CH 71

Pei Yi was woken up by a long-lost hangover headache. He tugged at the quilt and flipped back and forth, but couldn’t get rid of the pain in his head.

“Ugghh.”

Pei Yi let out a noise of discomfort, and subconsciously called out for the person he relied on the most, “Er-ge.”

Footsteps sounded from the small living room outside, accompanied by the gentlest response, “I’m here.”

Following at Bo Yueming’s feet, Inspector jumped onto the bed first.

It walked along the edge of the bed to Pei Yi’s shoulder, looking around and sniffing. “Meow-wu~”

Pei Yi struggled against the headache to open his eyes, shifting his gaze from the pet in front of him to Bo Yueming beside the bed.

The other party was wearing a very formal three-piece suit, and looked like he had risen early to get ready.

“Huh?”

Pei Yi stared at Bo Yueming in bewilderment, uttering a low question.

Bo Yueming put the warm water and pills he had prepared on the bedside table, and bent over to check his condition. “Another headache, right? Seeing you drunk like that last night, I guessed you wouldn’t feel well this morning.”

Last night, Bo Yueming had carried the drunken Pei Yi from the car to the master bedroom and washed the two of them up.

Likely because he was at the side of his closest and most trusted person, Pei Yi’s last sense of reason was overwhelmed by his drunkenness after the hot bath, and he boldly fulfilled his wild words of “I’ll eat you.”

Pei Yi embraced Bo Yueming, kissing and gnawing, and after teasing his lover, he, the “culprit,” fell asleep drunk like a rascal.

Pei Yi lightly tugged Bo Yueming’s hand. “Er-ge.”

“En?”

Bo Yueming broke free from his helpless memories of the night before.

Seeing that his lover’s face was presently screwed up with discomfort, he coaxed, “Drink some warm water and take the hangover medicine before you sleep again?”

Pei Yi accepted his fate in a well-behaved manner and struggled to get up.

He gulped down the hangover medicine that Bo Yueming had thoughtfully prepared, and drank more than half a glass of warm water to moisten his dry mouth before heaving a sigh of relief. 

“Thankfully today is Saturday, so I don’t have to go to the studio.”

The game was being watched over by the technical department in shifts, so if there was any problem, he and Li Yuan would be alerted in a timely manner. 

Bo Yueming asked, “Are you hungry?”

Pei Yi shook his head. “I don’t feel good. No appetite.”

Bo Yueming looked at the time and coaxed, “It’s just after eight o’clock, why don’t you sleep a little longer? I also cooked you hangover soup, go eat some downstairs after you’ve had enough sleep.”

Pei Yi unceremoniously fell back, his reasoning still paralyzed by the headache. “Er-ge, why did you get up so early? Where are you going?”

Bo Yueming replied, “You don’t remember? The Bo Group shareholder meeting is scheduled for today.”

The weather was cold.

Although the heating in the master bedroom was adequate, he still pulled up the quilt for his family’s kitten. “It’s scheduled for two o’clock in the afternoon, but I have to go to Grandma’s place first to arrange some things.”

Pei Yi returned to his senses, and curiosity dyed his expression. “Are you able to deal with those people today?”

“En. I had originally wanted to take you with me. Now that you’re in such a state, it’s better for you to stay home and have a good rest.”

Bo Yueming took Pei Yi’s hand and pinched the acupuncture point on his fingertip. This was a move he learned from the internet, and it was said to relieve discomfort after drinking.

His family’s kitten loved to eat and drink, but if Bo Yueming was not watching by his side, it was easy for him to get drunk, so he naturally had to think of various ways to deal with it.

“I will tell you everything that happened when I come back tonight, to satisfy your curiosity.”

Pei Yi teased with a smile, “Today is cold, la. The Bo family is about to change.”

Bo Yueming nodded slightly. “Certain people have occupied the magpie’s nest for half a year. It’s time to return what should be returned.”

“Er-ge, you need to be careful of Bo Guancheng and the others, and especially protect the Old Madam.” Pei Yi stopped joking, and considered carefully, “In case they are cornered and do something extreme.”

Bo Yueming had already considered this point. “I have already contacted Mr. Qin to strengthen the guard staff. Don’t worry.”

Pei Yi nodded slowly.

For some reason, he felt a disconnect in his mind, as if he had forgotten to explain something to Bo Yueming.

