Ruan Ruoyin cheekily sent a text back: [I have no money. Go ahead and kill the hostage.]
Upon receiving the message, Ruan Tianyi: “…”
Why was this different from what he had expected?
According to his plan, with Ruan Ruoyin’s best friend kidnapped, she should have been panicked and tearful, desperately trying to raise money everywhere. Then, at her wit’s end, she would call the Ruan family. After that, he and his mother would subtly suggest that Ruan Ruoyin ask Ji Minchen for money, leading her to unknowingly sell herself off.
But instead, Ruan Ruoyin remained completely unfazed and even told him to kill the hostage…
Kill the hostage, for crying out loud! She actually told him to kill the hostage! How could he dare? He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison.
“Brother Ruan, what do we do now?”
The burly men squatting beside Ruan Tianyi spoke in unison. They had all seen the content of the text and were worried that if Ruan Ruoyin didn’t show up, Ruan Tianyi would get angry and refuse to pay them their appearance fee.
They had taken such a huge risk to kidnap someone; they didn’t want to walk away empty-handed.
Ruan Tianyi was utterly annoyed. Ignoring the men, he walked over to Xu Nongtang, who was tied up. He pinched her chin with one hand and waved a knife with the other, threatening her darkly:
“I’ll give you a chance to live. Use your phone to call Ruan Ruoyin and do whatever it takes to make her raise money and come save you.”
“If she doesn’t come, you’re dead!”
Ruan Tianyi had a buzz cut and average looks. When he turned fierce, his face wrinkled up, and the sharp knife in his hand gleamed with a cold light, making his eyes look vicious and ugly. He resembled a desperate outlaw.
Xu Nongtang’s delicate face was filled with panic, and she leaned away from Ruan Tianyi’s knife. Fearfully, she nodded, “I understand. I… I’ll call right away.”
“Yinyin and I are good friends. She won’t leave me to die.”
While saying “Yinyin and I are good friends,” Xu Nongtang secretly resented Ruan Ruoyin. This was a completely undeserved disaster for her. She had been shopping at the mall with her friends, and while changing clothes, she was suddenly kidnapped. A group of burly men tied her up and drove her to a remote location. Terrified out of her wits, she thought she had offended someone, only to find out that these people were just using her to threaten Ruan Ruoyin.
Xu Nongtang and Ruan Ruoyin could only be considered acquaintances with common topics of conversation. At best, they were ordinary friends. Her impression of Ruan Ruoyin wasn’t particularly strong. She only knew that Ruan Ruoyin had a soft personality, looked thin and frail, and seemed to never lose her temper. She often wore plain, inexpensive white clothes and fed stray cats and dogs. Aside from having a pretty face, she seemed utterly ordinary.
How could such an ordinary person attract kidnappers?
No, the kidnappers probably weren’t that foolish. It must mean that Ruan Ruoyin wasn’t as simple as she appeared.
Perhaps Ruan Ruoyin’s family was wealthy, but she kept a low profile and never showed it…
Xu Nongtang clenched her phone tightly. If she had known earlier that Ruan Ruoyin came from a well-off family, she would have actively befriended her. Wealthy people were usually generous to their friends. If she could get a hold on Ruan Ruoyin, she wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to afford luxury goods.
But it seemed it wasn’t too late now. The fact that these kidnappers considered her Ruan Ruoyin’s best friend could only mean that after graduation, Ruan Ruoyin hadn’t made any new friends, which led the kidnappers to abduct her—someone who had only interacted with Ruan Ruoyin during college.
She had been kidnapped due to an unwarranted disaster. By showing weakness to Ruan Ruoyin and using tears to stir up her guilt, she might even become close friends with Ruan Ruoyin.
A family that could afford ten million in ransom must have assets calculated in the hundreds of millions.
Xu Nongtang lowered her eyes, a glint of cunning flashing within.
The thought of living like a wealthy young lady in the future made her no longer fear being kidnapped. After all, that pushover Ruan Ruoyin would bring the ransom to save her.
