Chapter 78. He seems to have... Xie Tangyue...
Chu Song didn't leave; he was sitting in his car.
As soon as the driver saw Xie Tang, he went up to her and said, "Attorney Xie, President Chu is waiting for you."
Xie Tang glanced at Chu Song, whose face was half-revealed through the lowered car window, and said, "I have nothing to say to him."
The driver relayed her words to Chu Song, whose phone rang urgently. Chu Song said, "Send a few people to follow her."
Xie Tang had just returned to her old neighborhood when an inconspicuous gray minivan suddenly stopped beside her!
The car door was flung open with a bang, and a strong arm roughly pulled her inside!
"Bang!" The car door slammed shut, and the van quickly merged into the traffic.
The whole process happened in the blink of an eye; pedestrians on the roadside didn't even have time to react.
The car was filled with a strong smell of smoke and sweat.
Xie Tang was sandwiched between two burly men in the back seat, his wrists tightly bound with rough hemp rope.
Just as she was about to struggle and call for help, a towel with a pungent chemical smell was forcefully covered over her mouth and nose!
The pungent smell assaulted Xie Tang's nostrils, and she felt dizzy and her consciousness rapidly faded.
She didn't know how much time had passed when the biting cold woke her up, making her shiver.
She found herself blindfolded and her hands tied behind her back to a rusty water pipe.
She shouted for help, but no one answered her hoarse cries.
She didn't know how much time had passed; it could have been a day, or it could have been just a few hours.
In the dim light, a face full of hostility approached.
"Miss Xie, you're awake? Did you sleep well?"
Luo Hua's smile carried a cruel sense of satisfaction. He squatted down, pulled off her blindfold, and used the light from his phone screen to illuminate Xie Tang's face. "Are you more awake now? If you are, we can talk business."
He took out a pre-prepared "Equity Transfer Agreement" and spread it on the ground in front of Xie Tang, with a pen next to it.
“Sign it. Sell me your 43% stake in Cisco for ten million. Sign it, and I'll let you go, as if nothing ever happened.” Luo Hua’s voice was laced with blatant threat.
Xie Tang moved her wrists, which were aching from being tied up. Her cold gaze swept over the agreement, and then she slowly raised her eyes to look at Luo Hua.
Her voice was still a little hoarse, but unusually clear and calm: "Manager Luo, illegal detention, use of narcotics, coercion to sign an agreement... do you know how many years you could spend in jail if these charges were added together?"
Luo Hua's face darkened: "Enough nonsense! You think you can scare me? Sign it!"
Xie Tang slightly tugged at the corner of her mouth, with a hint of cold mockery: "I can't sign it, not because I don't want to, but because it would be useless even if I did."
"What do you mean?" Luo Hua grabbed Xie Tang by the collar and approached him menacingly.
Xie Tang stared directly into his fierce eyes and said, word by word, "Because that share no longer belongs entirely to me."
Luo Hua was taken aback: "What?"
“Before you contacted me, I had already signed an equity swap agreement with Chu Song.”
Xie Tang's voice was as calm as if she were stating an insignificant fact, but the fact was that she had a conflict with Chu Song because of that agreement.
"The agreement stipulated that I would exchange some of my shares for some of his personal assets. At the same time, as part of the agreement, I irrevocably entrusted him to exercise all the voting rights and management rights of these shares on my behalf."
Seeing the shock and doubt flash in Luo Hua's eyes, she calmly added, "What you want to buy now is a share of my stock. However, according to that valid swap agreement, the rights to key parts of it, including important disposal rights, are restricted, and there is a major flaw in the 'selling one share to multiple people' clause."
“If you sign this agreement with me now, it will not only be an invalid contract under illegal coercion, but the ownership of the equity involved is unclear and has major flaws. Even if you get it, it will be a piece of waste paper, and you will completely ruin yourself.”
Luo Hua was both shocked and furious, his hand gripping Xie Tang's collar trembling. "You...you're talking nonsense! How could Chu Song..."
He started to panic. Xie Tang's logic was too clear and too convincing, and her status as a lawyer further increased the credibility of her words.
