Chapter 5

Whoosh—

Several dozen soldiers also removed their armor, following behind Xiao Qidi and kowtowing in unison, "We, we thank Miss Ning!"

Then, the thousands of civilians gathered outside the cave knelt down like a tide, kowtowing from the depths of their hearts, shouting over and over, "Thank you, Miss Ning!"

Thousands of voices echoed and swirled in the sky.

Ning Jinli cried even harder, unable to catch her breath.

Afraid she would faint from crying in front of everyone, she choked out, "Get up quickly," turned, and ran back to the warehouse.

Xiao Qidi arrived shortly after.

"Miss Ning, are you all right?"

Ning Jinli hugged her knees, crouched on the ground, head bowed low.

"I... I'm fine," she sniffled, "Don't worry about me; you lead them to divert the water... I'll keep the water flowing here."

Xiao Qidi pondered briefly.

Never mind; once the water diversion is settled, I'll bring the Canglan jade disc to her.

This heavenly treasure coveted by all monarchs, she truly deserves to possess.

"Yes, Miss Ning," he said, clasping his fists in salute, then turned and left.

Ning Jinli only recovered after a while, her eyes swollen to walnuts from crying.

At that moment, her pocket buzzed.

She pulled out her phone, rubbed her eyes, and the screen showed the caller name—Su Yi.

This was an elder unrelated by blood, yet closer than family.

When Ning Jinli's parents died, her uncle kicked her out of the Ning Family; it was Su Yi who took her in.

She had also been planning to call Su Yi.

Now she had 410,000, intending to give 100,000 to Su Yi to improve her life, and use 300,000 to hire workers in an attempt to revive the factory.

Using this money to pay off debts outright would be insufficient; even if the factory isn't revived, it wouldn't be worse than now, so she might as well go all in.

"Su Yi..." Ning Jinli answered the phone, trying to keep her voice steady and sweet.

"You bitch, I'm her son!" a coarse, irritable male voice came from the phone, "She's dying—hurry to the hospital to prepare for her burial! Don't fucking bother me!"

Ning Jinli's head buzzed.

She knew Su Yi's health had never been great, so how could she suddenly say she was dying?

"What happened to Su Yi? Which hospital?"

The other side only said a hospital name before hastily hanging up.

Ning Jinli immediately rushed there.

At the hospital, she learned from the doctor that Su Yi actually had severe kidney failure.

She had just been resuscitated, but needed to stay hospitalized for an urgent kidney transplant.

"What is your relation to her?" the doctor asked.

"You can consider me her daughter; how did she get to the hospital?"

"Oh, she fainted on the roadside, and a good Samaritan called an ambulance to bring her here. We asked the police to help contact her son, but... sigh."

Ning Jinli couldn't help but grind her teeth and curse, "Her son is an ungrateful beast! Su Yi raised him alone, yet ten years ago, when he married and couldn't afford a house, he kicked her out and took over the house, even resenting her as a burden, caring nothing for her life or death!"

The doctor fell silent.

Ning Jinli asked, "How much does it cost to cure Su Yi?"

A kidney transplant is definitely not a small sum; even if she can't afford it, she must think of every possible way.

The doctor's face showed difficulty, "Her condition is poor; we can't handle it here, I suggest transferring to another hospital. As for the cost... just the kidney transplant alone will be at least 300,000. Considering her age, she'll need a better ward, which will probably add several tens of thousands more."

Ning Jinli breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Fortunately, she had that much on hand.

In the morning, she transferred Su Yi to the best hospital in Xinghan City and arranged a private ward.

Throughout the process, Su Yi was half-asleep and unable to communicate.

The attending physician needed to run various detailed tests, so Ning Jinli had to sit in the hallway chair and wait.

"Yo! Isn't this Miss Ning?"

A voice dripping with mockery sounded.

Ning Jinli looked up, her face instantly darkening.

The speaker was Ning Yao, her foot wrapped in bandages, two household maids carefully supporting her.

