Chapter 205: Determination (2)

Yang Shuzhen felt much better after teasing Su Ya, and the burden in her heart seemed to lift as the bicycle felt unusually light.

"Su Ya, your sister Juan is a bit of a troublemaker. If she bothers you again in the future, don't just keep it to yourself. Let me know, and I'll take care of her. That girl may look like a lady, but she's just like a troublemaker. If she doesn't get disciplined regularly, she'll be a menace."

Recalling the scene of Zhu Juan crying with her head buried in the dirt, Su Ya couldn't help but smile.

She couldn't resist rubbing her own bottom.

At that moment, there was a sudden loud noise behind them. Yang Shuzhen heard a vehicle approaching and quickly steered the bicycle towards the edge of the road.

But she didn't realize that the tricycle was heading straight for her!

As she turned around to check, she saw a blue, old, and peeling tricycle charging towards her.

Bang,

Crash,

With a chaotic noise, the bicycle flew away.

Yang Shuzhen felt like the world was spinning, her head ringing. Lying on the ground, she turned to look at Su Ya and saw that the girl seemed relatively unharmed but was frightened and crawling towards her with tears in her eyes.

The lunch box, which had originally been in a plastic bag, was thrown far away, and the carefully prepared food was scattered all over the ground.

"Oh no! Oh dear! What happened? Auntie, are you hurt? Quickly, get in the car, I'll take you to the hospital!"

As Yang Shuzhen was dazed, she heard an overly dramatic, affected voice. She looked up and saw a face with a sinister smile, and her pupils constricted in fear.

She tried to get up, but the pain was so intense that she couldn't move. In a panic, she pushed Su Ya aside, saying, "Girl, run! They're not good people!"

Su Ya was stunned but, seeing Yang Shuzhen's terrified expression, gritted her teeth and struggled to get up despite the pain, trying to escape.

Just as she took two steps, someone grabbed her arm.

"Zhu's sister, where are you going? Look at your injured leg. Let's go to the hospital and get it checked out."

Seeing the unfamiliar face, Su Ya panicked. In desperation, she bit down on the hand gripping her arm.

"Damn it! Get off me, you dog!"

The person in pain pushed Su Ya away roughly, sending her stumbling several meters.

With a violent jolt, Su Ya fell to the ground. The little red-stringed doll that Li Xian had given her flew out and shattered into two pieces, landing near the deformed lunch box.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Su Ya, already in tears, bit her lip hard and quickly picked up the doll. With a cut on her palm from the broken doll, she grabbed the stained lunch box lid and, while the people were still approaching, wrote two characters in the blood from her palm, then placed the lid back on the ground to cover her hand.

Meanwhile, Yang Shuzhen had already been hauled into the car. Some passersby had noticed the commotion, and Zhao Er Xiazi dragged Su Ya, like a chicken, and threw her into the car before speeding off.

Inside the moving car, a small white hand quietly gripped the car door.

Occasionally, drops of blood fell from the car door, blooming like plum blossoms on the moist, rain-soaked soil.

---

At the distillery.

Li Xian was in the workshop, outlining a bright future to a group of key staff members.

"Production capacity is the key to whether our Bangye Distillery can expand! Comrades, our Bangye Distillery now has a market presence throughout Longjiang Province. Over the past two months, we've mastered all aspects including production, sales, and promotion. If we can expand production tenfold, we'll be ready to enter the national market. Once the county's loans and equipment are in place, we'll expand production immediately and advertise on national television! At that point, we'll take down any competitors like Kongfu Family, Liuyang River, or Jian Nan Chun. Let the whole country drink Bangye Baijiu!"

Faced with such a promising blueprint, the distillery's key staff members were trembling with excitement.

Wow, what a sight that would be!

Just thinking about the prospect of their liquor reaching nationwide distribution made the workshop buzz with excitement.

This morning's meeting had already set the distillery's upgrade to a full-fledged liquor company, and the newly appointed Chief Technical Engineer and Deputy General Manager, the old Zhu father and son, were thrilled at the prospect of soon realizing the vision.

At that moment, the security guard entered the workshop and handed a letter to Zhu Feng: "Factory director, someone slipped this letter under the security office door. It's for you."

Zhu Feng frowned, "For me?"

Seeing the letter addressed in shaky handwriting that looked like it was written by a child, Zhu Feng immediately tore it open.

At a glance, the contents of the letter stunned him as if struck by lightning!

Noticing Zhu Feng's unusual expression, Li Xian immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhu Feng, trembling all over, clenched his teeth and crumpled the letter into a ball: "Someone says… my mother and sister are in their hands, and they want me to prepare fifty thousand to exchange for them."

Hearing this, Li Xian's body went cold! Old Zhu beside him also widened his eyes in shock and grabbed the letter.

"Could it be a threat?" Li Xian forced himself to calm down and asked.

As he was speaking, Zhu Feng's face twitched as he held up a hairpin.

It was the hairpin he had bought for Yang Shuzhen.

Seeing the familiar hairpin, Li Xian felt a rush of blood to his head.

Without a word, he immediately ran to the office and dialed Liu Weihan's number: "Liu Weihan, you're managing Bangye well! Yang Shuzhen and her daughter have been kidnapped. I'm giving you twenty-four hours. I want to see them safe and sound. Otherwise… the consequences will be severe!"

