Ch 250 - The Birthday Gifts

Lincoln looked at Tristan and told him, "What would please me most is for you to finally get married." He looked around at his other sons and daughters. Only Tristan had not married and produced grandchildren for him.

"Huh." Tristan said in a low voice, "Remember that it was you who separated me from my one true love. Now you're urging me to get married again."

"What are you talking about? We are the Ambrose family. Do you really think that I could let a woman like that join our family?" Lincoln yelled. He was furious. His body was shaking and his face was contorted with rage.

When he stopped speaking, the hall was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Tristan wasn't concerned. He had been on the receiving end of Lincoln's fury many times before.

"Just get out of my sight," Lincoln sighed. Today was his birthday party and it was supposed to be a happy day. He didn't want to get angry.

Tristan walked away and quietly sat back in his seat.

Nelly whispered to Justin, "Who was he? Why does he seem to resent your grandfather?"

"He's one of my uncles and my grandfather wants him to get married, but he's refusing," Justin whispered back. He didn't elaborate.

Nathan approached Lincoln with his birthday gift of a jade sculpture of the "longevity star" He explained that the base was made of high-quality agarwood. The longevity star was sculpted from the best white jade, golden silk jade, and jadeite. It had taken an older, expert cratsman two years to create.

Although Nathan didn't mention the value, everyone was astute enough to know that it was worth at least five million dollars.

The Ambrose family had always specially sought out such rare treasures, and it was the perfect gift for Lincoln's birthday.

He was extremely happy, his face softened and he looked very satisfied with his gift.

"Nathan, you're such a good grandson," he said.

Since Nathan had finished the poverty training and had returned to his family, Lincoln met with him three times. He felt that Nathan had matured. He had tested him by letting him handle several business dealings with a total value of over a billion dollars, and he had been impressed with how Nathan had handled them.

Nathan looked at Lincoln and said sincerely, "Well, Grandfather, I have not been here to celebrate your birthday for seven years. I feel bad about this and I promise that in the future, I will make up for the birthday gifts that I have missed."

Lincoln was moved by Nathan's words. He said, "Good boy. I'm aware that during your seven years of poverty training, you suffered bullying and discrimination. Do you really not feel any hatred toward your grandfather for that?"

Using his family's intelligence agencies, Lincoln had maintained a good understanding of what Nathan and Alex had each gone through during their poverty training.

He knew that Nathan had been bullied and despised by countless people. From junior high school to university, he had been a poor loser in the eyes of all his peers. The pampered young men who he had been surrounded by had found him despicable.

"No," Nathan answered. He shook his head and said with a smile, "Grandfather, you're wrong. How could I hate you? On the contrary, I'm very grateful for that experience. It gave me an understanding of the hardships suffered by menial workers. Our wealth comes from their toil. Because of this, I will always respect them. This is what you hoped I would learn from the training, isn't it?"

"Yes. It seems that you really understood the lessons from the training." Lincoln nodded, with his eyes full of joy and pride. Nathan's words had touched his heart.

"Grandfather, Alex is also back. You must have missed him very much," Nathan said. He looked at Alex's table and said, "Alex, come and present a gift to your grandfather."

Lincoln looked over to Alex.

Three days ago, Nathan had told him that Alex was willing to give up on Leona and as a result, he had lifted the restrictions from him.

He was very happy that after seven years, his two favorite and most respected grandchildren were both there to celebrate his birthday.

Alex approached him with the gift that his parents had prepared.

Lincoln smiled as he watched him approach.

Once Alex settled back into the Ambrose family, Lincoln planned to give him some businesses to take care of worth billion dollars to see how he handled them, just as he had with Nathan.

He had every confidence in Alex, because he believed that he had always shown himself to be an intelligent and responsible young man.

Alex and Nathan were his hopes for the future of the Ambrose family.

As Alex presented him with an exquisitely crafted European painting portraying the Sabine Women of Roman myth, Lincoln nodded. He really didn't care what Alex gave him. It was enough that he was there on his birthday.

"Good, good boy, I'm so happy that you're back," he told him.

Although he would have liked to continue chatting with his grandchildren, there were traditions that had to be followed. So he looked at Alex and Nathan, raised his hand, and told them they should return to their seats.

Nathan suddenly stopped Alex and said, "Alex, hang on a minute."

Alex's heart tightened. He looked at Gideon and Flora, who were sitting nearby with anxious expressions. They all realized what Nathan was going to say next.

"Nathan, is there something else?" Lincoln realized that something was wrong.

"Yes, Grandfather," he replied.