"You don't have to believe me," Xie Tang's voice turned cold, "but you'd better think about it. Is it worth forcing someone to buy a potentially worthless piece of paper and risking over a decade in prison? Luo Hua, are you really going to ruin yourself for your grandfather who's obsessed with Cisco? Do you think he'll be grateful to you?"
Xie Tang's words pierced through Luo Hua's madness.
Fear and the anticipation of consequences began to overwhelm greed.
He slowly released Xie Tang's hand, his expression shifting unpredictably.
Just then, a screeching sound of tires screeching and an engine roaring suddenly came from outside the warehouse!
This was followed by several dull thuds and a man's screams!
The warehouse's rusty iron door was violently smashed open from the outside by a burst of force!
The blinding beams of headlights pierced the dim warehouse, instantly illuminating the dust floating in the air!
Chu Song appeared at the door like a demon emerging from hell, exuding a chilling murderous aura!
Behind him were his several agile bodyguards who were swiftly and skillfully knocking Luo Hua's men to the ground.
Chu Song's gaze fell on Xie Tang, who was tied up on the ground.
When his gaze swept over her wrists—wristles raw from struggling and being bound by ropes, oozing fine blood and swollen red—
The last shred of reason in his eyes shattered completely!
He strode over to Luo Hua, who was still squatting in front of Xie Tang, stunned by the sudden turn of events, without giving Luo Hua any chance to explain or react!
A hand with distinct knuckles, now imbued with terrifying power, gripped Luo Hua's throat with a force that tore through the air!
"Uh—" Luo Hua's eyes bulged out in terror, a choking sound came from his throat, and his face quickly turned a deep liver color!
"You! Dare! Touch! Her!" Chu Song spat out each word through gritted teeth, each one laced with blood. The force in his hand was almost enough to crush Luo Hua's throat. "Which! Hand! Did! You! Touch! Her!"
At this moment, Chu Song is no longer the aloof and strategic business elite he once was.
He was like a ferocious beast that had been completely enraged and lost all reason!
The glaring scars on Xie Tang's wrists became the fuse that ignited all his violence and possessiveness!
Anyone who hurts her must pay the most terrible price!
"Chu... Chu Song!" Xie Tang was also stunned by Chu Song's sudden, almost out-of-control madness. She struggled and shouted, "Let go! You'll strangle him like this!"
Chu Song seemed not to hear.
In his world, only Luo Hua, that ant who dared to touch his "taboo," remained!
The bodyguard captain, who rushed in right after Chu Song, swiftly delivered a chop to the nerve in Chu Song's arm!
Chu Song's arm went numb, and the force loosened for a moment.
The other two bodyguards immediately stepped forward and desperately dragged the almost suffocating Luo Hua out of Chu Song's iron grip!
Luo Hua collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, coughing and gagging violently. The fear of surviving the ordeal made him tremble like a leaf.
Xie Tang looked at the out-of-control situation before her, took a deep breath, and suppressed the shock in her heart.
She calmly addressed the still-shaken bodyguard captain, "Could you please untie me?"
Chu Song stepped forward, untied the ropes for her, looked her over repeatedly, and after confirming that she had no other injuries, hugged her tightly in his arms.
Xie Tang pushed him away, moved her sore and swollen wrists, and glanced at Luo Hua, who was being held down on the ground by bodyguards and was terrified.
She got up and walked to the corner of the warehouse, picking up the handbag that Luo Hua had thrown on the ground.
She took out her phone; the screen was cracked, but it still worked.
"Hello, is this 110? I need to report a crime. I'm at... the abandoned Hongda Logistics warehouse in the southern suburbs. I've been illegally detained and physically assaulted, and coerced into signing an equity transfer agreement. The suspect, Luo Hua, and his accomplices have been apprehended by those present. Please dispatch officers as soon as possible."
Xie Tang's voice was clear and steady, carrying the organization and calmness characteristic of a professional lawyer, echoing in the empty warehouse. "In addition, there is a case of illegal use of controlled substances. Please bring the relevant evidence collection equipment. The victim has obvious external injuries on his wrist, which require a forensic examination."
She hung up the phone, and the entire warehouse fell into a deathly silence.
Only Luo Hua's heavy breathing could be heard.
