An Opportunity or a Scam?Kevin had spent the night reading about vitamins and natural medicine. He only knew the basics, but decided to use a recipe in one of the old books to make some herbal medication to help Officer Emmett recover. He offered her a reddish-brown pill that looked a little like the one Cook had given him."What will it do?" she asked him."I'm not exactly sure," he answered. Of course he didn't want to tell her that he'd made it using simple ingredients he found in her kitchen."You don't know? So, what makes you think it can help me?" she said in an exasperated tone."So, are you going to take it or not?" Kevin was about to take the pill back as he spoke, but she snatched it out of his hand.Officer Emmett stared at the pill in her hand. She looked at Kevin and asked him, "You've already taken something like this, haven't you? That's how you got so strong." "If you're not going to take it, then I'd like to have it back," Kevin said."Who said I don't want it?" She tossed the pill in her mouth and swallowed it with a gulp of water.They waited anxiously for about five minutes.Finally, Kevin asked her, "Do you feel anything?"I feel like I'm going to be another five minutes late to work," she remarked. Then she asked him, "Are you sure you followed the recipe right?"I'm not sure. The one I took was given to me by someone else," Kevin said awkwardly as he scratched his head.It was starting to look helpless. The book sounded serious, but maybe none of the things it talked about actually worked.Just then, Kevin's phone rang.He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the caller ID and said, "Lily?"Where are you? Hurry up and come to Grandma's. My father's back from his trip!" Lily's voice sounded a little urgent."Okay, I'll be there in a little while!" Kevin hung up the phone and picked up the two old books. Looking at Officer Emmett, he asked her, "Do you mind if I borrow these?" She nodded and said, "Knock yourself out." Then they said goodbye and he headed out the front door.He walked around the corner and found his car. While driving across town to the Jones mansion, Kevin thought about his father-in-law. Oliver Jones, had been overseas for the past few years handling family business. Grandma Jones used to dote on Oliver, but after Lily married Kevin and Oliver went overseas, Grandma gradually stopped. For some reason, Kevin felt that it wasn't a good time for Oliver to return .After driving for more than an hour, he finally arrived at the Jones family's mansion.When he saw Kevin enter, Oliver, who was sitting on a big leather chair, waved at him, "Kevin, come here. Let me take a good look at you."Dad!" Kevin said as he walked over to him with a smile."It's been a long time. You're looking stronger," Oliver said pleasantly.Jason, who was standing nearby, sneered, "He eats at home every day and doesn't do anything. He must have gotten fat."This remark brought laughter and snickering from most of the Joneses. All except Oliver, whose smile turned into a slight frown.Grandma Jones glared at Kevin, then said to her son, "Oliver, what brings you back after all this time?"Mom, I've found a great business opportunity for the family," Oliver explained as he stood up excitedly. That's when Kevin noticed how proud Dorothy looked as she sat next to her husband.Grandma Jones asked in surprise, "What opportunity?"Mom, I met a very powerful businessman. All I have to do is send him the amount we agreed on and half a month later he'll be able to triple our investment," Oliver said excitedly.The family members who were in the room started discussing this with each other. One of his cousins asked him, "Oliver, you chump, what were you thinking?"Some of the other comments were even worse. But Oliver didn't care what they said, he never lost his smile.He handed his phone to Grandma Jones and reassured her, "Mom, take a look. This is the transfer record between me and my friend."After Grandma Jones saw the financial report, she passed Oliver's phone around the room for everyone to see for themselves. The transfer record showed that as long as Oliver Jones invested a certain sum of money every time, he would receive three times that amount after ten days.One of his nephews asked him, "Uncle Oliver, you aren't laundering money or something, are you?"But everyone knew he was an honest man. And the accounts looked genuine.Grandma Jones slapped the table next to her."Oliver, it's not that I don't trust you, but our family's business isn't doing that well right now. The most I could give you is ninety million. As you know, it would be wise to watch this investment over time. I think we should be more patient," Grandma Jones said hesitantly."Mom, this friend of mine is doing development overseas. He's focusing on some real cutting edge industries. I guarantee that we'll earn a lot of money from this," he said confidently.Then he added, "If we hesitate, he may look for a new partner. It would be a shame for us to miss out on such a fantastic opportunity!" Kevin stood up and said, "Dad, I think you should go and check on your friend."Dorothy immediately reprimanded Kevin,"What are you talking about? How can you interrupt your dad when he's speaking? If you don't understand what we're talking about, just sit there with your mouth shut." Dorothy still couldn't bear to look at Kevin and she was disappointed that Lily refused to divorce him."Mom, I'm telling the truth. And Dad didn't say exactly what his friend would do with the money. If we invest everything we have, we stand to lose a lot," Kevin explained very seriously.As usual, the rest of the Jones family started criticizing him one after another, saying things like, "Just go home. You don't belong here." And, "You don't know what you're talking about."Then Lily whispered