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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
Feeling gloomy, I returned home after eleven o'clock at night. After discussing the matter with Guo'er and the other girl, they were both puzzled. For ordinary people, one million might be a huge fortune, but for the wealthy, that amount is barely enough to treat a female entertainer to a meal and then have some fun.
With Mr. Qian's meticulous planning and successful kidnapping of Zhou Zhixiong, it was astonishing that he only asked for one million and then backed off. From Zhou Mu Yang's tone at the time, it was clear that even if it were ten million or one hundred million, Zhou Mu Yang would have agreed without hesitation.
I could sense Zhou Mu Yang's deep concern for his son; how could Mr. Qian not pick up on that? Knowing he could get more money from Zhou Mu Yang, why did he settle for so little?
"You, Mr. Qian, why did you only ask for one million?" Qingcheng asked with a frown, echoing the big question lingering in my mind.
Suddenly recalling what Mr. Qian had said to Zhou Mu Yang at the beginning about not wanting to disrupt the market, I wondered what this market was about. Was Zhou Zhixiong really only worth one million? What was the reference standard for this price? Could there be other kidnapping cases happening?
Thinking of this, I jumped up and was about to call Lingfeng when my phone rang. Looking down, I saw it was Kong Xuan calling.
Before I could speak, Kong Xuan urgently said, "Zheng Nan, Zhang Hao has also been kidnapped!"
"What?" I exclaimed in shock.
"Zhang Hao has been kidnapped!" Kong Xuan repeated loudly.
"I can't believe this!" I couldn't help but curse. "How do you know?"
"Baozi just called me; he saw several masked men drag Zhang Hao out of an internet café and shove him into a black SUV with the license plate Xing A65L01. Baozi reported it to the police first before calling me."
"Alright! I'm going to find Lingfeng right now." I hung up and quickly informed Guo'er and the other girl about the situation. They were both extremely alarmed. Given the methods of these kidnappers, it was highly likely that Mr. Qian was behind this. I never expected Mr. Qian to be so brazen and insane; having collected ransom just two hours ago, he immediately executed another kidnapping case.
I rushed out the door while simultaneously calling Lingfeng. Lingfeng instructed me to head directly to Dragon Rising Prosperity District.
When I arrived at the Dragon Rising Prosperity District, Lingfeng's car was already parked at the entrance. Upon seeing me get out of the taxi, Lingfeng honked twice, flashed the headlights, and then leaned out of the driver's seat to wave me over.
I thought Lingfeng was going to take me somewhere, so I sat down in the passenger seat and fastened my seatbelt, only to realize that Lingfeng had no intention of driving.
"What's wrong?" I asked in surprise.
"Lingfeng, am I really such a pathetic person?" he asked out of nowhere.
"Damn, what time is it? You still have the energy to lament life?" I scolded.
"I just received a call from my grandfather, telling me not to get involved in the Kidnapping Case," Lingfeng said with a bitter smile. "The first Kidnapping Case could be a coincidence, but for a second one to happen so soon feels off. It might be a conspiracy targeting me as the chief. In this situation, if I were to get personally involved and something went wrong, I'd be the first to suffer without any room for maneuver. On the other hand, if I don't participate in the case, I can still defend myself. My defense refers to other families."
I felt like grabbing Lingfeng by the neck and demanding to know which families he was talking about. Then I would unleash my Thunderous Strike on them all and zap them dead! Damn it, lives are at stake here, and they are still taking advantage of the situation to stab us in the back. Do they think human lives are that worthless? However, looking at it from another angle, Old Master Ling also prioritizes family interests.
After pondering for a moment, I finally smiled wryly and said, "Your grandfather is not wrong; only by doing this can you attack when necessary and retreat when needed. To be honest, while what he wants you to do doesn't align with our positions or that of a police officer, it does align with the Ling Family's interests."
Lingfeng pulled out a pack of cigarettes, offered me one, lit one for himself, and silently smoked until he finished. Then he said hoarsely, "As for Zhang Hao's matter, I'll refrain from getting involved for now. I'll leave everything to you; just call me if you need anything."
I laughed heartily. "Actually, I've long wanted to stop collaborating with you. You don't know anything and affect my performance as a Grandmaster Level expert. I've held back out of concern for your pride."
Knowing that Lingfeng must be feeling bad at that moment, I could only joke around to lighten the mood.
Lingfeng knew I was trying to comfort him and gave a bitter smile. "Alright then, I hope this Grandmaster Level expert can bring me good news! Zhang Hao lives in Bright Moon Pavilion within the district; the entire villa belongs to his family."
