Chapter 168 If Zheng Tian came to kill me, wouldn't I have known already?

Father Zheng was now in a single cell, and there was no longer any need for him to work. Furthermore, a Psychologist would visit him every day to provide counseling, fearing that he might do something rash.

He even required constant, 24-hour surveillance, which left the relevant staff feeling exhausted.

It is said that in Prison, the hardest time is not for the inmates—especially those only serving a few years, as they will eventually get out—but for the staff who will likely spend their entire lives working there.

"Someone is here to see you."

"Get ready."

The staff member looked at Father Zheng, who was sitting in the cell, his tone entirely calm. Upon hearing this, Father Zheng lifted his head and looked at him.

Father Zheng was now gray-haired, and the wrinkles on his face had deepened compared to the past. This was the change he had undergone over a period of time. Now, he had no expectation of living. His wife had committed suicide, and his eldest son was about to be sentenced to death. In such a situation, how could he possibly want to live? If it weren't for the staff watching him so closely, he would probably have wanted to smash his head against the wall right then and there.

"I don't want to see him."

The staff member didn't say who was coming, but Father Zheng was not a fool; he could naturally guess who it was. At this point, that was probably the only person who could come. Upon hearing this, the staff member frowned.

"He is your son, after all; you should at least see him."

Hearing this, Father Zheng sighed.

"Fine."

Father Zheng stood up from the bed and followed the staff member to the meeting room, where he saw Zheng Jie wearing a suit.

"Are you here to gloat? Are you here to tell me my son's fate?"

"Yes."

Zheng Jie admitted it without hesitation. Upon hearing this, the expression on Father Zheng's face turned ugly. He now understood clearly that this person wanted the entire family to die.

"My brother's death sentence will be carried out immediately."

"He has also waived his right to appeal, meaning he accepts the result. Barring any accidents, the death penalty review will pass in a few months, and the sentence will be formally executed."

"I came here just to tell you this. After all, as his father, you should understand his current situation."

Zheng Jie spoke unhurriedly, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him. Hearing this, Father Zheng burst into wild laughter.

"My biggest regret is letting you join the Zheng Group back then. If I hadn't let you into the group, none of this would have happened."

"If you are going to calculate it that way, you should blame my brother. Because if he hadn't chosen to flee the arranged marriage, I probably wouldn't be sitting here, and our statuses wouldn't be so vastly different. So, if you want to blame someone, you should blame my brother. Moreover, all of this was caused by his stupidity. The things he did abroad were so easy for me to find evidence on, and it even allowed you to hand over so many shares. Honestly, I should really thank him; otherwise, that 40% stake you held would have given me a headache."

Hearing this, Father Zheng clenched his fists and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"Don't you dream of your mother when you sleep at night? After all, she gave birth to you."

"Dream of her? About what? Dreaming of her sending me to the countryside, never seeing me, and always showing disgust toward me? I am really curious; I wasn't the eldest son, I was the second. If you disliked me so much, why choose to give birth to me? In my memories, I wasn't a very mischievous child, yet because of her words, she sent me to the countryside. Do you think you were a qualified father?"

Hearing this, Zheng Jie stood up and looked at Father Zheng.

"In your eyes, you think this is all my problem. Without me, the three of you would have lived very well. But is there a possibility that you and that person who committed suicide are the real culprits?"

A fatal blow to the heart.

At this moment, he was dealing a fatal blow to his heart.

Why did they hate Zheng Jie so much? Why did they think he was the culprit behind all of this? It was because they hoped to pin all the blame on Zheng Jie so that they might feel slightly better.

And Zheng Jie wanted to lay everything out for them.

"You're talking nonsense."

Father Zheng's expression was agitated upon hearing these words, and he looked quite emotional.

"Why be so agitated? Is it because your subconscious also knows that what I said is true? Perhaps if you had chosen to treat both sons equally, or given me enough love, none of these things would have happened. And because of your partiality, maybe Zheng Tian wouldn't have done so many excessive things; he acts like a spoiled child."

"Ultimately, whether it's her passing or Zheng Tian, who is about to be sentenced to death, all these problems stem from your failure to balance the scales."

"You blame all the problems on me now, thinking that without me, everything would be fine. But is that really the case? Putting a spoiled child in the important position of Group President—do you think he could manage the whole company? Do you think those directors would really listen to you and assist Zheng Tian? Stop joking."

"You might be able to while you're alive, but the moment you pass away, those wolves would devour Zheng Tian without hesitation and carve up the company completely."

"This is all your fault. You are the real killer of Zheng Tian."

The moment that last sentence was spoken, Father Zheng's eyes were filled with fear. He had not expected the other party to say such things. Clearly, he knew the other party had come prepared today.

