CH 155

Before this, Yan Suizhi wasn’t familiar with this chairperson of the Spring Ivy Group and had few interactions with him. More often, the one he saw was Eunice.

The opinion on Mr Yves differed vastly from person to person. 

In front of the media and the public, he was an elegant and shrewd businessman, his refined temperament reminiscent of aristocrats of age old.

In front of his daughter and son, he was a father of many moods. Eunice could bicker with him and wilfully snatch his smart device; Joe could incite him to shatter ashtrays or viciously ruin his afternoon tea. When he was being stern, they’d also be afraid of him.

But what Yves presented to Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan now was yet another image.

He who faced the son of his old friends, was almost instantaneously like a gentle and ordinary elder. He would grow nostalgic about little anecdotes from the past and give praise to the younger generation. He was tender, even. 

“While it’s an interesting guess, you aren’t entirely right.” He said with a light smile, “I wanted you to stay more because of who you are. I can keep others out because those matters don’t deeply involve them, but it’s different for you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to look your parents in the eye and greet them as old friends. Of course, if you hadn’t said what you had before, I might have only invited you for a cup of coffee and reminisced about the past, then briefly brushed it over with an excuse…”

He winked, saying half in good humour, “Maybe I’d sigh inside as well that those two friends had given birth to a son as silly as Joe and feel better about it.”

Yan Suizhi shared a smile with him, speaking a few words in defence of Joe the Silly Son in passing.

After sharing with Yan Suizhi some memories of his old friends, Devore Yves changed the subject. “So… now, I’m talking to you as an elder, not to make a business transaction; let’s leave the chips aside. Ask what you want to ask.”

Yan Suizhi thanked him when he heard this. There was a silence before he asked, “Was my parents’ surgery tampered with?”

This time, it was Devore Yves’ turn to fall silent.

After a long pause, he took off his glasses, saying heavily, “Based on what I uncovered later, it was indeed not a simple surgical failure.”

“Then what was it?” 

Yves didn’t immediately answer but asked, “…What do you think the Mansons are presently setting up treatment centres for?”

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He said slowly, “The alliance has always had many restrictions when it comes to medical treatment, especially with regards to drug development. The research institutes of major hospital chains have the least red tape and can cover the widest range. In my opinion, Mansons’ objective should be this—they are making use of the research institutes in treatment centres to openly develop something, such as by mixing in some unknown compounds.”

Yves nodded. “From the looks of it, even if I decline to share information, you can still piece together the sequence of events.” 

Yan Suizhi laughed. “Consider it an occupational hazard; evidence and testimony always triumph over speculation.”

Yves chuckled as well. “Yes, the lawyers working for me also have such habits. If they aren’t in meetings digging for answers, they’d be flipping through the evidence. But they also rely on oration and exploiting loopholes.”

He considered it, then continued from where Yan Suizhi left off. “Your guesses are almost there. The two Manson juniors are indeed developing something, and it isn’t just a thing of a day or two, but an endeavour that they’ve been engaging in from very long ago.”

The Manson juniors… 

Gu Yan took notice of his wording. Not the Manson family, but the Manson juniors.

“Did the Manson brothers… use some means to drive their father out of power?” he asked.

“They did,” said Yves. “Even if Old Manson still had any authority left, he would still be unable to stop them from doing those things. In fact, based on my investigations, the root of everything began from Brewer and Miller Manson wanting to seize power.”

“How so?” Yan Suizhi asked. 

“Old Manson was very fond of those two brothers when they were young. However, the beginnings of ambition budded too early, maybe already showing at eleven or twelve years of age. But you know how it is. When young boys behave shrewdly, in the eyes of adults, it’s just a party trick. It’s in plain sight of them.”

Yves said, “But their shrewdness was different from the ingenuity of most children. It made people… uncomfortable. Only Old Manson thought that they were clever and cute, not taking these to heart. But he should still have noticed it eventually, albeit too late. Old Manson shifted his attention to his youngest, but this conversely aggravated the two brothers instead. So, they began scheming how to unobtrusively seize power from their own father, and by then their ploys were no longer children’s tricks…”

From the Mansons’ business dealings, Brewer and Miller had come to know some medicinal mine merchants, and this inspired them.

They attempted to develop a slow-acting, virtually undetectable drug. They dismantled their father’s judgement and decision-making power in small steps, forcing him to rely on them and be at their mercy. 

