Additional Inheritance - Chap 61

Chapter 61

Trigger warning: Violence

Hostage?!

After Wen Xiaohui returned to his senses, a sudden chill rushed from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, dissipating the warmth in his blood. It made him feel cold all throughout his body.

Hostage? He was a hostage?

He clutched the bag – the item he was holding felt like it weighed hundreds of kilos1, almost crushing his spine. Luo Yi’s words and his actions during this period flashed one-by-one in front of his eyes. When he thought about it, it seemed as though every expression and every word disguised a hypocritical and callous conspiracy.

Chang Xing appeared to be in the mood to observe Wen Xiaohui. “It seems as though you like him a lot.”

Wen Xiaohui couldn’t stop his body from shuddering out of anger, fear, and sorrow. He couldn’t tell which emotion dominated, he only knew that he wanted to howl and wring Luo Yi’s neck into a fried dough twist2. Above all, he wanted to firmly slap himself on the face a few times. He asked in a hoarse voice, “Hostage?”

He couldn’t bring himself to believe that Luo Yi had deceived him and used him again. If you could describe the first time he found out the truth as complete devastation, he only felt tired and numb this time. He didn’t seem to be surprised by this outcome even though the anguish in his heart nearly prevented him from straightening his back. He couldn’t shed a single tear and he only felt cold – the kind of coldness that belonged to someone on the edge of death.

This was Luo Yi. Luo Yi. He shouldn’t place the blame on Luo Yi for being ruthless, rather it was his own fault for being stupid. He was clearly aware that the den of a tiger or a wolf lay ahead, but he still jumped in. It was the natural instinct of tigers and wolves3 to devour people, but he walked right into the trap and deserved to perish.

“I have an agreement with him and if he doesn’t fulfil his promise within 72 hours, I’ll send a piece of you to him.” The pale silver dinner knife twirled a couple of times between Chang Xing’s nimble fingers. He stabbed it firmly into a grape, putting the grape into his mouth. His unfathomable gaze wandered over Wen Xiaohui. “Although you’re not related to Yaya by blood, you resemble her a lot in certain aspects.” He paused. “You’re both foolish in a relentless kind of way.”

Wen Xiaohui clenched his fists. His voice became so quiet that it was almost inaudible. “You’re treating me as a hostage even though he told me to bring it over. Does it matter? Do you think he’ll care?”

Chang Xing smiled. “In terms of your question, I’ve been looking into it for a while, and I’ve concluded that you’re the only thing Luo Yi still cares about, either as a person or as a possession. Although his feelings for you can’t overcome his determination to topple me, I think it’s still worth a gamble. In any case, I can’t find a better bargaining chip than you.”

Wen Xiaohui finally realised why Luo Yi was particularly attentive to him recently, the same Luo Yi who had previously said ‘I don’t know what love is’ then begged him later with ‘give me another chance’. He looked like an angel, but he was a monster with first-class acting abilities, who had carefully devised this drama for an audience of one – Chang Xing. Luo Yi’s performance not only fooled Chang Xing, Wen Xiaohui had also believed him. Wen Xiaohui wasn’t a hostage, he was a discarded pawn. His role wasn’t to restrain Luo Yi and instead, he was helping Luo Yi stall for time.

Chang Xing signalled to the bodyguard using his eyes.

The bodyguard came over. “Mr Wen, please follow me to your room.”

Wen Xiaohui glared at him. His eyes looked bloodshot; he looked pitiful as he wallowed in despair.

The bodyguard gestured for him to follow again.

Wen Xiaohui lowered his head. After a long time, he suddenly let out a muffled laugh, continuing to laugh louder and louder until his shoulders started to shake.

Chang Xing looked at him with raised eyebrows.

Wen Xiaohui looked up at Chang Xing. “President Chang, if Luo Yi really did care about me, he wouldn’t have tricked me into coming here. Your move has fallen short and there’s no point in keeping me here.” He felt like he was sobbing tears of blood as he said every word.

Chang Xing’s gaze was indifferent. “We’ll find out soon if there’s any point.”

The bodyguard grabbed Wen Xiaohui by the arm who shook it off in disgust.

The bodyguard said coldly, “Mr Wen, please cooperate and don’t cause any trouble.”

Wen Xiaohui dropped the bag that was in his hand and he walked straight ahead. The bodyguard took him to a room on the first floor. He took Wen Xiaohui’s mobile phone away and used a device to scan his entire body. The door was immediately locked from the outside once Wen Xiaohui went inside the room.

He stood at the door as he surveyed his surroundings. The furnishings in the room were lavish; even a random ornament seemed to be worth a considerable sum of money. The toilet and bathroom were in a separate compartment and there were metal bars covering the windows. Although it didn’t seem like a prison, it was a prison.

