Chapter 74 Back

The news that Zhou Jiahao had mobilized a large amount of funds soon reached his father, who called him and asked him what was going on.

Zhou Jiahao did not hide the truth and told his father directly: "Mingtang was kidnapped."

"What?!" Because of shock, Zhou's father raised his voice unconsciously and asked, "What happened? When was Mingtang kidnapped? Didn't he have bodyguards by his side?" "

He was kidnapped at school yesterday afternoon. I heard from his school teacher that he suddenly had a stomachache during class and was taken away by someone when he went to the toilet."

"How is it possible?" Unless the Zhou family members go abroad, they all go to St. Paul's for elementary and middle school. Zhou's father knows the situation in the school very well. He can't believe it and asked, "How did the kidnappers get into the school? And how did they take him out?"

"I don't know, Dad, don't ask me!"

Zhou Jiahao did not intend to tell his father his guess, and pretended to be in pain, "I don't have the heart to think about these things now. I just want to get the money to save Mingtang. Do you understand?"

Zhou Jiahao didn't suspect that he was the mastermind behind the scenes.

In fact, if you ask Zhou Jiahao which two members of the Zhou family he thinks are definitely not the masterminds, his answer must be his parents.

He believes that their love for Zhou Mingtang is not fake at all.

But his parents are not the only son, nor are they the only grandson.

It's okay if the mastermind is someone else, but if it's his brother from the same mother, what choice will they make? Zhou Jiahao is not sure.

Yes, they will not give up their grandson's life for their son, but they certainly don't want their son to make the same mistake again and again.

They probably thought they could persuade their youngest son to stop, and in the process, they might expose the fact that Zhou Jiahao had begun to suspect his family.

If the mastermind behind the scenes was willing to return to the right path, it would be fine, but what if the mastermind insisted on doing it?

Zhou Jiahao didn't dare to take the risk, so he had to hide it from his parents.

Zhou's father didn't know the inside story and didn't notice Zhou Jiahao's concealment. He asked, "How much do the kidnappers want?"

"30 million, they want cash."

Zhou's father said without hesitation, "I'll give it to you."

Although 30 million in cash is not a small amount, it is not difficult for a wealthy man of Zhou's father's level to come up with this amount of money.

"Okay, but don't give it to me now. The kidnappers said the transaction will be made at 12 noon tomorrow." If he raised the money too quickly, he was worried that the kidnappers would advance the transaction time.

Father Zhou had been in the business world for a long time, so he naturally understood what his son meant and said, "Okay, I'll have someone prepare it and give you the money tomorrow."

"Thank you, Dad."

Father Zhou was not very happy and said, "As long as I can get Mingtang back, I'm willing to give any amount of money. Why are you saying all this?"

He remembered that Zhou Mingtang had disappeared yesterday, but his eldest son didn't tell him about it until he found out that Zhou Jiahao was raising funds and took the initiative to call to ask about it. Father Zhou frowned and said, "You should have called me to tell me as soon as Mingtang got into trouble yesterday. If I hadn't found out that you were raising money, were you going to wait until Mingtang got into trouble to tell me about it?"

"Dad, of course I don't want Mingtang to get into trouble, but it happened so suddenly that I really can't take care of it," Zhou Jiahao explained. "Yesterday, Ah Yun found out about this and was so anxious that she almost fainted. You and Mom are old, and I'm afraid you will be upset."

Zhou's father thought that he had seen all kinds of storms in these years, so how could he be upset? But he also knew that now was not the time to pursue these things, so he continued to ask about the details, such as whether Zhou Jiahao called the police, and who the kidnapper was.

"The kidnapper said his name was Zhao Zikun."

Zhou's father's voice changed: "Zhao Zikun? The person who kidnapped Wen Rongsheng's son?"

"Yes, it was him. He called me this morning and told me not to call the police, otherwise he would kill the son." Zhou Jiahao whispered, "Ayun and I were afraid of angering him, so we didn't call the police."