It was deeply regrettable, but they did actually stumble upon an approach.

“Old Manson was in poor physical health during that period; his mental health, too. The cause couldn’t be diagnosed at first and after he finally got better, the recuperation process was long.”

Yves said, “This was the work of those two brothers. From that year onwards, they took over all affairs of the Manson family. And then they got a taste of sweetness during their research, as well as some unexpected gains.”

Yan Suizhi, “What gains?” 

“You must be aware that there’s a condition called drug dependence,” said Yves.

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan exchanged a look. “…Coincidentally, we have been hearing this phrase from time to time lately, like its sense of presence had suddenly shot up.”

Yves, “Where did you hear it?”

“From some doctors and in Manson’s infection treatment centre.” Yan Suizhi suddenly thought of a possibility. “This couldn’t be something that the Mansons had intentionally engineered, could it?” 

Drug dependence… this easily called to mind another, more odious thing—narcotics.

“If memory serves me right, Joe has once mentioned that, two generations ago, someone in the Manson family had tried to produce narcotics,” said Gu Yan.

“Good memory,” said Yves.

“This is actually the Manson family’s biggest stain. Solely by judging on this point, Brewer and Miller don’t seem in the least bit like Manson blood,” Yves said icily. 

“During their research into slow-acting drugs, they might have discovered that certain experimental drugs could get people addicted, so they started to get crooked thoughts. Narcotics is a venture that has humongous profits and also the ability to control the human mind. It would carry enormous appeal to the two brothers.”

Gu Yan’s brows furrowed. “But, out of the last 500 years, the alliance’s control and crackdown on narcotics is now at its peak.”

Basically, no one dared to recklessly touch narcotics production.

“Which is why they’re going by a different method,” Yves said. “They’re trying to use normal surgery and treatment to alter certain physiological conditions in normal people. Naturally, it’s quite specialised stuff. While I’m in healthcare, I’m not a research expert.” 

Yves spread his hands. “I’ll draw an analogy. Let’s say that some small alteration is made to your hormones, brain, or even your genes, so that you naturally crave the comfort of a certain drug, become dependent on it, needing it heavily and continuously to the extent that you can’t live without it. That’s what the Manson brothers want to do. A type of passive addiction to narcotics. And this so-called drug would be hidden in the most common trappings, such as sleeping pills, painkillers, even fever and anti-inflammatory medicine, all of which they would have in the palm of their hands.”

Yan Suizhi’s and Gu Yan’s expressions abruptly darkened.

If the Manson brothers achieved that, they would have treatment centres across the entire alliance that could alter countless people without their knowledge. And every treatment centre also came with a research institution where they could brazenly research the drugs they needed under the cover of reasonableness and legality.

They had a collaborative partner, Westshore Pharmaceutical, and a logistics partner, the Cliffs’ space shuttles. 

What this could eventually snowball into was unimaginable.

“Crazy, isn’t it?” Yves said. “It’s normal that, as lawyers, you might not be able to understand how far some businessmen can go to profit. If even just 10% or 50% profit margins can drive some people insane, then what about 100% or even 500%? For this, some can turn into devils, among which those two brothers are exemplary models, and us old folks can only bow out.”

“So…” Yan Suizhi reflected on Yves’ words. “My parents’ gene surgery was used by them as an experiment.”

“One of many experiments,” Yves said. “As I’ve said, alterations on a hormonal, neurological, and genetic level, maybe including intravenous injections. All of these are within the scope of their experimentation.” 

“I’ve always felt ashamed…” Yves paused, then said, “that I didn’t realise the problem when the Mansons started to take an interest in the medical field. In actuality, it was the Manson brothers searching for collaborative partners, yet I was foolishly led to believe that Old Manson was still the one in charge.”

He’d invited his close friends, business associates, and some young men with boundless prospects to the Mansons’ social gatherings—not expecting that it would be the devil’s lunch.

Until they, one after another, met with misfortune.

“I’m not much of a sentimental person, nor a good man even.” Mr Yves said, “I’m an extremely selfish businessman; I wouldn’t be able to brave raging tempests and infernos to save my friends. But all these years, I kept thinking—it was I who had handed the devil his scythe, and it was I who had sent them beneath the blade. If I can’t even allow their souls to rest in peace, I’d be a failure, and those heavy blood debts are mine to shoulder for all my life.”