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Ye Xingzhou had just come downstairs when his bodyguard rushed over.
The first words out of his mouth caused Ye Xingzhou's face to change.
He strode out.
Ten minutes ago, Qi Xing had finished his coffee with Lin Zhinian at the cafe outside the casino, and they were both kidnapped.
The cafe staff could only give a rough account of what happened. As for who the kidnappers were or their license plate number, no one could say for sure.
Qi Xing's phone was lying on the sidewalk, and Lin Zhinian's phone was switched off when they tried to call.
Ye Xingzhou waited patiently at the police station for two hours. Apart from answering the police's repetitive questions, there was no progress.
When he was asked the same question for the third time by a different officer, he got up with a dark face and left.
…….
Hearing footsteps coming in, Qi Xing sat up alertly.
He smelled food.
Someone came forward and placed a tray in front of him and tore off the tape that was covering his mouth. Qi Xing called out to the person, "Untie my eyes, otherwise I can't eat."
The person who brought the food cursed and ripped off the blindfold covering his eyes.
Qi Xing opened his eyes and saw one of the people who had kidnapped them, who was muttering to himself and looking impatient.
He raised his handcuffed hands to also gesture for them to be untied.
"Just eat like this!" The person threw this sentence at him and turned to leave.
The door slammed shut.
Qi Xing rolled his eyes and saw Lin Zhinian in another corner of the room. He was still blindfolded and leaning against the wall and was not moving with his face pale.
They had been abducted by those people and brought to this place while being blindfolded and with guns pointed at their heads.
Qi Xing looked at the sky outside and estimated that it had been more than two hours.
This place looked like an abandoned small villa. He didn't know how many people were guarding outside, and running away was definitely impossible.
"Teacher Lin?" He called softly.
Lin Zhinian finally reacted, his voice hoarse, "Young Master Qi, where are you?"
Qi Xing saw that his feet were also handcuffed, so he could only move his butt slowly to Lin Zhinian's side and untie the cloth covering his eyes.
Lin Zhinian blinked slowly and felt a little relieved when he saw Qi Xing.
Qi Xing asked him, "Have you offended anyone? Do you know where these people came from?"
Lin Zhinian frowned, "No, I don't know. I just arrived here the day before yesterday. I've been at the exhibition hall yesterday and today, and the only people I've interacted with are those who came to the art exhibition."
He looked at Qi Xing and said apologetically, "I'm sorry that I even dragged you into this."
"Forget it, it's already happened. So, there's no point in saying this." Qi Xing waved his hand.
He wanted to touch his phone but couldn't find it. He didn't know if it had fallen or been taken by those people.
His watch and wallet were also gone.
"Are they robbing us?" Lin Zhinian also noticed that his slightly more expensive items were missing.
Qi Xing, "Robbing us is just a bonus."
He sighed in despair then moved back to his original position. He bent down and struggled to eat with his handcuffed hands.
The roasted potatoes and bread didn't taste very good.
He looked up halfway through and saw Lin Zhinian still leaning against the wall while just staring blankly and not touching his food.
Qi Xing reminded him, "You should eat something. If there's a chance to run later then you won't have any energy."
Lin Zhinian's gaze fell on him, and he asked hesitantly, "Aren't you afraid at all?"
"What's the point of being afraid? Sitting here while crying won't change the situation. Besides, we're two people now, which is already a good thing." Qi Xing thought humorously.
As long as they weren't going to kill him or kidnap him, he was actually quite calm.
After all, this wasn't his first time.
"Relax, Ye Xingzhou will definitely find a way to save us."
This was not only to comfort Lin Zhinian, but also to comfort himself. To say that he wasn't scared at all was a lie, but there was nothing else they could do.
……….
After leaving the police station, Ye Xingzhou went straight back to the casino and found the person he had just talked business with.
The other party was surprised to see him come back and gestured for him to sit down while puffing on a cigar, "Is there something else, Young Master Ye?"
This Mr. Tang was a Chinese-American whose ancestors had immigrated here three generations ago. So he can speak fluent Chinese.
Ye Xingzhou got straight to the point, "My friend was kidnapped by people here. I can give you all the profits as long as you use your connections to help me find them, or provide clues, it doesn't matter how you do it."
The other party raised an eyebrow.
They had both been interested in the business deal they had just discussed.
He wanted to use the Ye family to get a slice of the pie in the Chinese mainland market.
The Ye family also wanted to open up the market here.
It was a perfect match.
It was simpler and more efficient to cooperate directly with Ye Xingzhou than to deal with Ye Wanyao, who wasn't very trustworthy, and who would require a lot of roundabout dealings.
