Chapter 267: What Do You Mean

Chapter 267: Chapter 267: What Do You Mean

Ouyang Kunpeng sneered. "It’s fine when you kill others, but they’re not worthy or brave enough to do the same to you? If that bullet had been delivered differently just now, your grandson would be dead!"

Liu Wanqi panted heavily, seething with anger, yet he had to admit that this was the harsh truth.

"Even if you go on high alert from this moment onward, can you assign ten bodyguards to every member of the Liu Family? Are you going to pull all the Liu Family children out of school? Or have bodyguards stand watch at the door of every classroom? Are you just going to stop leaving the house? A man with nothing to lose fears no one, and he is hiding in the dark!"

Liu Wanqi slammed his fist onto the table again.

Tonight, it was his own grandson who was targeted, and his immediate instinct had been to protect him. However, when counting all the children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews of his cousins and siblings, the Liu Family consisted of dozens of people. It was impossible to defend them all!

Even if he could hire enough bodyguards for defense, they could only sustain it for a few days or weeks, not for months or years. Moreover, once paranoia set in, it would inevitably trigger a butterfly effect!

Business partners would assume the Liu Family had offended someone powerful and was on the verge of collapse. They would demand early debt repayments, withdraw investments, and sever ties, inadvertently causing a run on their resources.

Meanwhile, competitors would sense an opportunity. Casting aside their reservations, they would swarm in for the kill! Lions and tigers didn’t survive by fighting off packs of wolves; they survived by intimidating them. Once the wolves realized the apex predators were exhausted and wounded, they would ruthlessly tear them apart!

Setting everything else aside, Ouyang Kunpeng—the man currently on the phone with him—would undoubtedly become the main force orchestrating the Liu Family’s downfall!

And all of this was simply because of a nobody, a wild country boy.

Was he angry? Yes!

Did he feel suffocated by this humiliation? Yes!

Was it worth it? No!

"If I were on my own, I would risk everything to cut him to pieces!" Liu Wanqi finally roared after holding back his fury for a while.

Ouyang Kunpeng finished the thought for him. "But you aren’t! You have to consider the entire Liu Family, and even the tens of thousands of workers relying on your family’s industries."

Liu Wanqi had to admit it. "Given your position, you understand my feelings better than anyone."

"Forgive me for saying something unpleasant, but even if you were on your own and possessed your current resources, it would still be difficult. You would also need to be forty or fifty years younger!"

Critical hit!

A wave of depression washed over Liu Wanqi. He was old now. No matter how much he despised his enemy, the sheer age gap inevitably brought a growing sense of powerlessness.

A twenty-year-old could fight with reckless, hot-blooded abandon, willing to fight to the death over a single breath of anger.

A middle-aged man in his forties or fifties would weigh the pros and cons, let alone an old man like him.

"Fine, I’ll swallow this! I will pretend none of this ever happened. I won’t hold this against him!"

Ouyang Kunpeng finally breathed a sigh of relief but still spoke cautiously. "I will relay your stance to him. I will also do my best to persuade him to drop the matter..."

"He just slapped me in the face and threatened my grandson’s life! I’m already turning the other cheek and swallowing this humiliation, and you’re only going to persuade him to drop the matter?" Liu Wanqi couldn’t help but yell furiously.

He felt that by choosing not to pursue the issue, Zhang Yun should be counting his lucky stars, if not groveling in gratitude. How could anyone speak of Zhang Yun "dropping the matter" with him?

Ouyang Kunpeng sighed. "Uncle Liu, it was your... your people who hired assassins to kill him first. If he had been slightly weaker, or if the assassins had been slightly more skilled, there wouldn’t be any of this aftermath. He would already be lying dead in some corner of his mountain village right now. You flew into a rage just over a warning, so how do you expect someone who actually suffered an assassination attempt to remain calm?"

Liu Wanqi desperately wanted to ask if Zhang Yun’s life could even compare to his grandson’s, or if a country boy was even worthy, but he held his tongue and settled for a cold snort.

