When they left Ling Mingrui’s other residence, Luo Ziling asked Ling Ruonan, "Mom, how did they reach an agreement just now?"
"We’ll talk about it when we get back!" Ling Ruonan had no intention of discussing this in the car. After answering Luo Ziling, she immediately added, "You need to deal with Li Xiaoqing’s matter as soon as possible."
Luo Ziling nodded, then immediately asked, "How should we deal with Li Xiaoqing? Besides getting back the money he got by scamming people, what else should we do with him?"
"Get the money back first, then we’ll see. I don’t think he can come up with that much. If he can’t, then make him take you to those partners he worked with to cheat people." A vicious gleam flashed in Ling Ruonan’s eyes. "After what happened today, if those people who used Li Xiaoqing to scam money still don’t behave, then let them suffer a bit."
"Got it!" Luo Ziling hurriedly nodded.
He didn’t go home with Ling Ruonan, but left in another car.
Li Xiaoqing left with him.
When they reached their destination, Luo Ziling called Wu Ningjing, briefly explained the situation, and then asked her to come over too.
After answering Luo Ziling’s call, Wu Ningjing immediately said she would come over in a bit.
What had happened today had already scared Li Xiaoqing half to death. Back at Ling Mingrui’s other residence just now, he had almost been scared into wetting his pants.
Only now did he realize he was just a chess piece for others to move around, completely insignificant.
If it weren’t for Luo Ziling backing him up, he had no idea whether he’d have been able to walk out of there alive today.
Luo Ziling had brought him out, and when dealing with those people he let him stand up straight. Li Xiaoqing felt that his older sister’s younger brother was actually not that bad—at least Luo Ziling was helping him.
So he felt a lot less resentment toward Luo Ziling.
He even started to feel a little grateful toward Luo Ziling.
Luo Ziling took him into a room, and when he asked what he planned to do next, Li Xiaoqing immediately said he would listen to whatever Luo Ziling said from now on. But when Luo Ziling asked how he planned to handle the money he had scammed, Li Xiaoqing was at a loss for words.
"How much money do you still have on hand?" Luo Ziling asked again.
"A bit over ten million!" Li Xiaoqing said uncertainly. "The other more than twenty million, they already took away."
"Call them immediately and tell them to return the money, plus the interest for these days. Tell them if they don’t return what they took, we’ll send them to prison." Luo Ziling fished Li Xiaoqing’s phone out of his pocket, handed it back to him, and ordered sternly, "Call now."
Li Xiaoqing took the phone a bit fearfully. He hesitated, but under Luo Ziling’s pressure, he finally unlocked the phone and started dialing. He had originally thought that even if he called to ask for the money back, those people would definitely stall and refuse to return it.
What he didn’t expect was that as soon as he dialed Fang Yinhai’s number, even before he could speak, the other party immediately said he would return the money that Li Xiaoqing had transferred over a few days ago.
The other side being so proactive really surprised Li Xiaoqing.
But he still followed Luo Ziling’s instructions and asked Fang Yinhai for interest.
Fang Yinhai didn’t refuse and agreed to pay interest as well.
Li Xiaoqing then called Ling Haining, Lin Jiaying, and Ling Zhengjian, who had just been with him, and made the same demand.
Ling Haining readily agreed. Like Fang Yinhai, he brought up returning the money before Li Xiaoqing could open his mouth.
After hesitating for a while, Lin Jiaying and Ling Zhengjian also agreed to Li Xiaoqing’s demand.
By the time Wu Ningjing arrived, Li Xiaoqing had already received back all the money that had been scammed away, along with the interest they had calculated for him.
Seeing Wu Ningjing come in looking tense, Luo Ziling directly laid things out.
He told Li Xiaoqing to return the money he had scammed from Wu Ningjing, and also to pay back Luo Yuqing’s money.
As for the money Luo Yuqing had loaned him, Luo Ziling told Li Xiaoqing to transfer it directly to him.
"Xiaoqing, keep my money with you for now!" Wu Ningjing couldn’t bear it, and said softly, "Settle everyone else’s money first."
"Auntie Wu, at a time like this you still want to indulge him?" Luo Ziling said bluntly. "He’s already lucky this time that he didn’t suffer worse and lose his life. He did something wrong and took a loss—he needs to remember this lesson. Whoever it is, when they do something wrong, they have to be punished. You keep all your own money, or let Yuqing hold it. Invest it in Lingyun Film and Television, or in something else, that’s all fine—just don’t give it to him. The interest they’ve returned is quite a lot; leave him some pocket money and that’s enough."
After thinking it over, Wu Ningjing finally agreed.
"I’ll just let Yuqing invest in your film and television company. Put all this money in as equity; that way it won’t get scammed away again."
So, under Luo Ziling’s supervision, Li Xiaoqing transferred most of the money to Luo Yuqing. Then Luo Ziling called Luo Yuqing and told her to convert the money at market value into shares of Lingyun Film and Television as Wu Ningjing’s investment.
Luo Yuqing was very surprised that Luo Ziling would decide this way. It was only after listening to his explanation that she understood.
"Handling it this way is already letting that bastard Li Xiaoqing off too easily. When I get back to Yanjing, I’m definitely going to give him a proper lesson." Luo Yuqing was still gnashing her teeth in anger.
"Your younger brother really does need to be properly disciplined. Otherwise, he won’t live long." Even in front of Wu Ningjing and Li Xiaoqing, Luo Ziling spoke very directly.
Li Xiaoqing felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole, while Wu Ningjing was extremely embarrassed.
Luo Yuqing spoke a few more words with Wu Ningjing.
On the phone she told Wu Ningjing to keep a tight rein on Li Xiaoqing, or something really big would happen.
"How about letting Ziling keep an eye on him and have Xiaoqing work by his side?" Wu Ningjing suggested.
"We’ll talk when I get back!" Luo Yuqing didn’t agree right away. She also asked Luo Ziling not to promise anything yet, and to wait until she returned to Yanjing so they could discuss it together before making a decision.
Luo Ziling knew that Luo Yuqing was using this to show her authority to both Wu Ningjing and Li Xiaoqing, so he agreed to her request.
"Auntie Wu, if all this money goes into Lingyun Film and Television, you’ll be one of the top ten shareholders." After hanging up, Luo Ziling joked with Wu Ningjing.
Wu Ningjing gave an awkward smile.
She asked Luo Ziling if he was willing to let Li Xiaoqing work by his side.
"We’ll wait until Yuqing comes back. Then the three of us—no, the four of us can sit down and talk." Luo Ziling said, glancing twice at Li Xiaoqing, who had his head lowered. "My guess is, your son is not going to change his ways overnight. He’s still holding a grudge in his heart right now, maybe even thinking of getting back at me. Better let him reflect on it, or let him suffer a few more setbacks. The fact that he didn’t run into serious trouble today isn’t necessarily a good outcome. It’d be best if he went through something where he can’t live and can’t die. Only after that kind of experience will he really learn his lesson."
Those words made Li Xiaoqing shiver.