Chapter 62

Lao Er rode an electric scooter toward the village entrance. On the way, he stopped by a butcher’s house where pigs were slaughtered and grabbed several packets of laxatives meant for livestock. On the way back, he tore them open and dumped all of it, quickly and completely, into the food and beer he’d brought.
This place was one of Second Master Chu’s early bases. He’d worked with the four kidnappers over a decade ago and still trusted them to some extent.
Second Master Chu’s men didn’t guard against the kidnappers at all. They figured eating for fifteen minutes was no big deal and dug in without worry.
It never crossed their minds that the kidnappers would drug the food, what era was this? Who would still use a trick like that?
“Hey… my stomach hurts a bit.”
“Damn, mine too.”
Seeing them take the bait, Lao Er immediately clutched his own stomach, face pale, wailing along with them. “Brothers, did we get food poisoning or something?
Forget it, I’m going to the bathroom. You guys keep watch.”
Second Master Chu’s men were a little suspicious, but seeing him like that, they relaxed. As the paying party, one of them shoved Lao Er aside. “Isn’t your house right next door? Go home. We’ll use the toilets first.”
The houses in the village were old. Even the tallest ones were only four stories, and not every floor had a bathroom. Second Master Chu’s men streamed in, circling the only three toilets, lining up outside.
There was no bathroom on the first floor.
And Wen Jiu just happened to be tied up on the first floor.
Lao Er stood guard at the stairwell.
While clutching his stomach and groaning, he shot meaningful looks at his underling, Lao Wu.
Luckily, before getting out of the car, Wen Jiu and the kidnappers had already reached an understanding. No matter how slow Lao Wu was, he knew this was the moment to help untie her.
In truth, there was nothing to untie, Lao Er hadn’t tied a knot at all. Lao Wu just needed to give Wen Jiu the signal.
To avoid causing trouble, Wen Jiu stood up lightly, careful not to make any noise.
Lao Wu was a local and knew the village shortcuts like the back of his hand.
Watching them run off, Lao Er let out a dramatic cry for Second Master Chu’s men to hear. “I can’t take it anymore, brothers! I’m going home to use the toilet! When Second Master gets back, remember to call me so I can get the money!”
Second Master Chu’s men were genuinely in too much pain to care. If the house hadn’t belonged to Second Master Chu, they would’ve squatted right there.
No one bothered with Lao Er. He didn’t care either, he bolted out the door, wind at his feet.
If there had been even one clear-headed person, they would’ve noticed he was running far too fast for someone with stomach cramps. But Lao Er had used a massive dose, livestock medicine at that. The effects were fierce. For the moment, no one had the energy to pay attention to him.
Less than a minute after Lao Er left, a horn sounded outside.
Second Master Chu had arrived.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw the empty hall, the large chair, the rope on the floor, and the black hood discarded nearby.
Before he could erupt in anger, a wave after wave of foul stench wafted down from upstairs.
Second Master Chu took a deep breath, swallowed his curses, and nearly vomited from the smell.
He didn’t know whether to breathe or not. After years of pampered living, he’d never been this humiliated.
His sharp gaze landed on the driver. “Go upstairs and see what’s going on. Call them all down.”
As he spoke, Second Master Chu backed out of the building entirely. Only after breathing the fresh village air did he dare inhale properly again.
On Wen Jiu’s side, as she ran, their group went from two people to four.
Lao Er grabbed the clueless but obedient Lao San, who had gone to get the car, and brought him along. When they passed Lao Wu and Wen Jiu, the car door flew open and pulled them both inside.
On the back seat lay a clean, heavy suitcase, the five million Lao Er had taken from Second Master Chu’s men.
Lao San had no idea about Wen Jiu’s plan. As he drove, he kept asking nonstop, “Lao Er, Lao Wu, why did you bring the hostage? Where are we going? Are you two crazy?”
His questioning didn’t slow him down at all. He floored the gas, speeding through the unmonitored road from the village to the highway.
Lao Wu was still grinning foolishly. “Lao Er, Lao San, this is so exciting!”
Only Lao Er belatedly realized he’d boarded Wen Jiu’s pirate ship.
At this point, even sending Wen Jiu back wouldn’t make up for anything. Taking her back to Nancheng would be walking straight into a trap.
After thinking it over, they couldn’t afford to offend anyone in Nancheng, but they’d already offended Second Master Chu. They might as well disappear for good.
Their boss was still in prison anyway. No rush to pick him up.
They hadn’t scammed innocent people either. Second Master Chu wasn’t a good man, taking his money was robbing the rich to help the poor.
“Hey, attendant, I don’t know your name. We’ll drop you at a highway exit later. Figure out how to get back to Nancheng yourself.
