Chapter 768
The crowd was led by the village chief, and each and every one of them looked aggrieved and infuriated.
Some were clenching their fists, while others brought their hammers and shovels. Instead of attending a funeral, they seemed to be here for a fight.
Even the village chief who had always been an easy going person looked furious. He stared angrily at him, sending off a very fearful message.
Henrick‘s noticed the oddity and anxiously asked, “Err… what is going on?”
“Holding you accountable,” the village chief replied. Albeit spoken softly, his tone was extremely determined and to a certain extent, aggressive.
Henrick frowned and asked again, “What do you mean? I don‘t know when I have offended you, but surely this commotion is unwarranted! When my mom was still around, she never took advantage of you! Is this how you treat her son now that she is gone?”
“Hmph!” the village chief let out a huge grunt. “Indeed, your mother did not take advantage of me. But remember, I was the person who paid her share of the repair costs for the church. Your mother refused to contribute!”
“So this is what all of it is about…” Henrick nodded. “You should have told me earlier! It‘s a good deed to contribute to the repair of the church. How much did you pay on behalf of my mom? I‘ll pay you back.”
“Do you really think that I‘m the only one asking for money?” replied the village chief.
Then, he turned and looked towards Nigel.
Nigel stepped forward and said, “Henrick, I heard that you spent fifteen thousand on flowers for this funeral. However, when I asked for my salary for this month yesterday, you refused me! Josee is bed–ridden for such a long time and I cannot afford to take her to seek treatment! Henrick, how can you be so heartless? When are you going to pay up?”
The veins on Henrick‘s forehead popped out visibly
He wanted to assure them that he would pay them after the funeral. However, the moment he looked up and saw the crowd, he became speechless.
Mrs. Southall owed them a substantial amount of salary. She only paid them once in a while, but even so, it was only a month‘s worth of salary, just enough to keep the villagers alive.
If he were to pay them immediately, that would involve an extremely huge sum!
Henrick was indeed a very stingy and cunning person. He could spend millions building his own house, but would not pay his workers, who he saw as imbeciles.
Henrick hesitated, before lambasting them, “Who started this rumor? My cash flow is extremely tight! How will I be able to spend fifteen thousand on flowers!”
Henrick raised his voice to the crowd. “I‘m pretty sure all of you know what kind of person I am! The situation in the industry is atrocious at the moment. I have to pay for the expenses and costs upfront, but the payments from clients take a very long time to clear. It‘s not that I don‘t want to pay you all, but there are simply not enough funds available now to do it immediately!”
Nigel was an innocent person. Swayed by Henrick‘s speech, he gulped and asked, “Are you telling the truth? You‘re not planning to build a mansion worth millions, nor did you spend so much on flowers?”
Henrick nodded profusely. “Of course! What luxurious mansion are you talking about? Nonsense! I‘m not sure where you hear this from, but don‘t believe it! We are a family, and I will not hang you up to dry!”
Nigel‘s felt a deep sense of penitence.
“I’m really, really sorry…”
However, before Nigel could finish his sentence…
