Chapter 229 So Ruthless
I froze for a moment, thinking that the only reckless person like Ayue could say that. I didn't expect Mr.Cai to be reckless as well.
Or rather, he was not reckless but ruthless.
At a time like this, it indeed needed to be a bit more ruthless. Shaoping Gong had clearly promised not to pursue any matter. From now on, we did our own things. However now as soon as Zhengrong Gong had just been released from prison, he came to challenge me.
Obviously, they had no intention of reconciling at all. Instead, they planned to get Zhengrong out first, and then find a way to deal with me.
As for the Bai family ...... they may have already reached an agreement with the Gong family. The aim was just to get me under their control first. As for the future when the Gong family and I continued to fight, it had nothing to do with Bai family. The Bai family didn't have to pay attention to it, nor do they have to consider my feeling. At most what they would do was they would make Wendy sad and be scolded by her a few times.
In the end, I had to solve things on my own. Relying on other people was simply unreliable.
I also had to be a little more ruthless. If Gong family didn't learn a lesson, I was afraid they won't long remember.
With that in mind, I looked toward the road ahead and asked Ayue, "Let's see if we can still catch up to Shaoping's car."
"Okay. Tom, sit tight."
While AYue said, he pushed the gas pedal to the bottom. Even though it was a luxury car like the Mercedes S600L, there was still a strong inertia that pushed me into the seat.
I pulled out my phone again and dialed Bansha's number.
As soon as the call came through, I couldn't wait to say, "Bansha, send your men to the airport to see if Shaoping and Zhengwen have gone to the airport. If you find them, do something to keep them from boarding the plane, such as surrounding them and telling the police nearby that they are cheating or stealing. Whether it's a false accusation or a frame-up, just keep them here. I'll find another way to deal with them. Also, you sent someone go over the road to Chiang Rai or Bangkok. If any of his men come close to there, keep an eye on them and don't let them get away."
"Tom, what's wrong?" Bansha's voice tensed up all of a sudden.
"The first thing Zhengrong did when he came out was to look for me. And he asked me to see how he was going to screw me later."
"Fuck him. I'll send my men over right away. I have to kill him this time."
"Also, send some people downtown, especially to the fancy hotels. Probably they're not in a hurry to leave Chiangmai."
"Get it."
I told Bansha the license plate and vehicle model of the car that I vaguely remembered from earlier. And then I hung up the phone.
After putting the phone away, I looked out of the window and saw the street hurtled backwards. Then I hurriedly said to Ayue, "Don't drive so fast. It's going to be tricky if the police catch up with us later. It is bad that we didn't catch up with Zhengrong but we went into the police station first."
"Okay." Ayue was a bit frustrated and then he slowed the car down, "By the way, Tom, do you want to ask Mr.Sucha for help? With his help, Zhengrong and ShaoPing won't be able to leave Chiangmai even if they have wings."
I shook my head, "Not for now. I don't want to owe anyone a favor unless I have to."
"Then we'll find them out ourselves and drag them to the northern border and bury them."
"We don't have to be that ruthless. I just want to give them a hard time. If we bury them, the Gong family will definitely be irrigated. I'm afraid that they will find someone to chase me down every day in the future, to the extent that they won't stop forever."
"Tom, we can just bury them up to the neck. Then we can grab a few worms and stuff them in their nostrils, or dig a small piece of flesh off their face. That'll attract a bunch of ants soon enough. We can dig them out when they're getting to the point where they can't hold on any longer."
"...... You're pretty ruthless."
"I've never done anything like that. But I've seen it, more than once. That's really bad."
I didn't reply to that. I just kept thinking about where Zhengrong and Shaoping would be now.
They would most likely leave Chiangmai immediately. Because after they came to challenge me, they would naturally be afraid that I would just kill them. Therefore, they would definitely run right away.
As for whether they ran to the airport to catch a plane or to Chiang Rai to the north or to Bangkok to the south, or to the west and east...... I didn't know.
