Chapter 160: Wrong

Gong Xueyuan stammered out some of the inside information she knew.

After listening, Liang Jinshang could not help feeling a chill run down her spine.

Truly, fish find fish, shrimp find shrimp, and scumbags always come in pairs!

The charity auction organized by Zheng Shan claimed to donate its entire proceeds to critically ill children from impoverished families. He had made a huge spectacle of it, earning himself a stellar reputation.

However, Zheng Shan had never intended to donate the so-called massive charity funds. Through a sleight-of-hand trick, the money would eventually be laundered straight into Zheng Shan's new company!

Liang Jinshang now suspected that the notary institution they hired was also shady.

Otherwise... why hadn't Gong Xueyuan been taken away?

They could put their personal grievances aside for the moment, but there were so many struggling families depending on the auction funds to save lives!

"That man... his son died..." Gong Xueyuan shuddered at the thought of that scarred face and couldn't help blurting out, "I once saw him in Zheng Shan's office, kneeling on the floor and kowtowing, begging for money."

Liang Jinshang asked coldly, "Zheng Shan didn't give him the money?"

Gong Xueyuan's silence said it all.

That man's son was suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Half a year ago, he and several other struggling families had been selected by the Zheng family, pushing their critically ill and injured children before the cameras to cooperate with the Zheng family's marketing campaigns without an ounce of dignity, all just to get the full medical expenses promised by the Zheng family.

Yet Zheng Shan actually hadn't given the money, dragging the matter out until the person died!

Liang Jinshang asked again, "What about Zheng Jue?"

Even "Zheng Jue's girlfriend" had been kidnapped; did that mean he was also involved in this deeply ironic "black magic trick"?

Liang Jinshang was unwilling to believe that Zheng Jue was such a person.

Gong Xueyuan stammered, "Some things... Zheng Shan did them... under Zheng Jue's name."

Needless to say, it must have been the most wicked deeds that had been done under Zheng Jue's name.

Unable to hold back any longer, Liang Jinshang kicked Gong Xueyuan back to the ground. "You people really aren't afraid of divine retribution!"

After learning the truth of the matter, Liang Jinshang sealed Gong Xueyuan's mouth back up, not wanting to hear this bitch say another word.

Otherwise, she truly feared she wouldn't be able to stop herself from taking matters into her own hands.

Liang Jinshang returned to her original seat, tying her legs up first. She left her hands unbound because she wouldn't be able to untie them herself anyway.

She merely put on the posture of an "obedient citizen" to buy an opportunity for negotiation.

The car soon stopped amidst Liang Jinshang's anxious waiting.

In contrast to Gong Xueyuan's shrinking cowardice, Liang Jinshang's spirits lifted.

The van door was pulled open, and two or three adult men climbed in, hauling Liang Jinshang and Gong Xueyuan up from the floor.

Gong Xueyuan made muffled noises, trying to speak. The scarred man reached out and tore off her adhesive tape.

The scab on her lip wound, newly formed, was ripped open. Blood dripped down, but Gong Xueyuan didn't care as she begged desperately, "My family has money! I can give you money! Whatever Zheng Shan did has nothing to do with me, please let me go!"

"Slap!"

"Too late." The scarred man dealt her a fierce, heavy blow across the face. "Save your money to buy yourself a coffin! Neither you nor anyone surnamed Zheng is any good!"

Gong Xueyuan was thrown out of the car. The scarred man turned to Liang Jinshang, asking with a sinister glint: "What about the rope on your hands?"

"I untied the rope myself." Compared to Gong Xueyuan's panicked state, Liang Jinshang was far too calm for someone who had been kidnapped. "You grabbed the wrong person, and I won't hold it against you. But I wanted to make myself a bit more comfortable, I suppose you don't mind?"

Since things had come to this, she casually kicked away the loosely tied rope on her ankles as well.

"Being grabbed by the wrong person doesn't matter; it's just your bad luck," the scarred man said coldly. "Heaven is just this unfair. My son was only five years old, did he deserve to die? But he was just unlucky, and when it was time to die, he died."

His hatred was far too palpable, forcing Liang Jinshang to shut her mouth for now.

His words already showed a tendency toward retaliatory violence against society, and escaping unscathed tonight might genuinely prove difficult.

Liang Jinshang was about to get out of the car when she suddenly remembered, "Wait, there's still a child on the floor."

The scarred man retorted, "She hasn't woken up for so long, who knows if she's even dead."

She had simply been bundled along with Gong Xueyuan when they grabbed her.

Liang Jinshang crouched down, briefly checked Gong Nian's condition, and feigned indifference. "She's not dead yet. But if you intend to suffocate her, you might as well leave her sealed in the car overnight."

For a child born with asthma, suffocation was a very real risk.

Though the scarred man's facial scars made his emotions unreadable, he still shot Liang Jinshang a deep, penetrating look.

It seemed he could not fathom Liang Jinshang's attitude toward the little girl on the floor.

Liang Jinshang let him look her over, silently maintaining her crouched position while picking up a small tube from the floor.

Without leaving a trace, she slipped it into the side pocket of her gown.

Then she stood up and got out of the car without looking at anyone.

Gong Xueyuan, with her hands and feet still bound, slumped miserably on the ground. Liang Jinshang didn't bypass her, instead delivering a heavy kick to her side. "Gong Xueyuan, have you forgotten you even have a younger sister?"

Kicking her was partly because she genuinely wanted to inflict pain.

On the other hand, Liang Jinshang needed to make these kidnappers see clearly that she was truly not on Gong Xueyuan's side.

If stepping on Gong Xueyuan could buy her own escape, nothing could be better.

If not, kicking her hard a few times would at least vent some of her frustration!

Over by the side, the scarred man had someone carry Gong Nian down from the car, but his gaze remained fixed on Liang Jinshang.

Liang Jinshang knew he was observing her, just as she had been observing him.

Mentioning Gong Nian deliberately earlier was a test to see whether the scarred man had entirely lost his humanity or if he still possessed a shred of kindness—the empathy of treating other children as one's own.

Fortunately, it was the latter.

Passing by Gong Xueyuan, the scarred man spat heavily onto her face as well. "Heartless and ungrateful wretch! Needing someone else to look out for your own sister's life and death! No wonder you completely disregarded the lives and deaths of so many of our children!"

Having lived this long, when had Gong Xueyuan ever suffered such humiliation!

Yet with her hands and feet bound, she could neither block the insult nor run away.

The other parents of the victimized children stepped forward in turn, spitting "Pui! Pui!" to vent their fury.

The shock proved too much, and Gong Xueyuan finally shrieked and passed out.

While she collapsed unconscious in the courtyard, Liang Jinshang followed the kidnappers indoors.

This rural house was extremely crude, with only four chairs set before a table. She walked over, claimed one to sit down, and took the opportunity to sweep her eyes over the people in the room.

Aside from the scarred man's startling visage, everyone else bore ordinary appearances. Indeed, because of their sick and suffering children, their faces appeared far more weathered and sorrowful than those of ordinary people.

They were truly not bad people—just a group of wretches driven into a dead end by unscrupulous capitalists.

"My name is Liang Jinshang, ID number 6755XXXX. I have no connection whatsoever to the Zheng family, and you really did grab the wrong person," Liang Jinshang sighed. "However, my trip today won't be in vain. I hope I can lend you a helping hand."