A Graduation Gift

"Courtney, are you okay?" Whitney asked worriedly.
She rushed to her daughter and embraced her tightly, her eyes full of tears.
The lack of significant progress after the previous hypnotherapy session confused her. Still, Whitney noticed that her eyes were
no longer as dull as before. It had more life in them now.
Courtney also stretched out her hands to hug her mother and stroked her on the back as they embraced.
"Mom, I'm fine. I just feel like I had a really long dream. Now, I feel tired," Courtney replied slowly.
Both her eyes and her mind were slowly getting clearer.
"Oh, you should rest then. Are you hungry? I can ask them to bring you something to eat," Whitney said.
The change in her daughter overwhelmed her with excitement.
"I don't want to eat alone, mother. I want to go downstairs and eat with you," Courtney replied, sat up, and walked with her
mother out the door.
Whitney had dreamed of this moment many times. Seeing it happened after these many years, this filled her with so much
happiness.
Courtney smiled happily at her mother. Her smile loomed through the light. She was as beautiful as ever.
Cassandra packed her luggage, ready to return home with Rufus. She decided that it would be futile to force Whitney to turn
over her shares after she explicitly stated that she had no plans of doing so.
'Anyway, I hold as many shares as Lionel has. As long as Whitney will remain neutral, the Tang Group will still not be able to
acquire the Qin Group, ' Cassandra thought to herself.
Suddenly, Whitney entered Cassandra's bedroom and handed her a folder, smiling.
"Sign here, Cassandra. I've already run this through my lawyer. He approved it," Whitney said.
Confused, Cassandra took the folder from her and was shocked by what she saw.
"Auntie Whitney, this... this is a share transfer form!" Cassandra felt a tingle of excitement.

With an astonished look, she gazed at Whitney in disbelief.
Whitney nodded with a smile to signify that she was correct.
"You've helped me so much. Now, Courtney is slowly recovering from her illness. I know that this is what you need the most right
now, so I am giving it to you. Consider it a gift for my gratitude," Whitney replied.
Cassandra held the folder tightly against her chest. She was too excited to know what to say.
'What a pleasant surprise. I just wanted to help Courtney but I also managed to acquire Auntie Whitney's shares. I can't believe
she transferred all of them to me.
Now I own 60% of the company. There is no way that the Qin Group will be acquired by the Tangs. The company is safe, ' she
thought.
"Thank you, Auntie Whitney!" Cassandra said excitedly.
She was so happy that she turned red. Looking out the window, everything seemed perfect: the blue sky, white clouds, clear
water, and green field. How wonderful the world was!
Carrying her luggage, Cassandra walked into the Tang family's villa with Rufus following her. Upon entering the living room, she
felt something very strange was happening.
Angry, Jill sat on the sofa. Sitting close to her was Ivy who whispered things against her ear. Cassandra could also see her
stroking Jill's back once in a while to calm her down.
With his hands behind him, Horace walked back and forth in the living room wearing a look of restlessness.
Sitting on the other corner of the sofa, Lionel cupped his chin in his hands as if he were thinking about something.
'What's going on here?' Cassandra thought.
"Dad, mom, I'm back," she announced.
Although she was angry at her father-in-law because of his secret actions to acquire the Qin Group, she still remained courteous
to him because he was an elder.
Glancing at Cassandra, Horace said nothing. He still seemed very restless.

"Rufus! Where have you been? Why were you gone so long?" Horace asked loudly.
His face lit up when he saw his son enter the room. It was as if he saw a savior.
"I had a minor accident but it's okay now. What happened here?" Rufus asked casually.
He was calm, as usual. He made Horace believed that he went on a business trip so that no one would question him coming
home with Cassandra at the same time.
"You are the President. You should know everything happening to the Tang Group, shouldn't you? But clearly, you don't," Lionel
shouted. "Fine, then, I'll tell you. Dawn Star Group snatched the amusement park project from our company while you were
away. But we couldn't get in touch with you," he snorted, standing up from the sofa. His eyes were full of anger.
"Lionel, don't talk to your older brother like that!" Horace said to Lionel loudly.
His distaste of Lionel could be felt in his words.
"Horace! You can yell at me all you want, but I will not let you do that to my son. What's wrong with what he said? Rufus has
been missing for days. As the President of the Tang Group, I would say that is completely irresponsible. Something important
happened and he was not there to deal with it. Isn't that his fault? Why are you mad that Lionel since he was just pointing out the
truth?" Jill answered back.
She was so angry that she sprang up. Immediately, Ivy got up as well to clam her down.
"Auntie Jill, don't be angry. Calm down! Now that it has happened, we just have to solve it. There is no need to be angry.
Besides, Rufus is back now. Let's all calm down and think it over!" Ivy persuaded.
Jill was still very annoyed but said nothing. She sat down and looked away as tears welled up in her eyes.
A few days ago, Jill attended Mrs. Alice Zhuang's birthday party. There, she mingled with several ladies; and as usual, she
wanted to be the most impressive woman in the room.
Alice shared how well the Dawn Star Group was doing. To gain an upper hand, though, Jill intentionally mentioned that Mr.
Zhuang used to receive projects left from Horace.
Alice added that Dawn Star Group received an investment from TY Group, thus having a very promising future. Unwilling to
surrender to Alice, Jill excitedly shared that Tang Group was going to take on the amusement park project which had the local

