chsdbacks Chapter 553 The Billionaire Family
Chapter 553 The Billionaire Family
"Are you curious why the Zhang family has remained behind the scenes for decades, preventing key family members from appearing in the public eye?"
Seeing the curiosity practically overflowing in the eyes of the three of us, Liu Lingling asked in a deep voice.
"yes!"
Lin the Fat and I nodded almost simultaneously.
"Sister Lingling, what exactly did the Zhang family do to be so secretive?" Long Nier asked.
"It's actually very simple!"
Liu Lingling's face darkened, and she said, "In the 1950s, during the Korean War, the West imposed a comprehensive material blockade on the mainland, and medicine was of paramount importance and was listed as a strictly controlled embargoed item."
"At that time, there were countless wounded on the front lines. Anti-inflammatory, emergency, and anti-infective Western medicines became life-saving items. Even if you had money, you couldn't buy them anywhere. Zhang Yujie, the eldest son of the Zhang family, seized this opportunity and, taking advantage of the convenience of Hong Kong Island as a free port, monopolized the entire channel for transporting medicines northward. He earned the family's first pot of gold by relying on these life-saving medicines."
"Sister Lingling, this is a good thing. Didn't the Yu family become a wealthy family by smuggling various goods to the mainland? There's no need to hide this kind of thing, right?" I said.
Back then, the Yu family risked their lives transporting goods to the mainland. As a result, the mainland entrusted the sand and gravel business to the Yu family, which made them one of the wealthiest families in Hong Kong.
If the Zhang family had rendered meritorious service, there would be no need for them to be so cautious, unless there is another hidden reason.
"You're right!"
Liu Lingling nodded and said, "If the Zhang family honestly sold genuine medicinal herbs, even if they took the opportunity to raise prices for profit, it would just be merchants pursuing profit, and no one could say anything. But the Zhang family is too greedy; they have no bottom line at all!"
"Selling fake medicine?" I suddenly realized what the Zhang family had done.
"It's not just about selling counterfeit drugs!"
Liu Lingling said with a grim face, "The Zhang family has come up with an utterly unscrupulous method to maximize their profits!"
"What method?" I asked.
To be called "the wolf of despair" by Liu Lingling, I can almost guess what this method is!
"The Zhang family mixed large quantities of expired, deteriorated, ineffective, impurity-prone, and even moldy counterfeit drugs with legitimate life-saving medicines in a one-to-one ratio and shipped them to the mainland in entire shiploads."
"These medicines are half life-saving remedies and half deadly poisons."
"Many soldiers on the front lines were not seriously ill at first, but after injections or oral medication, their wounds continued to fester and their conditions deteriorated rapidly. People who were still alive eventually lost their lives in vain."
"The war lasted for several years, and no one could ever count how many counterfeit medicines the Zhang family had sent over, just as no one could count how many soldiers had died needlessly because of the Zhang family's medicines!"
"The only thing that can be confirmed is that the Zhang family, through their drug smuggling business over the past few years, has risen from ordinary pharmaceutical merchants to become one of Hong Kong's top tycoons!"
"Grass!"
Hearing this, I couldn't help but swear. I finally understood why the Zhang family had been hiding behind the scenes for decades. Every penny they earned was tainted with original sin and the blood of soldiers.
Liu Lingling glanced at me and Fatty Lin, whose faces were ashen, and continued, "With the huge profits earned in those years, the Zhang family made a major foray into the real estate industry. The Central Federal Building, the International Building, and the residential buildings, warehouses, and pharmacies in Happy Valley all fell into the hands of the Zhang family."
"It is precisely because they know their sins are too grave that the Zhang family, from top to bottom, is constantly afraid of being held accountable!"
"And that's not all; problems started arising in the Zhang family after the war ended!"
"You got your comeuppance, didn't you?" I asked in a cold voice.
"That's right!"
Liu Lingling nodded and said, "Zhang Yujie is the eldest son of the Zhang family. He was the one who orchestrated the counterfeit drug trade back then, and almost all the decisions came from him!"
"In the late 1950s, just as the Zhang family was about to expand aggressively, Zhang Yujie, who was only in his forties, was diagnosed with cancer!"
"In his quest for a cure, Zhang Yujie sought out renowned doctors both at home and abroad, but all were unable to save him!"
"Medicine couldn't solve the problem, so he turned to metaphysics. The master who was supposed to be looking at him was so frightened that he ran away after just one glance, saying that the karmic burden on him was too heavy!"
"From his diagnosis to his death, less than six months had passed!"
"This is karma!"
In conclusion, Liu Lingling gave a summary.
"It's too good for him to die like this!" Fatty Lin said through gritted teeth.
"What about the rest of the Zhang family?"
Fatty Lin asked again.
"Zhang Yuqi, the second son of the Zhang family, died the earliest. He was in charge of transporting goods at sea. He had to personally follow up on every cargo ship loaded with genuine and fake medicinal materials."
"Back in 52, Zhang Yuqi was on a cargo ship when he encountered a bizarre shipwreck. The entire ship sank into the sea, and no one survived."
"Sister Lingling, what does it mean to encounter a bizarre shipwreck?" I asked.
"The meaning is very simple: the sea was calm at the time, and no matter how you looked at it, there was no chance of an accident, but Zhang Yuqi still died!" Liu Lingling said.
"Damn it, they got off too easily!" I still had the same attitude as before; those two died too easily.
"Of the four Zhang brothers, the other two weren't heavily involved in the pharmaceutical business. After the eldest brother, Zhang Yujie, died, the entire Zhang family deliberately kept a low profile!" Liu Lingling continued, "They never attended lavish banquets, refused media interviews, and didn't vie for public attention; they simply stayed behind the scenes, steadily controlling the assets!"
"By the 1980s, the situation on Hong Kong Island was unstable. They were worried that the old stories would be dug up and they would be held accountable. So they sold off their assets on Hong Kong Island and immigrated to Australia as a whole family, leaving only their old house in the Mid-Levels of Happy Valley. They dared not sell it, dared not move in, and dared not demolish it."
"In other words, if their matriarch hadn't passed away and the descendants hadn't fought over the inheritance, most people in Hong Kong wouldn't have known that the Zhang family was actually a multi-billion dollar tycoon, right?" I said.
"That's right!"
Liu Lingling nodded and said, "Even I didn't know there was such a Zhang family. I only learned about the Zhang family after the inheritance dispute started and it made the newspapers!"
"Oh shit!"
Fatty Lin cursed and said, "You madman, when dealing with the evil energy in the Zhang family's old house, let's see if we can set up a trap. I want to cast a curse on the Zhang family!"
"Xiao Lin, you have to be careful. The Zhang family has too much karmic debt and evil energy. Even their old house is not right. The association did not set up any formations or change the land when it was setting up the layout. It only locked a few key nodes, which made the evil energy of the Zhang family's old house soar to the sky. You must be careful. If you are not careful, you may get yourself into trouble!" Liu Lingling warned.
"Sister Lingling, we know what we're doing. Go on, I want to see what kind of people the other two are!" Fatty Lin said coldly.
After hearing about the stories of these three families, he no longer considered the remaining two families as human beings.