We’re washing our hands of this for good, no more dirty work. Since we saved you, don’t report us to the police, okay?”
Lao Er didn’t know Wen Jiu’s name. Since she’d said she was an attendant, he just called her that.
“Since we’ve come this far, why not take me a bit farther?” Wen Jiu said.
“Once we reach Nancheng, you can get back on the highway and take a different route. Turning off now, won’t Second Master Chu catch you immediately?
If you drop me off now and I get caught and taken back, do you think they’ll let you off?”
Lao Er cursed under his breath, then turned and yelled at Lao San. “Did you hear that? Drive. Take her to Nancheng.”
“We’re running once we reach the outer ring,” he added to Wen Jiu, his tone noticeably softer.
Lao Wu scratched his head. “Lao Er, why do you sound so uncertain all of a sudden?”
Lao Er snapped at him, even more irritated. “Idiot. It’s because you kidnapped the wrong person.”
Better they’d kidnapped delicate Miss Qin Yao. This attendant was clearly not someone easy to deal with.
After all, they weren’t murderers or arsonists. They really didn’t know how to negotiate or cooperate with someone this sharp.
On the highway, to keep herself alert, Wen Jiu started chatting with the three kidnappers. “You don’t look like homeless people. Why would you get into kidnapping?
You don’t seem over forty either. Why does it feel like you’ve been doing this for a long time?
Mostly… you’re nothing like the kidnappers I’ve seen before. You don’t use guns or knives, and you’re pretty… gentle.” Wen Jiu searched for a long time before settling on the word.
After all, she was still in their car. She didn’t dare go too far and forced out a nice word.
What she really wanted to say was: you don’t look very smart.
And in reality, they really weren’t.
Lao Er scratched his head. “If we could work honestly, who’d do this? We were young and stupid, got tricked into signing contracts, and ended up drowning in debt.”
“Our village is near Nancheng, but it’s extremely poor. The five of us brothers got scammed, ran out of options, and ended up meeting Second Master Chu. He said that if we kidnapped someone for him, he’d help us pay off our debts.
That was over a decade ago. He helped pay off part of our debts. Including this time with you, we’ve only done this kind of job twice in our lives.
Back then, we kidnapped a kid outside the village, in the wasteland. But he got away. Our boss didn’t want to hurt him, so we just let him go.
Later, the kid’s family came looking. Second Master Chu stayed hidden. Our boss went to prison, and hasn’t been released yet. The promised five million never reached him. We got a bit, but used it all to pay debts.
Don’t even know which damned scammer tricked us, leaving us with so much debt. If it weren’t to pay the rest off, we wouldn’t have agreed to Second Master Chu’s request.
Second Master Chu said our boss is loyal and righteous, didn’t snitch, so even after all these years, he still comes to us for work.
But he’s cunning. Before our boss went in, he told us we didn’t have to work for him or repay anything.
We’re not good people, but we don’t want to carry debt. Who would’ve thought that after more than ten years, we’d be out of work and fired after one day?
To wait for our boss, we couldn’t leave the village. We searched nearby for work but found nothing. Even our own business didn’t take off.
Maybe we were just unlucky.
So when Second Master Chu approached us, there was no reason to refuse.”
Wen Jiu boldly guessed, “…Could it be that the debts from over a decade ago were caused by Second Master Chu himself? Your boss must have realized it, otherwise he wouldn’t have warned you not to deal with Chu.
He took the fall for Chu. Normally, Chu would treat us well, there’s no way he wouldn’t let us interact.
And you said the debts from years ago were almost settled, yet years later someone comes asking for money again. Surely, Chu wanted to corner you, leaving you no choice but to rely on him again.”
Wen Jiu’s provocation was just nonsense.
But Lao Er bought it. He slapped his thigh. “Right, I knew it! Every time he shows up, the timing is just too perfect.
The five of us were the only ones in the village who didn’t take part in trafficking children back then. He must be afraid our boss would report him, so he set us up.
Friend, your words just cleared my head.”
Wen Jiu: “…”
However, “Trafficking children?”
“Second Master Chu isn’t paying with his own money. He used to kidnap the children of wealthy Nancheng families for ransom, then trafficked ordinary village kids for profit.
This village is close to Nancheng and looks simple. That’s the fastest way to make money.
But over a decade ago, he had us kidnap a particularly wealthy kid. The kid escaped, and he kicked them out of his hideout.
He’s been laying low these years, not daring to kidnap or traffic. I heard the Chu family stopped funding him, which is why he wants to kidnap his own nephew’s wife.
Attendant, since you’ve helped me see the truth, we’ll tell you the secret. Second Master Chu doesn’t just want ransom, he wants to eliminate witnesses.
His men are armed. The plan is to send his nephew and the nephew’s wife off together, then he’ll have a legitimate reason to inherit the family fortune.
