Chapter 2972

Realizing that the possibility of demanding the Sifang Baozhuang from China was almost zero, Howard's emotions collapsed one after another without him realizing it.

Recalling all the efforts he had made and all the losses he had suffered to retrieve the Sifang Baozhuang, his state of mind completely fell apart.

His body trembled, and he roared in a shrill, near-maniacal voice: "That damn Peter Zhou, how on earth did he send the Sifang Baozhuang back to China?"

"I, Howard Rothschild, have no grudges against him. Why would he do this to me!!!"

"This bastard not only stole my things but also dragged me into a quagmire of public opinion, causing my Rothschild family to suffer the greatest public opinion crisis in decades!!!"

"Now, not only is my reputation ruined and the Sifang Baozhuang gone forever, but all the investment I made to get it back has gone down the drain!!!"

"What's most hateful is that he died and left me with a bomb called the Anti-Qing Society that I don't know when will explode!!! I! I hate it!!! I wish he would come back to life so I could kill him again with my own hands!!!"

At this point, Howard felt the blood vessels in his forehead suddenly bulge. His blood pressure spiked instantly, and his brain felt a bit dizzy.

His youngest son, David, had not yet noticed his father's abnormality. Hearing the name "Anti-Qing Society," he asked in surprise: "Father... what is this Anti-Qing Society you just mentioned?"

As soon as David finished asking, he noticed that his old father Howard's body had begun to convulse, his eyes wide open and his pupils rolling upward.

Seeing his father's convulsions becoming more severe and his body uncontrollably falling backward, David hurriedly stepped forward to support him, asking nervously: "Father, Father, what's wrong with you?!"

Howard was now convulsing to the point of foaming at the mouth and could no longer speak. His body shook violently as if he were being electrocuted. Immediately after, a foul, urine-like odor wafted over, and David was horrified to discover that his old father had lost control of his bowels.

Realizing the situation was dire, he was about to shout for help when the butler and the family doctor rushed over.

There were specialized monitoring devices on Howard's wrist and chest that could monitor his key physical indicators and subtle heart changes in real-time. As soon as Howard felt dizzy, the butler and the doctor had already received an alarm.

The doctor rushed in and performed a simple examination on Howard, then said very nervously: "Sir has most likely had a stroke. We must hurry with emergency treatment. Butler, please contact the medical department immediately, have the emergency personnel rush over, and notify the emergency doctors to be prepared!"

As he spoke, he hurriedly took Howard from David, let him lie slowly on the ground with his body slightly tilted, and then took out an injection and injected it directly into Howard's body.

The Rothschild family estate was like a small city. They had a complete medical institution there, which was operated in cooperation with the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Hospital. The two top hospitals worked together within the Rothschild estate to provide Rothschild family members with the most top-tier medical services in the entire Western world.

With the full assistance of the two top hospitals, combined with the Rothschild family's incomparable financial power, this "family clinic," which served only core family members, was able to provide the West's most top-tier emergency, rescue, surgical, and even radiation and chemotherapy services.

Soon, several emergency doctors rushed over at top speed and immediately pushed the stroke-stricken Howard into the rescue room for emergency treatment.

Seeing his father being sent into the rescue room, David hurriedly synchronized this sudden event to all direct family members.

As the eldest son, Steve Rothschild was currently in Canada, staring at his phone without blinking.

A few minutes ago, he had already received the news about the Sifang Baozhuang returning to China, so he had been watching his phone, waiting for family members to send news of his father's sudden illness.

Steve knew very well that the old man was advanced in age and had suffered repeated blows recently. If the news of the Sifang Baozhuang's return to China reached his ears, it would surely be a huge blow to him. A serious illness would be the least of it; he might even drop dead from emotional agitation.

Just then, a push notification suddenly popped up on his phone—it was the communication software used internally by the Rothschild family.

Steve was overjoyed and hurriedly opened the notification, then saw the message his younger brother David had posted in the group: "Father has had a stroke. Please return to the family as soon as possible. Those not in New York, please return immediately!"

Seeing the word "stroke," Steve was so excited he couldn't keep his mouth shut!

In the Rothschild family, Howard's health was the top priority.

This was not only because he was the head of the family but also because, once his health had serious problems, the Rothschild family had to follow regulations and begin the transition between the successor and the current head of the family.

As the legal first successor, Steve had to return to the family immediately at such a time to temporarily manage major family affairs. But this was only temporary management. How long he would manage, or whether he would directly inherit the position of family head, depended on the current head Howard's physical condition.

If Howard recovered well, Steve would have to return management power to him. But if he remained bedridden, Steve would continue to manage until Howard died or Howard himself voluntarily abdicated.

