Chapter 2267 — Gu Mengyao Arrives

"Offend someone..." Xiao Qinlin thought it over, then turned to look at her husband, Wang Xuben.

It had always been Wang Xuben who managed the family business; Xiao Qinlin mostly handled the logistics at home, so the likelihood of her having offended anyone was fairly small. The real question was whether Wang Xuben had crossed the wrong person.

"In business I've always played fair and square. I've never done anything like bullying the market or squeezing out competitors. My dealings with business partners have gone well too—they're all relationships of many years. I shouldn't have any enemies." Wang Xuben thought carefully, then shook his head.

"And what about the Xiao family?" Qiu Lingshan had picked up not one useful lead, and there was nothing for it but to lay her cards on the table.

"The Xiao family? Officer Song, you know about the Xiao family?" Xiao Qinlin was taken aback. She had never dealt with Qiu Lingshan, so naturally she did not know her other identity.

"I'm from the Song family—one of the former Hidden Families as well." Qiu Lingshan made no attempt to conceal it. "If this is not trouble you two brought on yourselves, then could it be trouble from the Xiao family's side?"

"I see... The Xiao children are very high-handed in the way they do things. Our family has had little dealings with them, really. Only this year, when my elder brother and the others wanted to marry my daughter to Kang Jinglong of the Kang family, did we have some contact..." Xiao Qinlin said after a moment's thought. "If we're talking enemies, the Xiao family does seem to have offended someone called Wei Zhao..."

"Wei Zhao?" Qiu Lingshan shook her head with a bitter smile. "He can't be the one who abducted your daughter."

"What? Why?" Xiao Qinlin was startled. She had not expected Qiu Lingshan to shoot down the answer just like that, and it left her faintly displeased. She had finally managed to think of an enemy, and now she was told it was not him—so what was she supposed to think of next?

"Even if Wei Zhao has a grudge against the Xiao family, he would go after the Xiao family. He wouldn't detour to abduct your daughter." Qiu Lingshan explained. "To Wei Zhao, the Xiao family is nothing at all..."

Qiu Lingshan wanted to go on explaining, but just then Wang Xuben's phone rang. She broke off and looked at Wang Xuben. This could be a call from the kidnappers. Signaling her subordinate Liu Wangli, who had been transferred to Donghai City along with her, to begin technical surveillance, she said to Wang Xuben, "Answer it first. If it's the kidnappers, stall them for as long as you can..."

Wang Xuben nodded and picked up his phone. The number was unfamiliar, but he did not think much of it—kidnappers changing phone numbers was perfectly normal. He answered directly: "Hello, this is Wang Xuben!"

"Is this Uncle Wang? Hello, I'm Wang Xinyan's university classmate. There's something bad I need to tell you..." Gu Mengyao's voice came through from the other end. She wasted no words and said straight out: "Wang Xinyan was abducted at the school gate!"

"What! You're Yan-yan's university classmate? Yan-yan was abducted at the school gate?" Wang Xuben was shocked. He had not expected the caller to be Wang Xinyan's classmate. He had only received one brief call from the kidnappers before, and they had not said where Wang Xinyan had been taken, nor had he asked. Now, hearing that Wang Xinyan's classmate might be an eyewitness, he said at once: "I already know about this. Could I trouble you to come to the police station? I'm at the station right now. Could you tell the officers here the details of how Yan-yan was abducted?"

"Oh... all right." Hearing that Wang Xuben already knew about the abduction, Gu Mengyao frowned slightly. It seemed the kidnappers must have contacted Wang Xuben already. That being the case, they were not after Wei Zhao.

But that only made things more baffling! If they were not after Wei Zhao, but someone Wang Xinyan or her family had offended, then they ought to be ordinary kidnappers. Yet that was not how it was—even Wu Chengtian had been no match for a single blow, and the Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast had come off no better. Kidnappers of that caliber did not seem like ordinary people, did they?

Since they were not after Wei Zhao, the matter was all the more headache-inducing—they did not even have a presumed enemy anymore.

"Wu Chengtian, are you all right? Shall I leave Xiaoshu here to look after you?" Gu Mengyao was going to the police station, so she turned to Wu Chengtian.

"I'm fine, not going to die." Wu Chengtian grinned. "Once the boss gets back, these injuries will heal in a second! Besides, I've got Granny Sun to bring me food and water. You two go on, don't worry about me!"

Gu Mengyao nodded, and she and Shen Yushu hurried out of the villa and drove to the Donghai City police station.

Seeing Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu enter her office, Qiu Lingshan was somewhat surprised. So the eyewitnesses Wang Xuben had mentioned were these two?

"Eh? Sister Song Fox... I mean, what are you doing here?" Shen Yushu had meant to call Qiu Lingshan "Song Fox" and nearly let it slip, but then she remembered how Qiu Lingshan had risked her life to help her and Gu Mengyao get Wei Zhao away, and it no longer seemed right to mock her the way she used to.

Besides, her brother had let go of it now, and Qiu Lingshan had come to like Arrow-Brand Brother instead—all the more reason she had no business saying anything about Qiu Lingshan.

"I've just been transferred here. This is the provincial capital, so you could call it a promotion." Qiu Lingshan said. "Where's Wei Zhao?"

"Wei Zhao went out with Sun Jingyan. There's some business to take care of." Gu Mengyao said. "If Wei Zhao had been home, the kidnappers could never have pulled it off so easily."

Pitiful as Wu Chengtian's state was, Gu Mengyao believed that if Wei Zhao had been home, he would surely have found a way. It was a blind faith, and she herself did not know why, nor when it had begun—this almost obstinate confidence she had in Wei Zhao. Perhaps she had caught it from Xiaoshu.

Wang Xuben and Xiao Qinlin found it rather strange. How did these two girls know Wei Zhao? And it seemed Wang Xinyan knew Wei Zhao as well? Earlier they had suspected Wei Zhao of abducting their daughter, but now it appeared Wei Zhao was not even home.

"Hello, classmate. Forgive me for asking, but at the time, when my daughter was abducted..." Wang Xuben was desperate to know how his daughter was, and the question came out almost before he could help himself.