Hearing Chen Lishu’s voice, Li Na seemed to have found her backbone. Instead of taking the water from Chen Lishu’s hand, she tightly grasped her arm, her eyes welling up with tears, and pleaded earnestly, "Lishu, I beg you to save my mother. I know I did some things that wronged you before. I also kowtow to apologize to you here. I had no choice but to come to your door today!"
Before Chen Lishu could push Li Na’s hand away, Li Na suddenly withdrew her hand and heavily kowtowed her head to the ground, appearing somewhat frenzied.
Chen Lishu pursed her lips, her expression gradually becoming complex. She crouched down and helped Li Na up. Just as she was about to speak, Li Na plopped down and kowtowed to her again.
The commotion quickly attracted the attention of others. Old Master He, supporting Old Madam He, walked out. Upon seeing the scene, they exchanged a look. He then beckoned to the nearest servant and asked in a low voice, "What’s going on here? Why is someone causing trouble so early in the morning?"
The servant respectfully replied to Old Master He, "We don’t know what’s happening. This woman just came knocking on the door early this morning, saying she had something to ask of Young Master Gu and Miss Chen! She said her mother ran into trouble and hoped Miss Chen could help her."
"Oh." Old Master He wasn’t very familiar with Chen Lishu’s family matters, so he didn’t know what to say for a moment. He looked around, not seeing Li Xiulan, and then asked, "What has Sister Li been up to these past couple of days? She hasn't been seen for such a big matter, especially not at dinner last night."
"Mr. He, Mrs. Li hasn’t been feeling well lately. She’s had a low-grade fever for the past two days and should still be resting in her room." After the servant finished speaking, he kept glancing in Chen Lishu’s direction, curious about what had happened to cause such a scene.
"If she’s not feeling well, she needs a doctor. Alright, don’t disturb a patient’s rest with such trivial matters." Old Master He muttered to himself, then also looked in Chen Lishu’s direction.
Seeing that Li Na’s forehead was already red from kowtowing, with blood even seeping out, Chen Lishu’s right eyelid twitched violently. She then shouted sternly, "Alright, just say what you need to say. Will continuously kowtowing here solve your problem?"
"Lishu, I know I’ve done things that wronged you before. I apologize to you here today and hope you can overlook my past mistakes and help my mother. My mother has been kidnapped by a group of people, and her life is threatened. They are demanding a ransom of one million yuan. If they don’t receive the million yuan, my mother will die at their hands!
I just escaped from them. One million yuan is too much for an ordinary family; we couldn’t possibly scrape together that much money even if we worked for a lifetime. So, I can only turn to you, the big boss, for help. If you are willing to help me, I will repay you by being your loyal servant for life!"
After saying this, Li Na burst into tears, her tears mixing with blood and dripping onto the floor. Her appearance was gruesome and pitiful, stirring sympathy in everyone present. They all looked expectantly at Chen Lishu, wondering if she would set aside past grievances to help this unfortunate person.
Chen Lishu did not lose her composure after those few words and readily hand over a million yuan. Whether it was in this era or decades later, a million yuan was not a small sum.
She pondered for a moment with her head bowed, then slowly raised her head and said, "If you are truly facing such a problem, we will naturally help, as we are family after all. But how can you be sure they will release your mother after receiving the money?
Did the kidnappers give you any contact information? If you have it, give it to me now. I need to communicate with them, both about where to place the ransom and the follow-up matters after the ransom is paid. The hostage’s safety must be guaranteed!"
Li Na nodded in agreement with Chen Lishu’s words, then shakily took out her phone from her pocket and handed a video to Chen Lishu. "Look, this is a video the kidnapper sent me after I left. You might be able to contact them by calling this number?"
Chen Lishu took the phone and watched the video. She saw that Li Xiuli’s situation was no better than Li Na’s. Not only did she have injuries on her face, but there was also blood at the corner of her mouth, suggesting she had suffered internal injuries. If the victim were a young person, it wouldn’t be a significant problem. Chen Lishu worried that Li Xiulan was already an old woman who was suffering like this, and she might not recover her previous physical condition after being rescued.
Then, she called the phone number Li Na had provided. There was a busy signal on the other end. Soon, she handed the phone back to Li Na, saying, "This is a virtual number; there’s no way to call their phones.
Since you’ve been staying at the courtyard these past two days, and these people want money, they will naturally contact you again to discuss the follow-up matters. When they contact you, bring the phone over for me to speak with. I can try to extract some useful information from them!"
Li Na clutched the phone, tears falling like pearls from a broken string. She asked tremblingly, "When will my mother be rescued? What will happen to me if something happens to her? Da Feng Novel Network
I admit that my mother can be quite stingy sometimes, but she is, after all, the mother who raised me. I thought she would live a long and healthy life, but I never expected this day to come so quickly. If I had known, I would have offered myself as a hostage instead of my mother. How could an elderly person endure this?"
Chen Lishu impatiently interrupted, "Enough, stop crying here. The matter has already happened, and we can only find a way to resolve it. Hurry and go to the bathroom to wash off this blood. If you have any injuries, I’ll have someone get you medicine. Change into clean clothes and then we can talk."
Li Na shrunk her head in fear at Chen Lishu’s indifferent gaze and nodded. Just as she was about to leave, the phone rang, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.