By the time Mu Sijue reacted, Xu Youning had already seen the contents of the email.
Almost in an instant, Xu Youning’s face turned pale, and as if her strength had been evacuated, she powerlessly let her hand holding the mobile phone drop.
She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the rims of her eyes were already red.
She gazed at Mu Sijue and shook her head. “I’d rather be the one kidnapped.”
Mu Sijue took back his phone and said, “I know how cruel it is for Auntie Tang.”
Therefore, he wanted to take the risk and trade himself for Tang Yulan so that she would not be tortured anymore.
Even if he did not do so, he and Lu Boyan could find out Tang Yulan’s location and rescue her.
But so far, they just had determined a vague scope of the location after so many days of investigation, and they did not know how long it would take to confirm Tang Yulan’s specific location.
He did not want to wait any longer.
The most important thing was that they did not know whether Tang Yulan could hold on.
“It is cruel for not only Auntie Tang but also for Boyan and Jian’an,” Xu Youning said with red eyes, “who shouldn’t have suffered this kind of pain. It’s all because of me, because of me…”
“Stop it.” Mu Sijue wiped away the tears on Xu Youning’s face and pulled her into his arms. “Boyan and I will think of a way by tomorrow at the latest.”
Xu Youning closed her eyes and held back her tears.
Lu Boyan and Mu Sijue had spent so many days on finding Auntie Tang but failed, partly because the Kang’s family had been rooted in City A, and largely because Kang Ruicheng hid Auntie Tang in a very secret place.
Moreover, according to Kang Ruicheng’s way of doing things, Kang Ruicheng would not reveal Tang Yulan’s position to his men unless he trusted them a lot.
Mu Sijue just said that he and Lu Boyan would think of a way tomorrow.
There were only a few hours left until tomorrow.
They were greatly pressed for time. What else could they do except trading Mu Sijue for Auntie Tang?
Xu Youning was by no means going to allow Mu Sijue to send himself to be held at gunpoint by Kang Ruicheng.
Mu Sijue felt that Xu Youning had calmed down, so he let go of her and said, “You go upstairs first. I’ll go find Boyan.”
As soon as Mu Sijue finished speaking, his mobile phone rang.
Xu Youning guessed that it was Kang Ruicheng. She subconsciously looked at the screen, and sure enough, there was an unknown number on it. Seeing that number, Mu Sijue obviously looked gloomy.
There was no need to guess. It was definitely Kang Ruicheng.
Mu Sijue looked at Xu Youning and repeated, “Go upstairs first.” This time, his tone carried orders.
Xu Youning would certainly not listen to him. She said, “I know who it is. Go ahead. I can stay silent.”
Mu Sijue had no time to argue with Xu Youning. He answered the phone and put it on speaker. Kang Ruicheng’s voice was soon heard.
“Mu Sijue, have you received my email?” Kang Ruicheng smiled darkly and added, “Let me tell you something else. Mrs. Tang has not woken up since she fainted. Oh, she is still having a fever.”
“Kang Ruicheng, call a doctor for Auntie Tang right away! I’ll promise you whatever you ask for.”
Mu Sijue could not care too much now. He only knew that Tang Yulan’s health and safety were greater than anything else.
“What I want is very simple—” Kang Ruicheng said slowly, “You, or Youning.”
Mu Sijue thought that he had misheard, but just now, Kang Ruicheng did say that he wanted him.
That was to say, Kang Ruicheng had promised him that he could trade himself for Tang Yulan.
However, before he offered to do so, Kang Ruicheng had always insisted on Xu Youning.
Mu Sijue sneered and said, “It turns out that you consider many things more important than Xu Youning in your heart.”
“Don’t you understand?” Kang Ruicheng paused and continued, “Mu Sijue, as long as you die, do I need to worry about A Ning’s return? She will come back to me voluntarily.”
“Humph, Kang Ruicheng,” Mu Sijue said with confusion in his tone, “how can such a narcissistic person as you exist?”
“Mocking at me can’t save Mrs. Tang.” Then, Kang Ruicheng said word by word, “Mu Sijue, I know that you and Lu Boyan are investigating the position of Mrs. Tang, but she can’t hold on much longer. If it goes on like this, Mrs. Tang will die like my father within two days.”
Mu Sijue still could not hold back his anger. “Kang Ruicheng!”
“It’s useless to be angry,” Kang Ruicheng said in a more relaxed tone, “and I won’t call a doctor for Mrs. Tang. If you don’t come to take her back, it’s not bad to let her die in my hands. Anyway… I have been eager to kill her fifteen years ago.”
Xu Youning opened her mouth, and Mu Sijue decisively hung up the phone upon hearing her gasp.
Xu Youning felt as if she had a splitting headache. She stuck her ten fingers deeply into her hair, with her face full of pain.
Die…
For a moment, there was only this word, as well as fear, left in her mind.
No wonder Mu Sijue did not let her know anything.
Knowing something she was unable to deal with would only make her feel more upset.
Mu Sijue removed Xu Youning’s hands, looked at her and said, “You first go back to the room to sleep. I’ll go find Boyan. Maybe I won’t come back, so don’t wait for me.”
