After Fu Zhen got on the bus, he did not go directly home. It was still early, so he went to the market to buy the rice and flour he would need for the next month. After leaving the market, he carried two bags of things across the road and walked up the pedestrian bridge opposite.
Below the pedestrian bridge sat a blind old man in ragged clothes. He held an erhu and played Abing’s “The Moon Reflected in the Second Spring.” Traffic flowed endlessly, the world vast and boundless.
Fu Zhen stopped in front of the old man for a while. After the old man finished playing the piece, Fu Zhen took two five-yuan bills from his pocket and placed them in the bowl before him.
The sky gradually darkened. Carrying two plastic bags, Fu Zhen slowly walked along the sidewalk toward the direction of the residential complex. The setting sun sank behind the mountains, and orange clouds enveloped the entire city. His shadow was dragged thin and long.
The two Liu brothers had already been lying in wait around this area for several days. Every time Fu Zhen came back, there was a strange man following beside him. They did not know the man’s identity, nor did they know his relationship with Fu Zhen, so they did not dare make a move rashly.
Today, they finally had the chance they had been waiting for: Fu Zhen was alone. Earlier, they had already checked the surroundings. Most of the nearby surveillance cameras were broken, and the few that could still be used would not capture the place where they were about to act. The older brother, Liu Han, and the younger brother, Liu Wen, looked at each other and watched as Fu Zhen walked step by step into the circle they had calculated for the crime.
When he reached the entrance of the stairwell, Fu Zhen vaguely sensed that something was wrong. But as soon as he turned his head, he saw a tall man walking toward him. Fu Zhen knew things were bad. He was a little cripple and definitely could not outrun this person, so the only thing he could do now was shout loudly for help.
But before he could cry out, he was struck on the back of the head with a stick. His mouth was clamped tightly shut from behind, and then his whole body was forcefully dragged away. The entire kidnapping process took no more than two minutes. For the sake of this day, the Liu brothers had already practiced this set of movements hundreds and thousands of times.
That blow just now had not been light. Fu Zhen’s mind was completely blank. Only when the two men shoved him into a small van did he realize that he had now been abducted. He just did not yet know what these two people’s purpose was.
He wanted to turn his head and look out the window, but very quickly, a black cloth bag was pulled over his head. Everything before his eyes went pitch-black. He could not see anything, and his hands were tied behind his back with hemp rope.
Fu Zhen believed he did not have any enemies. Over the past two years, he had worked honestly and behaved properly. The only people who had ever had grudges against him were Fu
Jianchen’s family. But if Fu Jianchen and Fu Ting wanted to deal with him, they would absolutely not use such a crude method.
The two hands behind Fu Zhen’s back moved unconsciously, trying to struggle free from the hemp rope. The younger Liu brother was driving up front. When Liu Han saw Fu Zhen’s
movements, he lowered his voice and threatened him, “If you want to live, behave yourself!”
Fu Zhen’s movements stopped. He blinked. Before his eyes was still complete darkness. The van drove for about half an hour before finally stopping. Fu Zhen was shoved from behind and pushed out. He staggered and almost fell.
Liu Han jumped down from behind him and, together with Liu Wen, dragged Fu Zhen into a blue sheet-metal hut. Inside the hut were tables and chairs they had prepared. They picked up the hemp rope from the table and tied Fu Zhen to a chair.
The hood over Fu Zhen’s head was finally removed. The long darkness made it impossible for him to immediately adapt to the flashlight shining before his eyes. After a while, he finally noticed what kind of place he was trapped in. This sort of movable sheet-metal hut was generally used as a guard booth or sales kiosk. From this alone, he really had no way of judging who exactly had kidnapped him.
The sky outside had gone completely dark. Liu Han placed the flashlight on the table to one side, then took a dagger out of his coat pocket. The cold blade slid across Fu Zhen’s chin. He said to Fu Zhen, “Don’t worry. We won’t do anything to you. As long as Fu Jianchen gives us the
money, we’ll let you go immediately.”
“You kidnapped me…” Fu Zhen raised his head. In the darkness, he could not fully see the faces of the two men in front of him. He only felt that it was somewhat ridiculous. He asked again, “To ask Fu Jianchen for money?”
The blade slid from Fu Zhen’s chin to his cheek like the flicking tongue of a snake. “Of course.”
There were actually people who had kidnapped him to demand ransom from Fu Jianchen. On what basis did they think Fu Jianchen would hand over a large sum of money he did not need to pay for his sake? Did kidnappers these days not use their brains before abducting someone?
“What are you laughing at?”
Fu Zhen froze. Had he laughed just now? He shook his head and said nothing.
Liu Han felt that he had been mocked just now, but he suppressed his anger and continued asking Fu Zhen, “What’s Fu Jianchen’s phone number?”
“I don’t know,” Fu Zhen answered.
“You don’t know?” The older Liu brother spat, then slapped Fu Zhen across the face. “You don’t know your dad’s phone number?”
Fu Zhen’s head was struck to one side. His left cheek quickly swelled red. Liu Han’s strength was not small, and a taste of blood spread through Fu Zhen’s mouth. His tongue moved once around his mouth.
