Chapter 79

At some point, the phone screen that was filming Tang Jiulin went black. It looked like Ding Xinqiao had been apprehended, but that was enough. Tang Jiulin was doomed. All it took was killing him, and everything would be over.

Zhao Zheng looked at the lighter in his hand, and opened and closed the lid with his thumb, and the metal cover made a clicking sound.

Yu Lei was frightened when he heard this.

"Yu Lei, take her away." Zhao Zheng said while looking at the lighter.

No matter how he led her, she had already unloaded his spear. Yu Lei simply wanted to kneel down before her. He raised his hand and tried to approach Tang Ruxin, but saw that she turned the spear head and pointed it at her own solar plexus.

"Wait a minute!" Yu Lei immediately took a step back, sweating profusely, his voice trembling as he spoke: "I won't go over, put down the gun. Put it down first! It's loaded, take your finger off the trigger!"

Zhao Zheng chuckled, "Oh, it's really ugly, Officer Yu, you can't even keep your gun."

"What can I protect in front of you two brothers and sisters? I can't even save my life!" Yu Lei was so angry that he wanted to curse, but he had no way to deal with these two people.

"Ruxin, Ruxin, listen to your father. Put down the gun, put it down first..." Tang Jiulin said weakly, his face as pale as paper. He had lost too much blood and no longer had the strength to speak, but seeing Tang Ruxin's actions, he forced himself to speak.

"Don't worry about it, Uncle Liu." Tang Ruxin said coldly.

Tang Jiulin closed his eyes, unable to muster any strength, and his head drooped.

She looked at Zhao Zheng and said in a deep voice, "If you light the fire, we will die together. If you don't light the fire and just kill him, I will die with him. It's your choice."

For the first time, a cruel look appeared on Zhao Zheng's face. "You want to save him? He destroyed your family, made me homeless and bullied, and made me neither male nor female! You have to save him!"

"I want to save you." Tang Ruxin said calmly, "I don't know what your life will be like in the future, but it can't end here. If you must go to a dead end, take me with you."

"Threatening me?" Zhao Zheng was seething with rage. He raised his lighter and flicked off the cap, snapping, "You've lived a life of luxury for so many years, and you've had enough. Do you really think I care that much about your life or death? I've endured humiliation and lived for this moment! You want to be together, right? Okay! I'll grant you that."

Tang Ruxin's face was filled with despair. She let out a long sigh and slowly lowered the gun that was pointed at her temples.

Just as Zhao Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, she moved the muzzle of the gun to her left shoulder and pulled the trigger without hesitation. With a bang, the bullet pierced her shoulder blade and flew out of the door with a splatter of blood.

"Zhao Lan——"

Yu Lei and Zhao Zheng rushed forward at the same time, shouting with the same fear and heart-wrenching voices.

Tang Ruxin fell backward, and Yu Lei frantically reached out to catch her. The pain was so intense that her vision went black, and she couldn't see who was in front of her or behind her. Cold sweat instantly soaked her body, and every breath was excruciatingly painful.

"Brother, brother..." She trembled and grabbed a hand, not knowing whether it was Zhao Zheng's. "Brother, don't kill him. Okay, don't kill him... I will be with you, always with you. Please don't kill him..."

"Okay, okay..." Zhao Zheng's eyes were red as he pressed tightly against her wound that was constantly bleeding and yelled at Yu Lei, "Call an ambulance! Go call an ambulance!"

The next moment, the special police rushed in.

Zhao Zheng was pinned to the ground. He raised his head with great effort and saw Yu Lei carrying Tang Ruxin horizontally and walking away quickly.

*

Tang Ruxin was unlucky, or to be more precise, it was because she didn't know how to use a gun.

The gunfire was fired at an angle, resulting in a much larger wound within the bone than if fired vertically. Furthermore, the bullet's high initial velocity and kinetic energy caused it to impact the bone at close range, causing the violent deformation and resulting fragments to remain within her shoulder blade, extending the postoperative healing time exponentially.

"Next time, shoot vertically, and don't get so close. Keep the muzzle as far away as possible." Yu Lei sat on a chair next to the bed and gestured, "Just stretch your arm out like this and flip your wrist over."

Tang Ruxin, leaning on the hospital bed, looked pale and expressionless at the policeman who was trying to teach her how to shoot herself.

"Next time." She said with a wooden face.

Yu Lei paused and said, "It is always good to have many skills."

It was also because she was injured now, otherwise Yu Lei might not be able to leave this ward alive today.

"How is Tang Jiulin?" she asked.

"He's not dead. But he's been frightened and a little mentally disturbed. He needs to recuperate for a while. The police are already investigating the fire and have assigned a team to investigate the cause of Zhang Shaohua's death. They should be able to reach a conclusion before he recovers."

Seeing that Tang Ruxin stopped talking and only looked at her phone with her eyes downcast, Yu Lei sighed, dragged a chair closer to the bed, leaned over the edge, and cupped her hand in his palm.

"As for Zhao Zheng, he admitted that he was the one who ordered Liu Wei and Han Yixiao to set up the three accidents. He was also responsible for Yu Zhe's car accident. Add to that the kidnapping and illegal detention, and he's likely to be sentenced to life imprisonment."

Tang Ruxin immediately looked at him, surprise in her eyes, "Not the death penalty?"

"He has a good attitude in admitting his guilt. Although he admitted to these incidents, there is no physical evidence to cross-corroborate his confession. The prosecution may not accept it as a confession alone. However, Yu Zhe's car accident is undoubtedly his fault. The police found Yu Zhe's lost car keys in his staff dormitory. They also found a glass bottle in a hole under the outer wall of your kitchen with several starved spiders inside."

