Chapter Ninety-Six: Homecoming

When his uncle arrived with men after hearing the gunshot, Chen Liang had already subdued the two people inside the house.

He tossed the handcuffs to Bolba and told him to help cuff them.

Bolba was furious too, not only because of Little Chen Hong, but also because he had been dragged out just as he was about to enjoy a little private time with his wife. With all that pent-up rage nowhere to go, he cuffed one of their hands to one foot and cinched the cuffs as tight as he could.

Sure enough, when a decent man loses his temper, he becomes terrifying. With the cuffs pulled to the tightest setting, and one wrist and one ankle bound together, just imagine it: in that state, a person could not even walk upright. He would have to crouch and shuffle forward like a duck.

"Why did you fire a gun? Are any of you hurt?" his uncle asked as soon as he came through the door, concern plain in his voice.

These two brats were one his apprentice and the other his junior disciple, both of them among the people dearest to him. If anything had truly happened to them, he would probably have gone mad.

"No, Uncle. This bastard had a weapon, so I shot it out of his hand," Chen Liang answered quickly, then went to the doorway and switched on the light.

"Uncle, did you find the child?" That was all Chen Liang cared about now; nothing else mattered to him.

"We found her. She’s in the room to the east. Go see for yourself."

Chen Liang picked up the pistol he had kicked aside and examined it, only then noticing that the safety had already been off. If he had not fired so decisively just now, the one hurt would have been him instead. Damn it, he had really cheated death.

After a bitter laugh at his own luck, Chen Liang put the safety back on and tossed the gun to his junior brother Bolba. Then he hurried toward the eastern room. When he saw the line of four children lying on the kang, he spotted little Chen Hong at a glance. The heart that had been clenched in his chest at last eased.

Still, with such a commotion just now, the little torment had not woken. She must have been drugged. Damn it, those scum deserved to die.

All the men were subdued, forced to kneel in the courtyard in front of the house, and before long the entire place was searched.

When they saw a table covered with ethanol, sedatives, daggers, bayonets, and even a pistol, it was obvious this was no ordinary gang.

At that moment, a mobile patrol member brought over a bundle containing more than a dozen letters of introduction and work certificates.

Good Lord.

Those bastards had really prepared thoroughly. If they had not been so blind as to snatch Chen Hong, this crew would have been very hard to catch indeed.

The matter was fully settled. His uncle sent out the signal, summoning back the security staff who had earlier been scattered to various intersections.

Seeing dozens of rifles piled high before them, the militia company commander’s face had gone dark. Was this a war or what? Did they really need to bring so many men and guns?

The people from the Red Star Rolling Mill security office were truly not to be trifled with. They were not someone they could afford to provoke, not at all.

Chen Liang held little Chen Hong in his arms and settled into the front passenger seat, closing his eyes to rest. Today had been thrilling beyond measure. Fortunately he had slept all afternoon in the bathhouse at noon, or else he would have had a hard time holding out until now.

By the time Chen Liang brought Chen Hong home, it was already two or three in the morning. Not a single person in the family had gone to sleep, not even Foolish Zhu, who was keeping Chen Liang’s parents company.

Seeing the sleeping Chen Hong, safe and sound, lying against Chen Liang’s shoulder, the women in the family were all red-eyed. The eldest sister-in-law, especially, looked utterly exhausted as she rushed before Chen Liang, ready to kneel.

Damn it. With an elder brother’s wife almost like a mother, when the elder sister-in-law knelt, Chen Liang had no choice but to drop to his own knees too, lest he lose years off his life.

Half laughing and half helpless, Chen Liang knelt and handed the child in his arms to his sister-in-law. "Sister-in-law, please get up."

Wiping away her tears, the eldest sister-in-law took back her precious child, the one she had nearly lost. Holding little Chen Hong tightly in her arms, the tears she had just managed to stop began falling again in big, heavy drops.

The moving scene, though silent, spoke more eloquently than words ever could.

The eldest brother’s eyes were also red as he half-kneeled on the ground, gathering both mother and daughter into his arms. Great beads of tears slipped quietly down his face as well.

The eldest brother and sister-in-law held each other and wept for a long while before gradually calming down.

"Little brother, I... I..." After such wild swings of emotion, Elder Brother Chen Jian seemed almost unable to speak.

Chen Hong was the apple of his eye, the little princess he cherished above all else, more precious to him than his own eyeballs. During these brief moments when she had been lost, every second had been agony for Chen Jian. In his heart, he had even begun to resent his sister-in-law in secret.

He knew she was suffering more than anyone, knew she was in even greater pain, yet he still could not help blaming her, blaming her carelessness, her negligence, everything about her.

If Chen Liang had not brought little Chen Hong back tonight, then this model couple, this happy and complete family, would have been on the verge of shattering apart.

But Chen Liang had truly kept his word and brought Chen Hong back. So overwhelmed was Elder Brother Chen Jian that he no longer knew what to say.

"All right, big brother. If you don’t know what to say, then don’t say anything. Just help your wife up. My knees are hurting from kneeling too."

"Right, right."

After helping his wife stand, the eldest brother received a punch on the chest from Chen Liang.

"Big brother, we’re brothers joined by bone and sinew. You don’t need to treat me like this. Go comfort Sister-in-law properly. She took quite a shock today."

"Father, Mother, you should go back and rest early too. Your health comes first."

Seeing his father’s red-rimmed eyes, Chen Liang stepped forward and gathered both parents into his arms.

"Father, Mother, you must take good care of yourselves. Leave everything to me! I’m still counting on you to help me raise my children. You can’t let your health fail..."

Chen Liang’s father quietly wiped away a tear.

"You little brat, and now you’re giving me orders. Hurry up and go to sleep," he said, then led Chen Liang’s tearful mother back inside.

Chen Liang then looked at Foolish Zhu.

"Foolish Zhu, take your wife and get out of here. What time is it? Don’t you have work tomorrow?"

"Hah! You brat, not a single decent word in your mouth! Come on, wife, let’s go home. Next time we won’t even bother with him!" Holding Liu Siyuan’s hand, Foolish Zhu headed home.

At last there was Master Tong.

"Master, let me take you back," Chen Liang said. After sending Xiaoyu home to wash up and wait for him, he rode his bicycle and carried his master back.

When Chen Liang returned after seeing his master off, he found Cao Dawu standing in the wind-sheltered spot at the entrance to his courtyard, smoking.

"Dawu, why aren’t you heading home? What are you doing here?"

"Brother Liang, I heard you found Chen Hong and brought her back?"

"Mm. Brought her back. Damn it, it nearly wore me out."

Only then did Dawu relax. "I hadn’t heard it from your own mouth, so my heart was still all tied up in knots. All right then, Brother Liang, I’m heading home. I’m dead tired after this whole night!"

"Go on. When I have some free time, I’ll call everyone over and we’ll get together."

"Got it. Brother Liang, leave it to me. I’m off!"