"W…what did you say!?" At the VIP ward far above Meng Xin room, Zhou Feilong asked the doctor in front of him with a trembled voice. His face lost all color upon hearing a Zhou Feng's treatment report.
The doctor took a deep breath and repeated what he said earlier again, "Young master Zhou Feng's knee caps are shattered to the point that we are helpless to treat it. He will be disabled for the rest of his life and his genital has been destroyed as well. With current medical technology, we have no way to cure him." After finished his report, the doctor prepared to receive a harsh scold from Zhou Feilong.
"D…disabled?…Hehe…Hahaha." Out of the doctor's expectation, Zhou Feilong did not scold him but rather let out a despaired laugh. Although he knew that his son was a trash, he still loves him dearly, after all, it was his son that he has with his beloved wife. Knowing a misery fate waiting for his son, how could he still have the time to scold the doctor.
A short moment later, Zhou Feilong dispersed the doctor and gradually walked into the private room where his son laid on the bed. Zhou Feng at this moment has lost all previous handsomeness and arrogance as he has been bandaged all over his body and unconscious.
Creak!
"Father, how's Ah-Feng?" At that moment, Zhou Xiaolong rushed into the room. When his gaze fell onto his younger brother, he was momentarily lost for a word.
Zhou Feilong slowly turned his head to look at his eldest son, "Do you know what you've done?" He asked in a deep voice.
Zhou Xiaolong was startled for a moment, cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he replied unnaturally, "I don't know what are you talking about, father."
Narrowed his eyes, Zhou Feilong asked again, "Really? Do you think I don't know what are you doing recently? Look, look at your brother… if it isn't you instigated him to do this, how could he end up like this? And you still say you don't know about it ah!?" His anger erupted while pointing at his son with his trembling finger.
Received his father scolding, Zhou Xiaolong gritted his teeth and lifted his head up high, glaring back at Zhou Feilong, "What did I do wrong ah!? Father, you should ask that question on yourself!" Before Zhou Feilong could say anything, Zhou Xiaolong continued, "I don't understand! We are a dignified Zhou family! This city is our backyard, why did we have to fear a bastard like Shen Tianyun!? Without Fang Yulan's protection, he is nothing yet you always forbidding us bothers from acting against him. Even now we have support from Secretary Lin, again you still stop us from taking revenge. Father, you have changed. Zhou Feilong that I know was not a coward like this!"
Slap!
When Zhou Xiaolong had finished his sentence, Zhou Feilong slapped on his face fiercely, "Bastard! What do you know!? Do you think that with Secretary Lin's support you can run amok and kidnap someone openly like that ah!?" Zhou Feilong yelled angrily, he paused to grasp for a breath before he continued, "Use your useless brain to think about it. Lin Ming wanted to borrow our knife to kill Shen Tianyun despite with his power, he could do it by himself as easy as flipping his hand. Do you ever think about this fact?"
Facing this question, Zhou Xiaolong's brain seemed to start functioning. That's right, why would Lin Ming did not do it by himself?. With his power, killing Shen Tianyun was as easy as killing a dog. He stood there silently waiting for his father to explain further.
Zhou Feilong seemed to calm down upon seeing his son's expression and said calmly, "When he approached us, I have some doubt about it but I'm not sure at that time… with our current position and pressure from Cai family, this is a good opportunity to borrow his influence to suppress Cai family so I accepted it." He slowly sat down on the sofa and continued, "Why did Lin Ming can't deal with Shen Tianyun? He doesn't want to lose his reputation? No, the reason behind it made me trembled in fear for a while. Do you know what it is?"
Zhou Xiaolong pondered for a moment before he shook his head in reply.
Zhou Feilong said further, "I have to pay a huge price to get this information. It is because Lin Ming fears someone behind Shen Tianyun." Talked to this point, a deep fear still lingering in his mind.
"Someone behind Shen Tianyun?… Who is that person?" Zhou Xiaolong asked in confusion. With his little knowledge, he could not figure out who was that person.
"It is Shen Tianyun's mother. Lan Qingcheng." Zhou Feilong said as he looked at his son's horrified expression.
