CHAPTER 555: CHAPTER 517: THE REALITY LAYS BEFORE OUR EYES

When Third Aunt Lai arrived at the high-end ward of Boxin Hospital in a panic, Lai Jingshan had already bandaged his wounds and was lying on the hospital bed receiving an IV drip.

The injuries were to his right shoulder and forearm.

His face and body also had various degrees of abrasions, but luckily they weren’t severe, so he just received routine disinfection and had ointment applied to the wounds.

Seeing her husband in this state, Third Aunt Lai covered her mouth as tears of heartache welled up in her eyes.

She had cried all the way here, worried every step of the way.

Lai Jingshan felt very guilty.

How could he have been so blind as to fall for Yuan Min.

"Wife, I’m fine, come here."

Only then did Third Aunt Lai walk to the bedside, squat down, and carefully take her husband’s hand.

"Are you thirsty? I’ll get you some water."

"I’m not thirsty," Lai Jingshan said with reddened eyes, grabbing his wife’s hand and pulling her next to the bed, "Come, sit down, keep me company for a while."

"How did you get injured? It must hurt a lot!"

"It’s nothing, just superficial wounds."

Third Aunt Lai didn’t bring up the matter between Lai Jingshan and Yuan Min, she just quietly stayed with him.

Half an hour later, Nanny Wu brought Li Mingyue to the ward, and only then did Third Aunt Lai remember that in her haste, she had forgotten her daughter at Bie Yuan.

"Daddy, Daddy, you’re injured?"

Li Mingyue, seeing Lai Jingshan’s bandaged and bruised face, burst into tears.

"Mingyue, don’t be afraid, Daddy is fine."

Seeing the family of three huddled together, crying together, even though Nanny Wu was deeply concerned about Yuan Min’s safety, she couldn’t bear to interrupt them.

In fact, on the way here, Nanny Wu had already learned some information from Chen Xin.

She said a silent prayer for Yuan Min in her heart.

...

At half-past eleven at night, Li Zishen’s private helicopter landed on the rooftop of the hospital ward.

"Uncle, what exactly happened?"

Seeing Li Zishen’s arrival, Third Aunt Lai silently left the ward to join her daughter, Li Mingyue, in the next room.

While his wounds were being dressed, Lai Jingshan had already run through the whole incident from start to finish. He was convinced that the mastermind behind his and Yuan Min’s kidnapping was indeed his own second brother, Li Wanshan.

But family scandals should not be publicized, and this matter had too great an impact, able to stir everything up.

He couldn’t push the Leng Family into the limelight.

For this reason, Lai Jingshan didn’t choose to call the police, but instead directly called Li Zishen.

He figured that if Yuan Min was still alive, with the Leng Family’s power, it was entirely possible to resolve the matter internally without making the situation widely known.

If she was no longer alive, then it was her own fault, for abandoning him.

"Where’s your second uncle? Where is he?"

"He’s already being kept under watch, but he refuses to admit it, insisting that he’s been wrongly accused."

"It’s definitely him, no mistake! We transferred from Jinyuan Mountain to a water route, and later they threw me into the Jinyuan River, thank goodness the box was made of wood, and quite old; otherwise..."

Lai Jingshan’s gaze was filled with hatred.

"Both you and my mom were attacked on Jinyuan Mountain?" Li Zishen asked in a hushed voice.

"Your mother must have been attacked when passing through the first tunnel; yes, it must have been the first. Those people must have been prepared, waiting for the right moment."

"Are you sure?"

"The timing should be right."

Lai Jingshan deduced Yuan Min’s situation from their last phone call, after which she kept saying her phone was about to shut off.

He tried calling once in-between, but couldn’t get through.

"Where was the boat heading?"

"I don’t know, I was knocked out. When I woke up, your mother was also unconscious."

"How many people? What were their accents?"

"Probably three, no, no, no, there must have been more than three, seemed like... four people, all with Jin City local accents, yes, locals."

Li Zishen furrowed his brow, feeling there was something amiss about it all, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong.

...

At two o’clock in the morning, East Suburb Li Garden.

By now, the highest level of security had been initiated here. Li Wanshan and his wife, Second Aunt Lai, were separately locked up in two underground rooms on the negative first floor.

Bai Long flipped through the pictures and videos he had just received, his expression growing colder by the moment.

He had rushed back overnight from Chicheng.

"Bai Long, where is my wife?"

"Release her at once. If you dare to harm a single hair on her, don’t blame me for not being polite!"

Bai Long lifted his head and sneered.

"These few posts up here... they’re all made by you, aren’t they? I really underestimated you before. You’ve got quite the nerve, even daring to involve people in here!"

Li Wanshan glanced at phrases like ’paying heavily for comfort’ and couldn’t help but feel a pang in his heart.

"In the past, I indeed visited the dark web a few times. Later, I found it uninteresting and didn’t look at it again. Come on, which man doesn’t have some hobbies."

"Fine, personal hobbies, right? Good!"

With a wave of Bai Long’s right hand, Du Feng brought in Li Wanshan’s assistant, who was clearly beaten up badly.

In order to save his own life, he had fully confessed everything he knew.

Li Wanshan had done quite a few underhanded things behind the scenes.

This included several deliberate car accidents to get rid of Yuan Min and her two children, as well as various accidents they encountered while traveling abroad.

Slandering Li Zishen’s reputation online and using Lin Ping’s drowning to threaten Tang Xiaowan were also his doings.

"Are you... don’t talk nonsense."

"Boss, I’m not talking nonsense, I’m just... telling the truth to Du Feng."

"What truth? Talking nonsense."

"Have you forgotten? At seven o’clock, I reported to you that the matter was done, and you were drinking with Mr. Wang at the time, telling me to handle it myself."

Li Wanshan felt his heart skip a beat.

"What matter?"

"That person... contacted me, said that everything was taken care of, even sent me a video, and then I transferred the remaining..."

"What video?"

"This one, take a look."

As the video opened, they saw Yuan Min lying lifeless on a tarpaulin, pale-faced, unresponsive even when someone cut her arm with a knife.

Li Wanshan couldn’t believe his own eyes; his expression was extremely complex.

"So, the remaining 3 million..."

"After consulting with you, I transferred it."

"How do I know that’s what you were talking about?"

After saying this, Li Wanshan realized he had been tricked; he had exposed himself.

The basement suddenly became so quiet it was suffocating.

Everyone present was staring at him.

"No, it’s not like that. I was just confused by him; I thought we were talking about something else. Yes, I was interested in a piece of land in the Southern Suburb."

"Do you think I’m a three-year-old child?"

Bai Long wished he could flay Li Wanshan alive; that was Brother Shen’s mother!

"It’s all a misunderstanding; I had no need to do this. I’ve already reconciled with Jingshan. If you don’t believe me, ask him. It’s just been a few days ago."

"It’s getting late. Let’s start."

Two mercenaries walked in from outside, burly with fierce expressions.

Li Wanshan was terrified, breaking into a cold sweat.

So, losing all concern for his dignity, he quickly hid behind Bai Long, fearing the mercenaries would drag him away against his will.

"How much money? You, name your price."

"What? Trying to bribe me?"

"No, no, not that, Bai Long, please, I beg you, spare my life, I don’t want to die."

"If you don’t want to die, then start confessing."

"Please, let me see Jingshan. I want to talk to him. Please help me."

"You really don’t cry until you see the coffin."

After that, Bai Long walked away.

He hadn’t even reached the stairs when Li Wanshan’s heart-wrenching screams echoed from behind.