The day had gone extremely well. Except for Debbie's uncles, it could not have been better. Several reporters had asked for interviews with the new Chairman and pictures had been taken. Rick and Debbie were proud to be seen as news worthy. But there was a problem that neither of them foresaw. With notoriety came exposure. A lot of people now knew who was behind the Blain family demise. Rick and Debbie had unwittedly exposed their identity too by registering Ting Gap in the RBG name. Even though it was not an asset of RBG LLC, people were starting to put two and two together. This was not lost on the Green family back in Tang. It drew attention to the couple by people back in Tang. The news spread quickly that there was a new player in the business world that had potenial. The Green family sent out covert operatives to find out just what Rick was up to. Even though they were a first tier family in Tang, they were one of the most devious around. They would not stand for anyone disrep
Now that the opening had been a success, Debbie and Rick were getting ready to go to Jelang village to check on her grandmother. Debbie had not heard from Lois since she left. She decided to give her mother a call before they left to get an idea of what to expect when they arrived. So Debbie took out her phone and placed the call to her mother. Lois answered almost immediately. "It's about time you called! I have been waiting. When are you coming to Jelang? Is that good for nothing husband of yours coming as well? Don't forget you promised to take care of Mom's medical bills!" Debbie was almost sorry now that she had called. It was typical Lois. Nothing was ever good enough for her. She replied "Mom, we will be there tonight. We are driving up as soon as we are packed. Do we need to reserve an hotel for our stay? And how is Grandma?" Lois was just impatient for her daughter to come. She was almost out of money. She had almost $10,000 when she arrived, but had taken her bro
Rick was speechless. If this were true, it would be the best news he had ever gotten. It would put the news of his inheritance to shame. Nothing could be more glorious than this! He finally found his voice again and said to Debbie "Are you sure? Should we be making this trip? " Debbie smiled and said "I'm not really sure. That's why I want to stop at the hospital to have a pregnancy test. If it is true, there is no reason not to still go to Jelang. Let's go ahead and pack the car and get going!" Rick called out to Li Fan to come take the luggage out to the car. As they were leaving Ting Gap, Rick said to Li Fan "I'll call you when we get to Jelang. And again when we leave so you will know when to expect us back. Thank you Li Fan." Then Rick got in the car and drove to Fing City Hospital. Once they arrived at the hospital, they went to the OB/GYN department and registered for an examination. After they got into the exam room, Rick noticed how nervous Debbie was. In an effort t
Talk about mood swings! Rick had gone from a very excited high to a very disgruntled low. He looked over at Debbie and said "What do you think that was about?" She was trying to process too much at once. She hated that this had put a damper on their happiness at this time. She wanted nothing more than to revel in the news of their baby. But this call could not be a good thing. She knew as well as Rick did that the Green family was up to no good. Her next thought was for Rick to call Old Wilson. Debbie trusted him almost as much as she trusted Rick. So she advised Rick "I think that you need to call Old Wilson. He may have some insight into this matter. Oh, and I won't mind if you tell him about the baby. I know how excited he will be, and I also know that we can trust him to keep the knowledge to himself. There is no one that I trust as much as I trust him, besides you of course!" Rick decided to take his wife's advice and called Old Wilson. He answered right away "Yes Young Ma
After a long day, not to mention a long drive, Debbie and Rick were about to enter Jelang. Debbie took out her phone to let Lois know that they were about to arrive. When Lois got the call, she said "Well, it's about time you got here! What took you so long? We have been waiting a long time. We will meet you at the new Western Restaurant on the main square. Do you think that you can find it?" Debbie replied "Yes Mom, I think we can find it, Jelang is not that big. Who will be coming? I hope that you do not expect us to pay for every one else's meal tonight." Lois was a bit miffed at this. She retorted "Of course I do, it's only polite. They are your family too after all. It will be your Uncle Howard and his wife Shirley, your Aunt Alice, your Uncle Heyward and his wife Jean, and their two kids, and your Aunt Rebecca and her son. Dad's still at the hospital with Mom. So with the three of us, that's only twelve. What's the big deal? Do not embarrass me! And tell that good for not
Back in Fing City Old Wilson had been keeping an eye on things for Rick and Debbie. He was at present on the phone with Rick's butler Li Fan. "Hello, Li Fan. How is everything at Ting Gap? I hope that you have not had any problems." Li Fan knew that his boss had left Old Wilson in charge of matters while he and Mrs. Green were to be away. He replied to Old Wilson with "So far everything seems fine. We have had no contact with anyone since Mr. and Mrs Green left for Jelang this morning. Mr. Green called about an hour or so ago to inform me that they had arrived safely. If I may ask you Sir, do you anticipate any trouble while they are away? I have instructed the staff to be alert to any strangers lurking about the estate." Old Wilson said to Li Fan "I do not expect trouble, but we all must be vigilant in keeping a lookout. If you run into anything, please call me right away!" After Old Wilson hung up the call, Li Fan wondered what kind of trouble that Mr. Green and Old Wi
