Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen

Soapy found it difficult to get to the bottom of the truth.Life thereafter was roughly the same as before, but not quite the same.He secretly suspects that in learning business, he has sometimes not been helped enough to grasp the disconnected figures and the unorganized (too messy) long-winded "summary", "analytical report" and so on. ".His knowledge in this area is too limited, and he is not even qualified to be suspicious. But from the day he rejected Judge Bruder's request, he gradually became suspicious, and it became more and more clear.Dolores seemed to be as enthusiastic as ever, and when he asked, people still obeyed immediately.But the materials sent to him became less and less, and then they gradually stopped sending them.They always use various reasons to prevaricate him, so that he can't get what he wants to know.What are "investigation reports are being prepared", "the person in charge is out of town", or "those things are files in the vault, and there is no person in charge in the vault today" and so on.Judge Bruder and Uncle Jack never reappeared, and their assistants, while polite, couldn't solve the problem.Soapy had no way to press Uncle Jack.Leda had told him, "Daddy had to go out a lot."

Things started to go haywire in Soapy's office.Although the library was run by Dolores alone, she did not seem to be able to find, or even recall, the documents Soapy had marked for preservation.Finally he lost his temper and scolded her. She endured in silence. "I'm sorry, sir. I did my best." Soapy apologized to her.He could tell at a glance if a man was sabotaging, a skill he had learned when inspecting and supervising stevedores.But he just couldn't restrain himself, so he severely reprimanded her.Soapy finally comforted: "I'm really sorry, you can take a day off."

"Oh, I can't rest, sir." "Who says you can't rest? Go home." "I don't want to go home, sir." "Well...then do what you want. But you're going to the women's room to lie down or do something. That's an order. See you tomorrow." She walked away worried.Soapy sat at his desk, unable to exercise any power, thinking. What Thorby needed was to be alone, free from events and numbers.He began to sort out some of the thoughts in his mind, and listed the results of his consideration: First: Judge Bruder and Uncle Jack ostracized him because he refused to sign the power of attorney.

Second: Even if he's "Rudbeck's Rudbeck," it's Uncle Jack who continues to run the business—until the law officially declares his parents dead. Third: Judge Bruder once told him flat out that they would not begin the work of finding his parents dead until he had acknowledged Uncle Jack's jurisdiction and signed the power of attorney. Fourth: He does not know the content of the documents signed by his parents.Despite the best efforts to confront them and force them to produce the documents, it failed. Fifth: "Ownership" and "control" are very different.Uncle Jack controls everything Thorby owns, and at the same time, Uncle Jack owns only one share that is necessary to be acting chairman (Lyda has a lot of shares, because she is from the Rudbecks, and Uncle Jack is not- — but Uncle Jack might still be able to control her stake, since Lyda doesn't care much about business).

in conclusion: What is the conclusion?Was Uncle Jack up to some deceit, and he was too afraid to let him know?Oh, that doesn't seem to be the case.With so much salary and bonuses for Uncle Jack, only a money junkie would want more money.Parents' books look clean, with a huge balance.The 100 million yuan that Uncle Jack handed over to him was almost like a hair plucked from a cow.The only other expenses were living expenses for the Bradley grandparents, plus a small sum for the family and estate expenses.It's not a lot, just one or two hundred million yuan. The conclusion: Uncle Jack is a boss.He loves being the boss and would like to continue to be the boss if possible.

"Status", Uncle Jack has high status and is fighting to keep it.Soapy thought he understood him at last.Uncle Jack grumbles and is overworked because he really likes being the boss - like the captain and the patriarch, they're stupid even though every family member holds the same share in a free trade ship work hard.Uncle Jack is also "the patriarch" and doesn't want to cede his top status to someone a third his age and (let's be honest) incapable of leadership. After careful consideration, Soapy felt that he should still sign Uncle Jack's power of attorney, because the job belonged to him, and Soapy just inherited the property.Uncle Jack must have felt hopeless if his position had been reversed, and it seemed to him a most unjust reversal.

Well, leave the burden to him!Join the guard when things are done. But Soapy did not want to admit defeat to Judge Bruder, for he had been thrown aside by them.His strongest instinct is to confront anyone in power who displeases him, a habitual mode of thinking deep in his soul that can be said to be whipped out.Maybe even he himself didn't realize this, he just felt that he was very stubborn and stubborn.He thought Pop would agree with him. Speaking of Dad, he remembered something.Was Rudbeck connected to the slave trade, or indirectly?Now he knew why Pop wanted him to go on -- he wouldn't let it go until he knew the truth... if that inexplicable slave trade connection really existed, he wouldn't let it go.But now how can he get to the bottom of it?He's Rudbeck's Rudbeck, but they've tied him hand and foot, like the guy in Papa's Gulliver's Travels, and that's what he's in now.

Yeah, Pop had said when he reported to the X-Force that there was a connection between certain big ship companies, the Sargon government, and raiding ships that specialized in the slave trade.Raiders must have ships.The boat... oh, remember, he saw it in a book last week.It mentions the history of every ship built by the Galactic Transport Company from 0001 to the present.Soapy went into the library.Well... a long, narrow red book, not a videotape. The damn thing is missing...like so many things have been missing lately.But because he was very interested in spaceships, he could almost recite that book at that time.So he silently wrote out the contents of the book.

Most of the ships produced by Galactic Transport were used by the Confederacy, some were sold to companies with interests in Rudbeck, and some were sold elsewhere.It is gratifying that some of the company's ships have been sold to traders.But some of the ships fell into the hands of other people, who he didn't know...but he thought he remembered the names of all the interstellar merchants who did legitimate business, at least the legitimate merchants under the control of the Allied Powers.If it was a free trader, he would know for sure. If I got hold of the book, I wouldn't be able to prove anything in the office.Maybe there's no way on Earth to find out... maybe even Judge Bruder and Uncle Jack don't know if there's anything suspicious.

He stood up and turned on the galaxy monitor he had installed, but it could only show a small part of the galaxy that had been developed, and the report content was pitifully small. Soapy started at the control panel.First use green to mark the nine stars, and then use yellow to mark the plague areas that traders avoid.Then, he marked the two starting and ending planets where he and his parents were on the way to being captured.He then used the same method to mark the planets associated with all the missing "fellow" ships. The result is a dense patch of colour.In terms of interstellar distance, those planets are quite close to each other, and they are all in the same area as Nine Stars.Soapy looked at the place and whistled softly.Dad was right.But its location is difficult to ascertain without being shown on a galactic display as it is now.

Soapy considered the cruising radius and the Galactic Transport Corporation's refueling station there, and marked the "adjacent" Galactic Acceptance Corporation bank office in orange. Soapy then made some research on the above situation. That's not conclusive evidence -- what other companies are there? He wanted to get to the bottom of it.