Chapter 106
Jacob suffered a mental breakdown. After visiting him in Hong Kong, Shu Qida decided to take his son back to Malaysia for treatment. Shu Zili still had work in Hong Kong. Shu Qida originally wanted his daughter to stay, but in front of her brother, nothing else mattered. Larine resolutely boarded the plane with him.
On the way back, I unexpectedly ran into Ding Huihui at the airport entrance, who was handing out fruit everywhere. No need to look, just like every year, she impulsively bought a huge amount of fruit to share with everyone because she loved it so much, resulting in an oversupply and unsold produce. Without Zhan's bar to help her this year, I'm afraid all this fruit will rot.
But she had improved compared to last year; her frown and long face vanished in less than a minute. Ding Huihui enthusiastically asked Zhuang Zhuoyuan and Iris if she could borrow their car to deliver fruit to the orphanage and nursing home. When she went on a date with Derek, to showcase her good character, she had specifically taken people to these two places, and had maintained good contact with them ever since. Now, this seemed like a good opportunity to donate.
Zhuang Zhuoyuan naturally had to be mindful of his wife's feelings. Mrs. Zhuang showed no displeasure whatsoever. She glanced at the time and readily agreed, explaining that it was just a matter of taking a detour, and she could easily make it to the first class in the morning and afternoon.
They also visited Dingding and Lele. Because they were far from their families, the two children weren't particularly cheerful, but the fact that the siblings were together offered some comfort. Iris chatted with them for a while and promised to visit them again the next day with gifts and Tiger. However, that evening, they received a call from Tiger saying that Dingding and Lele had gone missing without explanation, and the hospital had already reported it to the police.
Tangyuanzi was fussy at night, and Iris couldn't get away, so she asked Zhuang Zhuoyuan to go check on things alone. However, after searching until the early hours of the morning, they still had no clues. "The dean only said that when he checked the rooms, both children were still there, but when he checked again the second time, no one was in bed, and the surveillance footage didn't show any trace of them."
"This is strange, how could this be?" Iris could only think of one suspect—Tian Xinxi. With such a strong ulterior motive towards these two children, who else could it be but him?
Zhuang Zhuoyuan and his team had also thought of this, but they still hadn't found Tian Xinxi. "According to the guys, he racked up a huge debt from stock trading a while ago and has been hiding for the past week. Nobody knows where he is."
Iris boldly speculated: "So he kidnapped the two children for money? He wants to get money from Tiger? This guy is really going all out to squeeze Tiger dry, what a scumbag!"
She was indignant, and Zhuang Zhuoyuan patted her back twice to comfort her, "For now, it's still being treated as a missing person case. Whether it can be confirmed as a kidnapping case depends on when he is found or when he calls."
Every second that passes increases the danger to the children. But for now, all they can do is wait, wait for any news.
Tian Xinxi prepared a large cage for the two children. After not seeing him for many days, the children not only missed him but also shouted and struggled to escape in front of him. He had never had any affection for them to begin with, and now his patience had run out. He used force without any scruples to shut them up. With their hands and feet bound and their mouths gagged, Dingding silently shed tears, hoping that Uncle Feihu would appear soon to save them.
If it were simply a matter of money, that would be easy. But Tian Xinxi was no longer satisfied with the status quo. He knew He Feihu would no longer be his helper, so he decided to seize the opportunity and get both money and power in one fell swoop. He prided himself on being flexible and adaptable, but he had been subservient to Brother Mao for too long. Now it was time to indulge in being the boss. Tiger could no longer be used by him, so this time he would use him to the fullest.
Two days passed without any news. He Feihu and his companions began to doubt their own guesses; such patience was truly unlike Tian Xinxi's usual style. If it wasn't him who committed the crime, then was the other party targeting Brother Tiger?
While Tiger was painstakingly searching for his enemies, Iris made a call to G-Force. Her intuition told her that she should start with Tian Xinxi, since he was the one who had gotten into trouble recently.
With the opportunity to earn some extra money, G-Force was happy to take on the job, promising to deliver the message to Iris that very night. But he also had his own thoughts: "The children are already in the orphanage. Anyone can see that those two children have nothing to do with the Tian family. Would they still arrest them to threaten him? Besides, given Tian Xinxi's current situation, is he even worth being threatened?"
While Tian Xinxi may indeed be of no use, that doesn't mean he's completely unrelated to this matter. Given his character, he might very well use the two children to set some kind of trap. Even if he truly has nothing to do with this, Iris still needs to keep this scum under her control to prevent him from causing any trouble for Tiger.
G-Force couldn't help but laugh on the other end of the phone: "Iris, are you trying to commit illegal detention? Does your police officer husband know you're acting like a gangster outside?"
Iris scoffed, "Illegal detention? There are plenty of legal ways to keep someone in custody."
