Chapter Fourteen "Kidnapping"

  Ma Yilao made us stare at the photo, although it was late at night and the outdoor light wasn't strong, but when we leaned in closer, we could still see the person's face in the photo.

  This is a fifty or sixty-year-old man who looks very ordinary, especially the wrinkles on his face that have been weathered by the wind and frost make me think he has had a hard life.

  Lu Yifeng took the lead and asked Maiyi old man, "What do you want us to do?"

  "Your bodies are too weak, unsuitable for high-intensity tasks. This time there's a simple job. The address is written on the back of this photo. Find the old man according to the address, bring him to your home and take care of him, protect him until this case is over."

  I think Mai is putting it nicely, but if we're being blunt, the two of us are serving as male caregivers for this old man.

  And since he scolded me and Panzi, I have been a bit biased against him. In my heart, I thought, why should he be able to order us around? He's not our leader, we're all just informants, so what gives him the right? Moreover, I think this task of being a male nanny is his responsibility, but he's shirking it and pushing it onto us. What a great guy! In my opinion, he's just a selfish "old scoundrel".

  Luyu Feng respected the old man's words and carefully took the photo over. The old man added, "Remember, by tomorrow evening at 7 o'clock, you must bring this old man back home, and you can rest assured that no one will climb in through the windows."

  As I savored these words, the implication was that someone was protecting us. Unexpectedly, Mah Yi Lao Tuo wasn't just one person; he also had helpers.

  Then he didn't say anything else, stood up and patted his butt, gnawing on dried meat while riding a motorcycle away. The whole wishing tree was left with just the three of us brothers.

  We didn't have any lingering feelings either, and we wouldn't be talking nonsense to the wishing tree at this time. We also hurried back home.

  All the way, I've been thinking about whether the person climbing the window is the murderer or not. Also, Miao's old man must not have brought a gun, and just used a slingshot-like thing to shoot the window climber away. We live on the fourth floor, who is so cruel that they can shoot such a powerful slingshot?

  Panzi thought of another question and asked Luyu Feng, "Why did you call Ma Yi the old man 'Gun Wolf'? Does this Gun Wolf have a great origin?"

  Lu Yu Feng took advantage of the gap to return a sentence, "Qiang Lang is a legendary figure, I always thought he was in hiding, didn't expect him to become a special informant. Don't ask me about his background anymore, sooner or later, Captain Qiu Hu will tell you."

  I don't get it, what's the relationship between Gun Wolf and Prison Fox? They're so far apart in age, are they father and daughter or something? That would be too interesting, which means Prison Fox's whole family is professional moles.

  We were all in a bad state, and there was nothing much to talk about afterwards. After going home, we simply washed up and went to bed. And after such a tiring night, we got up very late the next day, almost at noon.

  During dinner, Lu Yifeng took out the photo and flipped it over to look at the back. He read the address on it.

  This is a factory in the southwest of Moose Town, and Lao Tou is the security guard of the factory, also serving as a night watchman.

  I know that being a night watchman is a one-day shift, usually two people take turns to keep watch at night. I was worried and thought to myself, hopefully this old man won't be on holiday today, or it would be hard for us to find him.

  We drove a black sedan to the processing plant and luckily this old man was on duty today.

  We stuck to the security room window and looked inside, and Lu Yifeng also took out a photo for comparison to confirm his identity.

  I found that photos can also harm people, easily beautifying them. In real life, this old man is even uglier and more disheveled than in the photo. We compared and looked back and forth for a long time, but didn't dare to confirm if it was really him.

  Our movements caught the old man's attention, who was slurping noodles. He stopped eating, wiped his mouth, opened a small window and asked us, "Hey, what are you doing?"

  The back of the photo also had an old man's name, and Lu Yufeng tentatively asked, "Wang Tong? Uncle Wang?"

  The old man nodded and we matched up. We didn't say anything else and pulled open the door, walking in one after another.

  Wang Tong was stunned by our actions, and he raised his voice again, asking "What are you guys doing?"

  Lu Yifeng played a trick and sat down beside Wang, saying, "Uncle, we are criminal police officers. There's something we'd like to ask for your cooperation with. Come with us."

  Actually, I really didn't want us to pretend to be police officers, but on second thought, we can't tell Wang Tong that the two of us are parolees, or he'll get a heart attack.

  Wang Tong wasn't that stupid either. He stared at us and muttered, "I didn't do anything wrong. Besides, you guys have any evidence?"

  This stumped me, and we indeed had no proof. But Lu Yifeng just smiled indifferently.

  There was a phone in the security room, and Lu Yifeng asked Wang Tong for the number. After writing it down, he turned around and left.

  After a little over a minute, he came back, pointing at the phone and saying, "Uncle, there's an incoming call. Take a look at the caller ID and then pick it up."

