Chapter 168: Felix Faulkner Returns

Chapter 168: Chapter 168: Felix Faulkner Returns

As soon as Vivian coughed, Julian immediately leaned closer. With concern in his eyes, he gently patted her back and said softly, "Eat slowly. There’s no rush.

"Do you want some water? What would you like to drink? There’s orange juice in the fridge, or mineral water if you prefer. I’ll pour it for you."

Hearing this, Vivian hurriedly waved her hand.

Julian was being really silly. Wasn’t there soup right next to her hand? He was so preoccupied with getting her water that he had completely forgotten about the soup right here.

Vivian pointed at the soup, coughed twice more, and caught her breath. Blushing, she looked at Julian, who had sat back down beside her and seemed a bit at a loss as to where to put his hands. "You silly," she said.

"..."

Julian fell silent for a moment before laughing.

He really did seem a bit silly just now.

After eating, Vivian got out of bed to stretch a bit. A doctor came over to give her a brief checkup, and all her physical indicators were normal.

The residual toxins in her body had essentially been cleared out.

After listening to the doctor’s report, Julian asked, "How is Rachel doing?"

"Ms. Faulkner stayed at the scene longer than Madam, so her poisoning is relatively more severe," the doctor replied. "She has woken up now, but she’s still a bit groggy.

"It will take another day or two of rest for her to fully recover."

Julian nodded solemnly and said to the doctor, "Thank you for your hard work. Please make sure Rachel gets well."

"Understood."

The doctor agreed and, seeing that Julian had no other concerns for now, took his leave.

Watching the doctor walk away, Vivian couldn’t help but ask in confusion, "Rachel was poisoned that badly? Then what about Vance and the others?

"Didn’t they rush over right away too? How come... Vance seems to be perfectly fine?"

It was a bit strange.

When Vivian finished asking, Julian thought for a moment and replied, "The explanation given by the doctor is that Rachel was inside the room at the time.

"The room wasn’t very well-ventilated, so her symptoms were much more severe. Moreover, the poisonous gas must have already been there before we arrived, just not as potent.

"She inhaled quite a lot of toxic gas over the course of the night, which is why she’s in this state now."

Vivian fell silent for a moment after hearing this.

So Rachel had been inhaling toxic gas all night. It was no wonder she ended up like this.

However, Vivian had always suspected that Rachel was conspiring with Robert Lowell and Sharon Galahad. According to Julian, she had inhaled so much toxic gas that she had only just passed the critical stage.

Would someone really act so well that they almost killed themselves?

Vivian was a bit doubtful and unsure. After all... no matter what, she and Julian had always suspected Rachel.

"Alright, I understand." Vivian nodded and said to Julian, "We haven’t really done anything all day. When will Grandma finish resting? I’ll go walk the dog with her later!"

"Mhm, walking around will be good exercise for you."

"Okay." Julian nodded in agreement, and the two of them went downstairs together.

Two days later.

Rachel’s condition had slightly improved, and Grandma Faulkner was also feeling better. Everything seemed to be heading in a positive direction.

Vivian felt quite relieved about this. After all, she liked peaceful, steady days.

However, right when she thought nothing could go wrong, an accident happened.

Felix Faulkner returned to the country.

He returned alongside a shareholder of the Faulkner Group surnamed Zhang. Because they took a private jet, customs was very polite and accommodating upon their arrival.

Felix wasn’t targeted by the people Julian had "greeted" beforehand. He returned smoothly and even made the front page of the news.

The gist of the headlines was that Felix intended to sell his remaining shares in the Faulkner Group. He planned to sell them to the highest bidder, regardless of their relationship.

At that time, Vivian was in a meeting with her employees at her company.

Halfway through the discussion, a notification suddenly popped up at the top of the presentation slide on the meeting room computer. It was exactly this news about Felix.

As soon as the notification popped up, Vivian, who had been about to continue sharing her thoughts on the design blueprints, abruptly stopped talking.

The push notification above the presentation was very brief: "Former President of the Faulkner Group returns in a high-profile manner, intends to sell his shares in the Faulkner Group."

Seeing this message, Vivian lost her train of thought.

When she went silent, the employees below looked up in confusion. Many of them had been focusing on the documents in their hands and hadn’t noticed the notification.

Leo saw it. Her expression darkened slightly as she stood up and said, "Well, let’s wrap up this meeting for now.

"President Lowell has basically covered everything she needed to say. I’ll send the remaining details to our work group chat later, so just keep an eye out for that.

"Moving forward, if you have any questions regarding the design blueprints, you can come to me first. If we can’t solve it, we’ll consult President Lowell. How does that sound?"

Everyone nodded in agreement and left the meeting room one after another.

Vivian had actually snapped back to reality right after Leo started speaking. Now, seeing that everyone had left, she said to Leo, "Thank you."

"You’re welcome."

Leo waved her hand dismissively and turned to leave.

Once the meeting room was empty, Vivian immediately picked up her phone and called Julian. However, the line was busy. She wondered if he was already on the phone with someone else.

If that was the case, he must have already heard the news.

What exactly was going on with Felix?

The other day, Felix had mentioned buying a ticket to return the following day, but Julian had strictly forbidden it, even going as far as to warn him.

Yet Felix completely ignored it, finding an opportunity to return alongside another shareholder of the Faulkner Group. What was this shareholder playing at?

Could they be teaming up with Felix to scheme something?

Vivian couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. After pondering for a moment, she decided to put her work aside and go upstairs to check on the Faulkner Group’s situation.

Before leaving, Vivian finalized the remaining details from the meeting and sent a private message to Leo.

"I’m going upstairs to check on things. If anything comes up, just call me directly. Thanks for keeping an eye on the company, Leo."

Leo replied quickly with an "OK" sticker. The sticker was very serious, perfectly fitting Leo’s consistently rigorous working style.