All roads lead to Rome. They had cars so they could go anywhere they wanted.
There was another possibility that they might still be in Chiangmai. They didn't think I wanted to kill them so they didn't run or even they didn't fear me doing it at all because this place is ruled by law and there are police everywhere. They who lived in a fancy hotel also had a few bodyguards and it would be hard for me to kill them.
But that was highly unlikely. After Zhengwen Gong and Zhengrong successively suffered big losses because of me, they wouldn't be so stupid or so arrogant.
They would only become more cautious so they should have run.
I couldn't figure out which direction they were going so I told Ayue to chase them in the direction of Chiang Rai first.
Chiangmai doesn't have many cars, but the streets are narrow and many of them are two lanes. And because motorcycles and tuk-tuk rivals are everywhere, traffic is often congested and cars are generally moving very slowly.
It wasn't long before we encountered congested traffic at an intersection, and the speed of the traffic became very slow.
And I only knew the general direction of Zhengrong's car after they left the hotel. But there were so many intersections along the way, it wasn't certain if we had drove on the right road. It was also possible that Zhengrong had turned off at another intersection.
After crossing that congested intersection and moving forward for another ten minutes or so, I asked Ayue to turn around and drive on another road to continue the search.
So far, we should have lost them.
Now that it was night again, it was actually hard to locate a car in a city or suburb.
Especially outside the city, the street lights are getting dimmer and the cars are getting further apart.
We couldn't find their car even if we found the highway entrance. In desperation I called Bansha again.
But Bansha told me that his men had arrived at the airport twenty minutes ago. There were his men at several entrances but there was no sign of Zhengrong or Shaoping.
Also, a few minutes earlier, his men had been at several intersections going north towards Chiang Rai and south towards Bangkok. And they had not found the car in which Zhengrong was riding.
He'd also sent men to the fancy hotels in the city. There was also no sign of them.
Shaoping and Zhengrong had disappeared. They were either hiding in a hotel room somewhere or had left Chiangmai. There were only the two possibilities.
Bansha said he would keep them under surveillance until he found them.
After hanging up the phone with Bansha, I thought for a moment and then dialed Nacha's number.
"Hello, Mr.Fang." Nacha's voice sounded like he was happy.
"Sheriff Nacha, can I ask you for one more thing?"
"Mr.Fang you can say what you want. As long as I can do it, I will definitely make you satisfied."
Probably because he found that he could get a big reward for doing job for me, Nacha was very happy. After all, he had just received $150,000.
I said, "Sheriff Nacha, could you check the whereabouts of Shaoping and Zhengrong for me, such as the hotel they stayed in and whether they bought airline tickets and so on. You can check directly through the internet system, can't you?"
Chapter 230 What Can I Do For You
After I finished my sentence, there was a sudden silence on the phone. Apparently, Nacha was hesitating.
"Mr. Fang, haven't you already received the money from the Gong family and that Zhengrong Gong has been released from prison? Why are you still looking for them?" It took a moment for Nacha to ask in confusion.
"Because ......As soon as Zhengrong came out, he came to me and said he was going to kill me later. So, I wanted to talk to him for a bit. Don't worry Sheriff. I won't do anything illegal, just a mere chat, something like a form of reconciliation negotiation."
"Well ...... Okay." His reply seemed a bit difficult, "Then I'll check their whereabouts through the internet. But that's the only way I can help you. As you know, I can't just use the police force. Besides, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to find out anything about them. I can't find out any information if they've already checked out of the hotel, or haven't bought a plane ticket, or anything else that requires documentation."
"I understand. I'm grateful that you can help me. I don't dare ask for anything more."
"Mr.Fang, you're too kind. Well, that's all. I'll go check it out for you, and I'll let you know as soon as I have any information."
"Thank you, Sheriff."
"You are welcome."
After hanging up the phone, I closed my eyes and pinched my brow with one hand. I silently thought about where Zhengrong and the others would go.
