Chapter 2681

When Zhou Andong and his group left the restaurant, Lian Xiangzhi, who was sitting not far away in a corner, was still eating leisurely. Three people sat beside him, one of them a young man holding a newspaper, when suddenly the young man widened his eyes: "Damn it!"

His exclamation drew the attention of the others, who all turned to look, their eyes full of curiosity.

"What's wrong?" asked a tall, thin middle-aged man: "What news could make Mr. Ma lose his composure like this?"

Ma Xianli, chairman of the German Ma Trading Import and Export Company, was born in Yueqing, Zhejiang Province in 1962. At the age of nine, he carried a pole on his shoulder and went from street to street buying vegetables.

In 1978, reform and opening-up brought Ma Xianli development and opportunity. At seventeen, he decided to leave the village path, leave his hometown, and head toward the wider world to see what lay beyond, thus becoming one of the hundreds of thousands of Wenzhou supply and marketing personnel in the great tide.

After more than a decade of development, Ma Xianli's business empire covered hardware, clothing, lighters, and various other small commodities. Thus he made another bold decision: to go abroad and sell hardware, clothing, lighters, and other small goods overseas.

This idea immediately met opposition from family and friends: "German manufacturing is superb—how could our products possibly compete?" But Ma Xianli stubbornly held to his decision, and in early 1992 he set foot in Europe, settling in Bremen, Germany.

At first, few trusted Chinese-made goods. For two months he attended over a dozen trade fairs in Germany, yet closed not a single deal. He often went several days and nights without sleep, his energy and finances severely overdrawn.

He was a man of extraordinary resilience—otherwise he would not have achieved what he has today. Yet during those two-plus months in Germany, his mental strain was immense, and his inner resolve began to waver.

Just then, a Swiss company tentatively approached him with an order for a batch of lighters. And this order, like a divine stabilizing needle, steadied his already wavering heart.

To satisfy the customer and prove faith in Chinese manufacturing, he strictly controlled quality, and the first batch's cost exceeded the plan by 30%. But by raising costs and enforcing strict quality control, he established a foothold in Germany's renowned precision manufacturing market, and also set a new image for Chinese manufacturing in the international market.

Thereafter, Ma Xianli carried various Chinese-made products and attended nearly every major trade fair across Europe. Fact proved that high-quality, low-cost Chinese goods still had a market in Europe. In two years, on European soil he opened up a new world for Chinese manufacturing.

Now Ma Xianli is a representative figure of overseas Chinese merchants, so he also received an invitation to the symposium—and of course he also wanted to develop new markets domestically. Thus he accepted the organizer's invitation.

Ma Xianli held up the newspaper: "Zhou Andong almost got kidnapped."

The first to react was Lian Xiangzhi; this guy's eyes flashed with sharp light behind his lenses: "Let me see."

Ma Xianli handed over the newspaper, and Lian Xiangzhi snatched it up, immediately seeing the bold, black headline: Jiangzhou Public Security Bureau Cracks a Major Criminal Case!

According to this newspaper's reporter interview and report, in May this year, Yin某, Gu某, Xia某, Chen某, Lu某 and others, carrying large quantities of firearms and hand grenades, flowed into Jiangzhou to plot the kidnapping of Zhou Andong, chairman of the Yu Gong Group.

But on the eve of the crime, they were caught for soliciting prostitutes; afterward, Jiangzhou police searched the vehicles used by their gang and found five pistols, two rifles, one submachine gun, six hundred rounds of various ammunition, and eight grenades……

This report is not long—only about five or six hundred characters—but the information it contains is immense, and its seriousness far exceeds imagination. For one must know that, given Zhou Andong's current status, influence, and the fact that the nation is now in the reform and opening-up era, with everyone nationwide seeking investment and attracting capital.

Once Zhou Andong is kidnapped, the negative impact would be too great; if then exploited by those with ulterior motives for smear propaganda, it would certainly affect investment attraction. Therefore, this case will definitely attract central attention.

Lian Xiangzhi slowly lowered the newspaper, inwardly cursing these kidnappers as utterly foolish—getting caught for soliciting prostitutes before the crime even began. They should have first helped Zhou Andong get the money, then torn up the ticket and killed that son of a bitch.

At this moment, Ma Xianli glanced at the time, stood up, and said: "The meeting is about to start—we'd better hurry over, or we'll be late."

…………………………

At this time, the entire Yin family, none missing, had gathered in the old master's study, each face grim. In fact, they had seen the news yesterday afternoon about Yin Mo's kidnapping of Zhou Andong.

But they were completely in the dark, unaware of the specifics, so naturally they could not act rashly. Moreover, Yin Mo is good-for-nothing and wouldn't be foolish enough to run to Jiangzhou to kidnap Zhou Andong.

As for the firearms and grenades found in Yin Mo's vehicle, the entire Yin family had no suspicion. For they all knew Yin Mo liked such things—he had his own armory, storing various models of weapons from around the world.

Yet what they did not expect was that this scoundrel Yin Mo, even playing with those guns at home wasn't enough—he actually put them in the car and brought them to Jiangzhou, thus bringing himself enormous trouble. Therefore, the whole family was furious enough to spit, except for Yin Zongquan, this old thing, whose face showed no expression.

"Damn it, it's obvious Yin Mo was set up by Zhou Andong." Yin Laosan Yin Mingyu's face was ashen, but no one noticed the hint of excitement in his eyes.

"Second Sister!" Yin Mingyu looked toward Yin Meilan: "You said you wanted to go to Jiangzhou, so why haven't you left yet?"

Yin Meilan replied unhappily: "The child has started school, Yin Mo has already been in there for so long—it's not like these three or five days matter—so I thought I'd go after the child starts school. Who knew something like this would suddenly happen?"

Yin Mingyu said somewhat anxiously: "Second Sister, we know nothing about Yin Mo's situation, so you must go today to avoid complications later."

Yin Meilan agreed: "Okay!"

"Father!" Yin Er Yin Mingxing looked toward Yin Zongquan: "You'd better speak up—if we don't quickly find a solution, Yin Mo will really be finished in Jiangzhou."

Yin Zongquan closed his eyes, leaned back in the chair, and who knows what he was thinking. He heard Yin Mingxing's words, and without opening his eyes said: "I'm waiting for your eldest brother's call."

"Ding ling——"

As Yin Zongquan's old words fell, the telephone on the desk rang. The old man's eyes finally opened; he reached out, picked up the receiver, and immediately heard Yin Mingsheng's voice, suppressed with anger, coming through the earpiece.

"Father, last night I had the provincial department set up a special task force to go down and investigate, but I still overestimated my own influence. The task force was established, and personnel were sent down to investigate Yin Mo's case, yet I have no control over the task force whatsoever.

Just now the task force fed back their investigation results to me: Yin Mo and his gang premeditated the kidnapping of Zhou Andong—the facts are clear, the evidence solid. Therefore, we can only have the Ministry of Public Security挂牌supervise and dispatch a task force down here; otherwise, Yin Mo is truly in danger this time."