Chapter 266 — Plotting Again

Jin Maosheng's face was now uglier than ever, and a ring of gauze was wrapped around the back of his head — the work of Zhang Yuzhou's leather shoe...

Jin Maosheng was filled with regret. He had been far too *** earlier; had he not, in a moment of hot-headedness, conceived such a brainless scheme, he would never have sunk to this wretched state.

Jin Maosheng's plan, taken as a whole, had still been feasible — he had simply used it in the wrong place, on the wrong target. Had it been Gu Mengyao alone, his scheme might well have succeeded, for Gu Mengyao did not have Shen Yushu's nerve.

But he had chosen to strike precisely when Gu Mengyao was with Shen Yushu and Wei Zhao, which cut the plan's effectiveness in half... and most ill-timed of all, he had chosen the wrong location.

Dressing up as a ghost in a haunted house — frightening as the costume was, the very fact of being in a haunted house planted a suggestion in every visitor's mind: this is a haunted house, the ghosts and monsters inside are all fake. Had Jin Maosheng put on his ghost act on some deserted night to frighten Gu Mengyao, he might very well have scared her to death. Fright kills as surely as any blade — that saying is no empty talk.

There was precedent for such things. The newspapers had once carried a story about a deranged high schooler who liked to go out at night dressed as a ghost to scare people — and he had genuinely frightened several to death.

At any other time, after conceiving such a scheme, Jin Maosheng would likely have carefully weighed its feasibility, for he was a cautious and meticulous man. But today, pressed for time and egged on by Zhang Yuzhou's enthusiastic approval and support, Jin Maosheng had made this grave error.

Hot heads are dangerous; worse still is a hot head with another hot head beside him urging him on. In such circumstances, even the cleverest of men will blunder.

Many criminals, goaded by their accomplices, commit in a moment of hot-headedness deeds they regret for the rest of their lives. Did they not know the consequences of their crimes? Of course they did.

And so it was with today's affair. This plan — seemingly reasonable, in truth anything but — had been approved and carried out only because of Zhang Yuzhou's support and endorsement.

What Zhang Yuzhou had in mind was to deal with Gu Mengyao quickly, throw Gu Pengzhan into disarray, and thereby present Young Master Bing with a grand gift. He was desperate to earn merit, and so his head had gone hot.

As for Jin Maosheng, he too wanted to deal with Gu Mengyao quickly so that his family could take control of the Gu Group. Time waited for no man, and so his head had gone hot as well.

Now that they had cooled down, Jin Maosheng and Zhang Yuzhou realized just how laughable and riddled with holes their earlier plan had been. They had taken a story straight out of the newspapers and put it to use — and instead of stealing the chicken they had lost the bait, lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet, leaving the two of them beaten black and blue...

"Brother Jin, they're going bungee jumping. What do we do?" Zhang Yuzhou put down the phone and turned to look at Jin Maosheng.

"This time, we must devise a method that strikes home in a single blow. No more reckless moves. We were far too careless just now!" Jin Maosheng said through gritted teeth.

"Come now, Brother Jin, I bear some responsibility for this too!" Zhang Yuzhou waved a hand. "In the Three Kingdoms era, Guan Yu of the Five Tiger Generals — what a formidable figure he was — still lost Jingzhou through carelessness. What are the two of us by comparison? We underestimated our enemy!"

"Mm, what you say makes sense too!" After hearing Zhang Yuzhou's words, Jin Maosheng's mood improved considerably. Indeed — even Guan Yu could lose Jingzhou through carelessness, so what was one misstep on his part?

"Brother Jin, I think bungee jumping is our golden chance to do away with Gu Mengyao!" Zhang Yuzhou chuckled and lowered his voice. Killing Gu Mengyao had originally been purely about seizing the Gu Group's real estate company to curry favor with Young Master Bing, but now he was driven by resentment and fury. Were it not for Gu Mengyao, would his guts have nearly been stomped out of him?

If this grudge went unavenged, Zhang Yuzhou could not swallow his anger.

"Oh? How so?" This time Jin Maosheng dared not make a casual decision; he needed to think it through thoroughly before judging the plan's feasibility.

"Brother Jin, if something went wrong during the bungee jump — say the cord snapped... heh heh — then no one would think it was deliberate murder, and it would be relatively easy to ***, wouldn't it?" Zhang Yuzhou grinned and laid out his plan.

"Mm, the cord snapping during a bungee jump — that is indeed a method!" Jin Maosheng nodded. He had to admit Zhang Yuzhou's suggestion was quite constructive. If an accident occurred during a bungee jump, the likelihood of anyone suspecting foul play was relatively small; even if they did suspect, the evidence would be hard to find. Handled properly, most of the evidence could be disposed of, and the worst consequence would be the amusement park's bungee project being shut down for rectification — an impact on the group that could be called negligible. Jin Maosheng did not care in the least.

"Exactly. We just need to find out when Gu Mengyao is going to jump, then give her a cord that's been tampered with in advance. Below the valley is the sea — once she falls, the waves will carry her away. If we delay the rescue a little longer, Gu Mengyao's death is basically a foregone conclusion!" Zhang Yuzhou said. "This *** carries relatively low risk, and it's easier too."

"Mm... bungee jumping. All right, I'll call Manager Zhang at the amusement park and have him contact Xiao Ma directly to ***. The two of us won't show our faces!" With gauze wrapped around his head, Jin Maosheng was none too eager to go out and lose more face.

In truth, his current appearance was simply too conspicuous. Going out would inevitably draw many stares, and fearing Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu's suspicions, he dared not venture out casually.

Though his chances of meeting Gu Mengyao were few, he had after all seen her several times at banquets, and Jin Maosheng feared she might recognize him.

Jin Maosheng called Manager Zhang at the amusement park. Manager Zhang had arranged the haunted house as well, so he asked no questions and got in touch with Xiao Ma to prepare the next step of the plan.

Manager Zhang was a direct retainer of the Jin family. Using Jin Gubang's say in the company as a protective umbrella, he had skimmed no small amount of money from the amusement park. Most of it, of course, had gone into the Jin family's pockets, though Manager Zhang had taken a generous share himself. So if this matter came to light, he too was as good as dead. When Jin Maosheng told him to act, he dared not utter a single word of refusal.

So when Xiao Ma recounted Zhang Yuzhou's plan to Manager Zhang, Manager Zhang said nothing further and took Xiao Ma straight to the bungee jumping office...

Thus, after changing into a work uniform, Xiao Ma smoothly became one of the bungee jumping instructors and administrators. The administrator who had been replaced was Manager Zhang's nephew, so no one paid it any mind.

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