Her parents and her lawyer fiancé also stood nearby.

"Jinli? It really is you," the aunt exclaimed, "What are you doing here too?"

Ning Jinli glanced at Ning Yao's foot, "What happened to her?"

The aunt laughed, "Her friend bought an imported horse, she insisted on riding it, and ended up fracturing her foot, so she's staying here for a few days."

Ning Jinli's eyes flashed with anger as she gave a cold smile.

Just a fracture, and she's staying in such a nice ward.

When I was kicked out of the Ning Family, I was only twelve.

My parents' property was entirely schemed and seized by my uncle and aunt; I didn't get a single cent!

The aunt felt a bit embarrassed under that gaze and said, "I still have to go get a beauty treatment, I'm off now."

Uncle Ning Hai noted Ning Jinli's adjacent ward number without changing expression.

After a brief thought, he also turned and left.

Ning Yao gave Ning Jinli a contemptuous glance, then strutted into her own ward like a proud swan.

"A family of bastards." Ning Jinli muttered a curse.

Ning Yao's fiancé He Kai vaguely overheard.

He walked up to her, wearing a cold smile, looking down, and said, "Did I handle you too lightly?"

Ning Jinli frowned, "What do you mean?"

"It's fine to tell you now." He Kai adjusted his crisp suit collar, "Actually, your grandfather wanted to give most of his inheritance to you, and it's written clearly in the will."

Ning Jinli froze, "Grandfather has a will? How would I not know!"

He Kai chuckled lightly, "I painstakingly earned the old man's trust, became his estate lawyer to safeguard his will; after he passes, I will burn the will, so of course you wouldn't know."

Ning Jinli stared, speechless.

He Kai sat beside her and spoke at length:

"So, according to the rules for dying intestate, your uncle is naturally the first heir."

"Inheriting the estate also means inheriting the debt; a loan of seventy million is not much, but I want to minimize losses for Yao Yao's family as much as possible."

"So I had my future father-in-law transfer the debt to the least profitable business!"

"Oh, that rundown factory."

"Then I'll give the factory to you, this clueless idiot, to inherit; by the time you realize the problem, it'll be too late to fix!"

He Kai said it all in one breath, his smugness through the roof, he snapped his fingers, "Ha! Nailed it! No wonder it's me!"

Ning Jinli felt as if struck by a bolt from the blue from head to foot.

"Know how formidable I am?" He Kai warned with a cold smile, "I'm a lawyer; if you dare curse Yao Yao's family again, I'll destroy you in minutes, got it?"

Ning Jinli was on the verge of breaking down, but images of ancient commoners struggling to survive appeared in her mind.

Their struggle to survive no matter how hard it was gave her tremendous spiritual encouragement at this moment.

Moreover, Aunt Su still needed her.

She took a deep breath to steady her emotions.

"Lawyer He, you will surely face karmic retribution."

"Karmic retribution?"

He Kai seemed to have heard a huge joke.

"Ning Jinli, you've read yourself stupid! So-called karmic retribution is just self-consolation for the lowly trash; we elites never believe in it."

"From ancient times to now, it's always been: murder and arson earn a golden belt, while building bridges and roads leaves no corpses!"

"This is just your first lesson upon entering society; from now on keep taking society's beatings! Hahaha!"

He Kai patted Ning Jinli's shoulder with a look of contempt, as if looking at an idiot.

At that moment, Ning Hai called him.

He stood up, walked a bit away, answered the call, glanced at Ning Jinli, then hung up.

He hurriedly left the hospital and rushed to a nearby teahouse.

"Uncle, I've arrived."

He Kai entered a private upscale room and greeted politely.

Ning Hai didn't let him sit, and while sipping tea said:

"Yesterday I found out Ning Jinli sold two gold bars and an antique jade pendant; the pendant sold for 100,000, guess how much the shop owner Wu Sanye resold it for at auction?"