Reincarnated as a Poor Little Green Tea, Am I Destined to Be Bullied? - Volume 1 Chapter 52

Chapter 52: That Day

***

In the next brief yet long 10 minutes, Lin Yueye listened to the entire human tragedy.

She spoke quickly.

But Lin Yueye listened very slowly, very slowly.

“Lin Yueye, you look… not in a very good state.”

“Yes… I may still be a bit… Teacher Luo, can I go over there to calm down for a moment?”

“Please do.”

Indeed…

Some things, others can say in 10 minutes.

For those involved…

What’s told in 10 minutes.

That’s a time longer than a lifetime.

………………………………………

In the late summer and early autumn more than 10 years ago, the Xia family, who had just recovered from a harsh winter and was immersed in a celebratory atmosphere, certainly didn’t anticipate this sudden calamity.

The future of the Xia family, the inseparable siblings who were always together, suddenly disappeared in the backyard. At first, the family thought they were being mischievous and hiding somewhere to scare people. It wasn’t until a maid picked up a black envelope on the lawn in the backyard and checked it that she ran, pale-faced, towards the master bedroom where the family matriarch was taking an afternoon nap.

At that time, the family matriarch hadn’t called her husband for over a year, due to a quarrel. They had different decisions, and even though the Xia family had recovered, in the short term, it was still clearly a state of each living their own life, not wanting to deal with each other.

But this time, after reading the letter, the family matriarch immediately lost her composure.

This businesswoman, who never easily sighed, no longer cared about the quarrel. She immediately grabbed her phone, trembling, to call her husband. When she heard her husband’s urgent inquiry on the other end, her tears fell instantly.

“Quick! Go save… save the children! Mujin and Muqing, they’ve been kidnapped!”

Muqing, Xia Muqing, that was the original name of Ling Qingyue before he disappeared.

Graceful in demeanor, behaving like a gentleman, constantly in thoughts, jade stone for you, that was how his parents hoped he would become, and it was also the jade-like quality that the young eldest son had shown from an early age.

But all of this was shattered into pieces by that black letter.

【Listen, we’ve kidnapped the two Xia family children. You should know who we are. If you want them back, don’t call the police. Transfer the money to the company account. After the transfer, note it as a business order. We’ll release the people once we receive the money. Remember, don’t make this out to be a kidnapping. This is a business order, a transaction, a deal, a willing exchange. Buying your children’s lives with half of Xia Group, it’s worth it, right? We give you 3 hours, otherwise, it’s mutually assured destruction.】

They wouldn’t say it, but the head of the Xia family certainly knew who the kidnappers were.

After all, there was only one company that had made threats during business conflicts and left such menacing words.

But now, does it matter who they are?

The head of the Xia family was a businessman, he could calculate. Perhaps others thought that working tirelessly to revive the company these years without asking about family matters meant he was a heartless person.

Indeed.

But as a businessman, he knew what the most profitable deal in this world was.

Using money to buy back a father’s due responsibility, this was a deal with unparalleled cost-effectiveness.

After signing that business order without hesitation, the family head immediately contacted the other company, giving them a reply.

The reply was just one sentence.

【Calling the police is not necessary. If you dare to harm a hair on their heads, I’ll make you pay with your lives.】

……………………………………..

“Brother… Big brother… Are we going to die? I’m so scared…”

“Don’t be afraid, Mujin… It’s okay, be good…”

— Drip, drip.

In the dilapidated factory warehouse, speaking a little louder would cause an echo.

It had rained last night, and the poorly maintained warehouse floor was dripping water, creating a cold environment. From time to time, there were “squeaks” and shadows from the corners, which should be rats scurrying around the warehouse.

Everything here was very much at odds with the siblings tied back-to-back to the same pillar.

One wore a neat and tidy children’s suit, the other wore an expensive princess pleated skirt. Whether in appearance, demeanor, or innate temperament, they were clearly identifiable as children from a wealthy family at a glance.

