Chapter 596: The boat capsizes

A whole patch of the Ling and Xiao families’ net had been ripped apart. While it had still not reached the extent of collapsing completely, it was actually only a matter of time as it was beyond saving.

The powerful stance of the Xu and Ye families, coupled with this sudden massive quake, generated pressure that was great enough to overload the entire net, bringing it down.

Meanwhile, virtually unavoidably, people would link this massive quake to the Xu family’s ‘mysterious background’ that had already been very hard to discern in the first place-more and more people would join the Xu family’s side, coming with tangible pledges of their allegiance.

This snowball would build up very quickly, increasing rapidly in size till it crushed everything.

Just as Ling Xiao herself had said, emotions were increasingly losing to calculations of gain.

Right now, the Ling and Xiao families did not have any actual authority. While they had helped to groom many people before, with the onrushing waves before them that surged to the heavens, no one would continue to protect this ship of theirs that was soon to sink.

If they struggled on their own, more people might be dragged down with them.

Another call came in.

Ling Xiao already had no mood to listen to it.

“Why hasn’t there been any news at all from Ding Miao?” She asked.

This was the only thing that could break people’s fear and exaggerated understanding of the Xu family right now, preventing the snowball from accumulating and becoming bigger.

No one could give her an answer. For Ding Miao was missing, and even the Ding family’s own people were looking for him.

......

This morning, a few hours ago, Ding Miao had just called He Twenty-seven and informed him about the current situation in Yanzhou, including Old Jin’s actions there and the Ding family’s resolute response.

He hung up.

Anger, nervousness, excitement, frenziedness...various emotions intermingled on Ding Miao.

“Bro Miao, shall we bring them away now, or?” His subordinates asked.

“Wait a bit more. You guys go out first,” Ding Miao waved them away as he sat down on the sofa.

“Bro Miao...”

“I asked you to go out first.”

“Yes.”

After calming down slightly, Ding Miao raised his head and looked up at Tongtong, Dongzi and Old Dog.

“Don’t worry. I guarantee that you two will only have to go to jail for two or three years...when you come out, you will get a large sum,” Ding Miao first said to Old Dog and Dongzi before turning to Tongtong and saying, “It will be even better for you...in the future, you will have achieved success in life.”

Tongtong nodded, then lowered her head again.

Ding Miao suddenly discovered that she was actually rather attractive, especially after she had lost her gaudiness and gained the experienced, confident manner of Bright Brilliance’s manager.

“No wonder even He Twenty-seven wanted to have some fun with her,” Ding Miao thought.

Right now, his emotions were in a chaotic state and he was feeling high. In situations such as this, he was used to venting his emotions and calming himself down using such a method.

“Want to go with me?” Ding Miao pointed at the bedroom.

Tongtong looked up at him in puzzlement.

“I’m in a good mood now. Play with me, and I’ll give you an added hundred thousand on top of what was previously agreed upon afterwards,” Ding Miao was shocked by his own generosity here as having once been a lady at a nightclub, this woman should merely be worth about a thousand per night at most.

Tongtong shook her head and retreated two steps back.

“Stop pretending. You’re actually very happy, right?” Ding Miao asked straightforwardly.

In his heart, this was nothing more than another merciless, mercenary woman. This could be further seen from how she had agreed to betray Xu Tingsheng.

Ding Miao smiled disdainfully, “Relax, what I say counts. Xu Tingsheng looks down on you for being dirty, but I don’t. Me, I’ve always understood womens’ hearts the most.”

He got up and pulled Tongtong towards the bedroom.

He opened the door, leaving the field of vision of his subordinates outside.

A hand covered his mouth from behind while another hand restricted his neck.

Squeezed into the bedroom with the other three, Ding Miao was pressed down in a corner and had his arms and legs tied up.

Dongzi pressed a wooden wedge against Ding Miao’s throat, slowly loosening his hand that covered his mouth.

“Boss Ding, your life’s valuable...you won’t resist and see us all die together, right? We’re agreed then? Be quiet, don’t let the people outside notice anything.”

Tongtong found Ding Miao’s handphone. She went to the small balcony outside the bedroom to make a call.

Ding Miao looked rather blankly at Dongzi and promptly gave up on this fool who was smiling in a silly manner.

His puzzled, furious gaze falling on Old Dog, Ding Miao asked in a hushed tone, “Are you a fool?”

“He’s the fool,” Old Dog pointed at Dongzi, saying, “His mother, he thinks he’s a devoted lover. Of course, I didn’t agree at first. Still...having been a big bro for so many years, I’ve only had this one follower. I haven’t been able to let him live decently at all yet. So, I’m sorry, Boss Ding.”

“...What do you plan to do now then?” While Ding Miao felt that it was very difficult to communicate with Old Dog, it was at least a bit better than talking to Dongzi as he thus decided to keep at it.

“Wait for a while first,” Old Dog said.

