Zhang Feng asked, "Do you have any evidence?"
Wang Yifan said, "There are no eyewitnesses yet. The rescue of artist Su Xiaosu is underway. Doctors are testing her blood and will report to us immediately if there are any signs of poisoning."
Qiao Hua said, "The key is, even if it's true that Su Xiaosu was poisoned, so what? Who can prove that Feng Youyang was the one who poisoned her?"
Zhang Feng was also in a dilemma: "Yes, if we can't prove that Feng Youyang poisoned him, then there's no reason or basis for Zhao Qiang hitting him."
Qiao Hua reminded Zhang Feng: "Don't forget, this Zhao Qiang is no simple man either, and we dare not act rashly."
Zhang Feng naturally understood the situation better than Qiao Hua: "I understand, that's why this is so worrying."
In the ward, Su Xiaosu slowly opened her eyes. She couldn't remember what had happened, but mechanically reached for the scissors and pepper spray on her body. However, she touched nothing. There was a man in front of her. Su Xiaosu exclaimed "Ah!" and kicked the man who was right in front of her aside. "Ouch!" The man fell to the ground with a thud.
Zhao Ling and Chen Xinxin ran into the ward upon hearing the noise. Su Xiaosu was struggling to get out of bed, but she was dizzy and lightheaded, and her body went limp and she collapsed onto the bed. However, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the two girls come in. Women wouldn't make things difficult for other women, and even if they did, it was better than being humiliated by a man.
Zhao Ling asked the person on the ground, "Zhao Mingming, what do you want to do?"
Zhao Mingming got up feeling wronged: "I didn't do anything, I just wanted to see if she was awake, who knew she would kick me down."
Chen Xinxin helped Su Xiaosu up and asked with concern, "How are you?"
Su Xiaosu shook her head vigorously: "I feel dizzy and can't stand up."
Zhao Ling asked, "What exactly happened?"
Su Xiaosu recognized him as the general manager of Lingdong Entertainment, which reassured her a lot. She said, "I don't know either. Hongqingdong Entertainment won't release me. Commander Liu Wen said he would help me find some connections. I drank a few glasses of wine and then I passed out."
Red Dragonfly Entertainment is also a long-established entertainment company with many famous artists under its umbrella. It is quite well-known in China, but its main sphere of influence is in Beijing, and performances in other regions are just a way to earn some extra income.
Chen Xinxin said, "It must have been Liu Wen who drugged you. When we found you, that outstanding entrepreneur surnamed Feng was riding on top of you."
Su Xiaosu was terrified, her face turning pale. "Ah, am I...am I alright?" she cried, and started to take off her clothes to check herself, completely forgetting that Zhao Mingming was standing there. Zhao Ling glared at Zhao Mingming, who wisely left the ward. Chen Xinxin stopped Su Xiaosu and said, "You're fine. Your clothes were intact when you were rescued. If Sun Dongming and Zhao Qiang hadn't arrived in time, the consequences could have been much worse."
Su Xiaosu was in tears: "What should I do? It turns out the company won't release me and is using a loophole in the contract to make me pay a penalty for breach of contract."
Chen Xinxin said, "What do you mean, 'what to do'? Of course you should sue Feng Youyang and Liu Wen for conspiring to frame you."
Zhao Ling said, "You don't need to worry about the breach of contract penalty. Lingdong Entertainment will handle it. From today onwards, you should not return to your original company to avoid any further accidents."
Su Xiaosu nodded gratefully to Zhao Ling: "Thank you, President Zhao."
Zhao Ling said, "No need to thank me. Just sing and act well, and don't let the company down."
Su Xiaosu was unaware that Feng Youyang's legs had been broken, so Chen Xinxin had to give her a heads-up: "Xiaosu, if the police ask you questions, do you know how to answer?"
Su Xiaosu said, "I don't remember much, so I don't know how to answer."
Chen Xinxin said, "You must say that Liu Wen drugged you and that Feng Youyang sexually assaulted you."
