Chapter 159 Hexu

Chapter 159: Hexu

Fortunately, with his considerable influence and connections, it wasn't long before the police chief of the Haicheng Public Security Bureau called back: "I've inquired. Old Huo was taken to Guizhou Province. The request for cooperation was issued by a city called Bimu under Guizhou's jurisdiction, but it wasn't Bimu City that wanted to detain Old Huo. It was a town called Hexu under Bimu's administration. The local police station there detained Old Huo on charges of environmental damage."

Environmental damage?

What environmental damage?

Jiang Luo felt as though he was listening to a fairy tale.

What Bimu? What Hexu? He had never even heard of these two places.

Jiang Luo said calmly, "Could you please ask them to release him?"

"Or if they want to impose a fine, no matter the amount, we'll cooperate. Just release him first."

"They don't even need to send him back. As long as he's freed and can contact me, that's enough."

After a moment's thought, the chief replied, "It shouldn't be a big issue. I'll call their provincial authorities and discuss it."

Jiang Luo felt some relief.

Unexpectedly, when the chief called back, he said, "Jiang Luo, you'd better go to Bimu."

"No, go to Hexu, that small town deep in the mountains."

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Luo's heart leaped to his throat.

The chief explained, "The provincial authorities are easier to deal with. After all, Old Huo is such a major business figure—they can't just detain someone arbitrarily."

"But from what I gathered, Bimu is a small city, and they're harder to coordinate with, especially since Hexu is tucked away deep in the mountains. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Cut off from the outside…"

Jiang Luo understood. The more remote a place, the more it has its own way of doing things, making it harder for outsiders to intervene.

In Guizhou, the provincial authorities and the city-level authorities were easier to deal with. But small cities like Bimu and towns like Hexu, hidden deep in the mountains, were isolated and self-contained. A phone call alone wouldn't suffice—they might simply ignore it.

As the chief put it, "In those backwater areas, it can take months just to pass along instructions for implementing a policy."

"Do you understand? You'll have to go there in person."

"I understand."

"Could I trouble you to put in another word for us?"

Jiang Luo now had a better idea. "Whatever the charges, whatever fine or otherwise—we'll pay whatever. We'll accept it all."

"Just don't lay a hand on him."

"Alright, don’t worry. I’ll convey that."

After hanging up, leaning against the sofa backrest, Jiang Luo sorted through his feelings again—at least, he reassured himself, he now knew where Huo Zongzhuo was.

It’s fine.

Jiang Luo thought, since the chief had already intervened, and given that Huo Zongzhuo was a nationally renowned businessman, the authorities in Bimu and Hexu, having taken the initiative to detain him, surely wouldn’t take the law into their own hands.

Jiang Luo wasn't worried about anything else, only that those people might not play by the rules and disregard laws and regulations.

Jiang Luo quickly made up his mind—he would take several suitcases of cash and set off for Guizhou Province immediately.

With someone as high-ranking as the Haicheng bureau chief having called in a favor, Bimu and Hexu wouldn’t dare lay a finger on Huo Zongzhuo.

No, they wouldn’t.

Jiang Luo was confident.

He immediately began arranging everything:

He called Secretary Wen, instructing him to wait in Guiyang so they could go to Hexu together.

Then he called Wang Junqing, filled him in on the situation, and asked him to come over soon, bring the purple clay teapot from the brocade box, and immediately head to Beijing—to 61 Pudu Temple Front Lane—to seek help from someone.

Next, he called the president of Bank of China, also explaining the situation and asked him to pull several batches of cash from the vault. He intended to pack the money and take it to Guizhou Province.

Wang Junqing, with Old Third and Old Fourth, arrived quickly. As soon as he entered, he said, "I can’t go to Beijing. Have Secretary Lu go instead. I need to accompany you to Guizhou Province to ensure your safety."

Jiang Luo thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright, you call Young Lu."

He then instructed Old Fourth, "Go upstairs and get a few large bags. Later, come with me to the Bank of China’s cash vault."

Old Fourth hurried upstairs, muttering, "Who the fuck is asking to die, daring to detain President Huo?"

"Keep your mouth shut!" Wang Junqing scolded him. "Stop making things worse!"

Jiang Luo also headed upstairs to get his bags, preparing to leave immediately for the cash vault. Once the money was collected, he would set off for Guizhou Province with Wang Junqing and the others.

Unexpectedly, while they were stuffing bundles of cash into the large bags at the vault, Jiang Luo received a call from overseas on his phone.

The voice on the other end was clearly digitally distorted, making it impossible to tell if it was male or female. It said, "Come alone, bring $60 million."

Then, with a sinister tone, it added, "Don’t draw attention. It won’t do you or him any good."

Jiang Luo took the call outside, lowering his voice, "Alright, you’ll get your money, no problem."

"Don’t hurt him."

"I’ll agree to anything you want."

"Just don’t hurt him."

"If you hurt him, you won’t see a dime."

The other party warned, "No funny business."

Jiang Luo asked, "Where should I bring the money?"

The voice replied, "Head into the mountains. You’ll be met."

Then they hung up.

Jiang Luo finally understood—it wasn’t about crimes or detaining anyone. The other party was just in it for the money!

Good, good. As long as it was about money, that was manageable.

Money was no object for him.

As long as Huo Zongzhuo returned safely, he would pay any amount.

Jiang Luo immediately called the president of the Bank of China again, asking him to help release additional funds—especially U.S. dollars.

