Chapter 135 - 135: Kidnapping
Qiao Yin made herself a bowl of beef noodles to enjoy as her late-night snack. After finishing her meal, she cleaned the kitchen scrupulously, then headed to the bathroom to shower.
The bathroom tiles bore cute cartoon patterns, featuring her childhood favorites: Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Her mother had specifically chosen them for her.
Her mother also handmade herbal soap for her, which, when used in baths, could nourish and soften skin.
However, she cherished so much the bars her mother made that she only used a few of them and kept the rest in a cupboard. What she used now was soap she made herself following her mother’s formula.
After finishing her shower, she took pictures of each bar she made, tagged their effects such as whitening, moisturizing, demodex removal, and long-lasting fragrance, etc, etc.
Then she sent these photos to Lu Yanxi, asking her to choose the one she wanted.
As a result, Lu Yanxi, without any hesitation, claimed she wanted them all.
Qiao Yin could not help but chuckle as she realized Yanxi truly saw her as a close friend.
She then picked one of each kind, put them into a box, and prepared to give it to Yanxi the next day.
The night passed peacefully, and she had a satisfactory sleep and woke up feeling energetic.
Although she dreamed of Lu Lingche again, she’d already become accustomed to this, no matter what she dreamt the previous night, she was able to forget it the next day.
Moreover, Yanxi informed her that everyone was exhausted from the overtime they had pulled in recent days to prepare for the auction, and from the next day, they would be given three days off.
Who wouldn’t like a holiday?
The weather was brilliant that day. Qiao Yin hopped onto her bicycle, slung her bag over her shoulder, which contained the soap to gift to Yanxi, and headed to the auction house.
Just as she was nearing the company, she was stopped by a stranger.
She apprehensively felt a premonition of something bad about to happen. But before she could utter a word, she was hit hard at the back of her head.
The last thought before she plunged into darkness was that maybe she needed to buy a car, cycling was too easy a target for a mugging.
However, she was already so poor that she cycled everywhere, why would a robber target her?
When she regained consciousness, she didn’t know how much time had passed.
In her semi-conscious state, she could hear a woman crying nearby.
With immense pain in her head, Qiao Yin opened her eyes after a great struggle.
Then, she saw the crying woman’s face.
She was somewhat surprised: “Lan Yuyi?”
At this moment, Yuyi looked nothing like her usual gentle elegance. There was dust all over her light pink dress, her hair was in a mess, her face pale, and her eyes filled with terror.
Moreover, she was tied to a chair with all four of her limbs.
Qiao Yin looked down at herself and discovered that she was, indeed, in a similar predicament as Lan Yuyi.
The kidnapper, seeing that she was awake, asked in surprise, “How can you be so calm? Aren’t you scared of getting kidnapped?”
Qiao Yin looked up to find two men, one in his forties and the other just sixteen or seventeen years old.
Her gaze rested on the elder kidnapper: “What do you want?”
“You’re smart, smarter than the other one.”
The kidnapper’s gaze was somewhat gloomy, “I want money, lots of it! I know both of you are women of Lu Lingche from the Shengling Group. With you two as hostages, he is sure to pay a ransom!”
A chill ran down Qiao Yin’s spine upon hearing this.
Would Lu Lingche pay to free her?
It would be lucky enough if he didn’t send someone to have her killed.
On hearing that the kidnapper wanted money, Lan Yuyi hastily said, “If you want money, I can give it to you. No matter how much you want, please don’t hurt me or my child! Give me a mobile phone, I will call Lu Lingche. He will give you money. He loves me very much!”
Maybe because she was trapped in an unprecedented dire situation, when Qiao Yin heard Lan Yuyi say that Lu Lingche loved her, she didn’t have any emotional reaction.
Looking at Lan Yuyi’s bulging belly, the kidnapper asked: “Whose child is that in your belly?”
“Lu Lingche’s!”
The kidnapper nodded: “Then indeed you should be worth some money. I’ll keep you alive.”
Then, he turned to look at Qiao Yin and brandished a sharp knife: “What about you? Are you worth any money?”