Born with Luck

A new day arrived, and everyone was busy today.

Early in the morning, Du Cong arrived at the Maple Forest Late Hotel. He came by bus, not driving the off-road vehicle that had been impounded. At the front desk, he carefully took out three prepaid cards and quietly asked if they could be refunded for cash.

"Yes, but there will be a 20% handling fee. Are you sure you want to proceed, sir?"

"Uh... yes, I do."

"Please hand me the cards."

Du Cong passed over the cards. After a while, the receptionist frowned slightly and asked him to wait while she called the lobby manager. She whispered to the manager that these were benefit cards—special cards the boss gave to friends, not recorded in the hotel's accounts. Unlike regular prepaid cards, they weren't supposed to be refunded for cash. No one had ever tried to refund them before, so she wasn't sure how to proceed.

The manager stepped aside and tried calling the boss, Lu Yibo, but his phone was off. She then called the hotel's finance department, but they didn’t know what to do either. They consulted Rongcheng Group's finance team, who in turn called Hu Jianren for instructions. When Hu Jianren heard someone was trying to refund three prepaid cards, he immediately reported it to Zhou Rong. Zhou Rong instructed him to call the hotel and have the lobby manager stall the person—he would send someone over right away.

Du Cong waited nervously on the sofa for a long time, watching the manager make multiple phone calls. Eventually, the manager approached him and explained that these were benefit cards, which had never been refunded before. The group was sending a finance representative to handle it and asked him to wait. She also requested his ID to verify his identity.

"I... I didn’t bring my ID. Never mind the refund." Du Cong hesitated. If they were verifying identities for benefit cards, he definitely wouldn’t get the money. He snatched the three cards back from the manager and quickly left.

The manager, unaware that Zhou Rong had sent people to detain him, didn’t dare stop him when he insisted on leaving. She could only call Hu Jianren to report what had happened.

Meanwhile, on Zhou Rong’s side, Zhang Debing had located Li Penggai’s car the night before using its GPS, finding it parked in a lot behind a rundown neighborhood. He had arranged for people to keep watch all night, but no one had come for the car. Now, with the Maple Forest Late Hotel reporting a young man trying to refund three benefit cards, Hu Jianren immediately ordered hotel staff to follow him. They tailed Du Cong all the way home and discovered he lived right in front of the parking lot where Li Penggai’s car was found.

The three cards from the stolen suitcase were in this man’s possession, and Li Penggai’s car—involved in last night’s incident—was parked right outside his building. Zhou Rong’s side concluded that even if this man wasn’t the robber, he was at least an accomplice, and their hideout was likely right there.

When the underlings sent back a secretly taken photo of Du Cong, Hu Jianren recognized him immediately. "Rong-ge, this guy is an employee at our 4S store."

"One of our employees?"

"Yeah, the salesman who stole your car the other night." Hu Jianren frowned. "What I don’t get is why Li Penggai’s car was parked right outside his place, and how he ended up with those three prepaid cards."

Zhou Rong lit a cigarette, thought for a moment, and suddenly had an epiphany. "This might be a setup!"

"What do you mean?" Neither Hu Jianren nor Zhang Debing understood."With the security standards of my villa, forget two robbers, even twenty couldn't come and go as they pleased. The other night when those two came in from the back, it just happened that all the security guards at the rear had been reassigned. Is that a coincidence? No! It's an inside job."

Zhang Debing quickly protested in alarm, "Brother Rong, I would never betray you. I wasn't the one who reassigned the guards that night."

Hu Jianren also raised his hand in assurance, "Brother Rong, after all these years working for you, I'd never double-cross you."

"I'm not talking about you two! I mean that Li Qian and that car salesman. That night after dinner, Li Qian kept eyeing the safe in the study. Oh, and I'm pretty sure she drugged me—that's why I had diarrhea. The insider couldn't open the safe, so the outsiders made their move. The salesman deliberately crashed into my car to draw the villa's security away, while the other two robbers sneaked in. Drugging, attempted theft, a staged car crash, and robbery—damn, it's a whole coordinated scheme!"

Hu Jianren asked, "But you said Li Qian was also tied up by those robbers. Were they really working together?"

"Before they knocked me out, I saw them tie her up. But the front gate security said she left shortly after. If she was really tied up, is she some kind of superhero who can untie herself? And why didn't she help me after freeing herself? She even blocked me on WeChat! They were definitely in on it together—they pretended to tie her up in front of me to clear her name!"

Then Hu Jianren recalled another detail: "No wonder that night, the salesman told the police a taxi swerved into his lane, forcing him to crash into a tree. But the police checked right then—there was no taxi with that license plate."

After this analysis, all three were convinced it had been a four-person scheme to rob Zhou Rong.

