Chapter 296

Chapter 296

Playing It by Ear

Lu Hang was truly shocked this time and asked in disbelief, "The real trading location is somewhere else?"

"Exactly!" Lin Nannan responded, then countered, "Don’t you think finding that trading spot was way too easy? Since Zheng Jie knows Liu Jinzhi’s been caught, he should be on high alert, keeping things airtight. How could you locate it so quickly unless it was deliberately set up?"

"But isn’t Zheng Jie afraid Liu Jinzhi might expose him?" Lu Hang found it contradictory. Did Zheng Jie really trust Liu Jinzhi not to flip on him?

Lin Nannan grinned. "Zheng Jie’s clueless his secret’s out. So whether Liu Jinzhi leaks it or not doesn’t matter to him!"

Lu Hang pressed for an explanation, and Lin Nannan obliged.

Outwardly, Zheng Jie spoiled Liu Jinzhi, but in reality, he kept many things from her—like the actual trading location, the people involved, and the nature of the transactions.

But women? They push back. The more a guy hides, the harder a woman digs, feeling undervalued. So Liu Jinzhi, using her smarts, pieced together bits of information she occasionally overheard and uncovered the Zheng family’s secrets. As a local, she had no trouble digging up dirt by offering small favors to familiar faces or villagers.

"So, Zheng Jie had no idea his secret was known by the woman beside him?" Lu Hang found it hard to believe.

Lin Nannan shrugged. "He kept her close but never gave a damn. Deep down, he probably thought she was beneath him and never imagined she’d be capable of such scheming. But guess what? Liu Jinzhi was dead set on it. And she did her digging only when Zheng Jie wasn’t in Nan City, making her efforts twice as effective!"

Lu Hang nodded. "You make a good point. Still, we can’t let our guard down. We need to pay attention to both the location Liu Jinzhi revealed and the one we discovered ourselves. We gotta cover our bases."

"Do we even have enough people for that?" Lin Nannan asked worriedly.

This was do-or-die, and splitting their forces would put them at a disadvantage.

"It depends on when they make their move." Lu Hang thought about the plan he and Lin Kangnian had devised and realized their biggest problem now was the lack of manpower.

Lin Nannan tilted her head and said, "I think… if the Zheng family plans to leave, they won’t go quietly. To ensure a safe exit, they might cause a scene… The people of Nan City have deep ties with the Zhengs. Even if the family leaves, the transactions won’t stop—this place is still crooked as hell."

She said this mainly because her recent conversations with Liu Jinzhi had revealed much.

At first, Liu Jinzhi refused to say anything. But after enough provocation, she sometimes let things slip, especially when someone belittled Zheng Jie. She’d scoff and blab their secrets—many of whom were influential figures in Nan City. That’s how Lin Nannan realized the Zheng family’s influence here was formidable. One slip-up, and they’d come down hard.

Lu Hang understood her concern and said gravely, "We can’t let anyone enter Nan City now. Any movement would alert them."

Lin Nannan rubbed her head, feeling overwhelmed. Catching them all seemed nearly impossible, especially since their own people couldn’t enter Nan City.

"Then we’ll just have to take it one step at a time," Lin Nannan sighed in resignation.

Lu Hang, not wanting her to worry, reassured her with a smile, "Don’t worry. We won’t let the Zheng family escape Nan City."

"Fingers crossed."