It was already completely dark.
The reading light in the car was on, casting a dim, cold bluish glow. The road was so quiet that even passing vehicles were rare. The tall, dense wild hemp plants surrounded the car, creating a heavy sense of isolation.
Yan Tuo fiddled with the hand-held syringe, turning it over and over, looking at it for a while: the village called Banjia was puzzling. Was it just bad luck that he stumbled into a thieves’ village? But if they were targeting him…
It was absurd; he had never been to that village, and this city was a first for him.
Nie Jiuluo sat quietly on one side, neither speaking nor moving, occasionally reaching out to fiddle with the twisted bracelet on her left wrist, making a faint, delicate sound.
This sound caught Yan Tuo’s attention. He glanced at Nie Jiuluo: “What do you do?”
Yan Tuo was somewhat lucky. Although the old man had inserted the syringe into his neck, he hadn’t had time to inject much of the substance, allowing him to remain conscious for a moment. The most important thing was to hide himself and the car properly. If the villagers caught up with him, or if the police discovered them, the consequences would be dire.
So, after getting the car on the road, he chose a remote path without cameras and settled on this wild hemp field—wild hemp is a tall crop, and the stalks are high enough to conceal the car. After driving into the hemp field, he took a few turns and parked in the deepest part.
Ordinary drivers would be in a hurry and wouldn’t notice that there had been an “accident” here. Even if they did notice, few would take the time to check it out. Those who did would either be very concerned or have ill intentions.
Initially, he thought he had encountered a concerned person and kept Nie Jiuluo because she had seen something she shouldn’t have. But thinking about it again, the frequency of these passersby seemed a bit too high.
Especially after he was attacked, the first person to come over was unexpectedly her. Her reaction in the crisis was also surprising—although Lao Qian was sent away by her excuse if she hadn’t acted so naturally, Lao Qian wouldn’t have left so easily.
You can never fully know a person’s true intentions. Who knows if she is one of the dogs released by Banjia Village to chase him?
Nie Jiuluo said: “I have Weibo and WeChat on my phone, both authenticated.”
She thought Yan Tuo did not seem extremely ruthless: truly cruel people would have shot him and left him in the wild hemp field. His letting Lao Qian go actually sent a relatively mild signal.
Yan Tuo took out the phone, unlocked it with her face, and first checked Weibo.
It turned out she was a sculptor with some fame. Her Weibo had hundreds of thousands of followers, and it was related to her work, showcasing her pieces. Even an outsider like Yan Tuo could tell that her work had a personal style, with delicate details and a mix of enchantment, warmth, and cool detachment, perfectly striking a unique note.
He clicked through the pictures, occasionally zooming in: “Did you make all of these?”
Nie Jiuluo nodded.
Yan Tuo pondered for a moment and suddenly reached for Nie Jiuluo’s hand.
Nie Jiuluo was startled and instinctively pulled back her hand, but she was a moment too late. Yan Tuo’s fingertips traced along her palm and fingers with a light, almost imperceptible touch, causing a slight tingling sensation in her forearm.
“Your hands aren’t rough. Sculpting is a manual job, and fingers are usually rough.”
Nie Jiuluo curled her hand slightly, enclosing her palm: “With proper care and spending money, hands don’t get too rough.”
Indeed, hands are like a woman’s second face. Young women today, if financially able, are generally not stingy with hand care.
Yan Tuo continued to browse Weibo. Sculpting is a skilled craft, and her work was not numerous. After flipping through more than ten pages, he had reached two years ago.
With authentication and actual work, it was impossible to fake.
He said, “The sculptures are quite beautiful.”
Then he exited and opened WeChat. Nie Jiuluo slightly frowned, feeling her privacy was being intruded upon, but then thought that she didn’t have much privacy anyway.
Nie Jiuluo had many WeChat contacts, mostly work-related, but also included housekeeping, delivery, and skincare. Yan Tuo glanced through and learned a lot, such as she had a housekeeper named Sister Lu, with the last message from last week asking if white shrimp should be boiled or stir-fried; she had planted many flowers and trees in her yard, with a gardener visiting every two weeks to handle pests and leaf diseases; and she had a piece of work that had been unfinished for three years, with the contact person Lao Cai complaining, “It’s been three years. Are you still dragging it out? Hurry up, three years and you’ve had three or four children already.”