"And you really don't understand me. To think I would honestly hand over the position of President of the Zheng Group is truly ridiculous. You thought my tolerance would let the three of you return to the past? Honestly, that's true. As long as I chose to retreat, you could still be a loving family. But what about my interests?"

"From beginning to end, you never considered my interests. For example, the 10% stake. Do you remember before the arranged marriage, I refused, and only agreed after you offered 10%?"

Initially, because Zheng Tian went abroad, the marriage could not proceed, but at that time, the Zheng Group needed the marriage too much. Therefore, he had no choice but to return from the countryside to go through with it. However, at the beginning, he did not agree immediately but chose to refuse. Having no other choice, the other party proposed that if he eventually divorced, they could give him 10% of the shares as compensation.

"Actually, I anticipated this day from the beginning. That was all an act. You see, you never understood me. In your eyes, I was always that country bumpkin who could be bullied. But you forgot one thing: people who have nothing are most afraid of losing everything once they have it. I told Su Qiaoer this, but she didn't understand the deep meaning."

"Want to know about Su Qiaoer?"

Father Zheng looked up.

"What?"

"Because of her chaotic private life, Su Qiaoer has contracted AIDS. This is common knowledge now. Desperate, they considered going abroad to start over where no one knows them. But unexpected to them, as soon as her money was transferred overseas, it was targeted by relevant authorities. The money has been frozen. Now the entire Su Family probably has less than 8 million left. I don't know the exact amount, but it definitely won't exceed 10 million."

Hearing this, Father Zheng was in disbelief. Although the other party didn't say who did it, he knew it must have been arranged by him. Who else but him could have such influence and power?

"Very well. In this world, you have become the richest person. In this country, no one can be more powerful than you. But you are all alone in this world. Do you think Zhou Ya really loves you? Stop joking. She only ever wanted the resources and power in your hands. Without that, you are nothing. You are a lonely man."

Zheng Jie laughed when he heard this. Perhaps in these novels about regret, to these guys, family affection is important, but this was simply ridiculous.

"That's truly ridiculous."

"What damage could those words do to me? I only know I don't have to go to Prison. I'm not paralyzed, I'm not a eunuch, I possess endless wealth. I can live any life I want and achieve my ideals. But in your eyes, I'm just a pathetic person without emotions. Do you think I value emotions?"

"If I were really that kind of person, I wouldn't have sent you to Prison, I wouldn't have..."

At this moment, Zheng Jie looked at Father Zheng and said.

"Known he wanted to use a car accident to kill me, yet chosen to go with the flow and send him to Prison."

The moment he said this, his tone was cold and ruthless. Father Zheng, facing him, was in disbelief. He looked up, his eyes full of shock.

He had not expected the other party to say such a thing at this time, so he understood why Zheng Tian had no issues after the car accident.

"You..."

Father Zheng's expression was grim and terrifying. Perhaps in his eyes, this was an absolutely unforgivable thing.

"He was too stupid. He thought searching for those things online wouldn't leave a trace. How could that be? In fact, my people had long discovered his intentions. I was wondering when he would act. For a long time, he didn't move. I thought he was scared. But I underestimated him; he had the courage, so he acted."

"I actually knew all along. I had 10,000 better ways to solve this, but I chose to send him to Prison. And the facts proved everything, just as I thought, even better than I thought, because he became paralyzed."

"So... that is everything I came here to tell you today."

"I am the reason for all of this, and the struggle where we had to fight to the death—you personally brewed all of this. You are the real culprit."

Zheng Jie's mouth curled up slightly as he spoke. After thinking for a moment, he sat on the chair.

"So you really think I care about these emotions?"

"Because I have never possessed real emotions in this world. How can I care about things I've never had? Over so many years, I learned one thing: when no one loves me, I must love myself, and I must love myself most."

"But you? Watching your wife and son leave you one by one, what face do you have to live in this world? So, I'm not the one suffering because of emotions—you are."

"That sentence just now, I choose to give it back to you: living alone in this world is painful, isn't it, Father?"

"Rest assured, I won't come to see you again because you have no value to me, not even emotional value. And you will spend the rest of your dozen or so years in this Prison. No, perhaps you will even end up in a mental hospital."

Upon hearing that last sentence, Zheng Jie stood up from his seat and turned to leave.

"Let me die."

The moment he was about to step out of that door, a weak voice came from behind. Zheng Jie turned back.

Father Zheng's tone was full of begging. Now he had only one thought: to die. Upon hearing this, Zheng Jie laughed.

"You must live. You must feel the sensation of no one waiting for you, no one accompanying you, just like the years I spent in the countryside. I spent decades in the countryside, so you can spend decades in Prison. You must live, live to feel the pain I felt."

Leaving behind that last sentence, Zheng Jie stepped out of the door.

The moment he walked out of that door, he heard faint crying behind him, but so what? He wouldn't feel sad; he would only feel exceptionally relieved.