I overheard all of this. Kidnapping the wrong person is one thing. If we hadn’t, we would’ve only wanted the money, not blood. We’d secretly let people go, just like our boss.”
Wen Jiu cast him a subtle glance.
After returning to Nancheng, she’d still have to get these guys locked up.
Even if they weren’t smart, they were still kidnappers.
“How do you know Second Master Chu’s men have guns? By the way, since you’re taking me back, give me the phone. I’ll call someone to pick me up.”
She and Lao Er had started talking, and he had already classified her as part of his side. He gave her the phone without worry.
“Just don’t say anything reckless. Call someone to pick you up. The rest of us haven’t really done anything too evil.”
Wen Jiu didn’t say a word on the phone. She called Qin Yao, asked her to have a driver meet her at the highway exit, and hung up immediately.
Seeing her honest approach, Lao Er trusted her more and revealed all the details.
“I saw it myself. Lao Wu and Lao San saw it too.
We’re five brothers, but Fourth Brother never appeared. That’s because he was shot by Chu’s men decades ago.
It happened during the pursuit of that kid. Accidental, technically. But Fourth Brother just died like that. He was one of us; we couldn’t report it. That’s that.
So I’m not really willing to do this dirty work for Chu. But he has guns, so…
Three brothers, two out, one stays; or one out, two stay. The one left in the village is always the hostage.
Luckily, this time, we managed to get out!
All three brothers are around, our boss is safer in prison. We’ll take you to Nancheng, then head south to open a shop selling noodles.”
Wen Jiu suddenly saw Lao Er’s phone blinking. She pointed, “Someone’s calling.”
Lao Er looked down and quickly ignored it. “It’s Second Master Chu’s men. I’m not answering.”
Late-night highways were full of cargo trucks. Wen Jiu looked back and noticed several small cars and vans weaving through, they were closing in. She felt uneasy. “Did you buy your phones yourselves?”
Finally, Lao Wu knew the answer and raised his hand eagerly. “Lao Er is stingy, and we don’t have regular jobs, so no, we didn’t buy them.”
He even pulled out his phone to show Wen Jiu. “New phone, rare in the village. Chu’s men gave it to us so we can stay in contact.”
Wen Jiu rubbed her forehead. “Look at the cars outside. Are those Chu’s men?”
Lao Wu gasped. “How are they chasing so fast?!”
“Maybe they installed trackers in your phones.”
Probably because the kidnappers’ boss had let someone escape before, Chu hadn’t forgotten. He gave these three new phones with trackers.
Lao Wu was stunned. “We’re just small fry. How did we end up with such advanced stuff?”
And it really worked.
But Lao Wu didn’t want to lose the phones, and neither did Second or Lao San.
He clutched the three phones tightly. “Lao Er, Lao San, don’t throw these away. You could sell them as second-hand phones for a lot.”
He didn’t even try selling Wen Jiu’s phone. What’s the harm in keeping the three Chu gave them?
Lao Er slapped him and threw all three phones out the window. Far.
A cargo truck ran over them, instantly crushing them to pieces.
Lao Wu watched, heartbroken, tears nearly falling.
Chu’s men lost their tracking devices. The highway led to many destinations, including Nancheng.
The group split into four to chase them. More were on the Nancheng route.
Lao San’s car was theirs, license plate obvious.
Soon, they were spotted.
Cars on other routes couldn’t turn back in time, but those still on the road closed in, trying to trap Wen Jiu and the others on the highway.
The highway had many trucks moving fast. It wasn’t abroad, Chu’s men couldn’t be reckless, only following closely behind.
Soon, they would reach the toll station, few opportunities to hold them.
At this point, Chu’s men didn’t even know they had kidnapped Wen Jiu, not Miss Qin. They were determined to hold “Miss Qin.”
“They’ve passed the exit ramp.”
“Shoot.”
If they sent Qin Yao back safely, Second Master Chu would be in danger, needing reckoning. Better to go all in and take the niece-in-law as a hostage.
If Qin Yao died, the Qin family wouldn’t forgive the Chus.
Second Master Chu, seeing Nancheng’s road signs, grew red-eyed as he gave orders.
Since he couldn’t get the Chus’ property back, he’d destroy it, make the Qin family antagonize the Chu family, and make Chu Yan suffer.
He liked Qin Yao? Then he’d just kill her.
Originally he wanted to send both away, but now only one could go.
A gunshot rang out. Lao San’s car tire exploded.
“Almost at the toll station. Can we hold on? Someone’s coming for us.” Wen Jiu gripped the seat.
Getting out now would be unwise. Two legs can’t outrun four wheels. If they exit, they’d be caught, or run over by Chu’s men.
“I don’t know, I’ll try.”