Zhou's father's voice was tense: "I remember that Wen Rongsheng didn't call the police that year, but he paid the money and his son didn't come back."

"I know, but what can I do?" Zhou Jiahao pretended to be in pain, "If I don't call the police, they may kill the son. If they find out if I call the police, they will kill the son even more. Now I can only try my best to raise money, hoping that they can release Mingtang after getting the money."

"You are confused! Since you knew all this, you should have called the police at the beginning. The police should have delayed as much time as possible while investigating their whereabouts. Only in this way could you have saved Mingtang. Since you didn't call the police, you should have..." If you had raised the money earlier, the kidnappers might have released Mingtang directly after getting the money. The longer you delayed, the more dangerous Mingtang would be.

But Zhou's father didn't say the second half of the sentence, because he figured out where the sense of violation in his heart came from.

Zhou Jiahao has always been a child that makes him proud. He has had good grades since he was young, and he got into college on his own. After graduation, he joined the company and has been moving forward steadily.

Although he still serves as the chairman, he actually doesn't care much about the company's affairs. He believes that after he passes away, Zhou Jiahao will be able to stabilize the various forces inside and outside the company.

He is very relieved to hand over the Zhou family to him.

Will the successor he has his eyes on be such a person who only cares about his head and not his butt when encountering difficulties?

Thinking of this, Zhou's father asked: "Tell me honestly, you actually called the police, right?" Although

his lie was exposed, Zhou Jiahao was not panicked at all. He said calmly: "Dad, you can't tell me the exact answer until Mingtang comes back safely."

Zhou's father closed his eyes: "You hid it from me. There are other things, right?"

Zhou Jiahao did not answer, but Zhou's father already had the answer in his heart: "I won't tell anyone else about this. I hope you can successfully rescue Mingtang."

Hearing this, Zhou Jiahao couldn't help it anymore, and choked up and said: "Thank you, Dad."

...

This morning, Zhou Jiahao received more than one call from Zhou's father.

His mother, uncle, cousin and others have called to inquire about the situation, but until the end of the day, he has not received a call from his biological brother.

Those who call to inquire about the situation are not necessarily without suspicion. Maybe they call just to get to know each other, but it is really unreasonable that his biological brother, who is born of the same mother, has not called him for a long time. Although

their relationship in recent years is not as harmonious as when they were young, they are brothers after all, and they both work in Zhou's company, and they see each other every day.

When his nephew got into trouble, whether it was sincere or false, emotionally or rationally, he should call to show his concern. This kind of indifference seems more like a guilty conscience.

However, Zhou Mingtang has not been rescued yet. Although Zhou Jiahao has doubts in his heart, he does not have much time and energy to think deeply.

After forcing Zhou Qitang and Zhou Peiwen to sleep, Zhou Jiahao and his wife went downstairs and sat on the sofa anxiously waiting for the result.

Because they were afraid that the kidnappers would know that Zhou Jiahao and his wife cooperated with the police, the two policemen did not go out after entering the villa. Zhou Jiahao did not go to the police station again today. Both parties contacted by phone.

After the police confirmed the hiding place of the kidnappers and formulated an action plan, the person in charge of the action team immediately called one of the police officers guarding the villa and informed him of the action plan.

So Zhou Jiahao and his wife knew that whether they could see their son again depended on tonight.

Because of this, even though they stayed up all night yesterday and only took a nap for less than three hours this afternoon, they still didn't feel sleepy at all. They sat upright on the sofa in the living room.

There were two policemen staying up with them, which made them quite a lot of people, but no one spoke easily. The living room was extremely quiet, which made Zhou Jiahao and his wife nervous at the slightest disturbance.

After the sound made by the evening breeze disappeared, the two became visibly depressed again.

At two o'clock in the morning, one of the policemen had already fallen asleep, and the other policeman was yawning continuously. Zhou Jiahao and his wife were also visibly tired.

