Chapter 568 — Visiting Zhong Yongliang

"It won't be wasted! An Liwen, Gu Pengzhan—I'll let neither of them off!" Zhong Yongliang shook his head. "But for now, let's pick the softest target first. Dad, aren't you tearing down that shantytown? I know Wei Zhao's girlfriend lives there. When the demolition comes around, make things difficult for her family. Better yet, steer the whole mess toward Bing Shao. If Wei Zhao tries to shift the blame elsewhere and use An Liwen's hand against me, then we use Bing Shao's hand against Wei Zhao! If anything goes wrong, the ones Wei Zhao and Gu Pengzhan will be furious with will be Bing Shao—not us!"

"Mm..." Zhong Fabai listened to his son's suggestion and nodded. "That could work. But what if her family isn't holding out as a nail house? Then there's no way to stir up a conflict."

"We can manufacture one! Like a forced demolition—ha ha—just bulldoze their house flat. Best if Bing Shao personally operates the machine!" Zhong Yongliang suggested.

"Good, I'll do my best to arrange it." Zhong Fabai's own hatred of Wei Zhao burned deep, and he would gladly use Bing Shao to give the man a beating if he could. As they were speaking, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen: Zhong Yongliang's homeroom teacher. He hurriedly picked up. "Hello, hello, Mr. Liu... Oh? You've organized the students to come see Yongliang? That's wonderful, thank you so much... You're already at the hospital gate? Good, good—come on over. Building Four, Inpatient Department, Room 418!"

After hanging up, Zhong Fabai turned to his son. "Your teacher and classmates are coming to see you. I'll step out for a cigarette."

Zhong Yongliang nodded, warmth spreading through his chest. It seemed his teacher and classmates hadn't forgotten him after all. The treat he'd thrown for their last outing was finally paying off. Otherwise, how wretched would it be to lie in the hospital without a single classmate bothering to show up?

But after waiting a while, no one appeared. It would presumably take some time to find Building Four from the main gate. So Zhong Yongliang picked up the iPad 2 lying beside his bed, logged onto the mobile reading platform's website, and started reading a novel called *Pure and Ambiguous: The Prequel*.

It was a wish-fulfillment urban campus novel with a supremely satisfying protagonist who flattened everyone in his path. Zhong Yongliang had been obsessed with it these past few days, constantly fantasizing that he was the main character—imagining the day he could summon storms and rain at will, grinding Wei Zhao and An Liwen beneath his heel!

But the more he read, the more disheartened he became. Didn't he resemble one of the side characters who constantly got trampled? So Zhong Yongliang began fantasizing that this particular underdog might rise up and take out the protagonist.

He did not know how long had passed. He was deep in the story and thoroughly enjoying himself when footsteps echoed outside the ward. The door swung open, and his classmates filed in one after another.

Zhong Yongliang quickly set the tablet aside, then looked up with a smile. Though his eyes fell first on Shen Yushu and Gu Mengyao leading the way, there was nothing off about his gaze.

He had already learned to conceal himself. He was not particularly surprised that Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had been rescued safely—if they hadn't been, An Liwen wouldn't have dared act rashly. As for how the rescue had unfolded, Zhong Yongliang saw no point in dwelling on it. It was entirely meaningless anyway.

"Oh! Little Liangzi, I heard you had a kidney cut out!" The moment Shen Yushu stepped into the ward, she blurted it out. "Does that mean you're not really a man anymore?"

Zhong Yongliang's face burned with shame and fury at Shen Yushu's words, yet he could summon no anger to speak of. After all, he had kidnapped them first. Shen Yushu had probably come just to needle him. The trouble was, her expression was so perfectly innocent that no one could take it as mockery.

"Ahem, Xiao Shu, don't talk nonsense. Of course he's still a man—he's just missing a kidney..." Gu Mengyao stifled a laugh, but for once she actually played along with Shen Yushu's feigned ignorance, because in her heart she, too, loathed Zhong Yongliang.

"Oh, I see! Then he's not a complete man!" Shen Yushu nodded, struck by a flash of understanding.

The exchange between Shen Yushu and Gu Mengyao drew wave after wave of laughter from the classmates. What could they do? They might feel sorry for Zhong Yongliang, but Shen Yushu's words were simply too hilarious. Not a complete man? That had all sorts of implications.

Zhong Yongliang's face flushed crimson, yet he could offer no rebuttal. How could he? He really was down one kidney—really was incomplete... Shen Yushu wasn't wrong.

"Wow! Little Liangzi, isn't this an iPad 2? I've been reading online these past few days about a boy who sold his kidney to buy an iPad. That wouldn't be you, would it?" Shen Yushu stared at him in wide-eyed surprise.

"..."> Dark lines of exasperation streaked across Zhong Yongliang's face. He wanted to smash the iPad on the spot. My family is wealthy enough, thank you very much—do I need to sell a kidney? It was cut out of me, all right? He wanted to say, *How do you not already know how my kidney went missing?*

But he couldn't say it. To say so would amount to admitting he had kidnapped Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. That was a confession he could not make. Admitting it would change everything into a different matter entirely. Zhong Yongliang was no fool, so he could only let Shen Yushu prattle on.

Just then Mr. Liu walked in. Shen Yushu promptly stopped her nonsense, standing to the side with a mischievous grin, holding Gu Mengyao's hand, her eyes full of curiosity.

"Xiao Shu, let's go. Being near him makes me uncomfortable." Gu Mengyao frowned, unwilling to stand close to Zhong Yongliang.

"All right, let's go." Shen Yushu nodded. "I just wanted to see what a person missing a kidney looks like. He seems pretty normal, actually."

"He always was pretty much normal." Gu Mengyao shook her head. The two of them walked out hand in hand, while Wei Zhao had not come forward at all—he had simply tagged along behind Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

As for Zhong Yongliang, most of them had never been close to him at all; they had come only out of sympathy, and now that the visit was over, they were ready to head back to school. After all, time was tight in their senior year, and many of them still had studying to do.

Gao Xiaofu had tagged along with the others, trembling with fear the whole way. He did not know the truth of how Zhong Yongliang had come to lose a kidney, but he had a faint suspicion that it must have something to do with the kidnapping of Gu Mengyao! He was terrified that he might be the next target.

So when everyone else had gone, Gao Xiaofu stayed behind and asked in a cautious whisper, "Brother Liang, what on earth is going on here? Who is it that's after you?"