“That’s right, it’s because Shaoheng was his only nephew at the time. Isn’t the intention of his will extremely deplorable?! ” Huo Xuenong replied indignantly. “I’m doing this for his own good, for the sake of this family! How dare you think I’m doing this for a small sum of money?!”
Gu Nianzhi: ” … ”
A nine-figure inheritance was just “a small sum of money”?
This old man Huo was really shameless.
Gu Nianzhi thought this to herself as she caught a glimpse of the Zhang family’s ecstatic expression from the corner of her eye. It was as if a pie had fallen from the sky, and she immediately found it insufferable.
Huo Shaoheng seemed to know what she was going to do, and shook his head at her.
This was his family matter, so he didn’t want Gu Nianzhi to play the bad cop too much.
If he wanted to go against grandfather Huo, he had to do it himself.
Gu Nianzhi understood what Huo Shaoheng meant and looked at him worriedly. Her heart ached.
Huo Shaoheng smiled and held her hand tightly. It was as if he was giving her support, but also as if he was looking for strength from her support.
Gu Nianzhi nodded. “… Go ahead. ”
She would help Huo Shaoheng fill in the gaps.
The way the two of them looked at each other made everyone in the ward feel different.
Cai Shengnan was the first to lose it. She turned around angrily with her back towards Huo Shaoheng and Gu Nianzhi.
Luo Jialan had suffered a double blow. She was in a daze and didn’t pay attention to Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng at all.
Xie Shenxing, on the other hand, was happy to see this. He couldn’t resist the urge to give them a thumbs up.
Zhang Wenjie’s gaze had been fixated on Gu Nianzhi’s face the entire time. It was only when Huo Shaoheng’s piercing gaze landed on him that he averted his gaze.
Zhang Wenna and Zhang Baochen, on the other hand, were completely focused on grandfather Huo.
Huo Shaoheng put the copy of Huo Guanyuan’s will back into the envelope. He took a few steps forward and stood in front of Huo Xuenong’s sickbed, then said calmly, “Grandfather, it’s hard for me to accept what you’re saying about uncle. Just based on the distribution of the trust fund, it’s too presumptuous to say that uncle was lusting after his younger sister-in-law.”
“I’m a soldier. I’m a soldier who protects the honor of my comrades and kin. At the same time, I’m also my mother’s son. If you continue to insist on this and slander my mother and uncle, I’m sorry, but even if you’re my grandfather, I’ll take you to court.”
“You dare to say that there was nothing going on between your uncle and your mother?!” Huo Xuenong’s eyes were red. He didn’t expect to be shamed by his own grandson. He couldn’t stand the shame and psychological distress.
“I swear on my military rank that before my uncle died, there was absolutely nothing between my uncle and my mother that surpassed the relationship between relatives and friends.”
Huo Shaoheng raised his right hand. “My uncle has now been dead for 17 years. My mother also divorced my father. She’s a single woman. She has the right to pursue her own happiness. I won’t stop my mother from remarrying. Don’t use the word ‘sister-in-law’ to describe the relationship between my mother and uncle. They are no longer uncle and sister-in-law.”
Huo Xuenong spat, “Shaoheng, who are you trying to fool? They are no longer related, but back then…”
“Back then? What happened back then? Do you have evidence?”
“Isn’t this will evidence?!”
Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help muttering, ” … This is evidence? If Mrs. Song gave birth to another son who was also uncle Huo’s nephew, then the trust fund would have to be split again. ——Grandfather Huo, please don’t be so narrow-minded. Everyone knows that Uncle Huo split his trust fund this way because it was left behind by Old Madam Xie and belongs to the Huo family.”
Gu Nianzhi glanced at the dazed Luo Jialan, “As for Luo Jialan, she’s not even a biological daughter of the Huo family. Naturally, she shouldn’t be entitled to the inheritance left behind by old Madam Xie. Uncle Huo left half of his inheritance to Luo Xinxue and Luo Jialan. That’s already a considerable amount of wealth. It’s enough for them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives, and it’s the best he could do.”
“You probably also remembered that Luo Jialan wasn’t Uncle Huo’s biological daughter, so you kept quiet and allowed her to inherit Uncle Huo’s trust fund, right?” Gu Nianzhi’s voice became lower and lower, ” … You were just acting like she was holding the trust fund in her hands, so that you could snatch it back from her any moment… ”
Gu Nianzhi’s words hit the nail on the head with Huo Xuenong’s most secretive and unspeakable thoughts. Even Huo Xuenong himself didn’t dare to face them sometimes, but Gu Nianzhi was able to expose them so clearly.
Huo Xuenong was about to scold Gu Nianzhi, but Huo Shaoheng had already stood in front of her and said to Huo Xuenong, “What Nianzhi means is what I mean. I just want to ask you, in the end, was my uncle a person who, in your eyes, would disregard his honor and brotherhood for the sake of a woman?”