He looked at Lincoln, lowered his head respectfully and in a serious voice, said, "Three days ago in D.C., I found something out about Alex that I feel I need to report to you."

"What's the matter?" asked Lincoln.

He looked very serious when he realized that this wasn't something trivial. He glanced at Alex, hoping that he had not done anything to show disrespect to their family traditions.

"I found out that Alex had donated one and a half million euros to the Richmond University new year's party, and that the money had been given to him in secret by his mother," Nathan exclaimed.

Everyone in the hall fell into shocked silence.

Although it was a small sum of money, the fact remained that he had used this money during his time away, when contact or funding had been forbidden. If his mother really had given him the money, then their rules had been violated.

According to the Ambrose family traditions, any acts of defiance were punished severely.

Lincoln felt that for the Ambrose family, taking away money or demoting someone's status in the family were not punishment enough. He believed that physical pain was the most suitable punishment.

His face darkened and he asked in a deep voice, "Is there any evidence?"

Usually, when a family member made a mistake, Lincoln would not ask for evidence. Instead, he would question the accused party directly, confident that they would tell the truth. No one in the Ambrose family dared to lie to Lincoln.

Now, however, he did not ask Alex directly. He wanted to give himself some time to think.

Nathan was unsettled. He noticed that his grandfather's approach to the issue this time was unusual. This was the clearest evidence he had ever seen that his grandfather preferred Alex.

"Yes, I have evidence," he answered.

He turned and looked at Colin, who was sitting nearby. Colin stood up nervously and walked up to Lincoln. Nathan said, "Colin, please tell my grandfather honestly everything you know."

"Yes," Colin replied timidly. He felt inconsequential in front of the Ambrose family, so he lowered his head, and with as much respect in his tone as could muster, he said, "I am also a student at Richmond University. I'm here to tell you that Alex definitely donated one and a half million euros to the new year's party over a month ago. I was there and took a photo that I can show you."

Colin opened his cell phone and found the photo of the party. The photo showed the president thanking Alex for the money and a big screen behind them described what was happening. Colin showed it to Lincoln.

"He told everyone that a middle-aged lady took pity on him when he was making pancakes and gave him the money," Colin added.

Lincoln stared at the photo on the screen. Then he slowly lifted his eyes and glared at Flora.

Flora jolted and knocked over a cup that was on the table in front of her. The cup rolled to the ground and smashed into pieces.

She stood up quickly and walked over to Lincoln, kneeled on the ground in front of him, and said in a trembling voice, "Lincoln, I admit I made a mistake. I gave Alex the money. Please punish me."

Gideon also walked over to Lincoln, kneeled down beside Flora, and said, "Dad, it was actually my idea. I didn't want my son to suffer any longer so I asked her to give him the money so that he would have the opportunity to return home. I take full responsibility."

Flora was surprised by Gideon's words. She was touched that her husband had chosen to take the blame for her actions.

For a moment, she felt proud to be married to such an honorable man, but she knew that she couldn't let her husband take responsibility. It would ruin his future.

"No." Flora started trying to explain to Lincoln that she had acted on her own, and that it had nothing to do with her husband, but Gideon pulled her back and gave her a look to be quiet.

Flora was moved and tears welled up in her tears.

When Lincoln understood what was going on between his son and daughter-in-law, he was unsure what to do next.

He looked back at Alex, who felt terrible and also kneeled down with his parents. He felt that it had been his mistake so he should be the one to be punished.

Lincoln knew that all the families were watching him. He felt he had to give a fair and strict judgment, otherwise everyone would lose their respect for him and for the family traditions.

Lincoln looked at the family kneeling in front of him and called out, "Dexter, come here. Tell me how I should punish this kind of behavior."

A middle-aged man quickly walked over.

It was Dexter Ambrose, Lincoln's main advisor and an expert in Ambrose family traditions. He was not a direct descendant of the Ambrose family, but he was an honorary member. He held a lot of responsibility and in order to demonstrate his loyalty to Lincoln, he had officially changed his surname to Ambrose.

Dexter walked over to Lincoln, gave a small bow out of respect, and then looked at Alex's family. He said loudly, "According to Ambrose family traditions, anyone who openly violates family restrictions, or helps other family members to do so, should be punished. Their position should be reduced by one level. They should also test their strength and endurance in combat for fifteen minutes."

There was a hushed exclamation from the rest of the family. It was a severe punishment that could be devastating for Gideon's family.

In the competition between Alex and Nathan to take over as head of the family, this would set Alex far behind his cousin. It would also take his family a long time to recover their good reputation with Lincoln and the rest of the Ambrose family.