"Mom!" Zhang Ling cried out and quickly rushed over to help Zhang Jiuhua up.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Jiuhua slapped Zhang Ling across the face and shouted, "Don't touch me! You ungrateful wretch!"
She then stood up and looked at Chen Jie with a cold smile.
"Might makes right. Kill us or torture us, just say the word!"
Zheng Qingshu ran over and pointed at Zhang Jiuhua and Zhang Ling, saying, "Zhang Ling, because you used to be my girlfriend, if you return all the money you scammed from me and Uncle Xia, I'll ask Teacher Chen to let you off the hook. How about it?"
Zhang Ling opened her mouth.
Zhang Jiuhua, however, scoffed, "Have you ever seen anyone who scammed money actually give it back? If you have the guts, take it yourself!"
"You..."
Chen Jie frowned slightly. "Zhang Ling, since you didn't try to kill me just now, it means you're not inherently bad. I can give you a chance. As long as you return the money to them, I'll spare you today."
"Not inherently bad?"
Zhang Jiuhua said coldly, "You think we're too naive. In fact, if we weren't worried about this matter escalating and attracting the attention of certain organizations, do you think they would still be alive?"
Chen Jie was surprised.
Logically, with the mother and daughter now in his grasp, facing certain death, they should be begging for this chance. Why were they still so defiant?
"You'd rather die than return the money?"
Chen Jie asked.
"That's right! We'd rather die than return the money!" Zhang Jiuhua said.
Chen Jie said again, "If you return the money, you can live. With your abilities, you won't have a bad future. But if you die, everything is gone! You need to think carefully."
"Enough nonsense! If you want to kill us, hurry up!" Zhang Jiuhua said.
"Then I'll grant your wish." Chen Jie's gaze turned cold. He wasn't going to waste any more time with them.
"No!"
Zhang Ling suddenly stood in front of Zhang Jiuhua and said to Chen Jie, "Teacher Chen, it's not that we don't want to return the money, it's that we can't!"
"Shut up!" Zhang Jiuhua shouted.
But Zhang Ling said, "Mom, I don't want to die! And we were both forced into this. Even if we don't have a chance to live, we should at least try, shouldn't we?"
Then, she said to Chen Jie with a wry smile.
After listening to Zhang Ling's words, Chen Jie finally understood why Zhang Jiuhua was so defiant. It turned out Zhang Jiuhua had someone behind her.
A few years ago, the mother and daughter had encountered a very powerful woman. This woman taught them a charm technique that, when used, could make men lose their minds and obey their commands.
However, Zhang Jiuhua and Zhang Ling were ordinary people. Even with some special abilities, they dared not use them rashly. The woman demanded that they work for her, her true purpose being to have them scam money from men and hand it over to her. If they refused, they could imagine the consequences.
So, the mother and daughter often approached wealthy men. After understanding their backgrounds, they would use their charm technique to make them liquidate their assets and hand them over. This way, others would only assume these men had lost their minds and given all their money to their mistresses, unaware that it was women with special abilities doing this.
From Zhang Ling's words, Chen Jie learned that Zhang Jiuhua's mother had been abandoned by a man in the past, and she harbored deep resentment towards men. Before meeting that woman, the mother and daughter were impoverished, struggling even to eat.
Hearing this, Chen Jie had an epiphany. He had previously wondered why, if Zhang Jiuhua and Zhang Ling were professionals, they weren't rich. Their current residence, while decent, was only upper-middle-class, not indicative of a sudden windfall. It turned out the money they scammed went into someone else's pockets. This was also why Zhang Jiuhua refused to return it.
Zhang Jiuhua said with a cold laugh, "We were supposed to hand over at least a hundred million yuan every month. If we had succeeded with you, we would have completed this month's business. Now that we've failed, Master will definitely not let us off. You might as well just kill us!"
Zheng Qingshu looked at Zhang Ling with sympathy. "So you had such difficulties. No wonder you treated me that way. Zhang Ling, you really didn't have to do this..."
Zhang Ling glared at them resentfully. "Stop being so hypocritical! You, a rich young master who's lived a life of luxury since childhood, how can you understand the hardships my mother and I have endured?"
"Zhang Ling, it's not like that. Knowing your past, I don't blame you at all. In fact, I feel very sorry for you. I think... I'm actually starting to like you, really..." Zheng Qingshu said emotionally.
"Is that so? Then let me tell you, before this, I've already scammed more than a dozen men. They all slept with me. Would you still accept me then?" Zhang Ling said with a cold laugh.
"Uh... we can still be friends." Zheng Qingshu replied awkwardly.
"Shut your damn mouth! All you men are trash! You're all over the place with your own affairs, but when you meet women like us, you become judgmental. You might as well die!"
Zhang Ling's words made Zheng Qingshu lose his composure. He said in anger, "I haven't wronged you! I don't care if you hate men, but you have to give me my money back, or my family will be ruined!"
Zhang Ling sneered. "In the end, it's still about money for you."
"You... you scammed my money, shouldn't I ask for it back? What kind of logic is that?" Zheng Qingshu was furious.
Zhang Ling said, "This isn't about money at all. I just wanted some respect! But you never showed me any respect! That's why you deserved to be scammed!"
"Respect? Screw your respect! If I had shown you respect, would you have still scammed me? If I gave you respect, would you have returned the money?"
"See? The moment I mention respect, you get agitated."
"I, I'll talk about money with you again!"
Zheng Qingshu almost couldn't help but curse.
Chen Jie waved his hand to stop them. He then asked, "Since you were controlled, why didn't you try to escape? Find a place where your master couldn't find you, and you wouldn't be controlled anymore?"
"Escape? It's not that easy! We've practiced our master's techniques. Even if we ran to the ends of the earth, she could still find us by sensing our cultivation!" Zhang Jiuhua said.
"Alright, a woman like that is a menace to the world. Call your master over, and I'll deal with her!"