Su Ning came quickly and left just as quickly.
Well, the harvest was quite substantial—the plot character Huang Yu was almost squeezed dry by her. Thinking about it, it was a bit regrettable. It was quite hard to find someone whose defenses broke so easily.
The other one was a tough nut to crack.
Hard to chew.
Inside the office.
"How did she find all this evidence?" Huang Yu couldn't help but ask. It was too detailed. Probably even the Zhao family's own people wouldn't be this clear about it!
"Why care so much?"
Chen Huaiqian didn't even lift his head, drawing on the paper, thinking that with this detailed evidence, dealing with the Zhao family would be more justifiable.
That was enough.
"No." Huang Yu shook his head. "From the small details, we can see the bigger picture. This shows that Su Ning doesn't just have the personnel on the surface in Peiping. She definitely has other deeply rooted forces helping her. Huaiqian, do you know what this means?"
His expression was serious and profound.
"Su Ning, her identity is definitely not as simple as a foreign millionaire."
Of course he knew.
He even already had a guess, Chen Huaiqian thought. But just as he said before, what was the need to get to the bottom of it? As long as it was confirmed that Su Ning was "harmless" to the country, that was enough.
The rest, like crushing the Zhao family to death.
Were all trivial matters.
"Maybe."
Chen Huaiqian revealed a smile. "But some things are better left unclear. Peiping is in a time of turmoil. We need Miss Su's money to stabilize the situation, and your soldiers need to eat too."
"So just close your eyes."
Huang Yu opened his mouth, sat down dejectedly, unable to refute these words.
He said unwillingly:
"So what if she has money!"
...
Many people said the same thing. It was just that some were sighing with emotion, some were resentful, and more were a complex mixture of both.
For no other reason, anyone with a discerning eye could see it.
The Zhao family's sudden misfortune this time faintly had Su Ning's hand behind it—although other merchants were also unlucky, the Zhao family was uniquely unlucky among them.
Other grain and oil merchants at most had their shops sealed.
The head of the family was taken away.
The Zhao family was quite special.
—Not only were four or five people arrested on the spot, but over the next few days, many more were arrested one after another. And every single one of them had conclusive evidence against them, making it impossible to defend themselves, let alone cry foul.
It was obviously premeditated.
Those who wanted to make a fortune from the war discussed it nervously while taking pleasure in the Zhao family's misfortune. After all, comparison brings a sense of superiority, even though they were all being targeted by the government.
But the Zhao family was far worse off!
Behind them was a Queen of Hell preparing to send their whole family to hell.
"Miss Su is too petty. I have reliable news that there is a huge stack of evidence against the Zhao family, but she just won't arrest them all at once. She insists on torturing them by doing it once or twice a day."
"Even though the Zhao family offended her first, taking advantage of their precarious position to kick them while they are down isn't in line with morality."
"I actually think she did a good job. The Zhao family's rice and flour prices increased the most."
"Every time they raised prices, the other families followed suit."
"Do you think the price of rice will drop now that the government has arrested these evil merchants who hoard for profit? Sigh, we really can't even afford to eat cornbread soon."
"Keep dreaming."
"They only caught the small fry. The real big shots who hoarded a large amount of rice and grain are all preparing to make a fortune, and they aren't afraid of the government..."
Inside a private room on the upper floor of the restaurant.
Su Ning put down her chopsticks. On a rare whim, she had gone out to find delicious food in the small alleys. She didn't expect that even in this kind of small eatery, people would be discussing the Zhao family and the price of rice.
True, food is the necessity of the people.
The price of rice in Peiping was getting higher day by day, and ordinary people really couldn't afford to eat.
At any random rice and flour shop.
There would be a long line behind it. Often, before it was even their turn, the clerk would change the price of rice again. Even if they managed to buy rice, it was inferior, moldy flour mixed with sand and stones!
As for their hope that the current price of rice would drop... Su Ning shook her head silently—
Just endure it a bit longer.
...
After hastily eating a few bites.
Su Ning lost all interest and headed home. Seeing this, the system wanted to comfort her a little. It seemed that even someone as black-hearted as the host had emotions and would feel sad for the suffering of her fellow humans.
"I feel like my popularity has been stolen."
"What?"
Suddenly flashed, the system asked in confusion, already having a bad premonition in its heart.
Sure enough—
"Sigh, I kindly helped them stabilize the price of rice. Can't these NPCs just obediently focus their attention on me, this evil, notoriously bad capitalist? The Zhao family is being played so ruthlessly and looks so pitiful, yet there aren't many people sympathizing with them?"
