Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 127

He thought what was waiting for him would be a cold prison, but unexpectedly, he ended up going to an entertainment city, a flashy and gorgeous location that was totally out of place with the slums.

An Yinong was led inside through a side door. It was afternoon, not business hours, so he didn’t see many customers, but he did see some “ladies”. They were very young, probably in their teens, with heavy makeup on and cigarettes hanging from their mouths as they laughed. One couldn’t tell their true feelings from their faces.

When they saw them, they surrounded them, calling them “Brother Xiaobai” affectionately, and complained about a customer who was ignorant and tried to force his way in but was kicked out.

A few younger brothers wanted to go over and take advantage of the situation, but were slapped back. The younger brothers didn’t get angry and just went over and laughed again. It could be seen that they had a good relationship, like people from the lower class sticking together for warmth.

Were the people who kidnapped him the thugs from this entertainment club?

There are many “entertainment clubs” like this in Hong Kong, where one can quickly make money. Some of the “ladies” here came on their own, while others were forced to come by their families.

An Yinong recalled the time when he raided a brothel in his previous life, but unfortunately he was no longer the prefect who had the final say.

He was led to a large box with a beautiful archway, where a man with a half-part was sitting leisurely on the sofa. He was wearing a thin suit and crocodile leather shoes. He crossed his legs, held a cigar in his hand, and the emerald ring on his finger sparkled.

There were several bodyguards standing behind him, and two slender-waisted and radiant beauties were on his left and right.

“Boss.” A scarred man came over and shouted.

“Hello, what’s your name? I’m He Tiantong.” An Yinong also came over and stretched out his hand very naturally, as if he wanted to shake hands with him.

The man smoking a cigar was stunned, and even a look of confusion flashed in his eyes, but then he reacted and looked An Yinong up and down: “Boy, you are quite brave.”

He signaled to his subordinates: “Bring a chair.”

An Yinong sat down with a calm expression, neither panicked nor complacent.

The person in front of him was the one who “invited” him here. Although He Chengjue was unreliable, he would not offend others easily. After thinking about it, the possibility that he was here to make money was higher.

He was now worried about one thing: after this person gets the money, would he really let him go instead of killing him and running away? You know, he has seen his face. How can a hostage survive if he sees the kidnapper’s face?

Thinking of this, An Yinong actually made a decision, but he did not act rashly.

“I’m an easy person to talk to. As long as Master He cooperates a little, I’ll negotiate the business with your grandfather and we’ll send you away.” The man said with a smile.

Business? Grandpa? If it was not for money, then it was for greater benefits. What did the He family have that could attract such a black organization?

Suddenly, An Yinong thought of the “film and television industry”.

The He family started early in the entertainment industry, so they have a very good foundation. They have five or six hundred well-known artists under their banner, and they have cooperative relationships with several martial arts groups. They also invested in movie theaters, and their traditional industry was media…

If he was the leader of a criminal gang, he would also choose such a mature target to cooperate in making movies and launder money.

“I don’t know much about family matters,” he said.

The man took a long puff of his cigar and blew the smoke into An Yinong’s face. An Yinong lowered his head and coughed, and the man laughed: “I know you are a student. Don’t worry, as long as your grandfather still has you as his grandson in his heart, you will be fine. Now, Master He, just stay as a guest for a few days.”

After saying this, the man waved his hand and had someone take him away.

An Yinong noticed that his eyes were very light in color, close to light brown, and the pupil in the middle was particularly black, making him look like a ferocious predator, yet he pretended to be kind.

After leaving the box, An Yinong was taken to the backyard, where there was a small house. There were two young men in the house, and they stood up when they saw Scarface and his group. Then they saw An Yinong and both sides were a little surprised.

The man on the left was handsome, and the man on the right was dark-skinned. An Yinong saw them when he sent the homeless woman home. They were the woman’s son and her son’s friend.

An Yinong curled the corner of his mouth and tried to laugh: This can be considered an alternative fate, right?

The two men also recognized him. One was about to speak when the handsome young man touched his arm, and they both lowered their heads.

