After Prison, She Shocks the World-Chapter 87: The Hot Potato of the Ren Family

Jiang Linshan’s face lit up. "What’s the plan?"

"This is for Ren Zhi to handle. It was his insistence on saving my second brother that made Gu Yazheng resent us. Besides, Xiaoyuan is Ren Zhi’s uncle. Both emotionally and rationally, this matter should be handled by Ren Zhi."

"But can our son handle it?" Jiang Linshan didn’t want to involve Ren Zhi.

"Whether he can handle it well isn’t important. What’s important is that if we entrust this to him, he’ll definitely tell my second brother. If things get out of control, Second Brother won’t just sit by and watch. Gu Yazheng has fought with Second Brother his whole life. They can’t avoid this fight even if they want to. Gu Yazheng’s daughter was severely injured by Xiaoyuan’s driver, and Gu Yazheng retaliated by severely injuring Xiaoyuan. Gu Yazheng is in the wrong. He should have gone after Xiaoyuan’s driver, not Xiaoyuan. We’re in the right on this."

As Jiang Linshan listened, she felt it made more and more sense.

Jiang Linshan went to Ren Zhi’s room, pulled him out of bed, and said with a dark expression, "Gu Yazheng has bullied our Ren Family to this extent! If you don’t handle this well, what standing will the Ren Family have left in Jiangnan?"

Ren Zhi was utterly confused. "President Gu and Uncle usually don’t have any issues. Why would he attack him out of the blue? Could there be some misunderstanding?"

"Is now the time to ask these questions? Your uncle has been beaten to this state! Instead of thinking about how to stand up for him, you’re looking at it from the attacker’s perspective! Do you have any conscience?"

Ren Zhi waited for Jiang Linshan to finish her tirade before speaking. "Mom, I need to know exactly what happened. If I don’t even know the full story, how can I handle it? Should I take a team of bodyguards to rescue Uncle? Even if I wanted to do that, I’d need to know where Uncle is first. Jiangnan is huge. Searching blindly will only waste precious rescue time."

Jiang Linshan sneered, "Quite the actor, aren’t you? Why don’t you just call the Gu Family and ask?"

"If it’s about making a call, I think it would be more appropriate for you or Dad to do it. You’re of the same generation, and Uncle is in President Gu’s hands. You’re the right ones to negotiate with him. As a junior, it’s more fitting for me to communicate with Si’an. President Gu sent you the photo of Uncle intending for you or Dad to contact him. If I call, I’d be revealing at least two things."

"One, that you don’t know how to handle this and woke me up in the middle of the night for ideas. Two, that the entire Ren Family knows. This might provoke him and be detrimental to Uncle."

Having spent years learning from Ren Ye, Ren Zhi understood these subtleties of the business world.

The biggest taboo in negotiations is a disparity in status between the parties. It’s disrespectful to the other side, especially to someone of Gu Yazheng’s stature.

For him, a greenhorn who hadn’t even established himself, to seek a meeting with someone in the middle of the night was tantamount to deliberately provoking Gu Yazheng.

Chided by Ren Zhi, Jiang Linshan felt she was losing face and snapped, "Just make the call if I tell you to! What’s with all this nonsense? When you saved your Second Uncle before, why didn’t you think about respecting Gu Yazheng then? Now that it’s your uncle, you’re making all sorts of excuses and being obstructive!"

Ren Zhi was speechless for a moment.

In his heart, of course, his Second Uncle was more important. His own uncle was known for causing trouble, and Ren Zhi had lost count of how many times he’d had to clean up his messes. He had already assumed that this time, too, his uncle must have been the one to start things. He needed to investigate thoroughly before deciding on a course of action.

Jiang Linshan was very disappointed by Ren Zhi’s attitude.

She went upstairs and told Ren Yue what had happened.

