Xu Lan and Xia He stayed at Qiao Mei's side without stepping away for even a moment. Qiao Mei sat in the living room the entire time. She just wanted to see Qian'e as soon as possible and find out all the details about what happened.
An hour later, Qian'e arrived at the entrance of the Xia family residence. She was covered in dirt and there seemed to be wounds on her body. Blood was also seeping out of her knees. She probably had a fall on her way out.
"How did you get injured like this?" Xia He said in shock.
When Qiao Mei saw how seriously Qian'e was injured, her newly calm heart started to panic again. She was at a loss and felt very unsettled.
"I'm fine… Go and save Auntie! Go and save Auntie now!" Qian'e said as she grabbed Xia He's arm tightly.
"Don't be anxious. We're all thinking of a way. We've already asked all our people to investigate this matter. Sit down and tell us what happened first." Xia He slowly helped Qian'e to the sofa and sat her down.
Qian'e looked down and did not dare to look at Qiao Mei directly. She felt that she had let Qiao Mei down. Qiao Mei was so nice to her and trusted her so much, but she did not protect Li Gui well.
"Other than these superficial wounds, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere else?" Qiao Mei asked gently.
Qian'e burst into tears and said as she wept, "I'm sorry… Qiao Mei, I'm sorry… I didn't protect Auntie well. I'm so sorry!"
"Come, this is something that we can't predict. You're not the one in the wrong. Don't cry. Let's think of a way to save my mother first," Qiao Mei said.
Qian'e nodded and told Qiao Mei in detail about what happened during the night.
The goods in the factory could not be transported out, nor could the raw materials outside be transported in. The workers did not have any work to do and their livelihood would be affected after a while. Qian'e told them to go back to the dormitory to rest and not to move around casually unless there were special circ.u.mstances. She told them that she would think of a way to deal with the other issues.
The good thing was that they were in the food business and did not lack food at all. Even if the canteen had no ingredients to make meals any more, they could open up their own products to eat and would not starve.
However, there were a few disobedient workers who dug a dog hole in the corner of the wall in the middle of the night and sneaked out to have fun. No one noticed what they did even after a few days, so they let their guard down and did not cover the dog hole when they went out at night.
It did not take long for the people from the Zhao Family Village to discover this dog hole. They immediately decided to enter the factory through the hole and steal whatever they could from the factory to pay for their debts. They would take away anything valuable that they could carry with them.
In the beginning, when Mao Hang, Chi Ze and the others saw that everyone from the Zhao Family Village had left, they thought that these people finally could not take it anymore. They would never have imagined that these people had already entered the factory and only realized that something was wrong when they heard screams inside.
At that time, Qian'e was still dealing with Han Chen at the Han Corporation, trying to ask him to give her a few more days' grace to deliver the goods. She did not expect to receive a call from the factory's security officer even before the meeting ended.
By the time Qian'e arrived, Li Gui had already been abducted by the people from the Zhao Family Village. Fortunately, Mao Hang and a few of them were smart enough not to fight with the people from the Zhao Family Village and allowed themselves to be captured together with Li Gui. They were all retired soldiers and nothing bad would happen to them. Perhaps they could even save Li Gui!
"So is my mother taken by the villagers or Zhao Liu?" Qiao Mei asked seriously.
"The villagers. I'm sure that it's the villagers. Zhao Liu was not among those people. He's a scaredy cat and doesn't dare to come to take part in such an event. It's usually his son who represents him at the main gate," Qian'e said.
"So far, have the people from the Zhao Family Village said anything?" Qiao Mei asked.
"They have. They want you to go to the village alone to negotiate with them," Qian'e whispered.
Without a second thought, Qiao Mei got up to go to the village to look for Li Gui. Xu Lan, Xia He and Qian'e hurriedly stopped Qiao Mei. If anything should happen to Qiao Mei, it would be two lives lost!
"You can't go! If anything, I should be the one to go! We can keep in touch by phone. I'll relay their requests to you. This can also be considered a negotiation," Xia He said agitatedly.
"Yes! Xia He can go on your behalf! She knows martial arts! She can protect herself!" Xu Lan said immediately.