Ayue went round some roads in the northern suburbs of Chiangmai, looking for Zhengrong and his men, during which time he even went to fill up the car with gas once.
I knew it was like looking for a needle in a haystack in the middle of the night, but there was no better way to find them now.
Zhengrong and Shaoping Gong had probably already left Chiangmai at night.
About ten minutes later, Nacha called to tell me that he had checked in with Shaoping and some bodyguards. But they had already checked out of the hotel at 5pm.
He also checked other hotels and did not find any information about the registration of Shaoping and Zhengrong at other hotels.
Thus it seemed that they had already left Chiangmai.
We didn't block him and they should have been far away for such a long time.
I was a bit helpless, but had to accept the fact then. I called Bansha and asked him to call everyone back.
Bansha was very reluctant and asked me if I should send someone to Shenghai and fight against Gong family again. Sucha would do the job and they had this kind of business, just like they did last time when they broke the legs of Zhengwen Gong and gave them a hard time.
I said it was not necessary for now. After what happened to Zhengwen last time, the Gong family would definitely be very careful. Now wasn't the time. Let's wait and see what would happen later.
Hanging up the phone, I asked Ayue to turn around and return to the city.
Ayue was not happy either, and after cursing a few times, he said like Bansha that he would kill them in Shenghai.
I ignored him and just leaned back in my chair to rest my eyes.
Back downtown, instead of buying beer and barbecue, we went straight back to our place, took a shower and went to bed early.
The next morning, after I got up, washed up and had breakfast, I had a thought and then looked up Wendy's number and dialed it.
Wendy quickly answered the phone. After a brief greeting, I said: "President Bai, can you do me a favor?"
"What can I do for you?"
"Help me find out if Shaoping and Zhengrong have returned to Shenghai."
The other end of the phone fell silent. It wasn't long before Wendy's voice came over the phone, "You want to go back to find them?"
"No, I just want to know if they've left Shenghai. You know, I have bodyguards with me at all times now because they might retaliate against me. So it's important for me to know where they are."
"I'll ask around, but I'm not sure I can find out." Wendy chimed in for a few more moments before speaking.
"Yes, please."
"Never mind."
After I hung up the phone, I didn't want to go out so I simply turned on the TV and watched a movie with Ayue and Mr.Cai in boredom.
About ten minutes later, I got a call came from Wendy.
"President Bai, how's it going?" I asked when I got on the phone.
"My family said they've asked the Gong family and they didn't find Shaoping and Zhengrong back in Shenghai."
"Okay, thanks."
"They're probably still in Chiangmai. Are you going to look for them?"
"No. I just want to ask."
Wendy didn't ask further and didn't hang up either. Silence fell again on the other end of the phone.
After a little while, I saw that the atmosphere was a little awkward so I smiled and said, "Don't worry. I won't do anything stupid. I've got some other things to do over here, so ...... hang up first."
"Well, bye." Wendy didn't say much.
"Bye."
After hanging up the phone, I went online on my phone to find a map of Thailand. I centered on Chiangmai and carefully checked the surrounding roads and those destinations.
Although Thailand has only eight international airports, and only Chiangmai and Chiang Rai in the north have flights to China. But the country also has more than 30 airports, and other cities in the northern region also have domestic flight routes to Thailand. Shaoping and Zhengrong could have gone to another city and taken a flight to a city with an international airport such as several cities in the southern region. From there, they could have taken a connecting flight home.
If that was the case, it would be too hard to find him. After all, a night has passed and they could be on a plane to China by now or have arrived in Shenghai, only to sneak home without telling anyone.
My plan to keep them here and teach them a hard lesson here had failed.
I could only wait until later to see if there were any other opportunities.
But they wouldn't give me another chance and there were no good chances.
I was a little helpless and frustrated.
After watching a movie for a while, I called Ayue and Mr.Cai to go out and head straight to that shooting club. I was ready to shoot a few hundred rounds to let off steam.