Suppressing the joy in her heart, Xu Nongtang timidly bit her lip and shakily dialed the number Ruan Tianyi had given her. On the verge of tears, she let out two choked sobs before even starting to cry, appearing as fragile and delicate as a tender white flower.
The call connected quickly.
Holding the phone, Xu Nongtang first coughed softly twice, feeling the atmosphere was just right, then spoke in a frail, trembling voice, “Yinyin, it’s Xu Nongtang. I’ve been kidnapped by thugs at the Xinmei Warehouse. Can you save me? They’re so fierce, and they have knives. I… I’m so scared…”
Listening to Xu Nongtang’s words, Ruan Tianyi waved his knife triumphantly. It seemed he had a talent for acting—he effortlessly gave off the impression of being a kidnapper.
If the Ruan Group really went under, he might as well enter the entertainment industry. With his deeply convincing acting skills, no major director would turn him down.
Ruan Tianyi smirked arrogantly, his fierce face looking particularly eerie. Catching a glimpse of Ruan Tianyi’s possessed-like expression out of the corner of her eye, Xu Nongtang instinctively trembled. Coincidentally, her low blood sugar flared up, causing her head to lurch forward and collide with Ruan Tianyi’s stomach.
Ruan Tianyi lost his balance and fell, his head hitting the ground. He lost consciousness instantly.
The knife he had been playing with slipped from his hand and plunged into his chest. Due to the momentum, the blade sank deep, and blood immediately gushed from the wound, quickly soaking his clothes.
The change happened in an instant, leaving the burly men stunned.
One of them immediately dialed 120.
They weren’t genuine kidnappers. If their employer was in mortal danger, they had to save him.
With only these few people in the warehouse—one of whom was a woman who appeared weak and defenseless—even if the employer died accidentally, the lack of surveillance would make them the prime suspects for murder.
They didn’t want blood on their hands.
Amid the chaotic noise, Xu Nongtang regained her senses and saw Ruan Tianyi lying on the ground, his face deathly pale.
She… she hadn’t meant to do it.
It was just her low blood sugar acting up, causing her to faint for a moment. How did the kidnapper end up stabbed?
And there was so much blood.
Would the kidnapper bleed to death?
If the kidnapper died, wouldn’t she be the murderer?
Xu Nongtang panicked for a moment but quickly calmed down. What murderer? She was merely defending herself after being kidnapped. That didn’t constitute murder.
She tightened her grip on the phone, but her mind was in turmoil. She didn’t even hear the voice coming from the other end.
Ruan Ruoyin frowned and asked into the phone, “Xu Nongtang? How do I know you’re really Xu Nongtang? What if you’re using a voice changer to trick me?”
Ruan Ruoyin had once received a scam call where the scammer used her friend’s voice. Unaware at the time, she genuinely believed her friend was in trouble and transferred twenty thousand yuan to an unfamiliar account as emergency funds.
Later, she contacted that friend, who told her that she was not sick at all and had not been calling around to borrow money for medical treatment.
Ruan Ruoyin realized belatedly that she had been scammed.
The scammer, who somehow obtained her personal information, had set a trap for her to fall into, swindling her money.
Ruan Ruoyin wanted to recover the money, but the scammer’s phone number had already been disconnected.
After that, whenever Ruan Ruoyin received such suspicious calls that seemed like scams, she would repeatedly verify their authenticity to avoid being deceived.
The other end of the phone was noisy, with many people talking. Ruan Ruoyin couldn’t make out a single word. She listened for a while before hanging up.
So noisy—could it be that a pyramid scheme organization had been raided by the police?
Ruan Ruoyin had initially doubted the authenticity of the kidnapping, but now she was certain it was fake.
What kind of hostage would call for help and then ignore the person halfway through the call?
Probably, hearing her logical and well-reasoned response, they realized they couldn’t fool her and deliberately ignored her.