He stood still for some time, then he suddenly picked up the heavy wooden chair in front of him and flung it towards the display cabinet against the wall.

Coupled with the sound of shattering glass, half of the display cabinet was destroyed. Wen Xiaohui gasped for breath as he stared at the floor, which was littered with broken glass and he suddenly let out an angry cry – a cry which declared his anger and despair – a call for help which came from the depths of his soul. He soon exhausted his remaining strength; he felt as though he’d been hollowed out.

Inside the room, a sudden noise came from the walkie-talkie: “Mr Wen, please keep your emotions under control. I’ll tie you up if you behave inappropriately again.”

Wen Xiaohui staggered to the side of the bed. He felt as though everything was spinning and he collapsed on the bed facing upwards. He widened his eyes and stared at the ceiling light hanging above his head until gradually, his vision started to blur and tears came pouring out, immediately soaking the genuine silk duvet cover he was lying on.

Everything was such a farce.

What atrocities did he commit in his previous life to have met Luo Yi in this lifetime and be used by him over and over again? He’d told himself numerous times not to trust Luo Yi, but in the end, he still ‘took the initiative’ to jump into the fire pit. Even if he hated Luo Yi, he was still unwilling to see him perish with Chang Xing and he would have never expected that his softheartedness would result in his current plight.

He shielded his eyes with his hand as he allowed his tears to soak the back of his hand and cheeks. When his pain reached its peak, he wasn’t as hysterical as he thought he’d be and instead, he felt numb. It was the kind of numbness you’d feel after sustaining a severe injury, rendering you powerless to move.

In actual fact, there were a lot of things that he couldn’t work out. For example, he couldn’t work out how Luo Yi could be so cruel when he’d once given Luo Yi all his affection without holding anything back. You wouldn’t let a pet dog starve or freeze, so how was Luo Yi able to push him into the abyss without batting an eyelid?

He used to think that even if Luo Yi lied to him, he must have some feelings for him or else he wouldn’t have been so attentive, he wouldn’t have given him money, or done such dubious things on his behalf4. He’d thought that Luo Yi felt guilty and still valued their past relationship, but he was proven wrong. Luo Yi’s remorse was only for the purpose of getting more use of him. If Luo Yi cared about him even a little, he wouldn’t have been so inhumane and any possibility of them having a ‘future’ together was completely destroyed by Luo Yi.

His heart was also completely destroyed by Luo Yi.

After spending the night with his eyes wide open, Wen Xiaohui’s bloodshot eyes with dark circles around them and his pale complexion made him look peculiar. He washed his face and he nearly couldn’t recognise himself when he looked in the mirror.

In the space of a few months, he became exhausted, pale, and thin as a result of his insomnia, irregular eating patterns and his broken heart. It seemed as though he’d aged a few years overnight. The version of himself that was brimming with smiles of joy every day at the height of their relationship seemed like a completely different person to the one in front of him. This was the first time he conceded, humiliatingly and painfully, that Luo Yi had changed him and not in a good way. Luo Yi not only obliterated his dream of being in love, his trust in others, and even extinguished the fire inside his heart, it made him feel as though he would never have a happy future with anybody.

It was the first time he felt hatred towards Luo Yi. It turned out it was so easy to change from an unreserved kind of love to the burning hatred in his heart. It was heartbreaking.

At this stage, he no longer had to worry about what Luo Yi would do in his conflict with Chang Xing and whether he would follow in Yaya’s footsteps – Wen Xiaohui wished that beast would strangle Luo Yi to death. But it was already too late, he’d already been sucked into the dark vortex and maybe he’d be torn to shreds in the next instant. Right before he was going to be torn from limb to limb, the greatest regret in life was the fact that he’d once fallen in love with a bastard.

But he needed to save himself before that happened – before he perished. He still had his mum, Luo Rui, his career, and a long life ahead of him. He did want everything to be ruined in the hands of a bastard.

He banged his head on the wall a few times as he calmly thought of ways to escape. He didn’t want to die here nor did he want a ‘part of himself’ to be sent to Luo Yi. He had to escape!

He knew that there was CCTV in the room and his every single move was being watched, so he didn’t dare do anything. He got back in bed and read a magazine while he looked all around him.

There was no way he could break the metal bars on the windows. Someone brought him food in the morning and in the evenings, which could be his only chance of getting out of this place. He was just a normal person and he didn’t have an incredible plan; his only thought was to flee, to take advantage of any shortcomings and try his hardest to flee.

After reading magazines for a while, he headed to the bathroom. Once he’d determined the location of the CCTV camera, he turned his back to the camera and tucked a toothbrush into his clothes. At bedtime, he snapped the toothbrush under his duvet covers, turning it into a rough spike.

