Chapter 978: Profiting from Other’s Ill Luck
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
In the s.p.a.cious and bright room, Zuo Daquan continued smoking his cigar while quietly reading the financial statement in his hand. His business had been in trouble as of late, which involved a particular case that was his gold mine. The gold sand had been mined, smelted and refined; yet the gold price plummeted, thus leading to abysmal sales. It made him depressed since he was in dire need of cash.
“Boss, Kanaja just sent someone to give another reminder again.”
A middle-aged man whose appearance was far from looking handsome, though with eyes full of wisdom and experience, walked inside with a briefcase and reported with a helpless expression.
“What the f.u.c.k? When it rains, it f.u.c.king pours, and now another s.h.i.+t comes. .h.i.tting with another headache?” Zuo Daquan slapped the table furiously. “It’s only six days until I have to pay back the money we owe him; how can we have the price of gold bounce back again? How come we haven’t had any big buyer within six days?”
“Kanaja told us that he agrees with us paying our debt with gold. But he said the arrears must be paid according to the current gold price on the market,” said the middle-aged with a bitter smile.
“He’s just f.u.c.king robbing the house while it burns!” Zuo Daquan furiously shouted.
“He’s indeed taking advantage of our ill fortune,” said the middle-aged man. “But we have no other option than to pay the arrears with gold. We practically have no liquidity left in other businesses we can use, while we also need 80 million more to fully pay the debt.”
The cloudy expression on Zuo Daquan’s face turned grim. He dared not default on his debt to Kanaja since he knew who this man was. If he were to offend this man, he would end up far worse than when he offended the Huang. Although the latter had been hunting him and destroyed many of his businesses, they still didn’t dare to act to the extreme due to the legal restraints in China. But Kanaja was a different breed of man who had great influence and power in Bangkok, a ruthless man who could paint anything black or white on a whim. He was known as a lunatic who would utterly destroy someone for the sake of profits.
Ring, ring, ring…
The cell phone on the table suddenly rang.
Zuo Daquan took a deep breath and directly picked up the call, asking in a heavy voice, “What is it?”
“The young lady is here, Boss.”
The voice of the estate’s security captain came out of the mobile phone.
Zuo Daquan looked vacant for a moment before a look of joy covered his face. Although he needed to resolve the debt with Kanaja, the most important thing in his mind was the matter with his daughter and his two grandsons. He couldn’t care less about paying his debt with gold regardless of its plummeted price as long as they could come here safe and sound.
“Take and escort her here immediately! I’ll be waiting.”
As he hung up, Zuo Daquan looked at the middle-aged man and said, “Tell Kanaja that I’ll definitely pay back his money within six days. Tell him that he’ll get the gold if we don’t have cash by then.”
Having said that, he hurriedly ran outside with eagerness and loudly yelled unceasingly, mobilizing his men nearby to prepare the grand welcome for his daughter.
After six-plus minutes, four cars parked in a small square outside the courtyard of the multi-storied building. Zuo Daquan quickly ran with an overjoyed expression the moment he saw Zuo Qing and his two grandsons, hugging her and saying, “I’m really glad you’ve come here safe and sound, Qing’er. It’s been hard on you. Blame me for being a useless father, causing you to be in so many hards.h.i.+ps and pains.”
Zuo Qing hadn’t seen her father for more than six years. All the restlessness she had all this time finally disappeared after the hug. With a constant flow of tears, she sobbed and whimpered, “I never blamed you, Dad.”
Zuo Daquan released his hug and shook his head. He then looked at the two boys beside his daughter and immediately squatted down.” You’re Yangyang and Doudou, right? It’s our first time seeing each other after you were born. Blame your Grandpa for being incompetent.”
“Yangyang, Doudou, quickly greet your grandfather!” said Zuo Qing hurriedly.
The two sensible boys greeted, “h.e.l.lo, Grandpa!”
With a face full of joy, Zuo Daquan nodded to them. He grabbed their small hands and said, “Good children. You both are good children. Let’s walk. Grandpa has told the maids to prepare delicious meals for you. Qing’er, the journey must’ve been very hard on you. Take a hot bath and rest well.”
“We did encounter a lot of trouble on the journey into this country illegally,” said Zuo Qing. “We are here because of Divine Doctor Tang who has been protecting us all the way here. Let me introduce you to him. This is Divine Doctor Tang, and the rest are his men and his friends.”
Only at this moment did Zuo Daquan notice a group of people behind his daughter. He suddenly frowned and glanced at the crowd. Then, he walked to Tang Xiu’s front and amiably stretched out his hand. “h.e.l.lo, Divine Doctor Tang. I’m Zuo Daquan. I’m very grateful to you for helping my daughter.”
“I just happened to run into her. I just did whatever I could do.” Tang Xiu smiled lightly and said, “There’s no need for such courtesy, Boss Zuo.”
Eyes lit up, Zuo Daquan then smilingly said, “In any case, you’ve helped my daughter, so you’re our friend. Please walk with me and have a chat inside.”
“Divine Doctor Tang not only has helped me, Dad. He has helped you too!” interjected Zuo Qing.
Zuo Daquan stared blankly and asked with a puzzled face, “He has helped me too? What are you talking about?”
“Divine Doctor Tang has a close relations.h.i.+p with the Huang Family’s Head, Huang Jinfu, Dad,” explained Zuo Qing. “I told him that you have a grudge against the Huang Family from the f.u.kang province when were at sea, so he called Huang Jinfu. I also listened to their conversation, and Huang Jinfu personally promised that all their grudges with you have been written off.”
