"Du Fei, what happened to Tingting? And who are these two guys?"
As soon as Liu Shishi received Du Fei's call, she rushed towards the entrance of Gate 5 at Terminal 2 as he had instructed.
When she arrived, panting, she was stunned by the scene before her.
Liu Yingting was leaning against Du Fei's shoulder, her eyes closed.
At Du Fei's feet lay four burly Caucasian men.
Passersby cast curious glances at Du Fei, but people nowadays tended to mind their own business, so they only looked.
"It's nothing. Tingting was drugged and will wake up soon. As for these two, I suspect they are the ones Tingting told you about previously, the ones who were following her."
Du Fei replied slowly as Liu Shishi inquired.
Following this, Du Fei asked Liu Shishi to bring his Mercedes-Benz van.
A few minutes later, Liu Shishi arrived with the van.
Du Fei had her and Liu Yingting sit in the second row, while he went to the back and folded down the third-row seats.
Then, with one man in each arm, he tossed the four Caucasian men into the back of the van as if they were trash.
"Du Fei, what happened to these men?"
Seeing the four Caucasian men lying there, their eyes wide open but completely immobile, Liu Shishi was puzzled as to how they ended up like that.
Du Fei glanced at them. "I acupunctured these fellows. For the next hour, they won't be able to move anything except their eyeballs."
Afterwards, he closed the trunk, then got into the driver's seat.
About ten minutes after Du Fei started driving, Liu Yingting let out a soft moan and slowly opened her eyes.
"Cousin!"
The moment Liu Yingting opened her eyes and found herself in Liu Shishi's arms, she cried out excitedly.
But after calling out "Cousin," the next second, Liu Yingting's eyes welled up, and she burst into tears.
"Tingting, it's okay, it's okay. Your cousin and brother-in-law are here now. You're safe, don't be afraid."
Seeing Liu Yingting crying, Liu Shishi assumed the young girl was still frightened and gently patted her back to comfort her.
However, what Liu Yingting said next struck Liu Shishi like a bolt from the blue, leaving her stunned.
"Cousin! My parents are dead! They were murdered! Waaaaah, they died so tragically!"
What?
Uncle and Aunt were murdered?
Liu Shishi was too shocked to speak.
When she finally came to her senses, her own eyes began to redden, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
For a moment, the only sounds in the car were Liu Yingting's and Liu Shishi's weeping.
Du Fei, who was driving, was also greatly surprised.
No wonder Liu Yingting had returned to the country so soon after leaving Rongcheng. Such a major event had occurred.
"Tingting, I know you're heartbroken, but you need to pull yourself together and tell Cousin what happened, okay?"
Liu Shishi, being older, and knowing that if she also just cried like Liu Yingting, it wouldn't solve anything and wouldn't help her cousin.
So she wiped away her tears, wanting to understand exactly what had happened. Her uncle and aunt were such kind people, why would they suddenly be murdered?
"I don't know. I don't know exactly what happened. I only know that after I came home this time, my parents were constantly looking glum, and sometimes my mother would cry secretly. But when I asked them, they would force a smile and tell me it was nothing, not to worry."
Under Liu Shishi's comfort, Liu Yingting's emotions gradually stabilized, and she recounted what had happened since her return home.
Her parents' anxious mood lasted for a few days. Then, one night, Liu Yingting was asleep.
Suddenly, her bedroom door was opened, and her mother rushed in like a madwoman.
Next, Liu Yingting, still groggy from sleep, was pulled out of bed by her mother and taken to the garage in the courtyard.
Just as her mother was about to start the car in the garage, the roar of an engine sounded from outside the courtyard.
In an instant, her mother's face turned pale. She then pulled Liu Yingting to a corner of the garage and pushed aside some tools.
Then, to Liu Yingting's astonishment, her mother pulled open a hidden panel, revealing a dark opening.
Her mother urged Liu Yingting to get inside quickly.
Liu Yingting was now completely awake. She asked her mother what had happened.
At that moment, the family's guard dog began to bark frantically outside the yard.
However, after just a couple of barks, it was silenced by a gunshot.
Hearing the gunshot, her mother's face became terrified. She shoved Liu Yingting into the underground space beneath the dark opening and then, with a tense expression, told Liu Yingting that no matter what happened next, she absolutely must not come out.
Liu Yingting wanted to say something more, but her mother pressed her head down and put the hidden door back in place.
With a rustling sound, Liu Yingting knew that her mother had probably put back the tools she had moved, pressing down the hidden panel.
Did their garage have a basement?
Liu Yingting had never known about this before hiding in it today.
The basement was very small, barely large enough for two adults to squat in.
Because the basement was dark and cramped, Liu Yingting tried to push open the hidden panel above after a while.
But two loud bangs stopped her.
Terrified, Liu Yingting clamped her hand over her mouth, not daring to even take a deep breath.
What was happening outside? Why were there gunshots?
Although Liu Yingting had an inkling of what was happening, she still dared not go out.
Time ticked by. During this period, she heard people coming into the garage searching for something like account books. She also heard her mother's voice.
Her mother seemed to be being dragged away, and the people were even interrogating her about Liu Yingting's whereabouts.
Unable to get the answers they wanted from her mother, two more gunshots rang out in the garage.
Bang, bang. After the gunshots, there was the sound of someone falling to the ground.
They had killed her mother!
For a moment, Liu Yingting wanted to rush out and fight those people.
But she knew very well that even if she went out, she couldn't change anything.
Moreover, her mother had gone to great lengths to make her hide in the basement, precisely to save her life. If she foolishly rushed out, she would be betraying her mother's earnest efforts.
So Liu Yingting could only grit her teeth and weep silently.
Those people outside searched their house for a very, very long time.
Liu Yingting, hidden in the basement of the garage, could even hear the loud rummaging sounds coming from outside.
Gradually, the sounds grew fainter.
However, even though there was no longer any noise from outside, Liu Yingting, still thinking of the people who had brazenly shot her parents, didn't dare to come out.
In the end, in the dark basement without a phone or lights, Liu Yingting simply cried until she was exhausted and fell asleep.