Bo Yueming didn’t know what was going on in his mind. “Okay, I’m about to leave. You sleep a little longer, and remember to message me when you wake up later.”

Pei Yi’s discomfort hadn’t stopped, so he just didn’t worry. “Okay.”

Bo Yueming leaned over and kissed his lips. “Good morning, Little Sir.”

Pei Yi stuck to him again and rubbed the tip of his nose, smiling back. “Good morning, Er-ge.”

. . . . . . .

Pei Yi fell asleep again not long after Bo Yueming left, the remnants of drunkenness still tenaciously playing its role, and he let himself sleep drowsily for a long time.

When he woke up again, the headache was gone, and only a little drowsiness remained.

Pei Yi fumbled to pick up the cell phone on the bedside table, and was surprised when he saw the time displayed on the screen—

12:50?

How did he sleep for so long unknowingly?

Uncle Kai would usually wake him up for lunch at half past twelve, so why did he not do so today?

Pei Yi also glanced at the cat nest. It was empty, Inspector nowhere to be seen.

“Strange.”

Pei Yi muttered as he got up, rubbing his temples. After seizing the time to get up and wash, he changed into a white sweater and went downstairs.

The air was filled with the scent of food.

Pei Yi went downstairs steadily, and asked as usual, “Uncle Kai?”

“……”

There was no response.

“Uncle…….”

Just as Pei Yi was about to call out a second time, he caught sight of a familiar figure laying on the dining room floor from the corner of his eye. His expression changed at once, and he immediately accelerated his pace and rushed over!

Uncle Kai had passed out at some point with his face to the ground, and there was a shattered set of dishes beside him.

Pei Yi turned him over and immediately confirmed that he was breathing. While pinching the acupoint between his nose and mouth to wake him up, he scanned him from top to bottom—

His breathing was normal, and there didn’t seem to be any external injuries. Was it a sudden onset illness?

But a housekeeper such as Uncle Kai arranged for a full set of physical examinations every year, and the other party’s body was usually sturdy, so how could he faint for no reason?

Pei Yi brainstormed quickly, and chose to call an ambulance first.

He tried his best to suppress the still-raging dizziness, and was about to move Uncle Kai when he suddenly noticed Inspector hiding beneath a cabinet from the corner of his eye.

The eyes of one person and one cat met.

“Meow-wu!”

Inspector let out a growling, stressed warning sound from its throat.

“……”

Pei Yi’s slightly raised eyes froze, and he felt that something was wrong.

The moment vigilance erupted in his innermost being, there was a strong wind behind him.

Pei Yi instinctively tried to dodge sideways, but the act of crouching and turning around helplessly made his head dizzy. Swish—

His vision suddenly went black!

It was not just brief darkness due to his dizziness. Someone had put a black bag over his head and forcibly imprisoned his hands from behind.

“Meow-wu~”

Inspector uttered a more ferocious cry.

Pei Yi’s heart tightened, but he quickly calmed down. “Inspector! Run!”

No matter how smart and capable the domesticated pet was, it had little chance of winning against someone with evil intentions.

Pei Yi still recalled Inspector’s ending in the original text, and didn’t want such a scene to happen again.

“Run quickly!”

The person behind him heard Pei Yi’s cry and sneered. “Heh, you really are a fool. Still thinking about a cat at a time like this?”

“Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and take him away!”

“……”

Pei Yi knew there was no chance of victory if he resisted fiercely now, but it would easily expose the truth of his disguise.

So before the stranger behind him could find out, he played the part of the “fool” that the other party had ridiculed him for being, struggling and shouting—

In this way, he would establish himself as a “fool” and make the other party relax their vigilance.

“Be quiet! Or else I’ll kill you!”

“Wu wu, en, en.”

Pei Yi’s mouth was covered tightly through the rough sack, and he was practically carried away.

Footsteps staggered one after another. There were two people?

Soon, a car door closed, and a voice different from the first two people rang out, “Let’s go!”

The car engine sounded.

Pei Yi confirmed his answer. There should be a third person driving the car along with the “kidnappers” who broke into the house.

Uncle Kai was likely knocked out by them while preparing lunch, but the real target was Pei Yi himself?

Pei Yi’s thoughts suddenly turned toward the the figure that had flashed by the wall of the villa the night before, and the sense of something being wrong that had been suppressed by his drunkenness finally emerged—

Right!

