Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 842 - 466 Personally Negotiate the Price

Chapter 842: Chapter 466 Personally Negotiate the Price

Yan Fei had returned to the cattle farm when Heizi and a bunch of people gathered under the light inside the gate, scrutinizing something. As soon as they spotted the motorcycle returning, they scattered in all directions.

Noticing that Heizi was also about to leave, Yan Fei hurriedly called out to him, "Heizi, wait up, what are you all up to over here?"

He intended to call Heizi over to tell him about his plans to head out. He hadn’t expected Heizi to dawdle over reluctantly, pulling out a lighter from his pocket and handing it over, "Nothing much, just got this little gadget from someone today. Check out this picture on it, Brother Fei. If you hold a flame to it, the clothes disappear from the person in the picture. Those guys have never seen such a thing, insisting on crowding around to look..."

"Are you asking for trouble? Those cheap lighters sold at street stalls sometimes explode just from sitting in the sun, and you’re toasting them with an open flame? An explosion would turn you all into blind men." Yan Fei commented briefly and said no more. "I’ll have to go out of town for a few days. If anything comes up at home, discuss it amongst yourselves, and page me if there are problems you can’t resolve."

"Alright, go ahead, no worries!" Heizi immediately agreed enthusiastically once he realized he wasn’t being held accountable for playing with the gadget.

Yan Fei didn’t linger, turned his motorcycle around, and prepared to make a trip back to the greenhouse area.

No sooner had he left than the shameless bunch that had dispersed earlier gathered back again, hassling Heizi, "Come on, try it again, I didn’t get a good look just now..."

Nonchalantly, Heizi tossed the lighter toward the outside of the gate, where it exploded with a bang, startling the two big dogs at the entrance.

Xiaosong dashed over, "Why’d you throw away something so good? If the picture gets destroyed by the explosion, there’ll be nothing left to look at."

Heizi chuckled behind him, "The thing’s of poor quality; it’s better if it explodes. After that, you can toast it without worrying about explosions."

And he wasn’t wrong. Indeed, the quality of disposable lighters these days was poor. The situation Yan Fei mentioned earlier was real, too. Inferior lighters could explode if left out in the sun for too long. Although incidents like this were rare despite the abundance of lighters for sale, one such occasion was scary enough; who would dare risk it happening frequently!

If it weren’t for Yan Fei’s reminder, Heizi would have really forgotten about this. Even stall owners in town knew better by now to keep such lighters under parasols to avoid direct sunlight. But there they were, heating these disposable lighters with a flame, truly not doing any favors for themselves!

Meanwhile, Xiaosong had picked up the cracked lighter, blowing and patting off the dirt that stuck to it, his face full of excitement, "Lucky, lucky, it blew up on the back. The picture’s still intact..."

The others quickly crowded around again, and someone took out another lighter, ready to continue toasting the picture on the cracked lighter—actually, it wasn’t much, just a picture of a blonde, blue-eyed foreign woman. She was already wearing scant clothing, which would disappear as soon as heat was applied to it, only to reappear as it cooled down.

While watching, they complained, "Heizi, couldn’t you have come up with some other excuse earlier? What if Brother Fei wanted to have a look? If he confiscated it, we’d have nothing to watch. This is good stuff, its worth is known only by those who’ve seen it, just look at the size, tsk tsk, you definitely couldn’t grab it with one hand..."

Right away someone objected, "Back off, just look and stop waving your hands around! Don’t block everyone else’s view! You’re the sleaziest, you think Brother Fei is like you? As if he’d get all excited like you!"

Earlier, Yan Fei had barely paid attention to Heizi’s explanation of the lighter’s special feature, and he didn’t know what this bunch was up to after he had left. But even if he did, he wouldn’t have cared.

By then, they could genuinely be seen as having transformed. Day in, day out, they worked hard, and they’d also started reading books. Though their studies weren’t taken very seriously, their words and manners had significantly changed from before whenever they went out. Not to mention the occasional specialized new terms they’d throw into conversation. Honestly, to an outsider unaware of their past, it would be impossible to guess what sort of people they used to be.

While the folks at the cattle farm were talking about Yan Fei, there were also people mentioning him thousands of miles away in Hong Kong.

In a bedroom on the upper floor of that seaside villa Yan Fei and Xu Xiaoyan had visited, The Sixth Miss Guo sat in a daze while her personal assistant, Nana, was seated beside her.

After a long silence, Guo Jingya muttered softly, "Do you think Yan Xiaofei can actually be of any help? Why hasn’t he returned any of my calls?"

Nana tried to console her, "In a situation like this, what could he do even if he came? Hong Kong’s huge, and the power of one person is really small, making it hard to find those people. But don’t worry, the elders have said it already, those people are likely only after money. As long as we meet their demands, Uncle will definitely return!"

"But if they’re after money, why haven’t they stated their demands yet?" Guo Jingya immediately retorted.

"Perhaps they aren’t ready yet and might be observing to see if we call the police..." Nana’s response lacked certainty now.

