CH 58

Shen Bixue wanted to give 6% of her shares to Shen Ji, and Shen Dehan quickly told him about it.

Shen Ji’s first reaction was to refuse, “Father, these shares were given to my aunt by my grandfather and should be left by my aunt to Mingxuan and Mingfei.”

Shen Dehan was not impressed by Shen Ji’s words, “This is your aunt’s good intention, and your uncle has agreed to it.”

Shen Ji looked at his father hesitantly. He did not believe that his father could not see the reason for his aunt doing so at this time. His aunt’s action was certainly an indication that the Li family had no intention of meddling in the internal affairs of the Shen family, but at the same time, it was also a kind of separation from the Shen family.

Shen Ji understood that his father was doing it his own good, that he wanted the control of the Shen Group to be concentrated in his, Shen Ji’s, hands. But he had his own pride; he even disdained to count the shares in Shen Xi’s hands, so how could he accept his aunt’s gift?

Shen Ji wanted to persuade his father to change his mind, but when his eyes swept over his father’s tired expression, he swallowed his words. His father had already been angry with Shen Xi once today, and he did not want to argue with his father again over this matter. Thinking that it would take some time for his aunt to go through the formalities, Shen Ji made up his mind to go to her privately without his father’s knowledge to decline.

This day Shen Dehan fell asleep very early. Shen Ji gently turned off the light and watched his father for a long time in the darkness in silence.

He didn’t know if it was just his illusion, but he felt that he was getting further and further away from his father. From the appearance of Chu Qianqian to the Yunrou fiasco, an invisible barrier gradually appeared between him and his father. Shen Ji wondered bitterly whether he had changed, or his father had changed. Where was the wise, kind and affectionate father who had been so close to his sister, Shen Ji’s aunt? When did his father become so paranoid, distrustful to the point of suspecting his own sister?

Shen Ji quietly exited the ward. In the hallway, Shen Cheng was talking to someone on the phone, speaking incessantly with his eyebrows drawn together in a frown. Shen Ji quietly looked at Shen Cheng’s back, memories from long ago slowly surfacing in his mind. Soon after Shen Cheng was born, their mother passed away. Before she died, she handed him Shen Cheng, a small bundle, telling him to be a good big brother and take care of his younger brother. Because of his mother’s wish, Shen Ji tried his best to keep Shen Cheng by his side over the years. Back then, he even gave up studying abroad and chose to stay in China to attend university because he was not at ease about Shen Cheng.

He had watched Shen Cheng grow up day by day, and unlike his coldness to Shen Xi, Shen Cheng was a true blood relative in his heart, just like his father and aunt before. He dared not imagine that one day he would be as suspicious of Shen Cheng as his father was of Shen Bixue.

Shen Ji’s gaze was so complicated that even if Shen Cheng was heartless, he sensed that Shen Ji’s mood was not right at the moment and cautiously came up, “Big Brother, are you okay?”

Shen Ji smiled and reached out to touch Shen Cheng’s head, which Shen Ji had rarely done since Shen Cheng had grown up.

Shen Cheng had a startled expression on his face, “Big Brother?”

Shen Ji gave a faint “en” and his expression returned to normal, “Ah Cheng, you should go home early, I’ll stay at the hospital tonight.”

Shen Cheng wanted to say that he would stay with him, but after taking a peek at Shen Ji’s expression, he obediently went back to the Shen family’s house.

Behind him, Shen Ji took a deep breath. Perhaps in his father’s heart Shen Group was the most important. But he was different from his father, in his heart there was something more important than Shen Group.

Over the next few days, Shen Xi never went to the hospital again. Li Mingxuan didn’t say anything; he just called Shen Ji and helped Shen Xi find an excuse.

Chen Zhiwei’s movie had already been filmed. Chen Zhiwei was obviously very confident about it and boasted vigorously in front of Shen Xi, promising that the movie would definitely make Shen Xi a great deal of money. For this reason, Chen Zhiwei deliberately approached Li Mingxuan and used his connections to hook up with Lin Yao, in preparation for grabbing the New Year slot.

Shen Xi just laughed at this. He didn’t care about the box office. Long before the movie was finished, Shen Xi had registered an offshore company in the Harman Islands through a foreign agent. As soon as the movie was finished, Shen Xi immediately contacted Lao K through the company and successfully transferred back some of the funds in the name of purchasing the movie’s overseas distribution rights.

Although Chen Zhiwei thought the deal strange when he found out about it, he had the good sense not to say much. Shen Xi had been abroad for five years, so it was right to say that he would have some contacts that were not known to the public. Anyway, Shen Xi had given him a big red envelope as a reward, and he didn’t care where the money came from as long as he had it.

Satisfied with the large amount of money that had legally been added to the company’s account, Shen Xi was in a rather good mood. No wonder people were willing to register offshore companies when it came to money laundering, it was indeed very convenient.

After calculating the use of the money, Shen Xi turned to Lao K, “How is the contact with Chang Lei of Shen Group?”

Lao K nodded, “We have a handle on him in our hands and he is very obedient.”

Shen Xi pondered a little, “Pay him half of what you promised. This is something I hope he can do seamlessly.”

