"Did you already guess something like this would happen?" After bringing it up, Ling Mingrui didn’t immediately go into details, but instead asked Luo Ziling, "Do you think this was personally planned by Wu Dongfang, or was it done by his subordinates?"
Luo Ziling answered honestly: "I guessed Wu Dongfang would take the initiative to come talk to you about it, so early this morning I called you, Grandpa, to explain the situation, so you wouldn’t be caught off guard. But I can’t figure out whether this was Wu Dongfang’s own idea or someone else’s instructions. Still, I think after what happened last night, they won’t make any big moves for the time being, unless they get hold of some relatively important leverage on us."
Ling Mingrui nodded, indicating he agreed with Luo Ziling’s thinking.
He also went over how Wu Dongfang had made a special trip in the morning to explain things to him.
Wu Dongfang told Ling Mingrui that the tracking and investigation of Luo Ziling had been planned by his subordinates.
They had received the wrong information, thinking the owner of a certain license plate was suspected of disciplinary violations, so they followed and investigated to collect evidence.
Unexpectedly, the person in the car turned out to be Luo Ziling, which eventually led to a misunderstanding.
Wu Dongfang had already ordered his people to thoroughly reflect on this incident and to be much more serious and rigorous in their future work, so that such mistakes would never happen again. He asked Ling Mingrui to convey his apologies to Luo Ziling and promised that something like this would not happen again.
"Do you believe his explanation?" After saying this, Ling Mingrui looked at Luo Ziling with a half-smile.
"Of course I don’t!" Luo Ziling shook his head. "If things were really as he said, they wouldn’t have pulled the surveillance footage from nearby and checked the guest records at the hotel. It’s obvious they came prepared, trying to catch some kind of dirt on me. They just didn’t get our rhythm right; during the tailing they were discovered by us, which finally led to that embarrassing scene."
Ling Mingrui nodded again.
"How are you planning to respond?" Ling Mingrui asked Luo Ziling again. "You should know this is extremely serious. It doesn’t just affect your mother and your future, it could even drag the Ling Family into it."
Instead of answering Ling Mingrui’s question, Luo Ziling asked back: "Grandpa, why do you think they’re doing this? Is it that Wu Dongfang wants to move against my mom and the Ling Family, or is someone using him to do it? Or is he joining hands with others to deal with the Ling Family?"
Hearing that, Ling Mingrui couldn’t help arching his brows, but then an approving look quickly appeared: "Your thinking is quite complicated!"
Luo Ziling laid out his own analysis: "I don’t think Wu Dongfang, who came to my parents’ wedding, would do something like this for no reason. I think they must have known I’d be meeting a woman at the hotel, so they wanted to catch me in the act, make me lose face. Then they’d use the excuse of a messy sex life to dig into other things about me. By investigating me, they’d then investigate my mom."
Ling Mingrui shook his head: "Since they’re already investigating you, they must have started investigating your mom a long time ago."
Luo Ziling nodded, accepting Ling Mingrui’s assessment.
He wasn’t part of the system, and his position was negligible. Compared to Ling Ruonan, they were on two completely different levels.
Even if he had issues, it wouldn’t be worth Wu Dongfang’s subordinates personally stepping in.
Their probing into him was just to find a breakthrough. While using him as a breakthrough point, they were definitely also using other channels to investigate Ling Ruonan. Investigating Ling Ruonan is the main line; investigating him is the side line.
They just didn’t expect the side line to go wrong, which could cause the main line to collapse as well.
Luo Ziling felt that Wu Dongfang had to be slamming the table and cursing right now, and the person in charge was probably being cursed bloody by him—if this whole matter was led by Wu Dongfang.
But Luo Ziling immediately rejected that thought; given Wu Dongfang’s temperament, he shouldn’t behave that way.
This was a cold-blooded old man who was frightening precisely because of how calm he was. He gave off a sinister, chilling impression; when those eyes fixed on you, it made your hair stand on end. With someone like that, him losing his temper might not be the scariest thing—the truly terrifying moment is when he doesn’t get angry and just stares at you.
"There’s no way Wu Dongfang will tell us why he’s investigating your mom and you." Ling Mingrui continued, "So, whether it’s you or your mom, you must be careful and not let them get any leverage. Of course, after this incident, they definitely won’t act again right away. Maybe they won’t move at all for the rest of the year. If that’s the case, you have to use this period to adjust some things."
Luo Ziling nodded solemnly. "Thank you for the reminder, Grandpa. I’ve already started responding. I’ve hidden some things away, and thoroughly wiped all traces of some of the things I’ve done. It’s just that my mom still doesn’t know about this, and there are some things I can’t help her with. I’ve instructed Wuyue to do everything we possibly can."
"Don’t worry about your mom’s side; she’ll have her own countermeasures!" Ling Mingrui was quite satisfied with Luo Ziling’s answer. "This incident is a warning. You need to understand that some people don’t show much on the surface, but at critical moments they’ll give you a fatal strike. Like a venomous snake—lying dormant most of the time, but when it matters, one bite can kill you."
At this point, Ling Mingrui lowered his voice further: "Wu Dongfang has a nickname—’the Viper’."
Ling Mingrui’s words made a chill shoot through Luo Ziling.
If even Ling Mingrui calls Wu Dongfang a viper, it shows just how terrifying this man is.
After thinking for a moment, Luo Ziling asked again: "Grandpa, has Wu Dongfang always given people the impression of being neutral—never taking part in the struggle between you few, and not getting involved in the fight between Lin Zeping and Wang Zhengqiang? He’s never been close with anyone?"
Ling Mingrui nodded, but didn’t say anything more.
Luo Ziling didn’t pursue it.
"Let’s eat first, I’m hungry!" Ling Mingrui stood up.
Luo Ziling had no choice but to stand up with him.
Since Ling Mingrui had chosen to end the topic, it meant everything that needed to be said today had been said.
Sure enough, after dinner, Ling Mingrui didn’t drag him into a game of chess or more conversation, and let him go back first.
After leaving Ling Mingrui’s courtyard, Luo Ziling went straight back to the villa.
Once he got back to the villa, he called Wuyue, Yang Xiaodong, and Wang Zhenjun over, and they discussed the situation together.
Luo Ziling hadn’t expected that after Ling Ruonan’s wedding, so many things would pile up.
Several major events had all converged at once, giving him a bit of a headache.
By comparison, the issues involving Jin Yan and Wu Weihua seemed relatively minor.
So Luo Ziling told Wuyue and the others to focus their main efforts on investigating what happened last night, and to assign fewer people to handle Jin Yan and Wu Weihua’s side.
There was no way an investigation into Wu Dongfang could yield results quickly. For a big shot like that, there’s very little information you can actually get your hands on, and those key pieces are almost impossible to obtain.
Even so, Wang Zhenjun still managed to dig up quite a bit of useful information.
After listening to Wang Zhenjun’s report, Luo Ziling couldn’t help showing a pleasantly surprised expression.