The only thing they hadn't agreed on was the profit sharing. But in just a few hours, this guy actually came back and said he would give him all the profits just to save a kidnapped friend?
"What friend is so important?"
Ye Xingzhou, "You don't need to ask so many questions. As long as you can do it, I can sign a contract with you now."
"No need for that." the other party waved his hand. "It's too much to ask for all the profits. I'm a businessman who believes in harmony and long-term relationships. You just need to agree to what I said at the beginning and take a step back."
"Okay." Ye Xingzhou answered readily.
The other party was also satisfied.
Since he had agreed to help save people, he didn't delay.
He called someone in and gestured to Ye Xingzhou, "Tell him the details. He'll definitely be able to help you find them within three days."
"I can't wait three days." Ye Xingzhou said in a deep voice. "One day. At most one day and I have to see."
The other party smiled: "Alright, we'll try our best. Do you have any idea who kidnapped your friend?"
Ye Xingzhou: "Ye Wanyao, it must be him."
…………
"Actually, I was kidnapped once when I was a kid." Qi Xing spoke up as he tried to make small talk with Lin Zhinian to avoid the depressing atmosphere.
Lin Zhinian: "……What happened then? Who kidnapped you?"
Qi Xing, "It was probably my dad's business rivals. I don't remember very well. It was similar to now. I was tied up and locked up. I ate and slept as usual. When my grandfather's people found me, I was still sleeping."
Lin Zhinian didn't know what to say.
He knew that Qi Xing was trying to comfort him in a roundabout way. He was almost thirty years old, but in a dangerous situation, he was less composed than a twenty-year-old kid. He really was useless.
"If I hadn't said something stupid, and you hadn't sent those two bodyguards away, at least you wouldn't have been in trouble."
"It has nothing to do with you." Qi Xing sighed. "I was really too careless. We won so much money at the casino, and it was dangerous for one person to go out as I might have run into robbers. I just don't like having bodyguards watching me all the time, especially when I'm alone. Even though I didn't have much psychological trauma from being kidnapped before, my dad still assigned me two bodyguards, and they followed me everywhere I went, even to class. They stood outside the classroom watching me. It made it so that no classmate wanted to play with me. So, I rebelled.…Forget it, there's no point in talking about it."
He yawned as he spoke.
He had actually been exhausted after playing at the casino for a whole day and night. Now he was left here, and he guessed that no one would come to cause trouble for a while.
He was so sleepy and just wanted to take a nap.
"Teacher Lin, I'm going to sleep for a while. You keep an eye out. Call me if anything happens."
Qi Xing leaned against the dilapidated sofa and quickly closed his eyes. Lin Zhinian forced himself to stay awake and suppress his fear. At least, he couldn't let Qi Xing look down on him.
………..
Ye Xingzhou stayed at the hotel above the casino while holding Qi Xing's phone and just staring silently at the night sky that was gradually spreading outside the window.
The bodyguards behind him didn't dare to make a sound.
Until Qi Ronghua's call came in, Ye Xingzhou pressed the answer button and spoke first, "Uncle Qi."
The other party was stunned when he recognized his voice: "You're Ye Xingzhou?"
"It's me." Ye Xingzhou said.
Qi Ronghua: "Where's Qi Xing? Are you with him?"
Ye Xingzhou: "He's asleep, so his phone is with me. I'll have him call you back tomorrow."
Qi Ronghua: "Did Qi Xing go out with you?"
Ye Xingzhou: "Yes."
Qi Ronghua didn't ask any more: "Okay then."
Before Ye Xingzhou could speak, the other end hung up immediately. Ye Xingzhou calmly pressed the screen off.
The bodyguard came in to report the news they had just received, "Mr. Tang's people found out that Ye Wanyao came here a few days ago, and he seems to be looking for ways to buy explosives. As for his hiding place, they're still looking."
Ye Xingzhou's eyes were cold.
The secretary who had been staring at the computer suddenly stood up and said excitedly, "We haven't been able to contact Ye Wanyao yet, but we just received a video call address in our email. It must have been sent by him."
Ye Xingzhou walked back to the sofa and sat down.
The video call was connected.
Qi Xing and Lin Zhinian, who had been missing for five or six hours, appeared on the screen.
They were both handcuffed and blindfolded while each was leaning against a corner of the room.
A voice, processed through a voice changer, sounded: "Ye Xingzhou."
Ye Xingzhou said coldly, "Ye Wanyao."
