Worried about her

It was an unfamiliar number.

Bo Yan's brows knitted tightly. The phone rang for nearly five or six seconds before he warily answered.

Before he could speak, a familiar voice came through the phone.

"Hello, brother-in-law, you finally answered! Where's my sister? Is she with you?"

Wen Jing seemed to have run into some trouble, his words tumbling out in a panic.

Bo Yan was perceptive. Even over the phone, he instantly picked out the crucial information from the emotion in Wen Jing's words.

He stared at the shards of glass on the floor, his knuckles almost white around his phone, and asked in a low voice, "Your sister's missing?"

Hearing that, Wen Jing knew his sister wasn't with Bo Yan. He immediately became so anxious he wanted to cry. "Tian Xin just called me. She said my sister arranged to meet her at noon, but it's almost one now and she still hasn't shown up. She isn't answering her phone either... My sister said a couple of days ago that she'd be going to have lunch with you every day from now on. She said you were too thin..." Wen Jing didn't even know what he was saying. He was simply anxious and nervous, and whenever he got nervous, he started babbling incoherently. "I thought my sister had gone to see you. I thought she was with you... Wait, do you think she might be on her way to see you? Maybe her phone's just on silent and she didn't hear my calls... Right, right, I'll call again..."

Wen Jing moved to hang up as he spoke, but his hands were shaking so badly that he kept missing the red button.

Just then, Bo Yan's voice came through the phone.

Bo Yan had always been a man of few words. Even in a situation like this, he was concise.

He called Wen Jing's name.

"Wen Jing, calm down."

There were a few brief seconds of silence over the phone. Then Bo Yan heard Wen Jing burst into loud sobs. "What do I do, Bo Yan? Nothing's happened to my sister, has it? Apart from you, my sister never offends anyone. She always tells us when she goes out, and she never ignores my calls. Do you think something really happened to her? She..."

Before Wen Jing could finish wailing, his brother-in-law told him, "She'll be fine."

His voice was so calm it bordered on cold-blooded.

Wen Jing's crying stopped abruptly.

He didn't know how he had ended the call. All he knew was that his mind was filled with the words his brother-in-law had said before hanging up-

"I'll find her. Don't do anything. Wait for my call."

Tian Xin was waiting right across from him. Seeing that he had hung up, she hurriedly asked, "Well? What did Bo Yan say?"

Wen Jing stared blankly at Tian Xin and stammered, "He said not to do anything."

Tian Xin immediately slapped the table. "Fuck! I knew that bastard was a cold-blooded monster! We're calling the police right now!"

Seeing that Tian Xin was really about to call the police, Wen Jing hurriedly stopped her. "Don't, Tian Xin. Calling the police won't help right now. Let's wait a little longer. Bo Yan's already gone to look for my sister. He said-he said he wouldn't let anything happen to her."

Under Tian Xin's piercing stare, his voice grew weak as he delivered that last sentence.

Tian Xin was so angry she almost laughed. "You believe him just because he said so? That's Bo Yan! Don't you know how things stand between him and your sister?! I'm even wondering if he's behind Ningning's disappearance!"

Wen Jing couldn't even win an argument against Wen Ning at home, let alone Tian Xin, that firecracker.

But somehow, every word Bo Yan had just said was like a calming pill, letting him breathe a little easier.

This was a man who had tenaciously survived an underground fighting arena where fish and dragons mingled.

His composure and intelligence were beyond those of a university student like Wen Jing.

This time, he was willing to trust Bo Yan.

After expending the strength of nine oxen and two tigers, Wen Jing finally managed to pacify Tian Xin.

But Tian Xin was still furious. She said coldly, "Half an hour. If that bastard hasn't made any progress in half an hour, I'm storming straight into his company!"

Bo Yan was the only enemy around Wen Ning. If something happened to her, he would be Tian Xin's first suspect.

She didn't have time to dwell on how Wen Jing had kept calling him brother-in-law during the call, either. She was busy making calls to get nearby surveillance footage...

Meanwhile, the very first thing Bo Yan did after hanging up was call Wen Ning.

Wen Ning didn't answer. Even though he had known what the outcome would be, his heart still inevitably sank.

But this also confirmed that Wen Ning's phone was still on. He immediately checked the tracker.

Previously, his relationship with Wen Ning had been precarious. To him, she had been a hidden danger and a threat, so shortly after their marriage, Bo Yan had installed a tracker on her phone while her guard was down.

That way, he could monitor the woman's movements at all times and know in advance what she was planning to do to him next.

Bo Yan had never imagined that when he actually used the tracker he had installed out of wariness and caution, it wouldn't be because he was guarding against her, but because...

He was worried.

It had been a very, very long time since Bo Yan had worried this much about someone. The feeling was unfamiliar, but the uncontrollable trembling of his right little finger told him mercilessly that he was indeed worried.

Soon, the red dot appeared on the tracker.

Bo Yan silently breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed his car keys from his desk, and rushed toward the location.

He was almost certain Wen Ning had been kidnapped. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to a chaotic place like the eastern suburbs' slums for no reason.

