Liu Cui cried for over an hour in the hospital, only stopping when the police arrived to question her. Her responses were evasive, almost as if she knew nothing.
The female protagonist who had just arrived was clearly intelligent. She also feigned ignorance, so the town's police still had no idea where the traffickers had gone.
Only children were captured. After questioning for a long time without any useful information, they left.
After Chong Yan’s wounds were treated, his family returned home.
Because of this incident, Yang Yun's situation with that man was postponed for some time. Just as the man was desperately trying to regain Liu Cui's trust, the Su family suddenly had an accident.
No one knew the specifics, but they heard that Yan Yun, the Su family's daughter-in-law, was abducted when she went to town. When she was found, both her legs were broken, and her fingernails had been pulled out, leaving her bleeding profusely. She dragged her severely injured body over two hundred meters down the street before she was finally discovered and sent to the hospital.
The Su family descended into chaos. Their son, who worked outside, also returned. The entire family rushed to the hospital to care for Yan Yun, leaving only Su Lili behind.
Yan Yun’s injuries were extremely severe. The medical standards in town were too low, and they were completely unable to help. Just as they were at a loss and considering giving up, the culprit turned herself in to the police station.
She was willing to offer 500,000 yuan for Yan Yun's treatment, with the condition that the Su family write a letter of understanding to reduce her sentence.
Causing severe injury, disability, or death through exceptionally cruel means could be punishable by death. Naturally, the Su family wished for her to die, but they needed the money more.
With Yan Yun in her current state, the killer dying wouldn't bring about her recovery. After discussion between her husband and mother-in-law, they decided to write the letter of understanding and accepted the 500,000 yuan compensation.
Ultimately, the woman was sentenced to 20 years. As for Yan Yun, after her husband and mother-in-law received the money, they arranged for her amputation.
500,000 yuan was quite valuable at the time. They used the money to buy a house in the city where Yan Yun's husband worked, and the whole family moved there.
Su Lili was left behind in the village.
Most people in this village were good. When the Su family, a widow and her child, moved in, Su Laotai's husband had been shot for engaging in illegal activities. The villagers did not bully them because of this; instead, they took care of them. The first tuition fee for Yan Yun's husband's university studies was also pooled together by the villagers.
Now, by leaving Su Lili in the village, their intention was simple: the Su family did not need a "money-losing burden." If the villagers were willing, they would give her food; if not, they could watch her starve to death.
If they were willing to raise her, she would still be a member of the Su family and would have the obligation to support her biological parents.
Their calculations were quite shrewd, but Zhu Rong did not give them this opportunity at all.
She persuaded Liu Cui to adopt Su Lili, helping her change her name. Su Lili became a granddaughter of the Ran family, on the same household registration as Chong Yan.
Zhu Rong had not yet achieved this feat herself.
Since the age of five, Su Lili never went hungry again, nor was she beaten. She attended school like other young girls in the village. Due to her childhood experiences, she studied diligently and worked extremely hard. Through her own efforts, she was admitted to high school, then university, and became a proud people's teacher.
In the year Chong Yan was in junior high school, their village underwent road construction. A bridge was built over a cliff, connecting to the opposite side. The slope was also re-landscaped, and a mountain road was constructed. Children no longer had to take the dangerous small path to reach junior high school in town.
The biggest change in the village was the Ran family. At some point, the Ran family seemed to have suddenly prospered. Behind the back of the mountain, they built a magnificent rural villa, covering over a thousand mu, with its own gardens, flowers, birds, and trees. Everyone who entered was amazed.
They assumed it was the man Yang Yun remarried who gave the Ran family money. After all, that man had been a bachelor before and had no children with Yang Yun. He was counting on Chong Yan to support him in his old age, so it was only natural for him to spend money building a house for the Ran family now.
They had all heard that the man was a boss in the city, always accompanied by more than a dozen people, and was very imposing.
The protagonist expressed his bewilderment.
He was just an ordinary security captain. Although his monthly income was twenty thousand yuan, he couldn't afford to build such a villa even if he worked as a security captain his entire life.
He looked up at the towering skyscrapers outside, which, bathed in the light of the new sun, seemed to come alive with vigor.
He recalled the feeling of surprise and shock when he first looked properly at that young girl many years ago. The facts proved his initial thoughts were completely correct.
A golden dragon, once in the pond, would soar to the sky with the wind and rain.
Who would have imagined that a young woman in her early twenties, who had never attended a day of school, would be the CEO of such a large company, with industries spread across the globe, spanning multiple sectors, and a personal fortune of hundreds of billions? Su Dan Novel Network.
The demeanor, insight, and capability displayed by Zhu Rong were inconsistent with her twenty-odd years of experience, but no one dared to question her, nor did anyone dare to harbor ill intentions.
Yang Yun had once worried that she would break free from the Ran family's control and not be willing to be with Chong Yan. Later, the man saw the situation clearly. In fact, it was never about whether the Ran family was willing, but whether that young lady wanted to be.
The choice was not in their hands.
The phone on his desk suddenly rang. He picked it up and saw it was his wife, Yang Yun.
"Hello, darling."
"When are you coming back? It's Ah Yan's birthday today. Xiao Rong said she wants to have a big celebration and even do some sort of authorization. The house is very busy, so come back early to help."
The man quickly replied, "I asked Xiao Rong earlier. She said she'd pick up Ah Yan later. Let me see... never mind. I'll pick a few people for her and come back first."
He had originally planned to go himself, but his wife was more important.
"Mm, hurry up."
Today was Chong Yan's eighteenth birthday.
His coming-of-age ceremony, its importance was self-evident, especially since Zhu Rong had mentioned long ago that she would announce something very important today. She had sent invitations to many senior executives of her company, close business partners, and a few friends.
Even considering the influence of her company, those people would be fully prepared.
And at this moment, the protagonist of the day, Chong Yan, had just finished school.
He had skipped a grade in junior high and was now a sophomore, studying biological science. Although Zhu Rong had previously tried to guide him towards things that were easier to achieve and gain merit points, Chong Yan remained firm in his own decision.
This major did not have many required courses, but it often involved experiments. To get leave for his birthday, he had stayed up late to finish the experiment in advance. The moment he saved the document, people in the laboratory shouted with excitement.
"Ah, it's finally over!"
"Student Ran will be late to go home if we delay any longer," one person said jokingly. "Although the coming-of-age ceremony is indeed very important, you are still a student. Why are your family members so serious?"
Chong Yan shook his head, indicating he didn't understand.
"Alright, let's get going. After all, we all received invitations. Your family is really strange. Didn't you say you were from the countryside? Why are you having a birthday celebration with invitations? And they're even embossed, how unusual."