Chapter Twenty Six: He wanted to reach out and touch him, to pull the man into his arms and massage him gently.
Cheng YuTang: “…….”
Wang Qiang: “……..”
Tears sprung up at the corners of Cheng YuTang’s eyes and, depressed, he said, “Do you have nothing better to do than chase down that van?”
Are you playing bumper cars?
“I have something!” Ji XiaoYu anxiously said. “There are traffickers in that van. They just kidnapped a child, I saw it with my own eyes. If we don’t chase them, they’ll get away!”
So it turned out like that…… Cheng YuTang couldn’t turn a blind eye. He didn’t hesitate to order Wang Qiang, “Chase!”
“Yes, Cheng Zong.”
Wang Qiang stepped on the gas pedal, and highly capable luxury car instantly sped up, chasing after the van that was about to disappear from sight.
So Ji XiaoYu, who hadn’t seated himself properly yet and hadn’t learned from his past mistake, was flung forward by momentum. He shot forward, almost rolling over the gap between the front seats. Fortunately, Cheng YuTang, with his quick hand-eye coordination, pulled him in, pressing him down to sit next to him, “Sit down. Don’t bump your head again.”
“Mmm,” Ji XiaoYu sat properly in a well-behaved manner.
The two men were very close together. The outside of their thighs were pressed together and their body temperature passed back and forth through the fabric layers of their pants. Cheng YuTang couldn’t keep his heart from trembling at that touch. It’s been a month and a half since that night and this was the first time since that the two of them had been this close. It was a pity it was under these circumstances, when it was difficult to convince a certain someone to do what he wanted.
Ji XiaoYu was completely unaware of this little president’s thoughts, just keeping a close eye on the van’s movements. From time to time, he urged, “Wang DaGe, drive faster…… Ah, they turned a corner……. Aiya, they’re speeding up again, I can’t see them…… Wang DaGe, can’t you catch up with them a little faster?!”
The van driver apparently realized he was being followed, so he went out of the city center and headed for the suburbs. He took a sudden turn onto a dilapidated rural asphalt road, trying to get rid of his pursuers. Wang Qiang’s speed dropped. They separated from the van by a few hundred meters and they almost the target several times.
“Are you the one driving?! This road has potholes and there are stones everywhere. I can’t speed up. If I don’t pay attention, I’ll scrape the bottom of the car!” Wang Qiang was so annoyed that he couldn’t stand it. If it weren’t for his restraint and Cheng YuTang in the car, he would want to pay his respects to 18 generations of Ji Xiao Yu’s family and then teach him the reality of being a man with his fists.
Ordering around so frivolously. Of course, that damaged van could drive casually, but if Cheng Zong’s car was scratched, would he actually pay for it or was he just being a backseat driver, this dumb idiot commanding a precious hero like himself?
Ji XiaoYu displayed no hesitation at all, “Fine, let me drive! I just got my driver’s license this morning!”
Wang Qiang: “……”
Cheng YuTang: “……”
Wang Qiang couldn’t be bothered to respond to him, he just snorted.
Cheng YuTang was also speechless and he patted Ji XiaoYu’s back in a soothing way. “Don’t worry, safety comes first.”
Ji XiaoYu grabbed his hand without thinking and said, worried, “How can you not be in a hurry? If we lose them, couldn’t the traffickers hurt the child or even sell him to a foreign country? How heartbroken the parents of the child would be!”
He hadn’t had parents since he was a baby, so he had never really understood the concept of family. It wasn’t until he laid the little white egg that he gradually came to understand the profound bond between parent and child. If he lost the little white egg, he would be anxious to death; it had to be the same for human parents.
On the one hand, Cheng YuTang was secretly delighted by Ji XiaoYu’s initiative to make this intimate move and he went along and clutched his hand; on the other hand, he was astonished at his anxiety and passion about the trafficking of children. Besides money and food, he had never seen Ji XiaoYu feel so strongly about anything.
This little thing seemed heartless, but, in fact, his heart was softer than the many insensitive people in today’s society.
He couldn’t help but soften his own heart and then he said firmly to Wang Qiang, “Drive as fast as possible, it doesn’t matter if there are any dings on the car.”
Wang Qiang had to obey, increasing the speed again. And finally they kept pace with the van.
Cheng Zong is awesome! Ji XiaoYu secretly praised the wise and decisive honorable president in his heart. Then he realized his left hand had been holding Cheng YuTang’s right hand since who knew when. His heart thumped quickly and he hurried to pull his hand away, shifting to grasp the back of the front passenger seat.
Cheng YuTang hid his feeling of regret and suddenly thought of an issue, so he asked Ji XiaoYu, “Did you call the police?”
Ji XiaoYu replied, “I just told the child’s mother to call the police, but I hadn’t seen the van’s license plate number at the time. I saw it later but I don’t have a phone to make a call. I forgot about it when you came……”
Cheng YuTang wore an expression of disbelief. “How do you not even have a cell phone? How do you usually contact other people?”
Nowadays, not to mention phones, but even beggars had a WeChat to make money transfers, yeah?
