BANG!

The hospital room door slammed shut violently.

Du Zhaohui emerged with a dark expression. Ah Hua didn’t know what father and son had discussed, nor did he dare to ask.

This was Du Zhaohui’s last time seeing Du Chengrong.

Half a month later, Du Chengrong passed away in the hospital. Lawyer Cheng publicly announced Du Chengrong’s will.

“All shares of the Chengrong Group under Mr. Du’s name will belong to his eldest son Du Zhaohui, along with stocks held under his name, as well as two commercial property units…”

Du Chengrong still had two concubines – Second Lady and Third Lady had entered the family before Hong Kong’s new marriage law was enacted, making them legally recognized concubines who were qualified to hear Du Chengrong’s will.

Accompanying them were Du Zhaohui’s half-brothers and sisters, more than ten people crowding the room until it was packed full.

The only one who couldn’t come was Du Zhaoji.

There was no choice – unfortunately, Ji was serving time in prison, and the will couldn’t be read in prison.

With Du Chengrong’s death, Du Zhaohui had to play the role of the filial son. To prevent Hong Kong media from writing carelessly about Du’s family matters, he allowed overseas Du family members to return to Hong Kong.

Du Zhaohui didn’t pay attention to the specific terms Lawyer Cheng was reading. After hearing that all the old man’s Chengrong Group shares would belong to him, the other assets were just extras to Du Zhaohui.

Yet these extras made other Du family members envious, even glaring at Du Zhaohui with anger.

People resent inequality more than scarcity. Compared to Du Zhaohui, the other Du family members received too little!

The old man was truly ruthless.

He left the company shares, personal stocks, the Du family mansion, and two commercial office buildings all to Du Zhaohui.

For the Second Lady and Third Lady, there was nothing… the will only emphasized that whatever had been given to the two concubines during his lifetime would remain theirs.

It wasn’t that little – Du Chengrong wasn’t a stingy person, especially when it came to spending money on women.

But the Second Lady and the Third Lady were still disappointed.

Those things already belonged to them, and Du Chengrong emphasizing this in the will was like taking off pants to fart – completely unnecessary.

If he truly cared for them, he should have left them more inheritance!

As for Du Zhaohui’s half-siblings, their inherited property was pitifully small. Not counting previous gifts, Du Chengrong only left each of them one property, regardless of gender, all similar in size – “luxury homes” of around 2,000 square feet.

To ordinary Hong Kong people, 2,000 square feet might be considered luxurious, but for these young masters and misses of the Du family who grew up in wealth, what was it?

It was just about 180 square meters – no matter how you looked at it, it couldn’t be considered a luxury property.

Yet the real estate truly consisted of just this house!

Additionally, children who had reached 18 years of age could receive 5 million Hong Kong dollars in cash at once.

Those who weren’t of age would receive 50,000 Hong Kong dollars monthly in living expenses until they turned 18. If by age 18 their total living expenses hadn’t reached 5 million Hong Kong dollars, the remainder would be paid in full… This was truly fair. The youngest Du family child was Liu Keying, just over 9 years old this year. At 600,000 Hong Kong dollars per year for 8 more years, that would be 4.8 million, and when they turned 18, they could receive the remaining 200,000 Hong Kong dollars.

Truthfully, there weren’t many wealthy people like Du Chengrong who divided their assets this way. Even when Tang Jinyun wanted to leave his business to his eldest son Tang Yuanyue, he still left shares for his second son, third son, and wife.

As for Du Chengrong, he left all family assets to Du Zhaohui.

Five million plus a 2,000-square-foot property combined wasn’t even worth ten million.

Compared to what was left to Du Zhaohui, these children received too little, so naturally, they were dissatisfied with both Du Zhaohui and the will.

Du Zhaohui was thick-skinned and didn’t feel there was anything excessive about him taking more.

This wasn’t him forcing the old man – it was natural selection, survival of the fittest. Only he was most suitable to manage the Chengrong Group!

What made Du Zhaohui happiest was that this would completely ignore Du Zhaoji – he wouldn’t get the 2,000-square-foot property unit or the 5 million Hong Kong dollars in cash.

Second Lady glanced at Du Zhaohui and chose to remain silent.

She wanted more money too, but if the second family took too much money, Du Zhaohui, that wolf, would not let the second family off. Better to keep what money they already have. Second Lady still held some shares in Asia, and she had taken the money from selling Chaoyang Real Estate shares to buy property in Hong Kong. Property speculation was the simplest way to make money without thinking… Though she watched the situation on Hainan Island with interest, deep down Second Lady didn’t believe the mainland economy would be better than Hong Kong’s, so she preferred buying Hong Kong property.

Seeing the Second Lady not speaking up, the Third Lady gritted her teeth and said, “Lawyer Cheng, can the credibility of this be guaranteed?”

Lawyer Cheng nodded:

“The will was signed by Mr. Du when he was of clear mind. Not only was I present, but lawyers from two other law firms witnessed it, and there is video evidence. If the Third Lady questions Mr. Du’s will, you may request an investigation. Of course, I don’t recommend Third Lady do this. Mr. Du maintained his dignity in Hong Kong, and he wouldn’t want people gossiping after his death… So if an investigation proves there was no forgery in Mr. Du’s will, I will execute the supplementary terms of the will on Mr. Du’s behalf.”

The third Lady was stunned.

“What supplementary terms?”

“In Mr. Du’s name, reclaim the many ‘gifts’ Mr. Du gave to the Third Lady. If other Du family children raise objections, their current inheritable property will be canceled.”

This move was brilliant.

Even Du Zhaohui wanted to applaud.

Ruthless and decisive, cutting off the possibility of internal strife in the Du family. To question the unfairness of the will while risking losing one’s current property – lose the gamble and you’re left with nothing…

Was this the old man’s final lesson to him?

To ensure his hard-earned family business wouldn’t be divided and diluted, the old man could treat even his longtime bedfellows and his flesh and blood this way.

The third Lady wanted to scream.

The second Lady instinctively clutched her handbag tight. “Lawyer Cheng, those properties and jewelry were gifts from Mr. Du to us, they can be reclaimed?”

How could they be reclaimed? Hong Kong had many wealthy people dividing assets, but none left anything to their wives!

How could the court support such absurd supplementary terms?

It was the Third Lady who wanted to make trouble, but the Second Lady felt the crisis too when she heard this.

Lawyer Cheng patiently explained that those properties and jewelry were conditional gifts. Although Hong Kong recognized the previous “one husband, multiple concubines” system, in the old society, concubines’ treatment was naturally different from wives’. If Du Chengrong’s original wife were still alive and he left her nothing, she would have grounds to petition the court for redistribution of the inheritance…

“Second Lady, Third Lady, take my advice – you won’t want to see me invoke the supplementary terms.”

The risk was too great.

Lawyer Cheng didn’t think his employer was heartless.

What counted as affectionate, what counted as heartless – the line wasn’t so clear!

Leaving more money to the other three Du family branches – Du Chengrong could have done it.

But Young Master Du definitely wouldn’t tolerate it.

Better to maintain the status quo, rather than challenge Young Master Du’s bottom line.