But the two of them were more focused than before, and they looked at their watches more and more frequently.

"Ring, ring, ring..."

At 2:27, a cell phone suddenly rang in the spacious living room.

The moment the ring rang, Zhou Jiahao and his wife jumped up at the same time and hurried to find the phone. When they looked in the direction of the ring, the call was answered by the police who had woken up.

The two of them quickly got up and walked over, looking nervously and expectantly at the policewoman who answered the phone.

"Okay, I got it."

The policewoman put away the phone, stood up and looked at the couple in front of her, smiled and said: "The operation was successful, your son has been rescued, and it is expected to be home within an hour!"

The two turned around and hugged each other. Zhuang Shaoyun couldn't help crying, and although Zhou Jiahao restrained himself, his eyes were wet.

Although they knew their son was safe and would be back soon, the couple still could not rest assured after crying. They even became more anxious and could no longer sit still. They started walking around in the living room.

After three o'clock, they could not even stay at home. They put on their coats and went outside to wait.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, they finally heard the sound of a car outside.

They looked at each other and hurried out. Before they even left the door, they saw a police car driving in.

The driver saw the two of them and stopped the car on the side of the road. He opened the door and a dusty teenager walked out.

Seeing Zhuang Shaoyun and his wife, the boy who got off the car could no longer control his emotions. Tears welled up in an instant. He ran to the two of them, hugged them and cried, "Daddy! Mommy! I thought I would never see you again!"

Zhuang Shaoyun was sentimental to begin with, and tears burst out again when he heard this. The three of them hugged their heads and cried bitterly.

...

[Host, Zhou Mingtang was rescued safely.]

Wen Yue opened her eyes in the morning, and before her mind was fully clear, she heard the voice of the system. She was stunned for a moment before she reacted. She sat up and asked: [Has he returned home?] [

He arrived home at around 3 o'clock last night.]

[That's good.]

Wen Yue breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the phone on the bedside table, and wanted to make a call, but she hesitated after thinking about it.

Perhaps because they were afraid of the news leaking out, or perhaps because they didn't care, Zhuang Shaoyun and his wife didn't contact Wen Yue or Yi Huai after Zhou Mingtang was kidnapped, and Wen Yue didn't take the initiative to call to comfort Zhuang Shaoyun.

It's not that she has any grudges, but if there is no system, she really shouldn't know about this matter, and it would be difficult to explain if she took the initiative to contact Zhuang Shaoyun. And at this time, she pretended that she knew nothing, which made it easier to hide herself.

The Hong Kong Police Force attaches great importance to promoting itself. The reason why they didn't leak any news in the past two days was because they were afraid of alerting the enemy and missing the opportunity to rescue Zhou Mingtang.

Now that Zhou Mingtang has been rescued, the police will definitely not give up such a good publicity opportunity. It is estimated that the Public Relations Department will immediately hold a press conference to arrange for representatives to be interviewed by reporters and talk about the process of rescuing Zhou Mingtang.

If the police don't want to share the credit, it's fine to keep it a secret that someone sent them the clue photos. If the police decide to make this public, all major newspapers and media in Hong Kong will definitely report it.

Although the photos sent to the police this time did not leave a name, it is easy for people with ulterior motives to connect the mysterious person this time with Wen Yue's previous alias. It doesn't matter

if they contact the alias, because they can't find it anyway.

But Wen Yue knows that because she had been in the spotlight several times when she first came here, some people still think that she has a relationship with "Mr. Tong".

She did not take the initiative to contact Zhuang Shaoyun. Pretending to be unaware of Zhou Mingtang's kidnapping before seeing the news was a good way of disguise.

Anyway, she had already learned through the system that Zhou Mingtang had been rescued, so it was really unnecessary to take the initiative to contact Zhuang Shaoyun at this time.

