Chapter Three: Shattering

Upon hearing Qin Rao's words, Yun Yao looked at her in surprise, "What's your idea?"

Qin Rao didn't say anything, but looked at the seat beside her and gestured for the boy to sit down.

Yun Yao pursed her lips and walked over to sit down next to Qin Rao.

At that moment, all he wanted to know was what was happening to his father in prison; nothing else mattered.

The boy was filled with anxiety and had nowhere to turn, so he would desperately grasp at any possibility.

In the following two weeks, Qin Rao took him to meet the top legal team in the country that was best at handling the case, and even privately visited relevant government officials she could contact.

The lawyers told him that his father was involved in a major economic crime case with a large number of people and a huge amount of money involved. The case was serious in nature and was being tried under strict circumstances. There was virtually no possibility of a lenient sentence, and he was very likely to be severely punished.

However, the lawyer also comforted him, saying that economic crimes generally do not carry the death penalty unless they are particularly heinous, and that many financial industry leaders have been detained and arrested in connection with this case, with each suspect receiving a different sentence.

In the worst-case scenario, if the authorities and the court determine that his father is one of the main culprits, he could very likely be sentenced to life imprisonment or a twenty-year prison term.

There will be a sentencing standard here, which involves considerations such as relevant evidence and the suspect's attitude towards admitting guilt. There is also a special, undisclosed rule that only people with connections in the industry know: for economic crimes like those committed by Yun Yao's father that do not involve criminal cases, if the criminal's family can make up for a portion of the embezzled funds, it can be used as grounds for a reduced sentence after review.

After thanking the lawyer, Yun Yao went back and took stock of his family's assets. He had three bank cards: one for his parents' daily allowance, one left to him by his maternal grandparents, and the other was the inheritance left to him by his mother after her death.

However, the amount her father embezzled was astronomical, and Yun Yao's own savings were simply a drop in the ocean. In addition, her maternal grandparents fell ill one after another and her mother passed away one after another, and a series of expenses also consumed most of her maternal grandparents' savings over the years.

Eighteen-year-old Yun Yao had no more money left to squeeze out.

In desperation, he even hired a professional valuation team to take inventory of all the fixed assets he knew of, including the house he currently lived in. But compared to the enormous amount he needed to pay, it was still far from enough.

"No need to rush," Qin Rao said calmly, admiring the boy's anxious yet still striking features. "I've already arranged for your prison visit. You can meet your father tomorrow. Your father might be the one who gets the most money, since he's been hiding what he embezzled. You can persuade him to cooperate and return the stolen money, and try to get a reduced sentence for himself."

Yun Yao looked up at Qin Rao. Although he had never liked her before and harbored some resentment towards her, at this moment, he was genuinely grateful to her. Without Qin Rao's connections and skills, he would never have been able to obtain this information and these opportunities.

"Thank you. I apologize for being rude to you before. I am truly grateful that you are willing to help me and my father at this time."

The boy's eyes were bright and sincere, as if a glimmer of light had finally pierced through the gloom of the past few days. "We will definitely repay you in the future."

Qin Rao chuckled. "Oh dear, what a pitifully naive little thing."

She had actually met Yun Yao's father yesterday. This beautiful young man had no idea what lay ahead of him, and of course, she wouldn't tell him.

“Okay, then you must…” she drawled, staring intently at the boy, and whispered cryptically, “repay me well.”

The next day, at a prison in the suburbs of Nanhang.

Through the solid, bulletproof, transparent glass window, Yun Yao finally saw her father, who was dressed in prison clothes.

"Dad!" Yun Yao excitedly picked up the communication phone used for visiting prisoners.

The man opposite him looked dejected, with an unshaven beard and a thin frame. He raised his heavy eyelids and glanced at the boy, his eyes dull and lifeless, completely devoid of his former spiritedness.

Seeing the man's current state, the boy felt a surge of indescribable sorrow. He lowered his voice and asked, "Dad, how are you doing in there? Are you alright? You look so thin..."

The man met the boy's sincere and concerned gaze, but his expression was somewhat evasive. He slightly turned his head, avoiding eye contact with the boy. "Ah Yao..."

On the phone, a man's hoarse voice came through, choked with painful sobs, "It's my fault, but I'm truly desperate. Do you know what a dark and hopeless place it is in? I'm suffering so much in there, every day feels like an eternity, it's worse than death!"

He gripped the phone tightly, his voice trembling with emotion. "And I heard they're going to give me a heavy sentence! But I'm so wronged! It's all that scumbag Ma Jian's fault, he lied to me! I shouldn't be sentenced so harshly! Yao, you have to save Dad, you have to find a way to save Dad!"

Yun Yao looked at her father, who had suddenly broken down and started crying, in a panic. She hurriedly comforted him, "Dad, I asked a lawyer. Economic crimes are generally not punishable by death. I will definitely try to get you a reduced sentence while I'm away."

At this point, the boy looked at his father with tearful eyes and said earnestly, "The lawyer said that as long as we cooperate in paying back the embezzled amount, there's a high chance of getting a reduced sentence. Dad, you must cooperate with the authorities to recover the funds involved in this case. We can't make another mistake. I'm already trying to raise money, but it's still not enough, Dad, your savings..."

Before Yun Yao could finish speaking, the man in the cell suddenly changed his expression, interrupting her with a look of half-pain and half-avoidance.

"Savings? What savings are left? Dad's life savings of so many years have all gone into it! That treacherous Ma Jian ran off with all our money. The embezzled funds... the embezzled funds went abroad with those people long ago, there's no way we can get them back..."

“I’ve told them everything… There’s no hope, no hope at all…”

The dejected man looked utterly hopeless. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he abruptly raised his head.

He gazed at his son outside the visiting window, his lips trembling, his voice urgent, "Ayao, my good son, you must save your father! You're all I have left! You must save your father, I don't want to die in prison!"

"As long as I pay the money, I won't be sentenced to life imprisonment! Ah Yao, Daddy made a mistake, but Daddy did it all for you and your mother, for this family! You have to save Daddy!"

As if struck by lightning, Yun Yao felt dizzy.

The eighteen-year-old boy finally couldn't help but break down a bit of the composure he had been forcibly maintaining since the incident began.

His voice trembled slightly: "Dad, there's so much money to pay... so much, even if we sell all our possessions... Dad, I don't know what to do."

"Then borrow! Take out a loan!" the man in prison said excitedly. "We can ask your aunt! She's in business and she must still have money! And all those relatives and friends, borrow as much as you can! We have to raise this money no matter what!"

Yun Yao bit his lip in pain. He looked at his father, unable to bear telling him that the day after the incident, his aunt had already taken his grandparents abroad and severed all ties with them over the phone.

As for those so-called relatives and friends of the father, they are now avoiding them like the plague, so why would they lend a helping hand, let alone borrow such a huge sum of money!

The man in prison was still muttering, "If only your grandparents were still here. They were such respectable people, with so many good connections. They would definitely have been able to help me... Now that they're gone, they've forgotten everything..."

Yes, once people leave, the tea grows cold; what can be done? Looking around, one sees only enemies on all sides.

The desperate man could only place his last hope in his son, "Ayao, please... you're all I have left..."

...

The time for prison visits has come to an end.

Yun Yao walked out of the prison in a daze. He was like a glass cup filled with the wine of sorrow, or a fragile balloon that was expanding, swaying as if he would burst at any moment and shatter into a pile of crystal tears.