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Chapter 4
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2020-12-01 11:50:03Tang and Fing City were roughly 500 km apart distance wise, but worlds apart socially and economically. Fing City was home to many of the country's elite business headquarters, and thus more wealthly families. Whereas Tang was considered to be a 2nd tier city full of corruption and backstabbing dishonest businessmen. They were about the same size in area and population, but Tang was always no more than second best. This bothered it's higher status families greatly. They were always looking for ways to gain prestige against the families of Fing City.
The Wang family of Tangu, (A sister city close to Tang), were holding their monthly meeting at the Villa Wang, home of the patriarch of the Wang family. Their main business dealt with pharmaceuticals and their development. Although in recent years the family had expanded into other minor areas of commerce, these had yet to show any real developement. Today's meeting mainly concerned the family's plans to expand their shipping and transportation side.
The Old Man called the meeting to order and said "We are here to discuss ways to increase our profit share and reduce costs. This is vital if we are to continue growing our business. Does anyone have any ideas?"
Old Man Wang's oldest son stood up and gazed around the room. After a moment he said "I have just heard that the oldest son of the Green family in Tang has met with an accident. Although this is a tragedy, it might give us an opportunity to take over the shipping company he ran. This would definitly give us more profit if we ran our own shipping company. Although we don't know exactly how big of an operation they run, we must act fast to try and muscle in, otherwise, every other family will try to take over as well." With that he sat down and glared at everyone else.
The Old Man was proud of the ruthlessness of his son's attitude just now. This was how a family got ahead! Kick your enemeies when they are down! He looked around and said "Who agrees with George? Will any of you stand with him and take on this project? Who has the guts to try and take this opportunity by working with George?"
The Wang family had it's headquarters in Tangu, a city several hundred kms away. Howerver, as one of the top 4 families in the country, they had a presence in almost every major city. The shipping business was centered in Tang because of it's proximity to the major businesses it dealt with. Also being close to the country's ports made for easy access to world trade as well. The Green shipping company had many of it's own rail cars, planes, lorries and ships. It was not as small as the Wang family thought. The total net worth of the Wang family was around $100 billion, whereas the worth of the Green family was 4 times that. The Wang family were indeed ambitious!
George's second brother Wayne decided that if he were to ever make a name for himself in the family, he would have to work with George and just hope George would give him credit for his hard work. Old Man Wang valued hard work and dilegence, but only if it produced results. George was known for always taking all the credit for progress, no matter who actually did the real work. As heir, there was little anyone could do against him in this regard.
Wayne then stood up and faced his father and announced "I will work along side George to help secure this project in the fastest time possible!"
Old Man Wang then said "Good, at least someone has the gumption to try! We will meet back here in one week for a progress report. Dismissed!"
After the meeting, George went up to his brother Wayne and said "Now listen up! I am in charge of this project and you will only do as I instruct you. You are not to make any move without clearing it with me first. Do you understand?"
Wayne replied "Of course. So how do you plan to proceed?"
To which George snapped "I'll tell you what you need to know when you need to know it!" Then he walked out of the conferrence room.
George had always been a very arragant man. He thought that all of the other family members were beneath him and would never give them any face in the family at all. He thought that since he was the oldest son and therefore the heir to the family fortune, no one else really mattered. Only his opinion was worth considering. This attitude had gotten him into trouble with his father on several occasions. But George always turned the tables by blaming someone else or backstabbing his brothers. All of this type of behavior was not uncommon among the families of Tang and Tangu.
Even now, George was planning how to get Wayne to do the majority of the work but to take all the credit for himself. His main goal with all family business was to consolidate all power and influence on himself. In the end, this would be his undoing.
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Mr. Wu began to explain what was happening. As he was retelling the story, Lois butted in and said that it was all a misunderstanding. She confessed to the officer "I just wanted to sell a few things that I wasn't using anymore. This shop keeper is trying to make it look like I have stolen the Jade pieces! They actually belong to my daughter, so what's wrong with me selling them? I am the head of our household, so it's my right to do as I please!" The man looked at Lois as if she had mud on her face. "That's not how it works. Only the registered owner can facilitate a sale on such items." The Detective looked around the shop and spotted Debbie, and asked her if she was the rightful owner of the Jade Candle Sticks. "Do these items belong to you Madame?" Debbie brought out her ID card for the shop owner Mr. Wu to verify her identity. She then spoke to the Detective and said "Yes, they are mine. They were a wedding present 5 years ago from a dear family friend. And no, I do n
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