Chapter 1133: Identity Exposed, A Desperate Struggle 4

Shi Ran was close to her, so she grabbed Liu Min and held her, finally managing to stop her.

They could not provoke Zhu Qingxiang now; if he were to detonate the explosives, all of them would be finished.

"Hmph! You're a sensible one."

Fortunately, Zhu Qingxiang was not provoked, or perhaps he simply did not want to perish together.

He picked up the Dagger again and held it against Yun Qitian's neck: "I have two conditions. As long as you can fulfill them, I will let him go."

"And I guarantee that from now on, we will mind our own business and I will never trouble you again. How about that?"

The Zhu Family held a deep, irreconcilable hatred for the Sheng Family and the Qi Family, so neither of them believed his nonsense.

But with Yun Qitian in his hands, they could not use force.

"State them."

"What conditions?"

A flash of smugness crossed Zhu Qingxiang's face.

The first condition was directed at Qi Heng; he demanded that Qi Heng have the President sign a statement pardoning his father, Zhu Yiwen, for treason and declaring him innocent!

Back then, a large amount of Zhu Yiwen's assets had been frozen; if Zhu Yiwen could be declared innocent, his assets would be unfrozen, and he and his younger brother could rightfully inherit this legacy!

The brothers did not have much money left in their hands and were in urgent need of funds.

Qi Heng refused flatly: "Impossible. You are making an unreasonable demand. My father will absolutely never agree to this. Furthermore, if he finds out that you and your brother are still alive, he will dig three feet into the ground to find your brother. You should know better than I do what the consequences will be for him."

"If you don't agree, he dies!"

Zhu Qingxiang increased the pressure in his hand, and the Dagger left a bloody mark on his neck.

Yun Qitian screamed incessantly in terror: "God, don't kill me, don't kill me! I haven't lived enough yet. It's useless to kidnap me to get to his father; you should go find my father."

"My father can give you a huge sum of money, enough to ensure you never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of your life. I'll give you as much as you want..."

Qi Heng shrugged, spread his hands, and said indifferently: "You must be muddled with anxiety. He is right; my father wouldn't care if he lived or died. Let alone him, even if you held a knife to my neck and made such a demand, my father would refuse without the slightest hesitation."

He was not lying; the President would indeed do that.

Taking advantage of his hesitation, Shi Ran added at the right moment: "What is the other condition?"

Zhu Qingxiang: "Get me the pendant on your mother's neck, and I will let him go. Don't tell me you can't even manage this small request."

Shi Ran knew the pendant on her mother's neck was of great significance, and she also knew that the one currently worn around her neck was a fake.

A flash of surprise crossed her face, followed immediately by a look of ease as she agreed: "Fine, I agree to this request."

To Zhu Qingxiang, her expression looked like the ease of someone who truly did not know the inside story.

Shi Ran took out her phone, preparing to dial a number.

Zhu Qingxiang ordered: "Put it on speaker."

With it on speaker, he could hear everything the mother and daughter said and would not fear her playing any tricks.

"Alright."

Shi Ran agreed and turned on the speaker.

Shi Youxuan answered quickly: "Ranran, why are you calling at this time? Didn't you go to class?" Her mother knew they were meeting Hong Yileng, so she spoke this way on purpose to lull the enemy into a false sense of security.

Shi Ran: "I don't have class today, Mom. I have a small favor to ask of you."

"Could you lend me the pendant on your neck to wear for a few days?"

"No."

Shi Youxuan refused flatly: "You have so many necklaces and pendants, can't you wear one of those? Why have you suddenly taken a liking to mine? Didn't you say mine was ugly and didn't look good?"

Shi Ran: "It's like this, Qitian found a fortune-telling shaman who is incredibly accurate. She said I've had bad luck recently and need to borrow the most important piece of jewelry from my mother to wear for a while to turn bad luck into good fortune and avoid disaster."

"The pendant you have has been with you for many years; lend it to me for a few days to ward off the misfortune."

"Is that so..."

The voice on the other end of the phone was clearly hesitant.

"Mom—"

Shi Ran drew out her voice, acting spoiled: "Is the pendant more important or am I? I know you've worn that pendant for many years, but just lend it to me to wear. I'm not asking for it permanently; I promise to return it in a week. Please?"

"Alright then." Shi Youxuan's voice sounded very helpless, but she agreed nonetheless.

"Please have Zhang Ma send it to Gate 3 of the airport and hand it to Mr. Zhao. He is of medium build, in his thirties. Wait a moment, I'll send you his photo."

Shi Youxuan chided: "You brat, have you been plotting to get your old mother's things for more than a day or two? Did I say I agreed? You've even sent someone over."

Someone had indeed been sent, but it was one of Zhu Qingxiang's men.

"Mom is the best, I knew you would agree."

"Fine, I'll send it over immediately. I'll go myself."

Following that, she rambled on with instructions for a long time, telling her daughter to take good care of the necklace and absolutely not to lose it, as this necklace was very important, extremely important...

But she did not say anything specific.

Finally, the call ended.

Shi Ran: "I have done as you said, now let him go."

"Let him go?"

"Hahahahaha..."

Zhu Qingxiang looked up and laughed, laughing until tears came out: "Shi Ran, you really are naive. You don't think that just because you agreed to my demands, I would let you go, do you?"

"You lied to me?"

Shi Ran was furious.

She wanted to dial the number again, but was sternly stopped by Zhu Qingxiang: "Don't move! Throw all your phones down the slope, quickly, or I will finish him off right now."

The Dagger in his hand sliced lightly, and a bloody mark immediately appeared on Yun Qitian's neck.

"It's bleeding? Ahhhhhhh—"

Yun Qitian had never experienced such a terrifying thing before; he didn't even feel the pain, but seeing the blood terrified him so much that he thought he was going to die, and in his agitation, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.

"Hurry up and throw the mobile phones away, otherwise he will never wake up."

Several people threw their mobile phones far away, and even someone as easily agitated as Liu Min followed suit; all the phones were thrown down the earthen slope, which meant they were temporarily cut off from any contact with the outside world.

Zhu Qingxiang completely revealed his true nature, and he ordered the three of them: "The three of you go into the shed; there are three pairs of handcuffs in the drawer on the table inside. Once you three are handcuffed together, I will return this cowardly fellow to you, and I will fly far away and never trouble you again."

The three of them did not believe a word he said.

He went back on his word, and now he wanted to trick the three of them into handcuffing each other?

Only a pig would do that.

But opposing him openly wouldn't work either, as Yun Qitian was still in his hands, and the explosives strapped to his body didn't seem quite as fearsome now.

Because the three of them could all see that Zhu Qingxiang wanted to live; he didn't want to die!

As long as he didn't have the determination to die, there was still room for maneuver.

Several people glanced at each other out of the corners of their eyes, and they all understood in their hearts what should be done.

Liu Min had an impulsive and fiery personality, but she had grown up in the military with her father since she was a child and had experienced situations several times more dangerous than this; she knew that the more critical the moment, the more one needed to be calm and rational.