Xia Ziyu was pregnant.

It was still in the early stages, barely over a month.

If this news had come out before Du Chengrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer, Du Zhaohui would have doubted whether the child in her belly was Du Chengrong’s… but now he could be one hundred percent certain it wasn’t the old man’s seed!

Ironically, Xia Ziyu didn’t know this.

As predicted, after the turmoil in the Du family, the stock price of the Chengrong Group plummeted.

Du Zhaohui wanted to strangle Xia Ziyu. Thinking about how the Du family’s smuggling revenue stream had been cut off, and how the evaporating market value included his own money, he was furious!

If he ever found out who leaked the information to Second Concubine and the others, he would tear them to pieces!

Instead of dealing with Xia Ziyu immediately, Du Zhaohui summoned Lawyer Cheng:

“We don’t know when my father will regain consciousness. Now the Du family is in chaos without leadership. Did my father leave any contingency plans for this situation?”

It wasn’t a given that when a father fell, the son would smoothly take over.

The Chengrong Group had a board of directors, and Du Zhaohui only held 5% of the group’s shares. If Du Chengrong remained unconscious, the board would need to elect someone to temporarily serve as chairman to ensure the group’s smooth operation… Whether in terms of shareholding or tenure at Chengrong Group, Du Zhaohui wasn’t the board’s target candidate. His only advantage was being Du Chengrong’s son, unless Du Chengrong, the chairman and largest shareholder, supported him!

How could an unconscious person show support?

Legal documents would work too.

Du Zhaohui wanted to indirectly inquire about the old man’s will, to see if he had any advantage.

Lawyer Cheng kept tight-lipped but brought Du Zhaohui another piece of good news:

“Mr. Du did leave a power of attorney stating that if he becomes incapacitated and unable to handle company affairs, whichever Du family member holds group shares would temporarily take over his duties.”

Du Zhaohui was stunned.

Is that simple?

No one in the Du family had shares except for his 5%.

“When was this power of attorney created?”

Lawyer Cheng resumed his vow of silence, making Du Zhaohui laugh bitterly: “Lawyer Cheng if I hadn’t asked today, would you have just watched the group’s stock price fall without saying anything?”

Lawyer Cheng replied formally:

“Young Master Du, this was also written into the delegation terms. I can only guess at Mr. Du’s thinking, but he probably wouldn’t want to entrust the company to family members who don’t care about its operations.”

If Du Zhaohui had remained indifferent while watching Chengrong Group’s stock price fall, he wouldn’t have been qualified to take over management, and it would have been better to let the board select a manager.

Du Zhaohui remained silent for a while.

After a moment, he snorted: “The child in Fifth Concubine’s belly absolutely cannot be my father’s. She has no legal relationship with my father. I want to kick her out of CR Investment and take back the assets my father gave her.”

Lawyer Cheng felt tremendous pressure hearing about Fifth Concubine cuckolding Mr. Du in such a private matter. He could only force himself to tell Du Zhaohui that these ideas were nice but difficult to implement:

“Young Master Du, Mr. Du’s cancer diagnosis is his privacy, which he didn’t want to be disclosed publicly. I think we should respect Mr. Du’s wishes. Moreover, even if Mr. Du’s condition affects fertility, we can’t be 100% certain that Fifth Concubine’s child isn’t his. You can’t represent Mr. Du in reclaiming assets given to Fifth Concubine. Similarly, CR Investment wasn’t funded by the group but by Mr. Du personally… Young Master, you currently can’t remove CR Investment’s executive director either.”

Lawyer Cheng was nervous at first but grew more composed as he spoke. Meeting Du Zhaohui’s murderous glare, he seriously shared his thoughts:

“I’ve worked for Mr. Du for many years. From both public and private perspectives, I advise you not to fixate on Fifth Concubine now. She’s a minor conflict – stabilizing the group’s volatility in the shortest time possible is what’s important. Second Concubine has already publicly claimed that you orchestrated Mr. Du’s coma and Second Young Master’s arrest. If you rush to deal with Fifth Concubine now, even willing to expose Mr. Du’s privacy for all of Hong Kong to discuss-“

The optics would be terrible.

Hong Kong citizens wouldn’t believe claims now that Fifth Concubine’s child wasn’t Mr. Du’s. Instead, they’d think it was an excuse Du Zhaohui made up to deal with his stepmother.

With Du Zhaohui showing such ruthlessness, what would Chengrong Group’s shareholders think?

They wouldn’t support Du Zhaohui but would unite to force him out.

Power could unite people but could also make them fearful.

Du Chengrong was already very dominant, and the succeeding eldest son seemed even more so… The shareholders wouldn’t simply submit but would take the opportunity to crush Du Zhaohui while his power base was still weak.

Look at ancient times when new emperors ascended – they still had to highly honor the imperial concubines carrying the previous emperor’s posthumous children and take good care of those children, regardless of gender, as they posed no threat. Why not use this to “show benevolence”? First, establish moral authority!

Furthermore, even if Fifth Concubine’s child truly wasn’t Mr. Du’s, there was no rush to deal with it now.

Du Chengrong was still alive!

Mainland doctors gave him only a 10% chance of waking up, but Hong Kong had better medical conditions. With the Du family’s wealth, they could invite the world’s top doctors to treat Du Chengrong. Lawyer Cheng believed Du Chengrong’s chances of waking up were higher than 10%.

“It would be best to wait for Mr. Du to wake up and handle it himself. If you must handle it without Mr. Du, just wait a few months until Fifth Concubine gives birth. I’ve heard there’s now a technology for paternity testing. By then, even if Mr. Du hasn’t awakened, you should have sorted out the company matters – Young Master, these are just my suggestions. I take the Du family’s money, so naturally, I must consider the Du family’s interests.”

Seizing power was paramount!

Keeping Chengrong Group stable was paramount!

Everything else was secondary.

Once power was secured, anything would be possible.

Lawyer Cheng thought to himself that once Du Zhaohui held power and brought the entire Du family under his control, even if Fifth Concubine’s child was Mr. Du’s, Du Zhaohui would have the means to make the test results show “not his.”

Du Zhaohui understood Lawyer Cheng’s implications. After weighing things in his mind for a moment, he couldn’t help but look at Lawyer Cheng differently:

“No wonder my father valued you highly. You can do much more than just legal work!”

Lawyer Cheng smiled, “I serve Mr. Du, and if you take over managing the company, Young Master Du, I’ll naturally work for you as well.”

Lawyer Cheng had worried that Du Zhaohui might be the type who wouldn’t listen to advice.

Lawyer Cheng didn’t know more inside details; he only knew that the Second Young Master had gone mad trying to kill his father, and the Eldest Young Master had risked his life to save Du Chengrong. In Lawyer Cheng’s eyes, Eldest Young Master had already completed 99 steps – why throw it all away on the final step?

Whether or not Mr. Du would wake up, first secure control of the company. If Mr. Du never woke up, naturally follow the will’s execution.

If he did wake up, seeing everything the eldest son had done would bring him comfort.

After all, no man would want everyone to know he had been cuckolded!