“Mr. Daniel, I have to say that I’m very interested in your acquisition proposal. It’s the most favorable one I’ve encountered in the past two months. I must admit, your proposal protects the dignity of our Douglas family. Personally, I’m very grateful to you. As a lawyer, please forgive my impertinence, but I have some doubts about your acquisition capability.”
Mu Lin took out a certified check. “Mr. Douglas, you can arrange for your financial staff to verify the authenticity of this check, and then we can continue our discussion.”
After the financial staff verified the check, Douglas said, “I have another condition. Can I repurchase my car and villa at the original price? Also, when can we sign the contract? And when will your money arrive?”
Mu Lin thought that perhaps this last question was the real focus for Douglas. The most reliable alliance is one based on shared interests. By allocating a portion of the profits, Mu Lin secured Douglas’s sincere cooperation and prevented resistance. Without these benefits, although the legal system in country U was robust, who could guarantee that Douglas wouldn’t secretly sabotage things out of resentment?
“I’ve invited two lawyers from the Burse Law Firm. They will bring the acquisition documents for your review. If you agree to the acquisition terms, you can sign them. Once you sign, I will transfer $50 million, and then I will engage the Linke Accounting Firm to audit the firm’s financial records. After they complete the audit, I will transfer the remaining funds.
“Additionally, I will inject $10 million into the firm for business development and personnel expenses. The Linke Accounting Firm will conduct an annual audit of the firm’s financial status in the future. Also, I prefer that our cooperation remains confidential, which I believe is also what you desire.” After the lawyers from the Burse Law Firm arrived, Mu Lin left the Douglas Law Firm and returned to the apartment, knowing that these matters would be better handled by professionals.
He would call Douglas once the acquisition contract was signed. By then, the three young women at the apartment had already returned. Influenced by Mu Lin, the girls had taken on more courses last semester, and this semester they had also registered for more courses, preparing to graduate alongside Mu Lin.
Now, everyone at the college knew that Mu Lin had three girlfriends, and the three young women considered themselves his girlfriends, constantly clinging to him. However, Mu Lin did not acknowledge them in his heart. He thought, “How could I have girlfriends older than me?”
Mu Lin calculated his assets and realized that at the current spending rate, he still had about $300 million left in his account. He had been here for less than a year and needed to find a way to launder the money; otherwise, there might be trouble if someone investigated the origins of his assets in the future.
Considering the situation he discovered when purchasing Klier’s residence, Mu Lin decided to establish a separate real estate company, which would make operations easier and ensure profits wouldn’t fall into someone else’s hands.
The problem was that one needed to be at least 18 years old to register a company here, and he hadn’t yet reached the legal age. The only people close to him were Mei Fang and Mei Zi, who were even younger than him. This was a headache.
At this moment, Finney told Mu Lin that his younger sister had called, saying someone at home was sick and asking him to come back immediately. Thinking that Mei Zi was sick, Mu Lin hurried to Klier’s house by taxi. As soon as he entered, he saw Mei Fang and the others quietly crying. When Klier saw Mu Lin, she rushed into his arms, sobbing, “Brother, Auntie is sick. We want to take her to the hospital, but she says she doesn’t have any money. When we offered to use our money, she refused and just lay there foaming at the mouth, waaah…”
“It’s okay! Brother is here, don’t be afraid!” Mu Lin patted Mei Zi’s head. “I’ll go check on Klier. You all rest first.” Mu Lin went to Klier’s room and saw her curled up, convulsing with her jaw clenched tightly.
Seeing this, Mu Lin immediately realized it was an episode similar to epilepsy. He quickly pressed points such as Yamen, Neiguan, Houxi, Fengchi, Dazhui, and Renzhong to stabilize her condition first. He called for Mei Fang and took out cinnabar and amber, ground them into powder, and divided them into two portions. He gave one portion to Klier first. After finishing all this, Klier slowly regained consciousness.
Daisy and Bess rushed into Klier’s arms, crying loudly. Mu Lin pulled Mei Fang and Mei Zi out of Klier’s bedroom. He had not yet confirmed Klier’s condition and needed to wait until she stabilized before making a definitive diagnosis and starting treatment.
Looking at the sky, it was already evening. Thinking that the girls hadn’t eaten yet, Mu Lin took Mei Fang and Mei Zi to the supermarket to buy some food. After simple preparation, he had Mei Fang call Klier’s family to dinner. At tonight’s dinner table, there was none of the usual scene of competing for food. Everyone was eating quietly, only Klier forcing a smile to invite everyone to eat.
Seeing the somber atmosphere, Mu Lin said to Daisy and Bess, “Don’t worry. After we finish eating, I’ll start treating Mrs. Klier. Believe me, I will definitely cure your mother.”
