Apart from a group of kids whose imaginations had run wild after discussing kidnapping ransoms a couple of days ago, no one else thought President Liu was here to kidnap anyone.
So the school security guards didn't move.
The bodyguards and drivers waiting outside the pedestrian walkway didn't move either.
How laughable - who would be foolish enough to attempt a kidnapping in broad daylight at the gates of this elite primary school? That would be suicidal!
Besides, President Liu had arrived in a Porsche, even if it was just worth a million or so.
"There sure are a lot of people coming to see the little miss," the driver remarked, leaning against the car. "Wonder what this one's here to deliver today?"
President Liu did indeed want to deliver something.
He wanted to give Li Xiaoya money, gifts, whatever it took to quickly regain control of the shares within reason!
"You'd better calm down," Li Xiaoya said, pushing away his hand.
At this point, Li Xiaoya's phone was ringing for the third time.
President Liu tried to reach for it again.
But this time Li Xiaoya answered it first, looking at President Liu seriously as she said: "Since you're so keen on touching my phone, why don't you take this call?"
With that, she held the phone out generously.
Now it was President Liu's turn to be stunned.
Let him answer it?
But... he couldn't really do that.
If it was Zhou General calling, he would tell the other party on the phone that he knew everything...
"Hello," President Liu said into the phone.
There was silence on the other end.
"Hello?" President Liu said again, confused, then turned to Li Xiaoya and asked: "Who's calling? They're not saying anything."
Just as President Liu finished speaking, a cold, deep male voice came through: "Who are you?"
And it was in English!
President Liu's English wasn't bad, after all, he had plenty of experience exporting head-swapping games overseas. As the boss, if he couldn't manage this much, wouldn't he just be waiting to get duped by his subordinates?
"I'm sorry, she's discussing some important matters with me right now. Could you please call back later?" President Liu said fluently in English.
But the man on the other end asked: "Were you the one who hung up on me earlier?"
"That may have been a bit rude, but I really do have urgent business here..."
"What do you want to discuss with her? Perhaps I can help persuade her."
President Liu hesitated, then said: "I just want to give her 8 million to buy back the shares she's holding."
"Shares in which company?"
"..."
"8.8 million, I can help convince her."
President Liu's heart started beating faster. He said: "Really? May I ask, are you her..."
"Guardian."
Huh? A foreign guardian?
"Alright, alright, 8.8 million is fine... I just want to get back the shares I previously sold to her."
"What's the company called?"
"Dream Maker."
"What's your name?"
President Liu suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
He still had this much alertness left.
Carefully considering the foreign man's voice now, beneath his cold tone there was clearly hidden arrogance.
No, he couldn't give his name.
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to hang up on you again," President Liu said politely.
But this bit of courtesy meant nothing in Ke Muning's eyes.
From the moment he hung up the first time, he had already offended Ke Muning thoroughly.
"Put her back on," Ke Muning didn't pursue the question, but his tone grew even heavier, coming through the phone speaker as if he was speaking right next to one's ear.
President Liu felt his scalp tingle, experiencing an instinctive fear.
He handed the phone back to Li Xiaoya: "You'd better talk to him yourself."
Li Xiaoya took it back: "Hello."
On the other end, Ke Muning's expression eased slightly, but only slightly.
"It seems the person isn't a kidnapper, which is cause for some relief," Ke Muning said, then his tone shifted, asking coldly: "When faced with such an arrogant and rude individual, why didn't you just blow his head off?"
Li Xiaoya: ??
"Never mind, you probably wouldn't understand anyway. I'll settle for hearing you say hello." Ke Muning then took a translator device from his subordinate and translated a sentence: "Give the phone to him, I have more to say."
"You take it," Li Xiaoya handed it back to President Liu.
President Liu was about to lose his mind.
Why give it to him again?
"Miss Li, after this call can we sit down and have a proper talk?" President Liu asked.
Li Xiaoya: "We could, but..."
She was afraid he wouldn't be able to sit down later.
