Shen Nanyue was jolted awake by the bumpy ride.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself tightly bound and lying in the back of a van.
The little boy was beside her, sleeping soundly.
Perhaps because he was so young, they hadn’t bothered tying him up.
The man who had attacked her earlier was sitting in the back as well, keeping watch over both of them.
A strip of tape covered her mouth, leaving her able to do nothing but stare at him warily.
The man let out a cold laugh.
“If you don’t want to suffer, behave yourself!”
The van sped through the darkness of the night.
……
In another part of Fengcheng, Chen Yuan had already arrived at an abandoned warehouse under the guidance of a driver.
The warehouse had once belonged to the Chen family before one of their business ventures failed.
Under the dark night sky, the only light came from white flashlight beams sweeping through the darkness, casting an eerie and chilling atmosphere over the surroundings.
Shen Nanyue was dragged inside by the man and thrown roughly onto the ground without the slightest bit of consideration.
The floor was covered with weeds and scattered rocks.
Bound as she was, she couldn’t protect herself from being scraped and bruised.
When she saw the man about to throw the little boy down in the same manner, she quickly shifted her body beneath him to cushion his fall.
Pain shot through her instantly.
A sharp stone slammed into her knee, sending a piercing ache through her leg.
Lying on the ground, she broke out in sweat as the pain spread through her body.
The little boy finally rubbed his sleepy eyes and woke up.
“Pretty Sister, why are you tied up?”
Realizing he was lying on top of Shen Nanyue, Xiaogu quickly scrambled up and helped her sit upright.
Seeing the tape over her mouth, he reached out and peeled it off.
“Pretty Sister, are you playing cosplay?”
Shen Nanyue sat up slowly.
Several scratches marred her fair legs.
Some were already bleeding, thin streams of blood sliding down her delicate skin in a rather alarming sight.
She was still enduring the throbbing pain when Xiaogu’s words left her speechless.
The child couldn’t be more than three or four years old.
How did he even know what cosplay was?
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Xiaogu touched the rough weeds on the ground and immediately pulled his hand back after getting pricked.
“Of course I’m okay. It’s just that this place smells bad. Pretty Sister, why did you bring me here?”
I didn’t bring you here, little guy.
Before she could answer—
“Shut up! One more word and I’ll finish both of you off right now!”
The man’s rough voice boomed from nearby as he glared fiercely at Xiaogu.
Based on his terrifying appearance, anyone would have expected a small child to burst into tears.
Instead, Xiaogu’s eyes lit up.
He climbed to his feet and walked excitedly toward the man.
“Uncle, you’re the one who covered my mouth with that white cloth, right? Can you give it to me? I slept soooo well!”
The man’s mouth twitched.
Shen Nanyue: “…”
“Xiaogu, come over here to Pretty Sister.”
Shen Nanyue coaxed.
Seeing that the man clearly had no intention of giving him the handkerchief, Xiaogu lowered his head in disappointment and shuffled back to her side.
“Pretty Sister, what are we doing here?”
Back to the same question.
Shen Nanyue honestly didn’t know how to answer.
Children were innocent.
They didn’t really understand concepts like kidnapping or threats to their lives.
At the moment, she could barely protect herself.
All she could do was comfort him and wait to find out why these people had kidnapped her.
“Xiaogu, stay beside me no matter what happens, okay? Don’t wander off.”
Though he didn’t fully understand what was going on, Xiaogu instinctively trusted that this pretty sister wouldn’t hurt him.
He nodded obediently and found a relatively flat patch of ground beside her.
Sitting there, he swung his little legs back and forth, making the dry grass rustle with every movement.
At last, another person entered the warehouse.
Shen Nanyue looked up and immediately recognized the familiar face.
“Chen Yuan?”
After the Chen family had been arrested, Chen Yuan hadn’t been detained because she hadn’t been involved in or aware of the family’s illegal activities.
Could she have kidnapped me to avenge the Chen family?
Thoughts raced through Shen Nanyue’s mind.
By then, Chen Yuan had already walked up to her.
She was dressed in a black qipao and wore black high heels.
The uneven, rocky ground made every step difficult, causing her to stumble repeatedly as she approached.
The sight was unintentionally comical.
Watching her struggle, Xiaogu suddenly burst into giggles.
“Auntie, are you dancing? You’re really good at it!”
The moment Xiaogu said that, not only Shen Nanyue but even the kidnappers Chen Yuan had hired struggled to keep straight faces.
A few lowered their heads, and one of them failed to suppress a chuckle.
In the silent warehouse, the sound was especially mocking.
Chen Yuan’s face darkened completely.
Looking at the incredibly relaxed little boy, she couldn’t help but snap at him.
“I told you to bring Shen Nanyue. Why did you bring back this little brat too?”
Before the man could answer, Xiaogu planted his hands on his hips and glared at Chen Yuan indignantly.
“I’m not a little brat!!”
Chen Yuan’s expression twisted.
The good manners she had been raised with barely kept her temper under control.
The man hurriedly explained, “When I grabbed Shen Nanyue, the kid was there too. He saw my face, so I brought him along just in case.”
“He’s only a child. How could he possibly remember your face? Completely unnecessary!”
Embarrassment flashed across the man’s face.
“Then… should I take him back?”
“You already brought him here, and now you want to send him back? How can you be this careless in your line of work?”
The man was visibly growing impatient.
Nothing he did seemed right.
Chen Yuan shot the little boy a cold look.
“Kid, all I can say is that you’re unlucky today.”
“Chen Yuan,” Shen Nanyue suddenly spoke.
“Whatever issues exist between us, there’s no reason to involve a child. He’s too young to understand anything. Let him go.”
“Oh? Are you giving me orders?”
“In my current situation, how could I possibly be ordering you around? I just think you’re not the kind of person who would kill innocent people.”
Chen Yuan had grown up in the Chen family without knowing about their illegal activities.
Either her father, Chen Tianming, had considered her too naive to be trusted with such matters, or he had deliberately protected her.
Otherwise, when Chen Yuan’s husband’s family fell on hard times, why hadn’t Chen Tianming used his dirty money to help her?
Shen Nanyue had met Chen Yuan several times before.
In her opinion, Chen Yuan might be somewhat selfish, but she wasn’t fundamentally cruel.
Chen Yuan laughed twice.
“In the past, I probably wouldn’t have harmed innocent people. But now…”
Her smile became strange.
“That’s not necessarily true anymore.”
Shen Nanyue frowned.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that something significant had happened to Chen Yuan.
….
Meanwhile, when Wu Jinshu learned that Xiaogu was missing, she nearly fainted.
Grabbing Zhou Yushen’s arm, she begged him to find the child.
After comforting her, Zhou Yushen began investigating even before the police arrived.
The kidnappers had disabled several surveillance cameras by cutting off their power supplies.
Without the original data, there was no way to recover the footage.
At the moment, Zhou Yushen couldn’t determine whether the kidnappers had targeted Shen Nanyue or Xiaogu.
Just then, Zhu Yuan hurried over, dragging someone with her.
Stopping in front of Zhou Yushen, she spoke with absolute certainty.
“They were after Yueyue!”.
— The end of the Chapter–
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