to Kevin, "Stop it, Kevin. Dad's finally home again. What if you make him angry?" "Lily, what do you think of Dad's deal with his friend?" Kevin asked gravely."Of course I don't believe it, Kevin, but we need to support him," Lily pleaded. She didn't know what else to say.And she really didn't believe that anyone would offer her father such a good investment, even his best friend. It had to be a scam. But she just couldn't get herself to disagree with him, especially in front of the entire family.Grandma Jones didn't pay any attention to Kevin's objections. Her eyes lit up as she stared at Oliver and thought about all the money they could make.Grandma Jones finally let out a breath, as if she had made up her mind, and said, "Oliver, why don't we invest five million first?"Mom, what are you talking about? We aren't some tiny, little unknown family. We're one of the most respected families in all of Chicago. If I only invest five million, my friend will think that we're not committed," Oliver implored. "He put our family at the top of his list because of our reputation. If we don't show the same faith in him, we may lose the entire deal." They all agreed with him. Nobody wanted to risk being passed over because they were being stingy. They had to commit more than five million dollars."Then how much do you think our family should invest in this opportunity?" Grandma Jones asked him.Oliver heard her and immediately became excited. "Mom, I think we should invest more. We should invest all available funds. Then, once we've made enough profit, we can pull back."When Oliver said this, none of the Joneses knew what to do. Even Grandma Jones was uncertain."Grandma, please don't listen to Uncle Oliver!" Matilda was the first to stand up and voice her opinion. "We're not even the richest family in Chicago, let alone the world. There's no way someone would approach us first. This has to be a scam!"Oliver got upset with his niece and yelled, "Matilda, I'm talking with your grandmother. Please don't interrupt."Even though Oliver used to be one of the most respected members of the family, he was no longer Grandma Jones's favorite. A lot of the Joneses held a grudge against him. For one thing, they thought his son-in-law Kevin was a deadbeat. They also had a lot of unpleasant things to say about Dorothy and Lily lately. And to top it all off, Oliver had been out of the country for years. "I don't care what you think, this is a scam!" Matilda protested .Then Kevin repeated his warning, "Dad, in my opinion, you really ought to think twice about this."When she heard this, Dorothy stood up from her seat, walked over to Kevin, and slapped him in the face."What are you talking about? Don't you want this family to succeed? Just because you're a leech, it doesn't mean Lily's father is, too. If you say another word, you'll never be welcome in my home again," she shrieked.Kevin couldn't let it go, even after Dorothy's ultimatum, "But Mom, think about it. This is too good to be true. If it were this easy to make a fortune, nobody in the world would be poor."Dorothy gave Kevin a vicious slap on the other cheek, shouting, "That's it! Get out of here! Now!"Before Kevin could say anything else, Matilda interrupted them, "Uncle Oliver, you didn't come back home just to let the family get cheated out of millions, did you?"Suddenly, Jason had an idea. The way he saw the situation, Oliver's friend claimed he could triple their money in ten days. Did he think they were fools? Of course, it would be easy to trick Grandma Jones out of her money.And at first, Jason wanted to speak out against the idea, like Matilda had. But now he saw an opportunity to chase Lily out of the family and make some extra money for himself.Plus, Oliver was Kevin's father-in-law. And Jason hated Kevin to the core because of all the times he'd made him suffer. He couldn't pass up this chance to get even.So, Jason sneered and said, "Matilda, Uncle Oliver has good intentions. How can you say his friend's offer is a fraud? ""Jason, what do you mean?" Grandma Jones said as she turned to look at him.Even though Jason had humiliated Britney and almost cost the family a fortune, he was still Grandma's favorite."Grandma, I think this is a good opportunity," Jason said respectfully.He had already come up with a plan. As long as Grandma listened to Oliver and invested the family's money, Jason would be able to funnel company money to his own bank account.This deal his uncle had found was definitely a scam. By the time the family realized all their funds had disappeared, it would look like Oliver was responsible. He and the rest of his immediate family, including Kevin, would be ostracized.Jason figured that nobody would suspect him. Then, once Kevin and Lily were out of the family, he would pay someone to track them down and punish them so he could finally get his revenge. "Jason, have you lost it? Can't you tell this is an obvious scam?" Matilda asked in disbelief.Kevin was about to say something, but Dorothy glared at him angrily and Lily pulled on his sleeve. He decided to keep quiet for now."Matilda, I think maybe you've lost it. You actually agree with Kevin?" Jason asked in a snotty tone. He continued, "I don't care what Kevin thinks. He doesn't know anything about business. But you're a Jones. You ought to know better!""It's because I'm a Jones that I'm against this." Matilda shot back angrily."Matilda, what do you have against me?" Oliver asked dejectedly.Matilda was about to say more but Grandma Jones suddenly slammed her fist on the table. She first gave Kevin a fierce look and then said, "Enough! We're all family. What are you guys arguing about anyway? You sound ridiculous."Grandma Jones looked at Kevin again and her eyes were filled with contempt. What was she going to do now?