Chapter 19 - Family’s Failure is Like a Mountain Fall

Wu Ye disappeared for a whole month.

During this month, the Wu family underwent earth-shaking changes. A once envied powerful family unexpectedly fell so fast.

Wu Group initial ascent began when Wu Yong quit from the workshop director position, which everyone was envious of. At that time, people did not approve of his decision to throw away his iron rice bowl and go into business. At the start of his business, he chose to buy and sell electronics. This was to establish the electronics component factory. After the electronics component factory was set up, he set up a precision instrument factory. Once he accumulated rich initial funds, through discerning insight, Father Wu then entered the real estate market. In the short period of 20 or 30 years, he had accumulated billions from nothing, and was considered to be one of the most rich and powerful influences in the country.

Wu Yong was undoubtedly a proud man. Compared with those who had big backers, he earned everything through his own intelligent and discerning insight. But since he did not have a big name backing him, he would refrain from flaunting his success. Few people outside knew of his high status. In addition, after his eldest son took over the company, he retired in a hurry. Since then, he had accompanied his son and wife in a semi-retired state, and lived in a simple home. He also has never appeared in a financial magazine. This invisibility was envied by all of those who were part of the rich and powerful.

Although the second son was not ambitious, and the youngest son was suffering from congenital illness, but he was fortunate to have a capable son who inherited his shrewd mind. Whenever outsiders were envious and talked in a sour tone that he had a good son, he only felt a kind of unspeakable pride in his heart. He felt that he had not lived in vain since he had such a great family and career.

However, he had never imagined that his eldest son, whom he had always been proud of, not only inherited his shrewdness and ability, but also learned Yin's ruthless calculation. He had watched his seemingly perfect family and career turn on it's head in just a month. Wu Ye was missing, and his perfect family had been smashed to pieces.

The second son disappeared in a bizarre way; the eldest son resigned on the grounds of poor management, not before emptying the company's funds and marrying into the family that owns the company opposing theirs. The seal he had given to his eldest son unconditionally, became the ironclad evidence of illegal embezzlement of the group's funds. This forced him to surrender all his shares and give huge compensation to calm the public anger. He also had to endure the fact that all his hard work for the company was gone, and he had to watch as the group's company ownership was changed in the blink of an eye. It didn't stop at that, he could still face prison time at any moment as well.

When the youngest son learned the truth, he had a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital. The doctor asserted that if he couldn't find a suitable heart, he would probably not survive past winter. His wife couldn't withstand the ensuing blow and fell down.

For the first time in Wu Yong's life, he finally realized what 'lacking strength to reverse a desperate situation' meant.

If these things had happened ten years earlier, Wu Yong would probably still have the confidence to do something to turn the tide but he was now 55 years old. His physical discomfort and leisurely life in recent years had smoothed out his edges and ambitions. When he thought he could enjoy his twilight years, everything was suddenly up-heaved. He had lost everything, and was heavily in debt.

And it was his prided 'good son', who he had taught everything to, that had caused him to lose everything.

Having seen Wu Sen's ruthlessness, Wu Yong could no longer deceive himself and others—— Ah Ye had been missing for so long without any news, it was very possible that he had already faced a disaster. Ah Li was young and weak, whether he could survive this year was another matter. Once Ah Li had another accident, Wu Sen would likely be his last son, the last of his blood.

Leaving aside the fact that he, who was halfway to the coffin already, was reluctant to send the last of his blood to prison. There's also the fact that Wu Sen had been planning this for a long time, and had already colluded with the senior management of the company. Through working with those people, things were done seamlessly, even if there were loopholes, he was deliberately left behind to be the decoy. In case some people try to get involved and investigate, the first person to be thrown into prison would be him

To tell you the truth, Wu Yong had to applaud Wu Sen for his step-by-step planning, if it had been used on others. Yet, this scheme was used to trap his own father and brother. Now, Wu Yong only felt cold and disheartened when he thought about it.

"Wu Yong, what exactly did I do to Wu Sen to make him hate me, Ah Ye, and Ah Li so much?" He Wan Shu asked as she burst into tears. She then had an empty look in her eyes as she stared at the snowy white ceiling.

They all said that being a stepmother was difficult. When He Wan Shu married Wu Yong, Wu Sen was already 6 years old. And all these years, she had spent considerable efforts on him, to change him from being stubborn, and not saying a word to her to later calling her mother politely. He Wan Shu had spent more time on Wu Sen than on her own son, Wu Ye. In the end, the sincerity she had shown him was not reciprocated.

Now, she couldn't help but wonder whether she should act like other stepmothers when it came to Wu Sen, quietly deposing him or if she should let him 'disappear' like what Wu Sen did to Ah Ye. Would there be so much tragedies like right now?

Wu Yong had lived with He Wan Shu for more than 20 years. How could he not know what she was thinking of at that moment? He took his wife's cold hand and said, "Wan Shu, you are not a cruel person. I know what you have done for Wu Sen, it is he who is unworthy of you. Blame me for not teaching my son well, and blame me for ignoring his association with his maternal uncles and letting him know of those wild wolves ambitions. Didn't my mother ask someone to calculate Ah Ye's fortune? He is said to be blessed. If there's no news now, then it's the best news. He will certainly come back to us safely."

