Chapter 49 Countermeasures

  "Is that Zhao Jie? The one from last time?" Li Ruolan saw the photo and remembered that Zhao Yuqin was the woman who had been transferred to another company before, and also remembered that she had a close relationship with Zhou Hao.

  Zhou Hao felt his heart was tied into a knot, Zhao Yuqin's importance to him was no less than Li Ruolan and any other woman. But Zhou Hao also knew that he couldn't be rash at this moment, otherwise it would be harmful and useless. He was thinking about who the kidnapper of Zhao Yuqin was, and whether those kidnappers knew Zhao Yuqin's identity.

  From the phone number on the back of the photo, it can be seen that the other party must have a request for kidnapping Zhao Yuqin. But the key to the problem is, after they kidnapped Zhao Yuqin, why did they want to give this letter to themselves? From this point of view, the other party's target is not only Zhao Yuqin, but also himself, and those who know that he has a relationship with Zhao Yuqin should also be people who are familiar with Zhao Yuqin.

  If the other party knew Zhao Yuqin's identity and still dared to do so, it would be truly reckless. As the daughter of a central government official and the sister of a military commander, kidnapping Zhao Yuqin would be equivalent to confronting the entire country. Zhou Hao was also very worried about Zhao Yuqin's safety, and since the other party had demands, at least they wouldn't harm her for the time being. However, with Zhao Yuqin's stunning beauty, it was hard to guarantee that those people wouldn't harbor evil intentions, especially if they knew her identity. If they dared to kidnap her, they might also dare to violate her.

  "Zhou Hao, what should we do? Maybe we should call the police." Li Ruolan beside him was also very worried.

  "No way." Zhou Hao furrowed his brow and said, "If we call the police, there's no guarantee that they won't harm Zhao Jie. Since they gave us this phone number, let's try calling it to see what happens."

  Not far away, there was a telephone in the gatehouse. Zhou Hao and Li Ruolan quickly walked over and saw the old gatekeeper reading the newspaper inside. Li Ruolan greeted him, and Zhou Hao hastily dialed the phone.

  It rang twice and then connected, Zhou Hao asked cautiously: "Hello?"

  "Zhou Hao?" The voice on the other end was a bit hoarse, and Zhou Hao felt that this voice was somewhat familiar.

  "I am."

  "Hmm... I saw in the news that you encountered an earthquake on that mountain, and I thought you were dead. I was even worried about my $150,000. But it turns out you came back safely."

  Zhou Hao finally remembered who this person was. This was the one who had followed and attacked him last time, also the brother of that bald-headed drug dealer. During this period of time, Zhou Hao had forgotten about this guy due to a series of unexpected events, but he didn't expect him to kidnap Zhao Yuqin. "What do you want?"

  "Hmm..." His low voice was ominous, and even through the phone, Zhou Hao seemed to feel a chill run down his spine. "Your girlfriend is now in my hands. If you don't want to collect her corpse, then prepare 150 million RMB for me!"

  "One hundred and fifty million?! Are you crazy!" Zhou Hao didn't have time to argue with him about whether Zhao Yaqin was his girlfriend or not, "Didn't you say I owed you fifteen million US dollars? Even if converted to RMB, it's only over ten million."

  "That man sneered and said, 'Have you forgotten the over $1 million US dollars that we won from An Zhi's top? Actually, these two accounts added up don't even reach 15 million. But for your sake, we wasted a lot of time, so consider those extra funds as compensation for us.'"

  When he heard this, Zhou Hao also understood that the An Zhi was actually the same person he had met two nights ago. No wonder his four subordinates all carried "Desert Eagle" pistols, it turned out that he and Tu Tou were both drug traffickers.

  "Now the man said: 'Transfer this money into the bank account I specify, and I'll let your girlfriend go.'"

  "No way!"

  The man's voice rose, "Can you still haggle with me?"

  Zhou Hao said, "I don't trust you. If I transfer the money and you back out at the last minute, who can I look for? Besides, I'm doing this for your own good. Transferring such a large sum of money is easily detectable." He calmed down, "Or how about this: you tell me the location and I'll personally bring the money over."

  Li Ruolan beside him heard Zhou Hao say this and couldn't help but grab his arm.

  "On the other end of the phone, there was a moment of silence before he said, 'Alright, but you have to come alone. If I see any police, humph!' Then he told Zhou Hao the location, which was a place on the outskirts of Xiang City. 'I'll give you two hours to gather the money.' After that, he hung up the phone."

  Zhou Hao quietly hung up the phone, since the other party was targeting himself, they might not know Zhao Yuqin's identity.

  Li Ruolan beside him asked nervously: "How is it?"

  He patted her shoulder and said, "Teacher Li, you go back to your dorm first, don't go anywhere else."

  "Are you going there alone?" Li Ruolan wouldn't let Zhou Hao take risks by himself.

  "Don't worry, I'll be fine." Zhou Hao flashed a smile. "Have you forgotten that I'm now a top martial artist?"

  Li Ruolan was taken aback for a moment, then remembered that he had eaten the dragon's saliva fruit and practiced "Yang Qi Lu", and had become a genuine internal family master. She glanced at the old gatekeeper, seeing that he was only reading the newspaper and didn't care what the two were saying, so she lowered her voice and said: "But what if they have guns?"