government as its investors, and would sign a formal contact with the government soon.
Of course, they were secretly competing. It was safe to assume that after that conversation, Alice became so indignant that she
brought the matter up to her son, Arthur. Surprisingly, Arthur managed to pull strings so quickly for the local government of G City
to change its preferred contractor from the Tang Group to Dawn Star Group.
Jill was so proud of how she managed to embarrass Alice at the party. After coming home that day, she excitedly shared it with
Horace, oblivious to the fact that she had just stirred up a hornet's nest.
Horace got very angry when he heard what Jill had done. He immediately scolded her, calling her an idiot who paid more
attention to her reputation than the business. He said that this could turn into something serious and she was too dull to even
realize it.
Sure enough, in two days, the officials in charge of this amusement park project soon announced the change in their decision,
saying that the project did not seem suitable for the Tang Group. They also indicated that the first design draft for the project
submitted by Tang Group was not acceptable so they needed to discuss it again.
Despite the initial agreement that the project would be awarded to the Tang Group, it was now turned over to the Dawn Star
Group. This made Horace even more furious.
Taking it out on Jill, he heavily criticized her and her carelessness in front of the family. Ivy and Lionel made every effort to stop
them from quarreling, but all in vain.
Jill was so appalled that she also said something that made Horace uptight.
"You don't think I have done anything for the Tang family, do you? What about Rufus? What contributions has he done for this
family? You put him in charge of this project and then he becomes unreachable for several days. Do you know why? It's because
he's a bastard and he doesn't care much about the Tang Group!"
Jill yelled, and overwhelmed with anger. She just had to bring up the fact that Rufus was an illegitimate child. Horace was so
angry with Jill for what she said that he almost hit her. Despite her pregnancy, Ivy rushed to stop Horace. Knowing that she was
pregnant, he forced back his anger and dropped the hand.
The tension in the house had been high right before Rufus arrived.

"What you should is, Horace Tang, you are disgusting, just like your bastard son!" Jill boomed. "Lionel doesn't have a good grip
on reality. Shouldn't we be working together to come up with a solution right now? If you or Lionel can't say something to help
solve this, then you should both shut up!" Horace claimed.
Their words annoyed him so much. He glared at them with his big eyes as the muscles on his face trembled with anger.
'I've supported Lionel so much, hoping that he would be able to help me manage this company the way Rufus does, but he does
nothing except disappoint me.
Right now, Rufus is my only hope. If Rufus can find a way to bring this project back, then I would really say that he is an asset to
this company, ' Horace thought.
This amusement park was more than just a single project. More importantly, it would be located inside the new industrial area of
the city, as a centrical landmark and tourist attraction. This would only increase the project's importance significantly.
If the construction of the amusement park could be completed successfully, the Tang Group would likely get more credibility to
acquire more projects in the tourism industry. This was an opportunity of expansion that the Tang Group did not want to miss.
There might not be another chance like this. Allowing Dawn Star Group to have this project would give them a huge advantage.
"Rufus, do you have any ideas on how we could get this case back?" Horace asked.
Gazing at his son expectantly, he hoped that Rufus would be able to give him a definite answer.
However, Rufus shook his head and said, "There were two reasons why I managed to get us this project. First, I left a good
impression on the officials. Second, the officials knew of Cassandra's capabilities..."
After this saying, everyone looked at Cassandra. She was the one now who everyone focused on.