Chapter 39.2
Editor: Jodi
Fu Shen’s hometown was in a mountain village in Long City, an area not well-off economically, with many villagers working away from home, leaving mostly the elderly and children behind.
So Tang Zhou couldn’t imagine what it was that could have forced Fu Shen to return.
He had some connections in Long City and after reaching out, was promised help in gathering information.
Soon after, he received a message that instantly made his expression turn cold.
It turned out a real estate developer in Long City had set his sights on a serene feng shui site in the village, planning to buy it to build a resort.
Because while the area was poor, its scenery was undeniably beautiful.
However development meant relocating the villagers, which meant demolition.
The notion of leaving one’s lifelong home was a significant one in their culture, one that wasn’t easily overridden by compensation.
However in front of huge compensation offers, a lot of people agreed to relocate.
This was the reason why Fu Shen was going back.
In Tang Zhou’s dream, before Deep Blue rose abruptly, he didn’t pay much attention to Fu Shen and so was unaware of this situation.
Hence he didn’t know Fu Shen’s thoughts, but judging from Fu Shen’s tone the night before, he was sure Fu Shen was against the destruction of his last memories.
If the situation were merely an accident, Tang Zhou would have found a way to help resolve it, rather than feel anger.
His anger stemmed from the fact that the so-called developer was Tang Zhen’s “brother-in-law”, Tang Tianyang’s real uncle.
In his dream, the mess Tang Zhen created also involved this “brother-in-law”.
The old man didn’t know about this yet at that time and Tang Zhen had also kept it hidden from the company’s shareholders.
The capital involved in real estate was beyond the average person’s imagination, especially for long-term investments.
However this “brother-in-law” wasn’t cut out for business, which led to increasing losses over time.
Perhaps Tang Zhen had planned to make more money through real estate to cover his losses and to avoid detection by others.
However luck wasn’t on his side.
Because if he had been successful, the old man wouldn’t have needed to bypass him to nurture Tang Zhou.
So now whether by coincidence or design, Tang Zhou blamed Tang Tianyang for this.
He had warned the old man: three strikes. He might overlook the first two, but this time, they had hurt Fu Shen.
He was thankful for the dream, because after Tang Zhen’s deeds came to light, in the efforts to save the Tang family, Tang Zhou became privy to many secrets.
And with this, he had originally planned to let the Tang family self-destruct, but now, he had to alter his plans.
The hot summer didn’t affect Tang Zhihua in the mansion.
Because as he sat in his study listening to reports, the air conditioning blew away the summer heat, making him feel cool and comfortable.
He nodded slightly, “Good, there’s improvement over last quarter.”
He was getting older and so had stepped back, except for when he intervened in major company matters.
It wasn’t so much that he trusted in Tang Zhen’s abilities, but that he trusted in the operational system he had established.
As long as this mechanism functioned normally, the company wouldn’t face significant issues.
Uncle Fang, seeing that he had finished dealing with business matters, seized the opportunity to say, “The engagement banquet for Young Master Tianyang is in a few days. Do you think we should inform Young Master Zhou?”
Tang Zhihua sighed, “With his temperament, he definitely won’t come back. Let it be.”
He didn’t want to make things awkward.
While teaching Tang Tianyang during this period, he had found that even though that child wasn’t as outstanding as Tang Zhou was, he was obedient enough, so training him further might not be a bad idea.
As for Tang Zhou, letting him make his own way outside was not necessarily a bad thing.
The sudden sharp ringing of the phone sounded like a death knell.
Tang Zhihua’s heart skipped a beat, but before he could react, he heard the frantic voice on the other end, “Chairman, the company has been reported, and General Manager Tang has been called in for questioning by the police.”
Tang Zhihua forced himself to calm down.
“Who reported it? What’s the report about?”
“We don’t know anything right now.”
Tang Zhihua hung up and told Uncle Fang, “Find out what happened.”
The news came quickly, causing Tang Zhihua to ask incredulously, “Misappropriation of funds? Does Tang Zhen no have money to spend?”