The Green family was in an uproar. They had been summoned by Old Madame Green to the Green family villa in an emergency meeting. She was in a very foul mood. Old Madame Green started off by addressing the group "How dare Rick refuse my invitation! Who does that little shit think he is? I am the head of this family and what I say goes. Well, we will just have to find a way to force him to come back to face us! Does anyone have any ideas?" They all looked around at each other helplessly. No one could come up with a way to get Rick to come back to the family. Then Rick's Uncle Roy spoke up and said "What if we kidnapped his wife Debbie? Then he is bound to pay more attention to us. I'm sure he would come looking for her. From what I've heard, he is truly devoted to her. He would not dare to ignore us then!" Old Madame Green sat in thought for a few minutes. "It would be awfully risky to kidnap his wife. There are so many things that could go wrong. But if we want to make Rick
Debbie and Rick were frustrated and exhausted. This trip to Jelang had proved to be a very unpleasant experience for them both. Lois was being intolerable and Debbie's aunts and uncles where no better, with the sole exception of Aunt Alice. The whole family were constantly trying to belittle or insult each other at every turn. How could such a family exist? Rick could not wait to leave and never look back. Even though he had paid several hundred thousand dollars to treat her mother, Lois still berated Rick as a good for nothing in front of her siblings. Finally Rick and Debbie both had had enough! That morning after breakfast at her Aunt Alice's house, Debbie looked at her mother and said "Mom, Rick and I are leaving today. There is no reason for us to stay any longer. Since you have said that Rick is useless and a good for nothing, I'm sure that you will be glad that we will be gone. I'll say my goodbyes to the family at lunch over at grandma's later, then we will leave from there
It was a sad day for Rick. Today, he was to bury his beloved mentor, Old Wilson. Old Wilson had been frail, and his health had declined slowly. If someone didn't see him every day, they would notice a vast difference . But since Rick would go down to see his old friend regularly, he did not realise just how bad Old Wilson had gotten. It was on such a visit that Rick found Old Wilson sitting in his favorite chair out in his back garden. At first Rick just thought he was asleep, as Old Wilson would nap out there almost every day. But after sitting down beside him, Rick finally realised that Old Wilson had passed on. It broke Rick's heart. Old Wilson had left instructions as to what he wanted done after his death. He asked that Rick bury him next to Ruth, his wife, and their son, Christopher. It was out in the countryside, north of Fing City. Rick had made all of the arrangements, and that morning, he and Debbie headed out. He had made the announcement of Old Wilson's death to the com
After the kidney transplant, Debbie's health improved tremendously. She had regained her strength and stamina to the point that she was able to resume her duties at RBG LLC. Over the years, she had expanded offices in all of the major cities in the south. Every big company clamoured to have RBG LLC handle their accounting needs. It became a status symbol to have Debbie work for them. After such a huge expansion, Debbie and Rick had set their sights in a more global presence. So they started with Cairo, Eygpt. Since Anita had done such a good job organising that pharmaceutical office years ago, it had become the premier branch of RBG Pharmaceuticals. So it was a natural place to start the global expansion of RBG LLC. Rick and Debbie spent several months in Cairo setting up the branch, and even acquired a residence in Eygpt. It was an expansive villa right on the banks of the river Nile. Larry had designed it to reflect the location and local culture. The villa was named 'Alhudu
As time flew by, Lois had been in Jelang and had been doing very well with her shop 'Second Chance'. The local population had, for the most part, forgotten about her sordid past. She was a valued member of the business community. Last yesr, she had been nominated to run for the local Chamber of Commerce Chairman. She was of course flattered to be nominated, but was very surprised when she actually won the position. It was the peak of her life to have been given this post. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever imagine that she would reach such a height in her life. Even though it was just in a small village such as Jelang, the fact that she was overwhelmingly the popular choice humbled her even more. Rick and Debbie both were just so proud of Lois, and even came to her investiture ceremony, along with all of the rest of the Thomas family. Howard had really been putting his all into the Thomas Shelter. Along the way, he met a very nice lady, who had come in for an interview fo