A stroke was definitely a very serious sudden illness. If rescue was not timely, it could be life-threatening, and even if rescue was timely, it would be accompanied by many sequelae.

Hemiplegia, facial drooping, incontinence, and loss of speech were all common sequelae of a stroke. Especially for an eighty-year-old, the prognosis was extremely poor. Even if he didn't end up as severe as Hawking, he would at least be sixty or seventy percent of Hawking.

Thinking of his old father being unable to speak in the future, sitting in a wheelchair shivering, and struggling to control the joystick with trembling hands, Steve was so excited he couldn't control himself.

If his old father really could reach sixty or seventy percent of Hawking's condition, he would definitely have to retreat to the second line or even completely withdraw from family management to focus on his recovery. And since no other younger generation of the Rothschild family had grasped the opportunity of the Sifang Baozhuang, he, the original successor, would surely be able to reach the top smoothly!

Thus, he excitedly notified the pilot to prepare for takeoff and then hurriedly went to report the news to Ye Chen, who had returned to Helena's room.

By this time, Helena had already gone to the Capitol to attend the meeting scheduled for the morning. Ye Chen was alone in the room, waiting for the news of Howard's sudden illness.

Seeing Howard's mouth corner, which was harder to suppress than an AK, Ye Chen knew his old man must have had an accident, so he asked first: "Steve, you're so happy, did something happen to your father?"

Steve asked subconsciously: "Mr. Ye, do I... do I look very happy?"

Ye Chen nodded, pointed at his mouth, and teased: "Your mouth is curled up too high. One look and I know the 'recoil' is very strong and you can't suppress it."

Steve hurriedly used his hands to pull down the corners of his mouth, thinking to himself: "It's not that I don't want to suppress it, it's that I really can't..."

Then, he suppressed his laughter and said with a fake, sorrowful face: "Mr. Ye, I just received news from the family. My father... he has had a stroke..."

Ye Chen nodded, not feeling surprised. Howard was eighty-something years old, after all; how good could his health be? He valued the Sifang Baozhuang so much and had suffered so many major, continuous, chain-reaction stimuli; it was already a sign of his robustness that he hadn't just dropped dead.

That he could withstand this huge blow at the age of eighty-four was definitely due to the Rothschild family's medical technology. Perhaps the stem cells he injected regularly had played a role at this moment.

Thus, Ye Chen said half-teasingly and half-seriously: "Steve, don't be happy too early. A stroke is a disease that can be cured if you put in the effort. What I mean by cured is not just escaping life-threatening danger, but full recovery."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Steve waved his hands repeatedly, not believing it at all, and explained to Ye Chen: "Mr. Ye, a stroke is like broken porcelain. The best-case scenario is that it's not completely shattered and can be glued back together. It's good enough if the glued porcelain can still be used; how could it ever be restored to its original state?"

Ye Chen smiled: "In that case, I should congratulate Mr. Steve in advance on your ascension to the position of family head!"

Steve felt a bit embarrassed and laughed: "Mr. Ye, don't say that. My father's health has had a problem. Although I am very heartbroken, I also believe he will definitely be able to overcome the illness. If he recovers well, perhaps he can continue to lead the Rothschild family to climb even higher peaks!"

Ye Chen laughed: "There are no outsiders here, why are you still pretending with me? If your father really recovers very well, you might have to wait another few years or even a decade to inherit the position of family head. And who knows if there will be other changes during this time? The more it's like this, the easier it is to trigger Murphy's Law. The more you feel that in your father's final years, the successor candidate must not have any changes, the more likely changes are to occur."

Upon hearing this, most of Steve's excitement dissipated.

With only Ye Chen in front of him, he didn't want to pretend anymore, so he sighed and said: "To be honest, Mr. Ye, I don't know the specific situation of my father yet. It is said that he is still in emergency rescue. In the Rothschild family, any sudden illness can be guaranteed to have no accidents in terms of rescue timeliness and means. So my father will definitely receive the world's best stroke emergency care immediately. If he really has no major problems, then I can only continue to wait patiently..."

He paused and said in a dejected tone: "If any changes really occur in the future, I'm afraid I won't be able to change anything. I can only see if the Goddess of Fate favors me..."

Ye Chen smiled slightly and said earnestly: "That's right! Keep this dejected and disappointed mood you have now. That way, when you return to the Rothschild family and appear before your father's sickbed, you won't give yourself away. You must know that with your father's sudden stroke, every one of your younger brothers is surely heartbroken from the bottom of their hearts. If you are faking it, it will be very easy to give yourself away. If your father sees that mouth corner of yours that you can't suppress, he might just depose you on the spot."

Steve stared at Ye Chen with wide eyes and said with some emotion: "Mr. Ye, so you were thinking of me all along. I understand!"