Mu Sijue didn’t speak for a long time.

Living with Mumu during this period, he knew better than anyone that Mumu relied on Xu Youning very much.

Even though Kang Ruicheng was Mumu’s biological father and he was superior to Xu Youning in all aspects, the only person who could give Mumu a sense of security was Xu Youning.

Because of this feeling of dependence, Mumu had tried his best to stay at the top of the mountain and never mentioned going back.

But now, in order to let Aunt Zhou come back, he volunteered to go back.

Mumu was completely different from Kang Ruicheng. It was hard to tell whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Not hearing Mu Sijue’s voice for a long while, Xu Youning thought that he had hung up. She looked at the phone and found he was still on the phone.

She couldn’t help wondering, “Mu Sijue?”

Only then did Mu Sijue continue talking, “After reaching an agreement with Kang Ruicheng, I will ask Ah Guang to send Mumu back. You may never meet each other again in the future.”

“…”

This time, it was Xu Youning who fell silent.

After a long time, Xu Youning said “okay” softly. There was no obvious emotion in her voice.

Mu Sijue knew that Xu Youning was just concealing her sadness.

Instead of comforting her, he just said, “I have something else to do. You go to bed early.”

“I will.” Then Xu Youning hung up the phone.

After returning to the room, she sat by the bed and looked at Mumu.

The little guy buried half of his face in the pillow, and his breathing was even and long. Although he was sleeping very soundly, Xu Youning could still find that he was not in a good mood before he fell asleep, because there was a trail of tears on his face.

He must have cried secretly before sleep.

Xu Youning reached out her hand to wipe off Mumu’s tear, and her eyes couldn’t help turning red.

If possible, she hoped that Mumu would stay with her until he grew up and no one could harm him. At that time, she would no longer worry about him, nor would she stop him from going anywhere and doing whatever he wanted.

But now, he was still too young.

When he came back to Kang Ruicheng, she didn’t know what he would experience and what challenges he would face in the future.

She was worried about him and reluctant to part with him.

However, she couldn’t leave Aunt Zhou and Auntie Tang in danger just because she was unwilling to leave Mumu. And Mu Sijue wouldn’t allow Mumu to stay.

Xu Youning held the little guy and let him sleep in her arms—perhaps, this was the last chance for her to hold Mumu.

The night was particularly long for Xu Youning, but it was also very short.

Lu Boyan and Mu Sijue felt the same way.

After leaving the top of the mountain, they quickly figured out how Kang Ruicheng kidnapped the two old ladies—

The first person Kang Ruicheng targeted was Aunt Zhou.

Aunt Zhou was Mu Sijue’s biggest weakness in addition to Xu Youning. However, for so many years, Mu Sijue had never mentioned Aunt Zhou to outsiders. So people had only regarded her as an ordinary servant.

In fact, for Mu Sijue, Aunt Zhou was an elder like his biological parent instead of a servant.

However, it happened that the biggest loophole around Mu Sijue during this period was also Aunt Zhou—she would buy vegetables every other day. But besides the driver and a subordinate who helped her carry things, Mu Sijue had not sent anyone else to go with her.

Mu Sijue probably didn’t want Aunt Zhou to attract others’ attention. But Kang Ruicheng had already found out about Aunt Zhou’s status in the Mu family.

Yesterday, as soon as Kang Ruicheng found an opportunity, he dispatched a group of people to kidnap Aunt Zhou easily.

As for Tang Yulan, because Lu Boyan protected her very well, Kang Ruicheng put in a lot of effort. He even persuaded the Zhong Family to take part.

In City A, the Zhong Family was famous and had no contacts with Lu Enterprises in business. Both sides had been polite to and got along well with each other.

Then one day, Zhong Lyue tried to flirt with Xiao Yunyun in the hotel but was smacked by Shen Yuechuan. Knowing this, the old Mr. Zhong found Lu Boyan and expressed his willingness to let Lu Boyan punish Shen Yuechuan.

However, Lu Boyan made it clear that he supported Shen Yuechuan. Since then, the Zhong Family and Lu Enterprises became enemies.

Sometime later, Zhong Lyue tried to kidnap Xiao Yunyun, which infuriated Lu Boyan. He confronted the Zhong Family directly by sending Zhong Lyue to prison.

Zhong Enterprises was a traditional company that could not compete with Lu Boyan and Shen Yuechuan. Therefore, Zhong Enterprises suffered one defeat after another and could barely operate now.

As a result, the Zhong Family had been nursing a grievance but had no way to shake Lu Boyan’s firm status in the business circle. They even had to thank Lu Boyan for leaving them a chance to live.

Kang Ruicheng found the Zhong Family under such circumstances.

He told Zhong Yufen, Zhong Lyue’s aunt, that as long as she called Tang Yulan out, he could help improve Zhong Enterprises’ operation performance.

Zhong Yufen was tempted. She listened to Kang Ruicheng and joined Mrs. Tang’s card game. Then she went out to call Tang Yulan, saying that she had clues about Lu Boyan’s father’s car accident that had happened many years ago. She asked Tang Yulan not to bring the bodyguards out because she wanted to make a deal with Tang Yulan privately.