I nodded. "You should know what Zhang Hao's family does for a living."
Lingfeng coughed lightly and frowned, saying, "I really don't know how Zhang Hao's father, Zhang Dingcheng, makes his money. He seems like a big toad; he tries to get involved in any profitable venture."
"What do you mean?" I asked, somewhat confused.
"Let me put it this way: in Star City, he has a stake in every profitable business. Whether it's KFC, Starbucks, Sha County Steamed Dumplings, or Spicy Duck Neck—businesses that the wealthy wouldn't even glance at—he's thriving in them. Besides that, he runs an online store on Taobao, does phone screen protection on the street, operates a kindergarten, runs a pharmacy, and even writes web novels. He writes for twenty yuan per thousand words!" Lingfeng said with a bitter smile.
"Come on, if he's writing web novels, when does he have time for anything else? I may not be well-educated, but you can't fool me on this," I laughed.
"This guy's business tactics are quite demonic," Lingfeng shook his head and sighed. "He just needs to make his current businesses successful and then subcontract them to others. For example, with the phone screen protection business, after establishing connections with the Mafia and the city management, there will only be his stall in a busy area. Then he rents it out to others and collects rent. The same goes for online writing; he finds someone to write an introduction for a website, signs a contract for twenty yuan per thousand words, and then subcontracts it to those struggling writers for ten yuan per thousand words—like Cao Dama Zi types. If you offer him ten yuan per thousand words, he'd wake up laughing from his dreams."
"This guy really knows how to do business!" I couldn't help but praise.
"Zhang Dingcheng owns at least hundreds of such companies, and each one is extremely successful. On average, each one brings him several thousand yuan a month in income. That's over a million yuan in pure profit every month."
"Damn, he can just lie back and count money!" I exclaimed. "Alright then, before I start crying, let me ask—if I go to find Zhang Dingcheng, what identity will you arrange for me?"
Lingfeng replied, "City Bureau Specially Appointed Level One Security Consultant."
"There's even such a position?" I was somewhat surprised. The title sounded as if it belonged to an amateur champion of some national health treatment competition in South China—catchy but lacking substance.
"I'm just making it up; it should be enough to fool Zhang Dingcheng. Of course, if he calls the police station to verify, I'll instruct the relevant personnel to confirm it," Lingfeng shrugged. "As for documents or anything like that, just print something at any print shop; I'll give you a steel stamp later."
"Can’t I just use Meitu Xiuxiu to draw one myself?"
I laughed heartily as I got out of the car and asked the security guard how to get to Bright Moon Pavilion. The guard looked at me suspiciously and said, "Who are you looking for at this hour?"
"I am looking for Zhang Dingcheng, do you know him?" I asked with a smile.
"What do you want with him?" The security guard looked at me with heightened vigilance.
Lingfeng saw me chatting with the security guard and couldn't help but get out of the car. He handed his ID to the guard and said, "This is my colleague, he is on a special mission. If you keep being difficult, I will have you arrested for obstructing official duties."
The security guard's expression changed drastically, and he quickly pointed the way for me: "Go straight ahead, keep walking until you reach the Swimming Pool, then turn left at the second building, that's Bright Moon Pavilion."
After waving goodbye to Lingfeng, I walked over a hundred meters and soon saw a Swimming Pool. It was already past midnight, and the pool had long been closed, but there were still two boys around thirteen or fourteen years old playing in the water, presumably having climbed over the railing.
Not far from the Swimming Pool, under the shade of a tree, stood a middle-aged man with a big belly smoking. Out of curiosity, I walked over to take a look. The man smiled at me, revealing a grin that made the mole on his cheek rise as well. He pointed at the pool and said, "Those little rascals sneaked out to play in the water. I'm worried about them, so I can only watch from afar. In case something happens, at least I can keep an eye on them."
Feeling sympathy for his parental concern, I nodded at him and took a couple of steps away before turning back and frowning. "Hey, I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."
The middle-aged man also frowned deeply. "I think you look familiar too."
The two of us stared at each other for a while but ultimately couldn't recall where we had met. We both laughed and waved goodbye.
Zhang Dingcheng's villa was a standalone Chinese-style building with three stories. There was a low wall surrounding the yard, about one meter high, likely for decoration. The central part of the front wall was arched outward, featuring an intricately crafted Round Copper Door in the middle. Inside was a lawn of about fifty to sixty square meters, with a pebble path winding from the Copper Door toward the villa. On either side of the path were some flower pots, though it was too dark to see what kind of flowers they held.
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