Chapter 684 — The Motive for the Crime

And so the two of them burst into merry laughter there in the hospital room. After a while, though, Zhong Yongliang sensed something was off and hastily said, "Dad, stop laughing. Liu Wangli said he was going to send officers to protect me, so don't let them see through us!"

Zhong Fabai's laughter broke off at once, and he nearly choked on it. It was a good while before he managed to say, "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

……………………

Jin Maoxing had rehearsed it many times already, so once he reached the police station he knew the way by heart and went straight to confessing. As for why he had come to surrender, it was because he had seen the television reports and could no longer withstand the pressure.

His motive, in truth, was quite simple: it had been a whim of the moment. After hearing Zhong Yongliang's tale of grievance, he had hit on this plan of revenge on the spot. And the roots of that revenge stretched back to an incident a year earlier.

A year before, Jin Maoxing's household had been in dire straits. He alone supported two children, and the money he made reselling Chinese medicinal herbs was nowhere near enough. It covered the daily expenses, but sooner or later he would have to find wives for his two sons, wouldn't he? With no house and no car, who would marry them?

So Jin Maoxing's mind began to work. He wanted to strike out on his own, and he went to his distant relative Jin Gubang, asking him to find some way to pull strings and let him contract the cafeteria of First High School. That would have solved his pressing troubles in one stroke.

A cafeteria is a money-making business; run well, it can bring in hundreds of thousands a year. And Jin Maoxing figured that contracting a cafeteria should be no difficult matter for Jin Gubang, the second-largest shareholder of the Gu Group. In fact, Jin Gubang did not think it difficult either. Though they were only distant relatives, they shared the same surname, so he would help where he could. It would cost him no effort at all, nothing more than a word or two.

But to his surprise, when Jin Gubang raised the proposal at the board meeting, Gu Pengzhan vetoed it. The reason was simple: the cafeteria of First High School was to remain self-operated. That way the freshness of the ingredients could be guaranteed, and the school could still create a hefty income for itself. Why not do it?

Jin Gubang had been publicly snubbed, and he harbored a bitter hatred for Gu Pengzhan. But he had long been scheming to take his place, so he showed nothing of it; he merely passed Gu Pengzhan's exact words on to Jin Maoxing.

Having failed to win the cafeteria contract, Jin Maoxing hated Gu Pengzhan to the bone. It was not as though he refused to pay the contracting fee; their self-operation could not possibly earn much more than his contract would have, so why would they not contract it to him? Did he not have connections of his own?

But because Jin Gubang was still a shareholder of the group, Jin Maoxing, for all his resentment, did nothing further.

In the blink of an eye a year passed, and Zhong Yongliang's outpouring of grievance reminded Jin Maoxing of that old grudge. And now that Jin Gubang was no longer the group's chairman, whatever Jin Maoxing did could no longer affect him.

Already soured by the failed cafeteria bid, Jin Maoxing turned his schemes upon the school cafeteria. So you insist on self-operation, do you? Then I will make sure something happens to you, and let us see what the fruits of self-operation are!

Of course, Jin Maoxing had weighed the consequences when he did this. But the poison he used, he reflected, was an ancient formula long since lost, learned from an old physician back in the days when he traveled the jianghu buying medicinal herbs. Its preparation was intricate, and one could be poisoned only if all seven herbs were present at once. A poison so peculiar should be beyond the reach of both the hospitals and the police, and in the end the matter would simply fade away.

But what he had not expected was that Guan's Pharmaceuticals had actually detected it and handed the poison's formula over to the police. That left Jin Maoxing unable to sit still a moment longer; he could not withstand the pressure, and so he came to the police station to surrender.

Jin Maoxing's account was reasonable and plausible, and his motive for the crime was sufficient. The remaining seven medicinal herbs were also recovered from his home, which allowed the police to close the case quickly. As for Zhong Yongliang, Jin Maoxing made it plain that he had merely used the boy; Zhong Yongliang had little to do with it. A man should answer for his own deeds, so Zhong Yongliang need not be punished.

Liu Wangli had been filled with sympathy for Zhong Yongliang from the start. After a meeting and deliberation, and in view of the fact that Zhong Yongliang was a victim of the organ-harvesting ring—at a time when the city was working to play down the ring's impact on the public, and it would not do to publicize Zhong Yongliang's case too loudly—and further in view of the fact that Zhong Yongliang had been beguiled and deceived by Jin Maoxing and was thus a victim as well, he was exempted from criminal punishment. Criticism and education, however, were still required.

Still, it was unknown whether all the remnants of the organ-harvesting ring had been caught. As a victim of that ring, Zhong Yongliang was given the necessary protective measures by the police during his hospital stay, with officers posted around his ward around the clock. The police would need the victim to testify in court against the criminal syndicate, and Zhong Yongliang—

Afterward, however, Liu Wangli telephoned Ding Binggong and had a private talk with him about Zhong Yongliang.

"Principal Ding, this student Zhong Yongliang is really quite pitiable," Liu Wangli said. "Having a kidney cut out of him was tragic enough, and now his classmates are mocking him besides. That is very bad for his psychological development. I would suggest the school organize a show of compassion—a collective visit to young Zhong Yongliang in the hospital…"

Liu Wangli had truly done his duty by Zhong Yongliang. So that the boy's mind would not be warped any further, he had put this suggestion to the school.

Ding Binggong naturally agreed at once. After all, while students' academic results mattered, their psychological well-being could not be neglected either.

And so the mass fainting at First High School was, for the time being, brought to a close. The school's reputation was now more or less restored, and all that remained was for the police to hold a press conference and announce the truth of the matter.

……………………

Tang Zhi had called Wei Zhao and asked him to go rescue her romantic rival, which left both Liu Xinlan and Kang Xiaofeng somewhat at a loss. But since Tang Zhi was willing, what could they possibly say?

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

This was exactly what Kang Xiaofeng was glad to see; otherwise he would always have felt like a mere substitute for Kang Jingming.

Xiaofen had not had an episode in quite a while. Her parents were overjoyed, and at the same time deeply grateful to Kang Xiaofeng. If not for him, their daughter could never have come to see life as full of hope again! For years, Xiaofen's illness had been a constant worry for her parents, and treating it had all but drained every last bit of the family's savings.RO