Chapter 39: A Bogus Testament
Translator: Liu Tong
Proofread by Peter Gong
Austin looks at Florence Li, who is lying in the bed with a pale face, sighing and says in anger, “What on earth do you want to do? You know how Brian hates you. If you marry him, you will be pushed into a fiery pit. Do you know what you are doing?” His tone sounds annoyed. Li suddenly sits up and stares at Austin, “I must ask you a favour.” She says with a little bitter voice. “Go ahead.” “On the day of marriage, take Nelson away and never come back. I’ll stall him off. I can’t believe others, so now, only you can help me, can’t you?”
Her firm gaze cannot be ignored. Austin is shocked sometime, because he doesn’t expect Li to have such a bold idea. He says nothing and his face shows his hesitation. While he is thinking about what to say, Florence Li smiles bitterly, and her eyes move to her fingertips, as if she were in a kind of trance. Her voice is hoa.r.s.e, “You have seen what happened today, he…” She suddenly chokes up. Li tries to subdue her emotions. After a while, she calms down and continues, “He can’t bear Nelson. He hates me so much that he wants me to die in front of him. Nelson means nothing to him, so please.” Her tone is very calm now as if nothing had happened, but Austin feels her sadness naturally.
“Do you know how dangerous it is? We know Brian clearly. If there is anything wrong, you should know more clearly about the grave consequence! ” Everything is in silence. Li raises her little face and looks at him firmly. “I have only got my son. If accidents happen to him, I would also like to die. So I will do it.” It seems that Li has been driven to a corner by Brian, therefore, she wants to venture such a radical way. It is useless for him to persuade her again. After appeasing Florence, Austin calls Baron. “Shall we meet some time soon?”
Austin doesn’t choose any remote place. Instead, they meet openly, which makes Baron incomprehensible. After a brief ceremony, Austin goes down to the business directly. “Brother Baron, today I would like to talk with you about the testament. Hearing this, Baron feels delighted immediately. He stirs his coffee to keep his excitement from appearing obvious. “Please go ahead.” “I won’t play coy here, well, there is a way to modify the old man’s will.” “What?” Baron is obviously shocked. He doesn’t expect that the next words will nearly make him collapse.
“The old man’s original words are that as long as Brian marries Florence Li, he can immediately get the stock equity. But if someone else at last marries Li, the testament will be canceled immediately.” There are some traps here. Baron suddenly throws back his head and laughs. His eyes turn red gradually. Austin looks at him confusedly. The old man also gave him a will, and the content shows that as long as he marries Florence Li, he can get the equity. The hidden meaning in the words is now realized by him. The old man intentionally made him think that he could get equity as long as he marries Li. Now it seems that what the old man did is just to let him take the initiative to marry Florence Li!
All of this is just an arrangement that he has managed since long time ago. The old man wanted Baron himself to restrain Brian, therefore, he turned a blind eye to Baron’s ambition. In this way, Florence can be protected well. How crafty! It seems that the old man has arranged everything! Baron suddenly seems to understand everything, and he finally figures out what his role is on the old man’s chessboard. Baron’s face is complicated, which makes Austin confused. He frowns at him. “What’s wrong?” His voice finally makes Baron come to himself. He comes back to himself and his brain gradually calms down.
“Modify the testament?” Baron takes a sip of coffee. He puts the cup on the table, leans back against the back of the chair, puts his long fingers on his knees and taps gently. “Lawyer Austin, what if I tell you that I have a testament, too?” Austin recovers himself immediately, after all he has stayed with the old man for so long. He doesn’t expect that Baron has a bogus one. He soon calms down, “All the members of Si’s family fight for this equity, because whoever gets it, he can be the king of the family.” “Baron, if you dare to marry Florence before the wedding of Brian and Florence, I can also forge a bogus testament to confer you the equity.”
He is an eyewitness who watches Austin grow up step by step from an orphan. If this matter is exposed, he will also be put in jail, and his future then is ruined. Baron squints his eyes. He suddenly becomes interested, and is Austin willing to modify the will for Florence Li? “Lawyer Austin, you should know better than me about the consequence of falsifying the testament.” He says with a strange smile. “It’s none of your business. You just need to do your business well.” Baron shrugs his shoulders and takes a drink. Finally, he puts on his sungla.s.ses and smiles at Austin, “Lawyer Austin, I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation.”
From today on, Baron goes to visit Li with his purpose. At first, he visits her in the name of her childhood friend. Because of the image of a good man that he fakes in front of Florence last time, she has weak sense of self-defense. “Florence.” He gently calls her name. Florence Li prepares a cup of hot water and walks out of the kitchen, “Brother Baron, thank you for coming to chat with me recently. I’m not so bored now.” She curves her eyebrows and smiles. While Li is sitting down, Baron suddenly grabs her hand. This sudden move catches her off guard, but she subconsciously takes her hand out of his hand quickly. Of course, Florence is kind of embarra.s.sed.
Baron does not care her action, however, he strikes while the iron is hot. “Florence, we grew up together. My feeling for you is far more than sibling relationship. Actually, we are the same kind of people. You should not marry Brian, but marry me.” Li stands up at once, just because of Baron’s sudden confession. In her opinion, there is nothing more embarra.s.sing than this. In her mind she just regards him as her elder brother, yesterday and today. She lowers her head, “Brother Baron, I’m sorry. I know you helped me a lot, but I can’t marry you. Anyway, I have promised to marry Brian.” She regains herself and goes on, “You are so outstanding that you can find a better one.”