Then how was she supposed to earn rewards?
With her current balance, she was still halfway away from thirty million. Su Ning was very anxious.
Rich and Heartless System: "You lost your appetite because of this? I thought you couldn't bear it in your heart and were feeling a surge of kindness..."
"That's there too."
Su Ning spread her hands and said righteously: "But I've already worried about it, so I don't need to keep wallowing in it, right? Besides, I made a real financial contribution to stabilizing the price of rice. I'm already very great, okay?"
The system replied with a hehe.
"Forget it."
Su Ning shook her head regretfully. After thinking about it, she realized that no matter how explosive the news was, or how much hatred and jealousy there was, it all amounted to nothing in the face of an empty stomach.
She still had to target the plot characters.
What was that guy surnamed Zhao waiting for?
He still hasn't come.
On the other side, Zhao Hao couldn't really be blamed. Seeing his relatives being taken away one by one, he was so anxious that two large, red, and swollen pimples popped up on his forehead and the tip of his nose—
But he couldn't find the place.
That's right, the Zhao family had given the old address, and Shang Wenyun had long since moved to a new place. He had spent the last few days busy asking around for news. Fortunately, hard work paid off, and he finally found it.
That night.
Su Ning brought Shang Wenyun back from running errands. Because it was too late, she gave her subordinate a ride on the way. She saw three people standing at the door, one adult and two children.
A man wearing a long gown, whose gentle features indicated a very good temper, was holding a child in each hand. Seeing the extremely extravagant motorcade, he couldn't help but frown.
To be so luxurious and extravagant for a normal outing.
"Who is this person?"
Su Ning asked, knowing the answer.
Hearing this, Shang Wenyun didn't answer immediately. Her eyes widened in disbelief, her breathing quickened, thinking she was dreaming... A dead person had suddenly come back to life?
Zhao Hao waited for a long time.
There was no movement from the car for a while. The smile on his lips was about to fade, thinking, is Wenyun too pleasantly surprised, so she hasn't reacted?
Finally, someone got out.
The first to appear was his wife, Shang Wenyun. Then, the doors of the cars in front, behind, left, and right opened simultaneously. Dozens of men in black swarmed to the front of the car, and the car door opened.
A young woman stepped down.
Zhao Hao met her cold and arrogant gaze, and his heart immediately guessed her identity. Su Ning, this person must be Su Ning.
He slowly exhaled.
It was good that they bumped into each other.
But it wasn't bad either. He hoped she would soften at the scene of a husband and wife reuniting after being separated by death. He lowered his eyes and glanced at the two children again, feeling a bit more confident...
He saw Su Ning turn her head and say something to his wife.
His heart tightened.
He revealed a gentle smile, surprised and ashamed: "Wenyun, it's me. I didn't die. So many things happened during this time. I want to tell you everything..."
He slowly spoke.
Unexpectedly, the daughter whose hand he had been holding broke free from his grasp. She dashed straight into his wife's embrace, burying her head without looking up, as her tender, childish voice cried out:
"Mom... I'm scared."
Hearing this, Zhao Hao instinctively felt displeased. He was her biological father, what was there to be afraid of? This child was simply too aloof. At the same time, the small hand resting in his right palm squeezed back tightly—thank goodness Xuewen was different.
He couldn't help but recall how differently the two children had reacted when he first saw them.
One was thrilled.
The other was so terrified she hid in her room, refusing to come out.
It really wasn't good for a girl to be so spoiled.
Sigh, he would have to make her play with her brother more in the future. Hopefully, her personality would become a bit more outgoing.
Snapping back to the present.
His wife's familiar face was right in front of him. Zhao Hao's gaze softened. He wanted to pull her into a hug, to tell her that he was back and that their family was finally whole again.
Everything would be just like before.
"Slap."
A merciless, heavy slap struck Zhao Hao across the face. He didn't even have time to react before a burning pain spread across his cheek, only registering what had happened when he heard Xuewen gasp in shock:
"Mother, what are you doing!"
Shang Wenyun did not even blink.
With a backhand, she delivered another vicious slap to the left side of Zhao Hao's face. When she was done, she turned a cold, mocking gaze toward Zhao Xuewen and sneered:
"Who is your mother?"
Standing off to the side, Su Ning almost clapped her hands. She felt a surge of excitement, as if she had finally reached the climax of a story, thoroughly enjoying the identical looks of sheer terror in the eyes of this father and son who shared no blood relation.
