"What's this?" Tai Cheng asked in confusion, holding onto Jingwei's phone. There was already someone on the line.
"The leader of my bodyguard team would like to discuss something with you!" Jingwei said. "I told him about the both of you trying to bait out the culprit and he thinks it's a terrible idea, so… you guys can discuss it! I'll pick the decision that will guarantee everyone's safety."
Tai Cheng blinked, and raised the phone to his ear. Meanwhile Captain Mu heard Jingwei's words and wanted to slap himself. Did Sun Jingwei expect him to debate the pros and cons of the plan?
"Hello? Is this Captain Mu?"
"Yes. And you are?"
"Li Tai Cheng. Pleased to meet you!" Tai Cheng said politely. Captain Mu thought he sounded too cheery for someone who possibly sliced through three men.
"I heard you want to bait the person responsible." Captain Mu said, wasting no time with pleasantries. Tai Cheng's face also shifted, and the two of them began to converse in low voices.
Judging by the furrow between Li Tai Cheng's eyes, the discussion wasn't going well. Jingwei wasn't going to stick around to find out more; he decided to go and find Ming Guang to let him know about the new plan, only to find him babysitting three men - two of the unfortunate kidnappers, and Wei Yan.
"I swear, this man was ready to sell you out!" Zhong Qing complained, jabbing an angry finger at Wei Yan's face. Zhong Qing was on the floor, possibly bleeding out, but his sheer rage at Wei Yan provided him extra strength to argue.
"He said he knew so many secrets about the Sun family and that he would tell it all to our boss, so we should bring him with us."
"Senior, I would never do such a thing. This man is maligning me!" Wei Yan protested hotly as he stared up at Ming Guang. Senior Ming Guang had flipped him over so that his face wasn't flat on the floor.
Instead, there was a huge scowl on Wei Yan's face, helpfully illuminated by the full moon.
"You did, you fucker, stop trying to lie your way out of this!" Zhong Qing yelled, and Ming Guang swatted him on the back of his head to keep him quiet. Zhong Qing shot him a look of pure betrayal. Good deeds really go unrewarded!
Behind him, Wei Yan's lips curled into a faint smug smile. Zhong Qing growled, gnashing his teeth with anger.
"See! Mister, didn't you see his face? He's mocking you!" Zhong Qing whined.
"Quiet," Ming Guang scolded, displeased. "You shouldn't be blaming other people for your own flaws."
"Hey Mister, I'm trying to help you here. This snake is going to stab you in the back with that fancy knife of yours if you don't believe me!"
"He is very sly and opportunistic," Luo Lan added, giving Wei Yan a look of absolute upset. "If you choose to trust him, you're taking a big risk."
"I'm not listening to the words of kidnappers." Ming Guang said, his face twisted with disgust. Even if Wei Yan had made less than wise decisions in the past few days, surely there was no way he would be dumb enough, or spiteful enough, to offer his allegiance to random home invaders!
"Exactly Senior!" Wei Yan said, giving the other two men a wicked grin. "They're just trying to sow seeds of distrust between us!"
"Forgive me for interrupting," Jingwei said cheerfully, popping his head through the window. "I'm back!"
"Get back inside," Ming Guang scolded, turning around to look at his charge, hence completely missing the displeased look on Wei Yan's face. Zhong Qing and Luo Lan saw it though, but there was nothing they could say! They tried to warn this man, but if he refused to listen, it was his funeral.
"In a while! I'm just letting you know that we're going to go back to Shanghai tonight. Can you go get our things in the motel? I'll look after these three!"
"Fine," Ming Guang nodded. While he was less than pleased about the sudden change in plans, he was professional enough to not let it show. He knew it was the best course of action.
"Can you let me go then?" Wei Yan asked hopefully. "Since we're already planning on going back to Shanghai. I'm not an actual kidnapper like them!"