Xie Tang raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping over Luo Hua's terrified face before finally settling on Chu Song's still bloodshot eyes, swirling with emotion.
She spoke calmly, breaking the silence: "Leave the rest to the police and the law."
Chu Song's gaze was fixed on her swollen wrist, his chest churning with a mixture of rage and a more complex emotion called lingering fear.
Xie Tang's calm call to the police was like a bucket of ice water, finally leading this crazy kidnapping farce to where it was meant to be—the courtroom.
-----------------
Inside the carriage, the atmosphere was as still as a frozen lake.
Xie Tang leaned against the window in the back seat, her gaze fixed on the blurry light and shadow rushing past outside, completely shutting out Chu Song beside her from her own world.
The streetlights flickered across her profile, casting a cold, weary glow.
The silence lasted for a long time before Xie Tang broke it, "What happened today...did you foresee it would happen?"
“Hmm. It won’t be Luo Hua, it will be another shareholder.” Chu Song turned to the side, his gaze fixed intently on her indifferent profile, his voice filled with heavy, almost overflowing regret and heartache: “But I was still a step too late, and you got hurt…”
His outstretched hand paused in mid-air for a moment, then, with a slight tremor, gently placed it over her wrist—unwilling to touch, yet unable to move away.
“…I’m sorry,” he said, his Adam’s apple bobbing, his voice growing hoarse, “Does it still hurt?”
Xie Tang finally turned her head slowly, but her gaze did not focus on his face. Instead, it fell on his hand, which was hanging above his wrist, filled with regret and restraint.
She pulled her hand away from within his reach, the movement not violent, but conveying a sense of distance.
"It doesn't hurt anymore." She looked away, gazing back at the deep night outside the window, her voice light and airy. "But I'm very hungry."
This response, which was clearly a change of topic, made Chu Song's heart tighten.
He immediately grasped at this seemingly soft straw and said eagerly, "Let's go home. Aunt Yu made your favorite sweet and sour pork ribs and steamed sea bass."
"I'm not going back."
Chu Song's anxiety was instantly ignited!
He leaned forward, trying to meet her gaze, his tone filled with barely suppressed annoyance and confusion: "You're still blaming me? I..."
"Is it your fault?" Xie Tang finally turned her head again and looked at him.
The look in his eyes was no longer empty or weary, but clear, calm, and sharp enough to see right through everything. "Chu Song, your deception of me has never stopped, and even now... You're scheming to gain control of Cisco, is it really just because you 'want to help me'? Or is it because..."
She leaned slightly forward, "...How much support and a springboard can Cisco's mature channel network and its technological reserves in key areas provide for the expansion of your Huasong Group?"
Chu Song's breath hitched!
His lie was so bluntly exposed that a hint of embarrassment flashed across his face.
But he was, after all, Chu Song. After a brief moment of embarrassment, he met Xie Tang's gaze, his eyes complex and unreadable, carrying a sense of frankness after being exposed and a deeper resentment: "Yes! Hua Song needs Cisco's resources, but it's not just that, I..."
"Enough!"
Xie Tang suddenly closed his eyes before he could try to confuse the concepts again.
That was a crystal-clear, unambiguous signal: a refusal to listen! A refusal to communicate!
Reject all his attempts to whitewash his explanations and defenses.
She was utterly bruised and battered by his carefully crafted lies.
Trust is like broken porcelain; no matter how skillfully it is glued back together, it cannot erase the glaring cracks.
This time, she chose to build the strongest fortress with silence, completely isolating him and all his intentions from her.
All of Chu Song's unspoken words were choked back by this silent rejection.
Looking at Xie Tang, who had her eyes closed as if in a trance, he felt a strong sense of powerlessness and unprecedented frustration pour over him like ice water.
For the first time, he realized with such clarity that this seemingly weak woman possessed an impenetrable wall of steel within her, a wall he could not break through no matter how hard he tried.
Her stubbornness was not willfulness, but a kind of cold-blooded clarity and self-protection forged after experiencing betrayal.
This clarity gave him an unprecedented headache, and even... a hint of panic.
It seems he's pushing Xie Tang further and further away.
Should he... give up?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
