"So it was you." Xin Qing stared at Lu Manman. "Why go through so much trouble..."
Lu Manman looked at Xin Qing in an expression of pure hatred. "Why? Haha. Drop the innocent act. I'm not Ying Qingcang or Chen Ming. That kind of trick won't work on me."
"Since you know that I'm with Ying Qingcang, why are you insisting on blaming me for whatever that's been going on between you and Chen Ming?" To Xin Qing, Lu Manman did not seem the type who would act irrationally. Why would she be doing something so irrational?
Lu Manman glared at her savagely. "Then who should I blame? Should I blame myself?" She placed a palm to her chest. Then, she bent at her waist and began laughing. "Should I blame myself for marrying him even though I knew he was in love with you? Blame my own naivety in believing that he would stop loving you once you're with another man? Hahahaha..." Lu Manman raised her head. "Too bad I was wrong. He was wrong too. He thought he could forget about you once he married me. But he didn't even try to touch me."
All of a sudden, Lu Manman rushed towards Xin Qing and slapped her. "How dare you?" Lu Manman shrieked. "How dare you make me your sacrificial lamb?"
"Please calm down. Kidnapping me won't change anything. You need to have an honest conversation with Chen Ming. Right now, you're still husband and wife." Xin Qing stifled her pain. Her mouth was beginning to taste like blood. She tried her best to remain calm so that she would not agitate Lu Manman further. At this point, the woman's emotion was highly unstable. Xin Qing truly feared that Lu Manman would do something to hurt her.
She was all alone here, which meant that Zhang Mi was safe. Right now, Ying Qingcang must have found out that something had happened to her. She had to try her best to hold on until his arrival.
Meanwhile, Ying Qingcang was staring furiously at Chen Ming, who was lying on the ground after being beaten to a pulp.
"Will you just calm down and listen to me?" Chen Ming wiped the blood on his lips and tried to stand up. He was kicked down once again by Young Master Shen. "We don't want to hear your b*llsh*t," Young Master Shen said. "If it weren't because of you, would Xiao Qingqing even be kidnapped?"
Chen Ming had no choice but to stay on the ground, though his eyes were trained on Ying Qingcang. "Look, beating me to death won't change anything. Right now, the priority is to track down Xin Qing."
"Where's Lu Manman?" Ying Qingcang asked.
"I don't know. I'm looking for her too. I've already been to all the places that she might go." Chen Ming slammed his fist on the ground. He never thought that Xin Qing would be put in harm's way because of him.
Young Master Shen called his men again. He hung up in disappointment. "Nothing. It's not one of the gangs' doing."
"A newcomer, then. Or someone from another province." Ying Qingcang's eyes were ice cold. In that moment, he was like a lion at the brink of going berserk. "Keep looking. Focus on Lu Manman. She's the key." All of a sudden, Ah Nan came rushing in. "Lu Manman's car was found," Ah Nan said. "It was abandoned on a highway in South City."
"Then let's narrow down our search to South City." Ying Qingcang glanced at Young Master Shen before pulling out his phone.
"Ah Nan, call the cops." Ying Qingcang could not afford to wait any longer. He had to bring in both law enforcement and the underworld to help with the search. That would help increase their chances of finding Xin Qing.
Ah Nan hesitated for a moment. "Young Master, but the reporters would know. The press..."
"We can't afford to care about those things. Call the cops." Ying Qingcang had not intended to involve the police at all because that would inevitably draw the press' attention onto Xin Qing. God forbid if the press dug deep enough to uncover the relationship between Xin Qing and the Xin family. But now, he could not afford to care about those things.
Meanwhile, Lu Manman was neck-deep in her hysteria, laughing and crying at the same time in front of Xin Qing. All of a sudden, her phone rang. She looked a bit anxious when she picked up. When she did, she ran to the door. Xin Qing shifted her numb body. She could hear Lu Manman outside, speaking to an unknown caller. After that, she saw a tall man walking in. Xin Qing squinted, trying to make out the man's face. The man wore a white mask, so his eyes and jaw were all she could see.
"Didn't you say it was just to scare her?" Lu Manman followed the man inside. In her hand, she carried a plastic bag.
The man was clearly using a voice changer, since he spoke in a voice that was high-pitched and ear-piercing. "Well, yes. But if we let her go now, then that would be too easy for her. We'll keep her here for a night and release her tomorrow."
"Okay, then. I really don't want anything bad to happen tomorrow. Chen Ming would never forgive me if something were to happen to her." Lu Manman had transformed back to the brilliant, elite white collar. She sauntered forward until she was standing beside Xin Qing. After releasing the bindings on Xin Qing's arms, she took out two containers of food from the plastic bag. "Eat. Your Ying Qingcang would never let me off the hook if you starve to death."
When Xin Qing had heard that this was all just to scare her and that she would be released tomorrow, she felt relieved. She opened one of the containers. Instantly, the smell of fish hit her nose. There was a piece of fried fish in the container. Xin Qing's hand moved to cover her mouth as she retched.
"Such a wimp," Lu Manman said in annoyance before passing Xin Qing a bottle of water. Xin Qing drank a few mouthfuls and took the food container again. Xin Qing knew she had to eat to keep up her strength. If her abductor changed their minds, she would still have to escape on her own. Another wave of nausea hit her at the smell of fish, and she threw up the water she had drank just moments ago.
Feeling disgusted, Lu Manman stood up. "Let's get out of here. We'll come back and release her tomorrow."
