"Hahaha, you're much more sensible than your brother. Too bad someone doesn't appreciate a good thing. How about this: tomorrow, you can start as the production director at our Tang family's food factory. Four hundred a month, what do you say?" Tang Shikang was clearly trying to bribe Zhang Liuxing.
Zhang Liuxing gladly accepted, "I like that very much."
Four hundred a month was an excellent salary, certainly better than most in Nancheng. Of course, it couldn't compare to Zhang Liunian, who could earn hundreds of thousands in a single day.
"Then it's settled. Go back and rest, and start working tomorrow!"
"Thank you, Director Tang. Goodbye."
After Zhang Liuxing left, Tang Shikang picked up the seasoning packet from the desk and opened it to smell. However, he knew nothing about food and couldn't discern anything special.
"Xiao Lei, are you sure these ingredients are genuine?" Tang Shikang pushed the packet away, rubbing his nose. The smell was quite strong.
"It should be the same ingredients Zhang Liunian uses. This smell is very similar."
Tang Lei looked at the finely ground powder, already worrying about identifying its components. "It's ground too finely. We won't be able to figure out the ingredients anytime soon."
"How long will it take?" Tang Shikang knew that such things couldn't be researched overnight, but they had time.
"Probably a month or two, and we'll need professional medicinal herb researchers. We'll have to ask Big Cousin to send some people over." Tang Lei knew that the Tang family had talent in pharmaceutical research, which was why he made this request.
"What do you need those people for?" Tang Shikang was confused. Aren't these just food ingredients? Why would they need professional pharmaceutical experts?
"I smelled it earlier. There are at least twenty ingredients, and most of them can be used as medicine. Without professionals, we might never be able to figure out all the ingredients." Tang Lei, who used to cultivate medicinal herbs, had some understanding of this.
"Are they all medicinal ingredients? I'll send two people over tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll go back and rest then." Tang Lei stood up and left after their conversation.
Not long after he left, the men sent to capture Jiang Qingqing returned. When Tang Shikang saw the person they brought back, his entire demeanor changed.
"Bang!" A teacup flew out, striking near the leader of the group with a loud crash before falling to the ground and shattering.
The three men who had been sent to capture the woman lowered their heads, not daring to look at Tang Shikang as they saw his anger.
Tang Shikang's anger only grew. Three capable men had been sent to capture one woman, and they had failed. How could he not be furious?
He had even arranged for Jiang Qingqing's associates to be diverted, only for them to return with such a result.
"Useless! I told you to bring back the woman, but you brought back a child, and a daughter at that. What good is a daughter? Who cares if she lives or dies?"
The leader lowered his head and said softly, "When we got there, Jiang Qingqing was already gone. We could only bring the little one."
It wasn't that they didn't want to capture Jiang Qingqing, or that they couldn't, but Jiang Qingqing had disappeared before they even arrived. What could they do? Were they supposed to conjure another Jiang Qingqing out of thin air?
"Gone? In the middle of the night, and she's just vanished from her home? Did she fly to the heavens?" Tang Shikang thought they were just making excuses.
"She's really gone. We wouldn't dare lie. If we're lying, may lightning strike us dead." The leader knew Tang Shikang was suspicious and immediately raised his hand to swear an oath.
Seeing his earnestness, Tang Shikang suppressed his temper and pondered. Could Jiang Qingqing really be gone? But that was impossible. Their move was sudden, and Zhang Liunian and his wife couldn't have possibly anticipated his thoughts and evaded them. So what was going on?
"Dad, how is it? Did you catch Zhang Liunian's wife? I want to see what she looks like!" Just as Tang Shikang was trying to figure out why they had failed, Tang Ge impatiently burst in. He scanned the room, only to see a tiny child lying on the ground with her eyes tightly shut. However, judging by her rising and falling chest, she seemed to be asleep.
"Dad, you can't possibly tell me this child, who looks only a few years old, is Zhang Liunian's wife. Who would believe that?" Tang Ge's eyes widened in disbelief.
Tang Shikang rolled his eyes. "How could she be? This is his daughter." He had seen the file earlier that morning, although it didn't specify Zhang Liunian's relationship with this daughter. He assumed that a mere daughter wouldn't be of much importance to him.
"What a shame. If it were a son, perhaps Zhang Liunian would have fallen into our trap. Now that it's a daughter, he might not take the bait." Tang Shikang was unsure how to deal with the treasure that had fallen into his hands. Several thoughts crossed his mind: send her to the underground research lab as a test subject, sell her to those childless people in the mountainous regions, or...
"Dad, even if it's a daughter, Zhang Liunian will have to comply. If he doesn't save his daughter, we can publicize the matter. That way, everyone in Nancheng will condemn him, calling him cold-blooded and heartless, just like what happened with Ding Xiaoyue ten years ago." Tang Ge had a different idea about capturing Zhang Liunian's daughter.
The deepest part of his memory held a similar incident, where the female protagonist was Ding Xiaoyue. At that time, Ding Xiaoyue had also gone missing. The Ding family sent people to search for her. When they learned that the kidnappers wanted half of the Ding family's assets in exchange for Ding Xiaoyue's life, the Ding family hesitated to rescue her. Later, somehow, the entire Nancheng found out, and everyone said the Ding family was cold-blooded and heartless because they refused to save their daughter. Eventually, under pressure, Ding Zhaoshan sought help from many people and managed to rescue his daughter. From then on, Ding Zhaoshan went from being the head of the Ding family to an ordinary person.
Tang Shikang's expression shifted upon hearing this. He sat down and looked at his son in surprise. "That's quite insightful." It was his father who had orchestrated the events of that year, so he knew more about it than Tang Ge. Later, they not only obtained a test subject but also a large sum of money and benefits. Thinking from Zhang Liunian's perspective, even though he wasn't as influential as the Ding family, he had now taken over the Nancheng food engineering project and several shops. If he were to offer his entire fortune, it might be somewhat acceptable.
"Perfect. The ingredient packet we just got from Zhang Liunian hasn't been analyzed yet. Perhaps we can use this situation to make him unable to survive in Nancheng. Then, not only will we get his recipe, but we'll also ensure he can never recover." Tang Shikang had an idea after hearing what his cousin had said earlier.
"This damned Zhang Liunian doesn't show our Tang family any respect. He deserves to know the consequences of offending us." After so many confrontations, Tang Ge had never managed to defeat Zhang Liunian. Now that his father was taking action, he was confident that Zhang Liunian wouldn't be able to escape their grasp.
"Is this the Tang family?" Zhang Liunian stood on the courtyard wall of the Tang family's grand three-section estate, looking up. Inside, only one area was lit, and it seemed to have two guards outside, suggesting it was an important place. Zhang Liunian pondered for a moment, then jumped off the wall and walked directly towards the lit area.