Four Years Ago, Her Husband Cheated on Her Body - Chapter 23.1

Recalling the traces he had found along the way, he could almost piece together how that mute boy—who couldn’t even cry out for help—had used every ounce of his strength to signal “Run fast” even while suffering a stab wound to the abdomen.

In the final analysis, Lu Min had been dragged into this because of him; he couldn’t just leave him behind.

“Cough, cough cough…”

Jia Qiao coughed weakly.

The night wind was chilly, and his constitution was too frail. If he kept struggling like this, he would likely succumb to another fever or cold; it was best to settle things here quickly.

After a few seconds of silence, Jia Qiao let his hand drop dejectedly.

Clang—

The fruit knife landed directly on the shattered glass, sounding like a sigh of resignation.

He gave up the struggle.

“Damn, wouldn’t it have been better to soften up sooner?” The man whom Jia Qiao had over-the-shoulder thrown at the beginning finally recovered, clutching his chest and cursing as he scrambled up.

Confirming the “prey” would no longer bite back, he took a pair of specialized handcuffs from his pocket.

“Hands behind your back!” The glass-faced man’s voice carried a rasp from his brush with death, yet he maintained a forced ferocity.

Jia Qiao glanced at the heavy-looking handcuffs and offered no resistance, silently following the instruction to put his hands together behind his back.

With a click, the cuffs locked around his slender wrists.

“Now.” Jia Qiao lifted his pale face, a cold light flashing in his beautiful eyes. “Can you release Lu Min?”

“Hahahahaha—! Their master-servant devotion is fucking moving, I’m almost in tears!”

The “high-strung” man danced with excitement, suddenly leaning into Jia Qiao’s face. With a flushed expression, he said, “You two naive cuties… when will you ever learn not to make deals with bad guys?”

He pulled a sharp dagger from his waist and extended a crimson tongue to lick the blade, his eyes gleaming with cruelty. “How about I drag that little mute in front of you and carve his flesh out, stroke by stroke by stroke… Guess which stab will make him gasp his last breath with those big eyes wide open?”

“The second stab,” Jia Qiao said calmly, his tone devoid of emotion as if stating a predetermined fact.

“Ha? He can only last until the second stab?” The high-strung man seemed displeased. “The little mute is too fragile to play with.”

“Red Stick,” the silent man who rarely spoke called out to the high-strung man by his code name. “He means that if you stab that mute one more time, you will die.”

The man in the headscarf rubbed his wrist, which had nearly been snapped by a kick, and warned with lingering fear, “Don’t let this kid’s looks fool you! His strength is terrifying. We must keep that mute as leverage, otherwise, the four of us combined won’t be enough to take him down.”

Jia Qiao lowered his eyes, his thick eyelashes casting a shadow.

This criminal group had clear internal roles; they weren’t brainless like villains in TV dramas.

The glass-faced man who rushed in first was the vanguard; the headscarf man who arrived later was responsible for ambushes; the high-strung man was likely skilled in torture and interrogation.

And the one responsible for planning and overall control was the silent man before him.

“Let him go,” Jia Qiao said, looking at the silent man, unwilling to waste another word.

The silent man, his face covered by a scarf, spoke succinctly: “We can.”

“The conditions?”

“We have no grudge against you; we’re just doing a job for money. The mute wasn’t our target to begin with.” The silent man paused and added, “As long as you are cooperative enough, we will naturally release him once the mission is complete and we have the money.”

The corner of Jia Qiao’s lip curled into a cold arc.

Having just been reminded “not to make deals with bad guys,” he obviously wouldn’t trust the silent man’s words.

Moreover, heaven only knew the specific details of the “task” the Zhu family had given them.

Jia Qiao certainly wanted to save Lu Min, but he didn’t intend to trade a life for a life.

The headscarf man switched hands and picked up the fruit knife, pressing it against Jia Qiao’s lower back.

“Now follow my orders. Walk straight ahead.”

Jia Qiao let out a faint sigh and followed their instructions for a few steps.

