Chapter 26: Taken Away

The cramped breakfast shop was packed to the brim. Six or seven square tables paired with a few benches made up the entirety of the furnishings. Wu Bei and Su Qing were squeezed into a corner, sitting face to face so closely that if they both leaned forward, their heads would collide.

Su Qing held a fried dough stick in her left hand and a cup of soy milk in her right. She lacked the refined ladylike air she usually carried in her nurse’s uniform, but this version of her felt more genuine and charming. Wu Bei, on the other hand, was his usual self, slowly sipping his rice porridge. It was the first time he had been this close to her, and upon careful observation, he noticed her eyelashes were long and her skin was as delicate as a freshly peeled egg, a pale hue with a hint of pink.

Caught in the middle of another stealthy glance, Wu Bei was spotted red-handed.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" Su Qing mumbled, her voice slightly muffled.

"Because you're pretty, and I like looking at you!" Wu Bei blurted out.

"Uh? *Cough, cough...*"

Su Qing was suddenly startled and began to cough violently. Wu Bei hurriedly grabbed a napkin and handed it to her. "Are... are you okay?"

After a long bout of coughing, Su Qing finally stopped, her face flushed red. She shot him a glare and curled her lip. "Are you always this clichéd when talking to girls? You might as well have just asked for my WeChat right away."

Wu Bei immediately pulled out his phone. "Sure, let me scan yours."

"I'm going to pass out!" Faced with such a hopelessly dense guy, Su Qing felt the same frustration as punching a pile of cotton.

After exchanging WeChat contacts, Wu Bei chuckled as he edited her nickname.

Su Qing seemed to suddenly remember something. She grabbed the half-eaten fried dough stick and pointed it at him. "Right, who gave you permission to call me Qingqing just now!"

"What should I call you then? I can't exactly call you 'Mom,' can I?" Wu Bei continued tapping his screen without looking up.

Just as he finished changing the nickname, he reflexively tilted his head back, and his mouth landed right on the dough stick Su Qing was pointing at him. In an instant, she froze, her eyes widening. "Hey, I already ate that!"

"What's the worry? I don't mind," Wu Bei said with a goofy, sincere grin.

"You're annoying! That's not what I meant!"

*Ring, ring...*

A sharp, urgent phone ring interrupted the delicate moment. Seeing that it was Wang Shun’s number, Wu Bei pressed the answer button, while naturally taking another bite of the dough stick.

"Brother Wu! Yu’er and Luo Hou have been grabbed! We were at the hotel—someone knocked on the door as soon as we woke up. Some had knives, others had handcuffs..." Wang Shun’s incoherent shouting made it clear he was terrified.

Though he didn't know exactly what had happened, Wu Bei tried his best to soothe him. "Don't panic, Shunzi. Give me the address; I'm coming over now!"

"GreenTree Inn, on Garden Road in the Fuxing District..."

After hanging up, Wu Bei pulled Su Qing up to pay the bill. He hailed a taxi for her and offered a deeply apologetic explanation. Once the beauty was sent off, Wu Bei quickly caught another cab to rendezvous with Wang Shun.

...

The standard triple room was in total disarray. Quilts and pillows were strewn across the floor, and spots of blood the size of fists were visible on the walls and carpet. Wang Shun, his face bruised and swollen, puffed on half a cigarette, his body and teeth chattering uncontrollably.

It took a great deal of effort for him to finally explain what had happened. After Wu Bei sent the three of them away from the hospital last night, they had found a small restaurant for a late-night snack. During the meal, Qi Jinlong ran into a friend who sold used cars and asked for help finding a Mercedes in good condition. The friend teased Qi Jinlong, suggesting he didn't have the money for a down payment.

Having had a few drinks, a hot-headed Qi Jinlong forced the friend to look at his account balance and bragged about having earned over a hundred thousand that day, despite Wang Shun and Luo Hou’s desperate attempts to stop him. Later, the three of them checked into a hotel, only to have a group of thugs corner them in their room early this morning.

Wu Bei frowned. "You said the person who came was Qi Jinlong's boss?"

Wang Shun nodded. "Yeah. He was the one who hit the hardest. He cursed Jinlong for not following the 'rules of the underworld,' and told me to inform you to return the fifty-thousand-yuan commission from Boss Deng, otherwise..."

"Damn it, their greed knows no bounds!" Wu Bei gritted his teeth, cursing.

The situation was clear: Qi Jinlong's boss had caught wind of them helping Boss Deng recover a "dead debt" and was blinded by envy. The problem was that most of that fifty thousand had already been used to pay off Luo Hou’s debts. If they had to pay it back, they would have to dig into their own pockets.

Wang Shun asked timidly, "Brother Wu, they told us to go to the lottery shop before lunch. Should we call the police?"

Wu Bei shook his head immediately. Calling the police would only make things more complicated. For one, his method of debt collection wasn't exactly legal, and if Luo Hou started babbling, there was no telling if he might accidentally let slip that Wu Bei had beaten up Han Wei.

Wang Shun sighed, touching his bruised eye socket. "But... it's fifty thousand! Where are we going to get that kind of money?"

Wu Bei patted his back to reassure him. "You go find a place to treat those bruises. Once you're done, go to work as usual. I'll take care of the rest. Don't tell anyone about this, and I’ll call you later!"

Wang Shun murmured, his voice thick with congestion, "Brother Wu..."

"Don't worry, I've got everything covered," Wu Bei said with a confident smile.