Volume 4: White Devil Chapter 223: Vermin and the Righteous
Tommy is skeptical about whether his father-in-law would really help Warner and himself to pimp as Sean said, and convince himself to let Warner take advantage and hold shares in his production company. He still knows something about his father-in-law. Although they both know some of the dirty little things in each other's life, they still regard each other as trustworthy family members who cannot be completely cut off.
Just when Tommy was full of warm fantasies about his father-in-law, he received a call from the other party, asking him to go to New York to attend a cocktail party he organized and introduce him to an old friend in the film industry.
Compared to the passionate and unrestrained high-class parties in California, the upper class in New York is much more conservative, always wearing a coat of splendor and politeness. Tommy has never liked living in New York because of this. Just think about it, the father-in-law introduces his good friends to his son-in-law, and he also has to hold a serious dinner party, and the venue is chosen to be a place where even prostitutes have to wear a branded coat to get in.
In California, there is no need for these hypocritical etiquettes. Look at Jason. When he first introduced the Korean girl to Tommy, it was on a sunny beach with many people gathered. They just shared a blanket and met each other frankly.
At the member-only Morgan private club in New York, Julian Farrell hugged Tommy and then introduced him to the middle-aged man next to him: "Herbert Siegel, Chairman and CEO of Clark Industries."
Tommy turned his gaze towards the man, who was tall with short brown hair. Compared to Julian, who was dressed in a suit, he was dressed much more casually, wearing a black silk shirt and a pair of overalls that looked like something an ordinary worker could afford, but were actually high-end custom-made. He had a silver necklace around his neck and a cigar between his lips.
Whether it is the title or the dress, this middle-aged man, who is almost the same age as his father-in-law, looks more like a practitioner in the traditional industrial industry than a movie industry tycoon.
"Otilia's fiancé, or rather, boyfriend, this bastard hasn't proposed ." Julian patted his son-in-law on the back and introduced Tommy to him.
The man named Herbert took out the cigar from his mouth and said, "So, the heart of that little angel Otilia was taken away by this little jerk from SSD? As a member of the Order of the Phoenix, you actually tolerated that jerk from SSD to become a family member. I knew it, Julian. Do you remember what I said when you courted your wife in college? That was definitely a conspiracy of SSD. Your wife was an undercover agent sent by SSD to infiltrate the Order of the Phoenix. Otherwise...with your face uglier than a burnt pizza, it would be impossible for you to seduce their most beautiful girl. Now the truth is out. SSD has completely infiltrated the families of alumni of the Order of the Phoenix."
"I will convey this message to your brother-in-law, Herbert, who is 22 years younger than you. When you married the sister of an SSD student member four years ago, I gave you my sincere blessing," Julian said with a smile.
Herbert extended his hand and shook Tommy's. "Hello, kid. Your father-in-law's introduction is not accurate enough. I am indeed the chairman of Clark Industries, but I also have another identity. I am the vice chairman of the board of directors of Warner Corporation and the largest shareholder of Warner. Uh, it also includes CNN Group. I also have these two titles."
Tommy had heard of Clark Industries from his father-in-law before. This is a publicly traded company with a very diversified business and astonishing revenue, but it is not well-known. Its business scope covers everything from automotive interiors to shipbuilding, from wine brewing to medical supplies, as well as oil, natural gas, insulation materials and even television business and software development. In short, you can see this company in any industry that can make money.
The company holds a number of innovative technology patents for shipbuilding, which has enabled Julian's Sea Line Shipbuilding to continue to cooperate with the other party in patent licensing.
"Hello, Mr. Siegel, Tommy, Tommy Hawke, a small guy who is following his father-in-law to learn how to do business." Tommy shook hands with the other party and said politely and humbly.
The three of them walked into the restaurant, which had already been prepared. The waiter pulled out the chairs for them. Herbert sat down and said, "In my opinion, Julian is definitely not as good as you. If you insist on learning , my advice to you is not to waste time. Just donate two-thirds of your assets, and then you will achieve the same outstanding business success as your father-in-law."
Tommy glanced at his father-in-law who was tipping the waiter and sending them away. Herbert's words obviously meant that his father-in-law had already told him about his approximate assets. This showed that the relationship between Herbert Siegel and Julian was not as simple as being good friends. His father-in-law was not the kind of honest man like his father who couldn't wait to brag to all the neighbors about how rich his son was.