Yan Tuo thought the old man was quite precise with his words—three or four children in three years, considering the possibility of twins.
Just as he was about to speak, the phone gave a slight vibration, indicating a new message.
It wasn’t a text or a WeChat message. Yan Tuo returned to the main screen and saw that she had a “self-destructing” app. Opening it revealed a message from someone named “That Side,” displayed in an envelope format, not visible.
Nie Jiuluo also saw it but remained silent.
Yan Tuo opened the message.
The eighth day, after paying respects to the third little golden idol, all is well.
Within ten seconds, the message automatically self-destructed. The screen blazed with red flames, so realistic it felt like one could almost smell the smoke.
“Who is this?”
Nie Jiuluo said, “A friend.”
“What kind of friend needs to use this self-destructing method instead of normal contact?”
Nie Jiuluo, feeling irritated, endured it and turned to Yan Tuo with a bright smile: “My boyfriend, who is married. So, we communicate cautiously and try not to leave any records. He’s been up in the mountains recently, worshipping with a master who led him to pray to a little golden idol for wealth. There are many dangers in the mountains, so I ask him to check in with me daily—Mr. Yan, you’re keeping me here, let’s focus on the main issues. Can you respect this kind of personal privacy?”
Yan Tuo replied coolly, “If you just said you were a mistress, I’d understand without needing such a detailed explanation.”
Nie Jiuluo replied directly, “If you want to talk, we’ve talked about everything. Are you satisfied with the conversation? Can I leave now?”
Yan Tuo remained calm, “Miss Nie, we have no grudges. I don’t want to do anything to you. But since you’ve seen something you shouldn’t have, I can’t just let you go.”
Nie Jiuluo quickly answered, “I’m just an ordinary person who doesn’t want trouble. I haven’t seen anything and won’t talk about it to anyone.”
“How can you guarantee that?”
“I can sign a written statement.”
Yan Tuo said, “A written statement? If you breach it, can I take you to court?”
It seemed that a written statement wouldn’t work, and making a vow would probably be pointless. Nie Jiuluo tossed the ball back to him, “So, what do you want?”
Yan Tuo answered evasively, “Miss Nie, sculpting takes quite a lot of time, right?”
Nie Jiuluo wasn’t sure of his intention and responded indifferently, “It depends on the situation; it can be long or short.”
“Does it pay well?”
What, does he want to get into the business?
“Miss Nie, I haven’t decided what to do with you yet. How about this: you stay with me for a while. It won’t affect your work since you’ll still be sculpting. After all, you can sculpt anywhere.”
Nie Jiuluo took a while to respond, “House arrest?”
“Don’t put it so harshly. If you finish the work, I’ll buy it. You get the commission, and I’ll cover your food and lodging, even pay you—think of me as your patron. How can you call it house arrest?”
Nie Jiuluo responded with sarcasm, “No contact with the outside world?”
“You artists need to focus on your work, right? Don’t you often go into seclusion to avoid distractions?”
Nie Jiuluo almost laughed in anger. This Yan person could certainly talk—his smooth words made house arrest sound so refined.
“Mr. Yan, I’m not easy to deal with.”
“No worries, I’m skilled at handling such matters. If you like, I can send you anywhere.”
With “sending to the West” being mentioned, continuing to complain would seem ungrateful. Besides, it wasn’t an equal negotiation. Nie Jiuluo leaned back in her seat and looked ahead nonchalantly, “The gun is in your hand; you have the say.”
Yan Tuo glanced at her. She turned her face, her expression showing indifference, her long eyelashes catching the dim light from the car ceiling, their tips shimmering.
Taking her along was a burden.
But with her acting this way, he really couldn’t afford to take the risk of letting her go.
Yan Tuo’s car exited the wild hemp field and took a nearby detour, selecting a family-run inn.
He chose this place because of its secluded location and lack of business. Calling it “lack of business” was flattering—it had no guests at all. When the car drove in, the only dog, tied up at the gate, barked a few times.
The inn itself was also quite simple: a makeshift large yard, with an iron gate at the front and single-story buildings surrounding it on three sides. The central yard was used for parking.
Yan Tuo chose the room in the farthest corner.
Nie Jiuluo cooperated throughout. This place wasn’t suitable for seeking help; the only person she saw was the old man running the inn, who was over sixty, hunched over, and coughing continuously—this was nothing compared to a punch from Yan Tuo.
