If he can't fill those missing funds, and the scandal breaks out at the time of the changeover, he will truly be finished.
There are only a few months left until the changeover. The "Big Man" is getting increasingly anxious, while the prominent families are retreating one by one, unwilling to give him any money to fill the gap.
In fact, it's not that the family heads don't want to help the "Big Man" through this difficult time. It's just that even with all their financial power, unless they give everything, they simply can't fill the gap.
But the family heads are no fools. They chose to depend on the "Big Man" for the development of their families. Now, being pushed to this extent by the "Big Man", they can no longer tolerate it and express their dissatisfaction in a very direct way: they have suspended their financial support to the "Big Man".
