"You brat, what are you trying to do?" Ling Jinhua looked at Luo Ziling in surprise. "You want to cooperate with Chen Yining?"
Luo Ziling didn’t hide anything and told him part of what he had in mind.
Luo Ziling told Ling Jinhua that if they helped clear Chen Yining’s name and then used other means to get a hold of his weaknesses, they might be able to influence him. If they applied further methods, they could avoid being threatened by the Chen Family again.
The reason Luo Ziling told this idea to Ling Jinhua was of course because he wanted Ling Jinhua’s support.
If he could get Ling Jinhua’s support, then there would be much less burden in doing many things.
As for the future—he’d talk about it later.
Luo Ziling believed that as long as the two elders of the Ling Family supported him in doing this, he would definitely be able to control Chen Yining.
As long as he controlled Chen Yining, he could exert a lot of influence over the Chen Family’s affairs.
By then, he might not have to fully obey everything Ling Jinhua and Ling Mingrui said.
Put in very blunt terms, what Luo Ziling meant was that he wanted to borrow the power of Ling Jinhua and Ling Mingrui to make the Chen Family submit, control Chen Yining, and then find a way to get rid of the Ling Family’s influence and control the Chen Family himself.
"You only want to eliminate the Chen Family’s threat?" Ling Jinhua’s face was full of sarcasm.
Luo Ziling said very sincerely, "Eliminating the Chen Family’s threat is the first step, and also the most important one. During this period, the Chen Family has posed the biggest threat to me. Several times I almost died at their hands. I don’t want to live every day in fear and trepidation. If their threat is gone, my life will be a bit freer. As for later, I haven’t thought that far, but I feel that Great Grandfather, Grandpa, and my mom will definitely think much more long term than I will, right?"
Ling Jinhua gave Luo Ziling a couple more looks, but didn’t say anything.
Then Ling Jinhua asked about Zhao Guosheng, Wang Rongjun and the others, and Luo Ziling answered one by one.
While answering, he also asked Ling Jinhua whether the Ling Family’s influence in the military had declined, and why Zhao Guosheng, who had been pushed up by the Ling Family, no longer listened to the Ling Family.
Ling Jinhua didn’t answer directly, he only said faintly, "This is not something you need to worry about."
Luo Ziling felt a bit sulky, but he didn’t ask any more.
Luo Ziling didn’t tell Ling Jinhua about some other matters, including the fact that Jin Yan and the others were people Ling Zhengping had planted in the Northern Group; he felt that telling Ling Jinhua these things would only mess things up.
After the two of them talked for nearly an hour, Ling Jinhua had nothing more to say and asked Luo Ziling to treat him.
Ling Jinhua probably hadn’t rested well and looked a bit physically tired.
While examining him, Luo Ziling quietly told him that his body was a bit weak over the past few days and he needed good recuperation.
Luo Ziling planned to give Ling Jinhua an acupuncture treatment and then write him a prescription for a period of time.
Ling Jinhua accepted Luo Ziling’s arrangement and asked him to just hand the prescription to the staff.
After treating Ling Jinhua, Luo Ziling saw him fall asleep and then left.
In the car on the way back from the Ling Family Old Mansion to the villa, Luo Ziling received a call from Ling Ruonan.
Every evening, Ling Ruonan would take the initiative to call and ask about Luo Ziling’s day.
When she heard Luo Ziling say that he had just left the Ling Family Old Mansion, Ling Ruonan seemed a little surprised.
After hearing Luo Ziling explain the situation in detail, Ling Ruonan sighed. "Looks like my grandfather is also very dissatisfied with Wu Dongfang’s approach. He doesn’t want to drag the Fang Family into this and just wants to treat this as Wu Dongfang’s personal decision, so he might take countermeasures against Wu Dongfang. The specifics, I’ll look into when I get back."
Luo Ziling agreed with Ling Ruonan’s analysis. He was very much looking forward to seeing Ling Jinhua personally strike back at Wu Dongfang.
If Ling Jinhua wanted to teach Wu Dongfang a lesson and make him restrain himself, what means would he use?
And how would Wu Dongfang react, would he launch any counterattacks?
But no matter what, Ling Jinhua expressing dissatisfaction with Wu Dongfang was something Luo Ziling was very happy to see.
He also started to understand that as the only surviving member among their generation who still held considerable influence, Ling Jinhua had his own pride and wanted to maintain his authority.
Wu Dongfang was very young—of course this was relative to Ling Jinhua; their statuses differed by more than a single generation.
The pride in Ling Jinhua’s heart wouldn’t allow someone younger and, in his view, inferior to him to make a move against the Ling Family.
As long as this old man was still around, the Ling Family was stronger than the other families. How could a family stronger than the others be bullied by a junior?
Therefore, Ling Jinhua had to maintain his authority and keep up an image of the Ling Family as one that could not be bullied.
Once he figured this out, Luo Ziling was in a very good mood.
"Mom, when you come back, the story might get even more exciting." Luo Ziling chuckled. "I can follow right behind you and enjoy the show."
"Things aren’t that simple. Wu Dongfang is not an ordinary person," Ling Ruonan sighed. "I didn’t expect that after I left, things would get more and more complicated. Anyway, it’s almost time. The day after tomorrow we can return to Yanjing. Some things, we’ll talk about when I’m back."
Luo Ziling told Ling Ruonan about going to see Chen Yining today.
When she heard that Chen Yining was still arrogant, acting like he refused to admit defeat, Ling Ruonan couldn’t help complaining, "He still has that kind of nerve? I’m really impressed!"
"Mom, I figure it’ll still take you to personally step in to knock down his arrogance," Luo Ziling chuckled again. "If he keeps being this arrogant, then let him suffer a bit more."
"He’s Chen Xiaoyi’s father, your daughter’s maternal grandfather!"
Those words from Ling Ruonan instantly wiped the grin off Luo Ziling’s face. He sighed and said softly, "If not for that relationship, he would have no future, ever!"
Ling Ruonan told Luo Ziling that today’s handling of things was fine. The next time he met with Chen Yining should be in a few days, unless Chen Yining took the initiative to ask for a meeting.
Luo Ziling naturally accepted Ling Ruonan’s suggestion.
While they were talking about these things, Luo Ziling’s car had already driven into the villa.
After Wuyue parked the car, he got out alone, leaving Luo Ziling to continue his call in the car.
Luo Ziling didn’t get out. He leaned back comfortably in the seat and went on talking with Ling Ruonan.
Ling Ruonan asked a few more questions about the Northern Group and also mentioned Jin Yan and the others.
Luo Ziling told Ling Ruonan that there was no problem with Jin Yan anymore and he could easily handle her.
Next, the one he needed to deal with was Hu Jianbo.
There was already quite a bit of evidence showing that something was wrong with Hu Jianbo.
Luo Ziling planned to make a move against Hu Jianbo before Ling Ruonan returned.
Tomorrow, during the day or at night, Luo Ziling was going to meet Hu Jianbo in person, lay some of the evidence in front of him, and see how he responded.