Chapter 336 — Hope Shattered in an Instant
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
And by any normal reckoning, Gu Pengzhan would never resort to this sort of forgery either, because it served no purpose whatsoever. Even if he gained the upper hand at a single shareholders' meeting, the moment Xie Guangbo appeared, the scheme would collapse of its own accord, and Gu Pengzhan would moreover earn himself the reputation of a faithless swindler of shareholders — a clear case of losing far more than he gained.
But to Jin Gubang's mind, Xie Guangbo gifting his shares to Wei Zhao outright was even more impossible. Had Xie Guangbo taken leave of his senses? His son was still in the hands of a foreign gang; his son owed enormous loan-shark debts, and if they went unpaid, it was death and nothing else.
So Xie Guangbo's only recourse was to hold on to the shares in his hands, for only then could he cooperate with Jin Gubang — that was his one way out. If he handed his shares to Wei Zhao at a time like this, what would he have left to cooperate with?
He dialed Xie Guangbo's cell phone, only to find it switched off. Jin Gubang thought nothing of it, though, because these past two days Xie Guangbo had been laid up sick at home and had kept his phone off the whole time. Jin Gubang dialed again, this time the landline at Xie Guangbo's villa.
After a wait, the call was picked up — but not by Xie Guangbo. It was the voice of a strange man: "Hello, who are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for Mr. Xie Guangbo. Is he there, please?" Jin Gubang asked.
"Oh, you're looking for my dad. Hold on a moment, I'll go get him..." The phone had been answered by Xie Jinbiao. Xie Guangbo was overjoyed today — his son had come home — and so he meant to cook with his own hands a few dishes the boy had loved as a child.
In truth, although all of Xie Guangbo's shares had gone to Wei Zhao, he still had some real estate — more than ten residences in Songshan City alone — plus a collection of antiques and jewelry. Sell it all off and he could recoup tens of millions in capital, more than enough to start a little business; he had nothing to worry about. With the shares given to Wei Zhao, he actually felt light and easy. The days ahead, building a business together with his son — those would be the happiest of all.
"W-wait a moment — Xie Guangbo is your father? Who... who are you?" A look of sheer shock came over Jin Gubang's face.
"I'm his son, Xie Jinbiao. What of it? And who might you be?" Xie Jinbiao thought to himself, Is this fellow an idiot? I call him Dad, so who else could I be?
"You... weren't you taken captive by that foreign gang? How are you at home?" Jin Gubang asked, unable to believe it.
"Who are you? How do you know about my being captured?" Xie Jinbiao frowned. "Are you calling just to make trouble?"
"No... I'm a colleague of your father's..." The more Jin Gubang thought, the more wrong the whole thing felt. Why were there so many strange happenings today? Xie Guangbo's son had come home safe and sound, and yet Xie Guangbo's shares had ended up in Wei Zhao's hands.
"My dad's here. Talk to him yourself." Hearing that the caller was a colleague of his father's, Xie Jinbiao held back from cursing the man out. What was wrong with this fellow, so rude? Just because I was captured, does that mean I can never come home?
After a moment, Xie Guangbo's voice came over the line: "Hello? This is Xie Guangbo."
"Old Xie, it's Old Jin here." Jin Gubang forced a laugh. "Was that your son who answered just now? He's back?"
"He's back. What is it?" The warmth Xie Guangbo had shown him before was now utterly gone; what remained was coldness and perfunctory haste. "If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up. I'm cooking for my son."
"Wait — Gu Pengzhan is convening a shareholders' meeting. Did you know about this?" How could Jin Gubang let Xie Guangbo hang up? He rushed out the question.