Su Xiaosu asked, puzzled, "Why?"
Zhao Ling said, "Because Zhao Qiang, Zhao Mingming, and the other two broke Feng Youyang's arms and legs."
"Ah!" Su Xiaosu was even more surprised. "I...I'm sorry, Director Zhao, I've caused him trouble."
Chen Xinxin said, "Don't worry about that. Just do as I say. The police will probably know you're awake soon. Think about what to say first."
In an empty hospital room, Zhao Qiang, Zhao Mingming, and Sun Dongming sat on the same bed. Zhao Qiang closed his eyes to rest, while Sun Dongming kept fiddling with his phone, saying after a while, "Someone filmed a video. This is ridiculous. Are people these days so nosy?"
Zhao Mingming leaned closer and asked, "Which video?"
Sun Dongming said, "When we were beating up Liu Wen at the restaurant, damn it, it seemed like everyone had a negative opinion of us."
Zhao Mingming said, "You'd better explain yourself quickly. We are doing this to rid the people of a scourge, and we absolutely cannot allow anyone to smear us."
Sun Dongming said, "What's the point of explaining? It'll be drowned out in no time unless we hire an online troll army."
Not long after, Sun Dongming said again: "Here comes another one. I'm really impressed. It must have been done by the waiter. We even got the joke about Feng Youyang upstairs. And they filmed me looking so bad. Who is it? Do they want to die?"
Zhao Mingming came closer again, and sure enough, it was a video of the two of them beating Feng Youyang with chairs and clothes hangers. Although it was a bit blurry, the faces were still roughly visible. Feng Youyang was almost naked and rolling on the ground in pain.
“Hey!” Sun Dongming called out, “Why did you stop filming? The next scene is when Sister Ling and Sister Xin carry out Su Xiaosu. That’s the main event. What’s the point of just filming the beating at the beginning? Isn’t that misleading the audience?”
Zhao Qiang's phone rang; it was still dark. "Hello, this is Zhao Qiang."
"I am Hu Qian." The other person's voice was a little coquettish, she must have just woken up.
"What's up?" Zhao Qiang asked. Hu Qian wouldn't have called unless it was urgent; it would be too easy for her to be eavesdropped on.
Hu Qian said, "What happened? Videos of you hitting someone are going viral online. It seems the person you hit is a provincial people's congress representative, an outstanding entrepreneur, and one of the top ten outstanding youths. You really went all out and crippled his hands and feet."
Zhao Qiang said, "Because he drugged Su Xiaosu."
Hu Qian knew Su Xiaosu before she knew Su Xiaosu was Zhao Qiang's woman. At that time, Su Xiaosu was filming an advertisement for Haifeng Group.
"He's got some nerve," Hu Qian remarked.
Zhao Qiang said, "If there's nothing else, let's leave it at that. It's too late."
Hu Qian said, "Go to sleep early, don't take it to heart, it's not worth it."
Zhao Qiang said, "I know it's not easy to do things in the south, so don't worry about it."
Hu Qian said, "Don't think of us as too weak. The South is no longer invincible. Go to sleep, everything will be alright."
Zhao Qiang didn't take it seriously at all; he just wanted to sleep. Meanwhile, Qiao Hua, Zhang Feng, and the others were extremely nervous. Feng Youyang was not cooperating with the treatment and kept shouting that he wanted to find a place to seek justice. His family members, who were all important figures, arrived shortly afterward and kept putting pressure on the municipal party committee and government, demanding that the assailants be severely punished.
The lights in the conference room of Baiyuan Municipal Government stayed on until dawn. Su Xiaosu's blood test report and statement were delivered. Qiao Hua patted the test report and said, "What's going on? What's going on? There was no drug reaction."
Zhang Feng frowned deeply. He didn't want Zhao Qiang to get into trouble, after all, his son was still relying on him to make money. However, judging from the test report, the evidence seemed to be unfavorable to Zhao Qiang. Su Xiaosu's blood did not contain any drug components. In fact, even if Su Xiaosu's blood tested positive for drugs, so what? Zhao Qiang did not have the qualifications to enforce the law. His ordering someone to break Feng Youyang's leg was already a mistake. How could he handle the matter without offending either side?
