Chapter: 6122

As the legal first heir, Steve had to return to the family as soon as possible to handle major family matters temporarily, but this was only a temporary arrangement. The length of time he would continue to act as interim leader or whether he would directly inherit the position would depend on the current patriarch Howard's physical condition.

If Howard's health recovered well, Steve would eventually hand over the management power back to him. However, if Howard remained incapacitated, Steve would continue to take charge until Howard passed away or Howard himself decided to step down voluntarily.

Stroke is an extremely severe and sudden illness. If it's not treated in time, it could threaten life, even with timely treatment, there are many potential complications afterwards.

Paralysis on one side of the body, facial paralysis, loss of control over bladder and bowel functions, and loss of language ability are all common aftereffects of stroke, especially for people over 80 years old. The prognosis is extremely poor in such cases.

The thought of his father being unable to speak, only able to make slight sounds while sitting in a wheelchair, struggling to operate the controls with shaking hands, filled Steve with excitement and couldn't hold back his emotions.

If Howard's health were to recover to 60-70% of its former state, he would undoubtedly withdraw from family management and focus on recovering. The opportunity for the next generation to seize power would be lost, and as the designated heir, Steve would naturally take over without a hitch!

So, he was thrilled and instructed the pilot to prepare for takeoff, then hurried off to tell Yichen about this news.

At this moment, Helena had already left for the Capitol Building to attend her morning appointment, leaving Yichen alone in the room, waiting for news of Howard's sudden illness.

As soon as Yichen saw Howard's face contorted with difficulty, he knew that something must have happened to his father. He then asked Steve, "Steve, why are you so happy? Is it because your father has had an accident?"

Steve asked him with a subconscious tone, "Mr. Ye, am I... looking too happy?"

Yichen nodded and pointed to his corner of the mouth, jokingly saying, "Your mouth is curled up too high; just by looking at it, you can tell that there's strong 'backward force' and it can't be suppressed."

Steve hastily patted his cheeks twice with his hands, thinking to himself, "It's not that I don't want to suppress it; I just can't suppress it..."

He then forcibly suppressed his smile and said with a false expression of sadness, "Mr. Ye, I just received news from the family... my father has had a stroke..."

Yichen nodded without being surprised, as Howard was already in his eighties and his physical condition was bound to decline; he valued the Four Treasures of the Earth so much that he had been subjected to numerous, massive stimuli, which was already impressive for someone of his age.

He could have resisted this huge blow at the age of 84 with the help of Rosshilde's medical technology; perhaps it was just the injected stem cells standing up to the task.

So Yichen half-jokingly and half-seriously said, "Steve, don't get too excited yet; a stroke is an illness that can be treated, I mean it's not impossible to recover from. It's not referring to life-threatening danger, but rather recovery."

"It's impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Steve exclaimed with his face full of skepticism, explaining to Yichen, "Mr. Ye, a stroke is like broken ceramics; the best scenario is that they're only partially broken and can still be glued back together. If it can be glued back together, it's not too bad... How could it possibly recover as before?"

Yichen smiled and said, "Well, I might as well congratulate Mr. Steve on his early inheritance of the throne!"

Steve suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and chuckled, "Mr. Ye, don't say that; my father has health issues, although I'm very sad, but I also believe he will definitely overcome this illness... If he recovers well, maybe he can still lead the Rosshilde family to even greater heights!"

"It's like there are no outsiders here, you and I have nothing to hide from each other. If your father really recovers well, you might have to wait several years or even a decade before inheriting the throne, and who knows what kind of unexpected changes will happen during that time? The more it is this kind of situation, the easier it is to trigger Murphy's Law, and you'll feel like there can't be any changes in the succession of the Rosshilde family. Changes often occur when you least expect them."

Steve's excitement had already dissipated half-way through.

He looked straight at Yichen alone, and didn't want to pretend anymore. So he let out a long sigh and said, "I'm afraid I won't be too clear about my father's specific condition, but according to the reports, he is currently receiving emergency treatment in the Rosshilde family, where any sudden illness can ensure that there are no unexpected events during rescue and treatment. Therefore, my father will definitely receive the world's best stroke emergency treatment as soon as possible. If he really doesn't have too many serious problems, I'll just have to continue waiting patiently..."

He paused for a moment before speaking in a despondent tone, "If something unexpected happens afterwards, I'm afraid I won't be able to change anything... all I can do is wait for fate's judgment..."

Yichen smiled slightly and spoke in a solemn tone, "That's exactly right! Keep your current state of despair, that way when you return to the Rosshilde family and appear before your father's bedside, you won't reveal your true feelings. You should know that at this moment, your father has suddenly had a stroke, and all your brothers will definitely be deeply saddened if they find out. If you're pretending, it's easy to reveal your true emotions... what if your father sees the corners of your mouth sagging under pressure?"

Steve looked at Yichen with wide eyes, feeling moved and said, "Ah, Mr. Ye, I see now that you were thinking of me all along..." JrNovels.com