Ouyang Kunpeng continued, "To be shameless for a moment, based on my understanding of Zhang Yun, the fact that he suppressed his anger and merely delivered a bullet instead of firing it means he was already giving me face. This is the result of me begging him to stay calm and wait for my mediation."

"You sure are capable!" Liu Wanqi mocked.

"I’m a man who pursues peace. I don’t want anything to happen to Zhang Yun, nor do I want anything to happen to the Liu Family."

Ouyang Kunpeng maintained a good mindset. This had all been a series of accidents; he never had any grudges against the Liu Family to begin with.

"Heh, and what if your face doesn’t work, and he insists on pursuing this?" Liu Wanqi sneered, believing there was a very high chance of that happening.

Ouyang Kunpeng was momentarily at a loss for words.

Zhang Yun wasn’t his son. Despite just being a country boy, he had never once taken orders from Ouyang Kunpeng.

As someone caught in the middle, Ouyang Kunpeng genuinely wanted to smooth things over, but what if he couldn’t?

"Hmph!" Liu Wanqi wore an expression of absolute vindication. "When that time comes, Boss Ouyang, are you going to persuade me to swallow my pride and beg for his forgiveness? I’d actually like to ask—does he have a video or some document proving that I hired people to kill him?"

Ouyang Kunpeng felt helpless. If he took that angle, there was no way to continue the conversation. Liu Wanqi had no physical evidence proving Zhang Yun killed Liu Yandao, and Zhang Yun similarly had no hard proof about the assassins. However, everyone knew the truth.

"Boss Ouyang, you are oh-so capable. Why aren’t you speaking anymore?" Liu Wanqi, who had been heavily stifled by Ouyang Kunpeng’s previous remarks, finally managed to suppress him in the argument, allowing him to press the issue with immense satisfaction.

Ouyang Kunpeng sighed helplessly. "You’re right, Uncle. I have nothing to say to that. Thinking about it carefully, none of this really has anything to do with me anyway. My daughter taking a liking to him might just be a form of appreciation. He isn’t her boyfriend in the end, so a little regret doesn’t matter much..."

"What do you mean?" Liu Wanqi interrupted his lament.

"Nothing much. I just feel that my abilities are limited, and I can’t mediate a conflict of this scale. It’s better if Boss Liu unleashes a massacre himself. With the Liu Family’s power, wiping out a country boy should be completely effortless. My nervous caution must have made me a laughingstock to you!"

"..." Liu Wanqi was instantly left speechless. He had been trying to force a guarantee out of Ouyang Kunpeng, not trying to make him wash his hands of the entire matter!

"Let me clarify," Ouyang Kunpeng continued. "I only received a phone call earlier. I’m not sure when the assassin incident happened, nor do I know if he had already traveled to your city before making that call. Please don’t let my mistakes mislead your judgment."

"What do you mean?" Liu Wanqi suddenly grew tense.

Originally, Ouyang Kunpeng had emphasized that Zhang Yun was in a small mountain village thousands of miles away and couldn’t possibly rush over quickly. That gave Liu Wanqi time to strategize and deploy his forces.

But with this sudden change in narrative, didn’t that mean the person who had just infiltrated the international school might have been Zhang Yun himself?

If it had been someone Zhang Yun arranged, they would have had to ask for instructions over the phone and operate remotely, which would drastically reduce their decisiveness. However, if Zhang Yun was there in person and saw the bodyguards coming to pick up the boy while receiving no response from the Liu Family, he might just snap on the spot!

The ability to go straight to the international school proved he could dig up the Liu Family’s personal information and stealthily get close to them. And delivering a bullet was a clear message that he had a gun!

Having a gun and not having a gun were two entirely different concepts!

Even if he really arranged ten bodyguards to watch over Liu Zhongyuan, it was impossible for them to move in a human-shield formation at all times. The boy could easily be shot from a few meters away! Was he supposed to clear all the students out of the restroom before his grandson went in?