Mei Zi also said to Klier, “Yes, my brother Mu Lin is very capable. He can cure any illness. Auntie, don’t worry!”
After a short rest, considering that Mei Fang and the others had school the next day, Mu Lin sent them off to sleep and made a call back to the apartment, telling them that he might be a bit late returning and asking them to manage their dinner on their own.
Mu Lin turned to Klier and said, “Madam, you’ve had this illness for quite some time, and this episode has lasted for a while. Why didn’t you go to the hospital? Also, if you need my treatment, I hope you can talk to me about your situation.”
Mu Lin couldn’t tell her that he had already investigated her. Klier suddenly spoke in Chinese, “Mu Lin, you should know that I’m also Chinese, but I hate Chinese people. However, you’re different from them. You don’t know, when I was little, our family lived in New York’s Chinatown. My father ran a grocery store, and my mother worked at home. Back then, our family was so happy.
“Later, a man often came to our store to buy things. Sometimes when my father wasn’t home, he would talk nonsense to my mother. This man had his eyes on my mother. Once, he told her to divorce my father and marry him. My mother scolded him and sent him away. When my father came home, my mother told him, but my father didn’t believe her. I told him, but he still didn’t believe me.
“Later, my father and this man became good friends, often drinking and having fun together. Then my father became addicted to gambling, squandering all our savings and even incurring a debt to the Black Tiger Gang. We didn’t know that this man was the deputy leader of the Black Tiger Gang. When the Black Tiger Gang came to collect the debt, my father asked for help from people he had helped and from relatives, but no one lent him money, even though the amount was only $4,600! Not a single Chinese person helped us. Our family could have paid off the debt in three months.
“At this point, this man presented an IOU and told my father that we could settle the debt with our grocery store. My father finally saw through this man’s true face and had a big argument with him. But this man was from the Black Tiger Gang and knew martial arts. My father was beaten and disabled, and our grocery store was taken away. This wasn’t enough; this man threatened my mother. If she didn’t go with him, he would kill me and my father. In the end, my mother sought help from others, but still no one helped us. This man even had members of the Black Tiger Gang humiliate me, and this is when I developed my illness.
“In the end, my mother had no choice but to give in and went with this man. Later, my father, unable to bear the humiliation, committed suicide. Not a single one of my relatives took me in, and I was sent to an orphanage.”
Seeing that Klier’s emotions were somewhat out of control, Mu Lin interjected, “Do you know what this man’s name is? And do you know the situation of your mother?”
Klier gritted her teeth and said, “His name is Ma Rulong. They later left New York, and I was too scared to inquire about the situation in New York’s Chinatown. I still don’t know anything about my mother’s current situation.”
“Oh, I see. Then, have you had any more episodes since then?” Mu Lin was surprised by the complexity of the situation. It seemed that even after such a long time, the investigation report still had many discrepancies. It appeared that the Black Tiger Gang’s influence was quite rampant, making it difficult for the investigators to conduct a thorough investigation. Mu Lin thought for a moment and asked.
“I have had episodes, but they weren’t too severe. Later, I was adopted by Jack Lester, a black man who had previously been a sailor. His family had been helped by my father. After returning from a sea voyage and learning about my situation, he adopted me. He was afraid I would be harmed again, so he left New York and settled in Boston, where he raised me.
“He still often went on long sea voyages every year. When I turned 18, he adopted the daughter of a deceased colleague, and I ended my adoption relationship with him. At 20, I married Jack Lester.
“During this time, I supported myself through part-time work and studies, my mood was relatively cheerful, and I didn’t have many episodes. Jack Lester was a good man, but unfortunately, he died of colon cancer when I was 23, leaving behind the adopted girl, Bess Lester. At that time, my mood was very bad, and I had episodes frequently.
“Back then, I met Tom Claus at the hospital. He was a white commercial airline pilot. That time, I had fainted in front of the hospital, and he took me there. He was taking his daughter to the hospital because his wife had died of illness. After that, we often kept in touch, and later I married Tom Claus. We took out a loan to buy our current home. When I was 25, Tom Claus died in a plane crash, leaving behind his daughter from his previous marriage, Daisy Tom.
“I had to raise two children on my own. When Tom was alive, life was manageable. Two months after I lost my job, I spent all our savings, and the job I found now only pays enough to support the two children. This time, I didn’t buy health insurance, and my application for free health insurance hasn’t been approved yet. This episode came suddenly, so I couldn’t go to the hospital.”
It seemed that Klier’s psychological trauma from childhood had, after so many years, deeply etched itself into her innermost being. Once the patient’s body was tired or her mood was poor, the illness would recur. The cause of the disease had now been identified.
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