Xiao Liu reached out and placed his hand on the largest rough stone, silently counting: Three, two, one!
It's true!
That piercing itch started in my palms.
Xiao Liu immediately withdrew his hand, peeked out from under his sleeve, and saw a ring of red bumps on his wrist. He quickly pulled his sleeve down to cover it.
"Little friend, do you like this one?" The jade stall owner picked up the stone that Xiao Liu had just touched: "This is the biggest rough stone here. It's very heavy and will have good material. Since you and my son both have black hair and black eyes, I'll give you a discount, 10,000 gold."
"Is your wife from China?" Anthony asked.
“My wife is not from China. Our child was adopted from China. His parents and relatives died in a fire. After he came to our home, he quickly integrated into our lives. He is a very smart, strong and sensible child! We all love him very much!”
Anthony translated the stall owner's words to Xiao Liu, who thought the stall owner was quite nice.
He wondered, if the seven of them hadn't met the old man, would they... have been adopted by different people and forced to separate?
If Xiaoqi is adopted by a foreigner and taken to live abroad, wouldn't it be very difficult for him to see Xiaoqi again?
The more Xiao Liu thought about it, the more upset she became. She lowered her head and drooped her eyelids.
Anthony thought Xiao Liu was dejected because he couldn't afford the 10,000 gold stones. Anthony patted Xiao Liu's head and said generously, "Don't be sad, I have money, I'll buy them for you! Which one do you like? I'll buy them all for you!"
Xiao Liu was stunned for a moment, then saw Anthony take out cash to buy it.
Xiao Liu asked, "Do they only accept cash?"
Anthony nodded: "That's how it's done here. We're worried that customers might cause trouble if they don't get good materials. If they pay by card or something similar, we might force them to pay back the money. It's all cash transactions, cash on delivery. If they find out the materials are defective, we won't get our money back."
"I only have a card on me." Xiao Liu pulled out a card. "I don't have cash, but I can transfer money to you."
"No need, consider it a gift from me! I heard that Henry gave you all his treasured model cars?"
Xiao Liu nodded: "It's cool, we all like it."
"That guy is usually very generous, but when it comes to his collection of model cars, he becomes stingy! It seems he really likes you guys! Since he, as your grandfather, is so generous, you should call me Grandpa Anthony too, I can't be stingy!"
"Xiao Liu, you choose one. Pick one for each of your brothers and sisters. I'll pay for it. It's a gift from me to you."
"Really? You can take anything?"
"This amount of money is nothing to me, Anthony. Pick whatever you like, take the heaviest one!"
Xiao Liu squatted down and picked up the stones. He touched each one, feeling the itch in his palm. The more intensely itchy it was, the better the material inside would be.
Xiao Liu chose six stones in a row.
Anthony took a briefcase from the car, inside which was a bag of cash: "How much is it? Let's settle the bill."
"This piece is worth 10,000 m gold, these three pieces are worth 5,000 m gold each, this piece is worth 8,000 m gold, this piece is worth 8,500 m gold, and this piece is worth 4,000 m gold, for a total of m gold. Do you want to cut it? I can cut the stone for you for free."
Anthony counted out some money and handed it over: "Sixth Brother, do you want to open the stone?"
Xiao Liu shook his head: "I'm not opening it."
“We’re not going to drive it. Wrap the stones up and help me load them into the car.”
"Okay, I'll call my son over to watch the stall."
"The Chinese child you adopted?"
"Yes, he's a very handsome kid!" The stall owner called the other party, and after about ten minutes, a child rode over on a bicycle, looking to be about eleven or twelve years old.
Just as the boss said, he was a very handsome boy with thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose, tanned skin, black hair, and black eyes. His eyes were very deep, as if they held many secrets.
"Jiao, you watch the stall here for me while I help them load the stones onto the truck."
"I'll deliver it. You watch the stall; your back isn't good."
"No need, they bought a lot, it's quite heavy, you just watch the stall!" The stall owner patted his son's head, genuinely liking the child, who was both sensible and considerate.
The rough stones didn't look big, but each one was very heavy. Anthony helped carry three stones, the stall owner carried four, and Xiao Liu obediently followed behind Anthony as promised, not daring to stray too far.
Unbeknownst to them, not far away, a pair of sinister, cold eyes were fixed on Xiao Liu with resentment.
“Xiao, I know that child. He’s the grandson of that old man surnamed Han.”
"What does this have to do with us?"
"Didn't you only agree to help me eliminate the Yu family if you wanted money?"
"What do you want to do?"
"You know perfectly well why you're asking. This old bastard ruined my plans, so I'll use his grandson as a scapegoat! Hanheng Group must have made a fortune, right? How much do you think that old bastard is willing to pay to redeem his precious grandson?"
Kidnapping is illegal.
"Breaking the law? You, a hitman leader, are talking to me about this? Owl, help me lure that foreigner away."
"I have no obligation to help."
"Once we get the money from that old man, I'll give you half! You know, the Hanheng Group has been rolling in money lately!"
"My job is only to knock people out; I don't get involved in anything else."
"Can."
Anthony's car had barely left the mining area when its tire blew out.
"Wait for me in the car, I'll go down and check."
Xiao Liu nodded obediently, looked out the window, and saw that the surroundings were empty and there was no one around. He couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
Anthony got out of the car to check and found that the tire had been punctured by nails. Looking back, he saw that there were indeed nails scattered on the road. He wondered which scoundrel had done it!