  "Don't worry, I can handle it." Zhou Hao was not just comforting Li Ruolan. In fact, after facing the subordinates of Ding Ye, Zhou Hao had gained experience in dealing with firearms. Moreover, the handgun left behind by Bald Brother last time was still kept by Zhou Hao, so he himself was not empty-handed either.

  Time was pressing, Zhou Hao comforted Li Ruolan with a couple of words and told her not to run around before leaving.

  As he was about to leave, Li Ruolan grasped his hand, "You must come back safely, otherwise I will hate you for the rest of my life." A pair of eyes had already been covered with a layer of mist.

  Zhou Hao took a glance at the old gatekeeper who was still reading the newspaper, then suddenly pulled Li Ruolan over and kissed her on the lips. He whispered, "You just accepted me, how could I bear to die?" After that, he turned around and left, leaving only Li Ruolan behind, silently watching his receding back.

  Zhou Hao returned home and Yan Tong went to work and hadn't come back yet. Zhou Hao immediately called Xinghe Securities Company, "Is Sister Zhao there?"

  The one who answered the phone was Jin Xiaojun, who had received Zhou Hao and Yan Tong when they first went to Xinghe Securities Company. "Is this Zhou Hao? Hehe, Zhao Jie is out."

  It seems they didn't know about Zhao Yuqin's kidnapping, and Zhou Hao didn't plan to tell them either. He only asked: "When did she go out?"

  Jin Xiaoqiong replied: "This morning, I think she said she was going to that Shuohua Village to see something. Do you have something to do with her? I can help you leave a message for her."

  Zhou Hao understood that Zhao Yuqin was the one who had gone to Suohua Village early in the morning with a stretcher, and that she had gone to see the land he had previously bought. Therefore, Zhou Hao felt even more guilty. Taking a deep breath, he asked Jin Xiaojun: "Xiaojun sister, do you know Zhao's brother's phone number? I have something very important to tell him."

  "Is it really important?" Jin Xiaojun knew what kind of person Zhao Yuqin's brother was, and if it wasn't something urgent, she wouldn't dare disturb him. Only after hearing Zhou Hao's serious response did she tell him about the phone call. A long time ago, Zhao Yuqin had left her brother's phone number with Jin Xiaojun, so that they could find him for help when they needed something and she wasn't around.

  After thanking Jin Xiaoqiong, Zhou Hao immediately dialed Zhao Yuqin's brother's phone number.

  Zhao Yuqin's older brother Zhao Dingzhou has been serving as the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region for three years.

  "Hello, who is this? May I ask who you're looking for?" A calm and steady male voice came from the phone, and just from the tone, Zhou Hao could sense the air of authority surrounding him.

  "Commander Zhao, hello, I'm Zhou Hao, I don't know if Sister Zhao has mentioned me to you?"

  "Haha, so it's Xiao Hao after all. Haha, Yuqin often mentions you to me." Zhao Dingzhou's tone relaxed a bit, "Actually, I've been wanting to meet you for a long time. You saved Yuqin's life before and I haven't thanked you yet. It's all because I was too busy."

  Zhou Hao hastily said: "Commander Zhao is too polite. But let's talk about these things later, I have something very important to tell you, Zhao Jie has been kidnapped!"

  "Oh, so that's it... What? Yuqin has been kidnapped!?" Zhao Dingzhou didn't react for a moment, but after hearing Zhou Hao's words, he suddenly jumped up from his chair, startling the secretary beside him.

  It's no wonder Zhao Dingzhou was so surprised. In Guangdong Province, many top figures in both the black and white worlds knew Zhao Yuqin, especially since Guangdong was also his own turf. There really wasn't anyone who dared to provoke this deeply rooted rich young lady. At this time, he still thought Zhou Hao was joking.

  "Yes, Commander Zhao. Actually, this matter is also my fault for implicating Sister Zhao." Zhou Hao then told Zhao Dingzhou about his past dealings with the drug dealers, but of course, he didn't mention that he had secretly kept over a hundred thousand US dollars for himself. If Zhao Dingzhou were to find out that it was his own greed that led to this disaster, who knows what he might do to him? "Those drug dealers probably saw how close I am to Sister Zhao, so they kidnapped her to threaten me."

  "Those daredevils!" Zhao Dingzhou slammed his hand on the table, "I'll immediately send someone to surround them, and I'll go see you right away."

  Zhou Hao said: "However, Commander Zhao must remember not to let them discover it, otherwise I'm afraid it will harm Sister Zhao."

  "This is natural, the special forces under my hand, the technology of lurking and disguise is still solid." Zhao Dingzhou said: "Then what about you, are you really going there?"

  "Zhao Jie was kidnapped because of me, so I must go and rescue her too." Zhou Hao said firmly.

  After hearing Zhou Hao's words, Zhao Dingzhou also admired him in his heart. "However, that 15 million... I can come up with it, but so much cash, I need time to raise."

  "This won't trouble Commander Zhao, I have a way." Zhou Hao said: "Alright then, you go to the 'Dynamic City' in Fragrance City and meet with me."

  Zhou Hao also had tens of millions in the stock market, but it wasn't that Zhou Hao was reluctant to part with them. Rather, he needed to cash out these stocks, which would take time and involve complicated procedures. By the time the money was withdrawn, two hours had already passed.

  However, Zhou Hao also had a way out. Wen Shaoqiang's father ran an underground casino in the city of excitement, and there was definitely a lot of cash that he could borrow from them.