Chapter 152 — Old Huang's Collapse

"If he calls again, let him," Li Shu said indifferently. "If he presses me again, I'll tell him I've already pressed General Karls, and that General Karls says to wait a little longer."

"But we can't keep putting him off forever. Give it too long, and that old man Huang Ce will start to suspect something," Li Tianjia said.

"True enough." Li Shu gave a cold laugh. "But that's even better. The more he pushes, the more I say General Karls has lost patience, that he's broken the contract, that the money won't be refunded and the gold mine won't be handed over. And just like that—everything's settled, neat as you please."

"Now that's a fine trick, Father—only you could think of it," Li Tianjia said, delighted. "That way none of the blame falls on us at all. The Huang family can only swallow another silent loss and go argue it out with General Karls—let them wear themselves out."

"Exactly. And so our family pockets a clean four hundred million patacas. A splendid piece of business. Only Huang Ce would believe it. He's been burned once already, and still he turns out to be just as big a fool," Li Shu said.

"If he weren't a fool, why would he hand us so much money for nothing?" Li Tianjia laughed.

Huang Ce held the phone in his hand, his whole body trembling. He was about to explode with rage. Li Shu had actually cooked up a swindle to deceive him—what General Karls, what contract—all of it, it seemed, was forged by Li Shu.

Huang Rongtian and Huang Lin had heard the conversation on the phone as well, because Huang Ce had put it on speaker earlier. The faces of the whole family had turned dreadfully grim.

Huang Ce roared into the phone, "Li Shu, you bastard! You dare to cheat me!"

But there was no response from the other end. Clearly, Li Shu had never noticed that the call hadn't been hung up, and Huang Ce's voice could not reach his ears.

Huang Ce forced down his fury, ended the call, and then dialed Li Shu's number again.

Li Shu was still talking with Li Tianjia when the phone rang again. Seeing it was Huang Ce, he picked up. "Hello, Mr. Huang, what is it now? Didn't I say I'm in a meeting?"

"A meeting?" Huang Ce sneered. "A meeting to study just how big a fool I am, is that it? To study that if I press you again, you'll say General Karls has broken the contract and lost patience, is that it?"

"You—what do you mean by that?" Li Shu asked, startled.

"What do I mean? What did you say just now—have you forgotten?" Huang Ce snorted. "Don't bother denying it. Your call wasn't disconnected just now. I heard everything you said."

"You heard everything?" Li Shu was alarmed as well, and asked.

"What do you think? Li Shu, what do you mean by this? You'd better make it clear to me today, or this matter between us is not over!" Huang Ce roared.

"Not over? Heh, and how exactly would it not be over? I'd rather like to hear that." Seeing that Huang Ce knew everything, Li Shu simply tore off all pretense. "What is it you want me to say?"

"You give me back my money, and this matter is settled—I won't pursue anything against you. But if you don't return the money—" Huang Ce's words were cut off by Li Shu before he could finish.

"And what if I don't return it?" Li Shu gave a cold laugh. "Who did you give your money to—me? Did you give your money to me? You gave your money to General Karls. Go demand it from him. What are you demanding from me? Are you sick in the head?"

"What General Karls? Wasn't he just a disguise you cooked up?" Huang Ce demanded.

"A disguise? You wired the money into General Karls's own account yourself—what disguise? If you've got the guts, go sue General Karls. Spare me this useless talk." Li Shu went on unhurriedly, "Evidence—everything requires evidence. What evidence do you have that I cheated you? Your money never came to me either. If you want to talk about it, I'm the victim here. I was your partner—I lost half a gold mine too."

"You—" Huang Ce was shaking from head to toe with rage, and a sudden sharp pain stabbed through his heart. He clutched at his chest, unable to speak. Indeed, he had not a shred of evidence. It was all his own fault—back then he had been so blinded by the gold mine that he hadn't even kept a receipt or a partnership agreement, and had just muddle-headedly wired the money into an account belonging to someone called "Karls xxxx."

"You lunatic. Don't call me again for no reason." With that, Li Shu hung up and switched off his phone outright.

Huang Ce felt a rush of blood surge to his head, followed by a violent pounding of his heart, and then he knew nothing more. "Father!" Huang Rongtian and Huang Lin were terrified to see Huang Ce had fainted, and hurried over to check on him, but Huang Ce lay motionless against the sofa.

Huang Rongtian hastily took out his phone, dialed the emergency center, and then said to Huang Lin, "I've already arranged the hospital. Hurry down to the underground garage and get the car—we're taking Father to the hospital right now."

"All right." Huang Lin nodded, not daring to waste a moment. He grabbed the car keys and ran out of the house.

Though both Huang Rongtian and Huang Lin were filled with boundless fury at Li Shu's conduct, now was not the time to hold the two of them to account. Getting Father to the hospital first was what mattered most.

They raced to the hospital with sirens wailing, and Huang Ce was wheeled into the operating room. Huang Rongtian and Huang Lin waited anxiously outside the emergency room for the outcome.

"Rongtian, this time our Huang family can fairly be said to have come to a dead end. If anything else happens to Father, whether we can still hold a place in Singapore's business circles will be very much in doubt," Huang Rongtian said with a sigh. "Father really was foolish."

"Eldest Brother, this is no time for complaints. We should be thinking about how to recover our losses. We can't just let the Li family pick up a bargain for nothing," Huang Lin said.

"And what if we don't let them?" Huang Rongtian said helplessly. "Li Shu said it himself—we have no evidence. Father's money was wired to Karls; it has nothing to do with him. If we've been cheated, we can only swallow it. My guess is there's nine parts out of ten this business is hopeless."

"Ah." Hearing his brother's words, Huang Lin had no choice but to accept the reality with a sigh. What could be done? Who told their father to be so careless—to lose his head and hand the money over to someone else?

"What matters most now is getting Father well again. Otherwise, our Huang family is finished," Huang Rongtian said, gazing anxiously at the emergency room, his eyes straining with hope.

At last the light over the emergency room went out, and several doctors emerged. Huang Rongtian and Huang Lin hurried to meet them. "Doctor, how is my father?"

The chief physician in the lead glanced at Huang Rongtian and Huang Lin. "You are the patient's children? The patient's condition is not good. He has been temporarily stabilized, but the extreme shock and anger brought on a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. A craniotomy must be performed at once. Please sign the consent form."

"What?" Huang Rongtian and Huang Lin were both startled. Of course they knew how serious a cerebral hemorrhage could be. With a good recovery, he might be all right; otherwise, at best paralysis, at worst a vegetative state.

"All right, don't waste time—make your decision quickly. Which of you is in charge?" the doctor asked, somewhat anxiously. "The patient can't afford any delay."

"Yes, yes, I'll sign right now." Huang Rongtian nodded hurriedly, took the consent form and pen handed to him by a nurse, and signed his name. "Please operate as soon as possible."

"Very well." The doctor glanced at the form, then gathered his team and went off to operate on Huang Ce, while the brothers Huang Rongtian and Huang Lin waited outside the operating room, sighing and groaning.