After the frail beauty went to the countryside, she went crazy with scientific research.

Chapter 403, Episode 436: The Current Status of Leng Zhan and His Wife (Part 3)

The old man wasn't exaggerating at all. It was the old man who decided to bring Leng Xing'ang back to the capital. Regardless of whether Leng Zhan took the initiative to recognize Leng Xing'ang as his son, the old man felt that since he decided to take Leng Xing'ang away, he had a responsibility to raise him.

Moreover, Leng Zhan's salary was not high at that time, and he paid attention to his image in public, so his expenses were not small. The old man was worried that he could not afford the expenses of raising a child.

Now that he had brought the child back, the old man had no intention of making him suffer. So until Leng Xingmao was able to earn money on his own, the old man would give Leng Xingmao living expenses every month.

It started at ten yuan a month, increased to twenty after Leng Xingmao turned twelve, and then to thirty after he came to the island.

After Leng Xingmao was twelve years old, his grandfather learned that Leng Zhan and his wife were treating Leng Xingmao badly, so he stopped giving them living expenses and gave them directly to Leng Xingmao.

Kong Liping had considered getting the money from Leng Xingmao, but fortunately, although Leng Xingmao was afraid of her, he wasn't completely stupid. As soon as he got the money, he put it with Leng Zhi. Whenever Kong Liping asked him for it, he told her to go to Leng Zhi to ask for it.

Kong Liping wouldn't dare. If the money were with Zhang Hongying, she might dare to ask Zhang Hongying for help, but she wouldn't dare to ask Leng Zhi. In the entire Leng family, she was most afraid of the old man, and second most afraid of Leng Zhi, who had a murderous aura and could make her soul fly away with just a glare.

Unable to get the money, Kong Liping was no longer willing to take care of Leng Xingmao's food, drink, clothing and other necessities. As for Leng Zhan, from Leng Xingmao's perspective, he had always been invisible.

So until Leng Xingmao came to the island, Zhang Hongying took care of all his daily life and affairs, while Leng Zhi was in charge of Leng Xingmao's schooling.

That's why Leng Zhi and his wife felt so guilty after Leng Xingmao's accident.

They felt that it was because of their negligence that they hadn't noticed how much harm Leng Xingmao had suffered.

We've digressed, let's get back to the point.

The old man said he would change Leng Xingmao's parents immediately, but he was having trouble choosing the right parents for Leng Xingmao.

In the past, Leng Wang would not have considered it. Leng Wang was too busy, and his wife was even more clueless than Kong Liping. Leng Xingmao's adoption would have been harmful to him.

However, Leng Wang's wife is doing very well now, and the old man is very satisfied with her. It wouldn't be bad if Leng Xingmao were adopted into the family.

There's no need to mention Leng Zhi and his wife; they were only lacking in titles.

Leng Bai is not married yet, and his age is a bit awkward, so the old man originally did not consider him.

The old man was to choose between Leng Wang and Leng Zhi, but he couldn't make a decision no matter how much he thought about it. So he came up with a crazy idea – to draw lots.

Before the note was finished, Leng Bai came to visit the old man. After learning what the old man wanted to do, he asked the old man to add his name to it as well.

Leng Bai said, "Xing Mao is all grown up now and is about to get married. Changing his parents is not about taking care of him, but about separating him completely from his older brother and the others. It doesn't matter whose name he's registered under. He's called me Fourth Uncle for decades, so what's wrong with calling me Dad? We're all from the same generation anyway."

Then Leng Bai gave the old man a long list of reasons why his second brother and third brother were unsuitable, going on and on about them.

In the end, the old man was completely bewildered. He didn't even grab the note and, at Leng Bai's urging, made a phone call to the old clan chief.

After Zhang Hongying and Leng Xingmao explained, they didn't dwell on the matter any further. Not only was their explanation more convincing, but they both hoped it was true.

Zhang Hongying slapped her thigh and laughed, saying to Leng Xing'ang, "That's good. This way, you'll have absolutely no connection with your eldest brother and the others. We'll put you under the fourth brother's name. Your father is extremely protective of his own, and he's also incredibly ruthless. He'll smile to your face, but he never hesitates to scheme against you behind your back. Your third uncle has suffered quite a bit at your father's hands. They'll definitely not dare to come looking for you two in the future." The fourth brother probably put Xing'ang under his name for this reason as well, hoping to give the young couple some peace and quiet in the future.

Leng Xingmao was happy that he had completely severed ties with his adoptive parents, but he was also uneasy that his former fourth uncle had suddenly become his father.

With his head down, his hands nervously clenched and unclenched, and within seconds, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead in the air-conditioned room.

Zhang Hongying noticed his unease and was about to comfort him when Lin Yuexi's voice rang out, "Mom, before I came, I heard Xu Shan say that something seemed to have happened at Uncle's family. I was busy at the time and didn't pay attention. Mom, do you know what happened?"

Seeing her daughter wink at her mischievously, Zhang Hongying immediately understood and replied, "I know about this. A few years ago, your grandfather wanted your uncle to go to the news department. Your grandfather originally wanted your uncle to be a news reporter, but your uncle is a proud man and didn't want to, and still thought of himself as a leader."

"At first, everyone was considerate of your grandfather and turned a blind eye to your uncle. The general idea was that they treated him like a freeloader, as long as he didn't cause trouble."

"But unfortunately, he got into trouble in less than a month."

Although the old man had severed ties with Leng Zhan, he still gave Leng Zhan a chance. He neither publicly announced the matter of the step-relatives nor forced Leng Zhan to run for the news. He simply hinted at this to Leng Zhan, leaving the decision to Leng Zhan.

Everyone else could see that the old man was leaving Leng Zhan a way home; he hoped Leng Zhan would experience the real him and change his personality.

The old man didn't forcefully suppress him, and the outside world didn't know what was going on inside the Leng family. In addition, Leng Zhan's mistakes hadn't really reached the point of being demoted to the lowest level. So after he joined the news department, he was assigned the job of deputy director.

If Leng Zhan understood the old man's good intentions, being the deputy director wouldn't prevent him from personally going to the news.

Leng Zhan, however, did not understand the old man's good intentions.

Not only did he not actually engage in any 'laborious' behavior, but he also acted arrogantly at work and even stole credit from his subordinate reporters in order to solidify his position.

"This credit is not something that can be easily taken; it involves lives, hundreds of lives."

In a place called Thanh City in the province of Som, nearly a thousand disappearances have occurred in the past ten years, and the missing persons are all young and strong gay men.

This matter alarmed the higher authorities, who dispatched a special investigation team to Feng City to investigate.

However, after the investigation team arrived in the city for half a month, they all mysteriously disappeared.

If this matter could be investigated and reported, how attractive would that be for a courageous, resourceful, and righteous journalist?!

There were more than just one or two reporters who had ideas and dared to act on them. In just two years, seven reporters from the news department alone went to investigate this matter. One of them was named Luo Hui, who was only twenty-one years old.

All seven people have disappeared.

A week after Leng Zhan took office as deputy director, a package was sent from Mao City to the news department, addressed to Luo Hui.

The news department has strict regulations. Only work-related items are allowed to be sent to the news department, such as manuscripts or documents. Personal items are absolutely not permitted.

Leng Zhan wanted to make a splash as a new official and create a sensational news report, but how could he, who was just staying in the office, come up with a sensational report?
Upon seeing Luo Hui's package, he thought that Luo Hui had been missing for almost five years, and it was very likely that he was no longer alive. The package was probably a script that someone wanted to use Luo Hui to create, and it would be a waste to leave it there, so he might as well borrow it for a while.