However, G-Force's guesses were spot on; her policeman husband was indeed an obstacle on her path to knocking out Tian Xinxi. With his previous experience in the CIB, Zhuang Zhuoyuan had far more connections among all sorts of people than Iris, and from the very beginning, he had never given up on finding Tian Xinxi. Therefore, when G-Force's message arrived, Zhuang Sir's progress had already reached the point where he and Yin Jincheng were about to launch an operation to arrest him.
Iris hesitated between fighting with her husband to save Tian Xinxi, but ultimately chose to trust the police. Fortunately, with Inspector Yin's intervention, Tian Xinxi had nowhere to run. However, dealing with such a seasoned veteran proved difficult for the police, who were bound by rules and regulations.
A search of the other party's phone revealed a video of two children being caught and abused, but it wasn't stored in the phone's photo album; instead, it was in their email address. Officer Xiao Guan, who was taking the statement, seized on this detail and asked, "Where did you get this video?"
Tian Xinxi looked indifferent, not even glancing at it again: "I don't know which enemy sent it to me." He readily admitted his recent situation: "Officers, you should know that I've been in debt lately, right? So I really don't know which creditor sent it to me. But we law-abiding citizens are very willing to cooperate with the police. If you need, I can write down the names of all my creditors, and you can come and arrest them anytime. You'll definitely catch them all."
Shameless! Behind the interrogation room glass, Zhuang Zhuoyuan and Yin Jincheng quietly observed the situation. Tian Xinxi's utter lack of empathy and calculating words truly enraged them.
Xiao Guan ignored his ramblings and continued, "The records show that you received this message three days ago. What did you do during that time?"
Tian Xinxi chuckled, casually leaning back in his chair, his chin slightly raised: "Officer, you were there when you arrested me. Couldn't you see that I've been avoiding my debts these past few days?"
Xiao Guan kept his composure: "Such an obvious threat has been delivered to you, and you're just going to stand by and do nothing?"
Tian Xinxi felt like she had heard the biggest joke ever: "Threaten me? With what? These two children? They're not my biological children."
"You really don't care about these two kids? Will someone use them to threaten you?" Xiao Guan probed.
“That’s why I said this guy is an idiot,” Tian Xinxi said, waving his hand dismissively. “Everyone in Hong Kong knows that these two kids have nothing to do with me anymore, yet he still dragged these two burdens to me. Who would pay back a idiot like that? Of course, we’d just ignore him.”
He even tried to justify his actions. Zhuang Zhuoyuan sneered, figuring he wouldn't get anything useful out of Tian Xinxi anytime soon, so he decided to leave first and look for clues in the video.
Yin Jincheng nodded: "I've already asked Mingzai to check the sender information, but the chances of finding it are slim. In this case, they almost always use a space card. I've also asked someone to notify Tiger; he should be here soon. And..."
He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes holding a meaningful look. Zhuang Zhuoyuan's mind raced, and he mouthed, "My wife?"
"She'll probably have something to ask you. Just tell her to use her brain and not interfere." Yin Jincheng thought about how decisive she was and felt quite troubled.
So as soon as Zhuang Sir stepped out, he called his wife. Iris was overjoyed, saying, "BB, I heard that Tian Xinxi has a video on his phone. Did you get it from Yin Sir? Upload it to the cloud and we can share it."
Zhuang Zhuoyuan was now even more certain of why Yin Jincheng was being particularly disciplined today. He sighed inwardly and changed the subject, asking, "BB, why didn't you just ask Acheng for it yourself? Or just hack into his computer?"
Iris thought Zhuang Zhuoyuan was bluffing her, and said quite confidently, "He's Chloe's brother, of course I can't do anything reckless."
“So, we’ve come to the same conclusion.” Zhuang Zhuoyuan revealed, “I thought you would have some, so I didn’t ask Acheng.”
"What do you mean by thinking the same thing?" Iris was taken aback. Zhuang Zhuoyuan, who hadn't reacted immediately and said he needed to focus on driving, hung up the phone. Realizing she'd been shifted the blame, she was furious and wanted to skip all her afternoon classes and go beat him up.
The video showed that Dingding and Lele were inside an abandoned warehouse, but the limited footage didn't provide enough information to confirm the warehouse's location. Fortunately, the audio and video were clear, so Yin Jincheng immediately sent the video to forensic personnel and a university physics professor he knew, asking them to help identify the general area by analyzing changes in light and sound.
As for Tian Xinxi, whom they had gone through so much trouble to capture, the police were unable to find any evidence against him due to his cunning, and could only release him after the allotted time had passed.
At the police station entrance, Tiger, who had been waiting outside, had sharp eyes. As soon as he saw Tian Xinxi, he grabbed him by the collar and warned through gritted teeth, "Tian Xinxi, you'd better tell me where Dingding Lele is, or I'll make sure you regret it."
"Sir! Sir!" Tian Xinxi shouted defiantly, sometimes facing the police station gate, sometimes facing He Feihu, showing no fear. Then he put on an innocent look: "Brother Tiger, what are you talking about? I was also very worried about Dingding and Lele being arrested. If I knew where they were, I would definitely have told Guan Sir. After all, they called me 'Dad' once."
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