Chapter 204 You’re Not the Only One
“It’s probably because it wasn’t that important at the time. It was a bankrupt and liquidated subsidiary with no value to it. At the time, you were busy competing with Vice President Duncan over the hotel development project at Southprime Resort Town. I handled these smaller companies on your behalf.”
“How did it go bankrupt?” Alexander questioned. “Why didn’t the group carry out any assistance strategies?”
“There was no saving it. The brand was ruined by some evil factories, as well as the manager of Sunjoy at the time. They even went so far as to cut corners when producing a large batch of materials for children’s clothing. The materials they chose to use failed the quality inspections; they contained chemicals that were harmful to the human body.
That incident was a huge deal back then. Fortunately, Sunjoy did not have much interaction with Sunhill and did not drag the head office into its scandal. By the time I went there, Sunjoy had been abandoned.”
Five years ago, Sunhill Enterprise had not been under Alexander’s control alone. Scott was worried about handing the entire control of the company over to him. Moreover, he had a child behind Scott’s back, which left Scott feeling extremely displeased with him. Therefore, the control rights of the group had been divided, and the other half of the authority was held by his cousin, James Duncan.
The project at Southprime Resort Town was the decisive battle between them. They competed for two long years before Alexander finally took the win. After that, James was forced to leave the company.
During that period, all the competing real estate investment businesses had no time to be bothered by the trivial matters within their companies as everybody had their eyes on Southprime Resort Town. Besides, there was another more important reason behind the bankruptcy.
From the other side of the phone, Josh’s voice hinted at something significant. “It was rumored that the manager of Sunjoy at the time was Vice President Duncan’s lover. The relationship between them was not that simple. There were a lot of undercurrents going on. The performance reported to the headquarters during those years was always mediocre, but the headquarters never sent anybody to inspect it.”
To put it simply, James had been in charge of Sunjoy at the time. Alexander couldn’t interfere in its matters even if he wanted to
“Compile the details of the general situation at the time and send them to me.” Alexander pondered for a moment before adding, “Include a list of the designers at Sunjoy at the time too.”
“Okay.”
Alexander hung up and turned to see Bill standing behind him. Thus, he deliberately insulted Bill without mincing his words. “Eavesdropping is a bad habit.”
On the other hand, Bill seemed to be stunned. Alexander was about to leave when he turned around and said, “It’s impossible for you to know nothing about what happened back then! It was such a huge deal! Besides, the final decision to force all the blame on me was made by the headquarters.”
“I don’t have any interest in what happened to you back then. And, I don’t care why you hate me. There are many people out there who hate my guts. You’re not the only one.” Alexander spat those words out before entering the clinic without looking back.
The black figure stood at the entrance of the clinic, forming a stark contrast against the white walls of the clinic. He stood there motionlessly like a statue for a long while.
After the treatment ended, Courtney remained unconscious for two hours. By the time she woke up, her entire body hurt so much that it felt numb. However, even the slightest movement made her nerves throb in pain, and she couldn’t help gasping from the agony.
“Does it still hurt?” Alexander held her hand, looking distressed. “The doctor said that your condition is not suitable for long-distance travel right now. He is afraid the blisters might burst. So, we will be observing you for tonight. Tomorrow morning, we will head to the hospital in the city.”
Her throat was a little hoarse. It was probably caused by the excessive screaming from before. It took her a long while to find her voice. “I’m hungry.”
His originally serious expression changed to a startled expression as he stood up. “I’ll go and buy something for you to eat.”
“No need.” She winked at something behind him. “Mr. Dawson, are you here to bring me some food?”
He turned around and saw Bill standing at the door of the hospital ward. Bill was holding a simple wooden food container in his hand, and the fragrance of fish could vaguely be detected from it. As soon as Alexander saw Bill, he immediately felt his temper rising. His expression turned grim. “Who let you in? Take that and leave.”
“Give that to me. Is it fish porridge?” When he heard what the patient on the hospital bed said, his expression stiffened in embarrassment. On the other hand, the patient did not respect her boyfriend’s feelings at all. She even struggled to sit up on the hospital bed while warmly beckoning Bill over. Her struggles agitated her wound again, and she grinned in pain.
Bill quickly walked into the room, looking at a loss for what to do.
“Don’t move.” Alexander pressed against Courtney’s shoulders to prevent her from moving about. Then, he looked back and glared at Bill warningly. “Just stay there without moving and hand me the item.”
“What are you doing? Mr. Dawson brought me food out of kindness.” Courtney endured the pain and squeezed out a smile that looked worse than if she had cried. “Thank you, Mr. Dawson.”
Bill held the food container in one hand and scratched his head with the other. “No, I wanted to apologize to you. I’m sorry.”
Before Courtney could reply, Alexander stretched out his hand with a chilly expression. “Stop wasting my time with your nonsense. Just hand that to me.” If not for Courtney craving fish porridge, I wouldn’t even touch anything from this crazy b*stard.
Contrarily, Courtney acted as if she had happened upon a great opportunity. She abruptly pinched his arm while looking at Bill with a bright smile. “Mr. Dawson, why don’t you take a seat? This is no big deal; you don’t need to worry about it. Besides, it wasn’t intentional. Rather, I’m quite curious as to why you were so furious just now.”
Upon hearing those words, Bill’s expression became stiff. He didn’t know whether to sit or to stand. Thus, he was left at a greater loss for what to do.
Alexander threw a scornful look in Bill’s direction. Then, he blew on a spoonful of porridge to cool it down before feeding it to Courtney. “Why don’t you ask me instead of asking him about it?”
“Do you know about it?” Courtney ate a spoonful of porridge and looked at him in surprise.
“Eat while we talk.” He didn’t like how she seemed to be interested in everything. She is always curious about everything but me.
The two men finished explaining everything in the time it took for her to finish the bowl of fish porridge. Everybody had their own reasons in the story.
At the time, Bill was already a famous designer in the designing industry. He joined Sunjoy under his friend’s invitation. His friend claimed that Sunjoy had a powerful supporter, which would allow them more freedom in creating designs there. Not long after Bill joined Sunjoy, he accepted an order to produce a batch of uniforms for middle school students.
Back then, the fabric he advocated was not directly adopted for use due to the high costs involved. Thus, he lost his temper during the meeting. In a fit of anger, he sarcastically said, “We might as well use inferior fabrics to save cost since nobody can tell anyway.” As a result, the factories under the company went rogue and used substandard fabrics to produce shoddy products. This turn of events was what led to the events down the road.
Bill had been unaware of these matters. Afterward, the company’s evil deeds came to light. The top brass decided to dump the blame on the designer to protect Sunjoy’s reputation. Forced to bear the blame and stigma from the incident, he was kicked out of the designing industry and returned to Eldham Town in a fit of rage
When the story ended, Bill’s face was flushed as he anxiously explained, “It was a statement from Sunhill Enterprise which clearly stated that I was to blame for the entire incident. At the time, the president of the company was none other than you, Alexander Duncan.”