Zhang Debing gritted his teeth and muttered, "Brother Rong, we've found them now. Just say the word, and we'll handle it."

Zhou Rong pondered, "We've located the salesman, but we don't know if the other three are home. Every minute that USB drive is out there is another minute of risk. Hmm... looks like we'll have to take a gamble. Take a few reliable men yourself, go upstairs, and secure everyone in the house. Best case, the USB is there. If not, we'll trade their lives for it. Once we have the drive, we'll eliminate all four. Remember, this must not alert the police."

Zhang Debing nodded firmly. "Brother Rong, I'll make sure it's done cleanly." With that, he went to gather a few trusted men and personally led two cars out.

"The most dangerous place is the safest place." Fang Chao smirked smugly. "The police would never dream we didn't run but came back instead—right to Zhou Rong's doorstep. And they'd never guess we have new transportation!"

"I don't think this transportation is very suitable," Liu Zhi said from the back seat, eyeing the disabled mobility scooter with concern.

They had stolen it the night before from an unattended roadside in the suburbs. The scooter was essentially a three-wheeled motorcycle with a metal shell—stealing a motorcycle was child's play for them."The best thing about this car is how safe it is. Who would think we're tailing someone in a disabled vehicle?" Fang Chao patted the steering wheel, quite pleased with himself, thinking that after this job was done, they could still sell the disabled car for two or three thousand yuan.

"But this car can't go fast."

"Obviously. If it could go fast, would it still be called a disabled vehicle?"

"But if Zhou Rong decides to chase us after handing over the money, where can we even run with this thing?" Liu Zhi pictured Zhou Rong pursuing them in a Mercedes-Benz while they were flooring the gas pedal in their disabled car, only for Zhou Rong to pull up beside them, roll down the window, and sneer, "Run, keep running!"

Fang Chao shook his head dismissively. "You think I'd actually meet Zhou Rong in person to collect the ransom?"

"What else?"

"This deal is too important. We can't take any more risks—we need to set up multiple layers."

Just then, they saw the six-meter-tall gates of Zhou Rong's estate slowly swing open, followed by two large SUVs driving out. Once on the road, both vehicles accelerated and sped away.

"Hold on tight!" Fang Chao muttered, pressing the gas pedal to follow. Not that there was any need to hold on—he was already at full throttle, barely faster than the electric scooters on the road. The two SUVs turned a corner in the distance and soon vanished from sight.

Frustrated, Fang Chao smacked the disabled car's steering wheel before pulling over to regroup.

There seemed to be quite a few people in those SUVs. Were they going to the bank to withdraw the ransom money? That wouldn’t require so many people. Were they coming to capture the two of them? Impossible—they were right here.

Unable to figure it out, he decided to test Zhou Rong directly. He took out a brand-new SIM card, inserted it into his phone, and dialed Zhou Rong's number. "Hello, Boss Zhou?"

Zhou Rong, sitting on his sofa, immediately stood up upon hearing the voice. "It's me."

"Where are you right now?"

"I... I'm at home."

"Then why did you send so many people out? Still trying to find us?"

Zhou Rong panicked—his every move was being monitored. He didn’t know how to respond.

"Answer me."

"No, I was just preparing the money."

"You need that many people to prepare money?"

"You asked for ten million in cash—that's no small amount. There are daily withdrawal limits per person, so I sent more people to different banks. It’s also for security."

Fang Chao scoffed. "If that's the case, then good. Remember, don’t even think about testing us. We’re watching your every move."

Zhou Rong swallowed hard. "I can have the money ready today. How do you want to do the exchange?"

"Simple. You decide the time and place for the exchange, and we’ll come to you."

"Me? I decide the time and place?" Zhou Rong was surprised.

"Yes, it’s entirely up to you."

Zhou Rong figured this was likely a trap. Since the other side already knew he had sent people out, his excuse about withdrawing money was just a cover. With their cards on the table, there was no point hiding anymore. He might as well set the exchange location near the kidnappers' hideout. "How about Jiade Plaza in two hours?"

"Two hours, Jiade Plaza—no problem!" With that, Fang Chao hung up and removed the SIM card.Zhou Rong stared at the disconnected phone, sat back on the sofa, and thought for a moment before immediately calling Zhang Debing: "Where are you guys now?"

"We're already downstairs at their place. I'm waiting for the right moment to go up."

"Hold off for now. They've already spotted you. We're in the open while they're hidden. They want to make a deal."

"What should we do then?"

After a brief pause, Zhou Rong replied, "Stay nearby and keep a careful watch. Pull everyone else back."

At that moment, Zhang Debing added, "Rong-ge, I see that sales guy coming downstairs again. Should we send someone to tail him?"

"Don't follow him. I don't want to alert them before the deal."