President Liu didn't know what she was thinking, and took the phone again: "Sir, what else do you..."
President Liu couldn't finish his sentence.
Ke Muning interrupted with a laugh: "I will find you. You'd better clean yourself thoroughly, so when the gun barrel goes up your ass, your abdominal cavity won't be a mess from your own shit."
With that, he hung up, leaving only the "beep beep" of the dial tone echoing in President Liu's ear.
As expected!
The man just wanted to know who he was!
Sweat broke out on President Liu's back.
He blinked, his scalp tingling all over.
...No, no, that must have been a joke.
Where was this? The country with the strictest gun control in the world! There was no need to worry about the dangers of shootouts here!
But, but the other party was a foreigner.
It's fine, it's fine, who would come all the way here to kidnap someone, take them out of the country, and then shove a gun up their... rear end to kill them, just for hanging up twice?
All sorts of thoughts crowded President Liu's mind.
"President Liu? Are you done talking?" Li Xiaoya looked up and asked.
"Done," President Liu replied, unaware of how uncertain he looked as he said those two words.
Li Xiaoya took back her phone from his hand, and at that moment two cars came speeding over.
One was a Koenigsegg, the other a Bentley Batur.
The Koenigsegg drifted into a turn, stopping right in front of President Liu. It startled him, thinking his feet were about to be crushed.
Fortunately, they weren't in the end.
But President Liu's old habit kicked in, and he instinctively lowered his head to estimate its value.
This car must be worth at least 20 million to start, right?
The next second, the car door opened.
Sheng Yuxiao stepped out with his long legs, immediately placing a hand on President Liu's shoulder: "Where were you planning to take her?"
"You are..." President Liu felt like he looked familiar. But since he had never directly interacted with Sheng Yuxiao in person before, he wasn't quite sure.
"He's Sheng Yuxiao," Li Xiaoya helpfully provided commentary from the sidelines.
However...
"Why did you come? I was just about to call you, but hadn't yet," Li Xiaoya said.
The young master Sheng, whose expression had been quite cold and fierce, softened a tiny bit at these words, but then sneered: "Some brat from your class named An something ran to the high school section looking for Qin Sui. Said it looked like someone was causing trouble for you at the school gate."
Sheng Yuxiao asked another question: "Why would she go to Qin Sui when there's trouble?"
President Liu sucked in a breath, his scalp tingling as he tried to take half a step back amid Sheng Yuxiao's questioning, but couldn't retreat further as Sheng Yuxiao pressed down harder on his shoulder.
"Trying to run?" Sheng Yuxiao asked softly, turning his face.
President Liu couldn't speak.
This was Sheng Yuxiao.
And he had just mentioned that a kid surnamed An had gone to find Qin Sui.
President Liu suddenly recalled the "lies" from Zhou General's wife's mouth earlier, first claiming to know Qin Sui, then saying she knew Sheng Yuxiao.
At the time, President Liu had scoffed.
Now, President Liu... he never imagined these two names would appear before him in this way.
"He wants to talk to me," Li Xiaoya's voice rang out. "I said okay."
Sheng Yuxiao patted President Liu's shoulder: "Well then, get in the car."
In the Bentley behind.
An Ying carefully leaned over the front seat backrest and asked: "Are we... not getting out?"
Qin Sui, sitting in the passenger seat, said: "No need, Sheng Yuxiao is enough on his own."
"Then should we leave?"
"No rush."
Over there, President Liu was forced into the Koenigsegg.
Qin Sui told the driver: "Follow them."
Then he turned his head back, looking at An Ying: "Next time, if you need to find me because of Li Xiaoya, don't say it in front of so many people, understand?"
An Ying felt like she understood a little, so she asked even more carefully: "You mean... only tell you privately?"
"Mm, you're clever."
An Ying couldn't help but ask another question: "Will that offend Sheng Yuxiao?"
"See, now you've asked a stupid question."
An Ying hugged her head.
Help.
How on earth did Li Xiaoya manage to walk the tightrope between these two?