I told Fatty Sun that I had a bad premonition. I told him that some people had secretly come to repair the surveillance cameras along this street in the middle of the night the day before. I suspected that Wang Jianguo had called the police and it was the police who were making sure the cameras were working in order to watch this transaction.

Fatty Sun didn’t agree. Instead, he told me not to be too sensitive and to just remain calm.

Just then, Liu Ergou walked in from outside and sounded angry as he said, “When I went to sign the rental contract today, the landlord actually said he’s going to raise the rent!”

I asked anxiously, “You went to sign the contract already?”

“Didn’t you say that the house on the third story was good for surveillance? That’s why I quickly went to rent it.”

Liu Ergou noticed that my expression was rather strange and asked, “Did something happen?”

I shook my head and sighed. Fatty Sun answered on my behalf, “Someone came to fix all the surveillance cameras in the area, so Dahu suspects the family called the police.” Then he snorted and suddenly sounded like one of the scholars on Lecture Room* as he spoke in a mature voice, “Dahu, I’m not trying to put you down, but if you want to accomplish big things, you have to stop being so suspicious and paranoid.”

I couldn’t be bothered with him and asked Liu Ergou about the rental increase.

“When I went to sign the contract, the landlord grumbled about how he had offered us a price that was too low. He said that someone else approached him over the last two days but he turned them away because he had already promised to rent it to us.”

Liu Ergou scoffed, “What an unscrupulous fellow. Does he take me as a fool? If we didn’t want to use it to keep watch over this area, nobody else would want that dirty and rundown place of his!”

I pondered for a moment, then said, “But what if the landlord wasn’t lying to you? What if there really was someone interested in renting the place after we expressed interest?”

“That’s crazy. It’s impossible.”

I said, “We wanted that apartment to be able to keep watch on the street. Perhaps, there are other people with the same intention in mind!”

“What do you mean?”

I said, “Do you think the police could have been the other interested party? They didn’t want to raise the alarm, so they pretended to be interested in renting the apartment. Unfortunately, we had taken it first.”

Liu Ergou started to feel a little fearful now. Fatty Sun was about to reprimand me for instilling such thoughts into Liu Ergou’s mind when Liu Ergou suddenly said, “Dahu, if that’s really the case, do you think the police would suspect us?”

I said, “If the police insisted on taking that apartment, we’d actually be safe. But they actually gave up trying to rent the place even after they heard that someone else was going to rent it. Something definitely smells fishy here. You didn’t use your real name when you signed the contract, right?”

“Of course not. The landlord didn’t even care. He was so anxious to get my deposit that he didn’t even check my ID.”

“That’s good.”

Liu Ergou said, “We can’t go back to that apartment anymore.”

I said, “If nobody stays there, we’d look even more suspicious. Besides, we left our fingerprints all over that apartment when we went to look at it. The police would be able to pick up all of this easily.”

“What are we going to do then?”

I said, “We’ll tidy up the place, then hire a homeless fellow to stay there for a while. By the time the police become suspicious and check that apartment, they won’t trace it back to us.”

Liu Ergou thought that was a fantastic idea and used his palm to hit the table several times excitedly.

Fatty Sun remained stubborn and insisted on continuing with the plan. He simply refused to believe that the family would call the police over $30,000. So, I tried to convince him not to go ahead with the plan to meet Wang Jianguo at that utility pole and he agreed.

But there was always this one type of person who had a big head with no brains, one who liked making decisions on their own without thinking, one who not only failed to succeed at what he did but also screwed up even worse than you expected.

When I saw Fatty Sun appear along that street with his face half covered up, I suddenly realized that letting him become part of this kidnapping was a fatal mistake.

I spat angrily on the floor and was so furious that I didn’t know what to say.

By this time, Fatty Sun was already standing in front of Wang Jianguo.

Since time immemorial, ransom was always paid in either of these two ways: One, the ransom was paid and the hostage was released at the same time and at the same place, which ended the whole case immediately; the second one was where the family was assured that the hostage was safe before handing over the ransom and the kidnappers would release the hostage in a different place, which required trust in the kidnappers.

But Fatty Sun did something completely unpredictable. After meeting with Wang Jianguo, he didn’t talk to Wang Jianguo about the current status of the hostage nor ask for the ransom. Instead, he started scolding the other man. He claimed to be a very meticulous and detailed man, so he made sure he raised his pitch and distorted his voice even as he went on an angry tirade, “Damn you, Wang Jianguo! How dare you call the police over a mere $30,000?! What a bloody stingy fellow you are! So darned stingy! Unbelievable!”

