Reid snorted. "Dad, you must have talked to him, but it was useless, right?"
The awkwardness on Ludwik's face deepened.
Indeed, Reid was right.
When Reid's company had just started facing that crisis, he'd gone to find Matthew.
Matthew had always been filial, but he'd refused to help with the matter.
No matter how hard he'd tried to persuade him, Matthew would not agree.
"Reid, what happened between you and Matthew? Why is there such a big gap between you two?" Ludwik sighed heavily. "I only have two sons. I really don't want the relationship between you two to become too tense."
Reid did not speak. He pursed his lips and seemed to be thinking about something.
After a while, he said, "Dad, I don't want to mess up with Matthew, so I came to see you this time to see if I can improve my relationship with him."
He paused and lowered his voice. "I thought about my relationship with Matthew. It went bad since eight years ago. Eight years ago, Matthew suddenly disappeared for a year. That year, I didn't contact him either. After he came back, there was a distance between us."
Ludwik froze.
Reid asked tentatively, "Dad, what happened to Matthew?"
Ludwik let out a long sigh.
He didn't want to talk about it, but since Reid asked, he had no choice.
Since the relationship between Reid and Matthew had deteriorated, he thought if Reid knew everything that Matthew had done, he might feel moved.
Ludwik looked at Reid. "Reid, do you know what Matthew did for our family? He almost died eight years ago."
Reid was stunned.
Ludwik seemed to be in a trance as if he was recalling something. A moment later, he said, "Reid, do you know that when I was young, I was involved in wars?"
"I do." Reid had heard of it from Ludwik.
Ludwik replied with a "hmm" and said, "There was so much violence. At that time, a bullet of mine shot through a colonel's chest, and he was killed on the spot. It was normal during the war, but who would have thought that his family was very powerful. Their family was one of the richest families in Germany, and the power of his descendants was spread all over the Europe and America. They were not to be underestimated."
Ludwik continued, "I didn't know about these things at the time. After the war ended, I started my business. While it was still expanding, I didn't expect to be recognized by the family of the colonel I'd killed. At that time, the Perry Group was far from its current glory in Matthew's hands. They vowed to make us repay the debts with blood, and to take my life."
There were strange emotions in Reid's eyes.
He didn't know anything about these matters at all.
Ludwik sighed, "In the end, Matthew found out, and he went to settle it."
Reid's eyes flashed with astonishment. "Eight years ago, he went off to solve such a difficult problem?"
Reid really couldn't believe it.
In his impression, eight years ago, Matthew had still been a very gentle young man. At that time, he wasn't in charge of the Perry Group yet, nor was he so distinguished.
How could such a warm and gentle young man solve such a problem?
Pain flashed across Ludwik's face. "Yes, I didn't know how Matthew had found out about it. He went to Germany alone and said that he would solve this problem for me. After that, there were no news from him."
"I even thought that Matthew was dead. At that time, I was ready to sell off all my business and purchase a large number of weapons. I was going to risk my life to avenge Matthew, but I didn't expect him to suddenly come back. He never told me how he solved it, but I knew," He closed his eyes when he talked.
His heart ached as if it had been pierced by a knife, as he talked about it.
After a while, Ludwik finally opened his eyes. "I knew that Matthew must have suffered a lot, because I found that he had a lot of injuries and even gunshot wounds. But when I asked him about it, he refused to tell me."
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