Chapter 255

Shi Yong said: "Okay, brother, I'll listen to you. I estimate that for now, Kong Shi still can't find us."

I said: "Is Shangguan Zhuren by your side? Give him the phone, I want to say a few words."

Shi Yong said: "Shangguan Zhuren is drinking alone in his room. I'll give him the phone right away."

After Shi Yong finished speaking, he went to look for Shangguan Zhuren,

"Jianqiang, you already know, we miscalculated; this Kong Shi actually doesn't take Kong Xiangju seriously, we underestimated him."

He directly responded, telling us to kill the hostage.

"How can there be such a father in the world?" Shangguan Zhuren sighed.

"Yeah, I also didn't expect Kong Shi to be so ruthless, playing with his son's life. Just now Shi Yong suggested cutting off another of Kong Xiangju's fingers and sending it to Kong Shi, but I didn't agree."

"Since he doesn't care about his son's life, would he still care about a finger?"

"Furthermore, repeatedly contacting Kong Shi like this only makes him more suspicious of us. They will cling to Li Ming and not let go."

"Kong Shi will also find out about Shanghu."

Shangguan Zhuren said: "I also worry about this matter; is the person Xiao Wu contacted reliable? Will they betray us,"

"Now I also have no confidence in my heart."

"It seems the plan to exchange Kong Xiangju for Li Ming has failed."

"Sigh, rescuing Li Ming is a problem. I've been thinking about it all tonight, but I still haven't come up with a clue."

I said: "Shangguan Zhuren, don't be anxious. If worse comes to worst, tomorrow I will again, using Zhou Fuhai's identity, forcefully order Kong Shi to release Li Ming."

"Tonight, Hou Laoban of the Zaocheng Grand Hotel invited me to a meal, deliberately asking me about some matters of Sijiucheng,"

"I judged that Kong Shi arranged for him to come, deliberately to test me."

"I saw that Hou Laoban believed me,"

"Then Kong Shi might also believe."

"So tomorrow I will again contact Kong Shi using Zhou Fuhai's identity."

After I finished speaking, Shangguan Zhuren fell silent for a moment,

then he said: "I feel it's not good. First, Zhou Fuhai is too concerned about Li Ming's matter, which makes it easy for Kong Shi to become more suspicious of your identity.

"Second, regarding this capture of Li Ming being Zhou Jie's order, it's unclear whether Zhou Jie is acting on Zhou Renfeng's orders or making his own decision."

"We don't know."

"If Zhou Jie is carrying out Zhou Renfeng's order, then it shows that over this past week, Zhou Renfeng has already completely suspected your identity, even abandoning Zhou Fuhai."

"Staying at the Zaocheng Grand Hotel is dangerous for you."

"They could arrest you at any time."

"I am becoming increasingly worried about this matter."

"My suggestion is that you do not meet Liu Shiru."

"Hurry up and withdraw from the Zaocheng Grand Hotel."

"Now the path of impersonating Zhou Fuhai is coming to an end."

Upon hearing Shangguan Zhuren say that,

I felt somewhat unwilling in my heart,

I have spent so much time and endured so much hardship,

Impersonating Zhou Fuhai, is it going to end so quickly?

I still want to delve deeper into this; I haven't felt that Zhou Renfeng suspects my true or false identity.

The situation is not as bad as Shangguan Zhuren said.

I said over the phone: "Shangguan Zhuren, I feel this matter hasn't reached the point of giving up; that fake Zhou Fuhai has already finished his plastic surgery."

"Even if they suspect my true or false identity, then it's real."

"I still have room to survive,"

"I must meet Liu Shiru; I need to clearly understand their next plan; only then can we better respond."

Shangguan Zhuren then slowly said: "Jianqiang, perhaps what you say makes sense, but I always feel something is off,"

"If you meet Liu Shiru, you must prepare a countermeasure, namely an escape plan, to deal with possible changes."

"Okay, Shangguan Zhuren, I brought Xiao Long out just to cope with such changes." I said.

"Jianqiang, then take care." Shangguan Zhuren said.

"Take care, Shangguan Zhuren." I then hung up the phone.

After I hung up the phone, Xiao Long hurriedly asked: "Grandfather, what did Uncle Yong say?"

I looked at Xiao Long and said: "Just now Shi Yong called and said that the plan to exchange Kong Xiangju for your father failed; Kong Shi directly ordered to kill the hostage."

"Ah, this Kong Shi is too ruthless, actually acting against his own son. What should we do about my father?" Xiao Long asked.

I said: "I plan to meet Liu Shiru, then leave Zaocheng, and afterwards think of a way to rescue your father."

Xiao Long said: "When will we go to meet Liu Shiru?"

I said: "I don't know, because Liu Shiru hasn't come from the south yet. We can only wait. Moreover, Xiao Long, our current situation is very dangerous, because Kong Shi is suspicious of my identity."

"We could be arrested at any time."

"Xiao Long, we must think of a countermeasure."

Xiao Long nodded,

"Grandfather, living here is really dangerous; look, this is the ninth floor, all sealed spaces; as soon as someone comes in from outside,"

"we can only surrender. There is no place to hide in this room."

"I just looked; this hotel's windows have only one ventilation window; escaping through the window is impossible."

"Also, the ventilation opening in the bathroom is sealed."

Grandpa, it's really hard to hide here.

After I heard Xiao Long finish speaking, I pondered for a moment,

We'll change hotels; that will make it easier to arouse their suspicion. Xiao Long, go check the eighth floor later—on that floor there is an emergency escape passage we reserved when we built the building.

Because the original building design, besides the safety stairwell, also had an emergency escape passage.

This Hou Laoban, in order to save money and build more rooms, altered the blueprints and did away with the escape passage.

But we had already built up to the eighth floor by then, with no alternative, so we sealed off the escape passage,

The escape opening was merely coated with a layer of cement, located at the stairwell on the eighth floor,

Try pounding it with your fist—you'll hear a hollow sound there.

At that time, you only need to stomp with your foot to kick it open; from there you can go directly down to the ground‑level freight door, you can park your car there, and we'll be able to leave the Zaocheng Grand Hotel quickly.

Upon hearing that, Xiao Long,

He said, 'All right, Grandpa, I'll go try it now. Just in case something happens, we can leave quickly.'

Xiao Long put on his hat and left the room, then quickly arrived at the stairwell on the eighth floor, tapping the wall lightly with his fist.

Sure enough, he heard a hollow sound.

Xiao Long then quickly came back,

'Grandpa, that spot is still there—just sealed with a single layer of cement; I estimate I can kick it open with one foot.'

'Good. I'll go to the front desk later to change rooms, moving from the ninth floor to a room near the stairwell on the eighth floor. If anything happens, we can escape via the emergency passage.'

'Otherwise, we'll let them catch us in a trap.'

Xiao Long said, 'All right, Grandpa, I'll go pack my things.'

I then went downstairs to the front desk and, because the toilet was unusable, requested a room change to the eighth floor.

The front desk agreed, and we got a guest room near the stairwell.

We were busy until midnight before finally falling asleep. After lying down, I just couldn't sleep.

I started thinking about my brother Li Ming. I don't know how he is now, or where they have locked him up.

When will I be able to rescue him?

Li Ming, brother, you can hold on in there.

I will definitely rescue you.

I kept thinking about it in my heart.

Only when the sky was about to brighten did I finally fall asleep.

When I woke up, it was already morning.

I opened Zhou Fuhai's phone, wanting to see if any messages had come in,

I wondered when Liu Shiru would finally arrive in Zaocheng.