Chapter 8

A month later, turmoil swept through the company.

My father had devoted all his attention to the hospital. He missed more than half of the board meetings, and gradually, every matter at the company—large or small—fell into my hands.

The long-serving shareholders who had once stood with him began changing sides, one after another.

I didn’t rush to act.

At the year-end board meeting, I brought out the documents I had spent the past few months organizing.

Over the years, Shen Wanjun had misappropriated several company funds to clear the way for Shen Jingze. There were also records of multiple cases of improper market manipulation.

The moment I laid everything out on the table, several shareholders’ expressions changed repeatedly.

When it came time to vote, more than half raised their hands in favor of removing Shen Wanjun as chairman.

My father didn’t attend that meeting.

He was at the hospital, keeping watch over the son who would never walk again.

I sent someone to deliver the board’s resolution to his hospital room. I heard he stared at it for a long time, then finally folded it and put it in the drawer of his bedside table.

I didn’t go to see him in person.

Later, I had Shen Wanjun and Shen Jingze sent to a nursing home.

Shen Jingze sat in a wheelchair with a thin blanket over his lap, facing the window. His eyes were as lifeless as ashes.

My father followed behind him. More than half his hair had turned white, his back had begun to stoop, and he looked visibly older.

Not long afterward, Chen Meiyi was released after serving her sentence.

On the day she got out, I had someone take her straight to the nursing home.

She stood outside the room, staring at her son in the wheelchair, his legs gone, and Shen Wanjun with his white hair. She froze. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Her lips twitched, but she couldn’t say a word.

Hearing the commotion, Shen Wanjun looked up. He stared for a moment, then slowly began to laugh.

There was so much in that laugh that I couldn’t tell whether it was pain or surrender.

I stood by the window and watched the three of them embrace, sobbing, cursing me.

I smiled, too.

Hadn’t they always called themselves a family of three?

Then in this life, they could remain tangled together forever, tearing each other apart.

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