Back Then, I Adored You

When the man whom Lu Bancheng had kicked twice heard that statement, he laughed out loud. His eyes were brimming with disdain as he said, “People in our line of work hear this a lot. Do you seriously think we’d ever believe you?”

“That’s true, my word is no good, so you can’t rely on a verbal agreement…” Lu Bancheng contemplated for two seconds before changing his approach and saying, “Why not I give you the phone number of my secretary? You can call him now and personally tell him how much you want. I’ll have him bring the cash over immediately and, when he arrives, you can release her after you have the money. How does that sound?”

“That sounds good. But who knows, what if your secretary brings the police instead of cash?” The man with the switchblade laughed coldly.

“How much did the mastermind behind this kidnapping plot offer to pay you guys?” The reason Lu Bancheng was trying to negotiate with them wasn’t because he really thought that he could convince them but because he wanted to buy some time until Wu Hao arrived. Seeing that none of them were paying attention to him, he tried another enticement. “I’ll give you guys two million in cash.”

After a pause, he added, “U.S. dollars.”

After some time, Lu Bancheng opened his mouth again. “Is that not enough? Four million, then?”

Hearing this number, the three men started exchanging looks. Lu Bancheng, as if he was simply reciting numbers, continued. “Six million dollars?”

“Eight million?

“Ten million…”

Before Lu Bancheng could finish his recitation, the man who had maintained his silence while holding on to his iron rod the entire time spoke in a cold, quiet voice, “Stop listening to him spout nonsense. He’s obviously trying to buy time. It’s been almost half an hour since we called Wu Hao, and he should be arriving soon. What we need to do now is quickly deal with him. It’s not like we don’t know for ourselves how good he is at fighting. And if Wu Hao joins him, we won’t be able to handle them together…”

After this reminder, the man who was holding the switchblade at Xu Wennuan’s neck returned to his senses, looked at him, and said, “Then, what should we do next?”

As his words settled, the man who had been kicked twice by Lu Bancheng also looked at him, who in turn stared at Lu Bancheng with a dark look in his eyes for some time. Then, he dug out a switchblade from his pocket, tossed it to Lu Bancheng, and said, “You gave us so many options just now, but notice that we didn’t choose any of them. Here’s an idea… We’ll give you some options to choose from: You either stab your thigh thrice or he’ll stab her twice. Choose one!”

Lu Bancheng knew very well that they were trying to get him to injure himself so that, when Wu Hao arrived, he would be useless in a fight against them. He stared closely at Xu Wennuan, who still showed no sign of consciousness.

“Weren’t you really good at talking just a minute ago? Why aren’t you saying anything now? Or is this decision too difficult to make, and you can’t choose?”

With that, he gave the man with the knife a look. “I’ll count down from three and, if you don’t make the decision yourself, I’ll do it on your behalf.”

The man with the knife understood the man’s signal and then lowered the knife yet again and aimed its tip at the left side of Xu Wennuan’s chest.