novelraw Chapter 234 Take it away!
Chapter 234 Take it away!
Jin Qiqi was stunned, and then slowly, slowly she understood what he meant.
"You—" Her lips trembled, "You're trying to kidnap me for your mother's sake?"
Those two words were like a bomb, thrown into the very center of the living room. The two people behind Gu Yanxu tilted their heads slightly and exchanged a glance. Gu Yanxu himself, however, seemed rooted to the spot by those two words.
He remained silent for a long time.
Finally, Jin Qiqi's tears slid down her cheeks and silently landed on the collar of her T-shirt.
"I won't hurt you." Gu Yanxu finally spoke, his voice hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against glass, each word dripping with blood. "Qiqi, I won't hurt you."
"So what are you doing now?" Jin Qiqi laughed through her tears, "Bringing two men, you broke into my house in the middle of the night to prevent me from testifying in court—if this isn't kidnapping, what is it? Gu Yanxu, tell me, what is this?"
Gu Yanxu closed his eyes.
He closed his eyes for a full three seconds, and when he opened them again, he could see nothing in them. They were dark and empty, like two dry wells.
"Take him away," he said to the people behind him.
The two words were spoken very softly, as if afraid of disturbing something. But when they landed in the air, they felt as heavy as an entire mountain crashing down.
Jin Qiqi took a step back abruptly, her shin hitting the sofa armrest, causing her to gasp in pain. But she couldn't care less about the pain, because she saw that the two men had already moved—the burly man on the left was walking towards her, his pace neither fast nor slow, like a beast locking onto its prey.
"Don't touch me!" Jin Qiqi shouted sharply, grabbing a water glass from the coffee table and throwing it at the person.
The cup hit the man's shoulder, splashing water all over the floor. The man didn't even flinch, reaching out to grab her arm.
Jin Qiqi turned and ran.
Her slippers slipped on the smooth marble floor, so she simply kicked them off and ran barefoot into the hallway.
I heard hurried footsteps behind me.
She was just three steps away from touching the doorknob—
A hand grabbed her wrist from behind, with a force as strong as an iron clamp, pulling her back two steps until her back bumped into a warm chest.
Jin Qiqi struggled desperately, kicking her feet wildly on the ground, her fingernails scratching the door frame with a piercing sound.
"Let me go! Gu Yanxu—let me go!"
Gu Yanxu's face was inches away. He had somehow gotten behind her, and now he had one hand tightly around her waist, while the other hand pulled a towel from the black sports bag that the thin man had handed her.
A white towel.
Jin Qiqi's gaze fell on the towel, and her pupils contracted sharply—the towel reeked of a pungent chemical smell, sweet yet nauseating, like some kind of poison hidden beneath a faint fragrance.
"No—" She desperately turned her head away, tears splattering onto Gu Yanxu's hand. "Gu Yanxu, I beg you, please don't..."
Gu Yanxu's movements froze for a moment.
He looked at her face covered in tears, at her body trembling violently with fear, and at the desperate, incredulous light in her eyes.
His knuckles were white, and the veins stood out prominently. He was hesitating.
But that hesitation lasted less than two seconds.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Then he covered Jin Qiqi's mouth and nose with a towel.
"Ugh—!" Jin Qiqi shook her head frantically, trying to pry his fingers off with both hands, her nails scratching bloody marks on the back of his hand. The smell of the drug filled her nostrils, burning her respiratory tract. Her consciousness felt as if it had been ripped open, and light and sound were rapidly collapsing.
Her struggles grew weaker and weaker.
It's getting weaker and weaker.
In the last moments before she lost consciousness, she heard her own voice, as distant as if it were coming from underwater:
"Gu Yanxu... I never expected... you to be this kind of person..."
Then, everything went dark.
Gu Yanxu held her limp body and slowly squatted down, letting her sit against the wall. He lowered his head, his bangs covering his eyes, and from the side, only his tightly pursed lips and slightly trembling jaw could be seen.
The two people stood to the side, waiting quietly.
"I won't hurt you." Gu Yanxu's voice was so low it sounded like he was talking to himself, hoarse and almost incoherent. "It's just... you absolutely can't appear in court. I'm sorry, Qiqi. I'm so sorry."
He reached out, his fingertips trembling slightly, and tucked the stray strands of hair from her face behind her ear. The movement was so gentle, as if he were touching something that might break at any moment.
He scooped Jin Qiqi up in his arms; the woman's body was as limp as a leaf soaked by a downpour, her head resting weakly on his shoulder, her breathing shallow and even—the drug had taken effect. Just as the thin man's hand was about to touch the doorknob—
Footsteps sounded outside the door.
Gu Yanxu immediately looked through the peephole and saw Lin Chen with three people.
Gu Yanxu looked at Qiqi in his arms; he had to take her away today.
But Lin Chen wouldn't leave easily.
He was very familiar with the design of this large apartment, because Jin Qiqi had once enthusiastically dragged him to see the layout of each room. Behind the walk-in closet in the master bedroom, there was an inconspicuous hidden door leading to the fire escape staircase. Two floors down from the fire escape staircase was the B2 level of the underground parking garage, where there was a direct elevator, but mostly a pedestrian walkway.
She said at the time, "This is an escape route. In case of an earthquake or fire, we can run out from here."
Unexpectedly, he used this passage to "escape" today.
"This way," he hissed to the two men behind him, his voice low and heavy, yet carrying an undeniable authority. The two men hesitated for a moment—clearly expecting to force their way out through the front door—but their professional instincts made them obey immediately. The thin man strode forward, pushed open the door to the dressing room, and fumbled for the handle of a hidden door among the walls of clothes.
The door opened. A cool, dusty breeze rushed up from the stairwell.
Gu Yanxu carried Jin Qiqi inside, his pace quickening. The motion-activated lights on the fire escape staircase were activated by their footsteps, lighting up one after another. The pale light flickered in the narrow space, casting their shadows long and short.
Behind them, just as the heavy hidden door closed, they heard the sound of the main door being kicked open.
"Bang--!"
It wasn't knocking, it was breaking down the door. Lin Chen had his men kick the lock off.
"No one's here." Lin Chen's voice came from the end of the corridor, cold and steady. "Search."
Footsteps scattered. Less than five seconds later, someone shouted, "Mr. Lin, there's a hidden door in the dressing room! Open it, it leads to the stairs!"