Chapter 685 - Your second uncle scammed your father his company.

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Ge Ge, at the end of the day, we’re still relatives. Don’t make things look too ugly.”

When she saw the deep furrow between her daughter’s brows, Zhang Manhua thought that she was mad at Pei Zhenghui’s family again, so she began to counsel her.

“No matter what, your second uncle helped us quite a bit. Regardless of what they think, we can’t repay their kindness with ingratitude.”

She said a lot of things, but after a while, she realized that her daughter was not listening and was, instead, in a daze.

“Ge Ge? Ge Ge?”

“Huh?” Pei Ge came back to herself when her mother patted her on the arm.

“What are you thinking about? You were so lost in thought,” her mother asked curiously, staring at her in confusion.

“...” She moved her mouth a little, but her mind was a mess right now, so she did not even know what she was thinking moments before.

“Mom, was dad’s company really ill-managed? Was it really facing bankruptcy?”

Eventually, she resolved to ask a question, which had been buried in her heart.

Her mother should know what had happened back then.

“What?” Her mother was clearly surprised that she would ask about that as she stared at her in shock.

“Mom, was it like that?” she asked again.

Seeing that she was serious, although clueless on why she was asking, her mother started pondering on it.

“Back then, your father single-handedly ran Gemei. If one were to say that ‘it was badly managed’... I wouldn’t believe it, either.”

Her mother sighed as she reminisced.

“Your father was a rather honest businessman. He’s good at dealing with people and things. He had the brains, possessed the skills, and, most importantly, kept his promises. He was amiable, had morals, and had bottom lines as well...”

Hearing about her father from her mother made her think of him.

“However... those people said that my dad’s company was closing down... That wasn’t possible, right?”

Her lips curled into a sardonic smile as her eyes flashed with a cold glint.

If she was about fifty percent sure before, now she was ninety percent certain of her suspicions.

Gemei, the company her father had built, might have had something going on.

“Ge Ge, what’s wrong? Why did you bring this up all of a sudden?”

Zhang Manhua asked her daughter curiously the moment she returned to her senses.

“I just... Perhaps, father’s company didn’t shut down after he died and was... taken over by someone, instead.”

She pursed her lips into a cold line.

Her mother frowned upon seeing her cold look.

“Ge Ge, it’s been a long time since all that happened; don’t read too much into things. What’s passed is in the past; let bygones be bygones, and just look forward to the future,”

Her mother sighed after telling her that.

“No!” She had always been obedient to her mother, but this time, she rejected her advice firmly. “If I didn’t find out about it, that’s fine, but since I now know that, back then, someone lied to us and took over my dad’s company, I won’t put up with it. That’s my dad’s brainchild; I can’t let it go as if nothing happened.”

Noting her daughter’s resolution and perceiving her anger, Zhang Manhua sighed.

“Ge Ge, even if you know, so what? What can you do? Aren’t you just asking for trouble?”

“Mom, what’s up with you today? Do you know something?” Pei Ge’s frown deepened when she heard her mother’s words.

“Mom, that’s the company dad worked so hard to build; I...”

She did not know what to say. While she knew that looking into it was unnecessary, not after so many years had passed and with her father’s company not returning to them even if she managed to find something... she just could not let it go. She felt indignant and wronged – not for herself and her mother but her father.

A company like that was just gone.

That was her father’s brainchild...

“Ge Ge, what do you think? Who could’ve known your father that well – well enough to take the company from him?” her mother asked softly.

“...” Her mother’s question made her freeze.

“My father’s younger brother, my second uncle,” she muttered eventually.

That was it; it was her second uncle, Pei Zhenghui.

Even though she said that she did not want a relative like him, when something bad happened, she subconsciously took him out of the equation.

“Ge Ge, there are some things from the past that you should just let go. Sometimes, in life, you just have to pretend not to know things.”

Zhang Manhua looked at her sadly, her voice full of helplessness.

“Mom, you knew! You knew! Dad’s company wasn’t ill-managed; it couldn’t have folded! It was second uncle! My second uncle used underhanded means to seize my dad’s company from us!”

Her emotions became agitated, and she looked at her mother with suspicion and disapproval.

She did not understand why her mother would not say anything to her when she knew the truth and would teach her to be grateful to that family of hypocrites who took her father’s company from them!

“Ge Ge, calm down; I didn’t really know back then.” Her mother rushed to explain the moment she sensed her daughter’s agitation.

“What happened to your father back then was so sudden. I was just a housewife; what would I know? If I were that intelligent, would we be unable to afford your school tuition fees?”

She smiled in self-mockery. The expression on her face became increasingly sad.

“It was only in the years after – after our lives have stabilized – that it occurred to me. Back then, something seemed off.

“... Still, I didn’t dare to dwell on it. It’s only today, when you brought it up, that I faced it – faced the fact that your father’s company had likely swindled away by your second uncle.”