Huo Xuenong was flustered by Huo Shaoheng’s words, so he couldn’t overthink it at the moment. He sneered, “Fine, your first uncle wasn’t wrong. I was wrong. Then we’ll do as you say. This is purely the property left to the Huo family, so Wenjie deserves half of it!”
He looked at Huo Shaoheng with a stiff neck and shot a provocative glare at Xie Shenxing. His attitude was very bold and arrogant.
Xie Shenxing put his hands behind his back and watched coldly as Huo Shaoheng dealt with the matter.
Huo Shaoheng’s expression didn’t change as he said calmly, “No, he doesn’t have the right.”
“What do you mean?” Huo Xuenong’s expression changed. “Your uncle’s will is written in black and white here. Isn’t Wenjie his nephew? We can go and have a DNA test! According to the new marriage law, even children born out of wedlock have the right to inherit.”
Zhang Feng told him that he had a son named Zhang Baochen, and that Zhang Baochen was already married and had children. When he had a son and a daughter, Huo Xuenong had secretly sent someone to test their DNA and confirmed that Zhang Baochen was his son. Zhang Wenjie and Zhang Wenna were also Zhang Baochen’s biological children, which meant that they were his grandchildren.
Huo Shaoheng stared at Huo Xuenong, and his eyes dimmed. “Grandfather, when did uncle’s will take effect?”
” … seventeen years ago, when he died.” Huo Xuenong lowered his voice, and his voice sounded choked. “He was my proudest son!”
Huo Shaoheng ignored Huo Xuenong’s display of vulnerability and asked again, “Then when did the new marriage law take effect?”
Huo Xuenong: ” … ”
He didn’t remember when the new marriage law took effect. He only remembered that Zhang Feng had mentioned to him a few times that after the new marriage law took effect, it would be the same whether they got married or not, and it wouldn’t affect Baochen’s inheritance rights…
But even if he didn’t remember, he knew that it had happened in the recent years, not 17 years ago.
“To be precise, the new marriage law took effect seven years ago. May I ask, everyone who knows the law, does the law that took effect seven years ago have jurisdiction over the will that took effect 17 years ago? ” Huo Shaoheng’s gaze swept across the ward as he asked, but he didn’t look at Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi knew that Huo Shaoheng was doing this for her own good, but she didn’t mind picking a fight with someone like Huo Xuenong.
“Major General Huo, that’s a good question. The basic principle of the law is the principle of ‘not retroactive’. In other words, the law only governs what happens after it comes into effect. What happens before it comes into effect is governed by the previous law.” Gu Nianzhi explained to him with a smile.
“That’s right.” Huo Shaoheng nodded slightly. “Seventeen years before my uncle’s will took effect, the law at that time stipulated that children born out of wedlock had no right to inheritance. “Therefore, the Zhang family has nothing to do with us. The nephew in my uncle’s will only refers to the legitimate children of my father and mother. If my mother hadn’t been seriously injured and had not lost her mind, perhaps I would have had a few more brothers and sisters in these seventeen years. But unfortunately, my father and mother didn’t give birth to a second ‘nephew’ in the end. In other words, I was the only nephew who fulfilled the requirements of my uncle’s will.”
His parents had already divorced, so it was impossible for a second nephew to be born unless his parents remarried.
Huo Xuenong’s face was red as he said, “Shaoheng, don’t go too far, okay? Even so, you’re already so rich. Do you still want this small sum of money?! Grandfather has never begged you in his entire life. This time, I’m begging you to give half of the inheritance to Wenjie. He’s also your cousin!”
Huo Shaoheng’s gaze swept across the hopeful faces of the Zhang family and finally landed on Huo Xuenong’s begging face. He spit out word by word, “I can’t do it. If I agree to it, grandmother’s soul won’t be at peace in heaven.”
Because of the existence of the Zhang family, his grandmother had died with resentment.
He still had to use his grandmother’s inheritance to support Zhang Feng’s grandson?
Hehe, it was thanks to the army that he hadn’t killed them, because he wouldn’t do such illegal things.
However, they shouldn’t think about getting a single cent from him.
Huo Shaoheng continued, “I won’t take this inheritance either. In the name of first uncle, I will set up the ‘Guanyuan Fund’ at Mrs. Song’s High Energy Physics Institute to fund the scientific research of the institute.”
Upon his last shreds of hope being crushed, Huo Xuenong couldn’t hold on any longer.
His heart beat wildly. He clutched his chest and opened his mouth wide, but he couldn’t breathe any fresh air. He was like a fish out of water, a bird without oxygen, and even his eyeballs were bulging.
The equipment in the ward started ringing with alarm bells, and the sound of footsteps soon came from the corridor outside the ward.
A group of doctors in white coats rushed in. Seeing so many people in the ward, they immediately waved their hands and said, “Get out! The patient is in a critical condition! Why are there so many people here?! ——All of you, get out!”
