Chapter 43: 43. The Methods of That Year (Please add to your library, please vote!)

The person waving at Hao Yuan was naturally Zhang Ran; although he hadn't recognized Hao Yuan for a moment, didn't he have Tian Ya's reminder?

For Hao Yuan and the others, it had been twenty-eight years, but for Zhang Ran, it was not the same; hearing the name and then looking at the appearance was enough for him to match them up.

Meng Mingxuan, standing to the side, had been ready to stop upon hearing Tian Ya's shout; he also knew Hao Yuan, who counted as Tian Yaohui's bodyguard and, furthermore, his trusted confidant.

What was more critical was that Hao Yuan truly dared to beat him, even if he knew his old man.

However, Meng Mingxuan soon saw Hao Yuan suddenly freeze in place, his eyes staring straight at the opposite side.

Then, looking at Zhang Ran's smiling face on the opposite side, he knew what he should do.

"You bastard, you actually dare to hit my face? Take this!" Meng Mingxuan shouted and gave him another sound beating.

Sun Gaixin was about to cry; who had he provoked? How did he end up getting beaten!

Moreover, it seemed that until now he had only landed one punch, while Meng Mingxuan had hit him who knows how many times.

"Uncle Hao, why are you just standing there? Hurry up and go help Gaixin!" Tian Ya called out anxiously.

Hao Yuan subconsciously took a step, but when he saw the smile on that face—the same one from twenty-eight years ago—begin to fade, he directly changed the direction of his steps.

Tian Ya stared blankly as Hao Yuan walked to the opposite side, unable to react for a moment.

Hao Yuan, for his part, had no time to worry about Tian Ya's thoughts; he arrived in front of Zhang Ran and said in a low voice, "Boss Zhang."

"Tsk tsk tsk, Boss Hao, are you planning to manage my family affairs now?" Zhang Ran's face was still smiling, but his eyes were somewhat cold.

Hao Yuan had originally thought that when he faced Zhang Ran again, he could be full of confidence; after all, he was now considered a man of success, with the great mountain of Tian Yaohui behind him, wealthy and powerful.

And Zhang Ran was merely someone who had suddenly returned from twenty-eight years ago, and those past influences of his had all dissipated with time.

But when he saw Zhang Ran again, especially face-to-face, he still felt his heart trembling.

"I wouldn't dare, I just..." Hao Yuan took a deep breath, pretending to be calm as he tried to explain.

Who knew Zhang Ran's expression would turn cold, "Just what? Just seeing that I, Zhang Ran, am easy to bully now? You also want to vent for your boss?"

Hearing Zhang Ran mention his boss, Hao Yuan's heart trembled instantly; the calmness from just a moment ago vanished, and his eyes became nervous.

Hao Yuan knew that the boss Zhang Ran spoke of was not Tian Yaohui; come to think of it, Hao Yuan didn't know Zhang Ran because of Tian Yaohui.

Back then, Hao Yuan was also involved in the underworld, following a big brother who was very formidable at the time; it could be said he was quite prominent in Yangcheng back then.

At that time, Zhang Ran happened to come to Yangcheng to handle some business, and no one knew where his boss at the time had found out that Zhang Ran was very wealthy.

Coupled with some influence from Hong Kong at the time, his boss directly kidnapped Zhang Ran.

He opened his mouth and demanded five million; one must know that this was back in the eighties, and five million was not a small sum.

Zhang Ran was afraid that these guys would have other ideas if he agreed too readily, so he endured several beatings, appearing as if he only agreed because he couldn't stand the torture.

At the time, Hao Yuan was the one responsible for guarding and looking after Zhang Ran; Hao Yuan didn't know how it happened, but he suddenly felt a bit soft-hearted at that time and took care of Zhang Ran a little.

After their boss got the money, he didn't intend to take Zhang Ran's life; with his influence at the time, he wasn't afraid of a local tycoon from out of town like Zhang Ran taking revenge.

Moreover, once Zhang Ran's life was taken, things might have become even worse.