The smile on Zuo Daquan’s face instantly vanished, replaced with a bit of vigilance and murderous intent. He shot a deep look at Tang Xiu and asked, “Divine Doctor Tang, may I know your other honorable ident.i.ties?”
“I’m not harboring any hostility toward you, Boss Zuo. You don’t need to guard against me,” said Tang Xiu smilingly. “Let me introduce myself. My name is Tang Xiu, and I’m known as the young Divine Doctor of the Star City Chinese Medical Hospital in China. Certainly, as you’ve guessed it, I also have another ident.i.ty which is a businessman like you.”
“May I know about the business Mr. Tang runs?” asked Zuo Daquan again.
“The Magnificent Tang Corporation,” answered Tang Xiu.
The answer made Zuo Daquan’s heart skip a beat instantly. Then, he said in a cautious manner, “I’ve heard of the Magnificent Tang Corp, which has been touted as a dark horse in the business community in China. The company mainly produces cosmetics, health products, wine, among businesses, whereas its General Manager, Kang Xia, was once Wall Street’s finance genius in the U.S. Are you really…”
“That’s correct. I’m the owner of the Magnificent Tang Corporation, and Kang Xia is working for me,” answered Tang Xiu with a smile.
A wave of dread flooded Zuo Daquan’s heart, for he never imagined that the Big Boss of the Magnificent Tang Corporation would appear before him one day. Yet, the more bizarre thing was that he had also illegally entered Thailand and came to Bangkok along with his daughter.
‘Something is wrong!’
Zuo Daquan’s heart skipped a beat yet again. It was because Tang Xiu had an extraordinary ident.i.ty, and it was absolutely easy for him to come to Bangkok. There was no need for him to smuggle himself into this country whatsoever.
“Mr. Tang, for you to secretly come to Bangkok all of sudden should be because of a very confidential matter, shouldn’t it? It shouldn’t be a problem for you to enter this country openly given your ident.i.ty otherwise,” said Zuo Daquan with a very low voice. “Even the authorities and businesspeople in Bangkok would regard you as an honorable guest.”
“I do have a confidential matter I need to deal with here in secrecy.” Tang Xiu nodded and said, “I wouldn’t have run into your daughter on my journey here otherwise. Of course, we can leave your place if you’re afraid that we’ll bring about troublesome matters to you.”
Countless thoughts flashed in Zuo Daquan’s mind before he finally let out a faint smile and said, “You came here as a guest, Mr. Tang. As a host, it’s a duty of mine to entertain you with hospitality. But if Mr. Tang and everyone else still have things to tend to, then I won’t be adamant for you staying here either.”
“What are you talking about, Dad?” Zuo Qing quickly interjected after hearing her father’s words. “Divine Doctor Tang has not only helped me, but he also has helped you! They just arrived in Thailand and are not familiar with places here. Why don’t you let him stay here? Besides, we don’t have many guests occupying the guest rooms here anyway.”
Her rebuke made Zuo Daquan’s face sink. He glared and Zuo Qing and said, “The reason why Mr. Tang came to Thailand is due to a very important issue he has to deal with, so how can they stay here for a long time? Alright, take your children for a bath and change to clean clothes. I’ll send someone to call you up after the meals have been prepared.”
“I…” Zuo Qing opened her mouth and wanted to argue again.
“Boss Zuo is correct.” Tang Xiu raised his hand to interrupt her and smilingly said, “We do have some matters to attend. Miss Zuo, we’ve accomplished our duty since you’ve already arrived here; there’s no need for further hospitality. We shall take our leave as there are things we need to tend to.”
Zuo Qing hurriedly said, “You can’t go, Divine Doctor Tang. I…”
Zuo Daquan reached out to grab her and shouted, “How can you be so ignorant, Qing’er? Divine Doctor Tang has an important matter to tend to and naturally can’t waste his time. I’ll welcome them here once they’re done with their business.”
Tang Xiu just let out a faint smile and nodded to Zuo Qing. Then, he led his group back to the LSV cars and left the manor at the escort of four security guards.
With a face turned pale due to anger, Zuo Qing angrily called out, “Why did you do that, Father? Why did you shut our door and force them to leave? Divine Doctor Tang has helped me and you. You also know how honored his ident.i.ty is in the mainland. Numerous people have tried to invite him to their home, yet he rarely accepts their invitations!”
“Hmph. You’re just fooling around, Qing’er.” Zuo Daquan snorted and coldly said, “If this surnamed Tang had no relations.h.i.+p with the f.u.kang province’s Huang Family, I naturally would have welcomed them to stay here. But he knows the Huang Family’s Patriarch. Who can guarantee that he’s not in cahoots with the Huang, huh? You bringing him over is already a grave mistake. If he is to stay here and then informs the Huang Family’s people, you can expect that we’ll meet our tragic end here.”
Zuo Qing’s face looked vacant for a moment but then shook her head. “No. There’s no way Divine Doctor Tang would help the Huang to deal with us!”
“Heh, there’s no knowing what’s in a man’s heart,” sneered Zuo Daquan. “Who knows what he really thinks? Besides, don’t tell me you didn’t notice that something is fishy? He’s a dignified young Divine Doctor in China, as well as the owner of the Magnificent Tang Corporation. With all that, why did he enter Thailand illegally?”