Shire and Dejoka worked through the night with the workers at the motorcycle factory.
Converting the motorcycles into sidecars was one part, and discussing tactics with Major Brownie was another part. Additionally, there were unexpected challenges to solve with the factory’s production restart. Time passed unnoticed.
Camille came by once. Knowing the two were busy at the factory, she felt relieved but kindly reminded Dejoka before leaving, "Shire is still young, don’t let him overwork himself!"
Dejoka responded casually, then added with some difficulty, "You don’t know how capable Shire is, many decisions have to be made by him! Making things easier for him might be tough!"
Camille felt both proud and worried hearing this, finally smiling. Shire had to grow up eventually, this day would come!
After sending off Major Brownie and his men in the early morning, Shire finally had a moment to lie down in the employee dormitory and immediately fell asleep. He was woken by cheers in the afternoon.
Before Shire could react, a large number of employees rushed in, including Uncle Guillaume. They were all shouting:
"We’ve won, Young Master Shire!"
"They fought a big victory and pushed the Germans back!"
"They reportedly killed and injured thousands, God, they killed tens of times more enemies with negligible losses on their own side!"
"You’ve done great things again, Young Master Shire!"
Shire was still not fully awake, sitting up and looking at the workers dazedly. It took a while to realize they were talking about Major Brownie’s motorcycle unit.
"They’ve fought a battle already?" Shire asked, "How is Major Brownie? Is he alright?"
"He’s fine!" Uncle Guillaume replied, "He called and said he wanted to thank you, Young Master Shire, they did as you instructed, and it proved very useful!"
Dejoka walked into the dormitory, looking at Shire’s tired face and said empathetically, "Now everything has settled, Shire, you should go home for a hearty meal and a good sleep, I’m here!"
The workers chimed in:
"Yes, Young Master Shire, go and rest!"
"We’ve got this covered!"
"We’ve summoned another batch of workers to take over, soon we’ll be heading to rest too!"
Shire felt nothing needed his attention here. The key point was the overwhelming waves of sleepiness, so he gladly accepted the suggestion.
Walking along the town’s streets, the sunset cast a long shadow beside him.
Not used to staying up all night, Shire felt as if he was in another world, his steps faltering.
Unconsciously, someone seemed to approach him. Turning around, he saw two middle-aged men in black suits and hats, flanking him.
"Young Master Shire?" The mustache man on the left tilted his head and asked.
"Who are you?" Shire asked suspiciously.
The next second Shire realized his mistake.
If they were here to kidnap him, this simple response confirmed his identity.
"Someone wants to see you, Young Master Shire!" The mustache man gestured toward a car parked not far ahead, speaking in a commanding tone, ", please!"
The two men did not give him a chance to resist, taking him towards the car one on each side.
Shire instantly broke out in a cold sweat, fully awake now.
Is it really a kidnapping?
For money? Or sent by capitalists to kill?
Meeting them here suggests they had been staking out the motorcycle factory for a long time, and coincidentally, he was alone...
At the critical moment, a young voice suddenly shouted, "Murderers! Bad guys! They are trying to kidnap Young Master Shire!"
It was Teddy’s voice. Shire felt so moved that he wanted to kiss Teddy’s chubby face, all bad memories of him dissipated instantly, and his plump, waistless figure transformed into endearing.
Hearing the shout, the two men in suits paused, seemingly wanting to argue, but after exchanging glances said nothing, quickening their pace.
This confirmed Teddy’s "bad guy" accusation, so he shouted louder:
"They’re sent by capitalists to capture Shire!"
"Help, save Young Master Shire!"
Seeing Shire being forced into the car, neighbors shouted and rushed from all directions.
The baker wielded a bread knife, the worker a wrench, women held kitchen knives and eggs, Granny Kara even gripped a long rolling pin used for making pizza.
"Don’t let them leave, they’re trying to take Young Master Shire!"
"These despicable bastards, trying to kidnap Young Master Shire under our noses! Are they crazy?"
Seeing things go awry, the two men dragged Shire into the running car desperately, about to drive off but Uncle Anthony pulled one down.
Uncle Anthony was a bricklayer, strong and stocky, could jog with a fifty-kilogram bag of lime without panting.
He calmly stretched an arm stopping other neighbors from approaching, looking at Shire inquiringly:
"Do you know them, Young Master Shire?"
"No, I don’t!" Shire answered truthfully.
This confirmed the kidnapping charge.
Uncle Anthony released his arm like opening a gate, and furious neighbors surged forward waving their "weapons" at the suited men, hitting and cursing, venting all anger:
"Kill them, heartless scoundrels!"
"Damn capitalists, envious of others!"
"Young Master Shire blocks their profit route, they want him dead!"
"My chicken must’ve been stolen by them!"
The two men screamed trying to explain, but neighbors ignored them, all rushed forward, smashing the car’s windows.
"Bang!" a gunshot rang.
Neighbors gasped and stepped back a few paces uncontrollably.
Uncle Anthony promptly shielded Shire behind him.
But the neighbors only paused briefly, then regrouped murmuring, outnumbering the lone revolver, how many could it kill?
Yet still too late, the suited men seized this gap, jumped into the car, hit the gas, and drove off from the crowd amidst blaring horns.
Neighbors chased closely, with stones, saliva, and curses trailing, and some women’s shoes spun gracefully in the air, hitting the driver’s face...
"Shire, Shire!" Camille ran frantically from the other end of the street, her face pale and eyes filled with panic, apron still on.
Obviously, neighbors informed her everything.
"I’m fine, Mom!" Shire squeezed out from the crowd and greeted her.
Camille sighed in relief seeing Shire, slowed down and hugged him tightly, then cried tears of joy, after a while remembering neighbors, raised her head to thank them, eyes brimming with gratitude:
"Thank you all! Thank you so much!"
"Thanks to all of you!"