“Where are you going?” Xu Youning almost subconsciously grabbed Mu Sijue’s sleeve and pleaded, “Don’t go to Kang Ruicheng…”
It was obvious that Kang Ruicheng wanted Mu Sijue to trade himself for Tang Yulan.
Once Mu Sijue went to Kang Ruicheng, he would never be able to come back.
Mu Sijue stared at Xu Youning for a moment and said, “I won’t go.”
Xu Youning nodded and seemed to feel slightly relieved. She asked, “Are you confident that you can take Auntie Tang back?”
“Whether we are confident or not, we will try,” Mu Sijue said, “because we have no time.”
Xu Youning let go of Mu Sijue’s sleeve and said, “Go ahead.”
She turned around and went upstairs, went back to the room, and directly got into the bed.
Everything in the villa was prepared on the five-star standard. All things were so comfortable that people would suspect that they had fallen into a fairyland. Especially this bed, it was so comfortable that it could almost cure insomnia.
Xu Youning closed her eyes, and a drop of tear quietly slipped down from the corner of her eye.
It was precisely because she was in such a comfortable place that Tang Yulan suffered a lot. Now Tang Yulan’s life security could not even be guaranteed.
How could she fall asleep?
After an unknown period of time, Xu Youning’s mobile phone rang on the bedside table, indicating a new message.
She checked it, and it was from Mu Sijue. There was only a simple sentence.
“I’m going somewhere, and you sleep first.”
Xu Youning did not reply.
Thus, Mu Sijue would think that she had fallen asleep, so that he could deal with Auntie Tang’s incident at ease.
In fact, it was not until three o’clock that Xu Youning felt a little sleepy and fell asleep unconsciously.
She seemed to have a dream about Tang Yulan.
She clearly saw Tang Yulan curling up on the ground in pain, with bleeding wounds all over her body.
Tang Yulan stayed mentally young, and she was more open-minded than her peers. She appeared to be as kind and benign as ordinary old people, and also as energetic as young people. She looked affable and friendly enough.
However, Xu Youning saw that Tang Yulan was old and weak.
At the end of the dream, Xu Youning saw herself get close to touch Tang Yulan, but did not find any vital signs on her body.
Tang Yulan…
“No, Auntie Tang!”
Xu Youning screamed and woke up from the dream. She suddenly sat up with a thin layer of sweat on her forehead.
After a long while, Xu Youning realized that it was a nightmare. The morning light had shone the whole room at some point, and it was already dawn.
Xu Youning held her forehead and woke up from her nightmare after a long time. She checked her phone, and there was no new message.
She dialed Mu Sijue’s number and wanted to ask if there was any progress in Tang Yulan’s incident.
However, she did not hear Mu Sijue’s voice. There was only a mechanical female voice informing her that Mu Sijue’s phone was off. She could only put it back on the bedside table.
After a while, Aunt Liu came over and said to Xu Youning, “Mrs. Lu and Ms. Luo are having breakfast in the clubhouse. They sent me to ask you there.”
Su Jian’an might have news about Tang Yulan.
Xu Youning nodded, put on her coat, and hurried to the clubhouse. But, she only saw Su Jian’an and Luo Xiaoxi there. Lu Boyan and Su Yicheng were nowhere to be found.
Xu Youning was not sure if Su Jian’an knew Kang that Ruicheng had sent another email last night. She walked over and tentatively asked, “Where’s Boyan? Doesn’t he eat breakfast?”
Su Jian’an shook her head and said, “When I got up this morning, I saw the note he had left. He had to go to the company early to deal with something. Let’s eat without him. Anyway, we can’t wait for him to come.”
Xu Youning was basically sure that Su Jian’an did not know what had happened last night.
Perhaps it was because Lu Boyan did not want her to worry.
Xu Youning sat down as if nothing had happened and smiled. “Let’s eat.”
After breakfast, Xu Youning returned to the villa and inexplicably felt uneasy. She simply lay down and tried to sleep.
After an unknown period of time, Xu Youning was half-awake, and some pictures appeared in her mind again.
She saw Mu Sijue go to Kang Ruicheng, and then a gun was aimed between Mu Sijue’s eyebrows. The next second, a bloody hole appeared there.
She watched Mu Sijue fall down, but she could not do anything about it.
Xu Youning took a deep breath and woke up from the dream. She was no longer sleepy.
She got up, opened the bottom drawer of the bedside table, and took out a small white medicine bottle from it.
It was Doctor Liu who gave it to her. After finding no vital signs on the fetus, Doctor Liu suggested that she should have an abortion to keep herself safe.
Now it seemed that this bottle of medicine would not be used.
Xu Youning unscrewed the cap of the bottle, went into the bathroom and flushed the pills down the toilet, and the pills quickly disappeared.
Right at that moment, Mu Sijue’s voice was heard. “Xu Youning?”
Almost at the same time when Xu Youning entered the bathroom, Mu Sijue came back. He did not see Xu Youning in the room, and only heard the flush of a toilet.
“Xu Youning was in the bathroom?”
With it in mind, Mu Sijue walked to the bathroom…