Chapter 54: You Won’t Be Hurt, I’m Here
Jiang Limu rushed up to Jiang Qing, looking furious.
“Ge!! Let me tell you, some stranger was just provoking me. Someone named Xu Xunsen! He was so sarcastic, saying my status is awkward now that Su Lin is back, and implying that my resources will be split in the future, telling me to plan for myself…”
As he spoke, he instinctively leaned closer to Jiang Qing, while also unable to stop himself from observing Jiang Qing’s reaction.
Would his brother think he was too impulsive? Would he think he actually started worrying because of those words?
Jiang Qing was listening to Chi Jiong whisper something. Seeing Jiang Limu rush over, he raised a hand to signal Chi Jiong to wait. He looked at his huffing younger brother and frowned.
“Xu Xunsen?” Jiang Qing repeated the name.
The Xu family… there had been some friction with the Jiang family before. It seemed someone couldn’t sit still and wanted to stir up trouble within the Jiang family.
“What did he say? Verbatim.” Jiang Qing’s eyes turned cold.
Jiang Limu immediately recounted Xu Xunsen’s divisive words, getting angrier as he spoke. “Ge, don’t you think he’s sick? Our family business is none of his damn business! He actually came over just to ruin my mood!”
After listening, Jiang Qing didn’t directly comment on Xu Xunsen’s behavior. Instead, he asked Jiang Limu, “How did you respond?”
Jiang Limu paused, then scratched his head a bit sheepishly. “I… I gave him a piece of my mind. I said he had no brain, that his tongue was tied… and then I left.” He stole a glance at Jiang Qing, afraid his brother would think he was too crude.
Looking at his expression, Jiang Qing suddenly reached out and ruffled his hair with moderate force.
“Well said,” Jiang Qing remarked. “There’s no need to be polite to people who harbor ill intentions and come looking for trouble.”
Jiang Limu’s eyes lit up.
Just as Jiang Qing was about to say more, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.
He pulled it out to see an unfamiliar local number flashing on the screen. At this time, at this event…
Jiang Qing’s intuition told him something was wrong. He said to the others, “I’ll go take this call.”
He walked to a relatively quiet corner and pressed the answer key.
“Hello?”
From the other end of the line came a faint, suppressed sound of panting, along with the rustle of fabric. The background was very quiet.
Then, a voice that was clearly trembling and unsteady spoke, so weak it was almost inaudible:
“Gege…”
“I… feel a bit sick…”
“In the… equipment room…”
It was Su Lin!
As Jiang Qing started walking, he spoke into the phone:
“You won’t be hurt. I’m here.”
“Wait for me.”
Inside the small, dark equipment room, Su Lin leaned against the cold metal cabinet, clutching his phone so hard his knuckles turned white. The drug was gradually eroding his sanity. His vision was blurry, and the only things he could hear were his own heavy, uneven breathing and his heartbeat.
“…Ge…” He almost moaned the word, his voice hoarse. “Someone… drugged me…”
He tried his best to keep his speech logical, but the fragmented sentences still betrayed his terrible state.
“Don’t be afraid. Stay where you are, lock the door, and don’t make a sound.”
“Tell me your exact location. Which area of the hotel? Near what landmark?”
Su Lin forced his eyes open, trying to identify the blurry signs in the corridor outside through the sliver of light under the door. “…East corridor of the banquet hall… at the end… next to the fire hydrant… ‘Equipment Room’…”
“Got it. Wait there.” Jiang Qing didn’t hesitate for a second. “I’ll be there immediately.”
The call ended, leaving only a dial tone.
Su Lin slid down to the floor, pressing his burning forehead against the cold cabinet door, trying to use that bit of coolness to fight the rising heat in his body. He gritted his teeth, refusing to let out any sound that might draw attention, but the slight trembling of his body was uncontrollable.
Jiang Qing hung up and looked toward the east corridor.
Su Lin’s voice sounded terrible; he had clearly been sabotaged. Drugged and trapped in an equipment room… the motive was obvious: they wanted to humiliate him in public, and there might even be a more disgusting follow-up.
For the party to dare to make a move at a Jiang family banquet, they were either incredibly stupid or had something to rely on—and likely had accomplices lurking nearby.