In the dark underground garage, the only sound was the clink-clank of the handcuffs hitting each other.

Just as they were about to leave the garage, the silent man suddenly stopped him, took out a black silk scarf to blindfold Jia Qiao, and then shoved him into the back seat of a van parked by the roadside.

The van was filled with the smell of cigarettes and sweat, making Jia Qiao knit his brows in disgust.

The vehicle swayed and bumped for about twenty minutes; by his calculation, they were still within the limits of A City.

The car door was pulled open again, cold wind poured in, and Jia Qiao heard the command once more.

“Get out. Follow me.”

The night breeze brushed against his skin, and the quiet air carried the scent of soil and withered leaves; it seemed to be a deserted place.

The gang instructed Jia Qiao to climb the stairs, turned a few corners, and pushed him into a room. Only then did they untie the silk scarf from behind.

Snap—

Countless lights turned on simultaneously, brighter than sunlight. Jia Qiao instinctively averted his gaze to avoid the torture-like light source.

After about half a minute of adjustment, his eyes could barely make out the surroundings.

Jia Qiao had naturally assumed they would lock him in a dark, cramped “little black room” where no one would hear him even if he screamed his lungs out.

However, this was a meticulously arranged “live-streaming room.”

In front, behind, to the left, and right, as well as on both ends of the ceiling, stood six high-definition cameras, all in operation.

They were like six cold eyes, locking onto Jia Qiao from different angles, faithfully recording his every move.

On the wall directly opposite the main camera, there were five huge, dripping crimson words:

I HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED!

Jia Qiao finally realized that the criminal group’s purpose was not kidnapping or extortion, but a proclamation.

They were using the most direct method to announce to the world: Something has happened to Jia Qiao!

“I see.”

Jia Qiao murmured softly.

Before the start of Zhu Nanyu’s funeral, the sole heir designated in the will is kidnapped in front of everyone and then “accidentally” dies.

A “dead person” has no right of inheritance.

Zhu Nanyu’s multi-billion dollar estate would then naturally flow back to the Zhu family, who share his bloodline.

.

#QieQiao# #QieQiaoKidnappingLiveStream# #QianheOffers1MillionRewardForChairmanClues# …

At 9:00 PM, the peak of nighttime internet traffic.

Major platforms across the web were following the news of Jia Qiao’s kidnapping. Related hashtags hit the Top 1 spot on trending lists with terrifying speed.

The kidnappers opened six live-streaming rooms with different perspectives, and the viewership skyrocketed exponentially.

Netizens endured the piercing lights to search for clues; every move Jia Qiao made pulled at the heartstrings of hundreds of millions of viewers.

[I’ve turned my video brightness to the lowest and it’s still blinding. I can’t imagine how painful it must be for Jia Qiao to be exposed to that light. Save him quickly!]

[Qianhe Group called the police immediately and offered a public reward. Anyone providing effective clues will get 1 million, with no upper limit.]

[Jia Qiao looks so weak… he was already in poor health.]

[It’s the 21st century and this is still happening? Can’t they locate the IP through the network?]

[They already tried. The six IP addresses are jumping all over the world. Once one is located, it switches immediately. They can’t find the exact location.]

[The police are at their wit’s end too. The Zhu family has openly hired thugs. Old Man Zhu has already turned himself in at the police station, insisting he did everything himself. But he says he has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t remember the plan or the kidnappers’ contact info.]

[The Zhu family is so sinister! The old man is nearly eighty; what’s the use of him turning himself in! And surrendering now only counts as kidnapping—he won’t get the death penalty. At his age, going to prison is just like getting a state-funded retirement.]

[As expected of the Zhu family, who prey on orphans and abandon wives and sons. Disgusting!]

[Enough, my heart aches for Jia Qiao. Zhu Nanyu, if you’re watching from heaven, can you protect your wife?]

.

Meanwhile, in the hospital VIP ward.

