Chapter 452: Elaborate

Chapter 452: Chapter 452: Elaborate

After hearing the story, Arabella Donovan was convinced this powerhouse who could take on an entire group by himself was the real deal. He truly never fought a battle he wasn’t sure he could win.

"I see. So with your cousin gone, won’t their company just grind to a halt?"

"More or less. But right now, that group is still living in a fantasy bubble. My uncle, in particular, probably still thinks that by forcing my cousin out, he can regain control of the company and hold everyone’s fate in his hands. But he’ll soon discover that without my cousin, the company is just a walking corpse, incapable of thinking for itself. It will be completely defenseless against the onslaught from rival companies."

"When that happens, he’ll definitely panic and try everything to beg your cousin to come back."

"Unfortunately, no matter how desperate he gets, he won’t be able to find my cousin then."

"And why is that? It’s not like your cousin can just vanish into thin air, can he?"

"Not vanished, just moved to a different city, a different place, to rest and recuperate." Caspian Rhodes paused, then abruptly changed the subject and looked at Arabella Donovan. "I heard that Third Hospital, the one your family invested in, has a specialized Traditional Chinese Medicine department. They’ve apparently hired many veteran TCM doctors with real expertise passed down through their families. Is that true?"

Arabella Donovan was a little surprised by Caspian Rhodes’s sudden mention of the veteran TCM doctors at Third Hospital, especially since they had just been talking about his cousin who had oligospermia.

’Could it be? Did Mr. Rhodes’s cousin also hear about the veteran TCM doctor at Third Hospital who specializes in men’s health, and he sent Mr. Rhodes to sound me out?’

"That’s right. Mr. Rhodes, are you feeling unwell?"

"It’s not for me. It’s for the cousin I just mentioned."

’I knew it! Just as I thought!’

"What’s wrong with him?"

"This whole affair has made him sick with anger. His wife is trying to drag out the divorce, but my cousin isn’t putting up with it. He filed for a contested divorce, and with the paternity test for her child and that illegitimate son, his chances of winning are high. Besides, they signed a prenuptial agreement when they got married. Now that this has all come out, his wife is clearly in the wrong. With my cousin’s skills, he shouldn’t come out of this at a loss."

Caspian Rhodes let out a long sigh. "But no amount of money can make up for the psychological damage. When I said he was sick with anger, it wasn’t entirely an excuse for him to lay low—he’s genuinely and seriously ill from the stress. The doctor said he suffered a huge blow from this incident, leaving him with pent-up frustration and surging qi and blood. This is accompanied by dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, and tinnitus. You could say his vital energy has been severely damaged, and he needs a long period of rest and recuperation."

"With symptoms like these, he’ll definitely need a while to recover. We’re worried about the side effects of Western medicine, so our family doctor also suggested finding a good veteran TCM doctor to prescribe something to help him regulate his body. Coincidentally, I happened to see the TCM department when I was at your Third Hospital to discuss a partnership. I had someone ask around and found that the doctors there have a surprisingly good reputation, which is why I wanted to ask you about it for my cousin."

Arabella Donovan was speechless.

’If I hadn’t read your cousin’s face and known what a pitch-black heart was hiding beneath that refined and proper exterior, I might have actually been fooled by your words. Pent-up frustration and surging qi and blood? Please. I bet seeking treatment for his headaches is just a cover. The real reason is to find a TCM doctor to treat his infertility.’

Caspian Rhodes was speechless. ’Uh... did you really have to spell it out so clearly?’

"Oh, I see. Well, you’ve certainly asked the right person. The TCM department at Third Hospital is the real deal. If your cousin really wants to use traditional medicine to get his health back on track, he should definitely go have a look. He might get a pleasant surprise."

Caspian Rhodes’s eyes flickered. He naturally knew what "pleasant surprise" Arabella was referring to.

He nodded with a faint smile. "Alright, I’ll tell my cousin when I get back. Aside from these two uncles’ families, other relatives have also had things happen to them, more or less. The most noteworthy is the family of one of my distant uncles."

"A distant uncle?" ’Which one was that?’

Caspian Rhodes knew she wouldn’t be able to place the family just from his description, so he tried another way.

"The ones from the ancestor worship ceremony. Their grave is relatively far out, the one with the locust tree planted next to it."

Arabella Donovan furrowed her brow in thought for a moment, then her head snapped up.

’I remember now! It’s that family of outlaws! But now that Mr. Rhodes mentions it, I realize they actually have a locust tree growing on their gravesite. What genius came up with that idea? Isn’t that just begging your family’s ancestors to come visit their house more often?’

Caspian Rhodes jumped, startled, and the question slipped out: "Is planting a locust tree at a gravesite a bad thing?"

Arabella Donovan’s eyes widened in surprise. Just when Caspian Rhodes thought she was about to figure it out, she simply frowned and started musing to herself.

’Did I just say that out loud by accident?’

Caspian Rhodes was speechless.

"From a feng shui perspective, it’s really not a good idea to plant a locust tree at a gravesite. For one, locust trees have large canopies and tend to become hollow, which can attract snakes, insects, and rodents that might damage the coffin. For another, the locust tree is also known as the ’ghost tree.’ It gathers yin energy and summons souls, so planting one at a gravesite can easily affect the descendants."

’If the ancestors can pop over to their descendants’ house every day, and those descendants are a bunch of worthless delinquents, of course it’s going to affect their sleep—oh, wait, no, I mean their *fortune*.’

Caspian Rhodes was speechless.

"So that’s how it is. No wonder I heard that this distant uncle’s family has suffered a major calamity lately."

Arabella Donovan’s ears perked up instantly.

’Do tell!’

"First, after the ancestor worship ceremony, the two adults in the family started having constant nightmares. We don’t know what they dreamed about, specifically, only that within a couple of days, both of them fell ill. When they were sent to the hospital, they were apparently delirious, calling out for ’Great-Grandfather,’ ’Great-Grandmother,’ ’the ancestors,’ and things like that."

Arabella Donovan was speechless... While she didn’t know the content of their nightmares, the information revealed by their "delirious talk" was more than enough for her imagination to fill in the blanks.

"Then there are their two children, my nominal distant cousins. One of them fell while out and broke his leg, getting impaled by a steel rebar that came out of nowhere... AHEM, the image is a bit much, so I won’t describe it. Luckily, a passerby was there to call an ambulance. If they had been any later, they say he would have needed an amputation. The other one went to a bar to party, took some bad stuff, and got way too high. His brain was deprived of oxygen, and he had a sudden stroke. He’s in the ICU and still hasn’t come out."

Even though she had been mentally prepared for something bad, Arabella Donovan was still stunned by the family’s tragic circumstances.

But as surprised as she was, she felt no sympathy for the family. Instead, she felt a little sorry for their poor ancestors who were unfortunately dragged into this mess.

’It’s not uncommon to see vengeful ghosts coming to claim lives, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen wronged ghosts coming for their *own* descendants’ lives, as if they can’t wait to wipe out their own bloodline. Forcing their elders to bear a blood debt so many years after their deaths... you younger generations are truly sinful!’