Thinking of this, Wen Yue put down her phone, lifted the quilt and went to the bathroom.

She continued to ask while brushing her teeth with toothpaste: [Zhou Mingtang was rescued, but what about the kidnappers? Were they all caught? ]

[One person died, and the remaining five were caught. ]

Wen Yue was surprised: [There were six people? ] When she watched the video broadcast before, she only saw five people.

The system answered affirmatively: [Yes, there is another person in charge of keeping watch. ]

Wen Yue understood that the kidnappers knew that what they were doing was illegal, so they would naturally be extremely careful. It would be difficult to feel at ease without arranging someone to keep watch.

However...

Wen Yue asked: [Is Brother Hou still alive? 】

The system replied: [I don’t know. Zhou Jiahao and his wife saw Zhou Mingtang come back last night, hugged him and cried, and didn’t bother to ask the police for details. 】

Because Wen Yue had never dealt with the members of the special operations team in charge of this case, the system could not temporarily find out the progress of the case that Zhou Jiahao and his wife did not know.

Wen Yue did not ask any more questions and continued to brush her teeth.

Although the kidnapping gang did not call the boss "Brother Kun", and Brother Hou's age did not match Zhao Zikun, Wen Yue always felt that since his gang was acting in the name of Zhao Zikun, this gang must have some relationship with Zhao Zikun.

If what happened 22 years ago was really done by Zhao Zikun, or if it was related to Zhao Zikun like this group of people, someone among the people who participated in the kidnapping this time might know what happened back then.

And if someone among them knows, Brother Hou, as the boss, must be one of them.

So Wen Yue hopes that he can be alive. If he is dead, then she hopes that the number of people who know the inside story can be greater than 1, so that she will have a chance to dig out the truth of that year.

...

As Wen Yue expected, after Zhou Mingtang came back, the police no longer concealed the fact that he was kidnapped, and began to spread the news.

At noon that day, most major newspapers in Hong Kong received the news and began to arrange reporters to go to Zhou Jiahao's family residence and the police force, hoping to learn the specific situation from them.

But it is obvious that Zhou Jiahao and his wife do not intend to show up for interviews.

However, they did not ask the police to keep it secret, so after work in the afternoon, the police public relations department held a press conference and arranged for the head of the action team to tell the story.

Although the police valued reputation, they would not take credit for others' work for reputation, so when the head of the action team told the rescue process, they did not hide the fact that they received three clue photos.

So that night, whether it was the news programs on TV or the newspapers published in the evening, they all tacitly focused on the speculation about the identity of the mysterious man.

After ordinary citizens saw the news, their attention was also shifted to the mysterious man, and not many people paid attention to the two news points of Zhou Mingtang being kidnapped and the police's heroic rescue.

Wen Yue expected this result, and her response was simple. She first demonstrated what worry and fear meant in front of Yi Huai and the housekeeper, and then quickly called Zhuang Shaoyun.

But the phone rang for a long time and was not connected.

After nearly half an hour, Zhuang Shaoyun called Wen Yue back and said that she had been calling. Wen Yue expressed her understanding and asked what was going on.

A day had passed since Zhou Mingtang came back, and Zhuang Shaoyun had completely calmed down and quickly explained the cause and effect.

Wen Yue pretended to be shocked while listening: "He was knocked unconscious and taken away at school? Doesn't the school have security guards?"

"There are security guards, but they were bribed."

"Who bribed them?"

"It's not clear yet. The police are investigating. Anyway, it's either Jiahao's rival in the mall, or..." Zhuang Shaoyun paused, and his voice dropped when he spoke again, "Someone from the Zhou family."

Zhuang Shaoyun was not like Zhou Jiahao, who was the first person the police contacted after receiving the photos, so many details were not clear.