"You don't understand my mind. Ah Ye can't come back. He just can't come back." He Wan Shu, like her name, has been a gentle and virtuous woman for most of her life, and at this moment she cried bitterly like a wolf who lost her baby. "Why is he so cruel? That's his brother. His very own brother. Why would he not let him go? Ah Ye, that boy, didn't even have the slightest intention to dispute with him at all. Why couldn't he tolerate him? If he hollowed out the company, couldn't he leave something for Ah Ye to live on? Wuwuwu…It's all your fault. All your fault. Why does Ah Ye have to go to the company? Wuwu…"

He Wan Shu burst into tears. Her once well-maintained face became old and haggard. Tears poured down her wrinkles in the corners of her eyes over and over again. In just a month, she looked as if she had aged more than ten years.

Wu Yong, looking at his wife's sad appearance, he couldn't help but grief from within as well. In the small master bedroom, there were only two old people crying in sorrow and despair.

"Mom, Dad, why are you crying? What's wrong with you guys? What are you doing here?" Wu Ye appeared in the room out of thin air, saw his parents crying, and was very confused

He Wan Shu and Wu Yong heard their son's voice at the same time, and thought they were having auditory hallucinations, and looked back at him at the same time. The couple who suddenly saw their son, who had been missing for a whole month, appeared in front of them out of thin air, felt that their mind had blanked for a few seconds. Then Wu Yong rushed to Wu Ye like an arrow, and unexpectedly used his palm to slap Wu Ye's head. In a raspy voice he asked, "Where on earth have you been, you son of a b*tch? Did you know we were going crazy looking for you!"

"Wu Yong, why did you hit the child again? Why can't you speak nicely to him?" With extraordinary agility, He Wan Shu stepped almost directly from her spot to Wu Ye and held him in her arms. "Ah Ye, are you hurt?"

Wu Ye blushed a little. He had not enjoyed the protective treatment from his mother for so many years. After he had turned 8 years old, he became very disobedient and often got in trouble with both mom and dad. Of course, mother was someone from with a high intellectual background. She usually didn't do much, but her mental attacks were absolutely beyond that of average people.

"It's alright." Wu Ye saw that his parents were suddenly looking much older, and were very upset. Thus his sharp question. "Is there something wrong at home?"

Wu Ye had stayed in that zombie infested world for a month, and in this past week he had been actively fighting those zombies. So, while he might not realize it, his father and mother saw their son's change at a glance.

When Father Wu was young, he went all over the world. Whether it was good or bad, he had seen it all, and he was acutely aware of his son's murderous spirit.

"Forget about the family's matters, answer this first. Where have you been this month?" Father Wu asked, before he suddenly thought of something and stared at his son in surprise. "And, how did you just appear in the room?" The security door outside was obviously closed. Yet, even with that closed door, their son who had been missing for a long time had appeared in the room out of thin air.

Mother Wu also quickly reacted. She looked at Wu Ye closely, and clasped his arm, as if afraid that her son would disappear out of thin air once again.

Wu Ye wanted to hide the system and the other world from his family. Thus, before he went through the portal back, he specifically asked the system to send him to the campus room he had set up when he was studying in university.

This was an old house with three bedrooms and one living room. When he bought it, it was for the purpose of staying close to the university. Usually, besides occasionally bringing friends, there'd only be cleaning services coming in every week. No one else would come. Thus he chose this place to appear out of thin air so he wouldn't be seen. Yet, unexpectedly, he collided with his parents from the very beginning.

Wu Ye knew that his parents couldn't be easily deceived. So, he simply held them to the bed, and sat them down. He mentioned to them about the system and the parallel world he was sent to but nothing else. He was afraid that the two old people would be worried. So, he only said that the other world was more advanced in science and technology than here. He didn't mention the D virus and zombies to them.

Despite his parent's surprise, Wu Ye just continued on, asking about what had happened at home.

Father Wu sighed, and explained to him what had happened one by one.

After regaining his lost memory, Wu Ye had guessed that his eldest brother might have done what had happened that night. However, in fact, Wu Sen was even more ruthless than he originally thought.

It was no longer meaningful to ask him why he did it.

Wu Ye poured the gold from the mountaineering backpack on the bed, and asked father Wu, "Dad, can you find a way to make use of this gold? In any case, Ah Li's treatment can't be stopped."

Ji Yun helped him exchange the gold. In addition to five catty gold bars, the rest were gold ornaments. A total of 20 catties of gold piled on the bed forming a small golden pile, the gold made their eyes sparkle.

Father Wu grabbed one at random, and thought that his ignorant son had finally grown up. "How did you get so much gold?" Thinking of Wu Ye's murderous spirit, Father Wu's face looked fierce. One son had gone astray. He didn't want the other son to follow in his footsteps.

"Did you forget the system exchange I said? There was a war over there, and supplies were scarce. I traded with the system for some salt, bought and sold it many times, and then I got these things." Wu Ye didn't want to be entangled on this topic, thus he changed the topic. "I want to go to the hospital to see Ah Li. The system is so powerful, that we may be able to exchange something that can be used to save Ah Li with it."

I used to think that I could always find a heart that would match with my brother's, but now there's no more need for that. In any case, he could not sit idly by, and watch as his parents and brother are destroyed by him. Even if he had to go back to the zombie's world to fight for his life, he must not let Ah Li die at such a young age!

One day, he'd make him regret it! Make him pay for what he's done!