Originally, everyone thought Zhang Ran would take revenge afterward, and they had prepared for it; at the time, none of them were worried. They were local bullies, and very powerful ones at that; Zhang Ran was at most just a dragon crossing the river.

But no one expected that after Zhang Ran left, there was no sound at all, as if he were scared and didn't dare to retaliate.

At the time, Hao Yuan had also thought so, and even inwardly despised these rich people.

But when the subsequent events occurred, he didn't think so anymore!

One week later, the boss felt weak all over and was admitted to the hospital, but no illness was found.

Two weeks later, some parts of the boss's body began to move uncontrollably, twitching at times and stiffening at others.

Three weeks later, the boss became incontinent.

One month later, the boss was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome, and it wasn't just as simple as Parkinson's; his mouth was crooked, his eyes were slanted, he was incontinent, unable to speak, and his hands were completely beyond his control.

But Hao Yuan could clearly see the pain and shame in the boss's eyes!

That is to say, the boss had completely lost all control over his body, yet he was perfectly conscious.

For any normal person, this was a kind of inhuman torture!

The most critical thing was that all kinds of medicine in the hospital had no effect, and they couldn't even find a way to alleviate it.

If it were only this, Hao Yuan might have thought the boss was just unlucky, but subsequently, basically everyone in the group that participated in kidnapping Zhang Ran developed some kind of ailment, and they all looked so natural, without the slightest sign of poisoning.

Only he seemed to have no problems.

By this time, their group naturally disbanded, and afterward, Hao Yuan followed Tian Yaohui; while following Tian Yaohui, he also came into contact with Zhang Ran again.

Once he learned more about Zhang Ran, he knew that it wasn't that Zhang Ran hadn't retaliated against them, but that they hadn't noticed it at all.

The most critical thing was that this kind of revenge was simply imperceptible; thinking about it made him feel somewhat horrified!

So at this moment, when Hao Yuan heard Zhang Ran's words, he immediately thought of the events of that year, as well as some rumors he had heard.

What chilled Hao Yuan the most was that even until now, no equipment had been able to detect any abnormalities, nor was there any evidence to prove that such things were related to Zhang Ran.

Hao Yuan smiled reluctantly: "Boss Zhang, you're joking, how would I dare."

Zhang Ran glanced at Hao Yuan and suddenly laughed, a laugh that made Hao Yuan tremble; he knew what Hao Yuan was afraid of—the game he followed didn't just have beneficial plants like the fragrant orchid.

Although there were no plants that could directly take a person's life, he didn't know what the designer was thinking at the time; perhaps just to innovate, quite a few plants that tortured people were designed.

"Boss Hao, we haven't seen each other for so long, look how nervous you are over a joke."

Hao Yuan gave two dry laughs and didn't answer; was that a joke just now? It didn't seem like one at all, okay?

Tian Ya was also a bit stunned at this moment; why did Uncle Hao look so subservient in front of that young man? He even seemed a bit afraid?

Just as Tian Ya was about to run over to question Hao Yuan, Meng Mingxuan on this side finally stopped.

One reason was that he was a bit tired, and the other was that the security guards had all rushed over by now.

"Watch where you're going next time," Meng Mingxuan said with an 'angry' expression.

He then looked at Tian Ya, as if he had only just seen her, "Oh, isn't this Tian Ya? Why have you come to Shanghai?"

"Meng Mingxuan, you..." Seeing Meng Mingxuan like this, Tian Ya was so angry she was about to curse out loud.

"Miss, let's leave first." Hao Yuan walked over very quickly; the moment Meng Mingxuan stopped, he had let Hao Yuan come over.

Hao Yuan immediately ignored Tian Ya's anger and the gloomy expression on Sun Gaixin's face, pulling the two of them away directly.

And at this moment, because Sun Gaixin had been getting beaten up the whole time and had just climbed to his feet only to be dragged away by Hao Yuan, he had not seen Zhang Ran's face clearly.

At this time, everyone saw that the people fighting had all left, so they also began to disperse; after all, it was just a fight and nothing serious had happened, so there was no need to keep watching after it was over.

"Zhang Shu, how did I perform just now?" Ming Xuan ran over to claim credit.