“Watch him.” The scarred man said to the others, “I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Okay, Bai.”

The handsome young man and dark-skinned man both glanced at him cautiously, but they did not dare to reveal their familiarity and tried not to get close to An Yinong.

At this moment, An Yinong sat on a wooden chair. Except for his hands being tied, he did not look like a hostage at all.

In addition he didn’t show any nervousness. On the contrary, he was calmer than the two young men who had met once before, and he asked for water naturally and chatted with them.

After a few words, the atmosphere warmed up again. Even when they were playing cards, An Yinong could have a seat, but his card skills were really bad, and soon he had several white paper slips stuck on his face.

When the atmosphere was heated, An Yinong would also ask about some things indirectly. These people were prone to letting things slip after they win.

Then An Yinong knew that these people were indeed new members, and the scarred man was their leader. This kidnapping incident should be regarded as a “pledge of allegiance”. The scarred man wanted to prove himself, so he was assigned this task.

At this time, the man with the scar came back. He looked at An Yinong, who was sitting together playing cards and had a lot of white notes on his face, and was speechless for a long time.

His brothers were not the kind of people who would let down their guard so easily. Why were they so defenseless against this person? Because he looked pretty and harmless? But there were not many pretty and harmless people in the world?

“I know what you want to do.” The scarred man said to An Yinong, and took him aside and guarded him personally.

An Yinong felt strange: “I was the one who was kidnapped, why are you guarding me like a snake?”

The scarred man just glanced at him and said: “I brought them out, and I will bring them back intact. But if you show unnecessary kindness, you won’t live long in the future.”

“Can’t you do anything else?”

The scarred man sneered and shook his head: “What do you know? It’s either here or there. Do we have a choice?”

The two of them didn’t speak until the evening, when one of the younger brothers went to buy a lunch box and brought it to An Yinong.

“Eat.” The scarred man holding the lunch box looked at him coldly.

An Yinong looked up at him, then stretched out his bound hands and picked up the disposable chopsticks. The lunch box was fried rice with bacon, a poached egg and two green vegetables, and everyone had the same thing.

The scarred man kept staring at him, thinking that this delicate young master could not eat such cheap fast food with heavy salt and oil. However, he just kept silent and ate with his head down. He ate very politely but not slowly, and not a single grain of rice was left.

This ‘hostage’ was so cooperative, and looked and dressed so well that these ‘gangsters’ didn’t want to show any bad behavior.

“Just be good and don’t cause any trouble, and we’ll let you go once we’re done.”

“What if things don’t work out?” An Yinong looked into the scarred man’s eyes, and the latter subconsciously turned his head away.

An Yinong lowered his eyelids, then raised them again, and asked with a smile: “Would you like to see the comics I drew? They’re actually pretty good.”

“Really? I want to see.” A younger brother said before the scarred man frowned. They even untied An Yinong’s wrists. They really had no awareness of being kidnappers at all.

The scarred man still frowned, but he didn’t say anything. He just stood up and walked aside, smoking and staring at An Yinong.

A young man searched around and found some scrap paper and a ballpoint pen: “Will this work?”

“Okay.” An Yinong picked up the pen.

He drew a comic book sketch of them. Same clothes, same style, and faces are 70% similar, but the characteristic of comics was to highlight symbolic qualities, so the finished portraits were their personalities with magnified features.

Some of these figures were looking up from a bird’s-eye view, holding a radio in their hands, while others were riding skateboards, looking quite dynamic.

“Is this me?” These people were very happy and held their own small sketches.

“I’m still the most handsome one. I should learn how to skateboard!”

The handsome boy and the dark-skinned boy who had been avoiding him before also came over. In the picture of the handsome boy, he was singing on the stage with his eyes closed, looking like a singer. The dark-skinned boy was playing basketball and dunking, looking very handsome.

“Thank you, Master He…Brother Bai!”

An Yinong turned his head following the handsome boy’s line of sight and saw the scarred man. The scarred man came over without knowing when. He knew what An Yinong was doing and should have stopped him, but he didn’t.

