298: Safe Return

Wang Cheng and Chu Yifeng were surrounded as soon as they returned to the main house. Sophie was also there, after learning from Emily that Wang Cheng went missing. Like Chu Yifeng, she immediately suspected Johanna. She called Johanna, but her phone line was  busy, so she went directly to Johanna's villa. Sophie arrived to see Johanna in a shocking, miserable state. One of Johanna’s hands and one of her feet had been forcibly broken. Johanna had already fainted from the pain by the time the servants brought her out of the villa, and her skirt was stained yellow. But it was only once Sophie was closer and could smell a faint scent that she realized Johanna was incontinent. Sophie guessed that this might be her Leon Ge’s doing, so she ran to the main house to look for him. Since she didn't find neither him nor Wang Cheng, she accompanied Mama Emily and Grandpa Locke in waiting for them. When the two came back safe and sound, they all finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"My child, it's good that you're fine." Emily hugged Wang Cheng. She’d been quite worried ever since realizing the seriousness of the situation.

"Mama Emily, Grandpa Locke, Sophie, I let you worry. Fortunately, nothing happened." Wang Cheng looked at Sophie and Old Locke. Though the latter didn’t display anything on his face, he could sense that Old Locke was actually also worried for him.

Sophie hugged Wang Cheng’s arm. "Cheng Gege, it’s great that you are safe. I was scared to death. Don't worry, the perpetrator has already received her retribution, I believe she won’t dare to appear in front of us again."

"I believe so, too." Wang Cheng patted her head.

Wang Cheng didn't have to go to work the next day. Just after they all ate breakfast, a guest arrived at the main house, uninvited. It was Johanna's father, Carla. Carla had gone out last night and didn’t go home at all, so he didn’t hear about what happened to Johanna until this morning. A maid explained that the perpetrator of Johanna's injuries was Chu Yifeng, but the maid didn't know what exactly Johanna did to cause this. Carla assumed Johanna had accidentally angered Chu Yifeng and this was his revenge. He came in person to ask for an explanation.

Old Locke asked the servants to let him in. Yesterday's accounts would have to be settled at some point, anyway. Although he was a little prejudiced against Wang Cheng, he was part of their family no matter how they put it. The daughter of a down-and-out aristocrat had the audacity to make such a bold move in their territory? Clearly, she didn’t take the Eimer family seriously.

When Carla walked into the living room, he noticed that the atmosphere was a bit off.

Obviously, they should have been the ones at fault, but their expressions were as if they wanted to eat him whole. Even Emily no longer greeted him with a smile.

"Carla, how dare you come here after everything that happened!" Old Locke grunted angrily, staring him down with a burning gaze.

Carla swallowed. "Mr. Eimer, why wouldn’t I dare to come here? Your grandson has caused my daughter so much misery, am I not allowed to come seek justice? My daughter was fine yesterday, but today, she’s bound to a wheelchair. This is all your grandson’s doing, the servants in my villa can attest that they saw your grandson break my daughter's hands and feet with their own eyes."

He felt that Old Locke might have deliberately opened with such a statement because he wanted to get a head start in their argument. However, the fact that his daughter was clearly the victim let him feel more confident in his justification.

Old Locke saw through his thoughts at a glance. "You say that my grandson hurt your daughter, but have you thought about what your daughter did that caused my grandson to attack her?"

Carla sighed in his heart. He had been so angry before coming here that he wasn’t thinking carefully at all. Now that he did think about it, it wasn’t unusual for his daughter to do something excessive. Not only that, but Leon was not the kind of person who would do such a thing for no reason. Maybe his daughter really did do something to anger Leon and attract his vicious revenge.

"Then tell me, what did my daughter do?"

"Look for yourself." Emily tossed a newspaper that her servant had just handed to her at his feet. This contained the latest news, so the incident that happened last night was already in the paper; in fact, it was the headline. Though it had only been the three men committing crimes in that house, they’d committed many crimes in the past few years.

Carla picked up the newspaper and glanced over it. There were two photos on the front page, both of the four people they had caught at the scene, and he immediately recognized Hans.

"This is…"

"Yesterday, your daughter worked with these criminals to drug and forcibly take my son’s partner to this place to harm him. When my son went to find your daughter, she happened to be on the phone with this Hans, otherwise my son wouldn’t have been able to find their den," Emily explained.

Carla's face turned pale. He had never expected the truth to be like this. Since they had been published in the newspaper, it was most likely true.

