Another hour had passed. It was completely dark outside now, but Meng Nianchu still hadn't shown up.
"What should we do now? We haven't been able to reach her for a long time. Aren't you worried at all?" Bai Ling and Ju Zisheng were extremely worried. They were like ants on a hot pan. Seeing Mu Junze sitting there calmly and silently, they asked anxiously.
"Two and a half hours have passed. If we wait any longer, the restaurant will close. Where could she be?" Ju Zisheng hung up the phone after calling Meng Nianchu again. It was still turned off. He said helplessly.
"I just called her parents. She doesn't seem to be there either. The two old people said they haven't seen her. What should we do now?" Bai Ling reported the situation to the two of them after calling Meng's father and mother.
"What should we do now? Say something!" The two of them just stared at Mu Junze, waiting for his response.
Mu Junze still said nothing.
"Aren't you worried at all? She's your wife, and she's pregnant. Now we can't find her, but you can still sit here so calmly?" Ju Zisheng was a bit angry. He didn't understand why Mu Junze was acting like this.
Mu Junze didn't say a word. He just lifted his eyelids and glanced at Ju Zisheng.
"What are you looking at? I'm just stating the facts." Ju Zisheng was getting impatient. He knew he was right. Mu Junze's reaction didn't seem like that of a worried person at all.
"What's the use of being worried?" Mu Junze suddenly asked.
"Do you know where she's been? Who she's met? Which route she took? When the incident happened? Do you know? You don't know anything. Is it useful to just be worried?" Facing Mu Junze's series of questions, Ju Zisheng and Bai Ling fell silent.
They thought about it. The information they had was extremely scarce, and they couldn't sort out the timeline. Being worried like this really wouldn't have any effect. Instead, it might lead them to make wrong judgments.
After being retorted by Mu Junze like this, the two immediately lost their temper and sat down beside the table.
"Order food and eat." Mu Junze said as he picked up the menu and started ordering.
After ordering a few dishes, he handed the menu to Ju Zisheng and asked him to order.
"I can't eat. The situation is still uncertain, and her life is in danger. How can I eat? You guys eat."
"Just order when I tell you to. Where did you get so much nonsense?"
"You..." Ju Zisheng sighed. He knew Mu Junze well. This guy was good in every way, except that sometimes he didn't really care about other people's feelings.
Helplessly, Ju Zisheng just randomly ordered two dishes from the menu.
Then Mu Junze took the menu and gave it to Bai Ling, simply saying one word: "Order."
Bai Ling was more sensible. She quickly ordered two dishes and didn't get retorted by Mu Junze like Ju Zisheng did.
Not long after, the dishes were served. Bai Ling and Ju Zisheng were both worried about Meng Nianchu's situation and couldn't eat at all. They just took a few bites and then put down their chopsticks and sighed.
Only Mu Junze ate whatever he wanted, picked up whichever dish he liked, drank whatever he wanted, and refilled his drink after finishing.
Seeing Mu Junze's performance, Bai Ling and Ju Zisheng sighed: Alas, will Meng Nianchu really be happy with him in the future?
After a while, Mu Junze was full and was enjoying his after - dinner dessert. It was already around 10:00 p.m., and it could be considered night.
There was still no news of Meng Nianchu. Bai Ling and Ju Zisheng were starting to think about calling the police.
"I heard that the police won't file a case until a person has been missing for 24 hours. It's not been that long yet. Even if we call the police, it won't be useful..." Bai Ling whispered after checking the specific process of reporting a missing person.
Just then, Mu Junze's phone rang. A stranger sent him a video call message.
Mu Junze picked up his phone, smiled slightly, and said to himself, "They finally came looking for me." Then he pressed the answer button.
"Hello." The screen on the other end of the phone was black, and the surrounding sounds were noisy. Maybe the other party was still preparing something. He answered the call a bit suddenly, which caught them off guard.
Then the whole picture lit up, and what was shown shocked the three people on this side.
Meng Nianchu's eyes were blindfolded, her mouth was gagged, and ropes were tied to her hands, stretching them in two different directions.
Through the video, it could be seen that there was blood on her wrists, and her whole state was rather weak. She might have struggled for some time before but couldn't break free from the other party's restraint.
Bai Ling and Ju Zisheng immediately shouted loudly, "Meng Nianchu?!"
"Hey! Who are you?"
"Why are you doing this? Don't you know that kidnapping is illegal?"
"Say something. Why don't you say a word, huh?" Bai Ling and Ju Zisheng kept asking frantically.
However, there was still no sound from the other end of the phone. Only the sound of electric current came through. They could only watch Meng Nianchu struggling helplessly.
"Wait..." Bai Ling suddenly thought of something. She looked at the video again to confirm and said, "I remember this place! We've all been there. It's the old factory where I went to meet the extortionists last time. I remember that pillar behind. I even circled around it twice to avoid their arrest."
Suddenly, a voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Good evening, Mu Junze!" Obviously, the voice had been processed by a voice changer. It sounded strange, and it was impossible to tell whether it was male or female, old or young.
"You don't need to get familiar with me. Just say it straight. What's your intention for kidnapping her?"
"Hahaha, of course, we're here to verify whether you really love her or not." On the other end of the phone, Meng Nianchu seemed to hear the conversation here and started struggling violently again.
"We've been holding Meng Nianchu's phone for so long, and you haven't called her once." At this time, another voice sounded beside.
"What? He did call once. During dinner, he called to ask her to come for dinner. After that, he didn't call again. The dozens of calls after that were all from Bai Ling, Ju Zisheng, and Meng Nianchu's family." This voice was also processed. It could basically be concluded that the other party was using a voice changer to talk.
"Really? Hehe, Meng Nianchu, did you hear that? Your beloved Mu Junze doesn't care about you at all. He doesn't even call you. How pitiful, haha!" Meng Nianchu endured the pain in her wrists and kept struggling, but her eyes were blindfolded and her mouth was taped, so she couldn't make any sound at all.
"Linda, stop pretending. I know it's you."
"No, I'd better call you by your real name, Meng Rong..."