The elevator was slow. Unable to wait, Bo Yan took the stairs instead.

The instant the fire exit door opened, the doors of the president's private elevator opened as well.

Bo Xubai had just stepped out when he saw Bo Yan hurry past him.

Bo Xubai's expression instantly darkened.

With that woman Wen Ning backing him, this bastard actually dared to ignore me! Does he really think Wen Ning has deep feelings for him? What a joke. An arrogant young heiress like Wen Ning is only playing with a bastard like him on a passing whim. Once she gets bored, she'll stomp him back into the mire and make sure he never gets back on his feet!

He was waiting for the day Wen Ning fell out with that bastard!

"Young President Bo, your phone..."

Seeing Bo Xubai's unpleasant expression, his assistant spoke cautiously.

Realizing he had lost his composure, Bo Xubai cleared his throat and took out his phone.

It was an unfamiliar number.

Bo Xubai answered.

An arrogant man's harsh, grating voice immediately came from the other end. "Young President Bo, right? I've got your woman. If you know what's good for you, bring the ransom money, or I'll kill the hostage right here!"

Bo Xubai's brows furrowed tightly enough to crush a fly. He immediately said coldly, "Then kill her."

With that, he hung up.

But the scammer called again.

Already irritated, Bo Xubai tossed his phone to his assistant. "Block this number."

The blocked kidnapper looked incredulous. "Fuck! He actually dared to block me! Does he really not believe I'll kill the hostage?!"

A lackey beside him scratched his head. "I think he might've mistaken you for a scammer, boss..."

"Fuck! What about me looks like a scammer?!" the boss cursed. "Where's that woman? Still not awake? Get a bucket of water and wake her the fuck up!"

Hearing that they were going to splash her with water, Wen Ning, who had been playing dead, hurriedly pretended to be coming around and slowly lifted her eyelids.

In truth, she had already cursed her way through eight hundred streets in her head, including that son of a bitch Bo Xubai!

She had heard that entire call loud and clear!

The lackey carrying a large bucket of cold water saw that Wen Ning was awake and hurried to call his boss over.

Wen Ning pretended to be frightened and asked in a panic, "Who are you?!"

Their leader was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, all bulging muscle, with a finger-long knife scar on his right cheek that looked hideous and terrifying.

Wen Ning's previous life had been ordinary. When would she ever have encountered anything like this?

Even though she kept telling herself not to panic, cold sweat still broke out down her back.

The muscular leader drawled, "Oh, finally awake. Who are we? Your dear big brothers, of course."

The lackeys immediately roared with laughter.

Wen Ning had thought these people were only after money. She hadn't expected them to be fucking after her body too!

Her mind raced, searching for a way to save herself.

At a time like this, she could only count on herself.

That much was clear from the way that idiot Bo Xubai had coldly and heartlessly told them to kill the hostage.

Wen Ning was the type to grow calmer the more dangerous things became. She first observed the group. Apart from their muscular boss, the others all had slight builds.

These kidnappers spewed dirty jokes the moment they opened their mouths, but they hadn't actually done anything to her.

They were still going through her phone, seemingly trying to find something in it.

Wen Ning tried hard to steady herself and stop being afraid. It was fine. She had a brain, and a little fighting ability too. There was a way to deal with everything. It didn't matter if no one came to save her. None of it mattered.

Yet when she opened her mouth, she found that her voice was still shaking. Calm, her ass!

"Do you-you want money? I have money! Lots of it! As long as you let me go, I'll give you however much you want!"

Wen Ning copied the obligatory line of a kidnapped female supporting character word for word.

She didn't know whether it would work. All she knew was that it would definitely draw something out of them.

Sure enough, the kidnappers laughed wildly as soon as she finished speaking.

"Women are so naive. Of course money isn't the only thing I kidnapped you for!"

Wen Ning put on a terrified expression and stammered, "Then-then what do you want?"

The muscular man suddenly came over and grabbed her by the hair.

The pain instantly brought involuntary tears to Wen Ning's eyes.

Seemingly very satisfied with her timid appearance, the muscular man smiled viciously. "That old bastard Bo Yurong killed my brother. Today, I'm going to kill his son. That's only fair."

So they're enemies of Bo Yan's father.

Then the son of Bo Yurong these people are talking about has to be Bo Xubai!

Even now, after Bo Yan was brought back to the Bo Family, his father has never acknowledged his status!

Fuck! They really did kidnap me as the female lead!

Wen Ning was considering whether to tell these kidnappers they had the wrong person and reveal her identity.

Given the Wen Family's standing in Yanjing, and since these people didn't look like desperate outlaws, they would probably have some reservations.

But just then, her phone rang again.

"Boss, with this contact name, should we answer?" The lackey handed the phone over.

Wen Ning kept watching the kidnappers closely.

This was probably their first job too. They had only taken her phone a few minutes earlier.

The boss gave a mocking exclamation. "Finally realized I'm not a scammer, huh? Answer it!"

The moment Wen Ning heard that, she guessed who was calling!

Sure enough, the next second, a familiar voice came through the speaker.

"Didn't you say you were bringing lunch? Where are you?"