"Ji Ze?" Yan Yidan snorted, "I’ve got it. Pass the phone to the person next to you."
"Hello? Boss, you’re not really going to let this kid go, are you?"
"Hui Zi, teach him some manners. If he can’t make money, chop off his hands." Yan Yidan left these words and then hung up the phone.
Somewhere in an abandoned chemical plant.
The man called Hui Zi looked at the already hung-up phone and couldn’t resist kicking Ji Ze, who was tied up and thrown on the ground.
"You’re lucky, kid, our boss spared your life." His gaze traveled up and down Ji Ze’s frail frame, seeing his defiant face, he couldn’t help but mutter, "With this skinny dog-like body of yours, what can you do?"
"Don’t underestimate me, I can hack into your systems, and manipulate the stock market with my brain, understand?" Ji Ze showed no signs of being a defeated prisoner.
Hui Zi looked annoyed, thinking he was so smart!
Yet he still got caught!
"I advise you to behave, kid. Don’t think you can be so tough just because you dodged a bullet. I’ll throw you into the mountains, tell my boss you ran off, and I couldn’t find you. No one will know if you die out there."
Hearing these threatening words,
Ji Ze finally kept silent.
Hui Zi felt a rush of relief and pride, smirking, "Little punk, you’re still not beyond my control. Now, tell me, how do you plan to help us recover our losses?"
Ji Ze pursed his lips, and when he looked up again, his eyes were pitifully woeful. "Brother Hui, I’m still in school. I can only work on weekends, and if I drop out, my sister will kill me. Don’t worry, I will fulfill the promise I made to you."
Hui Zi stared at his youthful face, somewhat speechlessly twitching his mouth.
If it weren’t for Ji Ze’s age, he would have thought it unbelievable.
Right, you can’t just keep someone from going to school.
Ji Ze was so smart, his grades couldn’t be too bad.
It was now the afternoon, the prime time for studying.
He had had him tied up for nearly two hours; missing students, the teachers would surely notify the parents.
He didn’t want to get involved in more trouble.
Seeing Ji Ze’s distressed face, he couldn’t help but soften his heart and untied the ropes.
He still grumbled, "Why don’t you use your brain for studying? Pursuing quick money without any solid backing is very risky."
"I need money, I have no choice," Ji Ze looked him straight in the eye.
Hui Zi saw his determined look, couldn’t resist laughing, "How old are you to be needing money so badly? Tell your brother, let’s see what troubles you have."
Ji Ze’s eyes reddened slightly, and he wiped them with the back of his hand, "My mom has leukemia and needs a large sum of money for treatment. My dad broke his leg while raising pigs and can’t do heavy work now. Whenever it rains, his leg hurts terribly because we can’t afford proper treatment. My sister... she’s even worse, woeful sobs, she moved into that merciless wealthy circle to earn money for our family, and now she’s in a dire situation! I need a lot of money to get her out."
Hui Zi was dumbstruck as he listened.
"Not the kid... is your life really that miserable... and your sister, was it because she was too beautiful that she got kidnapped? Those rich young masters in the upper circle are ruthless—they either ruin lives or leave them disabled."
Ji Ze nodded without blinking, his face pitiable. "Yes, my sister is super beautiful; she’s the village belle. If it weren’t for our family, she wouldn’t have been treated like that by those people. If only I had money, I could have rescued her from having to depend on others and compromise."
The more Hui Zi listened, the angrier he got. "Damn it, these human scum, what I hate most are these wasteful rich young masters. Whose hands is your sister in? Let me see if I can get her back."
He had made it all up.
He feared that if he genuinely found Jiang Nanshu, he’d likely end up beaten half to death by both parties.
So, in panic, he shook his head, "Brother Hui, no, my sister doesn’t want anyone to know she’s struggling. She also said she won’t meet anyone until she gains her freedom, nor can we let my parents know about her situation; they’d be too worried. What if my mom’s illness gets worse?"
As Ji Ze spoke, he pulled out his second-hand phone, its screen cracked, which he hadn’t replaced.
He found a few photos from it.
A picture of Mrs. Ji with a tube inserted in her veins, her hair shaved, eyes wrinkled and smiling, with Ji Ze by her side in the photo.
He then showed a photo of Father Ji in the countryside, raising pigs, limping, carrying a large pot of pig feed all by himself.
Ji Ze also found a photo of Jiang Nanshu three years ago in the hospital, her arms and legs wrapped in gauze, her face obscured by medical staff.
"This is my family. The last picture is of my sister; she went to the mountains to pick herbs to treat my dad’s leg injury because of our lack of money. Then she met a group of rich young masters... They promised her money, took her away, but then mistreated her. My sister has always had her pride, she never wanted others to see her in such a pitiable state. So, Brother Hui, until I have money, I won’t bring my sister back. Even if I could rescue her with your connections, as a powerless student, how could I protect her? I can’t always depend on others," Ji Ze grew sadder as he spoke.
Tears flooded the young boy’s eyes, sobbing woefully.
From a ferocious demeanor at the beginning, Hui Zi grew baffled, never expecting the stubborn young boy to cry so easily when sharing his sad stories.
"Alright, alright, let it be, look at you. You didn’t earn much exploiting loopholes and even caused us such a loss, really childish."
Ji Ze sobbed, "I’m just too desperate to earn money. Brother, please help me. I’ll work for you. I promise to earn money diligently, okay? I just hate that I’m not yet an adult, otherwise I wouldn’t even want to study; I just want to ease the burden on my parents."
"That’s not an option."
Hui Zi pulled a packet of cigarettes from his brown work uniform. He wasn’t the handsome type, his face rough, a rugged man always working outdoors.
Clutching a cigarette, he looked around the dilapidated factory, his face weathered. "Kid, you should really focus on your studies; that’s the only way forward. Don’t talk about dropping out. If I had the chance to study, I’d find a comfortable job later, nobody wants to work this hard."
Ji Ze got up from the ground, dusting his pants, earnest. "Brother Hui, I’ll listen to you, as long as you let me work with you."
Hui Zi choked up, initially he meant to deal with this bratty kid, but somehow things took a turn.
He felt somehow tricked.
Seeing him silent, Ji Ze cried again. "Do you think I’m too young and look down on me? I’d better not go to school and start working early to support my family."
Hui Zi waved his hand irritably, "I never said you should drop out. Anyway, the boss also said to let you stay and pay off the debt, let it be so. At most, I’ll let you earn enough to pay off the debt, and not get left to the wolves in the mountains, the rest is up to you."