At this moment, it wasn’t just the two girls upstairs who were worried; several family members from the Guo family in Hong Kong had also arrived in the hall downstairs. Everyone remained silent, however, watching an elderly man sitting on the sofa, eyes closed, as if gathering his energy.

Just before, it had been chaos, with crying and wailing, cries to call the police, and some using their connections to inquire about the situation through people with shady backgrounds. But the moment the elderly man arrived, everyone suddenly quietened down—there should have been more people there, but the elderly man’s message before his arrival discouraged others from coming.

After all, having more people there wouldn’t have been much help and might have just drawn unwanted attention.

In fact, before Hong Kong’s handover, cases of kidnapping wealthy individuals were rampant. And the so-called Royal Hong Kong Police and judicial institutions did not engender confidence among these tycoons.

Have you heard about the robber who committed multiple crimes, then robbed a bank, stole over a hundred million, only to be released from prison a few years later and receive compensation of several million from the police? Such bizarre incidents happened in Hong Kong before the handover.

Thus, these tycoons reached a consensus: if kidnapped, just pay up honestly and hope the kidnappers would keep their promise to release the victim once the ransom was received.

Of course, it wasn’t as if they would do nothing. Although not many, those present in the room were the mainstays of the Guo family. The younger generation, like The Sixth Miss Guo, who had arrived early, and several other female members of the family who weren’t calm enough, had all been sent to stay in the rooms upstairs.

Right now, everyone, including those who hadn’t come, was waiting, waiting for news from those they had commissioned to gather intelligence and waiting for the kidnappers to call and set their demands—indeed, in this place, kidnappers were so bold that they would call after the abduction to first let the kidnapped victim notify their family: "I’ve been kidnapped, don’t call the police, wait for their demands, and you’d better prepare more cash in advance."

Actually, the Guo family already had their suspicions, almost certain of who the kidnapper was.

The method in this case mirrored that of a kidnapping from the previous year: abduct the victim, then use the victim’s own phone to notify the family with a call—though making a guess based on this alone could hardly be considered reliable, it was simply a gut feeling.

Indeed, there was a criminal in Hong Kong notorious enough for multiple robberies and for being compensated millions by the police, who, less than two years after being released from prison, pulled off a high-profile kidnapping last year. The details of that case hadn’t completely spread yet, only circulating among certain individuals who knew better than to speak recklessly, maintaining a tacit understanding.

In fact, it was last year’s kidnapping case that had many tycoons feeling paranoid. Actions such as the Guo family’s offspring going on vacations to distant places to lay low were common, including the swift decisions by the elderly man at signs of trouble—last time the younger generation was sent to hide, which turned out to be a false alarm. It was probably because it coincided with Hong Kong’s impending handover period that the kidnappers felt the heat and didn’t act.

As the long wait dragged on and the night grew deeper, the phone in the living room finally rang. The elderly man, who had remained composed throughout, picked up the receiver without hesitation.

From the moment the elderly man said "This is he," everyone understood that this was the kidnapper’s call.

After a brief conversation, the elderly man put down the phone and said to the younger family members in the hall, "Disperse, all of you! It was a call about the money. Prepare the cash we have here, pack it up properly and leave it here. Then go on and continue to raise funds; gather as much as you can for now. Someone will come later to discuss the price. I’ll stay here; all of you go back and wait for my call."

The kidnapper is coming in person to negotiate?

Several people became anxious, not minding their surprise at the kidnapper’s boldness, and tried to persuade the elderly man to let them stay and negotiate instead. It was clear, however, that the elderly man’s word was still law in the family. He waved his hand and immediately everyone closed their mouths, "Stop arguing. This kidnapper is the same one from last year. I’ve spoken to an old friend of mine; he’s very trustworthy. As long as the money is delivered, he will certainly release the victim."

"After you go out, control the spread of information to minimize impact. That old friend of mine had spoken face-to-face with this man last year, and isn’t he fine now? Go on and be at ease; he won’t harm an old man like me. There’s no need for anyone to stay outside. Have those upstairs leave as well; I’ll be fine on my own."

As the elderly man waved his hand again, everyone gradually left the room. Of course, the house couldn’t possibly be left with just an old person; the housekeepers and servants continued their normal duties, both to care for the elderly man and to prevent too much commotion from alerting others to anything unusual.

After the people in the living room, including The Sixth Miss Guo and a few others from upstairs, had left, a large van slowly made its way up the mountain about an hour later.

The van drove slowly, steadily approaching the Guo family’s villa until, after pausing for a while, the engine finally shut off and a man got out.

After looking around, the man walked steadily to the villa’s front door and rang the bell.

A moment later, led by a servant, the man sauntered inside.

Meeting the elderly man who was waiting in the living room, the visitor took the initiative to speak, "Good evening, Mr. Guo, I am Qian Xiaoqiang. You are very honorable. As I came in, I saw no sign of the police around..."