Chapter One Hundred and Ninety-Two: An Unprofessional Abduction (1/2)

While in the car, Xiao Yu played a game.

Actually, it wasn’t that he didn’t have the energy to walk. This was the first time Yan Jin had driven him into the garage. Before, Xiao Yu always gotten out more than three streets away. Although everyone already knew of their relationship by this point, Xiao Yu would still feel awkward if they ran into someone while heading upstairs together. He preferred to avoid such incidents, even if it was only to make himself feel better.

Xiao Yu finished playing the game and saw that it was about time to head up. He tidied up and deftly hopped out of the car.

Just as he closed the car door, Xiao Yu felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Whew, I’ve finally chased you down.”

Xiao Yu thought a reporter had slipped through. He carelessly turned around, ready to sarcastically applaud the reporter for managing to tailgate them into the garage. “Brother…”

A strong odor suddenly covered his mouth and nose. Xiao Yu didn’t even have time to struggle before falling to the ground.

The last image Xiao Yu saw before fainting was the indistinct expression of a tall male opening the car door.

……

Chu Ge was the first to discover Xiao Yu’s abduction.

It didn’t require much deep thinking for him to guess the reason. To pull this off right now, the Nan Family was the most likely suspect.

Although he had found out very quickly, it didn’t help that Chu Ge was so far away. By the time Chu Ge rushed over to Yan Jin’s office, Nan Wei was already relaxing on the sofa sipping tea.

Chu Ge was covered with sweat after dropping everything to sprint there. The moment he stumbled in, he burst out, “What’s the current situation? Have we called the police yet?”

Only Nan Wei was in the office. Yan Jin was on the phone in the break room.

“Don’t rush. Have a seat first,” Nan Wei greeted. “Long time no see. We’re at an interesting point.”

“How can you be so calm after something so big?!”

Nan Wei shrugged. “Is there any use in panicking? I calmed down after seeing that guy blowing up in there.”

“Why?” Chu Ge demanded.

“Well, to be honest… actually, don’t lose your head. Come, drink some tea first. I poured it for Yan Jin earlier, but he didn’t want it and now it’s cold. I hope you don’t mind.”

“You…”

Chu Ge was at a loss for words. He sat down and drained the cup of tea in one gulp.

As the lukewarm tea went down, his panic subsided somewhat.

“Have you calmed down?” Nan Wei waved his hand in front of Chu Ge.

“Mmm,” Chu Ge muttered.

Nan Wei chuckled dopily. “Haha, I feel like I’m the older brother now.”

“Cut the chatter. How’s the current situation?”

“Very bad.” Nan Wei sighed with the cup of tea in his hand. “It’s not clear what the Nan Family wants. We don’t know whether they’re really unaware or just playing dumb. So, we can only go through official routes. For someone who’s accustomed to getting what they want, Yan Jin is about to explode in there.”

“In such a situation, human life is invaluable. What are they thinking?” Chu Ge felt an oncoming headache.

“Actually, I have a hunch that it’s not the Nan Family.”

“Huh?” Chu Ge couldn’t understand why.

“Suppose they were the ones that did this. They’ve already successfully completed the abduction, so now they should have some demands, right?” Nan Wei hesitated, and then continued, “I don’t know what Elder Cousin and them are fighting over, but abducting Master can’t be their only objective.”

“You’re right.” Chu Ge nodded. “The possibility it’s not the Nan Family is very high. Furthermore, they rarely pursue pyrrhic strategies. They’re not in a dire enough situation to do this.”

“That’s what I thought too. But, if they didn’t do it, why don’t they just say so? What benefit do they get misleading Yan Jin?”

“I see two possibilities. The first is that the Nan Family wants to use this incident to negotiate some benefits from Yan Jin. This is rather unlikely though; acting as a scapegoat is very unlike them. There are much better ways for them to accomplish this like directly helping Yan Jin. The second…” Chu Ge’s voice became cold. “The Nan Family themselves don’t know whether they did this.”

“Huh?” Now it was Nan Wei’s turn to be confused.

“The logic is very simple. You’re part of the Nan Family too. Do you know for sure whether the Nan Family did this?”

Nan Wei shook his head. “I don’t know, but I still think the Nan Family is the most likely suspect.”

“There lies the problem. Abducting Xiao Yu might not be the decision of the entire Nan Family. It could be just a few of them or just one of them. It only takes a few or just one of them to put this together.” Chu Ge set the cup back on the table. “Out of everyone in the Nan Family, Yan Jin probably can only contact our old man or Uncle. If this was a private decision, Uncle couldn’t find any news even if he wanted to help. Thus, it’s quite likely that even the head of the Nan Family didn’t foresee this.”

“Yeah, I asked Dad. He resolutely denied ever doing anything like this.”

Chu Ge sighed deeply. “The mastermind didn’t necessarily do this for the Nan Family’s benefit. If they only did this for themselves, the pool of suspects will grow very large.”

“I don’t really understand.” Nan Wei felt that his brain couldn’t quite keep up.

“Given that the old man denied it so plainly, the reason that Yan Jin still thinks that it’s unclear what the Nan Family wants must be because Uncle was vague when Yan Jin asked him.” Chu Ge raised his arms and leaned back into the sofa. Staring at the ceiling, he said, “Thus, we can surmise that while he wasn’t the one who did this, he must have some suspect in mind that he can’t be sure of…”

“What do you think, Yan Jin?”

Yan Jin had apparently ended his call earlier and was now standing behind Chu Ge.

Chu Ge didn’t see Yan Jin, but Yan Jin’s shadow had fallen across his vision.