After learning that Zhou Mingtang was kidnapped, she was full of regrets that she trusted the school too much, and was worried that her son would not come back. She was immersed in pain and fear, and it was difficult to think about the details. It

was not until Zhou Mingtang was rescued and slept completely awake that Zhuang Shaoyun noticed many problems. She asked Zhou Jiahao these questions, and indeed learned another truth.

Zhuang Shaoyun was very angry, firstly because of Zhou Jiahao's concealment, and secondly because the mastermind behind the scenes was actually Zhou Jiahao's relative.

The former was because Zhuang Shaoyun felt that she was Zhou Mingtang's mother and had the right to know the truth from the beginning. Now her son was rescued, but what if he got into trouble?

If Zhou Mingtang got into trouble and she knew that Zhou Jiahao had kept so many things from her, she would never forgive him again!

The reason for the latter was very simple. Any mother would not be able to remain calm if she knew that it was her husband's relatives who harmed her son. At

that moment, she wanted to rush to the Zhou family and ask them why?

It was also the thought at that moment that made Zhuang Shaoyun understand why Zhou Jiahao had kept it from her.

Zhou Mingtang returned safely. No matter how angry she was, she still had some reason. Zhou Jiahao was able to hold her back and told her not to act impulsively. But if Zhou Mingtang knew about this when he was in danger, she would definitely rush to the Zhou family to question or even beg even if Zhou Jiahao was there to stop her.

Just because she understood the reason why he did this, it didn't mean that Zhuang Shaoyun could let go of her grudge. She and Zhou Jiahao have already separated their rooms. As for when they will reconcile, it depends on his performance in the future.

Zhuang Shaoyun said, "If he has the four of us in his heart and is willing to send the mastermind to prison for Mingtang, I will definitely treat him well. But if he is soft-hearted, I will take the children away even if I can't get a divorce."

Wen Yue heard this and thought that the mastermind was most likely Zhou Jiahao's biological brother.

If it was a cousin, Zhou Jiahao would definitely not be soft-hearted when his son almost couldn't come back.

It's different for his biological brother. The feelings of siblings from the same mother are hard to give up. Zhou Jiahao's parents will definitely not watch their younger son go to jail. They will probably persuade him to let the other party go.

Family members are like this. The good ones can be pulled together as a rope, help each other and develop together. The bad ones can not only hold each other back but also shoot arrows from behind. If they suffer a loss, they can't settle the account. If they insist on sending someone to prison even though they are clearly the victim, they will easily be labeled as cold-blooded and ruthless.

As for what Zhuang Shaoyun said about not being able to divorce, it is highly unlikely that this will happen.

Although the Zhou family is famous for its good family tradition... Well, considering that someone in the Zhou family hired a killer, the three words "good family tradition" have to be questioned.

In other words, the Zhou family has relatively high requirements in terms of lifestyle, but the Zhou family does not prohibit divorce, so if Zhuang Shaoyun wants to divorce, she only needs to discuss it with Zhou Jiahao.

But such a wealthy family will be more concerned about their offspring. Even if Zhuang Shaoyun has a good family background, it is estimated that it will not be easy to divorce and take the children away.

If she cannot take the children away, and let them stay with Zhou Jiahao who is soft-hearted towards his parents and brothers, Zhuang Shaoyun will definitely not be at ease. So compared to divorce without taking the children, Zhuang Shaoyun is more inclined to take the children away without divorce.

Wen Yue Inquiry System: [In the original work, do Zhou Jiahao and Zhuang Shaoyun know that someone is behind the scenes? 】

According to the information previously revealed by the system, Zhou Jiahao and Zhuang Shaoyun should not have divorced, but Wen Yue is not sure whether they know the truth.

The system is not very clear either. Although it knows their future life hidden in the original plot, it only knows some superficial things and does not know their inner thoughts.

Because the system cannot see the fate of others through the perspective of Zhou Jiahao or Zhuang Shaoyun, the system does not know whether Zhou Jiahao and his wife have retaliated against each other. It only knows that Zhou Jiahao finally inherited the Zhou family.