Notify the others? But there were too many eyes and ears right now. Any unusual movement might alert the enemy. If the other party got desperate or moved the target early, Su Lin’s situation would be even more dangerous.
Jiang Qing set down his glass as if he were going out for air and walked toward the east exit of the banquet hall with a composed gait.
His steps were steady, and he occasionally nodded to acquaintances he passed.
Jiang Qing slowed his pace, his eyes discreetly scanning every corner and every slightly ajar door, his ears picking up any tiny sound. Sure enough, in the shadow of a junction some distance from the equipment room, he spotted a spark—someone was smoking and deliberately avoiding the main thoroughfare.
He immediately slipped against the wall, hiding in the shadow of a pillar. A few seconds later, faint footsteps and whispers reached him:
“Why is there no movement yet? Young Master Xu is pressing us.”
“What’s the rush? The drug doesn’t work that fast. Besides, the kid seems to have slipped away; he’s not in the lounge.”
“Damn it, could he have found out? Search again. Have we checked the equipment room?”
“Not yet. Going now.”
Two men dressed in hotel maintenance uniforms, but whose demeanor and aura clearly didn’t match, stepped out from the junction. One was dangling a cigarette while the other held a walkie-talkie, looking toward the equipment room.
Jiang Qing’s gaze turned cold. There really was an ambush.
He followed the two men silently. They reached the equipment room door and tried the handle—it was locked.
“Locked? Could the kid be inside?”
“Possible. I thought I heard something here earlier.” The man with the cigarette lowered his voice. “Should we pry it open?”
The man with the walkie-talkie hesitated. “Won’t that be too loud? Maybe we should report to Young Master Xu first…”
“Report my ass! If you don’t finish the job, you’ll be in deep trouble!” The smoker was impatient and pulled a bunch of keys out of his pocket.
Just as he lowered his head to unlock the door—
Jiang Qing moved like lightning. He delivered a knife-hand strike to the back of the walkie-talkie man’s neck; the man slumped to the ground without so much as a grunt. Simultaneously, his other hand had already grabbed the smoker’s wrist, twisting it hard!
With a crisp crack followed by a suppressed cry of pain, the keys fell to the floor. Jiang Qing covered the man’s mouth and slammed him hard against the nearby wall, resulting in a dull thud.
Jiang Qing picked up the keys and looked coldly at the man who was dazed from the impact and rolling his eyes from pain and suffocation. He lowered his voice:
“What did Xu Xunsen tell you to do? Speak.”
The man’s eyes widened in terror. Meeting Jiang Qing’s eyes, he felt a chill go from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
“Young… Young Master Xu… told us… to take some indecent photos… and post them online…” He confessed in fragments, incoherent from pain and fear.
It really was more than just public embarrassment.
“Who else?”
“No… no one else… just the two of us… Young Master Xu said… once it’s done… there will be a big reward…”
Jiang Qing didn’t ask further and knocked this man out as well. He quickly dragged the two into a nearby empty utility room, using their own belts and ties to bind their hands and feet and gag them, ensuring they wouldn’t wake up or make a sound for a while.
Having done all this, he returned to the equipment room door, tried the keys, and soon found the matching one.
Click.
The lock opened.
Jiang Qing pushed the door open and entered, closing it behind him.
Su Lin was curled up in the corner. Hearing the movement, he snapped his head up, his gaze unfocused and alert. But when he saw it was Jiang Qing, his tense nerves collapsed instantly, replaced by a sense of dependency and grievance that was practically overflowing.
“Gege…” His voice was incredibly hoarse. He struggled to stand but fell back down weakly.
Jiang Qing quickly stepped forward and knelt down. By the faint light from the door gap, he saw Su Lin’s current state—his face was flushed, his hair was soaked with sweat, his eyes were hazy, and his body was twitching slightly out of control.
The situation was worse than it had sounded on the phone.
“It’s me.” Jiang Qing reached out to feel Su Lin’s forehead; it was burning. “Can you stand? I’m taking you out of here.”
Su Lin bit his lip and nodded, reaching out to grab Jiang Qing’s arm, but his fingers were shaking violently.
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