Chapter 21 — Women Don't Need To Be Chosen

Tien Ngoc Hoa... was removed from the board of directors. She sat there, motionless.

“You guys…”

The voice was hoarse to the point of almost no longer having a sound.

“You all betrayed me.”

No one answered.

"Luc Canh Tham! I'm your mother! You kick me out of the council?"

He didn't look at her.

“This is the consequence of what mother did.”

"I did everything for the Luc family! For you! If it weren't for that bastard To Niem—"

Mr. Luc pounded the table, his voice rang out like a heavy bell.

"You did it all for yourself! For your control! For your dignity! Have you ever really thought about the Luc family?"

Tien Ngoc Hoa's lips trembled. She stood up, holding her bag. Go to the door. Then turned around and looked at everyone in the room. That look… was no longer aggressive. Only emptiness remains. She turned around and walked away. Luc Canh Tham chased after him.

“Don't follow me.”

Her voice was so cold that it no longer had any temperature.

“From today, you are no longer my child.”

The elevator door closed. He stood in the hallway, looking at it... As if looking at a part of his life that had just fallen into an abyss. For the first time, there was no hesitation or weakness on his face, but a kind of relief... as if he had just let go of something that had been weighing him down for many years. After being dismissed, Tien Ngoc Hoa left the Luc family villa and moved back to the old house in the south of the city, which she bought twenty years ago and has almost never returned. It was said that she didn't answer the phone, didn't meet anyone, Bach Khai Minh called several times but was hung up, Bach Nhuoc Tinh was sent home even at the door, she didn't go out, didn't go online, as if cutting herself off from the world. I don't chase anymore, what needs to be taken has been taken, what needs to be paid has been paid, a sixty-year-old woman has lost all her power and cards, continuing to step on it will only make herself cheaper. Luc Canh Tham officially took over the entire Luc Thi, the first thing he did was come to me as CEO, seriously proposed to restore capital flow from Tinh Than Capital and committed to comprehensively reforming the management system in the next three months. He stood in my office, still in a neat suit but his eyes were much clearer, no longer evasive, no longer avoiding responsibility like before.

“Who does the audit do?”

“Specific restructuring?”

“Changing the board of directors, adding independent members, financial transparency and building a compliance system.”

I nodded.

“Okay, Tinh Than Capital agrees to reopen the capital flow, but the condition is that the cooperation relationship will be upgraded to a strategic partnership, the share structure must be renegotiated.”

He thought for a second then nodded. When he turned away, I called back.

“Luc Canh Tham.”

He stopped walking.

“You did well.”

He smiled, his smile was a bit sour.

“This… is said three years too late.”

"Not for me, but for hundreds of Luc Thi's employees."

He nodded slightly and left, this time without looking back. That afternoon, I received a call from Bach Nhuoc Tinh. She said that the Bach family withdrew all cooperation with Luc Thi, not because of pressure, but because she proactively persuaded her father, because she did not want to continue being a chess piece in the hands of others anymore. She quit her job as a cosmetics representative and wanted to make her own skin care products, something she had wanted for a long time but had never been allowed to try.

“Is there a plan?”

“Yes, but no money.”

I was silent for two seconds.

“Send the plan Chu Can, if it meets the standards, Tinh Than Capital will consider investing in an angel round.”

The other side was silent for a long time.

“Thank you… but why did you help me?”

“It's not help, it's investment, the condition is that your product is good enough.”

She said she would try, then hung up. I looked out at the city, the lines that were once tangled were now gradually closing. Co Thanh Cuong was investigated and his assets were frozen. Tien Ngoc Hoa was eliminated from the game. Luc Thi returned to orbit. The Bach family withdrew. To Niem, founder of Tinh Than Capital, daughter of To Cam Hoa, net worth exceeds 60,000,000,000 yuan, twenty-six years old. Everything... has just begun. The sentence for Co Thanh Cuong was announced, the charges of misappropriation of trust assets, money laundering and fraud combined to fifteen years in prison, with no way back. The Co family finally breathed a sigh of relief. Co Minh Vu, representing the family, came to see me, bringing a letter of apology and agreement, pledging that the entire execution of the will would be fully coordinated and not hindered. I signed my name, not holding back any emotions, between us there was only duty, no more relationship. To Cam Hoa also returned to Giang Thanh, mother and daughter had a quiet dinner, in the soft light, she asked me a very simple question.