Zhu Nanyu, who was always calculating, strategic, and calm even if the sky were falling, now had bloodshot eyes.

He gripped the cold IV stand beside the bed, barely propping up his body.

His feet touched the ground. The body that had been “out of service” for four years swayed twice, nearly collapsing.

Beep beep—

Before he could recklessly rush out of the ward, Lanner called.

“Zhu Nanyu, don’t go crazy!” Lanner’s voice came through the receiver, carrying unprecedented seriousness and gravity. “I’m worried about Jia Qiao too, but there are no clues right now. With your half-dead state, even if you reached him, what could you do?”

Zhu Nanyu’s knuckles turned white from the force of his grip. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, all emotion was forcefully suppressed, replaced by a nearly cruel coldness.

“I am very calm.”

Lanner felt a massive pressure through the receiver and couldn’t utter a word.

“Lanner, connect me to the highest-level surveillance network in A City.” Zhu Nanyu lowered his gaze, his eyes sweeping over Jia Qiao’s pale face on the screen, his voice laced with a shivering chill. “Also, have people keep an eye on the Zhu family.”

.

Time within the prison cell felt nearly frozen. It was unclear how much time had passed.

The air, baked by the lights, was so dry it was suffocating. Every breath caused a faint ache in his chest.

Jia Qiao consciously lowered his breathing frequency and kept his eyes half-closed; his sense of hearing became exceptionally sharp.

The live-stream cameras had no audio function.

Behind a thin wall, the criminal gang leaned together smoking, chatting idly to pass the time.

“Tsk, we’re just waiting?” The headscarf man exhaled a smoke ring irritably. “So slow. If you ask me, just give him a stab. We can take the money tomorrow and flee abroad to eat, drink, and gamble!”

“Earth Dragon, don’t be impatient.” The silent man’s voice came from the corner. “Don’t forget that the one named Zhu specified that kidnapping and contract killing are two different things.”

Up to this point, the case was still within the scope of “Old Man Zhu planned a kidnapping.” Even if a case was opened, it could only be tried as kidnapping.

If it escalated to “hired murder,” it wouldn’t be as easy for the Zhu family to distance themselves, and the inheritance would be affected.

“What a waste… that little beauty inside is so pretty. With such a fine body in front of me, I can’t even play with him. What a pity, what a pity!”

The high-strung man twirled the knife in his hand, making a hiss-hiss sound like a venomous snake flicking its tongue. “I love seeing this kind of pampered little cutie—the kind you can tell has been loved by others—crying and pleading in despair before death… That voice, that expression, it must be something worth remembering.”

The lights in the cell were so blinding that even his consciousness was becoming somewhat blurred.

Jia Qiao shifted his body uncomfortably and caught a trace of an anomaly in his peripheral vision.

He narrowed his eyes to observe closely and discovered that the light near the door frame—on the same circuit as the camera—was flashing according to a certain pattern.

There were too many lights in the room, making the flashing of that one light very inconspicuous and almost impossible to detect.

Jia Qiao calmly captured the long and short, fast and slow light signals.

Long, short, long-long, short, short-long…

The familiar flashing rhythm overlapped with a scene in his memory.

Once, Jia Qiao had been dragged out for a trip by Zhu Nanyu and got separated in a surging crowd on a strange street.

His phone was left at the hotel. Surrounded by unfamiliar faces and streets, he couldn’t find Zhu Nanyu anywhere.

Just as he stood lost by the roadside, debating whether to ask a policeman for help like a lost child…

He looked up. In the center of a nearby lake, the light of a white tower was flashing rhythmically.

Long, short, long-long, short, short-long…

For no reason, Jia Qiao felt pulled by some force and ran toward the tower, seeing a figure leaning against the railing.

“Jiao Jiao!” Zhu Nanyu opened his arms and caught the slightly panting Jia Qiao firmly, intimately rubbing his fluffy short hair. “Running so fast—did you understand the code I sent you?”