Emily added, "Carla, if I were you, I would try and hire the best lawyer for Johanna right now, because your daughter will be charged with kidnapping, assault, and more, and she’ll probably have to spend the rest of her life in prison."

At this time, Chu Yifeng called Fang He and asked him to take charge of the case in person. Carla’s face suddenly changed. Fang He was internationally renowned, if he was coming to deal with this in person, his daughter would have no chance of winning the case. Realizing that they were serious about this, he immediately stumbled away. Emily was right. The most important thing right now was finding a lawyer for his daughter. Otherwise, when the news spread that Fang He was in charge of the case, no lawyers in Italy would be willing to take on his daughter's case.

Nevertheless, the defense attorney Carla had hired resigned as soon as he heard Fang He's name, and asked Carla to hire another lawyer. However, no matter how much Carla raised the price, no reputable lawyers were willing to take on this case. In the end, he could only hire some no-name, small-time lawyer who didn't care whether or not they won the case. Needless to say, Johanna was eventually charged with the crimes. After her injuries were relatively healed, she would transfer and spend the rest of her life in prison. The one who was happiest about all this was Sophie. She jumped around, crazy with excitement now that Johanna had received her retribution. After that day, Sophie went to visit the main house from time to time, causing her family to think that she finally fell in love with Leon. After inquiring, however, they found out that Sophie went for Leon's partner, which scared them into thinking that she was going to rob Leon's partner. After that, she was forbidden from going to the Eimer family again.

Sophie had to ask Mama Emily to help her explain things to her family, so that they believed that she had an ordinary sibling-like relationship with Zhou Cheng, before they finally lifted the ban.

Xie Wenzhi also called to inquire about the situation after he learned what happened to Wang Cheng. He was also frightened into a cold sweat at the time. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. Wang Cheng asked him not to tell his maternal family, including his grandfather, about the incident, lest they worry in vain. Xie Wenzhi agreed, but he was still really afraid that something might happen to him, so he simply let him stay at the main house for the next few days, where he could be contacted by phone or video if they needed anything. Anyway, Xie Wenzhi was still there, and the branch was already on the right track after the days of hard work they’d put in. They were also almost done hiring employees.

After sending off the lively Sophie, Wang Cheng laid on the sofa in the living room without any care for his image and chatted with his family members in China. During this period of time, he hadn’t had much contact with his family. Besides being busy, it was also hard for them to find a chance to talk, given the time difference. It was already night back home when he came home from work in the afternoon.

Wang Ning'an informed him about all the developments at home.

Papa Wang finally recognized Gu Shouzhuo as his father. However, the couple wasn’t moving into the ancestral house for the time being because they were needed for matters at home. Still, Wang Ning’an moved to the ancestral house on his own, while Guan Meifang and He Ping stayed in his original apartment. This was because Gu Shouzhuo always told Papa Wang that he was too lonely living alone, which Papa Wang couldn’t bear. As a result, the couple made the decision for Wang Ning’an to go over and accompany the old man. Gu Shouzhuo's scheme and black-bellied nature was probably only noticed by Wang Ning'an. Wang Ning’an had known since the beginning that Gu Shouzhuo actually had Papa Wang as his first target, because he knew Papa Wang would fall for his act and convince the rest of the family. When the elder nodded, how could the junior oppose?

Wang Cheng felt that this was a good thing. With Gu Shouzhuo protecting him, the other branches of the Gu family wouldn’t dare to do anything else to his eldest brother. Having such a big backer from the Gu family would also benefit his eldest brother’s future, because of his eldest brother’s field of expertise.

The existence of Wang Ning'an was actually a surprise to Gu Shouzhuo. A long time ago, Gu Shouzhuo had imagined what the situation would be after finding his son. If his son was raised by ordinary people, even if he did find him, he probably wouldn’t be able to inherit his life's work. Therefore, he mentally prepared himself. When he learned about Wang Ning'an's deeds from childhood to adulthood, and the fact that he was also in the biomedicine industry, with talent to boot, he knew that he had come across a treasure.

His son failed to fulfill all his wishes, but his grandson was able to. He now knew that God was still looking after him, not only did He let him fulfill his dreams of family reunion before he died, but also helped him find an heir, letting him die without regrets. However, this news is obviously not good news for the other branches of the Gu family. The more Gu Shouzhuo liked Wang Ning'an, the lower their chances of receiving an inheritance will be. A few days ago, the elders of the Gu family branches went to the ancestral house to check on the developments, while Gu Ping's branch went to find Shen Yuan's grandma again. However, this time, they were unable to meet anyone. After all, Shen Yuan's grandma had only promised to help them once.

***

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