No wonder he had never seen Ji XiaoYu use a phone in front of himself. He had thought that this little thing was different from other young people nowadays, not suffering from smartphone addiction. But it turned out that he didn’t have one at all!
With a bit of a guilty conscience, Ji XiaoYu replied, “Phones are too expensive, I can’t afford one. If there is anything to talk about, I can just directly find the person, yeah?”
There had never been such things in Xiao Qing Shan. The style of life wasn’t the same. He could just call someone by yelling out. It was a little inconvenient not to have a phone right now, but if he bought one, it would take hundreds of yuan, plus there was the fee per call or whatever. He wasn’t willing to spend that kind of money.
However, based on the current situation, a cell phone was a necessity.
Ay, forget it, I’ll go back and buy one. He didn’t need any fancy functions, just one to make phone calls.
Cheng YuTang was completely amazed by the extent of this guy’s stinginess. He pulled his phone from his coat pocket and dialed 110. He gave a detailed account of everything known about the current situation and the other end of the line said they would send the police immediately, asking them to pay attention to their safety and be careful while following.
At this time, an abandoned factory appeared ahead of them. The traffickers in the van were obviously familiar with the terrain of these outskirts. After a few turns, they drove straight through the factory’s outer wall.
“Hey, hey, hey, they stopped. Let’s hurry to follow!” Ji XiaoYu called out.
Wang Qiang slowed down at a distance of two hundred meters. He was a little cautious as he said, “You just said that there are five of them. There are only three of us. There might be an ambush in there. If you fight, it could be dangerous. It’s better to wait here for the police to come.”
This concern wasn’t unreasonable and Cheng YuTang couldn’t argue against it.
Ji XiaoYu couldn’t be bothered to talk nonsense again. He just opened the door and jumped out. Then he ran towards the factory – limiting his speed to that which ordinary humans could reach.
“XiaoYu! Ji XiaoYu!”
Cheng YuTang shouted twice, watching Ji XiaoYu heading into the factory without hesitation, and then he hurriedly got out and chased after.
The remaining Wang Qiang sat in the car alone a bit stunned. Ji XiaoYu was just a security guard, but what was going on with Cheng Zong? Did he want to fight so badly?
As soon as Ji XiaoYu entered through factory gate, he heard a whoosh of air from both sides. He jumped up high without even looking. Two long legs swept through the air like those of a beautiful horse, one kicking left and one right, knocking back the two men who had pounced forward swinging steel pipes a few meters away. They didn’t get up for a long time.
Cheng YuTang witnessing the scene from a hundred meters away: “……!!!”
Ji XiaoYu’s move stunned the whole group of traffickers. After a moment of astonishment, one ferocious man who was holding a hammer shouted loudly, “What’re you doing in a fucking daze? Come on with Laozi!”
The five traffickers screamed, waving all kinds of deadly weapons at Ji XiaoYu, and attacked Ji XiaoYu.
Ji XiaoYu sneered. He unhurriedly picked up a brick from the ground and then moved around the group like a shadow.
*Pow* *Crack* *Bang*
When Cheng YuTang stormed into the factory, he saw the five traffickers sprawled out on the ground, all wailing with heads swollen like pigs. Ji XiaoYu, on the other hand, was throwing a brick on the ground and brushing the dirt from his hands in a leisurely way.
“Are you okay?” He wore an expression of disbelief. Although he had known that Ji XiaoYu knew GongFu and that he had a lot of skill, he didn’t expect him to be this powerful.
In comparison, the kick he got that night was light and this little thing had showed mercy to him beneath his feet, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have been able to get up either.
“It’s fine, Cheng Zong, rest assured!” Ji XiaoYu flashed his little white teeth in a smile.
The golden glow of the setting sun slanted into the yard, gilding his handsome, fair face with a layer of warm light. Cheng YuTang could see even the small fluff on the edge of his cheeks clearly. He couldn’t stop the fluttering of his heart, wanting to reach out and touch him, to pull the man into his arms and massage him gently.
Ji XiaoYu laughed and then suddenly remembered something. He quickly reached out and touched his pants pocket. He found that the little white egg was still there and he sighed in relief.
Just now he had been preoccupied with fighting the traffickers and, for a moment, had forgotten about the little white egg in his pocket. That was careless.
However, he ran and jumped and got into a fight today. Would there be any problem from the little white egg twisting and turning?
With that thought in mind, he couldn’t help but start worrying again.
Just at this moment, Cheng YuTang’s expression changed. He shouted “watch out,” suddenly reaching out and pushing Ji XiaoYu to the side.
Another man had shown up. He had probably been hiding in the factory, waiting for his accomplices. At this time, seeing that Ji XiaoYu wasn’t paying attention, he had grabbed a foot-long machete and snuck out from behind a pile of used building materials, stabbing at his back fiercely in a surprise attack.
After Cheng YuTang pushed Ji XiaoYu, he was able to avoid the sharp blade, and then he raised his foot and kicked the man in the chest. The man screamed and loosened his grip and joined the five bodies sprawled on the ground, passed out.
