Chapter 1146 - 1188: Powerless

Chapter 1146: Chapter 1188: Powerless

After leaving the café in a daze, Ling’s father, carrying his luggage, took a detour to avoid being seen by Huo Junmo wandering the streets. After a while, he found a bench by the roadside a little distance from the Huo Tian Group, sat down, and took out his phone to call Ling’s mother.

Ling’s mother seemed to be waiting by the phone, as she answered almost immediately upon Ling’s father dialing, not waiting for him to speak before impatiently asking, "How did it go? How did it go? Did you talk to Huo Junmo? Is he willing to help?"

"Sigh...!" Ling’s father let out a long sigh and said helplessly, "I just talked to Huo Junmo. It’s not that he isn’t willing to help, but he simply can’t! He said that if we had approached him before the court summons was issued to us, he might have been able to help. But now that the summons has already been sent out, he’s powerless. He said everything is going through legal processes, and he’s just an ordinary businessman who can’t interfere with the law!"

Upon hearing this, Ling’s mother outright cursed, "He’s talking nonsense. If I knew a summons was coming, would I have needed to find him? I don’t have the foresight to know that Ling Shenglan would actually sue us, and actually get a court summons!"

Ling’s father said helplessly, "But he’s telling the truth! He’s not a government official. How could he possibly have the ability to retract something that’s already going through the judicial process? We’ve overestimated him. At the end of the day, he’s just a businessman with some money!"

Ling’s mother said angrily, "So what do we do now? Yesterday, you told me that he was our only hope. Now he can’t help, so what do we do? Are we really going to court against Ling Shenglan?"

Ling’s father said, "Huo Junmo said the only way now is to reconcile privately with Shenglan before the court date and get her to withdraw the lawsuit, then we won’t have to go to court!"

Upon hearing this, Ling’s mother’s sharp voice immediately came through the phone, "What nonsense are you talking about! Going to find Ling Shenglan, since she sued us, how could she possibly withdraw? In the end, she just wants our money. I’m telling you, not a penny of the money in my pocket is coming out! I won’t see her, not even if it kills me!"

Ling’s father, somewhat angry, said, "What if you don’t see her? You have to either plead with her or go to court; it’s one or the other! Even if we went to court, it’s guaranteed we’d lose, and the issue will become public knowledge! By then, we’ll lose both the money and our reputation, ending up with nothing!"

Even though Ling’s father had explained things to this point, Ling’s mother still clung to a faint hope, "Even if she wins the lawsuit, so what? I just won’t give the money. What can they do to me? Kill me?"

"If you don’t give it, they have ways to make us give it. If we still don’t give it, they’ll enforce it, freeze our bank accounts, and we won’t be able to access the money ourselves! Don’t cling to false hopes; it won’t work! As long as Shenglan wins the case, we’re guaranteed to lose the money! Honey, let’s drop it! Let’s take a step back and give the money back to Shenglan! Besides, we still have the million that Huo Junmo gave us and the ten thousand we set aside for Yueyue’s engagement. Shenglan doesn’t know about these two amounts, and her money is small compared to these! If things get blown out of proportion, and Huo Junmo finds out Yueyue isn’t our biological child, he’ll definitely come to ask us for the money back! Think about it: we didn’t give birth to Yueyue or raise Yueyue and have been constantly squeezing Yueyue’s hard-earned money. How could he rightfully give us money?" Ling’s father sighed inwardly. Though he was reluctant to give up the money they had worked so hard to save over the years, he knew it was the only way to resolve things for now!

He understood his sister’s character, once she set her mind on something, nobody could sway her! Just like more than twenty years ago, when she was determined to move to Jin City to work alone, no matter how much he persuaded, she left for Jin City alone with her luggage as a young girl! And five years ago, no matter how hard he tried to persuade her, she was set on leaving the country with that man, leaving Yueyue alone in Jin City!

Facing Ling’s father’s words, Ling’s mother fell into momentary silence.

Ling’s father didn’t urge her, knowing that this was indeed a difficult decision for his wife!

After a round of contemplation, Ling’s mother finally made up her mind, "Alright then! You find a place to stay in Jin City. I’ll take the train to find you and talk to Ling Shenglan!"

Upon hearing she was coming, Ling’s father immediately asked, "You’re coming? What about the four kids if you come? Aren’t you just being reckless?"

Ling’s mother replied without hesitation, "We’ll leave them with some relatives! After all, they go to school every day, just need to arrange three meals a day for them. We’ll handle things in Jin City quickly and come back! Don’t worry, I’ll give the relatives some money, so they won’t be at a loss!"

"Why are you coming? I can handle it alone here. Wouldn’t you just be wasting a trip? And if you have a row with Shenglan, wouldn’t that only make her angrier?" Ling’s father frowned deeply, understanding full well that his wife’s reason for coming was simply to avoid giving up the money!

But now even Shenglan doesn’t give him, her brother, any face, so why would she give face to his wife?

Shenglan has made up her mind that they’ll have to give up the money. What good would coming do? If things get ugly, a fight would only make things worse and uncontrollable.

"Why are you asking so many questions? Of course, I have my ways; I’m just going to talk to Ling Shenglan, not fight her! Just follow my instructions, find a place to stay, and tell me the address. I’ll pack and come over right now! We’ll discuss everything once I arrive!" With that, she hung up without giving Ling’s father a chance to refuse!

Listening to the busy tone coming from the other end of the phone, Ling’s father knew well once his wife made a decision, nothing he said would change it, so he said nothing more, packed up his phone, and rented the cheapest single room in a small motel closest to Ling Shenglan’s place.

True to her word, Ling’s mother arrived at Jin City Railway Station right on time the next afternoon. Not knowing the address of Ling’s father’s motel, she grabbed a taxi directly at the station entrance, gave the address, and headed straight for where Ling’s father was staying!

Upon getting in the taxi, she even took the time to call Ling’s father and told him to wait for her at the entrance.