It turned out he'd already been raising spiders to deal with Yu Zhe. Tang Ruxin gave a wry smile. Yu Zhe had taken his place, yet treated her poorly. From Zhao Zheng's perspective, he must have hated him to the core. Furthermore, Yu Zhe had the audacity to ask Tong Jiayu about her preferences and said he wanted to marry her—this was tantamount to courting death.

"Why did Ding Xinqiao help him to this extent?" Tang Ruxin asked.

Yu Lei rubbed her hand, hesitating whether to tell the truth. He instinctively didn't want Tang Ruxin to know what Zhao Zheng had experienced in the welfare home.

"They came from the same orphanage. Ding Xinqiao was able to continue his studies because Zhao Zheng had been paying for his tuition and living expenses. The two of them... had been through a lot together, and their friendship was unique."

"Where did Zhao Zheng get the money for the surgery? He paid for Ding Xinqiao's studies, so it's justifiable for him to do it through part-time jobs. The sex change surgery would cost more than 100,000 or 200,000 yuan. If he had that kind of money, why would he let Tong Jiayu die so early?" Tang Ruxin asked the key question.

Yu Lei's eyes suddenly turned cold, and a mocking smile appeared on his lips. "The person you like is indeed a rare talent. He does everything flawlessly, and there is no evidence to prove anything."

Tang Ruxin frowned, "Luo Yi?"

"Luo Yi flew back to Singapore the same night he signed the contract. Guess why he left so quickly?" Yu Lei said, but didn't wait for Tang Ruxin to guess. "You became his student when you were fifteen. He noticed someone was following you back then, and after investigating, he discovered it was Zhao Zheng. He's been supporting Zhao Zheng ever since, and he even covered the cost of the surgery."

"Why?" Tang Ruxin couldn't understand.

"I don't know what means he used, but Zhao Zheng told him everything. Including the truth about the fire as told by Zhang Shaohua, as well as Zhang Shaohua's death and Tong Jiayu's death. Zhao Zheng said he wanted revenge, but he lacked the money. The money he needed was just pocket money for Luo Yi. Using a little pocket money to buy a possible future was worth it, Luo Yi thought."

Tang Ruxin was so shocked that she couldn't express it in words. "He...was already planning to take over Donghe Refining back then? Donghe Refining hadn't even gone public at that time!"

What kind of foresight and strategic planning is this? Luo Yi is really - too scary.

"So it's just a possibility. He has always known about Zhao Zheng's plan, and maybe he also contributed to it, but Zhao Zheng denied his participation in the specific action. Cross-border investigations must have solid evidence, otherwise a letter of cooperation cannot be issued." Yu Lei said as he held her hand and put it to his lips to breathe, but he could not keep it warm.

"He can definitely say that it's just targeted funding. As for what the funding is used for, he's far away in a foreign country and can't interfere." Tang Ru said with a grim expression.

Yu Lei nodded and continued, "The biggest problem is that we can't even find any evidence of him transferring the money. Zhao Zheng said someone would regularly put cash in a bank locker she rented year-round. That money was used to pay for Ding Xinqiao's college tuition, and later, when Ding Xinqiao started working, he used it to pay Liu Wei and Han Yixiao."

Tang Ruxin's eyes flushed red as she spoke with difficulty, "So, it was really because I insisted on letting Tong Jiayu enter Donghe for refining that this revenge began."

Yu Lei held her hand tightly, thought for a moment, and then said, "It was an opportunity, but not the only one. Even if you hadn't let her join the company, she would have found other opportunities. Maybe she deliberately led you to join Donghe Refining, but you never defended yourself against her."

Tang Ruxin was silent for a moment, and before the tears welled up in her eyes, she raised her hand to wipe them away. She chuckled and said:

"It's been three days since we last met. Captain Yu knows how to comfort people now."

"Don't even think about comforting me. Before you recover, even if you ask me to kneel, I will never stand up. Even if you ask me to bark like a dog, I will never make the sound of a cat!" Yu Lei swore to the sky, looking like a sincere dog licker.

Tang Ruxin rolled her eyes at him in disdain, "Don't you feel disgusted when you say something like that?"

"I'm serious." Yu Lei looked at her, his eyes filled with guilt. "You were injured because I was incompetent. I couldn't stop Zhao Zheng, nor could I save Tang Jiulin. If I were a little more capable, you might not have been injured so badly."

Tang Ruxin sighed deeply. "When I went in, the sniper was already finding an angle, so you didn't have time to think of other options. But I never expected you to let me hold the gun. If my hand shook and it went off, we would have met on the road to hell."

Yu Lei put his hands together and bowed to her.

"You are my eternal God." Then his tone changed and he accused her, "I thought you could just scare him, but why did you actually shoot? And at yourself? I'm really, almost having a cardiac arrest..."

Tang Ruxin's eyes reddened again. "I'm scared... I'm so scared of the sniper outside shooting. I'm so scared that Zhao Zheng will die... I just found him, and I don't want to never see him again."

Seeing her crying, Yu Lei's heart suddenly skipped a beat. He hurriedly sat down beside the bed and held her in his arms to comfort her.

"I was wrong, I was wrong, don't cry..."

"When can I go see Zhao Zheng?" Tang Ruxin raised her head and asked him.

"After the verdict," Yu Lei said, "now Zhao Zheng can't see anyone except his lawyer and the police officer in charge of the case."