Chapter 2933 — Atonement by Death

As for the finer details, he did not know them either and could only fill in the blanks himself; then he relayed his deductions and guesses to Liu Jinghan.

When he came to the part about the bank seizing the company's assets, Liu Jinghan, normally so composed, was shaken: "What?! The company building has been sealed off too? Just how much did my father borrow? And what sort of business was he running with that President Lang?!"

"Vice President Liu, I'm not entirely clear on that myself. I heard it was some kind of cigarette venture, but Secretary Zhang doesn't know much either. President Liu never told anyone else, because he negotiated this deal personally, without going through any of us subordinates," Director Chen said.

"I understand. Keep an eye on my father, don't let him do anything foolish. As for the rest, I'll think of something!" Liu Jinghan drew a deep breath. She had never imagined that with her away from home, such a catastrophe could have struck the family!

"Understood, Vice President Liu," Director Chen answered.

Liu Jinghan hung up, her brows knitted tight as she sank into thought...

Meanwhile, in Yanjing, word that Liu Tianli of the Liu Group had botched his investment and lost the family's entire fortune spread as though on wings to the ears of everyone connected to them. The Liu family's losses this time were nothing short of devastating—the capital and real estate sunk into the venture totaled more than five billion!

Not only had they lost the payment for goods and procurement funds belonging to Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals, they had even lost their own family's original money! The distributors' calls came pouring into Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals one after another, lodging complaints against Liu Tianli and demanding either delivery or refunds.

But Fatso Lai had only a small portion of medicine on hand that had been produced but not yet shipped out, and Liu Tianli had not delivered any new raw materials, leaving Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals utterly unable to resume normal production! Nor had the payment for the medicines been passed on to Fatso Lai—even if he wanted to issue refunds, he had no money to give those distributors!

In no time, Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals had halted production across the board, dragged down by Liu Tianli, and its reputation had plummeted overnight!

The truth of Liu Tianli's drug use could not be hidden from those with eyes to see, and before long after his bankruptcy, the matter spread once more.

Old Master Liu Zhenhu trembled with rage from head to toe. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Liu Tianli would take to drugs—and that was not all. Having lost the company, the man had made no effort to find a way out; he had secretly sold off cars to keep feeding his habit!

"Wretched son... you wretched son..." Liu Zhenhu's health had been much improved of late thanks to Wei Zhao's treatment, but this time the shock had struck him down, leaving him slumped in his wheelchair, unable to rise.

Liu Tianli knelt on the floor, his eye sockets sunken and black, his expression dull, utterly deaf to Liu Zhenhu's roar! It was not that he truly ignored it—he was still trapped in the hallucinations brought on by the drugs, indifferent to everything else around him.

"Father, please calm yourself... Brother is probably in the grip of his addiction right now; whatever we say, he won't hear it. I think we should send him to a rehabilitation center first, for compulsory detox," Liu Tianyi said, having noticed something abnormal about Liu Tianli.

He knew his brother. Liu Tianli was a conservative man who ran the company steadily and reliably, and in family matters he always followed the lead of their father, of himself, or even of Liu Jinghan—he had never had many ideas of his own. This time was utterly strange. How had Liu Tianli suddenly become a different person overnight—using drugs, losing money?

"He is no brother of yours! Drugs—dealing drugs—is that supposed to bring glory to the Liu family?! Divine Physician Lin entrusted the pharmaceutical company's business to our Liu family to manage, and this is how we managed it! How am I, with this old face of mine, supposed to face Divine Physician Lin?" Liu Zhenhu shook with fury; what Liu Tianli had done was beyond anything he could bear!

"Perhaps he was deceived?" Liu Tianyi offered cautiously in his brother's defense.

"Deceived? If there had been no greed in his heart, how could he have been deceived?" Liu Zhenhu gave a cold laugh, then thundered: "Don't think I don't know how he's always thought! He never approved of our family's cooperation with Divine Physician Lin—he believed the Liu family was merely clinging to Wei Zhao, and that if Wei Zhao ever fell, the Liu family would fall with him! But under pressure from you, from me, and from Jingjing, he had no choice but to go along. Give him the slightest chance, though, and he would certainly want to turn the company into an enterprise that could run without Wei Zhao!"

"That..." Liu Tianyi could not help but smile bitterly. "But wasn't he also thinking of the Liu family?"

"His thinking was flawed from the start! Wei Zhao is perfectly fine, and he's the one who's finished!" Liu Zhenhu snorted. "If he had even half of Jingjing's strength of character, the company would never have come to this!"

"Yes..." At this point Liu Tianyi had nothing left to say and could only nod in agreement.

"Tianyi, call Divine Physician Lin. Tell him the Liu family has failed him—that Tianli and I will atone with our lives! I cannot face Wei Zhao with this old face of mine any longer, nor do I have the face to go on living..." Liu Zhenhu sighed and made his decision.

"Father... how can you die?" Liu Tianyi was startled, his eyes wide. "If you die, what will become of the Liu family? Let me plead with Mr. Wei Zhao—from now on the Liu family will serve like beasts of burden and do all we can to make amends..."

"Isn't the Liu family left with you?" Liu Zhenhu shook his head and said calmly: "Do you think Divine Physician Lin's anger can be appeased without a death? More than five billion—that is no small sum. And the damage done to Guan Dafu Pharmaceuticals cannot be measured in money. Rather than eke out our days under Divine Physician Lin's future suppression, better that Tianli and I atone with our lives. You, Tianyi, will still have a chance to rise again—because your relationship with Wei Zhao is the best of any of us!"

Hearing Liu Zhenhu's words, Liu Tianyi fell silent too. Yes—even if Wei Zhao spared the Liu family out of regard for old times, he would never again favor and trust them as he once had!

And even if Wei Zhao did not suppress the Liu family himself, there was no guarantee that the other great families and subordinates around him would not. When a wall falls, all push—when the time came, each would trample them once, and the Liu family would never rise again!

If Liu Zhenhu and Liu Tianli atoned with their deaths, then Wei Zhao might well continue to employ Liu Tianyi, and the Liu family would endure and not fall! These thoughts were not beyond Liu Tianyi—but what he wanted even less was for his father and brother to atone with their lives for the sake of the Liu family!