After her blood was drawn, Shao Xi, Little Bei, and Xiao Wu also came over. The five children hugged each other and cried bitterly.

  Shao Xi, Little Bei, and Xiao Wu had been extremely anxious previously, but they hadn’t dared make a sound or kick up a fuss about going to look for their brothers. Although they’d really wanted to go, they knew that they would only cause more trouble, so they had restrained themselves.

  In order not to affect everyone else, they had been obedient and had gone wherever they’d been told. They hadn’t cried or made a fuss. Even when they couldn’t eat, they had forced themselves to eat. Even though they were worried about Shao Dong and Shao Nan, they’d only dared to cry for a while in the bathroom or behind everyone’s backs.

  Seeing that Shao Dong and Shao Nan had finally returned safely, the three children finally cried in relief.

  Little Bei was crying so hard that she almost couldn’t breathe. Shao Nan could have left first. It was only because he had saved Little Bei that he had ended up being kidnapped. The same applied to Shao Dong.

  With her two older brothers protecting her, she had managed to escape in the end, but her two older brothers had been caught.

  The five children huddled together and cried. In order to prevent Mu Jingzhe from getting into danger and not coming back, they’d even planned to dress up as Mu Jingzhe to pay the ransom. When Ji Buwang rushed to the hospital and saw that the five children and Mu Jingzhe were fine, he heaved a sigh of relief. However, when he saw them crying, his heart skipped a beat. He thought that an accident had happened to Shao Qihai and that he’d died while saving them.

  They’d split up the work and secretly followed the police. In the end, Shao Qiyang had helped them arrest the other kidnapper who had called to ask for ransom. When he entered, his legs went limp, as he thought that his older brother had died again.

  Only after his arms and legs went limp did he realize that he was mistaken. Shao Qihai was undergoing emergency treatment.

  Meanwhile, they also received the latest news on the kidnappers.

  The kidnapper who had suffered a massive hemorrhage after being struck by Mu Jingzhe had also been sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. He wasn’t dead, but it was uncertain if he would wake up. He might be in a vegetative state or die one day.

  Mu Jingzhe heaved a sigh of relief. No matter what, it was good that he hadn’t been directly beaten to death. Though she didn’t have to bear legal responsibility in this situation, it was still a little difficult to accept killing someone with one’s own hands.

  According to the preliminary investigation, the three of them were really members of the left-handed gang. The police had found a lot of cash and gold in their residences, and the left-handed guy was the one who had originally been there to get the money. He was also their leader.

  These three people could always find places that were easily overlooked and commit crimes there. In order to avoid trouble, they would directly silence the victims after they received the money.

  \r \r \r

  If Mu Jingzhe hadn’t seen Shao Dong and Shao Nan’s hints and rushed over in time before the ransom had really been paid, Shao Dong and Shao Nan’s corpses would have been waiting for them.

  After Shao Dong and Shao Nan calmed down a little, they told the police what had happened.

  The three of them had treated Shao Dong and Shao Nan as people who were about to die, so sometimes they didn’t refrain from saying certain things. The three of them were all the same type of person. Usually, they looked no different from ordinary people, but they were cold-blooded to the core and had no feelings at all. They didn’t feel any pity or fondness for children, only annoyance. Shao Dong had only said a few words to them and had been beaten up.

  Shao Dong and Shao Nan had realized that something was wrong. They had cleverly pretended to be obedient and hadn’t cried or made a fuss. The kidnappers hadn’t cared about them and had thrown them aside. They hadn’t given them any food or water either. On one hand, they had been impatient, but on the other hand, they had felt that it was unnecessary since they were about to die.

  Because Shao Dong and Shao Nan had pretended to be obedient, although they had been scared and hungry, they hadn’t suffered too much.

  Other than being beaten up by the kidnappers at first, they hadn’t sustained any other injuries. They were much better off than the victims who had been discovered.

  After the autopsy, it had been discovered that other than their fatal injuries, those victims had also suffered a lot when they had been alive.

  Shao Dong and Shao Nan had been smart enough to send a message in their own way. Fortunately, the clue had been discovered in the end.

  Everyone looked at Shao Dong and Shao Nan and felt a little emotional.

  After Mu Jingzhe calmed down, she asked Shao Dong and Shao Nan to have their wounds treated. Although it wasn’t much, her heart ached when she saw the injuries, especially the bruise on Shao Nan’s wrist.

  The doctor said that he was really lucky he had not lost his hand when it had been injured so badly.

  When it was past nine in the evening, Shao Qihai was finally pushed out of the operating room.

  “The patient is in a coma right now. Let him sleep well. It’s beneficial to his recovery.”

  After Shao Qihai was pushed into the ward, Mu Jingzhe listened to a bunch of reminders. When she returned to his bed, she saw that the five children’s eyes were red.

  “What’s wrong?” Mu Jingzhe quickly asked.

  “Mommy, Daddy has so many wounds.”

  When Mu Jingzhe heard that, she quickly lifted Shao Qihai’s blanket and realized that Shao Qihai was naked. Just as the doctor had said, the glass shards had been picked out, and the wounds had been sutured and covered with gauze. The doctor had also applied medicine on all other major and minor wounds.

  However, other than these new terrifying wounds, there were also old wounds.

  Shao Qihai’s back was covered in scars of all sizes. There was also a particularly large wound on his other side. “This is…”

  The doctor who had come in at some point said, “This is a gunshot wound. In television dramas and movies, being shot only results in a small wound, but in reality, the lethality is no joke.”

  The doctor looked at Shao Qihai and sighed. “I knew at a glance that he is a veteran. Am I wrong? He was in the army before, right?”

  “Right…” Mu Jingzhe paused and nodded.

  “By looking at the scars all over his back, I can tell how serious his condition was back then. He’s covered in honor and injuries.”

  The doctor sighed and left, but his words made the ward go silent.

  Mu Jingzhe’s gaze was complicated. She knew Shao Qihai’s identity, but because he rarely spoke about it and was very far from her world, she had never expected him to have so many wounds on his body.

  The children didn’t speak either. In the past, the kids had actually seen the scars on Shao Qihai’s body. However, although he’d already had scars on his body before he had faked his death, there hadn’t been many, nor had they been as shocking as this.

  When he had come back this time, they weren’t close anymore and they hadn’t seen the scars on him. They hadn’t expected his body to become like this in just over a year. One could imagine how much pain and injuries he had suffered during this period.

  The atmosphere remained a little depressing until Shao Nan’s stomach rumbled. Shao Nan touched his stomach and looked up. “I’m hungry.”

  After being kidnapped for an entire day and night, they hadn’t eaten at all. Even though they were hungry and thirsty, they didn’t dare make a sound. Mu Jingzhe had thought of this earlier, but the kids couldn’t care less and had only drunk some water.

  Now that the dust had settled, they were hungry and thirsty.

  They weren’t the only ones who were hungry. Actually, Mu Jingzhe was also hungry. She had been searching for the kids and hadn’t had time to eat.

  The hospital’s canteen staff had left long ago. Mu Jingzhe borrowed the kitchen and cooked a large basin of noodles. Too hungry to talk, they buried their heads in the food and started eating.

  After eating two bowls of noodles, Shao Dong heaved a sigh of relief. “I only feel alive after eating a bowl of Mommy’s noodles.”

  “Me too.” When they said this, Mu Jingzhe and the others sighed with emotion. It hadn’t been long, but this day and night had really been torturous.

  After eating the noodles, they returned to the ward. Shao Qiyang was already waiting inside and asked Mu Jingzhe to take the five children to rest. However, Shao Dong and the others didn’t go and said that they wanted to watch over Shao Qihai too.