Chapter 4 Meeting
The first person to meet was Dai Da. After asking for condolences, Liang Xi got down to business. He took out the old will, which was also sealed, from the borrowed assistant's briefcase. The seal was open. Liang Xi put the will on the table. Dai Da took a look at the will and didn't quite understand: "Won't Lawyer Cook read the will tomorrow night?"
Liang Xi did not answer but asked: "Mr. Dai... Mr. Davis, the situation is like this. Have you heard that there is a little discord between your father and Lawyer Cook?"
Dai Da thought for a while and said, "No, Lawyer Cook was my grandfather's lawyer at the time. I haven't heard of any discord between them."
Liang Xi said: "There is a rumor that Lawyer Cook once had dinner with your second brother. After that, the will managed by the lawyer became a sealed will. As the manager of your father's will and the person who knows the contents of your father's will, according to industry rules, Lawyer Cook should not have private dealings with any interested parties."
Dai Da asked back: "Mr. Liang, what exactly do you do?"
Liang Xi said: "I introduced myself before. I am a psychological evaluator."
Dai Da: “Isn’t he an emotional assessor?”
Liang Xi explained: "There are different names for ourselves in the industry and outside. In the industry, we call ourselves emotional assessors. For example, before notifying the relatives of the victims, we will first assess their emotions and then decide how to inform them. We put people first."
Dai Da seemed to understand what Liang Xi meant and said, "Mr. Liang, I respect my father's will very much and I can accept any terms. To be honest, I don't even want to inherit the title. This is not my interest. And even if I go bankrupt and lose my job, our family trust fund is enough to ensure that our living standard will not be too bad."
Liang Xi stood up and shook hands with Dai Da: "Sorry to bother you, if possible, please keep our conversation secret from them for the time being."
…
The second person to meet was Dai Er. As usual, after expressing his condolences, Liang Xi took out the unsealed old will from his briefcase. Dai Er was obviously a little surprised and hesitant: "What does this mean?"
Liang Xi saw this and said, "Mr. Davis, based on my understanding of the nobility, the eldest son inherits the title, and the second son usually chooses to join the army."
Dai Er nodded casually: "There is such a saying. Cook asked you to tell me the contents of the will?"
Liang Xi shook his head: "No, this is an old will. From the old will, it seems that Mr. Dai received some relatively generous treatment. The will specifically states that since you have been in the army for twelve years and have made great , you will get 2% more assets than others."
Dai Er was surprised: "Is that so?"
Liang Xi laughed: "Sorry Mr. Dai, I am an emotional assessor..." What is that title?
Liang Xi forgot about it and just fooled around: "So we need to tell some lies to understand each prospective heir's expectations of the will."
Dai Er ignored Liang Xi's annoying conversation and asked with concern, "What is the content of the will?"
Liang Xi said: "Although it is an old will, it still requires the consent of Lawyer Cook to view it. Thank you for your cooperation. Sorry to bother you."
Liang Xi took the initiative to shake hands with Dai Er, who was a little confused. He returned to his room and immediately called Cook, who did not tell him about the theft of the will and just perfunctorily evaded the question. After hanging up the phone, Cook contacted Liang Xi and asked, "Is Dai Er a suspect?"
Liang Xi replied: "I don't think Dai Er stole the will, Lawyer Cook, do you have any questions?"
Cook quickly replied: "No, no."
…
The third person Liang Xi met was Dai San, who was the calmest and most peaceful of the children. He was not surprised when he saw the old will, and told Liang Xi first: "I will donate all my assets except the land to charity. I don't care about the contents of the will, and I don't need a psychological evaluation."
Liang Xi asked: "Why not donate the land?"
Dai San replied: "Because the land is a limited inheritance, I hope that the Davis family can continue to inherit . In addition, I have expressed this wish to my father. I don't want my father to split the limited inheritance land. Our ancestors left us the Davis family fiefdom, and our descendants have the obligation to protect the family fiefdom."
Liang Xi smiled and said, "I talked to your eldest brother before. I think you have a stronger sense of family and are more suitable to be the heir to the title and fiefdom."
Dai San disagreed: "The eldest son inheritance system is a tradition and also a law. If there is no such rule, the heir-in-waiting of each family can do many despicable things to please the patriarch of the family. For example, selling out his brothers, or contacting lawyers in private."
Liang Xi said: "Mr. Dai seems to be referring to your second brother?"
Dai San shook his head: "I didn't mean anything. I just said that I can guarantee that I am not a greedy person, but I can't persuade others to be a person who does not desire material things."
Liang Xi stood up and shook hands with Dai San: "Thank you." You didn't ask why I mentioned Dai Er, which means you know about this.
…
The three sons were all good-tempered, especially the eldest and the third, who were very polite. But Dai was different. She was a bit overbearing and spoke rudely.
Liang Xi first asked the key question: "Who do you think cares most about the contents of the will among your brothers?"
Dai answered without thinking, "My second brother is also the most ambitious among us. After he retired from the army, he started a business and lost a lot of money. He even filed for personal bankruptcy. My father paid back the money for him for the sake of the family's reputation. It is said that he lost a lot of money investing in hedge funds a few months ago and borrowed a lot of money from outside. Now the whole family relies on trust funds to make ends meet."
Ms. Dai: "Also, my second sister-in-law is a very vain woman. In order to match her status as a daughter-in-law of a wealthy family, she spent a lot of money, and my second brother suffered terribly. They are the ones who are most looking forward to the will among us."
It can be heard that Dai Nu hates the second sister-in-law, and her comments on the second brother are quite kind. She never said anything bad about the eldest and third brothers, and her attitude was very good when she mentioned them.
It seems that there are some conflicts within the family, and Dai Da and Dai San are unwilling to discuss family conflicts with Liang Xi. Dai Nu's upbringing is not bad either. From the fact that she can't help but say bad things about her second sister-in-law, it can be seen that Dai Nu has tolerated her for a long time.
Liang Xi asked several old maids who had worked in the Earl's house for at least fifteen years. They told Liang Xi that among the four children, Dai Nu was the most beloved by the Earl. Dai Nu behaved the best in daily life and always thought of the Earl and his wife first when there were good things. In the ten years after the Earl's wife passed away, she stayed at the manor for at least one day a week to accompany the Earl.
Liang Xi looked at the old will and found that Dai's daughter did not get more assets. The old will stated that the limited inheritance fiefdom would be given to Dai Da, and the other assets would be divided equally among the four children.
The new will must be different from the old one, otherwise there would be no need to make another one. There was only one month between the old and new wills, and during this month, only Lady Dai met the Earl. Lady Dai's company may have changed the distribution of the Earl's assets in his will. Judging from Lady Dai's attitude, Dai Er may be the victim of the new will.
But from the meeting with Dai Er, Liang Xi believed that Dai Er did not steal the will.