Seeing that Fu Zhen was not speaking, Liu Han frowned and searched Fu Zhen’s body. He took the phone from his pocket, unlocked it with Fu Zhen’s fingerprint, opened his contact list, and asked him, “Is this Dad?”
Fu Zhen did not speak. His phone number had already been changed several times, but the people in his contact list had remained there through each phone.
But these two people were probably destined to be disappointed. Even if they got Fu Jianchen’s number from here, Fu Jianchen and Fu Ting would never possibly pay ransom for him.
The call was connected very quickly. Liu Han spoke first. “You’re Fu Jianchen, right?” “Who are you?” Fu Jianchen asked from the other end of the phone, his voice deep.
“You don’t need to care who I am. You only need to know that your son is in my hands right now. If you don’t do what I say, you can forget about ever seeing him again.”
“My son?”
Fu Jianchen frowned slightly. If Fu Ting had been kidnapped, someone would definitely have informed him beforehand. Besides, he had only just spoken with Fu Ting on the phone. How could he have been kidnapped?
“Fu Zhen. What’s wrong, Mr. Fu? You only saw your youngest son a few days ago, and now you’ve already forgotten him?” Liu Han said.
Only then did Fu Jianchen understand. The person they had kidnapped was Fu Zhen.
“You kidnapped him?” he asked, fully aware of the answer.
“That’s right. As long as Mr. Fu prepares eighty million yuan for us, we’ll release him once we leave. How does that sound?”
This transaction was not exactly worth it. After all, two years ago, Fu Zhen had already stopped counting as a member of the Fu family. But Fu Jianchen hesitated. He thought of the boy he had seen in his dream, and of Fu Zhen, whom he had seen a few days earlier.
Liu Han continued from the other end of the phone, “I’ll give Mr. Fu one night to consider it. I hope that before nine tomorrow morning, you can transfer eighty million yuan into my account. Don’t think about calling the police or using any other method to find us. I can guarantee that if anything happens to me, I’ll drag your youngest son down to hell with me.”
After Liu Han finished speaking, he hung up decisively.
Fu Jianchen stood frozen in place, holding his phone. Tang Wanwan, who was beside him, noticed something wrong with him and came over to ask, “Dad, what’s wrong?”
Fu Jianchen raised his head and looked at Tang Wanwan. Tang Wanwan’s eyes were like a mirror, clearly reflecting his figure within them. At this moment, when facing her, Fu Jianchen could not tell a single lie. He pressed his lips together, then honestly repeated everything the kidnapper had said to him over the phone.
Tang Wanwan tilted her head, showing a serious, thoughtful expression. After a long while, she said to Fu Jianchen, “Everyone in Pinghai City knows that Dad already drove Fu Zhen out of the Fu family two years ago. How could anyone possibly kidnap him and use him to ask you for
money?”
Fu Jianchen felt that something was not quite right. Yet he uncontrollably nodded and said to Tang Wanwan, “You’re right.”
The room was quiet. Through the glass window, one could see the north wind howling outside, the tree branches swaying in the violent wind. Tang Wanwan lifted the corners of her mouth and said to Fu Jianchen, “It’s also possible that Fu Zhen has run out of money, isn’t it? Why don’t you transfer him a little, Dad?”
Fu Jianchen immediately understood what Tang Wanwan meant. She felt that this whole matter might have been orchestrated by Fu Zhen himself.
Seeing that Fu Jianchen was not speaking, Tang Wanwan continued asking, “What does Dad plan to do?”
Fu Jianchen said, “I need to think about it.”
Tang Wanwan lowered her eyes. She absolutely could not allow Fu Jianchen to hand eighty million yuan over to Fu Zhen. She had to think of a way to make Fu Jianchen forget about this matter.
After Liu Han hung up the phone, he happily waited for Fu Jianchen to transfer the money into their account the next day. But they waited all the way until twelve noon the next day, and not only was there no movement in the account at all, they could not even get through to Fu
Jianchen’s phone anymore.
Liu Han, who was eating, looked at his phone and cursed. In a fit of anger, he threw the boxed lunch prepared for Fu Zhen directly into the trash can outside.
Fu Zhen lowered his head and stared at the cement floor beneath his feet without saying a word. He had never held any hope for Fu Jianchen, so now, there was no such thing as disappointment either.
Liu Han waited another afternoon, but there was still no news at all from Fu Jianchen. It was not until evening that Liu Han and the others learned that Tang Wanwan had encountered an obsessive fan at a hotel that day, had been frightened, and had accidentally fallen while trying to avoid them. Now Fu Jianchen and Fu Ting were both at the hospital keeping her company.
Liu Han was so angry that he stamped around inside the sheet-metal hut. Later, he walked over to Fu Zhen and said to him, “If we can’t get money from Fu Jianchen, then you can die here with us.”
Fu Zhen slowly raised his head. Under the dim light, a layer of white mist seemed to cover his eyes. After giving a faint “oh,” he lowered his head again and made no further sound.
“You’re not afraid of dying?” Liu Han grabbed Fu Zhen’s hair and asked beside his ear.
Afraid?
“I am,” Fu Zhen said softly.
But what difference did being afraid make? Chapter complete. Source: