Zhang Yuqi Sacrifices Himself to Become a Buddha?
Chu Xiaozhong said to Song Tianyao in the rearview mirror, "You didn't tell me about this in Likang that day."
Song Tianyao didn't answer and drove straight back to Likang Company. Kong Wing-yan and Chu Xiaoxin got out of the car first, while Chu Xiaozhong and Song Tianyao stayed in the car. Chu Xiaozhong stared intently at Song Tianyao:
"When you were in court with Zhang Yuliang, you said something about my father saying he would help the Zhang Family. What exactly did you mean by that?"
Song Tianyao offered a cigarette to Chu Xiaozhong, leaning back in the driver's seat and saying wearily, "That sentence meant exactly what it said. I only asked Chairman Chu a question. Zhang Yuqi's choice of which path to take was also Chairman Chu's decision. He will take the lead and work with the Big Brother of the Sze Yap Chamber of Commerce to help Zhang Yuqi take over the Zhang Family. It seems like he's helping the Zhang Family maintain stability, but in reality, he's solidifying the claim that Zhang Yuqi murdered his brother to seize the inheritance. No matter how shrewd Zhang Yuqi is, he can't withstand the storm that's about to hit. The Zhang Family can no longer stand firm in the pharmaceutical industry. If he's truly smart, he'll know what to do. If he doesn't hand over the distribution rights to feed those fellow villagers or uncles who used to be all smiles and affectionate towards the four sons of the Zhang Family, but are now sharpening their knives in their impoverished state, he'll just be roasted alive on the fire."
"Substituting one thing for another, watching from the sidelines, and in the end..." Chu Xiaozhong said blankly.
Song Tianyao nodded and said definitively, "That's right, taking advantage of someone's misfortune."
Chapter 176 Sacrificing Oneself to Become a Buddha -Zhang Yuqi?
Zhang Yuqi walked unsteadily into his mother's guest room. As for the third son, Zhang Yulin, he had already gone ahead to arrange for Zhang Yuliang's body to be sent to the hospital morgue for cold storage and to prepare for the funeral, despite his grief. He did not choose to come back with him. Zhang Yuqi knew that Zhang Yulin was too afraid to see anyone from the Zhang Family at this time, especially him.
Inside the living room, Zhang Yujie's two wives, Li Suiyi and Chen Yaofang, Zhang Yujie's mistress A-Yin (who was not officially recognized), his own wife Cui Xiuying, and his Zhang Yuliang's wife Kuang Jieying, all turned their gazes toward Zhang Yuqi as he stepped into the living room.
There may be resentment, hatred, sorrow, or despair.
Zhang Yuqi walked expressionlessly through these gazes, walked to the sofa in the center of the living room, slowly knelt down, and gently rested his head between the legs of the elderly woman with a full head of white hair on the sofa.
This is Guo Geng, the mother of the four brothers, the woman who raised them alone after their husbands died.
Guo Geng gently touched Zhang Yuqi, who was kneeling before him, with his rough, tree-bark-like hands, and asked in a somewhat ethereal voice, "Yuliang, will he never come back? Yujie, will he never come back either?"
She only mentioned the names of her two sons, but it was enough to make Zhang Yujie's two wives, Zhang Yuliang's wife, turn away and sob softly, covering her mouth with a handkerchief.
"Yuliang wasn't killed by my elder brother, Mother." Zhang Yuqi buried his head tightly in his mother's legs, his muffled voice coming through without any apparent distress.
The voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly heard by all the women in the living room, each with their own expression. Even Zhang Yujie's two wives, Zhang Yuliang's wife and Zhang Yuqi's wife Cui Xiuying, instinctively stopped crying, while Cui Xiuying's eyes widened slightly as she looked at her husband kneeling before his mother in disbelief.
Zhang Yuqi's statement to his mother that Zhang Yuliang was not killed by Zhang Yujie, thus refusing to let Zhang Yujie bear the blame, surprised everyone. In their eyes, what Zhang Yuqi should do was to insist that Zhang Yujie was responsible for Zhang Yuliang's death. Now that he was temporarily managing the Zhang Family, he could use this incident to incite his mother, Guo Geng, to gain legitimate support and make his mother hate Zhang Yujie for fratricide. This would allow him to officially become the head of the Zhang Family. Even if Zhang Yujie were to be released from prison, he would only die a miserable old age.
But the first thing he said after entering the room and kneeling before his mother was to try and make amends for Zhang Yujie? If it wasn't Zhang Yujie who killed Zhang Yuliang, then who else could it be? Judging from the women in the room, Zhang Yuqi is the most likely culprit.
Could it be that he felt guilty and remorseful because of Zhang Yuliang's death, and was therefore preparing to confess to his mother, Guo Geng?
Guo Geng is now nearly sixty years old. After her eldest son, Zhang Yujie, took over the Zhang Family business after the war, she became a vegetarian and devoted herself to Buddhism. She has never interfered in the Zhang Family's business since then. Moreover, she doesn't understand the Zhang Family's current businesses such as pharmaceuticals and real estate. The fact that she can still sit here after learning that one of her sons is dead and another is in prison shows that the hardships of her life have tempered her nerves and mindset far beyond those of other women.
"I don't know why, but after hearing the news about Yu Jie and Yuliang from my wives, I keep thinking about when you were in university and needed tuition. At that time, the Japan had already invaded the provincial capital, and I was worried that the school wouldn't accept Japan banknotes. Your older brother secretly took some silver dollars and ran over a hundred miles to entrust a reliable patrol horse to deliver them to you. I also keep thinking about when all three of you were away, and only Yuliang was with me in Hong Kong. Because I was illiterate, I sold some rubber shoes and batteries that the Japan soldiers had posted notices prohibiting the sale of when I was a street vendor, and I was arrested by the Japan." It was fifteen-year-old Yuliang who managed to raise money and ask someone to rescue me. And then there was the fourth brother returning from studying abroad, and you coming home from Guangzhou to help with the family chores. The four of you brothers reunited, got drunk, and went to a photo studio with your arms around each other to have your pictures taken. Then you went to Lane Crawford tailor shop, each buying a black tuxedo and a black felt hat, and staggered down the Shanghai Bund like detectives from the Shanghai Bund movies. These things seem so vivid in my mind."Guo Geng stroked Zhang Yuqi's hair, his eyes completely unfocused, looking through Zhang Yuqi and into the void.
Guo Geng didn't ask who killed Zhang Yuliang, nor did he scold him as he usually did, nor did he burst into tears. Instead, he spoke like a rambling old man, recounting the past of the four Zhang Family brothers, how they were kind and respectful to each other, and how they were of one mind.
The old woman no longer cared about the Zhang Family business. The drastic changes that befell her two sons had left her at a loss. She could only numbly try to recall the past events of her four sons to fill the void in her collapsing mind.
She was an ignorant woman, but in this situation, she knew there was one thing she couldn't do: with Zhang Yujie imprisoned and Zhang Yuliang dead, she couldn't force her Second Son, Zhang Yuqi, to suffer any more mishaps.