Chapter 213 - Conscience

Guiyang City, the capital city of the Guizhou Province in Southwest China. A province surrounded by mountains and forests, with a subtropical humid climate. A climate that was perfect for the production of a very particular liquor - baijiu.

It was here that the office of Fengtai Corporation was located.

As Natalie walked through the building to get to the chairman's office, everyone bowed at her politely. She was the chairman's secretary; apart from the chairman, she was the most authoritative person in the building at that moment, and they respected her. 

Of course, the company had three directors that were above Natalie, but two of them mainly slacked off and barely came into the office, while the third was a mystery that no one had ever seen. This mysterious director was Natalie's best friend, Haili Feng, the chairman's daughter and only child.

The other two directors were the chairman's younger brother and sister, who practically leeched off the family business all their lives and contributed nothing.

Natalie walked into the office and smiled at Halia's father, "Uncle, here's the report from the factory."

Ever since her husband died about 5 and a half years ago, Father Feng had taken good care of her. He gave her a job, he trusted her, and he loved her like his own daughter. So, whenever it was just the two of them, she would greet him as 'Uncle' rather than 'Chairman'.

It had almost been a week since they returned from Macau, but Natalie had spent this entire time just outside of the city in a place called Maotai Town, where Fengtai's plantation and refinery were located. Every month, the company would do a quality check to ensure that everything was running properly, and this had somehow turned into her responsibility.

Back when the chairman was young, he did these checks with his brother and his brother followed along reluctantly. His brother's official title was actually the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of the company; a role that their father had given him. But, even though it was a part of his role to maintain quality assurance, the man was lazy. If it was someone else, Father Feng would have already fired him long ago. But, because it was his own brother, he turned a blind eye.

As Father Feng aged, the task became more and more tedious and he eventually couldn't handle it any longer. The long trips to the plantation and the refinery were tough on his body and he didn't have the concentration to check everything in detail, so he handed the task solely to his brother. But, his brother simply said that he was growing old as well and handed the task to his son.

Unlike his father, Patrick Feng was ambitious. Unfortunately, he was sly and liked to take shortcuts as well, so after 3 months, he began to skim through the checks and fixed issues by either sweeping them under the rug or finding cheap solutions. Eventually, there was a big mechanical failure and the company made a huge loss. After that, Father Feng handed the responsibility to the only person he could trust - Natalie.

"Natalie, are you and Pumpkin planning to move to Beijing after you get married?" Father Feng suddenly asked worriedly. His brother was lazy, his sister only cared about her lavish lifestyle, his daughter wanted to live independently, and his nephew was useless. If Natalie left, then who would help him with his company?

Natalie looked at Father Feng and understood what he was thinking. "I haven't discussed it with Sean yet. In fact, I haven't even had the chance to tell my parents about him yet," Natalie replied awkwardly.

"Tell us about what?" a voice suddenly sounded from behind.

Natalie quickly turned around and saw her mother standing in the doorway with Pumpkin. Pumpkin had been staying with his grandparents for the last few days, so now that Natalie was back, Mother Shu naturally returned him to his mother.

Natalie looked at her mother awkwardly. How much of their conversation did she hear?

"Who's Sean?" Mother Shu asked curiously.

An awkward silence filled the room.

Natalie didn't know where to begin.

At that moment, little Pumpkin suddenly tugged his grandmother's sleeve and said, "Sean is my new daddy!"

Natalie looked at her son in shock, while Mother Shu looked at her daughter in horror. New daddy? When was Natalie even dating? Where did she meet this man? How dare he propose to their daughter without consulting her parents first?

"Is this true?" Mother Shu asked.

Natalie slowly lifted her head and looked at her mother. She then nodded her head.

"Yes, Mom, I'm getting married," she replied.

...

Over in Munich, another difficult conversation was taking place.

"My brother?" Mia asked in surprise.

A moment ago, Jaclyn had just told her that she was saved by her brother.

Mia despised her brother. 

Mia's parents passed away when she was 8 and she grew up with just her brother. Her brother was 10 years older than her, so at the time that their parents died, he was considered an a.d.u.l.t and was given custody of his sister. At first, Mia respected her brother for staying strong after their parents were gone. He comforted her and told her everything would be alright and she felt safe with him.

She didn't know what he did for a living at first; she was too young to understand. All she knew was, he eventually opened up his own club and the club became one of the most popular nightlife spots in the city.

Then, one day during her first year of university, she overheard some classmates talking about Club Muller, "I heard it's the best place to get high. We should go there tonight and give it a try."

Mia was having problems with body image at the time and she was experiencing a mild case of depression that no one knew about. So when she heard everyone talk about getting high at Club Muller, she became curious. She eventually snuck into her brother's office at the club one day and found drugs in his drawer. 

She stole a little to try at first, but then she found herself returning for more and more. Eventually, she even snuck in after hours to satisfy her cravings. 

That was when she discovered what her brother was actually doing with the bar. It was a front for a much darker operation.

He wasn't just dealing drugs to his clientele...he was smuggling things through the borders: drugs, weapons, money...and people...

Human trafficking was the most disgusting thing a person could do and Mia hated her brother for it. Where were his morals? Where was his conscience?

So, she was surprised when Jaclyn told her that her brother saved her. "Your brother gave me a fresh set of clothes, he fed me proper food and he let me relax inside the club instead of locking me in the truck."

Mia listened in surprise. It almost sounded like her brother actually had a conscience...