Yan Tuo first brought Nie Jiuluo into the room, then handcuffed her behind her back to a vertical, discarded water pipe in the bathroom corner. He also climbed up to secure the ventilated window at a high position, before returning to the car to get the luggage.
Ordinary luggage was left in the room, but two items were moved to the bathroom: a canvas bag containing Sun Zhou and the suitcase that had been sitting on the car’s back seat.
The canvas bag made sense because it contained a person, but why was the suitcase brought in?
…
When Yan Tuo entered the bathroom again, he had changed into new clothes: sand-colored waterproof boots, black canvas tactical pants with a pair of full-fingered gloves stuffed into the back pocket, and a black T-shirt with a round neck and short sleeves made of quick-dry material. Nie Jiuluo, sitting on the ground, felt a strong sense of oppression from his angle of view.
This didn’t look like attire for “washing up and going to bed.” Nie Jiuluo asked, “Are you going out?”
Yan Tuo nodded and turned on the faucet to wash his face. The basin was very shallow, and water splashed continuously, making the already dirty tiles on the floor even more chaotic.
Nie Jiuluo’s mind raced.
If he was going out, it was naturally a good thing. The absence of the kidnapper meant a higher chance for her to escape. What she feared was if he gave her a needle to make her unconscious… Alternatively, she could claim that she had been allergic to medical anesthetics since childhood, which might cause life-threatening reactions.
He might not believe it, but he couldn’t afford to, considering it was a matter of life.
The sound of water stopped.
Yan Tuo took a towel to dry his hands and walked over to the suitcase, tapping it with the toe of his boot: “Are you awake?”
It was a hard-shell suitcase, not a zipper type, with an aluminum frame and buckle design. The hard toe made a loud sound when tapped.
Nie Jiuluo’s scalp tingled.
What did that mean? He was talking to the suitcase and asking if it was “awake”? Was there a person inside the suitcase?
This man, who lacked affection since childhood, was truly something else. One was in the canvas bag, and another was in the suitcase.
After a moment of silence, a faint “scratching” sound came from inside the suitcase, the sound of nails scratching against the suitcase.
Yan Tuo squatted down, turned the combination lock, and then lifted the suitcase lid.
At this point, Nie Jiuluo’s scalp wasn’t just tingling; it felt like it was twitching.
Inside the suitcase was a man curled up. Although the suitcase was large, it was still a bit cramped for a big adult man—Nie Jiuluo couldn’t even tell how he had managed to contort himself into it. His flesh and bones were pressed against the sides of the suitcase, forcing his body into a rectangular shape, making him appear like a melted jelly, his head not where a head should be and his feet not where feet should be.
He was lying with the back of his head up and his face down, mumbling.
Yan Tuo said, “I’m going out for a while. Sun Zhou and this woman, you keep an eye on them. Don’t let anything go wrong.”
Nie Jiuluo felt a chill in her heart. She had thought Yan Tuo was dealing with three people, with the suitcase containing another victim, but now it turned out to be his accomplice.
He knew how to play, stuffing his accomplice into a suitcase. She recalled the scene from the previous night when Yan Tuo brought in a rolling suitcase while she was sketching in the hotel lobby.
So, there was a person curled up in that suitcase at the time. No wonder it was placed on the back seat of the car; it was indeed “precious.”
The man in the suitcase made another indistinct sound but remained still.
Yan Tuo frowned and reached out to poke his shoulder: “Are you planning to stay in the suitcase and not come out?”
The poke caused the man to shiver, his head desperately trying to burrow further into the corner of the suitcase.
Yan Tuo grew suspicious: “Dog Tooth, come out and talk.”
Dog Tooth responded vaguely, “Bumpy ride, hit the car… I’m uncomfortable, let me rest a bit.”
Yan Tuo didn’t speak. He stared at the back of Dog Tooth’s head, which smelled a bit rancid and was slightly foul from being cooped up all day.
After a pause, he reached out and grabbed the flesh of Dog Tooth’s neck, forcibly lifting his head.
Nie Jiuluo’s mind buzzed, nearly screaming out.
This Dog Tooth was the ugly man she had seen in the peephole, but now he looked different from before—his left eye socket had been turned into a dark, bloody hole.
Thank you for reading!
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