Late at night, 61-year-old Anderson Vanderbilt dragged his tired steps back to his home in Brooklyn, New York City. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"How's that, how's that? They didn't promise. Anderson's wife stepped forward and asked eagerly as she took her husband's coat and hat.

"Hey......" Anderson didn't answer directly, sighed, and sat down on the couch.

"Won't they help?" Anderson's wife cried out in disappointment, "My poor Richard, he's just 20 years old. ”

"No, there are too many people today, and I didn't find a chance to say it." Seeing his wife, who had been with him for nearly 40 years, crying sadly, Anderson hurriedly explained: "A decision was made at the meeting, and in the future, John, the John of the FedEx company, will be responsible for all this matter." There were so many people around him after the meeting that I didn't squeeze in. ”

"Don't worry, I'll go to him again tomorrow. No matter how you say it, it's a family, and he can't just leave it alone. The latter sentence is not so much to comfort his wife, but rather to say that Anderson is cheering himself up.

Anderson and John are still contemporaries, and he is the grandson of Jeremiah, the second son of Cornelius Sr. The elder Cornelius had three sons and eight daughters during his lifetime. The youngest son, George, was the most favored, but he died early. The second son, Jeremiah, was frail and sickly since he was a child, and his personality was extreme, and he did not like the elder Cornelius very much.

At the beginning, when Cornelius Sr. made a will before his death, in order to maintain the integrity of the family's huge wealth to the greatest extent, he handed over all about $95 million to William's grandfather, leaving only $500,000 for his wife and eight daughters each (a large part of which were railroad bonds that could not be realized in the short term). As for not accepting him to see his second son, Jeremiah, he only received a trust fund totaling $200,000.

To this end, after the death of Cornelius Sr., Jeremiah united several sisters and William's grandfather to fight an estate lawsuit for many years. That's not all, in order to prove that Cornelius Sr. had mental problems and was incapacitated when he made his will, Jeremiah even did not hesitate to fabricate scandals such as his father's bad habits, syphilis, and association with psychics, which caused an uproar throughout the country.

So much so that the court later had to conduct an open coffin autopsy on Cornelius Sr., arrange for medical experts to dissect his body organs, and give a detailed description of the autopsy in front of the jury and the courtroom audience.

In the end, though, the longest and most bitterly debated estate lawsuit in U.S. history ended in an out-of-court settlement, with Grandpa William "voluntarily" gifting his younger siblings $1 million each. But since then, Grandpa William's line has not been in contact with Jeremiah's line.

This continued until John's father's generation died, and only then did it begin to improve, driven by Frederick, the three remaining generations of the family. After all, at this time, the Vanderbilt family had begun to decline, and the problem of withering talent was very serious. Grandpa Jeremiah's family is also his own family. More than 60 years have passed, the parties have all died, and no matter how big the grudge is, it has almost dissipated.

It's just that Grandpa Jeremiah's line has not been integrated into the mainstream circle of the family for a long time, and most of the members are still relatively marginal within the family. Although I have the opportunity to participate in various family activities, I am basically the master who stands on the sidelines.

For example, this Anderson Vanderbilt, don't look at him is 61 years old this year, he can only sit on the outermost level when he attends family meetings, and he is not as powerful as John's little nephews who are just in their early 20s.

Speaking of which, this Anderson is quite capable. After all, Grandpa Jeremiah's own inheritance did not receive much in the first place, and in his lifetime, the little interest from the trust fund was not enough to cover daily living expenses.

Anderson was quite ambitious when he was young, and as soon as he graduated from Columbia University, he went to the Philippines with a few friends to do business. For more than a decade, their business has expanded from Manila to Shanghai and Osaka. Anderson has also amassed a million-dollar worth.

At the age of 41, Anderson finally grew old and had his only child, Richard. For the sake of this unique seedling, he resolutely sold his property in Asia and moved his family back to the United States.

Today, Anderson runs a small trading company in New York and a textile mill in Massachusetts. However, due to the previous economic crisis and DuPont's breakthrough in nylon technology, Anderson's current business is not very prosperous and will be able to barely sustain itself.

Business woes are not a big deal for Anderson, who is already 61 years old. He is at this age, and he doesn't have much ambition anymore, so it's a big deal to close the business and retire home. Anyway, he had already prepared a trust fund for his son early, and the remaining savings were enough for him and his wife to enjoy their old age in peace.

Anderson and his wife are now worried that their only child, Richard, has gone to join the army on their backs. As the only child in the family, Richard was spoiled by the Andersons from an early age. Bold and adventurous by nature, after getting the news of the conscription, he didn't even go to school and ran to sign up for the army. By the time the couple got the news, Richard was already in boot camp.

The Andersons are not young people who have been fooled by recruitment propaganda, they know all too well the cruelty of war. Richard was the only one in the family, and the Andersons said nothing that they could let him do such a dangerous thing.

However, Anderson was just an ordinary businessman in New York, and he had no contact with the military on weekdays, let alone any influence. If Richard hadn't volunteered to join the army, Anderson would have been able to find a way to help his children find a way to escape military service. Now that Richard is in boot camp, Anderson is out of the question. I can only beg the upper echelons of the family for help to see if I can arrange a less dangerous position for Richard.

Originally, Anderson thought that this family meeting was a good opportunity, and the big men in power in the family were there. He can take the opportunity to plead for mercy with a shy old face, as long as he can "save" his son's life, even if it makes him bleed profusely. But I didn't expect that there were too many people who had an idea with him.

This time, more than 40 men of school age from the entire Vanderbilt family were to be drafted into the military. Who wouldn't want to give their children a safe and promising position in the army? As a result, as soon as the meeting ended, John, who had gained control of the family's military resources, was surrounded by dozens of recruit "parents". Anderson, a small side character, never found a chance to talk to John.

At this point, of course, John didn't know that there was another brother named Anderson who was devastated by not being able to speak himself. But even if Anderson doesn't look for him, John will arrange Richard's affairs. If he can't even take care of his own children, how can John be worthy of the family's trust in putting all the military resources in his hands.

It's just that among the more than 40 people who joined the army this time, except for 6 retired officers who were re-drafted, they all have their own old troops, old commanders, and old comrades-in-arms who don't need to worry about John, and the situation of the other 30 "recruits" is really varied. It is not easy to arrange a safe and promising position for them according to their own conditions.