Who was Lan Qingcheng? Zhou Feilong and Zhou Xiaolong would never forget this name for the rest of their lives. The reason they had to run from Beijing it was because of this terrified woman. Lan Qingcheng had singlehandedly destroyed Zhou family's business to the point that they could not even lift their head.
The cause of this incident was very ridiculous, one of Zhou family's elders tried to get a hand on Lan Qingcheng's personal maid, Lan Lunmei. Without a doubt, Lan Lunmei was a top-quality beauty and her status was only a maid. This was the reason why people lusted after her and tried to get a hand on her. However, all of them had suffered from Lan Qingcheng's wrath. They did not understand why she was very protective of her maid.
As if he got struck by a lightning, Zhou Xiaolong was petrified on spot. It took him full 5 minutes before he could muster a word out of his mouth, "S…she is Shen Tianyun's mother?" He asked with a shaking voice.
Zhou Feilong nodded, "Yes, Zhao and Lan family have suppressed this information with all their might but there is someone who knows about it and willing to sell this information. I have spent more than 60% of our family's fortunes to obtained this… now do you understand, why I forbade you and Feng'er from plotting against him?"
Zhou Xiaolong grounded his teeth, "Fuck! This Lin Ming, he wants to get us killed." He spat out in anger.
Zhou Feilong contemplated, "At first, I want to stop this and trying to compensate Shen Tianyun then we go separate ways after that. From my understanding of him, he isn't a vengeful type. As long as we don't provoke him, he won't care about us. But now… you two have destroyed our only retreat path." He sighed in disappointment.
Zhou Xiaolong was quivered in fear, he now understood how grave the situation was, "W…what should we do, father? Tell me, you have a way out, right? I swear from now on I won't do anything to him again. I… I won't try to do anything on Feiyan again."
"It's too late. Ding Han has already arrested him while ago. We are now on the same boat with him." Zhou Feilong said calmly, he seemed to age more than 10 years in this moment, "We have 3 options, first we stand on Lin Ming's side and do everything as he said. Second, we will help Shen Tianyun out of this situation which means we will go against Lin Ming. The last one, we run… if we choose this, we can't stay in this country anymore."
Both father and son fell into silence. There was only a pulse signal sound from the machine echoed in the room as if it was reflecting the Zhou family's life signal as well.
......
"Alright, keep your eyes on it." Lin Ming hung up the phone and fell into contemplation while tapping on the desk in a slow rhythm.
Earlier, he was about to go to bed but got interrupted by a phone call from his men in Pearl city. After hearing the report, he was very surprised and started to doubt about it. Shen Tianyun's Spirit Root has been destroyed for a long time ago, there was no way he could cultivate it, that he was certain of.
However, a report from last month, Shen Tianyun seemed to know some boxing techniques and he was pretty proficient at it. Lin Ming thought it was Grandma Su who thought Shen Tianyun some ability to protect himself and he did not doubt it further. But now, he was not sure about it.
"From the last time you met him, do you think he is a cultivator?" asked Lin Ming, to a man in front of him, Dugu Xiao.
Dugu Xiao shook his head, "No, Master. I don't feel any Qi from his body at all. He maybe has some sense of fighter but I'm confident he is not a cultivator." He replied firmly.
Lin Ming continued to tap on his desk, pondered, "Then who crippled Zhou Feng? That bitch's men?"
Dugu Xiao nodded, "Yes, I think so, Master. Miss Lan has deployed 2 people to protect Shen Tianyun. I can identify one of them, her name is Lan Qingmei, the leader of Miss Lan's 4 protectors. As for another person, I don't know, it should be someone between Lan Dongmei and Lan Huimei."
A surprise look appeared on Lin Ming's face. He did not pay attention to this matter as he always thought Lan Qingcheng probably send some Body Transformation Realm cultivators to protect Shen Tianyun. Hearing this he could not help but surprise because he knew very well who were these 4 protectors.
It has been well-known in the 9 great martial families, Lan family always has a woman as their matriarch similar to Dongfang family. The current matriarch of Lan family was Lan Meichen, she was Lan Qingcheng's aunt. She has secured the position after the previous matriarch, Lan Meilin, Lan Qingcheng's mother mysteriously died 12 years ago.
