Chapter 744 — The Zhong Family's Rise

Zou Ruoming was about to open his mouth and curse, but when he looked up he saw Wei Zhao and Tang Yun beside Liu Xinwen, and over there the young lady and Shen Yushu as well. He clamped his mouth shut with an audible snap, secretly counting himself lucky—thank heavens his tongue had been a beat too slow, or he would have landed himself in real trouble!

Among these people, there was not a single one besides Liu Xinwen that he could afford to offend! Damn it all, his luck was truly rotten—he went out for a game of basketball and came back to run into this many ruthless characters. Yet on the surface, Zou Ruoming wore a fawning smile: "Isn't this Brother Wei Zhao and Sister-in-law Tang Yun? Long time no see—looking for a photographer? I'm a professional! I've been to plenty of private shoot parties..."

"Private shoot? What's that?" Tang Yun blinked, having no idea what Zou Ruoming was talking about.

"Huh?" Zou Ruoming realized he had let his tongue slip and felt instantly awkward. "Just, you know, private photography..."

"Oh, Sister Yaoyao, is a private shoot like those photos of that actress from the matchmaking TV show a while back, the ones without any clothes?" Shen Yushu asked. "Does he want to take nude pictures of us?"

"Uh, no, that's not what I meant..." Zou Ruoming nearly jumped out of his skin. Take nude photos of the women around Wei Zhao? Was he courting death? "What I meant is, my photography skills are excellent!"

"Oh, then go ahead and shoot." Shen Yushu did not bother saying anything more to Zou Ruoming. Instead she stepped over to stand beside Wei Zhao first and waved Gu Mengyao over. "Sister Yaoyao, why don't you stand on Shield Brother's right?"

Gu Mengyao ignored Shen Yushu and simply stood at her side.

Tang Yun remained at Wei Zhao's side, with Liu Xinwen beside her. Zou Ruoming took a group photo of the five of them and then slunk away—who knew whether Shen Yushu might settle scores after the fact?

By the afternoon, most of the classmates had returned. The Gu Group's press conference had already concluded, and all the parents and students now knew the whole story: a black-hearted businessman who had failed to win the cafeteria contract had tried to ruin the school's reputation by poisoning the school cafeteria.

So the incident had little to do with the school itself. The police had already taken the suspect into custody, and the parents had all felt reassured enough to send their children back to school.

Homeroom teacher Ms. Liu had returned this time carrying a mission. She was one of the few people at the school who knew the inside story: Zhong Yongliang was the one who had carried out the poisoning, but he was also a victim.

Losing a kidney had twisted his mind, and being mocked by classmates had driven him to extremes.

Put plainly, it was a lack of love, a lack of warmth and care. So Ms. Liu decided to organize the class to visit Zhong Yongliang at the hospital.

In truth, apart from Shen Yushu and Wei Zhao, who rather enjoyed mocking Zhong Yongliang, everyone else in the class had more or less benefited from his goodwill. Not long ago, Zhong Yongliang had even treated everyone to a trip to the seaside—so who would mock him now?

Still, it was only natural that they looked at him a little strangely. After all, everyone was curious to know what difference there was between a person missing a kidney and an ordinary person.

So before this visit, Ms. Liu specially held a brief class meeting for everyone.

"Class, our classmate Zhong Yongliang has found a suitable kidney donor and has just undergone transplant surgery. He is currently back in the hospital. As members of the same collective, we ought to go visit him—after all, he is part of Senior Three Class Five too!" Ms. Liu said. "This activity is voluntary. Those willing to go, get ready and wait at the school gate—the school bus is already parked there. Those who don't want to go, stay in the classroom for self-study!"

The bus had come straight from the press conference venue, so there was no need to wait—they could board and head to the hospital directly.

It was senior year, and there was not much time left for everyone to be together. So after hearing Ms. Liu's words, they all stood up, ready to go visit Zhong Yongliang.

"Let me stress one thing: you must not discriminate against Zhong Yongliang. You must give him enough warmth and friendship! Let him feel the collective's care!" Ms. Liu instructed. "Who would want to suffer such a tragedy? Zhong Yongliang is already pitiful enough, so we must not make him sad again!"

Everyone nodded one after another, thinking of how they had looked at Zhong Yongliang with strange eyes before, and wondering whether it had caused him any confusion or hurt.

Gu Mengyao actually did not want to visit Zhong Yongliang. It would be better if he were dead—how could she possibly care about him?

But as the eldest daughter of the Gu Group and the school chairman's daughter, she could not possibly skip it. What would people think of her? Even if she did not care herself, she had to consider her father's reputation!

She could not let people say that Gu Pengzhan's daughter was cold and heartless, that she would not even visit a classmate who was hospitalized!

So despite her reluctance, Gu Mengyao rose to her feet along with Xiaoshu and left the classroom.

Wei Zhao did not care one way or the other. He simply followed Gu Mengyao's lead—if the young lady went, he went; if she did not, what would he go for?

This was the second time the whole class had come to visit Zhong Yongliang. When Zhong Fabai received Ms. Liu's call, he was not surprised. He knew his scheme had succeeded! His son had successfully won the sympathy of the police and the school, turning himself from a suspect into a victim.

"Pinliang, you're growing more mature by the day! You handled this matter well—it's a fairly satisfactory outcome!" Zhong Fabai hung up the phone and spoke to his son with approval. "Your classmates will be at the hospital to see you soon. They're already on their way."

"Of course. Without setbacks, how can a person grow? I was far too naive before! Played around in circles by Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu!" Zhong Yongliang nodded. "I won't be that foolish again."

"Mm, it's best that you've come around!" Zhong Fabai patted Zhong Yongliang's shoulder. "You're ready to give up on Gu Mengyao too, I take it?"

"Give up or not, it's too early to say. But the day I soar to the heavens, Gu Mengyao will be my plaything sooner or later!" Zhong Yongliang sneered. "Since she never liked me and toyed with me like a monkey, I won't let her off easily either!"

"Having a goal is good, but don't act rashly!" Zhong Fabai felt that having something to drive his son forward was not necessarily a bad thing.

"Don't worry. Until I have real strength, I won't do anything foolish!" Zhong Yongliang said. "By the way, once my kidney's better, I want to go up the mountain to see Zhang Naipao! See if there's any way I can help him—from now on, I'm counting on him!"

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