Lao K obviously had great confidence in Chang Lei, “Don’t worry, he has previous experience in this field and the closing is very clean, otherwise I wouldn’t have approached him.”

Shen Xi nodded; he was very sure of Lao K’s vision. After going over the plan in his mind, he had everything in place but for the call from Lu Gesen. He didn’t believe that Lu Gesen would do nothing while Shen Dehan was in the hospital.

Shen Xi was right in his thinking, and Lu Gesen had no intention of letting go of such a rare opportunity.

Looking at the dense stack of reports in Lu Gesen’s hand, Shen Cheng only felt a headache, “Gesen, just skip these numbers and tell me the final conclusion.”

Lu Gesen looked serious, unmoved by Shen Cheng’s request, “The conclusion is based on the numbers, it is better for you to understand them.”

Shen Cheng had no choice but to take the documents and turn the pages over casually a few times, “I’m done, just say the conclusion.”

Lu Gesen gave Shen Cheng a silent glance and picked out the important points to recount the general content of the report.

Shen Cheng’s attention was quickly drawn to the content of the report, “This was done by the investment department?”

Lu Gesen nodded.

Shen Cheng looked at him with excitement, “What do you think?”

Lu Gesen deliberated for a moment, “I’ve read the detailed report from the investment department, and I think it’s very investment-oriented. But it is rather risky, so we still need to be more cautious.”

“High risk means high income, if we go by the investment department’s estimate, how much can we make?” Shen Cheng didn’t bother to listen to Lu Gesen’s talk about caution and directly asked the question he was most concerned about.

Lu Gesen’s expression remained unchanged, “It depends on the amount of our investment, the initial estimate is five to ten times the profit.”

“That high?” Shen Cheng’s eyes instantly lit up.

Lu Gesen quickly poured cold water, “If the investment goes wrong, we have to suffer the same loss, it’s not just as simple as losing the investment.”

Shen Cheng obviously didn’t care about this comment and had his heart set on presenting this report to the board of directors as soon as possible.

Lu Gesen looked at Shen Cheng’s excited face and ducked his head to hide the glint in his eyes.

Wang Changlin soon learned of Shen Cheng’s reaction from Lu Gesen, “Shen Cheng has been touted too much by Gao Qiulin these days and is bent on thinking he is a business wizard. If it was Shen Ji, he would have been much more cautious.”

Lu Gesen nodded; thinking about Shen Ji, he couldn’t help worrying, “I’m afraid that Shen Ji will raise objections. He has always disliked the company investing in financial projects.”

Wang Changlin was not worried at all, “Don’t worry, Shen Dehan is still the one who is really in charge of this company.”

When Wang Changlin said this, Lu Gesen understood that he had a way to get Shen Dehan to agree, so he was grateful, “I have to trouble Foster Father again.”

Wang Changlin gave Lu Gesen a reproachful look, “What trouble is there? There is only so much I can do for you.”

Lu Gesen smiled gratefully and looked at Wang Changlin with an increasingly adoring gaze.

He had grown up without a father; the only time he had spent with him was just a few days in his early childhood. All his imagination of his father was pinned on Wang Changlin. In his heart, if his father had been alive, he would have been like Wang Changlin.

As he thought of his father, a hint of determination flashed in Lu Gesen’s eyes. Blood must be paid by blood, he must get back all that the Shen family owed him.

The determination in Lu Gesen’s eyes was unmistakably caught by Wang Changlin. While Lu Gesen could not see, a look of satisfaction appeared on Wang Changlin’s face.

That afternoon, before Lu Gesen left, he looked at Wang Changlin as if he wanted to say something.

Wang Changlin noticed Lu Gesen’s strangeness and smiled faintly, “What’s wrong? Is there something we can’t say as father and son?”

Lu Gesen struggled for a while before finally speaking, “Foster Father, should I bring Xiao Xi to see you sometime?”

“Xiao Xi?” Wang Changlin was obviously very surprised, “How come you suddenly thought of Shen Xi?”

Wang Changlin’s expression did not look different except for the surprise, so Lu Gesen’s heart settled and he explained softly, “I heard Shen Cheng say that Xiao Xi and Shen Dehan’s relationship had become even worse, so I was a bit worried about Xiao Xi. He is my only blood relative in this world, and although I grew up without a father, in my heart you are my father. And although Xiao Xi has a father but it is the same as having no father at all, so I hope you can treat Xiao Xi like me, too.” At this point, Lu Gesen added in a low voice, “No matter what, Xiao Xi is my aunt’s only offspring.”

Wang Changlin’s expression became complicated at Lu Gesen’s last words. He did not say yes or no. Lu Gesen gave him an apologetic look, “I’m sorry, Foster Father.”

Wang Changlin shook his head, “It has nothing to do with you, it’s me who can’t get past the psychological hurdle.”

Lu Gesen let out a silent sigh and without saying anything else got up and left quietly. It seemed that he should wait before telling Shen Xi about his foster father.

When Lu Gesen’s figure disappeared outside the door, Wang Changlin silently took out his wallet. In the inconspicuous compartment of the wallet, a half torn photo lay quietly there, showing Han Rou smiling brightly at the camera.

Wang Changlin touched the half of the photo with a complicated expression and reached out to gently brush over the other half that was missing, an odd smile curving the corner of his mouth.