Anthony tried to make a call to someone, but found that the call wouldn't go through and there was no signal.
Anthony became alert. It seemed that someone had deliberately thrown the nails there, and there must be a signal jamming device nearby, otherwise it would have been impossible for the nails not to be fired.
Anthony quickly tried to get into the car, thinking that at least he would be safe inside and locked up, as there was a gun in the car for self-defense. But before he could get in, someone rushed over and attacked him from behind.
Anthony suffered a severe blow to the head, but remembering that Xiao Liu was still in the car, he was determined to bring Xiao Liu back safely after bringing him out! His vision was blurry, and he shook his head violently to clear his mind. No matter what, he couldn't afford to faint now!
He shook his head and charged towards the other man, grabbing him tightly around the waist and shouting, "Xiao Liu, run, run!"
Xiao Liu had already jumped out of the car to help, but before he could reach Anthony, another person appeared—an adult—and easily lifted him up.
"Let me go! Let me go!"
"You grandson of that old bastard surnamed Han, I advise you to behave yourself, or I won't hold back!"
"Who are you? Are you the old man's enemy?"
The other person was wearing a black hood that covered their entire face, leaving only their eyes visible. But based on their standard pronunciation, Xiao Liu was certain they were from China!
"Let go of Xiao Liu! I'm telling you, I'm Carmelo Anthony. Do you know who my father is? You dare mess with me? My father won't let you get away with this, and the Anthony family won't let you get away with this!"
Anthony was furious and powerless, still clinging tightly to the man's waist with both hands.
Unable to move, Xiao glared at Anthony and slammed his elbow into Anthony's back: "Let go!"
"I won't let go, even if I get beaten to death!"
"Then so be it!" Xiao actually pulled out a gun, pointing the muzzle at Anthony's temple: "Young master of the Anthony family, are you really willing to risk your life for a child of a Chinese man?"
"I brought Xiao Liu out here, and unless I die, none of you can take him away! I brought him out, and I will definitely bring him back safely!"
Anthony regretted getting out of the car to check without thinking. He should have called for help from inside the car and locked the doors and windows when he found there was no signal. Now it was too late to regret it.
"Grandpa Anthony, I'm alright. They are the old man's enemies. They can't kill me easily. At most, they'll kidnap me to threaten him. Let go! Don't die in front of me. Dying in vain is so foolish!"
Anthony: "...I'm so angry! Can't you talk properly?!"
"I'm telling the truth. Let go now. There's no need to get shot. They're not targeting you." Xiao Liu stopped struggling and let the other person carry him.
Xiao raised an eyebrow in surprise.
In truth, he didn't really want to kill Anthony. After all, Anthony was indeed a noble young master of the Anthony family. Although he had been gradually abandoned by the family because of his laziness and lack of ambition, and his father had brought his two illegitimate sons back to the family, he knew that the two illegitimate sons were fiercely fighting each other, but they were very attentive to this unambitious younger brother. If one of them were to eventually become the head of the Anthony family, it would be troublesome for them to come after him later.
"Grandpa Anthony, let go! If you die in front of me like this, I won't be moved at all. I'll just think you're stupid! Let go now!"
Anthony glanced at Xiao Liu, who looked anxious, and knew that the kid was just saying one thing but meaning another, but he calmed down.
Just as Xiao Liu said, his death was worthless, like that of a fool.
Anthony let go, slumped to the ground, and could no longer hold on. He saw stars, a wave of dizziness washed over him, and he passed out.
"You've got real willpower to hold on this long," Xiao said admiringly, then looked at Yu Xunteng and said, "What are you waiting for? Let's go."
...
On the other end, Han Fei had a video call with Chen Meilan and sent her a recipe for glutinous rice balls that suited foreign tastes: "Produce according to this recipe. The speed needs to be fast. Don't worry about the cost for now."
"Okay, I understand. I'll get the first batch out as soon as possible, don't worry, boss."
Henry then remembered Anthony and searched everywhere for him, but could not find him. He asked the maids if they had seen Anthony, but they all shook their heads.
Henry went into the courtyard, where the gardener trimming the flowers and trees told him that Anthony and the young master had left the castle two hours earlier.
Han Fei had just hung up the video call when Henry rushed in, looking panicked: "Brother Han, something bad has happened! Anthony took Xiao Liu out, and they've been gone for two hours! I tried calling Anthony, but I can't get through! Could something have happened?"
The tablet computer Han Fei was using for video calls fell to the ground. He looked down at the shattered screen, his eyelids twitching, a sense of foreboding creeping over him.
"Which car was he driving? Do you have his location? Calm down, tell me first, are there any mines nearby?"
"There's no GPS tracking. He has too many cars, and we can't contact him now. He doesn't like his family watching him, so he doesn't turn on GPS on his phone. We can't find his location at all. The nearest mining area is about an hour and a half's drive away. You think they went to the mining area to buy rough stones? Oh right, they were planning to sneak off to buy rough stones last time!"
"Let's go check out the mining area first!"
Before they could even leave, Han Fei's phone rang. It was an unknown number. Anxious to find his child, Han Fei immediately hung up.
Not long after, a multimedia message arrived.
It was the same unfamiliar number. Han Fei was already on his way to the mining area. He opened the MMS and saw Little Six with his mouth taped shut and tied to a chair!
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