The machete fell to the ground with a *pa*. There was a smear of red blood on the bright blade.
Ji XiaoYu was stunned. He looked at the blade on the ground and then looked up again at Cheng YuTang. He found him pressing his left hand against his right arm. The dark gray suit sleeve between his fingers was soaked with a dark red fluid.
He froze and then asked, “Cheng Zong, you’re hurt?”
Cheng YuTang tried to cover it up as he said, “It’s just a little gash, it’s nothing.”
He was indeed hurt, but this little guy was unscathed after fighting five enemies. He only managed to deal with one and was wounded in action. There was a bit of a gap there and the president’s pride was a little hurt.
Ji XiaoYu frowned and stepped forward. He forced the unwilling Cheng Zong to roll up his sleeve. He found that the cut was nearly ten centimeters long on his forearm. The blood from the wound had dyed half his arm with blood.
“How is it nothing if there’s so much blood?” Ji XiaoYu suddenly felt urgent. “Why did you come over and push me? Don’t you know how to dodge a little? Even if you hadn’t pushed me, he couldn’t have hurt me!”
Cheng Zong’s glass heart completely shattered. Feeling both guilty and disgraced, he said in annoyance, “Yes, I’m useless, I was overconfident!”
“Cheng Zong, are you angry?” Ji XiaoYu realized that he might have said the wrong thing and quickly apologized, “What, I’m sorry, I’m not blaming you, it’s just that……. Anyway, your kick was pretty good just now, really, the average person couldn’t do that!”
He really didn’t mean to blame Cheng YuTang, it was just very uncomfortable to see him injured and bleeding. It was as if the wound was his own.
Cheng YuTang snorted, feeling a bit better inside, but his face was still a little pale.
Ji XiaoYu’s heart immediately swooped again. He raised his coat and tore off a piece of cloth from the shirt hem underneath. He wrapped it a few times around Cheng YuTang’s wound, but the blood kept soaking through.
He couldn’t help but frown and muttered to himself, “Why is it still streaming out? No way, have to go to the hospital for a bandage.”
Cheng YuTang was in a lot of pain from his rough handling. He could only grit his teeth and endure, but there was a bit of sweetness in his heart and his previous gloominess dissipated and faded away.
This little one still cares about me; this knife wound was not in vain.
“Cheng Zong, are you okay?” Wang Qiang had picked up a stick outside and come in with trepidation. Once he saw the six traffickers lying on the ground in the yard, he couldn’t help but feel a little dumbfounded. Did you put on a martial arts display or a fantasy drama just now here?
Cheng YuTang immediately restored his attitude of a calm president, saying indifferently, “It’s fine. You call the police immediately.”
“Yes!”
Ji XiaoYu saw that Cheng YuTang didn’t have any serious issues, so he ran to the van and found the little chubby kid lying on the seat with his eyes closed.
He suddenly got a shock and he quickly picked up the little chubby kid to test his breath. Fortunately, his breathing was normal and his small, round body was warm too. He was probably knocked out by some kind of drug from the traffickers.
At this time, there was a whoop of a siren from the outside and four or five police cars soon drove into the yard of the factory one after another. Around ten policemen jumped out of their cars and were in disbelief at the sight before their eyes.
Then the police quickly took over the scene and an officer cuffed all six miserable traffickers, stringing them up like grasshoppers. A few others have expanded the search range to see if there are any fish around that had slipped the net. A female officer took the unconscious little chubby kid to a police car and rushed him to the hospital for check up.
One of the middle-aged police officers, surnamed Huang, found that Cheng YuTang had suffered a knife wound and asked him to go to the hospital to get it taken care of, to avoid an infection. Cheng YuTang readily agreed.
The middle-aged officer observed his extraordinary temperament. He couldn’t help but take a second look and then said in amazement, “Hey, are you the president of HongSheng?”
Wang Qiang immediately rushed to answer, “That’s right, this is Cheng Zong of our HongSheng Group!”
“Officer Huang, do you know me?” Cheng YuTang said as he swept a blank gaze towards Wang Qiang, the latter immediately quieted and shuffled away in retreat.
“It’s really you, I just couldn’t believe it when I first saw you!” Officer Huang wore an expression of great excitement. He babbled, “My nephew works for a company under your HongSheng Group and has always thought of you as an idol. In his bedroom, he hung up a blown-up picture of you! I didn’t expect Cheng Zong to be a dutiful, brave citizen. That kid is going to worship you even more!”
Ji XiaoYu: “…….”
How can he listen to something so embarrassing? Cheng YuTang wasn’t a big star. What was he doing with his picture hanging in the bedroom? Wouldn’t that freak someone out if they woke up in the middle of the night?!
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Footnotes:
1. to pay respects to 18 generations (问候你祖宗十八代): a really foul way to express disrespect to someone’s entire family (nine generations back to the ‘originator’ and then nine generations forward to the 8th great grandson)
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JXY, just admit you’re jealous and want your own enlarged photo in your room