The other party laughed sinisterly, neither denying nor admitting: "Tsk tsk, I didn't expect to see you in such a sorry state."
………
When he was tied up again, Qi Xing struggled. Fortunately, the other party just warned them to be quiet and immediately left.
He tried to call out to Lin Zhinian: "Teacher Lin?"
Lin Zhinian replied wearily: "I'm fine."
Qi Xing wanted to say something else, but suddenly Ye Xingzhou's voice sounded in the quiet space: "What do you want to do?"
His voice was unreal over the radio waves that Qi Xing was stunned and subconsciously called out, "Ye Xingzhou? Ye Xingzhou, are you there?"
Ye Xingzhou was still asking: "What are you trying to do?"
Qi Xing quickly understood. They could hear Ye Xingzhou's voice, but he couldn't hear them.
Ye Xingzhou asked twice in a row, and the other person answered in a strange voice: "Nothing. I just want to watch some fun. And I didn't expect those people to be useful. They bought one and got one free. They actually kidnapped your new love and old love together."
Ye Xingzhou wasn't surprised.
Ye Wanyao had probably been watching him since the first day he arrived here. But there were too many people around him, so it was hard to do anything.
Left with no choice, he targeted Lin Zhinian, who happened to be here as well.
"I'm just curious. I heard that you were hot and heavy with your old love before that you were even high-profile as you took him out everywhere. Now you're taking your new love around here and having a good time while throwing money around. Are you too devoted or too promiscuous?"
Even though the other party's voice was full of malice, Ye Xingzhou's face didn't show any emotional fluctuations, "None of your business."
Qi Xing couldn't help but frown. He had probably guessed who had kidnapped them.
"That's right. One is your first love, who you've been thinking about for years. The other is a new love who's so young and fresh. I would want to enjoy having both of them too. Someone like you probably doesn't have much sincerity. Otherwise, why would you target the Lin family's company?"
Ye Xingzhou raised his eyes indifferently: "Since you know, why bother doing these pointless things?"
"Whether it's really pointless or not, I have to try it to know." Ye Wanyao laughed in a hoarse voice. "If it really had no meaning, you wouldn't give me a chance to talk to you about this."
Ye Xingzhou: "Just say it, what do you want?"
Ye Wanyao: "Send a letter to China now and resign as chairman of the Ye family board of directors. Before 2 pm tomorrow and local time here, I want to see the announcement. Then I'll let them go."
Ye Xingzhou agreed without expression: "Okay."
"You really are a lovesick fool. It seems I misunderstood you." Ye Wanyao's laughter became even more strange. "I forgot to mention, I will only release one person. You choose one out of the two. And tomorrow, you have to come and pick them up yourself. Oh, and let me remind you, they can both hear our conversation because I specifically let them listen. There's no way around it because I love watching this kind of drama."
Ye Xingzhou lowered his eyes and remained silent for a moment, then asked him, "What if I don't go?"
Ye Wanyao said viciously: "Then you can wait to collect their bodies together."
"I choose Lin Zhinian."
Ye Xingzhou made his decision quickly with his voice firm.
In the video, Qi Xing turned his head slightly. Ye Xingzhou couldn't see his face as he didn't pay much attention to him.
Ye Wanyao: "You decided so quickly? You really still care about your old love. It's true, he's the one you've been thinking about all these years. But you're not going to care about the other one?"
"He doesn't need me to care," Ye Xingzhou said coldly. "He's the crown prince of Ronghua Corporation and Qi Ronghua's precious son. He even has the protection of Mr. Chen from Qingping Garden. So, if you touch him, they will definitely pursue this to the end. You'll never be able to return to Huaicheng City in your life, in which, I'd be happy to see that."
Ye Wanyao suddenly raised his voice: "You dare to scare me?!"
Ye Xingzhou: "You can try if you don't believe me."
Ye Wanyao gritted his teeth and panted heavily. Finally, he threw out a "You wait for me tomorrow" and cut off the communication.
Ye Xingzhou closed the laptop forcefully.
The secretary tried to persuade him: "Are you really going to go there tomorrow? He won't let them go easily and if he really bought explosives..."
Ye Xingzhou closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa. The secretary's words immediately faded as he didn't speak anymore.
………
After the conversation ended, Qi Xing lowered his head and stared blankly for a while. He then heard Lin Zhinian call him softly.
"Don't make a sound." Qi Xing reminded him. "We shouldn't talk anymore. There must be cameras here."
He didn't speak anymore either.
Because now he was truly worried.
That jerk Ye Xingzhou was definitely going to go and deliver himself tomorrow.
Can he handle them?