T/N: I"m a.s.suming from the lost chapters that Chuxia and Mingluo met before she visited Xiaonan. Why he gave Chuxia a cell phone is beyond me, but that"s where we stand.
Chapter 509 Abandoned Warehouse Translated by newbienoona
Edited by anks
T/N -男女授受不亲- Mencius quote: men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things.
Apparently, they were afraid that Xiaonan might escape.
“Are you okay? When did you get here? Did they do anything to you? Did you have to put up a fight?” An Chuxia asks in rapid succession as the tears well up in Xiaonan"s eyes.
Xiaonan can"t speak as tears flow out of her eyes.
“Don"t cry….” An Chuxia wants to comfort her friend whose arms are flapping while crying hysterically.
Xiaonan didn"t dare go home after leaving school. She was afraid she"d get cursed at. So she decided to get some fresh air before heading home. It was just her luck to run into Marco, the sc.u.m.
“Don"t comfort her. Worry about yourself.” The younger man is pleased he was able to capture An Chuxia.
Marco, at one point, was conflicted. He wanted to pursue An Chuxia but she refused him. That made him angry.
“You can get all the money you want, just let us go,” An Chuxia says with a big voice. She knows Jiang Yuan would be able to pay the ransom. And certainly, she would be able to track Marco and have him return the money.
“How much money… .” Marco walks toward An Chuxia and squats in front of them. The girls sit on bales of hay and large wooden boxes stacked on the ground.
He is definitely in a tight spot and needs money. He has read from a newspaper article that An Chuxia is now the famous An Group"s daughter and future wife of Han heir. But he knows the news can be unreliable… but he also can"t let an opportunity pa.s.s when money"s involved.
"To be honest, this is my first time doing this. Why don"t you call the Han residence and negotiate a ransom?” Marco says as his line of sight shifts.
He thought An Chuxia was pretty back then. But now, her hair is longer, and her face seems smoother. Even the baby fat from her face seems gone.
His Adam"s apple bobs unconsciously. “An Chuxia, you are more beautiful than ever… .”
Marco"s gaze all over her body gave Chuxia gooseb.u.mps.
“Hey, a****le, can you be less disgusting?” Despite her tear-stained face, Meng Xiaonan wanted to punch and claw atMarco"s face. She bet that even if she felt dirty, hurting him would feel fantastic.
Meng Xiaonan may have been more ladylike nowadays, but she still possesses a boy"s temper. Marco says with a look of disdain, “Look, I may be perverted, but you have to listen to me.”
Marco stands and commands one of his brothers to prepare dinner while he locks the girls in a small room. Despite being quickly shoved into the room, An Chuxia looks around the area. It looks like they"re in an abandoned warehouse. The front has a lot of ceiling tiles that have fallen. On the other side is a big hole. If rain comes, you can"t tell the outside from within.
Marco leers as he stares at Chuxia. He orders another man to frisk An Chuxia for any communication devices. “A man and a woman shouldn"t touch when receiving gifts, but I"d be neglectful if I failed to search, right?”
An Chuxia is mortified and takes a few steps back, away from him. “You don"t dare!”
“Come on!” the man says as An Chuxia"s back collides with the wall. She can"t move anymore with her hands tied. Disgusted, she says, “The phone is in my bag. You don"t need to frisk me!”
She just wishes the phone is on so their location can be traced. As long as the device is in the warehouse, chances are, they"ll be found.
“School bag?” The boy continues to leer to the point An Chuxia wants to puke.
He picks up the bag, but he continues to hold his gaze.
“You might still be hiding something on you. Sorry, but I still have to frisk you.” The boy touches her waist, skimming his hand against her body.
“Let go of me, you son of a bit*h! Take your dirty paws off me!” She snaps, calling attention to herself. Suddenly, the door opens.
The boy stiffens momentarily, pretending to be ashamed of touching An Chuxia. “It"s not like I wanted to search you. Why make a fuss?”
“Hurry up. Don"t you want to eat?” The person who opened the door picks up the phone Xiao Mingluo shoved in her bag. “This is it?”
“Let"s go. Otherwise, she might escape.” One of the men coughs loudly as they walk away.
But before the boy walks out completely, he looks at Chuxia and says, “I"d be careful if I were you. If the boss drinks, he might fancy you… ha ha ha, be alert!”
The boy takes her bag away before shutting the door behind him. An Chuxia"s legs buckle from under her, and she collapses on the spot.
Calm, she must stay cool. If she collapses, they can"t be saved. She needs to be stronger; she forces herself to control her fear and pay attention to what"s going on.
The room is small and stuffy from the humidity. The walls are covered with moss from the rain that leaked into the room.
There"s no electrical appliances in the room; just a candle on the ground, casting snake-like shadows against the wall.
The windows are sealed, making it difficult to see outside. Definitely makes escaping impossible. Any hope of Mingluo finding them is starting to dwindle.
On a vacant lot outside of the warehouse, the boys sit in a circle around a lamp casting a low light. Some were drinking, while others are cooking food on a small fire pit. Some were playing cards to pa.s.s time.
“Boss, how much ransom are you going to ask from the Hans? I heard An Chuxia is the fiancee to the Han heir?” the small, fat man sitting next to Marco asks.
“There"s eighteen of us, including me. If we ask for ten million, you need to give 55% to me since I"m the leader.” Marco"s eyes light up with greed, RMB symbols cloud his vision.
“Ten million… .” The fat man"s face fills with shock. “That wouldn"t be much. Wouldn"t our sentences be heavier if we"re caught?”
The fat man"s voice falls when Marco"s beer bottle hurls toward him. He was able to duck from.it on the last minute, but he knows he will suffer come supper.
“There"s nothing to worry about! Besides, we aren"t getting caught. You are so stupid!” Marco says, as he throws his shoe at the fat man, hitting him in the face. Then, the fat man crouches in the corner, covering his face. He has a bad feeling about this. How would the Hans hand so much money without any repercussion?
On the other side of the town, Xiao Mingluo has been searching for a while. When he returns home, his people tell him they haven"t found Xiaonan. Then, he remembers An Chuxia taking the phone. Quickly, he dials the number.
The phone just keeps ringing in the warehouse. Everyone in the room freezes and watches the phone vibrate.
“Don"t answer. We"re not ready yet. Otherwise, it"ll complicate matters,” Marco decisively commands.
The phone cuts off, and Xiao Mingluo suddenly feels apprehensive. He knows there"s more than a half-charged battery on the device. It"s also set so it can"t be powered down unless it"s broken.
“What happened?” Xiao Mingluo asks himself loudly.
Just then, the housemaid announces that Han Qilu is waiting for him outside the gates. Then, he remembers that he might know something about An Chuxia not answering his call. He hastens his steps toward the door.
Han Qilu sees Mingluo emerge from the house as he sits in his car.
“Did An Chuxia come to you?” Han Qilu has a fierce look on his face.
Xiao Mingluo quickly explains how he asked for Chuxia"s help in finding Xiaonan. Then he says, “Now I"m even having trouble contacting her.”
“What?!” Han Qilu jumps out of the car. “How can you ask a girl to go look for another girl at night? You know how dangerous it is out there. They won"t be safe!”
“I know. But at that time, I didn"t think that far… Don"t worry. She told me she was going to her old high school to find her. We might as well go and check.”