Lan Qingcheng's fate has been changed after that incident, from the successor of Lan family to the sacrifice for the family. As for her 4 protectors who have been assigned to protect her, they were orphans nurtured by the family since they were young. They have been chosen by their appearance and talents which made every generation protector always been a peerless beauty as well as a genius cultivator.
There was a hidden rule in Lan family that later has been exposed to other families. If the successor married to a man, her protectors will become the man's concubines. This was also one of the reasons why the 9 great martial families in the past have covet Lan family's successor.
"To think that bitch sent 2 of her 4 protectors to guard this kid. It seems she is very serious about this kid's safety more than I expected…We are lucky, we didn't make any move on him directly. I don't think you can handle these 2 protectors, right?" Lin Ming calmly analyzed.
Dugu Xiao's expression became solemn as he replied, "Yes, Master. From the rumor, they said Lan Qingmei has achieved the peak stage 9 of Sky Realm already. I have no way to resist her, she could kill me in one move."
Lin Ming sucked in a cold breath when he heard this, how could he not know what was the meaning of the peak sky realm cultivator. Cultivators could glide in the air when they reach a Sky Realm, as for the peak stage 9, they could stay in the sky longer than others. Not to mention their speed and battle prowess, it could be said that they were a pinnacle of the cultivation world.
A rare cold sweat beaded on Lin Ming's forehead, he could not imagine his fate if that day he made a move on Shen Tianyun.
"Since she is a genius, why would Young master Zhao let her go just like that? Not only her, all of them. Young master Zhao didn't take them as his concubine at all. This is really strange… anyway, it has been said that Lan Qingmei is expertise in disguise. How did you know it was her?" Lin Ming asked his bodyguard curiously.
Dugu Xiao blushed slightly before he replied unnaturally, "Erm… master, when I was young, she was my first love…well, of course, it was one side love. I have met her when I went on my mission. I have caught a glimpse of her and I couldn't forget about her until now." He paused a bit as he glanced at his master and saw a weird expression from him. He lowered his head slightly in embarrassment and continued, "Actually, both of us has met her several times in the past but I don't recognize her until the last time Master went to Young miss Lin's school and I could feel a familiar killing intent and that pair of eyes from her when Master want to humiliate Shen Tianyun in the parent meeting. There is no mistake, it was her."
Lin Ming frowned, "Who is it?"
Dugu Xiao raised his head, "She is…" Before he could finish a sentence, Lin Ming phone rang out and he took a glance at it before he picked up.
"Oh? Mister Zhou, why did you calling me at this late?" Lin Ming said as if he just woke up from his sleep. He pretended as he did not know Zhou Feng's incident.
"Secretary Lin! You have to avenge me! My son has been crippled by that bastard Shen Tianyun!" Zhou Feilong angrily roared from the other side. Lin Ming has to put his phone away from his ears for a while.
"Eh? Please calm down first, Mister Zhou. Can you tell me everything from the start?" Lin Ming asked as if he was very confused.
Zhou Feilong began his narration from the start to finish and constantly implied it was not his son's fault which made Lin Ming snickered from time to time.
After finished listening Zhou Feilong's narration, Lin Ming said righteously, "Hmph! This Shen Tianyun is too much! How dare he harmed people like that? He didn't fear the law at all ah?… Rest assured, Mister Zhou. I will try my best to make him pay the price for being a lawless!"
"Thank you, Secretary Lin! I want him dead ahh! I want him dead!" Zhou Feilong hysterically roared as if he went crazy.
Again, Lin Ming had to put his phone away and picked it up again after Zhou Feilong has calm down.
"I understand how you feel, Mister Zhou. I'll hang up now and contact Bureau Chief Ding right away. Since Shen Tianyun has already been arrested, he couldn't get out of it easily. Even Mayor Fang couldn't help him for sure." Lin Ming consoled.
A strong breathing could be heard from Zhou Feilong, "Thank you, Secretary Lin. Goodbye." Following that he hung up the phone.
Lin Ming put his phone down on the table as he scoffed, "Hah, this old fox." What he did not know that at the same time, Zhou Feilong also said these words after he hung up.