They were engaged in shady business that could not see the light of day; any mishap could ruin them entirely.
Yan Lulin would not allow any accidents to happen. Casting a serious look at the young man who was held close, he spoke sternly, “From now on, no one is allowed to go near him.”
Xu He’s head snapped up at this, his gaze sharp as he looked at Yan Lulin.
However, Yan Lulin ignored Xu He’s stare entirely. Raising his hand, he declared, “I agree.”
Zhou Jinchen glanced at Yan Lulin, then raised his hand with a blank expression, being the first to respond to Yan Lulin’s suggestion. “I agree.”
Xu He shifted his gaze directly past Zhou Jinchen, focusing on Duan Ming, who remained silent beside them.
Their decision-making was simple: if someone proposed a rule, everyone involved would vote on it, and if a majority agreed, it would take effect.
There were four of them present. If Duan Ming disagreed, this rule would mean nothing.
But Xu He was clearly disappointed. Duan Ming looked over at the two people on the bed, nonchalantly pulled his hand out of his pocket, and raised it.
“I also agree.”
Not everyone was present. There were five people involved in the kidnapping, yet only four were there; Luo Haodong, who had gone to capture the young master, was absent.
But Luo Haodong’s presence no longer mattered. Even if he sided with Xu He and cast a dissenting vote, the number of votes in favor would still be higher than those against.
Xu He’s expression darkened completely, turning dangerous and menacing, a far cry from his previous gentle demeanor.
But Xu He quickly composed himself, reverting to his tender and considerate manner just as Ruan Qing turned around to look at him.
Ruan Qing looked at Xu He with confusion, seemingly not understanding what the others were discussing, nor who they intended to keep away.
After all, when they spoke, no one looked directly at him. Even if they glanced his way, it was only brief.
Xu He paused for a moment, gazing at Ruan Qing’s beautiful, puzzled eyes. He then gently smoothed down Ruan Qing’s stray hair. “Be good and stay here for a while, alright?”
“I have something to deal with right now, but I’ll come back and keep you company soon.”
Without waiting to see if he’d smoothed the hair properly, Xu He released Ruan Qing and got off the bed.
Seeing this, Ruan Qing’s eyes widened slightly, as if he’d just realized that the “him” they were referring to was himself. Instinctively, he reached out to grab Xu He.
But he was too late; Xu He had already stepped down from the bed.
The few people nearby glanced at the boy on the bed, who seemed somewhat flustered and uneasy, and then left the basement without looking back.
Xu He looked at the person who wanted to get out of bed to grab him, feeling the urge to go over and support him. However, in the end, he gritted his teeth, turned around, and followed the others out.
Before the agreed-upon rules were enforced, no one had any control over him. But once the jointly agreed-upon rules took effect, he had no choice but to abide by them.
After all, none of them could be considered good or soft-hearted people. If anyone violated the established rules and stirred up collective anger, the consequences would certainly be dire.
Since Xu He was the last to leave the basement, he walked at the back of the group, his gaze dark as he stared at the backs of the others ahead, like a venomous snake eyeing its prey.
It was merely a matter of approaching the hostage; there was no need to go to such lengths to create these rules. Yet, ironically, such absurd rules were approved within half a minute.
Heh, truly hypocritical to the extreme.
Xu He lowered his gaze, hiding the expression in his eyes, and silently followed the others to an empty room at the corner on the first floor.
This room was used to store construction materials like cement. Rooms like this could be found all over the first floor, with workers frequently going in and out.
However, since this room was at a corner, and this area of the building had not yet commenced work, there were practically no workers around.
Additionally, this was the room closest to the basement, with its door facing the stairway leading down to the basement. One could clearly see the stairway from here, making it the ideal spot.
After they entered the room, each person found a place to sit, not too close to one another.
Once seated, Zhou Jinchen took out his phone and checked again to see if any messages had come through.
Not a single message.
Was it too early, or had this number been blocked?
Zhou Jinchen wasn’t one to overthink things. He directly used the phone number from which he had sent the video to make a call. However, he was met with the same message: “Sorry, the user you’re calling is currently busy. Please try again later.”
Clearly, this number had indeed been blocked by Ren Yanqing.
Zhou Jinchen had put the call on speaker, so everyone in the room could hear it. They all turned to look at him, frowning almost simultaneously.
Duan Ming sensed something was amiss. He looked at the phone in Zhou Jinchen’s hand and said, “It’s been a whole day. Even if Ren Yanqing is slow, he should have realized by now that his son is missing, right?”
Though Duan Ming framed his question as a query, his tone carried a definitive certainty.
Rumor had it that Ren Yanqing had only one son, whom he treasured to an almost excessive degree. It seemed illogical that his son would go missing for an entire day and that he would ignore their calls entirely.
This behavior was clearly out of character and not something one would expect from a typical person.
