadly thing in a fire is not the fire, but the smoke and panic. Xingchen Qi can guess the rest without Xiaoming Qi's words.

--Running back again, the building has been filled with smoke. In order to escape everyone did not care about order, pushing and shoving each other, trampling ......

Those who ran out survived, and those who were left there, stayed there forever.

Xingchen Qi thought things were a bit fishy, especially the smoke alarm link.

Unfortunately, now the mall burned without a large part of the temporary inability to line up one by one, can only wait until the repair is completed to access the recent video, to see whether it is really equipment failure or human factors caused by.

After all, these years Qi compressed many small businesses profit space, if some companies are forced to jump to the wall, it is likely to do it on the Tiancheng.

Xingchen Qi chest tightness, hand shaking visible to the naked eye. Open your mouth, only to find that your voice has been mute for some time: "Dad, what are you going to do about it, compensation?"

"Compensation should definitely be compensated, but it's not just money that can solve the problem, this is a living human life ah ...... Xing Xing, I am now afraid to blink, I feel that as long as I blink, I can see the families of the victims crying in front of me."

Xiaoming Qi took a deep breath, "I will do my best to meet the requirements of all the families of the victims, the rest of the debt of human life, if this life is not finished, the next life after reincarnation continue to pay, I hope they can forgive me, forgive me ......"

At the end of the day, the old man choked up until he couldn't speak. Xingchen Qi is not much better, the father and son were silent for a while, and began to contact the best local burns department, in order to minimize the damage to the injured.

Yunxiao Qi left for T-city, leaving a big mess of official business unattended. After the phone call, Xingchen Qi stayed at the company, ready to do something if he could. Although he could not play a big role, but with his support, Qi's father at least will not be unable to eat and drink because of the guilt of the deceased.

When the tenth day of the first month came, Yunxiao Qi finally returned, bringing back some not-so-good news:

I. The final number of casualties of the fire was 29 minor injuries, 7 serious injuries and 12 deaths, characterized as a major fire;

Second, the internal monitoring of the mall had been completely damaged in the fire, and the external video inquiry revealed that no suspicious persons were found around the mall in the past three months. The final cause of the fire was consistent with the preliminary investigation results - inadequate safety and fire prevention measures, for which Tiancheng Shopping Center was fully responsible.

Third, the general manager of T City Tiancheng was arrested for the crime of negligent fire, and the fire department ordered all twenty-one chain malls of Tiancheng to suspend their business for not less than 15 days for rectification, and to re-open only after passing the acceptance by the public security departments in various places, and imposed a fine of 2 million yuan.

Fourth, the mall building itself and the goods stored by the resident merchants lost nearly ten million, which was shared by the outsourced property and the mall management.

At the same time, the social impact of the fire was so bad that Qi's Group's stock fell for two consecutive days and continued to fall for three days, losing a total of 26% of its market value, amid public opinion and peer pressure to take advantage of the situation.

For the first time, the always stable Qi family business empire has suffered a major blow.

.

Xingchen Qi and the original owner do not come from a business background, so there is little use for them to stay in the company. After the 15th day of the first month, Xingchen Qi returned to the set with a heavy heart to continue the shooting of "Grey Track" under the urging of her family.

As a public figure, the power of appeal is still an advantage. After the incident, many Starlight volunteers set up a volunteer team to organize a series of activities to pay tribute to the deceased, visit the injured, etc. Together with Qi's Group's sincere apology and swift and effective handling, the fire gradually faded out of the public eye.

Only a small percentage of people still remember it.

It became a permanent pain in the hearts of the victims and the Qi family.

In mid-March, just before the end of "Grey Track", Ran An went to Xingchen Qi's room with a stack of books.

She tentatively asked, " Xing Xing, what are your plans after the shooting of Tracks. Do you want to continue to receive notices, or take a break?"

"Take the notice," Xingchen Qi said, "are you holding the project and script, give me a look."

