251 Congenial or Controversial

"As we have been left with no choice, let's try and salvage the current situation as best we can for now. Once things stabilise, I promise to unearth their whereabouts and make them pay for this," Wei said grimly.

Mr. Wang looked at his son proudly and nodded his head.

"By the way, where is Mom?" he asked.

Mr. Wang was surprised at the question. He was aware of the dismal relation which existed between the mother and son.

"She is at her office. I haven't mentioned this to her yet. Why?" his father asked.

"I think it is time that we put her capabilities to full use. We need her in-depth knowledge of various business housesand her business acumen to help us find the best and quickest partner," he spoke in a neutral tone.

Mr. Wang looked at his son in slight surprise. Though he hadn't been the most hands-on father during Wei's growing up years, he was grateful for the close camaraderie which they shared now. He was also extremely happy to see his son grow into an intelligent business tycoon, who was willing to put aside his personal equations and focus on how to put the available resources to their best use.

Two weeks later, New York

"Li Family to pick up Xie Family's stake in China's top FMCG company. Congenial or Controversial?"

Mr. Xie read the headlines of the business newspaper, while sipping his tea. He sighed quietly. Unwilling to read ahead, he folded the paper and looked outside from the window of his apartment. The view from his New York penthouse was extremely different from the one at Shanghai Bund. Everything about this city was alien, cold, depressing… or maybe that was just the state of his mind.

"Oh! You are not ready yet? Do you mind if I go first? You can change and come to the hospital in a bit. There are still a couple of hours before the new surgeon comes in. I just want to go and…" Mrs. Xie's composed voice wobbled a little.

"It's ok. You go ahead. I shall reach the hospital before the doctor does," her husband assured her, purposely not commenting upon her teary eyes.

His wife left him alone in the apartment, alone with his thoughts. He knew that she still hadn't wrapped her head around what had happened in the past few weeks. And he didn't blame her. In fact, he was grateful for her calm demeanour during this period. Had she not shown her nerves of steel, he would have probably gone mad by now, with grief and shock.

They said that his son won't survive. Tang will never wake up!!!

Mr. Xie could still vividly recall that ordinary afternoon less than a month ago when he received a panicky call from the airport authorities. It seemed that Tang had collapsed at the time of landing and they couldn't revive him.

Dropping everything, he had rushed to the hospital. After a myriad plethora of scans, tests and more, they finally managed to pin point the cause of his collapse. By the end of third day, he still hadn't regained consciousness. Apart from Mrs. & Mr. Xie, the only people aware of the situation were their lawyers, who strongly advised them to stay shut about the matter till it wasn't sorted, one way or another.

The best neurosurgeon in the country had been flown down from Geneva where he had gone to attend a conference.

"Please spare us the medical jargon and make sure not to confuse us your words. I want to understand what exactly is wrong with my son," Mr. Xie had asked the neurosurgeon aggressively.

Sensing the man's desperation behind the harsh words, the surgeon had only nodded his head.

"As per his medical history, your son was involved in a car accident, seven years ago. He had been hit at the back of his head. At that time, he had been unconscious for a couple of days as well. Is that correct?" the surgeon enquired.

Mr. Xie looked at him impatiently.

"Yes, that is correct. But that was a long time ago and he was absolutely fine after that. How is that similar to today's scenario. Tang has not been involved in any accident this time round. In fact, he was simply sitting in his seat in the aircraft when it happened. And no, he hadn't even consumed any alcohol during the entire journey. I personally asked the air hostesses. They... they said that he had been extremely cheerful during the flight," Mr. Xie's voice broke at the last sentence.

"Yes, the accident occurred a long time ago. But what no one realised then was, that a clot started to form at the place where the skull had borne the brunt. And three days ago, that clot became big enough to put pressure on two of his brain lobes, Occipital and Temporal. The body has gone into shutdown mode because of that," the surgeon explained.