Wang Jianguo had a tapping device on himself as well, so all the police officers could hear every single word loud and clear. All of them were shocked. Logically speaking, kidnappers were usually extremely careful and sneaky about getting the ransom. This was definitely the first time they had come across someone as bold and fearless as Fatty Sun. So, all of them tensed up and waited with bated breath, not daring to make any rash moves.

Wang Jianguo immediately tried to claim that he hadn’t called the police, but he had indeed called the police, so his argument didn’t last long.

Fatty Sun yelled angrily, “If you didn’t call the police, why did someone secretly appear in this area in the middle of the night to fix the surveillance cameras around here? I’ve got really sharp eyes and I notice EVERYTHING! Your dirty little tricks don’t work on me!”

Wang Jianguo didn’t dare to argue with him any further and held out the bag of ransom money. “Here’s the $30,000 you asked for. Where’s my son?”

Even though Fatty Sun was used to getting less than $100 from stealing old lady purses, he actually managed to pretend that he wasn’t fazed by the prospect of getting so much money at once. He waved his hand as if to cast the money aside and sighed deeply. “My heart is as clear as the moon in the sky, but the moonlight has fallen on the murky waters in a drain!”

With that poetic introduction, he started to reason with the other man, “Mr. Wang, check your conscience – is $30,000 a lot of money? Even human traffickers would want more than this amount! I’ll be honest with you. My companions initially complained that this amount of ransom was too little, so it took me a lot of pains to convince them out of asking for more. You might be very rich now, but you’ve put in a lot of hard work to earn this money! Besides, this is the first time we’re doing this, so the actual amount isn’t really important. It’s more important to start on an auspicious note and make sure this whole transaction goes through smoothly. But what did you do? You called the police over a mere $30,000! Is your son not even worth $30,000? Is that what a father ought to be doing?!”

Wang Jianguo realized his mistake and bowed his head in shame as he agreed with everything Fatty Sun said.

“Since you realize your mistake, aren’t you going to do anything about it?”

Wang Jianguo froze for two seconds, then held out the bag of ransom money again.

Fatty Sun turned his nose up at it and started sounding like how landlords raised rent, “$30,000? Are you serious? You called the police and you think I’m still going to accept this amount?”

Any problem that could be solved with money wasn’t really a problem. Wang Jianguo quickly interjected, “Please, name me your price! As long as my son is unhurt!”

Now that the one being extorted was being generous, the extorter wasn’t sure what to do. Fatty Sun was afraid of losing out if he asked for a low price, but also afraid that Wang Jianguo would call the police on him if he asked for too much. Thankfully, Fatty Sun had his fair share of experience in illicit deals and was quite well-versed in scamming tactics. He didn’t actually name any price, choosing instead to flip his palm about and let the other party guess.

Wang Jianguo couldn’t understand how much Fatty Sun wanted and randomly called out a number, “$1 million?”

Fatty Sun started haggling with Wang Jianguo like a night market stall owner and was only willing to reduce the price after it had gone above $2 million. Wang Jianguo loved his son very much, so he was willing to accede to it. Fatty Sun wasn’t really sure if asking for $2 million was a high or low figure either, since he had never done this before, so after pausing for a second, he added, “$30,000 is for breaking your promise not to call the police, and it’s not part of the $2 million!”

But that additional clause didn’t matter to Wang Jianguo at all. He held out the bag of ransom money for the third time without hesitation.

Fatty Sun couldn’t turn it down this time, so he finally accepted the bag of money.

Wang Jianguo asked, “When do you want the $2 million?”

Fatty Sun didn’t dare to make a decision on the spot, so he yelled back, “What’s the hurry? I’ll call you again!”

Wang Jianguo nodded meekly, then asked Fatty Sun about how his son was doing.

Fatty Sun said, “The entire street is covered in police officers, so I think your priority should be to get me out of here safely first!” With that, he carried the money in his left hand, then held Wang Jianguo with his right and dragged the poor man towards the end of the street without even waiting for a response. His confidence was like how the legendary Guan Yu went to battles with nothing but his Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

The police were watching all of this closely, and all of them were thinking to themselves, “It’s already bad enough that we’ve handed the ransom money over but there’s no sign of the hostage. If the kidnapper kidnaps the one who handed him the ransom money in full view of the police, the police would be so embarrassed!” As a result, all of them asked their leaders if they could go ahead, promising to nab this kidnapper by hook or by crook. But their leaders were more levelheaded and looked at the bigger picture, refusing to give any orders.

