novelraw Chapter 276 - 264: Taken Away
Chapter 276 - 264: Taken Away
"Yes, I wonder where she went. I tried calling her, but it didn’t go through."
"Her phone is with me," Yu Minglang replied.
Yu Minglang felt something was off, but he also thought he might be overthinking. She might be upset with him and went to hang out with friends, which was normal.
The unease in his heart continued to grow.
The sound of brakes came from outside the door. After a few seconds, Zheng Xu entered carrying fruits.
"Excuse me, is Chen Xiaoqian home—Mr. Yu!"
"What are you doing here!" Yu Minglang felt annoyed just seeing Zheng Xu, as this guy still had eyes on his Qianbao.
He had just had a small disagreement with Qian earlier that day, and now Zheng Xu showed up with fruits. What’s his intention!
"Who are you?" Jia Xiufang had never seen Zheng Xu before.
"I’m a friend of Chen Xiaoqian. She was with me this afternoon—" Zheng Xu felt like Yu Minglang’s gaze was cutting him with knives as he spoke.
Causing some discomfort to Mr. Yu made Zheng Xu secretly delight.
Seeing how deeply jealous Yu Minglang was, he continued, "I drank a bit with her. She was feeling down, then she met a friend at the karaoke bar and said she’d stay with her friend for a while. At the appointed time, I went to pick her up but couldn’t find her, so I wanted to check if she’d returned home."
Zheng Xu didn’t know why he acted differently today.
Usually, he wouldn’t care so much about being stood up by Qian, and would only ask her to treat next time they met.
But today, for some reason, when he drove by this area, he unconsciously turned in and happened to run into Yu Minglang.
"What time did you agree to meet?" Yu Minglang asked.
"An hour ago. I waited for her for a while. Could she have gone out with friends?"
"Do you remember what the friend she was with looks like?"
"A young girl. Qian calls her Shi Touyu."
Yu Minglang quickly flipped through his phone and pulled up a number for his team.
"Get me Qiao Zhen’s details. Find out his home phone."
There are many excellent men, but someone like Yu Minglang, apart from his solid skills, owes part of his edge to his exceptional intuition.
Though Qian had been missing for less than two hours, Yu Minglang’s keen instincts told him something was wrong, prompting him to call Shi Yu first.
Qian, always renowned for her brilliance, rarely failed; but this time, she had missed her mark.
She woke up groggily, feeling unable to move her limbs, as though they were bound by something.
Qian struggled to recall what had transpired. She left the karaoke place and took a black car with Xiaoyu—
Black car!
Qian’s eyes widened as she realized her hands were tied behind her back, and Shi Yu was bound back-to-back with her. The space they were in was cramped, like they were inside a broken-down van.
A huge basket covered her and Shi Touyu, with what seemed like miscellaneous items piled on top as a disguise.
Judging from the bumpy ride, they seemed to be outside the city already. Qian couldn’t move, and Shi Touyu was silent. Qian didn’t know how she was now.
She tried hard to recall the events.
She and Xiaoyu got into the black car, then Xiaoyu’s hygiene-obsessed and selfish friend got off first, and the driver pulled over saying he needed to buy cigarettes. Her last memory fragment ended there.
Her head was still dizzy, as if she was affected by some drug’s aftereffects, and her stomach was hurting more; her period was seemingly about to start.
Qian, sharp all her life, was caught off guard this time—riding a black car came with a high price.
But this price seemed excessively heavy.
The black car driver must’ve drugged the car while stepping out, causing her and Shi Touyu to faint, and then tied them up.
She wondered if his intention was kidnapping, trafficking, or assault—rape and murder.
Shi Touyu seemed to be waking up; she stirred a bit, and Qian helplessly closed her eyes.
How could she forget about Shi Touyu’s past life?
If nothing went wrong, they should be traffickers, like in Shi Touyu’s past life, selling her off to mountain areas.
This time, however, there was an extra person—her.
Qian told herself not to be afraid, to stay calm. Panicking wouldn’t help now. Quickly think, how to escape...
In moments of utmost fear, people think of those most important to them.
The first person Qian thought of was Yu Minglang.
If she had known she’d be kidnapped tonight, her last sight of Yu Minglang might have been their dispute at noon. Would she still consider breaking up?
Just like what she told Teng Daye, no one can predict the future, so why not seize the present?
He hadn’t even cleared up the misunderstanding with her before she was taken away!
If she couldn’t escape, would Yu Minglang come looking for her...
Closing her eyes, it was as if she heard Yu Minglang’s voice in her head, calling her Qianbao when he’s happy, Chen Xiaomei when he’s playful, and the wounded look in his eyes when she said she wanted to break up.
If she knew that was the last time they’d meet, she’d never have treated Yu Minglang so cruelly.
These thoughts flashed by quickly, and Qian reined them in, biting her tongue to use the pain to shake off the drug’s impact on her brain’s reaction speed.
Stay calm, there’s surely a way, stay calm...
"Why am I here?" Shi Yu woke up, murmuring as she opened her eyes.
About thirty seconds later, Shi Yu realized her situation and screamed.
"Ah! Help, help!"
Awareness of Qian being behind her made Shi Yu shiver with fear.
"Qian, what do we do? We’ve come across bad people!"
"This time, Qian didn’t plan well..." Qian muttered as Shi Yu entered the typical first response phase of encountering danger, continuously shouting for help, her emotions spiraling out of control.
Suddenly, the cover of miscellaneous items over them was removed, revealing the black car driver and another middle-aged woman.
"Why are you screaming!" The driver kicked the frame.
Xiaoyu shivered in fear and pleaded with the driver.
"Release us, and I’ll get my dad to give you money!"
"Does your dad have a lot of money?" The driver’s eyes gleamed greedily.
"Yes, yes, you tell him I’m with you. As long as you let me and my friend go, everything is negotiable!"
"Da Mei, is this girl telling the truth?" The driver asked the middle-aged woman with him.
The woman looked Shi Yu and Qian up and down, indeed seeing them as strikingly beautiful.
"No matter the truth, we’ll sell them first, and once they’re delivered, we’ll extort her father!"
This woman was cautious; she was a professional trafficker, though Xiaoyu’s promise tempted her, she insisted on selling Xiaoyu first before trying to extort money.
Everything mirrored the past life.
While Xiaoyu negotiated with the traffickers, Qian reverted to recalling details from when she treated Shi Yu in her past life.
Quickly think, the more you remember, the greater the hope.