"It's good to have many skills." When Jian Jing was stunned, Jiang Baiyan quickly covered up his emotion and joked nonchalantly, "The more I know, the more my fans think I'm awesome, and that's good business."
Jian Jing frowned: "There are already many people who like you, there is no need to force yourself to do something you don't like."
"It's not that bad." He stood up, picked up the kettle, and ran to the balcony to water the plants. "I want to make myself a better person."
She asked: "To make more people like you?"
Jiang Baiyan turned his head and smiled at her: "Yes, and no." He said slowly, "I used to think that as long as I work harder, one day, people who don't like me will like me too. Later I realized that sometimes people just don't like someone, and it will never change."
His tone was flat and his expression was calm, but Jian Jing knew that there must be a painful story behind his awakening.
She guessed that he might be trying to lead her to question him on purpose, but she hesitated, not wanting to expose his scars.
"Do you want to know why I changed my mind?" Jiang Baiyan put down the kettle and said with a smile as usual, "I can tell you, it's okay - you want to know, right?"
He used a cat teaser to tease the increasingly fat orange cat. Amid the ding-dong-dong sound of the cat bell, he gently asked, "You want to know why Pudding is called Pudding, right?"
Jian Jing hesitated: "It's sad, forget it."
"It's okay," he repeated. "I'm willing to tell you."
"You don't remember, but I do."
Jiang Baiyan's story began in the spring of 2014.
At that time, he was not called this name, but Jiang Xun. His biological mother died unexpectedly and he was taken home by his biological father, where he suffered from bullying by his half-siblings.
They either ignored him, bullied him, or controlled him, and after a few years, all of them could be labeled as pua.
Like all the people in the game, he didn't know what it meant. Since he was a child, his biological mother asked him to please his father and his brothers and sisters. Even if he didn't understand, he would do it to avoid being beaten and scolded.
But it was of no use.
His careful attempts to please only resulted in worse torture, but he always endured it because there was nothing he could do.
Fortunately, I didn’t feel despair at that time. As the days passed, I got used to it and became numb.
Until one day after school, he was kidnapped on his way home.
This is a group of desperate criminals who want to kidnap the son of the chairman of Jiangshui Group, make a quick buck and run away. But they are very unlucky, the person they kidnapped is not Jiang Er or Jiang San, but an illegitimate child who has no sense of existence.
When I called the Jiang family, the chairman's attitude was quite cold.
Through the thin door, he heard the kidnapper shouting into the microphone: "If you are one million short, I will chop off one of your son's fingers! If you dare to call the police, I will dig out his eyes! If you delay for one more day, I will cut off his ears!"
Jiang Baiyan thought at that time, it’s over, I’m definitely finished.
His intellect said that losing arms and legs would be too painful, it would be better to just jump off the building, but his emotions were asking for more, I also have the blood of the Jiang family, maybe... maybe they would save me.
Because I'm usually so well behaved, because I work so hard, because... because I really am your brother/son.
Please save me.
He didn't want to die, so he tried his best to cooperate with the kidnappers, crying when asked to cry and begging for mercy when asked to do so, and doing everything the kidnappers asked.
He was so well-behaved and obedient that even the kidnappers gradually softened their attitude, changing from one cold steamed bun a day to two cold meals a day.
It was too cold, and they were willing to give him a coat to cover himself with when he slept.
I'm afraid no one could have imagined that he would come up with a bizarre idea at that time: bad people treat me better than my family treats me.
At least the kidnappers expected him to be cold.
His family didn't care whether he was dead or alive.
However, this little touch of emotion soon disappeared as the ransom was delayed. The kidnappers became more and more impatient, but the ransom of the Jiang family was not yet in place.
Sometimes he said there was insufficient cash flow, sometimes he said it was really impossible. The secretary in charge of the contact was polite but firm.
Gradually, Jiang Baiyan realized that he was indeed not important at all.
"Could it be that he has arrested the wrong person? This is not his biological son."
"Yeah, I heard that the other kids had bodyguards, but we didn't run into anyone when we caught him."
"This is outrageous. You can't even come up with 50 million?"
"What if we really make a mistake? Let him go?"
"Why let him go? He has seen our faces. Let's just get rid of him."
Intermittent mumblings passed through the door and floated into his ears. His heart was tightly clenched, sometimes beating like thunder, and sometimes feeling a dull pain.
He breathed softly, wishing he could turn into a tiny speck of dust and hide quietly in a corner, for fear of being noticed by them.
I dare not say I’m hungry, I dare not pee, I dare not sleep.
It is difficult to describe the horror of that time in words. Every minute, every second, every breath was filled with intense fear.
Am I going to die
I'm going to die soon.
They are going to kill me.
How will they kill me
What’s even more terrifying is that the shadow of death did not come all at once, but accumulated day by day, tormenting him slowly and persistently.
At some point, he even had doubts - am I still alive? Maybe, I am already dead, and the ghost is staying in this place, waiting for someone to save me.
Who will save him
He racked his brains, trying to find a little warmth in the long river of time to support himself to persevere. However, it was very sad that no matter how hard he tried to recall, he could not find any happy moments.
A cold and arrogant biological father.
A fawning biological mother.
A condescending elder sister.
The arrogant second brother.
The violent and vengeful third brother.
On a cold spring night, the early cherry blossoms on the street were blooming. He lay on the cold ground, breaking up every moment of his memory, counting them one by one, over and over again, but he could not find any hope.
This feeling is called despair.
The so-called blood relationship is meaningless. No matter how much you try to please someone, it will only be a joke. Everything in the past was just wishful thinking.
They never liked me.
They never liked me.
Perhaps, dying at the hands of the kidnappers was exactly what they wanted. The stain on the family was wiped out by the enemy, their hands were clean, and they kicked away the eyesore.
