Regret gnaws at one's heart

  Two people walked towards the small dock, discussing CEO Hu Wenxuan of Teface.

  A person in front waved at two people, "Qingying, over here."

  "Xiaolin, come on?" Yu Qingying called out to Wang Xiaolin as she jogged over. Tang Zhendong followed behind her.

  Wang Xiaolin saw Tang Zhendong behind Yu Qingying before she ran to her side. Yu Qingying hugged Wang Xiaolin, "Xiaolin, you're here early?"

  "Oh, I just arrived too."

  "Right," Yu Qingying pulled Tang Zhendong who was behind her, "this is our classmate, Tang Zhendong, you won't have forgotten, will you? Tang Zhendong, this is Wang Xiaolin, you should remember, the one next to her is our newspaper's Xu Zhiyun, Editor Xu, he's Xiaolin's boyfriend."

  Qingying helped the three people introduce each other, and Tang Zhendong didn't expect to meet Wang Xiaolin here, nor did Wang Xiaolin expect to meet Tang Zhendong here.

  Wang Xiaolin and Tang Zhendong are from the same town, in a place called Quanshui Town in Haicheng suburbs. They were also junior high school classmates and took the entrance exam for Haicheng No. 1 Middle School together, coincidentally ending up in the same class.

  In fact, as both classmates and fellow villagers, their relationship should be considered relatively close. However, Wang Xiaolin always felt guilty towards Tang Zhendong, and the situation between them was like this:

  In the winter, at Hai Cheng No. 1 Middle School, when it was time for evening self-study, the sky had already darkened. Wang Xiaolin once forgot to buy dinner after finishing her homework, and by the time she went out to buy food, it was late. At the small market behind the school, she encountered a few hoodlums who were being rude to her. Coincidentally, Tang Zhendong had also finished playing basketball late and happened to be passing by the small market, so he stepped in to teach those hoodlums a lesson. However, Tang Zhendong was very strong since childhood, and after he taught those hoodlums a lesson, two of them pulled out knives. In his haste, Tang Zhendong didn't hold back, and with one kick, he kicked one of the hoodlums to death.

  Tang Zhendong was sentenced to eight years in prison because of this matter.

  In fact, Tang Zhendong should be considered a hero who stood up for justice, and he did so despite being outnumbered by the other party, who even pulled out a knife. Even if Tang Zhendong had kicked someone to death, he shouldn't have received such a heavy sentence. At most, it could be considered an excessive defense. If it weren't for the fact that the father of the thug who was kicked to death was the director of the police station in charge of the area where Haidian No. 1 Middle School is located, Tang Zhendong might have even been hailed as a heroic citizen who stood up for justice.

  Because Dong Aiguo was the director of the police station, he naturally couldn't let Tang Zhendong, who kicked his son to death, get away with it. So he found connections in the court and procuratorate, and also found Wang Xiaolin, the party involved, and intimidated her in every way, forcing Wang Xiaolin to withdraw from the whole thing.

  Wang Xiaolin was just an ordinary student from a rural area, and she was naturally scared to death when such things happened, and didn't dare tell anyone. Moreover, Dong Aiguo used her parents in the town as leverage, so at the time when Tang Zhendong's case needed her testimony the most, Wang Xiaolin did not stand up.

  After losing the lifesaving part, Tang Zhendong's heroic act turned into a fight and brawl. This made it easier for Dong Aiguo to operate. After the fight and brawl, he accidentally killed someone. However, Dong Aiguo had worked at the police station for many years, and although his son was dead, he still maintained his party spirit. He didn't dare make things too big, if he directly positioned this case as murder and sentenced Tang Zhendong to death, Dong Aiguo would be finished unless he wanted to give up his career. This would almost turn the entire judiciary upside down, giving his political opponents a huge handle to attack him.

  Everything has its limits, Dong Aiguo's son is dead. Although it was his son's fault, he slightly punished the murderer who killed his son. Nobody would have any objections to this, even his political enemies could understand Dong Aiguo's approach.

  Put yourself in others' shoes. If you were in their position, you wouldn't let it go either. This is a political exchange, and everyone can understand that.

  However, if Dong Aiguo does not distinguish between light and heavy offenses and insists on imposing extreme punishment on others, his political enemies will jump out one after another and strike him down to the point of no return.

  At that time, Tang Zhendong was just an ordinary high school student and had not seen much of the world. His parents were honest peasants who thought their son had killed the son of the director of the government's police station, but he was only sentenced to eight years in prison. They didn't think of appealing or anything like that, they silently accepted this result.

  Tang Zhendong stayed in prison for eight years, during which he had many opportunities to reduce his sentence, but he gave them up because at that time he was studying the profound and subtle Ghost Valley internal skills and Feng Shui methods with his master Xu Zhuo.

  Actually, Tang Zhendong is a person who attaches great importance to cause and effect. Although Wang Xiaolin did not dare to stand up at the critical moment, Tang Zhendong does not have any resentment towards Wang Xiaolin. It was precisely because of this cause that Tang Zhendong had the good fortune to meet his master Xu Zhuo and learn a set of mysterious and unpredictable Feng Shui techniques.

  But another party, Wang Xiaolin, had a different idea in her mind: she regretted her cowardice at the time and not refusing Dong Aiguo's threats with righteous words. If given another chance to choose again, Wang Xiaolin would definitely stand up bravely and testify in court to clear Tang Zhendong's name, who had saved his life.

  Of course, this is also because Wang Xiaolin went to work at Haicheng Daily after graduation, and her vision and experience have expanded countless times. Moreover, with her current ability in the newspaper office, if she wants to make a police station director surrender, the pen in her hand is like an invisible knife that can kill people.

  However, since she is in this position, unless absolutely necessary, she will not use the trick of jade and stone burning together. It's precisely because of her inaction towards Dong Aiguo that she feels particularly guilty towards Tang Zhendong, and Tang Zhendong's eight years in prison make her feel like the chief culprit.

  That's why Wang Xiaolin has been avoiding Tang Zhendong all along, including the last time she and Yu Qingying ran into Tang Zhendong at the Haicheng Hotel, after telling Wang Xiaolin about it, she didn't dare to see Tang Zhendong's face, and dragged Yu Qingying back to her seat in a hurry.

  Wang Xiaolin did not expect to meet Tang Zhendong here today, and it seemed that Yu Qingying had talked about her marriage with Tang Zhendong. Her eyes flickered, and she dared not look directly at Tang Zhendong.

  "Hello," Tang Zhendong didn't show any unusual behavior, shook hands with Xu Zhijun, and nodded at Wang Xiaolin whose eyes were flashing, "Wang Xiaolin and I are not only in the same class but also from the same town, we can be considered as both old friends and classmates."

  Wang Xiaolin felt even more embarrassed when she heard Tang Zhendong's words. With such a close relationship, she had not helped him out in a crucial moment due to her fear, and Wang Xiaolin felt regretful, as if poisoned by venom.

  Qingying also noticed something was wrong with Xiaolin, "Xiaolin, what's wrong? Are you uncomfortable?"

  "Maybe it's because I got up too early and was blown by the wind."