Then we spent most of the day at the shooting club.
At around 5pm, we returned from the club to the city.
On the road, unfamiliar phone bell rang.
As I consciously touched my phone, I realized it wasn't my phone that was ringing.
"It's me." Mr.Cai took out his phone and smiled. He answered the call.
This couldn't blame my sensitivity because after spending so many days with Ayue and Mr.Cai. I'd never seen their phones ring as if they didn't have family or friends.
They really didn't have any family left because they were already orphans. As for the friends ...... probably because they were all from the family of Mingqiang Du, they rarely called if there was nothing special going on.
Mr.Cai had just put the phone to his ear. Less than a few seconds later, he suddenly turned pale and turned his head to look at Ayue and me separately.
From his eyes, I realized that something serious happened.
Chapter 231 Power Struggle
Mr. Cai didn't speak the entire time during he answered the phone and he also didn't ask the other person any questions, but just listened carefully and seriously, then hung up the phone after simply saying "yes".
"What's the matter?" Ayue couldn't help but ask him after seeing the serious expression on his face.
Mr. Cai didn't answer him, but turned around and had a look at me meaningfully.
Ayue was a little annoyed: "You just fucking say it!"
I couldn't help but frown as well: "Mr. Cai, just say it if something really happened."
"They ...... they kidnapped Chengkang Du and Xiaoqian Du."
"What?"
Ayue and I asked him in unison.
Mr. Cai gritted his teeth and said: "Chengkang and Xiaoqian were kidnapped on the way home from school by Minghao Du."
After he said that, we were all silent in the car for a brief moment, then Ayue hit the steering wheel hard with his fist, cursing in rage at the same time.
I didn't hear Ayue's curse because I was so astonished that my head was buzzing.
Chengkang and Xiaoqian were Mingqiang Du's children, the younger one was Chengkang Du, who was only eight years old, and the older one was Xiaoqian Du and was ten years old.
I had met them, and had dinner with the family of three the last time I visited Mingqiang's manor.
It was still a family of three since Mingqiang's wife had died and he still had a pair of children.
I remembered that the two children were very polite, and when they heard that I was their father's best friend during his years in China, they were very friendly to me and kept asking me about all kinds of things in China and what their father had been doing in those years.
I knew that Mingqiang concealed the imprisonment from his children, lying to them that he was going to China to do business.
So I told them how great Mingqiang was at doing business over there and so on.
Although I had only spent a few hours with them, the two children made a deep impression on me, because they were neither unruly and rude like the young people of rich families, nor self-closing and silent like the children of the single-parent family, but were very lively and sensible.
That day, I also asked Mingqiang after dinner that if he was afraid that his children would be in danger.
He said yes, and told me that he had sent several men to pick them up everyday after school because his wife had been shot dead.
I also asked him if he was afraid that Minghao would do something to his children.
He said he needed not to be afraid of him at least. Because Chengkang and Xiaoqian were still Minghao's own nephew and niece anyway.
I didn't ask further questions at that time, but avoided this sensitive topic.
But I never thought that the kind of thing actually happened now.
Ayue's angry voice became lower and lower. He gradually calmed down and began to ask Mr. Cai carefully what had happened.
Mr. Cai also heard the news from the phone, and didn't know much about how did it happen. He only knew that Mingqiang suddenly received a call from his several subordinates who picked up the children after school, and they said that car was blocked in the middle of the road and the people of the other party were sitting in four cars, pointing at their car with a dozen of guns.
They shouted that they would only kidnap the children and would not hurt them.
Mingqiang immediately told his subordinates not to resist and let the other party take the children away.
Because he knew that if they resisted, the people of the other party would shoot at the car.
And the people inside would also be shot and killed.
His subordinates obeyed the order to give up resisting, and the other party only took away his two children, and didn't hurt anyone or make trouble for them.
Mingqiang was just about to gather his subordinates to go out when he suddenly received a call from Minghao, who made three demands on him.
