"Could it be that Wuyue didn’t handle things carefully enough and someone tracked her down?" When this thought surfaced, Luo Ziling cursed to himself.
This was the last thing he wanted to see. If Ling Ruonan knew about this, then there were definitely other people who knew as well.
If the police also turned their suspicion toward him, he’d be in a very awkward position.
It was easy enough to explain things to Ling Ruonan, but how was he supposed to explain to the police?
Luo Ziling felt a bit of a headache coming on.
Still, he kept a straight face. He planned to talk to Ling Ruonan about it later when they were alone.
Ling Ruonan only gave Luo Ziling a couple of strange looks, then didn’t show any other reaction.
Yang Qingyin asked Ling Ruonan who was most likely behind this, and Ling Ruonan answered that a lot of people could have done it. With the investigation still ongoing, she couldn’t draw a conclusion yet.
Yang Qingyin didn’t press further.
Luo Liansheng seemed a bit agitated. He shouted that he was going to talk to Ling Jinhua and Ling Mingrui about this.
"If that old Ling doesn’t even care when his own granddaughter is attacked, that’s just too disappointing." Luo Liansheng said this right in front of Luo Ziling and Ling Ruonan. "Ling’er, if your grandpa ignores what happened to your mom, I’m going to have it out with him. I’ll go see them tomorrow and see how they react."
"Let’s go see the two elders tomorrow as well!" Ling Ruonan was actually quite relieved by Luo Liansheng’s attitude. She looked at Luo Ziling and said softly, "We haven’t gone to see them for several days. Now that something like this has happened, we should at least talk things over with them."
"Okay!" Luo Ziling agreed. "What time are we going tomorrow?"
"I’ll deal with some things tomorrow morning. We’ll talk about going in the afternoon or evening." After thinking for a bit, Ling Ruonan laid out her schedule, then suggested to Luo Ziling, "Tomorrow morning you go to the university with your grandpa and take care of your responsibilities there. Don’t let people think you’re always slacking off. Once your affairs are arranged, come over to the Northern Group and show your face."
"Alright!" Luo Ziling agreed without hesitation.
After they’d had dinner together and kept Ling Ruonan company chatting for a while, Yang Qingyin got up to take her leave.
After Yang Qingyin left, Luo Liansheng didn’t stay much longer either. He said he had things to do and went back to campus.
Luo Liansheng knew very well that Ling Ruonan definitely wanted to talk to Luo Ziling alone, so he tactfully took his leave.
"Mom, you must be tired. I’ll give you a massage in a bit." Luo Ziling walked over to Ling Ruonan and started pounding lightly on her shoulders. "Do you want to take a shower first?"
"I’ll shower before sleep." Ling Ruonan motioned for Luo Ziling to sit beside her. After he obediently sat down, she asked him seriously, "Was this whole thing planned by you?"
"Mom, how can you say that?" Even though he had already guessed she would ask that, Luo Ziling still didn’t want to admit it. "Isn’t someone just trying to set up a smokescreen?"
"The clues the police have traced so far point to the Chen Family." Ling Ruonan’s expression was still calm. "But the evidence isn’t solid, and it’s not enough to justify continuing the investigation. In other words, the trail has gone cold."
Luo Ziling didn’t understand what Ling Ruonan was getting at, so he didn’t comment.
Ling Ruonan went on, "But I don’t believe this was done by the Chen Family. They have absolutely no reason to come after me at a time like this!"
"Then things are really complicated!" Luo Ziling chuckled. "Maybe someone will suddenly jump out and accuse the two of us of staging a self-inflicted trick, just to sling mud on other people."
So Ling Ruonan wasn’t sure he was behind it, had no proof, just suspicions.
Because of that, Luo Ziling was absolutely determined not to admit anything.
"That really is possible!" Ling Ruonan nodded slightly, then asked Luo Ziling again, "You really didn’t have a hand in this?"
"No." Luo Ziling shook his head. "If I’d planned something like this, I’d definitely have discussed it with you before doing it."
"Good." Ling Ruonan nodded. "No matter who did this, it’s actually very advantageous for us. Whoever went after me gives us an opportunity to win public sympathy. Maybe it really was the Chen Family—they might want to muddy the waters even more so people stop pointing fingers at them. Or it could be one of the other families, trying to create more trouble for the Chen Family. And as for us, we can completely avoid falling into the Chen Family’s trap. After something like this, do you think the Chen Family will still come seek our help?"
"Mom, those ugly scandals about the Chen Family were exposed by Wuyue on my orders. My only goal was to make them lose face so that Chen Yijing would be too embarrassed to ask Grandpa and me again to treat Chen Ruchang."
Ling Ruonan nodded but didn’t say anything.
She approved of what Luo Ziling had done. If the assassination attempt hadn’t happened, what Luo Ziling did might have been the best way to avoid them falling into the Chen Family’s trap.
Then Luo Ziling told Ling Ruonan about the matters involving Xu Chen, Cao Menggang, and Wu Lihua.
"If Xu Chen can pull Zhu Hanjun down, your grandpa will definitely personally take care of her promotion and have her transferred to a provincial post. That’s completely possible. This woman is quite capable; it’s just that her loyalty still needs to be tested. I hope she performs well and doesn’t let us down. As for Cao Menggang and his wife Wu Lihua, it’s also perfectly fine to send them to posts in the south. The personnel arrangements in Zhonghai are essentially the result of a struggle among several families. Cao Menggang didn’t belong to any faction before. Letting him go to Zhonghai as a deputy in the executive line is also workable. When I brought this up to your grandpa last time, he mentioned it himself and even asked me to recommend someone. When we go see him tomorrow, I’ll talk to him about it. As long as nothing unexpected happens and your grandpa agrees, there shouldn’t be any problem. As for Wu Lihua, a posting in Wu Shang will definitely be fine. After all, it’s just a county-level city, no matter how ’special’ it’s supposed to be, it’s still that level. If your grandpa signs off, it’ll be a done deal."
Ling Ruonan agreed to the arrangements for all three without hesitation, and Luo Ziling let out a breath of relief.
He knew that the reason Ling Ruonan had agreed so readily was because she was absolutely confident she could make it happen.
If the chances weren’t high, she wouldn’t have agreed so casually.
After all, these were major matters.
Mother and son talked for nearly two hours before they finally wrapped up.
Feeling sleepy, Ling Ruonan went to take a shower and get ready for bed.
After she finished showering, Luo Ziling massaged her for more than half an hour.
He only stopped when Ling Ruonan had fallen into a deep sleep.
After she was asleep, Luo Ziling went back to his room to get ready for bed.
Just as he was about to sleep, he received a text message.
"If you’ve got time, come out and sit for a bit. I want to talk to you. —Wang Guoguo."
Seeing the message from Wang Guoguo on his phone screen, Luo Ziling was very surprised.
What was this woman looking for him for?