Jingwei considered it, and shook his head. "No, you're worse. You tried to hit on my wife and couldn't take no for an answer! You tried to make me look bad in front of my father-in-law and even got the whole town to pressure her into fake dating you!"
"Ho ho ho - that's not what he told us!" Zhong Qing exclaimed vindictively, sensing a chance to get back at Wei Yan. "This man said that your girlfriend liked him more, so you got jealous and tied him up! I knew he was lying!"
Luo Lan made a tsk sound. "Of course he was lying. Who is he compared to Sun Jingwei? Any woman with a slick of common sense would pick Sun Jingwei over him!"
"Not even women. Men too," Zhong Qing said. "Mr Sun, I'm definitely picking you over this snake!"
"Thanks!" Jingwei said cheerfully, laughing at the way Wei Yan's face purpled. "But Wei Yan, you really should get your nose looked at."
Wei Yan's nose was now an unattractive red swollen bulb. He looked like a clown!
"Shut up!" Wei Yan spat out. Get his nose looked at? By who? "I'll get you for this! Who asked you to tie me up and leave me behind!"
"Sorry for that," Jingwei said apologetically. "We kind of forgot about you."
"How dare you!" His apology made Wei Yan even angrier. If he had died, a 'sorry' wasn't going to cut it. "If I stabbed you in the back, you definitely deserved it!"
Meanwhile, Ming Guang frowned to himself as he heard the vitriol in Wei Yan's voice. It was true that they failed him this time. But there was a seed of doubt growing in his gut. Were these two men telling the truth?
=====
"We have decided," Tai Cheng said, after finally hanging up on the phone. "Captain Mu has gladly agreed to arrange transport at the airport. Now all of us need to go to the airport."
"All of us?" Yue Niang spluttered. "Including the team of seven?"
"...Yes," Tai Cheng said, sensing dramatic opposition in the air. His wife did not disappoint him.
"HUH?! Who came up with this utterly insane suggestion?" Yue Niang demanded, her hands on her hips. "Was it that Captain Mu guy at the other end of the call? Call him back right now - I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"
"Wife, please calm down," Tai Cheng said, hurriedly pulling the phone away from her. "The team in Shanghai wants all of them there, in order for interrogation to go smoothly."
"You mean they want more cannon fodder," Yue Niang scoffed derisively. "Clearly they can't do their jobs properly if they need seven people to cough up one mastermind! Husband, how could you agree to this?"
"He brought up a few good points." Tai Cheng shrugged. "While this bait scheme would work, we're not as young as we used to be. What if our enemies decide to gun us down with a machine gun after they find out we lied? We don't even have the protective gear to save ourselves!"
Yue Niang grumbled something that sounded like 'I can cut the bullets', which Xue Ning overheard and promptly decided to ignore.
There was no way she heard it correctly! Nah, definitely not.
"But Mom, how are we supposed to all go to the airport like this? We only have one car!" Xue Ning protested, startling both her parents. They had forgotten their daughter was in the room.
"Exactly, husband, that's a very good question. How do you plan to achieve this?"
"Oh, we can just take Mayor Poh's pickup truck. He never uses it anyway." Tai Cheng said easily. Of course, now that Mayor Poh was sitting in a jail cell, he definitely wasn't going to fight them for it.
Xue Ning blinked. "Dad… don't you need the keys to drive his truck?"
Tai Cheng shook his head. "Nope. Not if you know the right way to hotwire an engine and fake an ignition key…"
His voice trailed off at Xue Ning's disbelieving face. Oh right. He wasn't supposed to let his daughter know about things like these.
"And you know how to do that?"
"Why wouldn't I? Xue Ning-ah, don't doubt your father! I used to be great at stealing vehicles!"
"I see," Xue Ning said faintly, not knowing whether to be impressed or appalled.
"Then you should stop talking so much and get to it," Yue Niang scolded. "Once everyone wakes up, it's going to be a lot harder to sneak a truck out of the town."
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