He didn’t believe this explanation at all.
Uncle Fang felt that it was hard to comment, “It might be a malicious report.”
Tang Zhihua frowned, “That’s still his problem! After the questioning, I need to find out what exactly happened.”
No one believed Tang Zhen would really embezzle funds, so they weren’t worried about him.
Unfortunately, the reality far exceeded their expectations.
Because without solid evidence, the economic investigation team wouldn’t have just detained him randomly for questioning.
Tang Zhen wasn’t strong-willed; having been protected by Tang Zhihua all his life, he wasn’t accustomed to hardships, as whatever mistakes he made, the old man would clean up, making his mental age quite mismatched with his actual age.
So unable to withstand the police’s questioning techniques, he eventually confessed to moving the funds, but insisted that he had only lent it to a relative and didn’t know what they wanted to do with it.
What’s more he didn’t think he had done anything wrong.
Even though he had used the company’s money, most of it belonged to the Tang family anyway! Moreover once he made money from the real estate, wouldn’t he just pay it back?
Tang Zhihua nearly fainted in anger when he got this news.
He instructed Uncle Fang with his last bit of strength, “Contact the other shareholders for a meeting!”
The matter could be said to not be a big issue, but it couldn’t also be said that it was small.
Whether the misappropriation constituted a crime depended on several factors: the timing, purpose, amount, and whether it was paid back.
And he, of course, hoped to handle it internally. It was better than having a criminal record.
He had thought Tang Zhen had simply been foolish, using some funds for luxury purchases, thinking it could be overlooked as long as it was returned within a specified time.
But he never expected that Tang Zhen’s guts were a thousand times greater than he had thought!
He had actually moved a huge sum secretly just for real estate investment!
And just last month, he had even tried to invest in some shitty holiday resort!
Tang Zhihua was so angry that he almost couldn’t speak, his finger shaking as he pointed at Tang Zhen.
“Did the company’s rules and regulations that you learned go into your stupid stomach? You were seduced by some vixen’s words and so you rushed to give her brother money? You’re really going to anger me to death!”
Tang Zhen was aggrieved, “I’ll pay it back when I’ve made money.”
“Where’s the money! Where’s the money! Take it out for me to see!”
If it wasn’t that other people were holding him back, Tang Zhihua would have slapped him several times already.
Tang Zhen: “Real estate is profitable, much better than our family business.”
He felt that the old man’s ideas were too outdated. Wouldn’t it be better to just switch to real estate investment earlier?
Tang Zhihua: “….”
He wished he didn’t have such a son!
Because the issue was discovered in time and hadn’t harmed the company, Tang Zhihua managed to return the huge sum and, after pulling some strings, was able to get Tang Zhen spared from criminal charges.
However after the incident, the first thing the board did was to remove Tang Zhen from his position as general manager.
The repercussions also affected that “brother-in-law” in Long City.
Tang Zhihua recovered the funds in a swift manner, and without the substantial capital, the brother-in-law lost the capability to invest in the resort.
Fu Shen, who was trying to find a solution was confused when he heard what the village chief said.
“Not building it anymore?”
The village chief smiled, “That’s right, they suddenly said they’re not going ahead with it. They’ve made you come all this way for nothing.”
“It’s not entirely for nothing.”
Then back home, Fu Shen reopened the information Mi Shu had gathered for him.
The real estate developer was Tang Tianyang’s uncle, and with Tang Zhen’s backing, he wouldn’t have changed his mind so suddenly.
He thought about it for a long time, then called Mi Shu.
“Any new information in Jiang City these past few days?”
Mi Shu understood what he meant: “Tang Zhen was found misappropriating funds and has been removed from his position.”
He paused, “Someone reported it.”
Fu Shen was stunned for a few seconds, then he suddenly laughed, his eyes shining with pleasure.
Then Tang Zhou, attending a meeting at Hua Yue, received a message.
[Fu Shen]: I miss you.
The corners of Tang Zhou’s lips curved up secretly.
He missed Fu Shen too.
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