It wasn’t a hallucination from drinking the other night, there really was someone waiting outside the villa to keep an eye on the situation?

There was a total of two exits in front of and behind the villa.

The side back door was closed all year round, to the point that it seemed the iron chain was going to rust, and the front door had three layers of security. Unless you had the right license plate and could enter without inspection, you had to have an invitation letter from the owner of the manor.

“Wu wu wu wu!”

Pei Yi’s mouth was covered very tightly, but he still let out a flustered, foolish sob on purpose. He heard the sound of the front door being opened—

The people in this car took him out of the manor almost effortlessly.

It seemed that this was either a car for the Bo family’s own use, or they had gotten through the three levels of doormen inside and outside.

But no matter which option it was, the intentions of the people behind the scenes were obvious. Forced to hide under the black sack, the initial panic vanished from Pei Yi’s eyes, only to be replaced by an upwelling of calm sharpness—

Was it the main branch? Or Cheng Yangshan?

Today was Bo Group’s shareholder meeting. Were they afraid that they would not be able to suppress Bo Yueming, so they just decided to “find another way” and had someone kidnap him?

Pei Yi could pretty much figure out the purpose of this sudden “kidnapping,” and couldn’t help but sneer internally.

At this time, he didn’t know whether to say they were too clever, or that they had enmeshed themselves in a trap of their own devising. Knowing his importance to Bo Yueming, they wanted to use him as a check and balance?

Did they think he and Bo Yueming were easy to deal with? Was the law really just for decoration?

However, since the purpose of kidnapping him was to get a handle on Bo Yueming and take away his right to speak—

Then before the meeting officially started, the main branch or the kidnappers would certainly find a way to inform Bo Yueming about this, and they should temporarily keep him as a “hostage” until the shareholders’ meeting was over.

“…….”

Pei Yi estimated that he would be relatively safe for two or three hours, and lost the last bit of his unnecessary tension.

He had to be vigilant, but he couldn’t let his nervousness and anxiety limit his thinking.

Under such circumstances, it was very easy to encounter misfortune when it was one against three, and Pei Yi felt more and more that he should wait for an opportunity—

He couldn’t be a burden. Rather than wait for his lover to rescue him, he must save himself!

. . . . . . .

Bang!

The cup he had picked up accidentally fell back onto the table, spilling a lot of coffee.

Seeing this, Lin Zhong sitting opposite him immediately got up and took out some tissues. “Mr. Bo, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

Bo Yueming wiped the coffee stains from his fingertips, feeling inexplicably uneasy, and glanced at the WeChat interface on his phone—

It was half past one.

Why was Pei Yi silent? The message he sent had not been replied to.

Bo Yueming threw the tissues into the trash can, and said casually, “Lin Zhong, will you call Uncle Kai and see if Pei Yi is awake?”

As soon as he spoke, the office door was pushed in unexpectedly.

Bo Yueming glanced over subconsciously, and a trace of displeasure welled up in his eyes hidden under the glasses.

Lin Zhong, who was about to get up and go out, reacted. “Mr. Bo, it’s the First Young Master.”

Hearing this address, Bo Guancheng sneered in displeasure. “Even if I’m not working in the group, the subsidiary company is still under the management of our main branch, yet I can’t even get the address ‘Boss Cheng’ from you?”

Encountering his wrath, Lin Zhong paused.

Bo Yueming said calmly, “Lin Zhong, you leave first.”

“Yes.”

Lin Zhong passed Bo Guancheng.

The latter approached the sofa step by step, and took a seat across from Bo Yueming without waiting to be greeted. “I really underestimated you. Your acting skills aren’t bad.”

Bo Yueming seemed to have guessed this would happen long ago, and picked up his coffee without haste. “Why don’t I seem to have seen your name on the list? Oh, that’s right, there’s a statement on the official website.”

Bo Guancheng recalled the public statement of his dismissal, and gritted his teeth. “Bo Yueming, you are the one who should have been removed from today’s shareholder list, not me!”

He thought he could rely on the old lady’s favor, conceal the news of her life or death, and join hands with the second branch again to control Bo Group every step of the way?

In his dreams!

Bo Guancheng took off his glasses, and also removed his mask of hypocritical agreeableness he always wore, revealing his original viciousness and hatred—

“You’re just a stray dog the old lady brought in from outside. What right do you have to be equal to me and the main branch?”

Splash!