Wang Yifan tentatively asked Qiao Hua, "Secretary Qiao, what should we do? Arrest them?"
Qiao Hua asked, "Who are you arresting?"
Wang Yifan said, "Now that things have come to this, we must give an explanation to Feng Youyang's family. I think we should arrest Zhao Mingming and Sun Dongming, the ones who assaulted them."
Qiao Hua said, "But Zhao Qiang will definitely not sit idly by. You know he has special abilities. If he resists, how will we be able to catch him?"
Wang Yifan said, "You have to appeal to his emotions and reason with him. This matter cannot be resolved peacefully, so someone has to take the blame."
Qiao Hua said, "Why don't we first test Feng Youyang's bottom line and see what he means, and then talk to Zhao Qiang?"
Zhang Feng said, "Okay, I agree."
Since the top two leaders had agreed, Wang Yifan naturally had no right to object. So everyone rushed to the hospital. By then it was already dawn. Feng Youyang, who had been up all night, was now fast asleep. His legs and arms were in casts, making him look quite comical.
Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng peeked through the glass door. Feng Youyang's wife, Jia Lili, said in a strange voice, "Secretary Qiao, Mayor Zhang, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to visit our husband, Lao Feng."
Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng looked somewhat embarrassed. They grunted and said, "Secretary Qiao, my husband Lao Feng has made great contributions to Baiyuan City, hasn't he?"
Qiao Hua said, "Yes, of course it's great. Comrade Feng Youyang is the pride of Baiyuan City, a representative of the people of Baiyuan City, and our most outstanding entrepreneur."
Jia Lili shrieked, "But our Lao Feng, such a good person, has had his hands and feet crippled! Doesn't the municipal government intend to give us an explanation? Is it because our Lao Feng has contributed too much to Baiyuan City that you can't express your gratitude? Fine, I'll make the decision on Lao Feng's behalf: our Feng family's businesses will go on strike starting today! We'll only resume work when the government gives us an explanation!"
Jia Lili's family and other members of the Feng family all have their own businesses, forming a vast network of relationships in Baiyuan City. Although not every family sent a representative, as long as Jia Lili raised her arm and called, these people would naturally respond, because among this circle of people, they all looked up to Feng Youyang.
Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng exchanged a glance and smiled bitterly. The Feng family was essentially forcing their way out of the situation; they couldn't just leave it unresolved.
(Thanks to Lone Goose=Death and Little Cat for their 100 coins, and thanks to Anti-Japanese Personnel and Illusion★[5 votes] for their monthly tickets)
Volume 2 [525] Warning
[525] Warning
After being scolded by Jia Lili, Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng left in a sorry state after saying a few polite words. The Feng family had always been indifferent to the municipal government, and now that Feng Youyang's limbs had been broken, they blamed the municipal government for its inaction. It would be strange if they had a good attitude towards the municipal government.
After leaving Feng Youyang's ward, Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng went directly to Su Xiaosu's ward. Su Xiaosu had recovered by now. Actually, she didn't know Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng, but after the secretary introduced them to her, Su Xiaosu was very nervous and didn't know how to greet them. Qiao Hua said politely, "Comrade Xiaosu, you can just lie in bed. You are a patient now."
Su Xiaosu asked, "Secretary Qiao, how will this matter be handled? I heard that the test results came out and it seems that no drug reaction was found. But I assure you with my integrity that I was really dizzy last night because I had been drinking. Then Liu Wen took me into the room, and then Feng Youyang came in and molested me."
Qiao Hua said, "Comrade Xiao Su, don't worry about the test results. The government is handling everything. You should get some rest. Mayor Zhang and I have a meeting to attend. It's good that you're alright. Get some rest. We're leaving now."