"Mr. Siegel doesn't seem to be as close to you as you told me." Tommy sat down and asked his father-in-law while adjusting his napkin, "I can tell he is humiliating you. Just say one word, my father-in-law, and my bodyguard Mr. Page will be outside the door."
Julian sighed with satisfaction, looking at Herbert: "My dear boy Tommy, I am touched by you."
"So, you'll let your bodyguard come in and beat me up to help your father-in-law vent his anger?" Herbert threw two cigars in front of him to Tommy and Julian and asked with a smile.
"Yes."
“No.”
The one who said yes was Julian, and the one who said no was Tommy.
Julian looked at Tommy in confusion. "I thought we were already in perfect harmony."
"What I mean is, Mr. Page has at least four or five stun guns on him. He can give one to each of you. Then you two proud sons of the Order of the Phoenix can have a fair fight here. I, an outsider of the White Society, will be responsible for cheering and acting as the referee. I will not be partial, nor will I blow the whistle unfairly. After all, any fall of an Order of the Phoenix member is worth celebrating for the White Society." Tommy took the cigar thrown to him, looked at his father-in-law Julian, and said sincerely and expectantly.
After hearing what Tommy said, Herbert leaned back in his chair and stared at Julian. "This is the good son-in-law you chose, huh? Man, what eyes do you use to help your daughter choose a boyfriend? He is really warm-hearted, but that's normal. A scumbag like you is only worthy of a jerk like Tommy as a son-in-law."
"Julian is a good man." When Tommy heard Herbert say that his father-in-law was a bad man, although he knew that they must have a close relationship, as a future son-in-law, he still had to correct him considerately in this situation.
Herbert picked up the wine and took a sip. "Good man? No, he is a bad man. Don't be fooled by the gentlemanly demeanor shown by this bastard at this moment. Julian, tell your dear son-in-law Tommy, are you a bad man? What did you do to me in the past?"
"It's nothing, just some common pranks among teenage boys." Julian said calmly.
Then he tried to change the topic by introducing the club's signature food to his son-in-law Tommy.
"A common prank? Are you saying that letting me have the nickname of Shetland Dog for four years in college is just a common prank?" Herbert obviously didn't want the topic to end here. He took a few puffs of his cigar viciously and turned his eyes to Tommy:
"During my freshman semester, I had a beautiful girlfriend and she also raised a cute Shetland Sheepdog. I was the first one among my freshmen to find a girlfriend in college. Then your father-in-law got jealous of me, and he teamed up with a few other freshmen to do something that made my girlfriend leave me. And I got a nickname that will remain in the Phoenix Order alumni roster forever: Shetland Sheepdog."
"I'm listening, sir." Tommy said seriously with a very serious expression on his face, "Jealous of you, this is a very serious accusation."
Julian looked speechlessly at Tommy who was waiting to hear gossip: "When did you become so curious?"
"After my father-in-law was equally curious about my personal life." Tommy muttered under his breath.
Herbert bit his cigar, leaned back in his chair and recalled, his tone full of resentment that could not be eliminated even after more than 20 years:
"The tragedy happened thirty minutes before my first date with my girlfriend. My beautiful girlfriend had already taken a shower and changed into the underwear she had carefully prepared for me. She was waiting for me in the dormitory to share our love. I was walking on the way to the date with a smug look on my face and carrying two boxes of condoms with me. Damn, when I was less than a hundred meters away from my girlfriend's dormitory, these ugly bastards who couldn't pick up girls kidnapped me."
"Wow." Tommy was suddenly shocked, and the expression on his face changed from solemn and serious to eager and excited.
Herbert took a sip from his glass to ease the urge to jump up and kill Julian. He continued, "Guess where the hair came from. It was my girlfriend's lovely Shetland Sheepdog. Those bastards tied up the poor dog and shaved a bikini pattern on it. Do you understand? Imagine the picture of a Shetland Sheepdog wearing a bikini."
Tommy held up the wine glass with both hands, lowered the cup mouth very low, and signaled to his father-in-law: "I look at you with new eyes, father-in-law. Compared with you, the tricks I played on the SSD brothers in college were as harmless as children playing house."
It turned out that my father-in-law was not a good person. I was a little careless before. He shaved the hair of my brother's girlfriend's dog and prepared a fur condom for my brother . Can a normal person come up with such a method?
If it was Tommy who came up with this method at Stanford and used it on Jason, Tommy guaranteed that within 30 years, the campus legend of himself, the best adult product designer at Stanford, and Jason, the best adult product male model at Stanford, would be circulated in Stanford SSD.