  I was curious about what would happen, so I went over to the phone and looked at it. Before long, the phone rang, and it turned out to be 110.

  What does 110 mean? Wang Tong definitely understood and immediately became serious, then murmured on the phone for a long time.

  I completely understood. I thought Ah Feng had found Yu Jinghang and asked him to send someone to call 110 to verify our identities. I glanced at Ah Feng, secretly praising his cleverness.

  He hung up the phone and Wang sat back on the stool, deep in thought. We didn't know what the 110 call said to the old man, but Lu Yifeng continued, "Uncle, don't worry, it's nothing big, the police will also contact your factory, just follow us for a few days, and we'll send you back safely."

  Pan Zi chimed in with a joke, "Old man, come with us and you can eat and drink as much as you want. Otherwise, look at you, eating noodles every day."

  I think they're right, an ordinary person would have left long ago, but Wang is stubborn and says that even if he eats swallow's nest and abalone every day, it's not worth it. The factory has been cracking down on absenteeism recently, deducting three days' wages for one day of absence. If he leaves with us, there won't be much salary left this month. Moreover, he dares to guarantee again that his political record is clean and he hasn't done anything wrong. Why did the police come looking for him? He has the right not to leave if he's innocent.

  This infuriates me, and I think to myself: where did this old fellow Ma Yi find such a stubborn old man for us to protect? It's almost as if good words can't get through.

  We're also physically ill, and we can't afford to waste our energy on him like this. In the end, we'll just expose ourselves, so what's the point of pretending to be good people's police? I exchanged a glance with Panzi, and each of us grabbed one of Wang's arms, forcibly dragging him out. Lu Yufeng followed behind.

  At first, Wang Tong wanted to resist, but his small body, even if I and Panzi were ill, he couldn't overpower us two.

  We put him on a black sedan, Lu Yifeng drove, and we sped away.

  After returning home, I suddenly found that Wang Tong was not so stubborn anymore. We bought him some good food and drink, and after a few cups of wine, the old man became happy and didn't mention leaving again. He even started chatting with us in a friendly manner.

  I tried to get him to talk and felt that Moe couldn't possibly let us protect him for no reason, there must be a reason.

  It's clear that Wang Tong didn't hide anything either, but he was really confused and couldn't say anything, except for one sentence that caught my attention.

  He said that three months ago, someone had asked him to have a good meal and drink, saying that he valued a book at his home and wanted to buy it for 500 yuan. The book was nothing special, just the Quotations of Chairman Mao. He thought about it and felt that selling it for 500 yuan was a good deal, so he agreed on the spot.

  I didn't respond at the time, but exchanged glances with Lu Yifeng and Pan Zi. I felt that Chairman Mao's quote was not ordinary, and if things went wrong, it would be like Pandora's box in that woman's house, with some hidden tricks.

  Wang Tong basically hadn't read any books and didn't like studying that sort of thing, let alone knowing what was strange about those records. We couldn't ask anything else.

  So the two of us spent another day taking care of our illness and working as part-time babysitters. In order to "fulfill their duties", Afeng even specially gave up his bed for Wang to live in, and he himself slept on the sofa.

  Wang Tong walked with us like this, and tonight's shift would have no one to do it. He took the opportunity to call another shift worker and asked him to take over the shift.

  It was already late at night, and I was drowsy when I heard Wang Tong's phone ringing. His ringtone is really annoying and piercing.

  He started off with nothing much, answered the phone with a few "uh-huhs", then suddenly shouted out loud, "Huh?"

  I wasn't prepared either, and was startled by his sudden shout, which immediately woke me up. Lu Yifeng, who was sleeping in the living room, also woke up, thinking something unexpected had happened, and rushed over barefoot.

  Wang's face turned very ugly, and after hanging up the phone, he told us, "It's not good, the security room at the factory suddenly caught fire, and my colleague was burned to death."

  I was stunned, burning a person to death doesn't mean much to me, but I think how can it be so coincidental? Just after taking Wang Tong away, the security room caught fire. Is someone mistaken that tonight is Wang Tong's shift? Are they targeting Wang Tong?

  Wang's emotions became unstable. He got dressed while telling us that he wanted to go take a look now and asked if we could drive him there.

  I realized the danger, and thought to myself that this old man was really something else, if the murderer found out he had killed the wrong person, who knows how much regret he would have later. He still dared to run back with a swagger, isn't this simply a blatant provocation?

  I and Panzi both advised him, but Wang Tong wouldn't listen. Instead, he turned to ask us, "My brother died for me, took my place, can you just ignore it?"

  I understand his feelings, but I've also made up my mind not to let him go.

  Just as we were arguing, Lu Yifeng suddenly spoke up and unexpectedly agreed with Wang Tong's words. He even took the initiative to offer to send him back.