Bo Yueming suddenly flicked the coffee cup in his hand, and all of the liquid in the cup was poured onto Bo Guancheng’s face and clothes without falling to the ground!

“…….”

Bo Guancheng’s expression changed at once. He hadn’t expected Bo Yueming to do such a thing.

Bo Yueming set the coffee cup down firmly. This was a trick he had learned from his little lover.

It was enough to vent his anger.

He lay down the eviction notice without a change of expression, “The general shareholder meeting is about to start. If you have time to sit and chat with me, how about cleaning yourself up?”

Bo Yueming was fuming with anger, but before he could refute, Lin Zhong knocked on the door and walked in.

They made eye contact.

Bo Guancheng caught the uncontrolled panic in the assistant’s eyes, and immediately felt that he was standing at the stage where the balance shifted toward victory. “I hope you can still laugh later.”

Just wait and see!

Once this person had a weakness, they were bound to succeed in a big way!

With this vague sentence, Bo Guancheng got up and left. At the same time, Lin Zhong hastily locked the office door.

Bo Yueming noticed his assistant’s abnormality. “What has happened?”

“Mr. Bo! I called Uncle Kai, but he didn’t answer. But just now I suddenly received an anonymous text message from an encrypted number—”

“The other party said that Little Sir is in their hands, and they will call to confirm in three minutes.”

Because of the urgency and importance of this matter, Lin Zhong had rushed back to the office in a hurry.

“What?!”

Bo Yueming’s breathing became disordered.

The call came in just as his voice fell, still an encrypted string of numbers from an unknown location.

Lin Zhong immediately passed the phone over. “Mr. Bo! Here!”

Bo Yueming suppressed his surging emotions and pressed the button to connect. At the same time, he didn’t forget to turn on the recording. “Hello?”

A hoarse voice came from the other end. “Give the phone to Bo Yueming!”

Bo Yueming got right to the point. “This is he. Where is Pei Yi?”

The other party laughed, full of malice. “He’s tied up, and his ticket might be up at any time. So, troubling Boss Bo to cooperate with us.”

“Of course, to cooperate in good faith, I’ll let Boss Bo inspect the goods first.” 

After he said this, there was a commotion on the other end of the line. “Come on! Say a few words!”

“Wu.”

A wordless whimper sounded. 

Bo Yueming recognized it right away. His hand gripped the phone with such force that his veins bulged, and an incoherent cry echoed in his ears.

It was Pei Yi’s voice, but not the way Pei Yi should be with him.

His lover was still maintaining his “foolish” appearance in front of them? And they hadn’t found out yet?

Having quickly confirmed this point, Bo Yueming said simply and firmly, “Turn on the video. I want to talk to him in person to confirm his safety.”

The person on the other end didn’t comply. “Boss Bo, aren’t you pushing your limits?”

Bo Yueming’s next request was louder, mixed with a trace of hostility. “I said, turn on the video, otherwise don’t even think about negotiating terms with me.”

“…….”

The kidnapper on the other end hesitated for a few seconds, then finally agreed with a curse.

The video was delayed for a moment, and then Pei Yi’s figure appeared on-screen—

The temperature was cold enough to snow, and the other party only wore a not-very-thick sweater. His eye sockets were red, and so was the frozen tip of his nose.

Bo Yueming gritted his teeth to keep his expression from fluctuating too much.

This group of people intended to use Pei Yi to manipulate him, and the more he showed excessive concern now, the more the losses would outweigh the gains.

The phone was briefly handed to Pei Yi.

“Fool, say a few words, hurry up!”

Probably because they thought Pei Yi was a fool who couldn’t accommodate to the circumstances, the kidnappers had only tied his hands crudely in front of him. 

Pei Yi struggled to catch the phone with both hands. When he saw Bo Yueming clearly on the screen, he at once vividly expressed his grievance and fear, calling out tearfully.

“Not Er-ge, want Brother!”

“Pei Yi?”

“Go home! I….don’t like it…..here.” Pei Yi took the opportunity to change the camera’s viewpoint slightly, but he couldn’t be too obvious due to the people behind him. “Worn out….more worn out than last time.”

Bo Yueming’s screen continued to record his lover’s message, and he cooperated sincerely, “It’s okay, don’t be afraid.”

Facing the three pairs of eyes in front of him, Pei Yi seemed unable to listen to Bo Yueming’s comfort, and continued to talk nonsense. “T-twenty minutes, pick me up, Big Brother, I want my Big Brother, I want…..”