Su Xiaosu chased after them and asked, "Secretary Qiao, Mayor Zhang, so what will happen to Zhao Qiang?"
Qiao Hua said, "It wasn't Zhao Qiang who hit him, so he won't have any major problems."
Su Xiaosu was both happy and worried: "Zhao Qiang is fine, but does that mean Zhao Mingming and Sun Dongming, who assaulted him, are in trouble?"
Zhang Feng said, "Don't worry about these things. You should try to recall what happened last night. If you make a false accusation, this matter will become more complicated, so you must think it through."
After leaving Su Xiaosu's hospital room, Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng went to find Zhao Qiang, only to be told that he had gone home to sleep. So, Secretary Qiao and Mayor Zhang rushed to Zhao Qiang's house. On the way, they received a call saying that Zhao Qiang had gone to the hospital to pick up Su Xiaosu from discharge. Qiao Hua glanced at Zhang Feng and said, "What should we do?"
Zhang Feng said, "We'll have to go through a bit more trouble and turn back. That guy has special abilities, and we can't afford to offend him either."
Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng were worried about Zhao Qiang's special abilities, and the province did not allow them to mention it publicly. This meant that even if they knew the other party had special abilities, they could not publicize it to the Feng family. Now the municipal government was caught in the middle and had a difficult situation.
Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng returned to the hospital, travel-worn. They sent their secretary to inquire and learned that Zhao Qiang had just picked up someone to go to Lingdong Entertainment. With no other option, Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng rushed to Lingdong Entertainment. On the way, they took a short nap of about ten minutes. They hadn't slept a wink all night, and even tough men like them couldn't take it. They still had to "fight" with Zhao Qiang later.
When they arrived at Lingdong Entertainment, Qiao Hua and Zhang Feng sent their secretary in to make contact. A few minutes later, the secretary returned with a bitter face and said, "Secretary Qiao, this Zhao Qiang is really arrogant. The people from Lingdong Entertainment said he went to the hotel where the Red Dragonfly performance troupe is staying."
What else could Qiao Hua do? They had already chased him this far, so he could only wave his hand to signal the driver to start driving immediately. He refused to believe that they couldn't catch up with him. Zhao Qiang was now essentially out on bail, and this guy was running around everywhere, showing no respect whatsoever.
Su Xiaosu was very nervous. Looking at Zhao Qiang driving in the driver's seat, she didn't know what to say. This Zhao Qiang was almost indistinguishable from the Zhao Qiang she knew before, but he was cold and aloof towards Su Xiaosu. This was definitely not the cheerful Zhao Qiang from before.
"Why would we still go to the performance troupe?" Su Xiaosu finally couldn't help but ask after a long while.
Zhao Qiang said, "Let's talk to your regimental commander Liu Wen. We can't just let what happened last night go like this."
Su Xiaosu was startled: "Oh no, you can't go to him!"
Zhao Qiang asked, "Why?"
Su Xiaosu said, "President Zhao has already agreed to help me resolve the breach of contract issue. Wouldn't going to him now just make things more difficult?"
Zhao Qiang muttered to himself, "Even if I had the money, I wouldn't pay that bastard the breach of contract penalty. He can wait and see."
Su Xiaosu didn't hear clearly: "What did you say?"
Zhao Qiang said, "I told you not to worry about anything."
Su Xiaosu shut her mouth; she was still a fairly obedient child. Just then, Zhao Qiang's phone rang.
"Hey, Zhang Wenjing, I'm on my way."
"Brother Qiang, you've gotten yourself into big trouble," Zhang Wenjing said, sounding worried.
Zhao Qiang said, "What big deal? It's not big yet." This is just the beginning.
Zhang Wenjing said, "My dad and Secretary Qiao are looking for you all over the world. Where are you?"
Zhao Qiang said, "We're almost at the Red Dragonfly Troupe's hotel. You're not here to do this for your dad, are you?"
Zhang Wenjing said, "Do you think I look like it? We need to talk to you. Jingjing and I will head to the hotel entrance to wait for you right away."