On the second night of his imprisonment, someone came to deliver food to him once the sun had set. Luo Yi knew this person because he was Chang Xing’s chauffeur. He was around 40 years old. Perhaps his feminine appearance meant that people tended to underestimate him – the chauffeur let his guard down and came in by himself, putting the food down on the floor.

“Wait,” Wen Xiaohui rushed over, “It’s been two days since I last had a facial and the skincare products here aren’t suitable for my skin type. Here’s a list, buy these for me.”

The chauffeur glanced at him coldly, his eyes brimming with contempt.

Wen Xiaohui handed the piece of paper in his hand to the driver. His heart was beating wildly, but he tried his hardest to put on a calm and laid-back appearance.

The chauffeur reached out to take it.

The instant that the chauffeur’s hand touched the piece of paper, Wen Xiaohui shook his arm and the toothbrush slid out from his sleeve. He gripped it tightly in his hand. He’d spent the whole night practising this move and before the chauffeur had time to react, Wen Xiaohui had already stabbed the toothbrush into his arm.

The chauffeur let out a cry. Wen Xiaohui kicked him right on his injured calf bone. Without retracting his leg, he moved it upwards to give the chauffeur a kick to the small of his back.

Wen Xiaohui had always felt grateful to his dad for training him as a child. Even though he didn’t satisfy his dad’s wish for him to be a 100% macho man, he still learned how to fight and subdue his opponent. He’d never suffered in this respect.

The chauffeur fell to the ground on his knees. Wen Xiaohui viciously punched him on the chin and kicked him once more on the chest, knocking the chauffeur to the floor. He ran out of the room to get downstairs.

When he went past the living room, the bodyguard had already run out from the room on the ground floor. Blood rushed to Wen Xiaohui’s head, his mind went blank and he ran towards the front door without any further thought. He grabbed the door handle and used all his strength to try and open it. It was locked!

In despair, he kicked the door hard and shouted frantically, “Let me out!”

The bodyguard caught up to him, grabbing his shoulder and violently throwing him onto the floor.

Wen Xiaohui flipped over and jumped to his feet. He grabbed anything he could find and threw them at the bodyguard. The bodyguard tilted his head to the side to avoid them, then he rushed over and kicked Wen Xiaohui in the abdomen.

Wen Xiaohui felt the sharp pain in his abdomen and he nearly vomited. He clutched his stomach as he fell to the floor. It took him a while to return to normal.

The bodyguard threw him a look of contempt.

Wen Xiaohui clenched his fists as he glared furiously at the bodyguard. He used all his energy to push himself up. Seeing the door that was almost in reach, the flames of yearning burned in his eyes. He shouted, then pulled himself up off the floor and threw a punch towards the bodyguard.

The bodyguard grabbed his wrist, twisting it behind his back and pushing his whole body out.

Wen Xiaohui felt like he had no control over his body as he stumbled and he nearly fell to the ground. He was burning with anger – the hatred from being cheated as well as being imprisoned fired up his blood. It drove him mad. He cast all his concerns out of his mind as he picked up the vase on the coffee table and ran towards the bodyguard again.

A trace of coldness showed in the bodyguard’s eyes. He clenched his fists and a popping noise sounded.

Wen Xiaohui shouted as he slammed the vase down.

The bodyguard took a couple of steps back, tilting his body sideways to dodge. Wen Xiaohui took a flying leap, kicking the bodyguard on the chest. The bodyguard lifted his arm to block; his arm bore the brunt of the kick and he staggered backwards a few steps.

Once Wen Xiaohui reached the ground, he continued to rush forward towards the front door behind the bodyguard. This was his final chance and he needed to make the most of it.

The bodyguard clutched his arm which was numb from Wen Xiaohui’s kick as his eyes filled with anger. As Wen Xiaohui charged forward, the bodyguard smashed his fist right into his face.

Wen Xiaohui only had enough time to see a dark shadow growing larger as it approached him and immediately afterwards, his face was in agony. He collapsed on the floor. Suddenly, his tears flooded down his face and his vision blurred. His mind temporarily went blank before everything flipped upside-down and he could no longer piece together a complete image in his head.

He felt a coppery, salty, and warm liquid flowing out of his eyes, nose, and mouth. He was in such agony that he thought he was going to go mad. Covering his face, he rolled around on the floor until his vision went dark and he finally lost consciousness.

Footnotes:

The raws use a thousand catty (~500kg) figuratively, so I’ve localised it to hundreds of kilos in this chapter and going forwards.

Mahua is deep fried dough that’s twisted together, covered in crystallised sugar and left to harden. I’ve only had the Chinese supermarket version which is tasty but so hard that it could probably break a tooth.

Tiger and wolf is also a Chinese metaphor for someone who is very dangerous.

The dubious things references Luo Yi getting rid of Luca, Sydney’s ex-husband and Raven for Wen Xiaohui’s sake.