“Enough!”

The leader smoking a cigarette snatched the cell phone away. “You really can’t stop?”

The video was interrupted for a moment.

The leader took over speaking, and said, “Boss Bo, can we talk about cooperation? You had better withdraw immediately from today’s shareholder meeting. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee that something won’t happen to this little fool.”

Bo Yueming interrupted in a firm voice, “Tell Bo Guancheng for me that what I hate most in life is being threatened. Don’t even think about it.”

At the critical moment of the general shareholders’ meeting, who else could attack Pei Yi by his side other than the rotten, stinking main branch of the Bo family?

The other party clearly heard Bo Yueming’s unwillingness to bend, and there was a hint of ruthlessness in his hoarse voice, “Believe it or not, I’ll kill the hostage now!”

Kill the hostage?

Bo Yueming’s brow twitched slightly, and he was forced to gamble with his heart. “Okay, ah, you want to give it a shot? If you intend to do this, I’ll call the police right now.”

A suffocating silence permeated the air, and Bo Yueming eventually won the gamble.

The kidnapper took a step back and changed up his words. “Just keep your mouth shut at the shareholders’ meeting, and in two hours, I’ll give you a ransom amount.”

Bo Yueming knew when to throw in the towel. He agreed.

The phone quickly cut off on the other end, leaving only the indifferent sound of a dial tone.

Lin Zhong didn’t expect that Bo Guancheng would use such tactics. “Mr. Bo, the shareholders’ meeting is about to begin. What should we do now?”

Was it necessary to follow Bo Guancheng’s arrangements and withdraw from the shareholders’ meeting or remain mute the whole time? To allow them to kick him out of his position?

Bo Yueming put down the phone as if he had lost his strength, but forced himself to rally his spirits and calm down. “It’s useless to panic now. We can’t be left to their mercy.”

His lover was so clever and trusted him so calmly, he couldn’t let him down!

In his mind, Bo Yueming stripped away the “foolish” words Pei Yi had said and sorted out the truly usable information, then quickly dialed Qin Yishun’s number.

. . . . . . .

In a dark, damp little rental house.

Pei Yi feigned terror and curled up trembling in a corner, trying to relax the vigilance of the other three as much as possible.

The words “kill the hostage” sounded scary on the phone just now, but it was clearly just a threat.

Pei Yi could tell that the leading kidnapper wanted to play both sides—

On the one hand, he took Bo Guancheng’s money and remotely helped him get a handle on Bo Yueming at the shareholders’ meeting. And on the other hand, he wanted to use the kidnapping to pry a ransom out of Bo Yueming.

Before the conclusion of the shareholders’ meeting, and before any abrupt changes occurred, it was impossible for his life to be in danger for the time being.

Pei Yi had already hidden some general information in his nonsense just now—

12:50 was the last time he saw at home, and 1:25 was the time he saw on the kidnapper’s phone.

Leaving aside the miscellaneous things that happened before and after, the time it took to transfer him from the villa to this place was at a conservative estimate only about twenty minutes.

The place he was staying now was even more worn out than the old house they trapped Lin Na in last time, plus they hadn’t changed vehicles halfway, and there were surveillance cameras at the gate of the manor and along the road—

The old house twenty minutes away from the manor could be found with a bit of investigating.

The reason Pei Yi kept yelling for his “Big Brother” in the video was because Qin Yishun’s company was the largest risk management firm in China.

Besides the police, they had a special emergency system for this kind of situation.

And another important reason was that he knew the importance of this shareholders’ meeting to Bo Yueming and Old Mrs. Bo! It was the best time to deal with Cheng Yangshan and the main branch of the Bo family!

If Bo Yueming rushed out to find him and rescue him right now, wouldn’t that make it clear that he had cast aside the shareholder meeting?

No!

Bo Guancheng and the others must not be allowed to succeed, otherwise they would only become more difficult to deal with in the future!

Pei Yi knew that Bo Yueming must be very anxious for him at this time. This was enough. Before reinforcements arrived, he believed that he had the ability to protect himself, and even find the right time to escape!

Pei Yi was in a predicament, but his heart was filled with love and trust. He secretly observed the nearby kidnappers with peerless determination—

Forget being a fucking weakness.

He would never become a burden for Bo Yueming!