"Because of them, I broke two records of the Cornell University Phoenix Society: the fastest record of getting a girlfriend and the fastest record of breaking up with a girlfriend. I still can't forget the expression of my lovely girlfriend when she saw the Shetland fur condom underneath me." Herbert ended his recollection with an expression that he couldn't bear to look back on:
"By the way, your father-in-law's nickname within the Cornell Order of the Phoenix is fucking 'Pest'!"
"You were the one who framed me first and sent a photo of a man's golf club to the girl I liked in my name. I was just punishing you a little." Julian retorted with disdain.
Herbert corrected him immediately: "After I found out that I sent it to the wrong person, I immediately wrote an apology letter to that girl in your name. Okay, a very sincere apology!"
"Of course I didn't forget. You wrote a sincere apology letter to that biology girl: Dear Sally, I'm very sorry, I made a mistake, that golf club is not mine, this one is. And you attached a photo of me with the letter! It also said on the photo that Julian Farrell is a throat fish." Tommy's father-in-law said in an unhappy tone.
Tommy's curiosity made him raise his hand. "Biology professors, please forgive my lack of knowledge of biology, so what does throat-crossing fish mean?"
Julian rolled his eyes at the curious Tommy and said nothing. Herbert, on the contrary, seemed to be waiting for Tommy to ask this question. He said happily, "Because the reproductive organs of animals like the laryngeal fish are on their heads! Kid! Hahahahaha~~"
"The atmosphere has reached this point, so do you need me to call Mr. Page in to help you provide weapons?" Tommy looked at the two middle-aged men who were attacking each other and asked with concern.
At the same time, he also understood why his father-in-law always liked to come to this kind of secret club to party with friends. After all, on the tourist-filled California beach, two American billionaires with assets worth billions could not expose each other's scandals.
After telling the joke, which was equivalent to telling his son- in -law about his relationship with the other party, Julian helped Tommy to serve the dishes himself, saying, "The Siegel family and the Farrell family have a close relationship since my father. What I mean is that he and I tortured each other and made each other look ridiculous, but we still stood up for each other when the other needed help. So, you can respect Herbert as another me."
"So, it's like I'm going to hire a team of Pinkerton detectives now to keep an eye on Mr. Siegel, and if we find him fooling around, we'll intimidate him? If Mr. Siegel doesn't obey, I'll reveal the situation to his brother-in-law who's 22 years younger than him and from SSD?" Tommy gave Julian a knowing look and teased with a smile.
When Herbert heard Tommy's words, he showed a surprised expression: "Wow, you and your son-in-law really love each other. Congratulations, Pest, you have found a son-in-law who is suitable for you."
"Herbert never participates in the daily management of Warner. He is more focused on the business of Clark Industries. However, he is a long-time friend of Warner Chairman Steve Ross and Director Turner. He invested in Warner and CNN shares because when Murdoch came to the United States, he wanted to maliciously acquire Warner. He stepped forward to help his friend overcome the difficulties. Turner's CNN has been in some difficulties recently. The news channel has suffered heavy losses and can only be maintained by movies, reality shows, sports, documentaries and other channels. But now, in addition to paid movie channels and paid sports channels, Fox is preparing to grab the market share of paid reality shows." Julian said to Tommy:
"Most importantly, Herbert helped me before. If your free TV network is not in competition with CNN's paid reality TV channel, you might consider helping it."
Tommy slowly exhaled a puff of smoke. "My father-in-law is of Jewish descent. He always taught me not to ask how much you have paid, but to always figure out what you can gain first. So, what can my father-in-law and I gain?"
"When did I teach you this? I didn't." Julian thought for a moment in confusion and said.
"No, you have." Tommy looked at Herbert. "I'm not a greedy person, but if we don't talk about the gains, it seems unreal and both of us will feel uneasy."
"I feel that the Jewish blood in you is much deeper than that of your father-in-law." Herbert stared at Tommy for a long time and said with a smile: "So, what is the price?"
"trust."
Herbert glanced at Julian and found that Julian was nodding to his son-in-law with satisfaction. He looked at Tommy who was waiting for a reply, thought for a moment and said:
"You still learned something from your father-in-law. I will pass on your words to them."
"Righteous man." Tommy said suddenly to Herbert.
Herbert looked at Tommy in confusion: "What?"
"My nickname in the Stanford White Robe Society is Righteous Tommy." Tommy smiled at Herbert and said:
“People are reluctant to trust a pest, but are willing to trust a righteous person.”
