Chapter 606 — Ruining His Reputation

"Hmm..." Li Cihua sank into thought. "We should pick the spot where Gu Pengzhan is weakest, the place easiest to strike. That way we can quickly probe Gu Pengzhan's bottom line, and at the same time see whether Wei Zhao has recovered his strength..."

"Damn it! If only we could take care of Gu Pengzhan and Wei Zhao together, I've just about had all I can stomach!" Zhao Qibing had been in a foul temper of late; after all, lying in bed with a broken leg was hardly a pleasant thing.

"The Gu Group has a great many holdings. We should find one that is relatively weak, the one most prone to trouble, and strike there!" Li Cihua began to mutter to himself.

Young Master Bing did not disturb him. After all, Zhao Qibing was far less familiar with the Gu Group than Li Cihua was; he did not even know what businesses the Gu Group had under its wing, and so at this moment he could only wait eagerly for Li Cihua to come up with an idea.

"Su Jiaonang, get in here!" Since thinking it through alone was getting him nowhere, Li Cihua called Su Jiaonang in as well.

But Su Jiaonang was hardly a formidable man either; when it came to playing at intrigue, he was not even a match for Li Cihua.

The two of them racked their brains for a long while without producing a single plan, which infuriated Zhao Qibing. "You two useless trash! You can't even handle a trifle like this! Keep thinking — I refuse to believe we can't deal with one Gu Pengzhan!"

"Calm yourself, Young Master Bing!" Su Jiaonang said cautiously. "Brother Cihua, why don't we send for Jin Gubang and Zhong Fabai? Jin Gubang used to be with the Gu Group — he knows far more about it than we do! And Zhong Fabai seems a rather sinister type as well. There is strength in numbers! What do you say, Young Master Bing?"

"Fine. Li Cihua, call Jin Gubang and Zhong Fabai at once and tell them to get over here!" Young Master Bing agreed without a moment's thought. He could not wait a single instant longer; he wanted revenge on Wei Zhao.

When Jin Gubang and Zhong Fabai heard that Young Master Bing wanted to see them, they rushed over at once, frantic with haste. They knew that Wei Zhao had wounded Uncle Zhu and crippled Young Master Bing's leg, yet they did not think Wei Zhao would live much longer.

What sort of man was Young Master Bing? Wei Zhao had actually broken his leg — how could Young Master Bing possibly let him off?

So when Li Cihua told the two of them that Young Master Bing meant to move against Wei Zhao and the Gu Group, they knew their earlier guess had been correct.

"Dealing with Gu Pengzhan — that's my specialty!" Jin Gubang said as soon as he had heard them out. "If you want something that will catch the media's eye and drag the Gu Group's name through the mud, then among all their holdings, we can start with the school!"

"The school? Fourth High School?" Li Cihua was slightly taken aback.

"That's right, the school!" Jin Gubang said. "Right now, if something happens to students at school, that's a major incident! The media will hound it without mercy, and public opinion will swing to one side, cursing Gu Pengzhan as a black-hearted entrepreneur who actually dared to set his sights on students! By then, even if they want to make amends, it will depend on what the incident was. What we need to do is engineer an accident they can neither remedy nor recover from — and then our goal is achieved!"

"Exactly!" Hearing Jin Gubang's words, Li Cihua's eyes lit up. Yes — if something happened at Gu Pengzhan's school, how could the students' parents ever let it go? It would be a real headache for them! But what sort of incident could bring trouble to a school?

"Go on — what should we do?" Zhao Qibing nodded in appreciation as well. It seemed this subordinate Jin Gubang had not been taken in for nothing.

"To make trouble for a school, naturally you make trouble with the students inside it!" Jin Gubang said. "For instance, a building collapses and crushes a few students; or underworld thugs go onto campus and slash a few students; or a degenerate teacher appears, beating or even molesting students — any of these can swiftly destroy a school's reputation!"

"But none of what you describe is very realistic, is it?" Zhao Qibing frowned. "A building collapse? Would you dare do what Wei Zhao did and just go push a building over? As for underworld thugs — are we supposed to send our own men? Wouldn't that drag us into it? And as for some degenerate teacher, forget it; that's basically impossible. No matter how much you pay a man, he won't risk his life to commit a crime!"

"That..." Jin Gubang gave a dry laugh, somewhat embarrassed. "I was only giving examples. As for how to do it concretely, let's all keep discussing it!"

"Young Master Bing, I wonder — this Medicine King, while skilled at saving lives, is he also skilled at laying poison?" Zhong Fabai, who had kept silent all this while, suddenly spoke up.

"Poison? Of course. The Medicine King is versed in every branch of pharmacology; laying poison would be effortless and pleasant for him," Zhao Qibing said with a nod.

"Heh heh, Young Master Bing, why don't we use poison? Once students suffer food poisoning, that is no small matter!" Zhong Fabai said. "Food poisoning can be blamed on the school's poor supervision, or twisted to suggest that the Gu Group is simply too black-hearted, selling students expired and worthless food, which is what caused the poisoning! And if by some mishap Wei Zhao or Gu Mengyao were poisoned to death, that would be killing several birds with one stone!"

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Old Zhong, you're good — very good!" Hearing Zhong Fabai's plan, Zhao Qibing burst into lavish praise. "This is an excellent idea. Let's do it that way! Medicine King, concoct a poison as quickly as you can, then poison the cafeteria of the Fourth High School!"

"The poison is simple enough. The key question is who will administer it. And after it is administered, will it be discovered? That is the crux!" The Medicine King was of course an expert at poisoning, but that was not what concerned him.

"That is indeed a problem. Oh right — Lao Zhong, isn't your son at No. 4 Middle School? How about letting him handle the poisoning?" Zhao Qibing glanced at Zhong Fabai as he spoke.

"What?" Zhong Fabai stared blankly for a moment, then jumped in alarm! How could he possibly let his own son do something like that? If the matter were exposed, it meant prison! He had only this one son, and the boy was already down a kidney — how could he let him take such a risk? He hastily said, "Bing Shao, that's not really a good idea... asking my son to do something like this..."

"What, you're not willing?" Bing Shao frowned. "Afraid I won't make it worth your while?"

"That's not it at all..." Seeing Bing Shao's anger, Zhong Fabai startled in fear. "It's just — if things don't go smoothly and the police find out..."