After listening, Ren Yue remarked slyly, "This is a good learning opportunity for Brother. The fuss he made last time saving Second Uncle already caused a rift between our family and the Gu Family, and it also made Maternal Grandma’s family view us negatively. If Brother doesn’t show a good attitude this time, then once Second Uncle is gone and our maternal grandparents ignore me, who else can we rely on?"

"Exactly! I’ve told your brother all this, but he just won’t listen! He doesn’t understand the path we’ve paved for him. He just spends all day trailing after your Second Uncle, with no sense of shame!"

"Mom, I know you want me to persuade Brother. But he’s my brother. If I, as his younger sister, try to tell him what to do, he’ll inevitably resent me and think I’m overstepping." Ren Yue had no intention of getting involved. She had a pile of her own messes to deal with from her project. If she got entangled with her uncle’s troubles, she wouldn’t be able to shake them off later.

Jiang Linshan wasn’t stupid; she could tell neither her son nor her daughter wanted to get involved.

She slapped Ren Yue across the face. "Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking! You just don’t want to deal with it, kicking your uncle around like a football! If you’re so cold-hearted to your uncle now, how well do you think you’ll treat your father and me in the future?"

Ren Yue felt deeply wronged by the slap. Hatred flickered in her eyes. Jiang Linshan was a classic case of favoring sons over daughters. She wouldn’t dare vent her frustrations from Ren Zhi on him, but she had the nerve to scold and hit her. Ever since she was little, Ren Yue knew she was smarter than Ren Zhi, and her grades were better, but everyone told her that everything in the Ren Family would eventually be Ren Zhi’s. She would marry out sooner or later and take someone else’s surname. In their eyes, her efforts and excellence counted for nothing.

Suppressing the hatred in her eyes, Ren Yue retorted, "He causes trouble year-round! He hit Gu Sining, so what’s wrong with him getting a beating from Gu Yazheng for it? Trash like him needs to be dealt with quickly if there’s any hope of reform! Instead of disciplining your own brother, you just bully those within the family. He’s your brother; why don’t you save him yourself? And you still have the nerve to act all deeply concerned for him? I spit on that!"

Jiang Linshan was so enraged she felt her blood boil. "I’ve seen your true colors! Your Second Uncle was lying in his hospital bed, and you argued against saving him! Your own uncle gets kidnapped and tortured, and you just watch from the sidelines! You think you’re the smartest one in the family, always looking out for your own interests!"

Ren Yue glanced warily at the door and lowered her voice. "We’re discussing Uncle’s situation now. Dragging in all that other unrelated stuff is pointless. The most suitable people to handle this are you and Dad. If not, let Maternal Grandpa and Grandma deal with it. If we juniors have to step in, you’re the ones who will lose face."

Her Second Uncle had just given her several of Ren Zhi’s highly profitable projects. She couldn’t afford to displease him at such a critical juncture. She had long seen through her parents’ limited abilities. They were mediocre, unwilling to do the actual work, yet always wanted more. Even if a good opportunity landed in their laps, they wouldn’t recognize it as such and would probably just complain about the trouble.

Jiang Linshan stormed back to her room, slamming the door.

Ren Shu, who was in the bedroom, had heard their argument. "With all this commotion, Second Brother must have heard by now. Let’s just sleep. Xiaoyuan will be back safe and sound by morning."

Jiang Linshan stared at Ren Shu, utterly disappointed in him. What good were his usual sweet words if he was so unreliable when it actually mattered? And her own two children were just as evasive. She couldn’t count on them in the future either. Indeed, relying on anyone was not as good as relying on her own maternal family. This den of ungrateful wolves in the Ren Family—she could neither warm their hearts nor earn their loyalty.

Seeing Jiang Linshan angrily snatch the covers and go to sleep, Ren Shu turned off the light, not wanting to provoke her further. He had no desire to deal with today’s events. Gu Yazheng punishing Jiang Linyuan suited him just fine. If this lesson could make Jiang Linyuan turn over a new leaf, then the beating wouldn’t have been in vain!

Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are publish𝒆d on freew(e)bnove(l).𝓬𝓸𝓶