The first was for him to gather everyone in the manor, and they were not allowed to leave the manor, or else his two children would die.
The second was for him to hand over the right of control and the shares of several industries of the family, and Minghao would send a lawyer to do the transfer procedures with him. He also was asked to hand over other secrets such as the contacts and the means of exchange of several core lines of the family business.
The third was for him to dismiss all his subordinates after the two things above were done and Minghao convinced a few of the family's leaders who supported Mingqiang.
Only after everything was done would Minghao release his two kids.
Obviously, the reason why Minghao went against Mingqiang and made action directly was to be the leader of the family.
Mingqiang agreed to all his demands.
Then, he told Ayue and Mr. Cai to come back to the manor and stay in the manor without leaving a single step until this thing was over.
He also asked Ayue and Mr. Cai to send me to the place where Sucha stayed to let him send someone to protect me.
This was an internal power struggle within the Du family, and as an outsider, Sucha couldn't interfere, or else a bigger fight might be caused.
So all Sucha could do was just wait until Mingqiang or his children fled to Chiangmai and then he would protect them. Because Chiangmai was his territory, where no family power struggle existed.
Besides, Sucha could also send someone to take over the work of Ayue and Mr. Cai and stay by my side during this most special time.
In the current situation, it seemed that Mingqiang had lost, because he underestimated Minghao and didn't realize that he was so sinister and vicious that he should blackmail him with children.
From what I had known of him, he would definitely give up his position as the leader of the Du Family for the safety of his children.
After all, the other party didn't plan to kill his children for the time being, or couldn't do that, because that would only be a lose-lose situation for both sides, and might even cause Mingqiang to lose his mind and take Minghao's life at any cost.
As long as his own life and the lives of his two children could be saved, Mingqiang would do anything asked by the other party.
All Minghao wanted was just the share and right of control of the family business, and he had already transferred hundreds of millions of Thai baht to Chiangmai, which was considered to be an asset that he could keep because Minghao could not take it away.
Of course, it was also possible that Minghao wanted to wait until all of Mingqiang's people were dispatched so that he didn't have enough men around, then Minghao would begin to make action to exterminate, which was what we feared the most now.
Since Mingqiang was a fierce and powerful person, he should have already made his own exit strategy.
When I thought of these questions, I suddenly realized that I was very insignificant, and I had even been thinking about whether and how I would help Mingqiang if he was really in danger......
But now, I realized that I couldn't do anything to help, and instead, I needed Mingqiang to find Sucha to protect me.
Feeling quite depressed suddenly, I found Mr. Cai looking at me with a complicated expression.
"Tom, I'm sorry, we have to go back." Mr. Cai said glumly, "But don't worry, I will call Base and we won't leave until we send you to his place."
I was silent for a moment, then said calmly: "I'll come with you and see what I can do to help."
"Tom, we will just be staying in the village when we go back and can't do anything by then, and even if you go there, you also can't do anything. And ...... I'm afraid that Minghao will drive us to extinction, so you can't take the risk."
I shook my head: "At a severe time like this, it's also good to keep Mr. Du company."
"No." Mr. Cai also shook his head firmly, "Tom, I know that Mingqiang has asked you before to help take Chengkang and Xiaoxi back to China if it is necessary, so that you can help take care of them. Therefore, you can't go."
After saying that, Mr. Cai suddenly became very serious: "Tom, I'm not going to lie to you, a few years back, Mingqiang secretly trained a group of people outside, the existence of whom remains unknown to Minghao and the other leaders of the family, and only those of us who often follow Mingqiang know about them.
"By the time we all return to the village, Minghao will definitely think that there are no more subordinates of Mingqiang outside, so he will send out his people to deal with those bosses who support Mingqiang, at that time ...... Mingqiang will send people to rescue Chengkang and Xiaoqian. If we really have a fight, we will ask someone to send the children over to you, then please bring them back to China."