Chapter 2367 — Blinded by Panic

This was the only man in her life, and the man she hated most! Drunk and lustful, he had brought Chen Xi and her mother so many years of hardship! How hard it was for a woman to raise a child all alone?

"Xiaoxi, she... ah, it's a long story!" Zhao Guangyin sighed, putting on a show of helpless lament. He was playing the part of a down-and-out man today, so although he had come in a luxury Mercedes, his entire outfit was ragged and worn—of course, the raggedness was fake.

"What on earth happened to Xiaoxi? Say something!" Mother Chen was losing her composure. Chen Xi was her very life, and now that Zhao Guangyin was hemming and hawing, she instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

"This matter has to start from when I found Xiaoxi..." Zhao Guangyin began to spin his tale. "After I found Xiaoxi, I treated her to a meal, wanting to express the remorse I've felt toward her all these years. But who would have thought that my enemy would track me down—I owed him money... In the end, he simply seized Xiaoxi to settle the debt, saying that the father's debt should be paid by the daughter..."

"What! Xiaoxi was taken?" Mother Chen was stunned, glaring at Zhao Guangyin in fury. At that moment, her worry for her daughter made her dizzy—so dizzy that she forgot to ask how Zhao Guangyin had found Chen Xi, or how he had found this place. Her mind was filled with only one thought: what to do? What was she going to do?

"Yes, there was no other way. I could only come to discuss it with you..." Zhao Guangyin did not want to say another word. Seeing Mother Chen so alarmed, he was delighted; if she had not been frightened, or had not believed him, he would have had to invent piles of nonsense to explain everything back and forth, which would have been truly troublesome. But who would have thought Mother Chen would be so easy to fool—she believed it at once!

"Then what are we to do? You wretch—why did you go looking for Xiaoxi? All these years, you never came to see us, so why look for her now? Aren't you just ruining her?" Mother Chen was beside herself. "What does your enemy want with Xiaoxi?"

"I... well... ah! I just thought, after not seeing her for so many years, I would make it up to Xiaoxi. Who could have known my enemy would show up..." Zhao Guangyin said with a bitter face. "He took Xiaoxi to a casino on the commercial street of Donghai City. I hear he wants to curry favor with some Southeast Asian gambling king named Pu Huotai, and he's preparing to present Xiaoxi to him. I had no way to stop him... ah, it's all my fault for being useless..."

"What..." Mother Chen was struck dumb. A Southeast Asian gambling king, a casino—it all felt so remote from her life, utterly unconnected to her world! And that Southeast Asian gambling king, since he was called a gambling king, must surely be some formidable figure of wealth and power. How could she, an ordinary weak woman, possibly contend with such a person?

She hated Zhao Guangyin to the bone. Why did he have to come now, of all times? It was nothing short of a disaster for her and her daughter!

Just then, Foreman Zhu burst through the door in a fluster, shouting, "Disaster! Disaster! Little Chen—Chen Xi has been taken!"

Foreman Zhu's appearance was of course arranged beforehand, all to make Mother Chen believe it was real! If only Foreman Zhu had appeared, perhaps Mother Chen would not have been so easily convinced—after all, why would anyone seize a little girl who collected scraps?

But with Zhao Guangyin present, it was different. His very appearance threw Mother Chen into confusion, and then the bombshell that Chen Xi had been taken left her floundering, with no chance to doubt or probe whether the matter was true or false!

Foreman Zhu's timely arrival in particular seemed to corroborate Zhao Guangyin's words!

Mother Chen was already at a loss, and now that Foreman Zhu had appeared, telling her that Chen Xi had been taken, she was utterly dumbstruck!

"Ah! You're here too? You bastard, didn't you say you were Chen Xi's father? That you wanted to treat her to a meal and tell her a few things? Why did I see her being taken away?" Foreman Zhu "had not expected" Zhao Guangyin to be here either; the moment he laid eyes on him, he jabbed a finger at him and began cursing.

"I... this..." Zhao Guangyin laughed inwardly—Foreman Zhu was quite the actor!

"Don't 'I' me! The situation is urgent. I secretly followed those people for a while, and I heard them say they want to use Chen Xi as a stake to curry favor with that gambling king Pu Huotai at the casino. Little Chen, think of something quickly—we can't let those scoundrels ruin Xiaoxi!" Foreman Zhu said urgently.

"Ah... Elder Zhu, what are we going to do..." Mother Chen asked in utter panic.

"Now the only way is to find someone to help us—see who can come to our aid!" Foreman Zhu began to set the trap, preparing to lead Mother Chen into the pit!

"Ah! I'm just a weak woman. I know no one. How could I compare to those rich and powerful gambling kings? Who could I possibly find to save Xiaoxi..." Mother Chen said helplessly.

"Wait—I just remembered someone! He's sure to have a way!" Foreman Zhu slapped his thigh as if recalling something important, and cried out.

"Who?" Zhao Guangyin and Mother Chen asked in unison.

"Wei Zhao!" Foreman Zhu finally uttered the name that had been awaited so long!

"Wei Zhao? Can he help?" Mother Chen was grasping at any straw. Hearing Foreman Zhu mention Wei Zhao, she instinctively felt that he should be able to help—after all, Wei Zhao had helped their family a great deal. Perhaps he really did have a way!

According to Chen Xi, Wei Zhao had extensive connections in Songshan City; he even knew people in the Gu Group, so he must have a way! In her panic, Mother Chen did not stop to think it over. She simply picked up the phone and dialed Wei Zhao's number...

Wei Zhao held his phone, turning over in his mind the incoherent torrent Mother Chen had just poured out. Though it was muddled, he had understood the gist: Chen Xi had been taken, brought to this very casino where he now stood, and someone was using her as a stake to gamble against the Southeast Asian gambling king Pu Huotai!

Or rather, this person, in order to curry favor with Pu Huotai, had taken the initiative to offer Chen Xi to him...

Though the story Mother Chen told was, in Wei Zhao's eyes, riddled with holes: Chen Xi's father, whom she had not seen for years, had appeared and taken Chen Xi away; then the father's enemy had appeared and seized Chen Xi; and then Chen Xi's father had come knocking at the door...

The whole chain of events was indescribably bizarre! Where had Chen Xi's father found her? How did he know where Mother Chen lived? And why would Chen Xi go to dinner with a stranger? Most astonishing of all, Foreman Zhu, a skilled fighter of the early Earth rank, had simply watched as Chen Xi was taken—and then run back to testify?