The day dragged on as George frantically looked for his missing man. Since the man had no pockets, he didn't have his cell phone on him. So he could not call the general to tell him what was going on. He had all of his contact numbers in his phone, so he had not bothered to memorize any of them. After a long afternoon of being interrogated by the police, they at last let him make a call. He decided to call the resort, and if nothing else, he could leave a message for his boss. After this was done, the jailer put the man in a cell to wait for further instructions from the police Chief in charge. George finally went to the front desk to ask the desk clerk where the nearest police station was, thinking that it was a place to start looking, and to file a missing person's report. The desk clerk then remembered to give him the message that had come in for him, and it just so happened to be from his missing man. George went and sought out Matthew and Rick to accompany him to the p
After ensuring Su Ma had everything that she needed, the group left to return to the yacht. They were to spend the next few days at sea. Everyone was back on board, then they set off for their next port of call, Manilla, Philippines. It was an exotic port, and nothing like anything any of the group had experienced before. They had a wonderful time seeing all of the sights. Then they set sail for Singapore, Malaysia. This trip was a smorgasbord of many different cultures and sights, not to mention landscapes. Singapore was a bustling city, full of high end shopping centers with branded stores, as well as the local cultural sights. Museums, art galleries and the like. The kids especially liked the Singapore Zoo. It was filled with all of the animals that they had studied in school. The adults were partial to the Singapore Botanical Gardens and the National Orchid Garden. They all enjoyed the trip to China Town. It was a taste of home for them, but in a different way. There was really
The years had flown by. The Greens had expanded their businesses in every direction. The most profitable were the ocean shipping company and the pharmaceuticals. Medical supplies was running a close third. Rick was planning a big suprise for the kids' ninth and tenth birthdays next month. They had grown so much, and still all of them got along so well with each other. Li Fan had gone on to be a managing director of one of Rick's local offices, and he was proud of his work. His son, Ricky, was looking more and more like him every day. Alice was a very good mother. Ricky had grown up with the Green children, and seemed more like one of the siblings, rather than just a cousin. George and Anita's daughter Leah was also part of the "tribe". Since George paid close attention to the security of Ting Gap, Leah had grown up in the house as well. It was an exclusive daycare that Rick and Debbie were proud to provide for the two kids. All of the Green kids were very protective of them
General Han gathered all of the evidence that he had collected and called his friend at the police station. They sent the fraud investigation team over right away to go over the documents. They agreed with George that this was an embezzlement case, cut and dried. After informing Debbie and Rick of their findings, Debbie called a meeting of those involved. The head of personel walked into the conference room, stopped dead in his tracks and turned to flee. He was stopped by the security guards at the door. He was made to sit down and shut his mouth. Next, the other two culprits walked in together, chatting with each other. They sat down across from the upper managment team and waited. George introduced everyone. "Mr. Waits is the head of personel, this is Mr. Floyd, head of accounting, and that is Mr. Grooms, the managing director. Gentlemen, this is Mrs. Green, CEO of RBG LLC. The man next to her is Mr. Green, Chairman and owner of the RBG Group. Then we have Mr. Moore, Vice Pr
The crowd outside the venue were so excited to see their favorite stars and public officals as they arrived at the gala. The men dressed in tuxedos and the beautiful gowns that the women wore were worth standing in the night air to see. All of the attendees made use of a step-and-repeat banner set up for press photos. These glamour shots would been seen all over the media in the coming days. But the most stunning had been Debbie in all of her finery. Her jewels shone like the stars in the heavens. They cast a glow around her like nothing else could. The evening was filled with surprises, and a lot of money was raised for the Green Children's Foundation. Brandon was thrilled with both the turnout and the donations total. It had been a very successful night. The day after the gala, everybody at the Green villa slept in late. They only got up in time for a scumptous brunch prepared by Chef Matthew. It was well worth dragging themselves out of bed for. Then everyone started to get
Once again, the Thomas family came together for a family weekend. The highlight of the weekend was of course the gala for the Green Children's Foundation. Since Jonathan and Betty lived in Beijing, they were to be included in all of the festivities as well. Rick and Debbie loved having their family around them, and this weekend was no exception. Rick and Debbie's Beijing villa was not as big as Ting Gap, but no less opulent. After all, Larry had done the design work and supervised the work himself. It was large enough to hold most everyone coming from out of town. Lois, Rebecca, the Old Thomas', Howard, Heyward and his wife , Aunt Alice and Li Fan and of course Matthew and Brandon. So the Green mansion was full to the brim. Matthew decided to cook on the first night of the gathering. Dinner on that Friday night was a master piece of culinary delights. Matthew rarely got to indulge himself in the kitchen of late, so he went all out to prepare a meal fit for a royal banquet. His dish