The bank president said, “You have sufficient funds in your account, so arranging the transfer is not a problem. The issue is how you’ll physically move such a large sum.”

He added, “It’s just a fine—a million or two at most. Why do you need tens of millions?”

“Tens of millions—in U.S. dollars? You’d need a truck to transport that much.”

“Besides, we don’t hold that much U.S. currency on hand. It can only be in RMB.”

“RMB is fine,” Jiang Luo replied calmly and decisively. “Just process the transfer. I’ll arrange transportation myself. I’ll make it up to you when I return.”

The president understood: “You’re in a tight spot.”

He immediately said, “I’ll handle the arrangements. Don’t worry about repayment. If Zongzhuo is in trouble, of course I’ll help!”

“Wait for my call.”

Jiang Luo then made further calls to arrange a vehicle and driver to collect the cash from the vault and load it onto a truck.

It would take time for the truck to drive to Guizhou and then into the mountains—but Jiang Luo couldn’t wait. He grabbed two large bags of cash and prepared to catch the earliest possible flight to Guiyang.

He had a hunch things wouldn’t be straightforward, so he called the police chief and asked him to arrange for several officers to accompany him to Hexu. He reasoned that an official presence might give the Hexu side pause—after all, it was local law enforcement, not criminals, who had detained Huo Zongzhuo. He wasn’t worried they’d harm Huo Zongzhuo; he assumed they wouldn’t dare.

Unexpectedly, the chief hesitated and said, “I can place a call on your behalf. If you need personnel, I can also issue a temporary official request asking the Guizhou authorities to assign someone to accompany you.”

The chief had his concerns. After all, he was a real police officer—not a personal bodyguard—and couldn’t dispatch officers without justification. If questioned later, it would be difficult to explain. His job—not Jiang Luo’s—was on the line.

Jiang Luo didn’t press the matter: “Fine, please issue the document. I’ll have the Guizhou police accompany me when the time comes.”

But the chief added, “Jiang Luo, I need to warn you: if you see one cockroach in a room, there’s never just one.”

“I can issue the document, but it’s highly unlikely the Guizhou side will cooperate. Do you understand?”

Jiang Luo understood. This meant that if a small mountain town like Hexu dared pull off something like this, someone higher up must be shielding them—perhaps officials at the city level, or even more powerful authorities beyond that.

Haicheng was far away, and Guizhou and Haicheng fell under separate administrative jurisdictions. It was uncertain how the Guizhou authorities would respond to the document.

He had to prepare for the worst.

“I understand,” Jiang Luo said calmly.

After hanging up, Jiang Luo instructed Wang Junqing: “Don’t wait any longer. You, Old Fourth, and Old Third go ahead—and handle two things for me while you’re at it.”

…

Jiang Luo arrived at the airport late at night, waiting for the early-morning flight.

He hadn’t slept all night—and felt no fatigue at all. Fully alert, he sat in the waiting area, thinking through strategies, anticipating possible scenarios, considering Huo Zongzhuo, and reflecting on that overseas call—all with unusual calm.

Just as he sank deeper into thought, his phone rang. He answered, and Zhao Guangyuan’s voice came through, direct and to the point: “I’ve heard about Huo Zongzhuo’s situation. I’ve arranged for people to accompany you to Guizhou.”

“Are you at the airport now? We’re on our way.”

“I’ve secured a private aircraft and obtained temporary clearance for a flight path. We can depart immediately.”

Jiang Luo was stunned.

After a moment of silence, he replied softly, “Alright. Thank you.”

Soon, Zhao Guangyuan arrived at the airport with a group of seven or eight people. After meeting up, they used a special access channel and boarded the plane immediately, bound for Guiyang.

On board, Zhao Guangyuan sat beside Jiang Luo and spoke calmly and rationally: “Cross-provincial arrests have been going on for years—it’s nothing new.”

“Demanding money isn’t unusual either, given the kind of officials we have these days.”

“They’ve taken someone and demanded payment—so we’ll go and see exactly how much they think they can get away with.”

Jiang Luo said, “It won’t go smoothly.”

Zhao Guangyuan nodded. “In remote areas, anything can happen.”

“That’s why I couldn’t let you go alone—it’s far too risky.”

“Before I left, I arranged for someone to send an official document to Guiyang, requesting their assistance.”

“But Lao Xu was right”—Lao Xu was the police chief—“Guizhou and Haicheng operate under different jurisdictions. There’s no guarantee they’ll cooperate.”

Jiang Luo gazed out the window, his expression detached: “One thing I don’t understand.”

“Our business has no presence in Guizhou. Whether it’s Guizhou or Bimu Hexu, both are far from Haicheng. How did that tiny mountain town even learn about Huo Zongzhuo? And how did they know I could raise tens of millions in U.S. dollars to ransom him?”

Zhao Guangyuan also looked out the window: “Perhaps it’s a coincidence.”

“If they’re after a huge sum, they’d naturally target deep pockets.”

After chatting a while longer, Zhao Guangyuan said gently, “Get some rest. It’ll be a while before we land.”

“Mm,” Jiang Luo responded—but he didn’t close his eyes.

He wasn’t tired at all. Only one thought filled his mind:

If Huo Zongzhuo was safe, paying the ransom meant nothing—just bad luck, like being bitten by a dog. At worst, he’d avoid Guizhou in the future.

But if anything happened to Huo Zongzhuo…

Jiang Luo thought calmly: Then everyone would die together. No one would be left alive.