Zhou Jiahao inheriting the Zhou family does not mean anything. The Zhou family values ​​the eldest son. As long as he is alive and has good abilities, he will definitely inherit the Zhou family.

But they can guess this matter based on the original work and the differences in this life.

This life, Zhou Mingtang was kidnapped in school, and there were more children of political and business celebrities studying in São Paulo than Zhou Mingtang, so the security must have been done well.

So the kidnappers were able to enter the place without anyone knowing, which was problematic. Following this line of investigation, it is easy to confirm that there was someone behind the scenes who was instructing this matter.

But in the original novel, Zhou Mingtang got rid of his bodyguards and the incident happened on the way to the mall, which is equivalent to missing the school clue.

If the kidnappers were finally caught, the police might be able to learn from them that there was a mastermind behind the kidnapping, but in the original novel, they escaped. So unless they were caught later, or the mastermind behind the kidnapping revealed himself for some reason, otherwise, in that world, Zhou Jiahao and his wife probably didn't know that there was another hidden reason for Zhou Mingtang's kidnapping.

Wen Yue didn't spend too much time thinking about these things, and quickly responded: "Just follow your heart and make a choice. No matter what troubles you encounter in the future, you can call me and I will definitely help you if I can."

"Thank you." Zhuang Shaoyun said sincerely, "Actually, I dare not tell other people about these things. They will definitely advise me not to be impulsive. But if I always feel that if my husband can't even seek justice for the children, what else can I expect from this man?"

"Indeed."

After talking about Zhuang Shaoyun, Wen Yue also asked a question that she was concerned about: "I saw a report saying that the kidnapper called you and claimed to be Zhao Zikun. Is this true?"

"It's true, but..." Zhuang Shaoyun hesitated and said, "But I heard from Jiahao this afternoon that the person who called us was actually surnamed Hou, and his age didn't match Zhao Zikun's."

Wen Yue was not surprised and asked, "Is the kidnapper surnamed Hou still alive? I saw in the news that some members of the kidnapping gang died and others were seriously injured?"

"One person died, and two were seriously injured and admitted to the hospital, but the man surnamed Hou was only slightly injured. He was discharged after being bandaged and is now detained in the police station." Zhuang Shaoyun was not stupid. He guessed the reason why Wen Yue paid special attention to this person and asked, "Do you think he has something to do with your brother's kidnapping?"

"I don't know, but I think that although Zhao Zikun is famous, it's not something to be proud of. If he has nothing to do with Zhao Zikun, why would he use someone else's name to do things?"

Zhuang Shaoyun thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it is because Zhao Zikun is famous that they would use his name to do things. This is not the first time that Zhao Zikun has committed a crime, nor is it the first time..." Thinking that the person who was killed was Brother Wen Yue, Zhuang Shaoyun vaguely mentioned the word "murder". "If they successfully escape, no one would think that there is someone behind them directing them."

"That's a possibility," Wen Yue thought, "but I still want to meet the kidnapper, what if he is really related to Zhao Zikun?"

Zhuang Shaoyun understood Wen Yue very well. If she were in Wen Yue's position, she would definitely want to meet the kidnapper, so she said, "I'll ask Jiahao to ask for you and see if you can arrange a visit."

"Really?" Wen Yue asked in surprise, and thanked him again and again after getting a positive answer.

Although she could contact the police station herself, she had never dealt with the people in the Central District Police Station. It was hard to say whether she could succeed if she went directly to say that she wanted to meet the kidnapper.

Zhuang Shaoyun and his wife were different. They were the hostages of this kidnapping case. They had dealt with the people in the Central District Police Station a lot in the past few days. If they were willing to help, the probability would definitely be higher.

This was indeed the case. The next day at noon, Zhuang Shaoyun called Wen Yue and said that the matter had been settled and she could go to the police station to visit the kidnapper leader, "Brother Hou" himself, the next morning.