From now on, the Jiang brothers and sisters can deceive themselves that there is no outsider invading their family, their father is strict and fair, their mother is dignified and generous, and the brothers and sisters love each other. What a perfect family!
Jiang Xun is not our brother.
Jiang Xun shouldn't exist at all.
It would be better if Jiang Xun died.
In a state that seemed like a dream, he heard the mutterings of his brothers and sisters, full of resentment and hatred, with gnashing of teeth, and every word was uttered with blood.
So, Jiang Xun died.
What is death like
It's like a burning candle.
When it was first lit, the flame was warm and happy, jumping and leaping, still full of expectations for life. But as the whitewashed memories were peeled off, it was like rolling wax tears, falling and falling, condensing into a pool of tears that no one cared about.
Pale, faded, cold tears.
The flame grew fainter and fainter.
Gradually, slowly, it went out bit by bit and turned into a cluster of ashes with residual heat.
If someone had not lent him a spark of fire at that time and resurrected him with the remaining warmth, then Jiang Xun would have really died, and there would have been no Jiang Baiyan today.
Fortunately, she came.
It was a very quiet night, and suddenly there was a muffled "bang" sound coming from the corner of the wall.
Something fell in through the small air vent at the top of the wall.
To the kidnappers watching TV outside, it was no more noticeable than the buzzing of a mosquito, but to him, it was no less than the muffled thunder in a spring night, rolling over him.
He saw a chocolate ball rolling towards him.
Ferrero's chocolate is golden, like gold.
His heart died, but his body was not. His stomach growled, urging him to unwrap the paper, and inside was a piece of translucent rice paper with the words:
Have you been kidnapped? If yes, meow like a cat; if not, bark like a dog.
Remember to eat the paper.
After being hungry and tortured for a week, he was unable to tell what was real and just instinctively let out a soft "meow".
Outside: "Meow meow meow?"
Him: “Meow?”
After the meaningless meow, he returned to peace. He swallowed the rice paper and chocolate he had written on, and held the golden candy wrapper in his hand, looking at it from time to time to distinguish between reality and dreams.
But the next day, nothing happened. He couldn't help but suspect that he had brought the chocolate because he had a dream last night that someone came to save him.
Oh, what a bizarre dream!
Who will come to rescue him
However, late at night, a bamboo pole was extended diagonally into the ventilation window, and a plastic bag slid in as it brushed past.
There was an old mobile phone in the bag.
His own cell phone had been taken away by the kidnappers long ago. When he got the phone back, a cowardly thought flashed through his mind with great sadness - should I call my dad
No, of course not.
They want me to die, and I don't want to die.
There is a text message in the mobile phone, and the note name is j.
-You were kidnapped by them, right
-yes
- Do you want me to call the police for you
- No, they'll kill me.
-Okay, I'll find a way to save you. Can you tell me what happened
-They asked my father for money, but he refused to give it to me. I am dying. Please save me.
-The kidnappers want money, but your father won't give it to you. You have to find a way to help them.
- I can't do it, please help me, please
-I will definitely help you, but you have to work hard too
-Okay, I'll listen to you.
- Your phone is low on battery, use it sparingly and don’t let them find out
- Can't you talk to me
- Chatting will be discovered, don't be afraid, I'm always watching you
- Please, don't hate me.
-I'll be here, I promise. Turn off your phone and turn it back on at this time tomorrow.
-All right
He didn't want her to be unhappy, and he didn't want to lose this hope, so even though he was very reluctant, Jiang Baiyan still did it.
Half an hour later, another chocolate was thrown in.
This time, there were words written on the chocolate wrapper, but it was a lovely story: On this street, there was a fat cat. It was the cutest cat in the world, smart and brave. There was no wall it could not climb over and no sparrow it could not catch.
It had a brilliant record, defeating the overlord tabby cats in the next street, beating them so badly that they dared not invade this street from now on. But the most terrible incident was related to a jewel theft case.
Want to know why the gem went missing? You have to guess its name first.
Friendly reminder, it is soft and plump, with smooth and beautiful fur and a burnt orange pattern.
Tell me the answer tomorrow :)
The story was simple, but inexplicably attractive. Jiang Baiyan was so attracted by the vivid description that he even forgot some of his fears.
After calming down and regaining his ability to think, he suddenly knew what to do.
He told the kidnapper: "I am my father's child. It's not that he doesn't want me, it's that he really has no money."
The kidnappers sneered: "How could the chairman of the group have no money? Little guy, who are you kidding?"
"It's true," he said. "Dad spent all his money on gems."
The kidnappers were immediately attracted: "Gem?"
"It's an emerald called 'Emerald Crown Pearl'." Jiang Baiyan was very sure, "It's very valuable."
The kidnappers were skeptical: "Little guy, are you telling the truth?"
He nodded vigorously.
Of course it was true, he had always had a good memory, hadn't he
The eldest sister only mentioned it once and he remembered it.
The kidnappers verified the news and found it to be true.
They began to believe in Jiang Baiyan's identity again and stopped talking about getting rid of him. Instead, they set their sights on the gems.
That emerald gem was worth 130 million. It was bought by the chairman of Jiangshui Group half a year ago. It is much more valuable than the 50 million ransom.
"Or we can take advantage of their situation and pretend to ask for a ransom. When they aren't paying attention, we can give the gem to..." There are both smart and bold people among the kidnappers.
Everyone was moved.
Jiang Baiyan didn't expect it to be so easy, and was so surprised that he almost doubted his life. His first reaction was to increase his own value so as not to be killed.
"The gems are hidden in the chairman's villa, but only a few people know the password to get in," he said.
The kidnappers looked at him differently: "Why are you telling us this, kid?"
Jiang Baiyan said honestly: "I don't want to die. Besides, that's not my gem."