“Wait? You fool, have you thought about the consequences? Even if I don’t kill you, you’ll have no way to live. Wait?”

“It’s like this, actually,” Old Dog lit a cigarette and sat down, saying earnestly, “There’re two more reasons. First, we heard the call you made just now. Us bros were in the Binzhou mine district before, and you weren’t, so it’s very normal for you to not know. Still, you should actually listen to more appraisals and legends regarding Jin Twenty-four in the mining district. No one can off Jin Twenty-four, definitely not. So, He Twenty-seven’s done for. So, if we get in the same boat as you and see Xu Tingsheng dead...what then? Wait for Jin Twenty-four to take revenge, be buried in the mines?”

Old Bro made an ‘like I’d be that dumb’ expression.

“The second reason’s this. Actually, in this matter, the process is the same for us if we help you render Xu Tingsheng dead or help Xu Tingsheng render you dead, right? But the result may not be the same. You both rendered the same person, Ding Sen, dead. But, Xu Tingsheng rendered an enemy who was after his life dead, while you rendered your own little brother dead. Dongzi and I believe in loyalty. So, we feel that that Xu Tingsheng is probably a bit more trustworthy.”

“Your mother, he’s in jail right now!” Ding Miao exclaimed disdainfully.

“I know. But I heard that Xu Tingsheng has never lost before. Jin Twenty-four too. Also, there’s this old adage: not dying to calamity, definitely blessed with fortune...that time, Ding Sen wanted us to smash into his car, but he even managed to get himself killed instead. I’d be a fool if I tried to provoke someone like this,” Old Dog said.

Ding Miao suddenly felt like even he himself had nearly been persuaded. Yet, Old Dog and Dongzi clearly lacked such brains and the ability to reason with logic.

“Did you think up all of this on your own?” Ding Miao asked.

Old Dog pointed at Tongtong who was on the balcony outside, “Most of it was said by her.”

“She said it, and you believed it?”

Old Dog pointed at Dongzi, “She said it, and he believed it.”

Ding Miao had to face this idiot now, “This woman cheated you, remember? You aren’t thinking that she might like you, right? Go look in a mirror...”

Dongzi turned and looked at the balcony, smiling a bit before he said softly, “Actually, I don’t think so. Still, she is the most beautiful woman that I kissed and hugged before. She’s also the most beautiful woman who talked to me on QQ the longest, praising me for my looks...heck, she even asked me that day if I was hungry and wanted to eat anything, said she'd cook for me. This old man broke down at once. These past two years, from hiding below deck in a boat to leave the country to returning from overseas to the mines, there’s never been a woman who asked me this before. Wrong...actually, ever since my mother died, no one’s asked me this.”

Ding Miao couldn’t listen on any longer as he was already almost lost for words, “Fool, she seduced you to cheat you of your money!”

Dongzi nodded, “Yeah, she did...I really hated her to death at first, constantly thinking of taking revenge on her. Afterwards, when we were overseas, we were sleeping in the cement pipes in the day and going out to steal food at night. We couldn’t speak foreign languages too. And with nothing to do, I started to think about random stuff...thinking about it, I found that it was still this thing that was the most interesting. I could think about it to the point of laughing out loud, you know? Many times. That is to say that when I thought about women, the one I thought about most...was her.”

Ding Miao slumped down against the wall, “...Just that? You’re the greatest fool I’ve ever seen.”

“It does seem pretty silly, I know,” Dongzi smiled, “Still, stuff like this that looks very simple, very easy...rich young masters like you would never have lacked it. You wouldn’t understand. But for people like us, it’s actually very hard to come by. How great it is, that a beautiful girl is willing to patiently chat with you, looking at your super old-fashioned photo and saying that you’re very handsome and cute, saying that the lame jokes you found online are very funny...also even asking if you’re hungry and want to eat, saying she’ll cook...so, I guess being silly is better, really.”

Ding Miao had already given up somewhat, “I was a fool to put you two fools in charge of watching over her. So, this was planned long ago?” He gestured at his bound limbs as he asked, “In that case, shouldn’t you have tried to think of a way to escape two days ago? Did you wait till today just so you could capture me and give me to the enemy for merit?”

“You’re right. If we wanted to escape, we shouldn’t have waited till today. Still, there’s no way for us to escape, right? You have people secretly guarding this place,” Dongzi said, “Actually, I was hesitating too before...I only just steeled my resolve.”

“Just? Why?”

Dongzi exclaimed emotionally, “Right! Just earlier...you pointed at the bedroom, saying that you were in a good mood and wanted to sleep with her. Hey, you can freaking sleep with her so easily?! Do you know that in order to sleep with her, this old man had my stuff stolen and fled overseas without a penny to my name? In the end, I didn’t even get to do it. Thinking about this, the blood rushed to my head. I’ve got to render you dead...”

Ding Miao, “...”

The boat had capsized...in a blind spot that was really way too unreasonable.