After less than 20 meters, shots rang out again.
This time, both rear tires were blown. The car skidded, sparks flying.
Wen Jiu listened to the sounds, expression grim.
“Boom, ” a shot went straight through the rear window, exiting the front.
Brushing past death itself, Wen Jiu was momentarily speechless.
If she survived this, she’d make sure to drag Song Qin out and whip her!
Wasn’t this supposed to be a sweet romance? Where did the firearms come from?
Terrified, Wen Jiu bit her lip to stay alert.
“Keep driving, don’t stop. If we stop, they’ll shoot at us, not just the car.
Turn the wheel randomly, make the car swerve. Don’t let them hit the fuel tank. Keep going for another hundred meters.
Keep your head down behind the seat. Don’t stick it out.”
Wen Jiu was mainly speaking to Lao Wu.
If he hadn’t just ducked his head, blood would’ve splattered everywhere.
With their lives at risk, Lao San’s driving skills improved drastically. The car twisted and turned along the exit ramp, sparks flying like lightning, barely holding together until the toll station.
Qin Yao had informed her family, and the people coming to rescue Wen Jiu were already waiting.
Wen Jiu hadn’t expected Second Master Chu to have guns, but Qin Yao’s family had anticipated it.
After all, more than ten years ago, a kidnapping case involved firearms too. Back then, communication and surveillance technology weren’t advanced, so the person behind it was never caught.
“Stop the car!”
At the sight of the shields, Wen Jiu felt as if she’d seen family.
Lao San, panicked, slammed on the brakes. Before the doors even opened, the car’s fuel tank was hit.
“Run!”
In that instant, time seemed to freeze for Wen Jiu.
When she jumped, Second Master Chu only saw one woman.
The sky was dark, with only the big glowing characters “Nancheng” on the toll station illuminating the scene.
The light from the toll booth didn’t reach Wen Jiu, making Second Master Chu’s vision unclear.
His aim was off, but he insisted on grabbing the gun.
“Drop your weapon!”
“Drop your weapon!”
Second Master Chu knew there was only one chance. Ignoring the warnings, he fired a shot toward Wen Jiu. Before he could see if it hit, armed police restrained him.
He had fired, so they couldn’t let him get away.
Someone rushed to grab Wen Jiu, others restrained Second Master Chu’s men, and the three brothers were taken into custody.
Lao Wu’s voice was the loudest, and Wen Jiu happened to hear it.
He shouted, “Fuel tank! The fuel tank’s broken, run! It’s going to explode! You go first, I’m going back for the money!”
In a daze, Wen Jiu’s memory became clear.
The suitcase in the backseat held the 5 million cash the brothers had tricked out of Chu.
With the sound of the explosion, the car Wen Jiu had been sitting in became a ball of fire.
Lao Wu cried out, “My five million!”
He somehow found the strength to punch Second Master Chu, who was staggering from the police’s hold, again and again.
For a moment, the police couldn’t tell who the real bad guys were.
They managed to stop Lao Wu, but Second Master Chu seemed to have lost some teeth.
Serves him right, he dared to fire a gun.
Just the crime of possessing a firearm was enough to condemn him.
Wen Jiu was picked up by Shen Xingzhou.
She was frightened, but unharmed.
TV shows and novels couldn’t compare to firsthand experience.
As her memory of the backseat suitcase faded, her mind returned to a gray, blank state.
She felt a familiar presence and embrace, wanting to cling to Shen Xingzhou. But her arms felt weak, her eyes silent, and she could only stare at him in dumb wonder.
So many things left undone, she didn’t want to drift off to sleep.
But Shen Xingzhou kept gently patting her back, over and over, soothing her until drowsiness overtook her.
In the short time she slipped into a sweet, deep sleep, the terrifying events were momentarily forgotten.
Still, she was startled. Her body twitched, and she slept uneasily.
Restless sleep brought dreams, strange, chaotic, endless.
The scene shifted suddenly. Wen Jiu saw a newly constructed factory in a desolate area. The lights were temporary, dim, illuminating only small patches. A few people patrolled the entrance.
Her heart raced.
Cars exploded with sparks, bullets scraping doors with harsh sounds. Thinking of it made her heart beat faster.
She didn’t know if Shen Xingzhou had secured her with a seatbelt. She hoped it was just a dream, not a pre-death vision.
Yet in the dream, she could float.
Wen Jiu decided to manipulate her body and drift toward the factory.
The patrolling figures didn’t see her. She floated right in front of them, and they didn’t react.
Feeling reassured, she floated boldly into the factory.
Through the wide-open doors, she saw a group of bound children.
A child-trafficking hideout?!
Perhaps it was because she had heard Lao Er’s story about Chu’s past crimes, which her mind processed into this dream.