---

Not only would Liu Weihan not let this go lightly just because Li Xian personally made the call, but even if Li Xian hadn't pursued it, Liu Weihan would have been determined to get to the bottom of this.

Who is Yang Shuzhen?

A month ago, she was just an ordinary housewife. But with the revival of the Qu Ling black pottery craft and its overnight fame at the Jiede Auction, Yang Shuzhen and her black pottery had become a cultural symbol of Bangye.

Baijiu and black pottery were too important for Bangye!

For such a person to be kidnapped in broad daylight in the county, Liu Weihan, even though he was usually calm, was furious to the point of losing his composure.

"If they're not found, expect disciplinary action!"

The ongoing county government meeting was abruptly interrupted. In the meeting room, County Public Security Bureau Chief Hu Weibing was immediately scolded harshly.

Ordering all county police forces to immediately start an all-out investigation, Liu Weihan then hurried to the distillery.

After calming Zhu Feng and Old Zhu, Hu Weibing immediately sent people to the black pottery association for evidence collection. It wasn't long before the outside of the distillery was filled with wailing.

Two young women with tear-streaked faces pushed through the crowd and rushed to Zhu Feng and Old Zhu.

Seeing these two women, Li Xian, who was sitting at the desk and watching the various police officers report in, was stunned and quickly stood up.

"Dad! Brother! What happened to my mother? Who kidnapped her?"

Seeing Zhu Jing and Zhu Juan in distress, Li Xian was thrown into confusion.

One, two,

Wait, both of Old Zhu's daughters are here?

Zhu Feng and Old Zhu were also stunned—"Juanzi! Xiao Jing, you're alright? Then… who are the people mentioned in the letter?"

At that moment, a police officer from the West City Police Station ran up and saluted Liu Weihan and Hu Weibing with a snap.

"County head! Director! We just received a report from a citizen saying that a bicycle and a blood-stained lunch box were found by the roadside in a DC District alley! We have confirmed from the bicycle's license plate that it belongs to President Yang. That should be the initial crime scene. We have already secured it!"

---

The scene was cordoned off and county police officers were photographing and collecting evidence.

Li Xian quietly squatted by the deformed bicycle, staring at the lunch box on the ground.

Stir-fried zucchini with shrimp, cucumber salad, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and greenish rice porridge, although scattered and no longer delicate, still emitted a faint aroma.

Picking up the blood-stained half of the small doll, and seeing the hastily written and now dark red "Help" on the aluminum lunch box lid, Li Xian clenched his fists tightly.

"Comrade, you can look, but don't damage the scene!" A police officer next to him reminded loudly.

"Get out of the way!"

With that shout, Li Xian's fierce eyes made the police officer step back in fear.

Seeing Li Xian's expression, Xiao Ji quickly approached and patted his shoulder, saying, "Li, don't be anxious. From the scene and what we know so far, this is a kidnapping and extortion case. They should be safe until the money is paid."

Li Xian bit his teeth hard, "It better be that way. If anything happens to either of

 them…"

I'll make Bangye pay for it!

Seeing Li Xian's expression, Xiao Ji couldn't help but shudder.

"Xiao, we've already questioned the surrounding people. They said they saw a tricycle hit someone around 9 a.m. this morning, and the people on the tricycle took President Yang and Su Ya from the house to the hospital. But the hospital had no records of them, so we're certain this is the first scene."

Hearing the report, Xiao Ji immediately instructed his team to investigate the tricycle information.

The commotion had already caused a stir in the East City. The household had learned about Su Ya's abduction, and a group of elders and Su Hui's family had arrived at the scene.

Seeing Su Hui's furious expression and Su's mother fainting several times from crying, Li Xian hurried to comfort them.

Seeing the low efficiency of the investigation with no surveillance footage available, Li Xian immediately called the anxious Zhu Feng.

"Go! Stop production at the factory, mobilize the ceramic factory and association staff, and get the printing factory to print flyers right now! Announce that there is a reward of ten thousand for any valid leads on the tricycle!"

Zhu Feng received the order, nodded, and turned to execute it. However, he was stopped by Wu Shengli.

"Son, don't make such a big commotion! It might drive the kidnappers to act rashly." Wu Shengli calmly approached Li Xian and patted his shoulder.

Reminded by Old Wu, Li Xian calmed down a bit.

But looking at the lunch box on the ground, he sighed deeply.

Feeling the sharp pain from the broken doll piece in his palm, he suddenly had an idea. He walked over to Xiao Ji and asked, "Xiao, where's the dog?"

Xiao Ji knew what Li Xian was thinking. He shook his head, "No, the scent is too mixed. The dog might not be helpful. Li, don't rush. We're already starting to interview the public."

Li Xian pondered for a moment, and as he looked down, he noticed a dark red drop.

It was a drop of blood.

Seeing the direction of the blood drop, he furrowed his brows, took a few steps forward, and carefully searched. Eventually, he found another drop of blood about ten meters away.

Thinking about the food and the "Help" written on it, he clapped his hands in determination.

Su Ya!

Good girl!

Li Xian's eyes widened with joy. He immediately ran back to Xiao Ji and dragged him to the spot where he found the second blood drop.

The two followed the trail of the blood drops, and after a careful search, they finally found the third and fourth drops.

Seeing this, Xiao Ji slapped his thigh and told the police officer who was riding a bicycle to follow the route, "Go! Bring that idiot here!"