Tang Yulan did not take precautions against Zhong Yufen at all and went out of the bodyguard’s sight. However, she only saw a group of people who wore black clothes, black trousers, and headgear instead of Zhong Yufen.

She could tell with a single glance that they were not good people. She knew she fell into Zhong Yufen’s trap.

Tang Yulan wanted to call for help and escape to Mrs. Tang’s house. But she was old after all, and her movements were not as agile as those young people. So she was caught before she could turn around.

Kang Ruicheng’s subordinates acted very fast. They pushed Tang Yulan into the car without saying a word.

When Lu Boyan’s bodyguards followed her out, they immediately found that Tang Yulan was in danger. Since they were well-trained, they drove the car to chase her straight away and asked for backup at the same time. Although they did everything they could, they still lost Tang Yulan soon since Kang Ruicheng was well-prepared.

These were the ins and outs of the matter.

Now, only Lu Boyan and Mu Sijue could save Tang Yulan and Aunt Zhou.

It was early in the winter morning. The cold wind whistled past the window as if it wanted to cut something apart.

The phone suddenly rang. Lu Boyan picked it up immediately and asked in a low voice, “Have you found it?”

“Mr. Lu, I’m sorry,” A guilty voice came from the receiver, “we can only find out how the old lady and Aunt Zhou were kidnapped. But we don’t know where they are held because Kang Ruicheng keeps them strictly confidential.

Lu Boyan held the receiver tightly—he accepted the result, but he would not give up.

“Keep looking!” Lu Boyan gave an inviolable order resolutely.

“Yes, sir!” The subordinate said respectfully, “We will keep investigating right now!”

Lu Boyan hung up the phone. He looked at Mu Sijue and shook his head.

If they had found out where the old lady and Aunt Zhou were, they could have worked out a rescue plan and the two old ladies might have been saved.

However, Kang Ruicheng knew what they were thinking and took precautions—he would not enable them to find out where the two old ladies were hidden.

Mu Sijue was not surprised.

Kang Ruicheng had planned for such a long time only to make him face the dilemma. How could he let them find the loophole and figure out a rescue plan?

Mu Sijue said, “Contact Kang Ruicheng and talk to him.”

Lu Boyan checked the time and said, “Wait. Kang Ruicheng will call us.”

“Are you sure?”

As soon as Mu Sijue finished speaking, Lu Boyan’s cell phone rang. And a line of numbers was displayed on the screen. It was Kang Ruicheng’s phone number.

Looking at his vibrating mobile phone, Lu Boyan clenched his fists and refrained from picking it up immediately. After a while, he finally answered the phone and put it on the hands-free mode—

Kang Ruicheng’s voice soon came. He mocked, “Lu Boyan, I didn’t expect you and Mu Sijue to be so tolerant.”

“You also gave us a surprise,” Lu Boyan sneered, “Kang Ruicheng, we didn’t expect you to be so despicable.”

“You think I’m despicable?” Kang Ruicheng laughed heartily, “I’ll let you hear the voices of the two old women. Guess what I have done to them.”

After that, Kang Ruicheng shouted to the two old ladies, “Speak!”

“Boyan…” Tang Yulan’s voice came.

“Mother, how are you?” Lu Boyan suddenly grabbed the phone, and the veins on the back of his hand were bulging.

“I’m fine,” Tang Yulan said in an unexpectedly calm voice. She even smiled and comforted him, “Boyan, you and Jian’an don’t have to worry about me. I can bear it.”

“Old lady, after so many years, you are still so stubborn,” Kang Ruicheng smiled coldly and then did something unknown to Tang Yulan. “Now, can you still tell your son that you are fine?” His voice showed his satisfaction, but it sounded cruel to others.

Lu Boyan’s heart suddenly tightened. “Mother!” He shouted.

After a long time, Tang Yulan’s voice slowly came. “I’m okay, Boyan. Don’t worry about me.”

Tang Yulan’s voice was obviously weaker than before.

Lu Boyan also knew that Tang Yulan was trying hard to hang on so as not to make Su Jian’an and him worry about her.

He warned in a low voice, “Kang Ruicheng, don’t go too far. Don’t forget that we have your son.”

“I know Mumu is with you,” Kang Ruicheng smiled and said, “however, I have two hostages.”

Lu Boyan’s voice turned cold. “You want to take two people away from us, don’t you?”

Kang Ruicheng turned to Aunt Zhou and said, “Say something, Mrs. Zhou!”

“Aunt Zhou?” Mu Sijue repressed his worry and anxiety and asked, “Did they hurt you?”

“Little Seven,” Aunt Zhou’s voice was very weak, but Mu Sijue could hear that she was trying to maintain a normal tone. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

“Aunt Zhou,” Mu Sijue asked, “are you uncomfortable?”

“I’m not that weak,” Aunt Zhou smiled and said, “Little Seven, listen to me. This bad guy kidnaps me to force you to hand Youning over to him. Little Seven, don’t do that. If Youning falls into his hands, she will live worse than I do, and your baby will not have a chance to be born. I’m old, and I don’t care whether I can live or not. Do you understand what I mean?”