Ran An pushed all the books to him and counted them on his fingers: "These are two endorsements, a magazine shoot, two variety shows, and three scripts. The endorsements are for the full spring collection of a light luxury brand, and a new product for an internationally renowned cosmetic, which I have already taken. The magazine is one of the top five, and their editor-in-chief said he knows you. Variety a TV variety, the heat is quite high, a "poor travel" season 5, your old friend. The script has an anti-war subject on the star drama male lead; a criminal investigation subject seasonal drama male lead; and a ...... There is also a movie male first."

"...... The number one movie actor?" Xingchen Qi was surprised, "Which director believes in me so much?"

"You should not know, is a not very famous director. He has made several literary films, and has not been puffed out of what water. But that book you just look at, nothing meaningful. The team and I wanted to reject it after evaluating it, but we thought you might be interested and put it back for you to see."

He might be interested?

Xingchen Qi curiously drew out the script and turned over the synopsis.

The film is about an acrobat, whose life is ordinary and extraordinary.

"You really know me," Xingchen Qi is more curious, "why do you want to reject, what is wrong with the script?"

I knew he would ask that, Ran An sighed, "You should ask where it's okay."

Xingchen Qi : "...... So many hard feelings?"

"First of all, the script has been created for more than two years. In the past two years, the director and screenwriter have approached countless film and television companies, all unwilling to invest because the subject matter is too niche. This time, we found you, hoping that you can act in the film for zero pay and invest part of the money - that is, the legendary empty glove."

"Secondly, the director and screenwriter came from a scientific class, the level is good, but their team is too demanding for aesthetics and camera language, has made a shot sixty-six times, the actors directly tore the script strike joke. We do not have so much time to spend with them slowly grinding."

"And then ...... The problem is your current situation," Ran An turned to Xingchen Qi and said seriously, "After the public affair with Ye Bai, your popularity has increased, and so has the criticism. In any case, homosexuality is not a good tag, plus some time ago you had a family accident, now you need a positive image to turn around the reputation ...... You should be able to understand it."

"Yes." Xingchen Qi nods

"So we suggest you choose one of the anti-war drama or criminal investigation season, two all positive image, wait until the broadcast can certainly earn a wave of word of mouth."

"Okay, I get it," Xingchen Qi said, as she crisply dumped the two variety projects, "I'll think about it tonight and give you an answer tomorrow."

After a pause, Xingchen Qi said, "By the way, you are just in time, there is something I want to discuss with you."

He rarely used the word "discuss", Ran An was about to leave, but sat back down and gestured for him to speak.

Xingchen Qi said, "Counting the time, you have been with me for quite a long time, and to take care of me has been part-time assistant, I am very grateful."

Ran An frowned, "What are you talking about, no need to be polite to me."

"I'm telling the truth, not being polite. So I decided that."

Xingchen Qi pulled open the drawer and took out the two-point equity transfer agreement, "So I decided to give you ten percent of Star Asset Management as payment for your personal efforts to take care of me - don't refuse, you know you can't convince me."

The first reaction was rejection Ran An : "......"

Yes, she really couldn't convince him.

"Just be a good boy and keep it, because there's something I need to ask you next."

Xingchen Qi opened one of the agreements, "This is the equity power of attorney, I want to give the remaining ninety percent of the equity to you for safekeeping, and change the name of the legal person to you. In other words, when the agreement takes effect, the ninety percent of the company's charter is also yours, and you are the sole owner of Xingchen Asset Management, while I am the actual controller of the private ...... How about it, are you willing to help me?"

Ran An looked at the equity proxy.

The format is simple, with only a few sentences written. It was not notarized through a notary public and was a private agreement.

If she got up the idea of rolling money to run, she can completely deny the account, saying that the star assets is their own absolute control.

If you don't trust a person 100%, you will never take such a big risk.

Xingchen Qi trusted her so much, how could she refuse, she solemnly said, "I do."

"Thank you, Sister Ran An."

When she agreed, Xingchen Qi's long-standing depressed mood finally improved a little.

During this period of time, he has been transferring the money in his hand to Jing Liang's lab one after another. But while private accounts are good, there are restrictions on transferring company accounts to private accounts. He had to prepare a company that was ostensibly unrelated to him, just in case.

If this company could go public, it would be easier to do things. After sending Ran An away, he read the script and opened the stock software.