The man and Lu Manman left. Xin Qing moved her arms, thinking of freeing her legs from their bindings, but her legs were tied together in a dead knot. After struggling fruitlessly for half a day, she gave up. She was hungry, but when she saw the food in the containers, she could not bring herself to eat. She drank a few mouthfuls of water before leaning her back against the wall. She was starting to feel a little hazy.
In the car, Lu Manman turned her head aside to look at the masked man. He was in the middle of a phone call.
"Ying Qingcang," the man said, "if you want to see your woman alive again, launch a press conference now. Publicly declare to have all of Ying Enterprises' funds donated to charity. Or else, you'll have to deal with your woman's corpse."
"Are you nuts?" Lu Manman glared at the masked man.
The man kept looking out the car window at a fast food joint nearby. The mask he wore had kept his facial expressions hidden. "What are you so worked up about? I just want to see what lengths Ying Qingcang would go through for that woman." A married couple stood at the entrance of the fast food joint. The woman was bent over, throwing up as she cursed at the man standing behind her.
"You knew that I'm pregnant so I can't stand the smell of fish, but yet you still bought me fish," the woman said. The man kept apologizing to her while trying to feed her water.
When the masked man made no moves to start the car, Lu Manman knocked on the steering wheel. "What are you looking at? Didn't you buy the food here just now? Why? You hungry?"
"Now, I see..." All of a sudden, the man began chuckling. "If that's the case, then I can't let her live."
Shock took over Lu Manman's heart. "What did you just say? Are you saying you want to murder Xin Qing?"
"That's none of your business." The man started the car. Lu Manman yelled, "No. I'll end up a murder suspect, you nutcase. I'm calling the cops." Lu Manman reached for her bag to grab her phone. Before she could even open the bag, she felt something hit the back of her head. She went limp and sagged against the car seat, unconscious.
"I hadn't planned to kill you, but now..." The man barked out two high-pitched laughs.
Ying Enterprises Headquarters.
"Young master, you can't do this. The old master will never agree to this."
Ying Qingcang was sitting behind his desk in his office. "I can't have Xin Qing spending the night with her kidnapper."
"But still... you can't just give away Ying Enterprises!" Ah Nan was panicking.
Young Master Shen grabbed Chen Ming in a choke hold. "Are you going to f*cking tell us how the hell did Lu Manman end up with an accomplice?"
Chen Ming's face had already turned ashen. Chen Ming knew that something far worse than death awaited him if Ying Qingcang did end up giving Ying Enterprises away. A police officer in charge of handling communications walked in with a grim face.
"We found Lu Manman."
Ying Qingcang sprang up. "Where?"
The officer frowned and hesitated for a brief moment. "Up north. At the bottom of a cliff."
Instantly, a wave of anxiety rose in Ying Qingcang's heart. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"She's dead. The car fell off the cliff. Her face was barely recognizable."
Chen Ming took a few steps back. "What? How? How could this be?" Chen Ming seized the police officer. "Are you sure it's Lu Manman?"
"Positive." The officer paused in thought for a moment. "We can't rule out the possibility of a homicide. Everything is still under investigation. Nothing is certain at this point."
Ying Qingcang's phone rang. He closed his eyes. When the police officer in charge of tracing the call gave him the signal, he picked up.
"Ying Qingcang, keep your money. I've changed my mind. Now you just wait to retrieve your woman's corpse."
"Who the hell are you? What do you want? Where are you keeping Xin Qing?"
"Don't worry. Once she's dead, I'll tell you. Oh, I hope you won't feel too devastated when you see her corpse! Hahahaha..."
"Hello, hello! D*mn it!" Ying Qingcang smashed his phone. He stood up and rushed out the door.
The police officer held him back. "Mr. Ying, going out like this is useless."
"Then I'll be useful sitting here?" Ying Qingcang looked at the officer coldly. Young Master Shen hurried forward and grabbed Ying Qingcang's arm. "You can't fall apart at a time like this. If you don't stay calm, who else is going to analyze the situation? Those cops?"
Beside them, the officer's face darkened, but he made no comments. The other officer had begun reporting the location obtained from the call trace.
"The call was made from a public phone in the developmental area. We've already sent people there."
Little by little, darkness took over the sky. Soon, it was night time.
Xin Qing stirred once again. Above her, on the building's roof, there was a palm-sized window from which moonlight was streaming in. With the light, she could vaguely make out her surroundings.
"I won't cry. I won't cry. I have to be brave. Ying Qingcang is out there looking for me. As long as I can last until morning, I'll be able to get out of here." Xin Qing shifted her legs and picked up the food container beside her. She endured the fish smell and ate two mouthfuls before washing them down with water.
Her legs had gone numb after being bound for so long. Xin Qing was worried that having her legs bound together overnight would be bad for them, so she began searching her surroundings for any object she could use to cut the rope. The room was too dark. She could not see clearly at all. Immediately, she regretted falling asleep during the day.
She pressed her palms against the wall and tried to stand up. Slowly, she pushed with her legs while leaning her back against the wall. After considerable effort, she managed to stand up, though the tight bindings on her legs had caused her to lose balance. She fell down to her knees.
She hissed when she felt a sharp pain on her knee caps. Xin Qing's tears began to flow. She held on to the wall and tried to slowly stand up again. Leaning against the wall, she massaged her knee caps. Then, leaping with both feet, she began moving sideways.
The decrepit factory contained only a rack used to hang fabric and a huge pool. Xin Qing could not make out what was inside the pool, but she guessed it was used to store dye. She kept leaping until she reached a pile of trash. She leaped over, and began rummaging through the heap. She found a metal ruler which was broken in half.
Xin Qing sat back down. She used the broken side of the metal ruler and began sawing at the rope.