If a child raised in a greenhouse were placed in such an environment, they would probably have been scared to tears long ago.

In fact, young Xia Mujin was very timid. The little girl’s tears were constantly welling up in her eyes, and the only reason she hadn’t burst into loud crying was because beside her was the person she trusted and relied on most in this world, constantly talking to her. Even though the boy himself was also quite frightened, he knew he should do something more.

“Brother… I want to go home…”

“Mm, we can go home… Brother promises you.”

“Uu…”

With his arms tied behind the pillar, Xia Muqing couldn’t comfort his sister by patting her head as usual.

But he tried hard to use his slight height advantage to keep his head close to Xia Mujin, slightly higher, never leaving her side.

“Brother…? What’s wrong with you?”

“No… Nothing, ha… Did you hear what those people said earlier? Father and mother are already on their way.”

“Mm!”

Without that perspective, Xia Mujin naturally didn’t know.

Xia Muqing was trying hard to move his body in that direction, using his own shoulders to shield her from the rainwater falling from the roof, to prevent the cold, dirty water from hitting her shoulders.

The eldest son of the Xia family had always been like this.

Ever since he knew he had a sister, that this was a family member connected to him by blood, he had protected this cute and lively girl even more than he protected himself.

“Stop talking! Be quiet!”

“……”

At the warehouse door, two adult men holding iron rods, standing at the entrance looking out, shouted back, frightening little Xia Mujin who immediately cried out and shrank her neck.

Even though Xia Muqing glared back fiercely, adults wouldn’t care about a child’s threats.

He just cursed, complaining that today’s job given by the boss was simply inhumane.

“Damn it, the boss has gone crazy, you know that? We’ve become kidnappers like this? Risking our lives for him?”

“Stop complaining, dammit. We’ve already done this, is there any turning back?” The other man was obviously quite annoyed too, but he was focusing intently on looking outside through the rusty, broken holes of the warehouse door, staying alert.

“But come to think of it, if we pull this off, you and I will be set for life. Instead of complaining, why not think about how to spend the money in the future, anyway… Hm?”

— The vibration alert of a phone sounded.

One kidnapper took out the silenced phone to check the message, his already disgusted expression becoming even more irritated.

“Damn, this is really messed up.”

“What’s wrong? The company hasn’t received the transfer yet?”

“They’ve received it, but the damn boss says this kind of payment, they can find ways to get it back later.”

“Then what do we do?! I told you we should have asked for cash directly, didn’t I?”

“Are you stupid? If we ask for cash directly, they can report to the police however they want afterwards. Don’t ask anymore, the boss’s order is to let one of them go.”

“Let one go?”

As they spoke, the two kidnappers didn’t dare to slack off, already walking in front of the two children, looking down and examining this young lady and young master.

“What are you doing?” Xia Muqing looked up with a sharp gaze fixed on the kidnapper. Even though he couldn’t move, he was warning them not to touch his sister.

“Oh, the little brat’s got quite an attitude. What’s the point of talking to a snot-nosed kid like you, hey.” The kidnapper’s eyes signaled the other thug, indicating him to go get the small knife to cut the rope, “The boss said to pick one to let go, we’ll deal with the next one in a few days when the payment is stable. Got to hand it to the boss… he thinks things through. So, which one should we let go?”

“Obviously, let this boy go. This little girl just cries, she clearly can’t run. If you tie up this brat, what if he escapes later? Can you take responsibility for that?”

“You’ve got a point.”

This time, even though Xia Mujin didn’t understand what they were saying, she couldn’t help but call out to Xia Muqing, tears streaming down uncontrollably.

But… but they just said they were going to let her brother go, right?

“Brother… you go home first, I…”

“You two bastards! Damn your whole families! You damned things!”

“Eh…?”

In her memory.

That was the first time Xia Mujin heard her brother, who had always been a gentle young man, curse.