During this time, Fatty Sun had already dragged Wang Jianguo to the end of the street. If they walked out of this street, they would be out of the police’s range and even the street surveillance cameras wouldn’t be able to capture them.

Anybody in the real estate industry was a smart one, and since Wang Jianguo was a property mogul, that made him an intelligent person even among intelligent people. The moment they reached the end of the street, Wang Jianguo stopped walking and refused to budge no matter how hard Fatty Sun tugged at him. Fatty Sun didn’t dare to force him, and when he realized that he was out of the police’s range, he clasped a hand over his other fist, thanked him and turned to leave, but Wang Jianguo held him back. “My friend, don’t you think you’ve forgotten to tell me something?”

Fatty Sun was confused for a moment. He thought about it but couldn’t think of anything. “What do you mean?”

Wang Jianguo said, “Don’t you think you ought to let me see if that my son is safe?”

Fatty Sun slapped his forehead. “OH! That! Look at how scared you are! Don’t worry, the kid’s fine.” He turned to walk off again.

Wang Jianguo didn’t expect that. He ran after Fatty Sun and grabbed hold of him again. Fatty Sun snapped, “I said that your kid is safe! Why are you still clinging onto me?”

Wang Jianguo said, “I need proof!”

“How do I prove it?”

This question stunned Wang Jianguo. But since this was the first time Fatty Sun kidnapped someone, it made sense for him not to know what needed to be done. So he tried to help Fatty Sun out patiently, “You should let me talk to my son over the phone.”

Fatty Sun’s survival instinct was strong and turned the idea down immediately. “You’ve watched too many crime dramas, haven’t you? Do you think I’m stupid? Once the call goes through, the police would be able to trace the call to the exact address and rescue the hostage. I won’t get any ransom money that way!”

Wang Jianguo tried again, “Then at least let me see a photo of my son! At least that can prove that he’s still alive.”

“Of course he’s still alive, just that…”

Fatty Sun stopped himself immediately. He had come to take the ransom money without telling his companions, so he didn’t have any photos. Of course, he couldn’t possibly tell Wang Jianguo this, so the brain he used so often to scam others quickly cooked up some other excuse, “It’s just that even if I showed you a photo, you wouldn’t know when I took it!”

Wang Jianguo completed his how-to-be-a-kidnapper tutorial, “That’s easy. Get my son to hold up today’s papers and take a photo!”

Fatty Sun got even more impatient now. “It’s six in the morning! The newspapers haven’t been delivered yet! How am I going to get today’s papers for a photo?”

Wang Jianguo didn’t know what to say to that, but he continued to hold onto Fatty Sun. “I don’t care! If you can’t prove to me that my son’s still alive, I’m not letting go of you!”

Fatty Sun got even more frustrated, snapped at Wang Jianguo for being difficult, pulled his arm out from Wang Jianguo’s grip and marched off.

But there was no way Wang Jianguo was letting him go. He immediately started yelling at the top of his voice, “HELP!!!”

The police officers watched anxiously as Wang Jianguo and the kidnapper tugged at each other and jumped to the conclusion that the kidnapper was taking Wang Jianguo with him. They were going crazy with anxiety but their leaders hadn’t given them any orders, so none of them dared to move. When they heard Wang Jianguo cry for help, all of them thought, “This kidnapper has gone too far! He’s already kidnapped the man’s son and asked for ransom, and now, he’s even going to kidnap the man in front of so many police officers! If we don’t do anything, that’s as good as leaving Wang Jianguo in the lurch! Not even animals would do such a thing!”

With that thought in mind, nobody cared about waiting for orders from their superiors. Someone even shouted from behind, “Brothers, let’s go for it!” The police officers were instantly motivated and flooded the streets with a loud cry as if they were going to war.

Just then, somebody opened fire. The loud gunshot shocked the entire street, followed by a terrible howl of pain, then one of the two men struggling earlier collapsed onto the ground!

TL notes:

*Lecture Room: A Chinese talk show that resembles TED talks