Chapter 684 — Motive for the Crime

So the father and son shared a merry laugh there in the sickroom. After a while, though, Zhong Yongliang sensed something was off and hurriedly said, "Dad, stop laughing. Liu Wangli said he'd send officers to protect me — don't let them see through us!"

Zhong Fabai's laughter stopped dead; he nearly choked on it, and it was a long moment before he managed, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

...

Jin Maoxing had rehearsed many times over, so once he reached the police station he knew the way well and went straight to confessing. As for why he had come to surrender himself — he had seen it on television and could no longer withstand the pressure.

His motive, in fact, was simple: it had been a spur-of-the-moment idea. After listening to Zhong Yongliang pour out his grievances, the plan for revenge had come to him on the spot. And the reason he wanted revenge went back to an incident a year earlier.

A year earlier, Jin Maoxing's family had been in dire straits. Supporting two children alone, the money he made dealing in Chinese medicinal herbs was nowhere near enough. It covered the daily expenses, but he would have to find wives for his two sons someday, wouldn't he? With no house and no car, who would marry them?

So Jin Maoxing's mind began to work, and he thought of going into business for himself. He sought out his distant relative Jin Gubang and asked him to pull some strings so that he could contract for the cafeteria at First High — that would solve his urgent problem.

A cafeteria was a money-making proposition; run well, it could bring in hundreds of thousands a year. And Jin Maoxing figured that for Jin Gubang, the second-largest shareholder in the Gu Group, contracting a cafeteria should be no trouble at all. In fact, Jin Gubang didn't think it was any trouble either. Distant relative though he was, they shared a surname, and one helps family when one can — it cost him no effort, nothing more than a word or two.

But what he hadn't expected was that when Jin Gubang raised the proposal at the board meeting, Gu Pengzhan shot it down. The reason was simple: First High's cafeteria would remain self-operated, which guaranteed fresh ingredients and brought the school a considerable income besides. Why not?

Jin Gubang had been made to lose face, and he hated Gu Pengzhan bitterly for it. But he had long been scheming to take his place, so he showed nothing, merely relaying Gu Pengzhan's exact words to Jin Maoxing.

Having failed to win the cafeteria contract, Jin Maoxing hated Gu Pengzhan to the bone. It wasn't as if he refused to pay the contracting fee; their self-operation could hardly earn much more than his contract would have. On what grounds did they refuse to give it to him? It wasn't as though he had no connections of his own.

But because Jin Gubang was still a shareholder in the group, Jin Maoxing, unhappy as he was, made no other move.

A year passed in a flash. Zhong Yongliang's outpouring of grievances reminded Jin Maoxing of the grudge from a year before. And now that Jin Gubang was no longer chairman of the group, whatever Jin Maoxing did could no longer touch him.

Already nursing anger over the failed cafeteria contract, Jin Maoxing turned his designs on the school cafeteria. So you insist on self-operation, do you? Then I'll see that something happens to you, and we'll see what self-operation comes to.

Of course, when Jin Maoxing did this, he had weighed the consequences. But the poison he used was an ancient formula, long since lost, that he had learned years ago from an old Chinese doctor while wandering the jianghu buying medicines. Its preparation was complicated, and one was poisoned only if all seven herbs were present at once. A poison that peculiar, he reckoned, the hospitals and the police would never trace; in the end the whole thing would simply fizzle out.

What he hadn't expected was that Dr. Guan Pharmaceuticals would actually identify it, and would hand the formula over to the police. That left Jin Maoxing unable to sit still; the pressure broke him, and so he came to the police station to give himself up.

Jin Maoxing's account was reasonable and his motive for the crime sufficient, and the remaining seven herbs were seized from his home, which allowed the police to close the case quickly. As for Zhong Yongliang, Jin Maoxing made it clear that he had merely made use of him; Zhong Yongliang had little to do with it. A man answers for his own deeds — there was no need to punish Zhong Yongliang.

Liu Wangli had been full of sympathy for Zhong Yongliang to begin with. After a meeting to discuss the matter, and in view of the fact that Zhong Yongliang was a victim of the kidney-harvesting ring — and that the city was at present working to play down the ring's impact on the public, so that it was inadvisable to publicize Zhong Yongliang's case too conspicuously — and since Zhong Yongliang had been beguiled and deceived by Jin Maoxing and was himself a victim, he was exempted from criminal punishment. Criticism and education, however, were still required.

Still, it was unknown whether all the remnants of the kidney-harvesting ring had been caught. As a victim of the ring, Zhong Yongliang was given the necessary protection by the police during his hospital stay, with officers posted around his ward twenty-four hours a day. The police needed the victim to testify in court against the criminal organization, and Zhong Yongliang...

But afterward Liu Wangli telephoned Ding Binggong and spoke with him privately about Zhong Yongliang.

"Principal Ding, that student Zhong Yongliang is really quite pitiable. Having a kidney harvested was tragic enough, and now the students mock him — it's very bad for his psychological development," Liu Wangli said. "I'd suggest the school organize a charity drive, a collective visit to Zhong Yongliang in the hospital..."

Liu Wangli had done his duty by Zhong Yongliang, and to keep his mind from warping any further, he put this suggestion to the school.

Ding Binggong naturally agreed at once. A student's grades mattered, after all, but his psychological well-being could not be ignored either.

And so the mass fainting at First High came, for the time being, to a close. The school's reputation had by now largely recovered, and all that remained was for the police to hold a press conference and announce the truth of the matter.

...

That Tang Yun had called Wei Zhao and asked him to go rescue his rival left both Liu Xinwen and Kang Xiaobo somewhat helpless. But if Tang Yun was willing, what could they say?

There was nothing on this afternoon, so Kang Zhaoming decided to take Xiaofen to the hospital for a follow-up. After a period of treatment, Xiaofen's schizophrenia had improved markedly, and ever since she had seen Kang Zhaoming last time, she had lost all faith in him and struck him from her heart for good.

This was what Kang Xiaobo was glad to see; otherwise he always felt like a substitute for Kang Zhaoming.

Xiaofen had not had an episode for some time. Her parents were delighted, and grateful to Kang Xiaobo as well — without him, their daughter could never have regained hope in life. Over the years, Xiaofen's illness had been a constant worry to them, and treating it had all but drained the family's savings.

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