The group sensed that something was amiss here; at the very least, there was room to question how much Ren Yanqing truly cared for this only son.
Normally, anyone receiving a call like theirs—even if suspecting it to be a scam—would at least contact their family to confirm matters. But Ren Yanqing didn’t seem to have made any such effort.
…No, there might be another explanation.
Perhaps Ren Yanqing didn’t fail to confirm his son’s situation because he was uncertain but rather because he knew his son had indeed been kidnapped—and simply didn’t care if he made it back alive.
It was entirely possible that he intended to use them to rid himself of this son.
This realization dawned on them collectively, as Ren Yanqing’s behavior was so blatant that it forced them to consider this possibility.
After all, the ransom they demanded was nothing to Ren Yanqing, barely a drop in the ocean. It was likely worth less than some random vase he might buy, and yet, he refused to part with this trivial amount.
This reluctance didn’t indicate stinginess over the money; it felt more like he didn’t want his only son to make it back.
But why would Ren Yanqing want his son dead?
Could it be that this son wasn’t truly his?
That was the first thought that crossed their minds. After all, this young master bore no resemblance whatsoever to Ren Yanqing, showing no visible signs of being his offspring.
However, if this young man was indeed the product of an affair, given Ren Yanqing’s ruthless nature, the son probably wouldn’t have lived to see adulthood. It didn’t seem like he wasn’t his biological son, either.
Could it be… that Ren Yanqing had only recently discovered the truth?
Ordinarily, they wouldn’t be concerned with whether the young master was truly related to him. But now, this information was crucial.
Zhou Jinchen no longer persisted in calling. Instead, after some thought, he opened his phone contacts, selected a number, and made the call.
The call was quickly answered by a hoarse male voice, “Hello? What’s up?”
Zhou Jinchen cut straight to the point without wasting words, “Help me find out if Ren Qing is really Ren Yanqing’s biological son.”
Hearing this, the person on the other end paused for a moment, clearly taken aback. “What happened? Did something unexpected come up in the plan?”
Zhou Jinchen responded with a brief “Mm,” then continued, “We’re now suspecting that Ren Qing might not be Ren Yanqing’s biological son.”
The person on the other end seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and clicked his tongue. “This won’t be easy to investigate. I’ll need some time.”
Everyone frowned upon hearing this and looked toward Zhou Jinchen.
The information they needed was indeed relatively confidential and, for the most part, based on their own suspicions. Gathering evidence would definitely take some time.
But time was precisely what they lacked. If the investigation were to take ten days or even half a month, it would be difficult for them to keep this under wraps.
Zhou Jinchen was well aware of this, so he asked coldly, “How long will it take?”
“Three days, at most.” The man ended the call after that.
Three days was still manageable, so although they were anxious, they had no choice but to wait patiently for the investigation results.
Due to newly set rules, none of them ventured into the basement again. But staying in the same room all day was also out of the question.
Gathering in one place could easily arouse others’ suspicions, so to avoid attracting attention, they each blended in with the other workers on-site.
For the basement, they stationed someone to watch from afar, but the security around it wasn’t particularly tight.
After all, this young master was delicate and physically weak. Opening the basement door would be challenging enough for him, and even if he did manage to escape, he wouldn’t get very far.
They all wore work clothes and put on workers’ hats, with the brims of their hard hats pulled low to blend into the crowd. From a distance, it was almost impossible to distinguish them from the other workers.
Looking from afar, there was no way to spot them. Who would have thought that among these hard-working laborers, someone would dare to kidnap the son of a real estate developer and hide him in the basement of the construction site?
However, a few workers did take note of some unfamiliar faces, pausing for a moment with a trace of puzzlement.
…Since when did we have such handsome workers?
But since the workers were divided into several teams, each with a different leader and separate areas to work, it wasn’t unusual for them to see unfamiliar faces from time to time.
Maybe they're from another team? Putting aside the doubt, the worker resumed his tasks diligently.
The workers were all quite focused on their jobs, so they didn’t notice the figure that had quietly slipped into the site from outside.
Naturally, there were guards stationed at the construction site, and unauthorized individuals were not allowed entry.
The figure, however, seemed very familiar with the construction site's layout. He found a gap in the site’s perimeter wall and slipped right through.
It was a tall man. After crawling in, he hid behind some materials nearby. Once he was sure no one was around, he entered an empty room.
When the man emerged again, he was dressed in the construction site’s work uniform.
This time, he walked boldly through the site, showing no signs of nervousness, and did not draw anyone’s attention.
After confirming that no one had noticed him, he slowly made his way toward the basement in the corner.
Duan Ming was the person responsible for watching over the basement area nearby. However, since a worker beside him asked him to pass over some materials, he lowered his head and didn’t notice someone sneaking in.
He was completely unaware that the man was getting closer to the basement.
Ohhhh who is this person? Thank you for the chapter!!
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