“What code?” Jia Qiao blinked in confusion, pointing at the tower. “The light on there? I didn’t understand a bit of it, I just knew it kept flashing.”

“I’ll translate for you.” Zhu Nanyu laughed softly, taking Jia Qiao’s hand and letting the lights flash again, explaining the changing frequency. “Have you heard of Morse code? Using long and short flashes of light in a certain pattern to represent corresponding letters. That string just now meant…”

Jia Qiao stared straight at the light flashing like stars, recalling the code chart Zhu Nanyu had tirelessly taught him for several days, translating it word by word—

J, J, wo zai. (J, J, I am here.)

“…!”

Zhu Nanyu… how could it be you?

In the past four years, countless people had gone to that mountain road, yet not a single trace of Zhu Nanyu was found.

That man had vanished as if he had evaporated into thin air.

If he had been alive all along, why hadn’t he come home for four whole years?

Paralysis? Disfigurement? Amnesia?

Jia Qiao had imagined all sorts of possibilities, but he still couldn’t convince himself to accept them.

He had clearly promised, “Whether in poverty, illness, or adversity, nothing can separate us.” How could he violate his own oath?

In the live-stream room corresponding to the main camera, viewers noticed that Jia Qiao suddenly seemed to lose himself, staring self-destructively at the illumination lamp hanging above his head.

The light was too bright, and fine red streaks soon appeared in his eyes, making him look even more fragile.

As if noticing his expression, the lamp flashed a few more times, corresponding to the letters: z, o, a.

So it was Zoa.

Right, Morse code is quite common; it wasn’t a communication code unique to Zhu Nanyu.

In such an extreme environment, it made sense for the powerful Zoa to manipulate the lights to send a signal.

“Heh.”

Jia Qiao gave a light chuckle and slowly lowered his eyes, unable to describe his feelings.

He had already decided to accept the news of Zhu Nanyu’s death, yet he still harbored a sliver of hope when he was bored.

After a brief silence, Jia Qiao brought his handcuffed hands together behind his back, found one of the camera positions, and gently tapped the floor with his fingertips to send a distress signal.

It was just a pity that when Zhu Nanyu insisted on teaching him, Jia Qiao had been lazy and didn’t learn seriously, only perfunctorily remembering a few letters.

After tapping for a long time, he barely managed to piece together “S” “O” “S,” with one of the “O”s stolen from the middle of Zoa’s name.

With such a vague expression, he didn’t know if Zoa could guess his meaning.

[Jia Qiao’s gaze just went blank for a moment. It looks like he’s getting weaker. I really want to crawl through the screen to save him!!!]

[I specifically consulted an expert. This room looks like it’s just brightly lit, but in reality, strong light releases heat and interferes with the body’s regulation. Jia Qiao is effectively without water or food and continuously exposed to temperatures above 40°C.]

[An average person wouldn’t last three days in this environment. Jia Qiao is weak; lasting until tomorrow would be a miracle.]

[Latest news: The Qianhe reward has been increased to 5 million. Anyone with info, please provide clues!]

[This isn’t just kidnapping! This is cold-blooded torture! Do those animals in the Zhu family have any humanity?]

[As long as you know the history of the Zhu family’s rise, you’d know they are worse than animals! That’s why the first thing Chairman Zhu did when he became an adult was break away from them.]

[Why is my favorite couple’s story so tragic! I’m crying my eyes out!]

At the same time, the Zhu family ancestral home was brightly lit.

In the massive hall, the air was tense.

Zhu Xingwang and Zhu Fulu sat in the left and right positions of the east side, respectively. Zhu Ke sat by Zhu Xingwang’s side, slouching in his chair without any sense of decorum.

In the position directly opposite him sat Ji Fuling, who had spent the last two years in secluded Buddhist practice and rarely made public appearances.

Ji Fuling had dressed up specifically, wearing a perfectly tailored dark green cheongsam with her salt-and-pepper hair pinned up high. She revealed sharp features that, although wrinkled, still carried the lingering spirit of the once-famed socialite of A City.