Chapter 94: Pirates

The three of them discussed for four and a half hours, not wrapping up until seven in the evening. The main focus was refining the details of Li Mochen's comprehensive store plan, discussing the raising and use of funds, as well as the company's personnel matters.

Caldron Jebson was clearly still eager to continue. If not for the fact that Li Mochen was a student who had to attend school the next day, he would have worked overtime to finalize the plan.

The worry in Li Mei's eyes had also noticeably faded. Li Mochen's considerations were quite thorough, covering all aspects, which alleviated many of her concerns.

The key was that she had initially grasped Li Mochen's intentions and confirmed the feasibility of the plan.

Although Li Mei considered herself lacking in business acumen, just hearing Li Mochen's description of this comprehensive store made her heart stir. She thought that if she were a customer, she would definitely choose such a store when buying appliances, rather than running around to various electrical shops.

"By the way!"

Before leaving, Li Mei suddenly remembered something and placed a letter in front of Li Mochen.

"This is a letter from a relative of your family. It might have been sent to the company because your family changed address. I think you need to see it. I knew this girl before; she came to our company with her mother. She was a very cute little girl. So before this, I made inquiries through connections. Her father recently died of a serious illness. From onset to death, it was only three days, leaving no time to arrange for his daughter. So her situation now is very, very bad."

"Relative?"

Li Mochen looked at the signature on the envelope: "Hazel Wiltonstein?"

Since she also bore the surname Wiltonstein, she must be a relative. The postal code and address were for Baxley City in Appling County, only twelve kilometers from Atlanta, almost considered a suburb or satellite city of Atlanta.

From the neat but immature handwriting, Li Mochen inferred that the sender was young, and the memories surfacing in his mind confirmed his guess.

It was a six-year-old girl in the middle of losing her baby teeth. Her features were quite regular, but her face was covered in chickenpox, making her look very ugly.

But that was how she looked several years ago when the original owner saw her. Now Hazel Wiltonstein should be eleven years old.

Their parents were indeed close. Especially Hazel's father, who was the only family member that Li Mochen's mother, Elena, kept in touch with after leaving the family.

This was due to their similar circumstances. Although Hazel's father, Vivian, was from a collateral branch of the Wiltonstein family, he was also a romantic. He fell in love with a commoner girl and stubbornly refused the family's arranged marriage, so he met the same fate as Elena—expelled from the Wiltonstein family.

The envelope had been opened. Li Mochen glanced sideways at Li Mei before pulling out the letter paper. The contents immediately made him frown.

Dear Aunt Elena—it was addressed to his mother.

"Aunt Elena, how are you? I miss you and Uncle Li, and of course Andre, even though he likes to bully people. I guess you must have moved, right? I sent a letter to your old address, but it was returned a week ago, so I had to try sending it to your company."

"Aunt Elena, what I'm about to say might be presumptuous and excessive. But I don't know who else to turn to now. My situation is terrible. I don't know if you've heard, but my father recently died of a sudden illness. After that, since both my parents are gone, I was taken in by my aunt. But for me, that place is a den of devils—I don't want to use that word, but for me, this period has been the darkest days of my life."

"Father once said that you and Uncle Li are very reliable people, and if I ever get into trouble, I should ask you for help. So I earnestly beg you, in whatever way, please help me, Aunt Elena—"

There was a long passage afterward. Li Mochen read it all, then specifically noted the date at the end of the letter, finding it was from September 25th.

Twenty days ago?

He took a deep breath, suppressing the distracting thoughts stirred up by the original owner's emotions, and looked at Li Mei: "Why did you only give me a letter from three weeks ago now?"

"At that time, you hadn't signed the sponsorship agreement with Nason Sports Group, nor handled the inheritance. You were like a helpless child yourself. Now, A-Mo, you seem more reliable."

Li Mei smiled bitterly: "I originally planned to find a way to help Hazel myself, but my power is limited. The key is that I'm not Hazel's relative, so I can't do much."

"Doesn't the Wiltonstein family take care of her?"

Li Mochen raised an eyebrow. He remembered that after the original owner's parents died, someone from the Wiltonstein family came to ask if Li Mochen wanted to be adopted, but the original Li Mochen firmly refused.

"A-Mo, she's different from you. Hazel is just a disowned collateral branch of the Wiltonsteins, and her magical talent isn't very good, they say."

Li Mei shook her head: "The Wiltonsteins did send someone, specifically to run some tests on her. After that, they completely ignored her."

"So, Aunt Mei, you think I should help her?"

Li Mochen didn't hesitate much before making a decision. "Alright! Baxley City, right? I'll go take a look. I'll find time within these two weeks."

This was not only because the original owner cared deeply about Hazel, but also because he himself felt that he should provide whatever help he could to this little girl.

Moreover, the timing of Vivian's death almost overlapped with that of Li Mochen's parents—was this just a coincidence?

What troubled him was the time; he had too many things to do recently. Li Mochen felt it would be very difficult to keep his promise to the grade advisor—it seemed nearly impossible.

Just as the two were talking, Caldron Jebson, who had already left, hurried back with a grim face.

"BOSS, someone just called the company. They said a batch of goods we ordered from China was hijacked at sea half a day ago."

Li Mochen's eyes narrowed: "Do you know who did it? What's the loss?"

"It's a pirate group active in the Pacific. We can't know their origin or name."

Caldron Jebson smiled bitterly: "The goods aren't much—worth only 550,000 gold shields, a total of thirty-six 40-foot containers. The key is the personnel; one of our employees was on the ship."

Li Mochen's face gradually darkened: "Is this targeting our Sunrise Company?"

"I'm not sure."

Caldron Jebson shook his head: "The hijacked ship was an entire ocean-going barge, the Swift Wind, with a displacement of 6,500 tons, capable of carrying 300 twenty-foot equivalent units. The cargo on that ship wasn't just ours."

"So we can't rule out the worst, right? Our goods accounted for at least a fifth of the ship's cargo?"

Li Mochen looked at Caldron, who gave a wry smile. He couldn't help but sigh, thinking that his so-called half-sister and Antonio were indeed quick to act.

Just yesterday, he had thwarted their plot against the Archibald Apartments, and today they had already resorted to new tactics, directly using pirates to strike at Sunrise Company's lifeline.

If this were still the original Li Mochen, this blow would surely have left him helpless.

"Uncle Caldron, I want to know how the company usually handled such incidents in the past?"

"I'm not very clear on that."

Caldron Jebson looked rather helpless: "In the past ten years, we occasionally encountered pirates hijacking goods, but your father always managed to resolve it smoothly. He could often get the goods back with just a phone call, without needing to go himself. But who he called, and the specific process, I have no idea."

Li Mochen felt a bit disappointed, then continued: "Then what about when gangs like the Blood Hand come to the company? For instance, wasn't there someone who tried to hide drugs in our goods, and you used my father's connections to deal with them?"