“Hey, kid, you can be a cartoonist in the future. You draw well.” A young man wearing a colorful Hawaiian shirt sat next to An Yinong.

An Yinong looked at their expressions and felt sad and lamentable. He and they were all fish on someone else’s chopping board. These people probably haven’t seen the dangers of the world yet. They are so naive – they think their boss would really let him go.

“Yeah, have you ever thought about what you want to be?” An Yinong asked back.

“Me?” The younger brother was stunned for a moment. He thought seriously for a long time, “I used to want to be a hawker, pushing a cart and selling fish balls next to the school.”

“Not bad, I can sell and eat at the same time.”

Both of them laughed.

At night, he was taken to a small room at the back, which had no windows but a skylight with iron bars and an iron door.

There was nothing in the room except a wooden toilet. An Yinong looked carefully and found a rat hole. From the marks at the hole entrance, there was a rat inside.

This small room was like a fortress, and he was the unfortunate man imprisoned there.

If one wanted to come in from outside to rescue him, one had to go through at least three or four levels. The first level was the thugs patrolling outside, the second level was the “bartenders” wearing suits who were actually thugs, the third level was the group of kidnappers in the backyard who looked young and innocent, and the last level was the iron door that imprisoned him.

Suddenly the iron gate opened, and the scarred man came in holding a quilt. He put the item on the ground and wanted to leave, but An Yinong stopped him: “What should I call you?”

The scarred man turned his head and looked at him, and after a long while he uttered a few words: “My last name is Wu.”

“Brother Wu, if you don’t do this job, what would you like to do?” An Yinong asked.

The scarred man was stunned for a moment, and he seemed to recall something, but in the end he just told him coldly: “Don’t do anything unnecessary. When it’s over, I will send you back.”

“You’re really going to send me back? You’re going to send me back even if things don’t work out?”

This time the scarred man did not avoid him. Instead, he looked at him and said, “Yes. I will take you back personally.”

“Wait a moment.” An Yinong called him when he turned around.

The scarred man turned his head, and in the dim room, he could see a childish face with a pair of eyes that hid a beautiful soul.

“This is for you.”

An Yinong spread out his hands, and the man with the scar saw a small picture. It showed a man with a buzz cut and a scar smoking silently on a street corner, looking a little cool.

He silently took the drawing paper, left again and locked the door.

“Host, what should we do now?” The system paced back and forth in the air, panicking.

“Go to sleep.” An Yinong leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

“Ah? Sleep?”

“At three or four o’clock, people’s mental state is the worst. Wake me up at that time and I’ll let the shadow puppet take a look.”

He opened his eyes. “I won’t be transferred immediately in the short term. Besides, they want to kidnap me for profit, so they probably won’t do anything recently. I need to understand the situation here first so that I can find an opportunity…”

After saying that, he really closed his eyes and fell into a light sleep after more than ten minutes.

The people outside used the small window on the iron gate to look inside and saw An Yinong leaning against the wall and seemed to be asleep. They were very surprised: “Brother Bai, that little devil…seems to be asleep? He is so careless. Brother Bai, this is the first time I do this kind of thing, um, is this how a sex offender does it?”

The scarred man was stunned for a moment: “This person… is very special.”

He can make the most advantageous choice at the first moment, can chat and laugh with the kidnappers, and was worried about scaring the children so he hopes they will give him a cloth to cover up the traces. Now he can even fall asleep while being locked up. Not to mention his background, just looking at his character, as long as he doesn’t die, he will definitely become a great man in the future.

“Brother Bai, I actually quite like this kid. He shouldn’t do… that, right?” The younger brother himself was a little nervous. He didn’t want to do such a thing, but after joining the gang, many things were beyond his control.

“What did I tell you?”

“Brother Bai, I remember what you said, don’t be too sympathetic, but…but, I really can’t bear to do this. Brother Bai, can you give me a definite answer?”

“…I’ll send him away then.”

After the younger brother left, the man with the scar took out a cigarette and started smoking.

“What a mess.” He exhaled a puff of smoke and felt that he would not live long like this.