"Gentlemen, you'll have to walk the rest of the way up to the resort. My car can't go any farther -- it's a stair path!" The taxi driver had no idea whether Zhong Yongliang had been here before, so he offered the explanation himself, sparing them the trouble of asking.

"I know!" Zhong Yongliang paid the man his fare. Clearly the driver had mistaken the lot of them for students come to play at the resort.

Living standards were better these days; young men and women heading off to a resort together was nothing remarkable, so the driver suspected nothing at all. He took the money and drove away.

"There's a resort up there?" Gu Mengyao had never been to this place. She and Shen Yushu had no reason to go to any resort -- and a resort with only the two of them would be no fun anyway.

"Hmph, I came to this very resort just last night with my dad!" Zhong Yongliang said, not without pride. He really had come last night, and really had come with his old man, with Li Cihua footing the bill -- along with Jin Gubang and a young man called Young Master Bing!

It had opened Zhong Yongliang's eyes considerably, and made him bolder besides. With the background he had before, he had genuinely hesitated, not quite daring to make his move. The cave and the plan had long since been prepared, but Zhong Yongliang simply could not steel his heart, held back by his fear of Gu Pengzhan's connections.

But after last night, Zhong Yongliang had come to know Li Cihua, and Young Master Bing as well! Young Master Bing was a man of great background -- even Li Cihua deferred to him with the utmost respect -- and his own father worked for Young Master Bing and Li Cihua. Could the Zhong family ever worry about rising in the world?

So today Zhong Yongliang could not wait to carry out his kidnapping plan.

Gu Mengyao nodded. She had no interest in the resort; her mind was wholly on finding that damned mother of hers. "Zhong Yongliang, hurry up and take me to the person who looks like me!"

"I can't promise we'll find her either!" Zhong Yongliang said. "Mengyao, if we don't find her, don't blame me!"

"Why so much nonsense? Hurry up!" Gu Mengyao said impatiently. Zhong Yongliang laughed to himself, but kept his face perfectly composed as he led Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu up the mountain.

Though the sky had already half darkened, the resort was built halfway up the slope, so there were in fact quite a few people at the foot of the mountain -- which unconsciously lent Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu a sense of security.

With so many people about, nothing could possibly happen. Had there been no one at all, Gu Mengyao would surely have hesitated over whether to follow Zhong Yongliang up the mountain.

The mountain path was rugged but not steep, and all four of them were young, so it took them no great effort to reach the resort at the mountainside.

"Mengyao, are you tired? How about we go into the resort and get something to eat first?" Zhong Yongliang asked.

"Eat what? I'm not hungry! Take me there now!" How could Gu Mengyao have any appetite now?

"All right, let's go then!" Zhong Yongliang nodded reluctantly, then continued on up the mountain path.

In daylight there would surely have been no small number of sightseers and photographers bound for the summit, but now that night had fallen, naturally no one was going up anymore. In the blink of an eye the earlier liveliness was gone, and only the four of them -- Zhong Yongliang, Gao Xiaofu, Gu Mengyao, and Shen Yushu -- remained on the path.

"That person -- was here yesterday?" Gu Mengyao grew a little suspicious. Even if Zhong Yongliang had run into her mother, what would her mother be doing here?

"That's right, I followed her here from the resort. At first I thought it was you, but later I realized it wasn't!" Zhong Yongliang nodded. "What do you suppose she was doing, running up here so late at night?"

Zhong Yongliang's counter-question dispelled Gu Mengyao's suspicion. It had to be said that Zhong Yongliang did have some brains -- he was no pure fool -- and this plan had been executed only after careful design.

So Gu Mengyao said no more, and followed Zhong Yongliang up the mountain. After another few hundred meters, Zhong Yongliang suddenly turned and headed toward a small side path.

There were no stone steps on the side path, only bare dirt. Gu Mengyao finally could not help asking, "Why are we going onto a side path now?"

"How should I know? If it weren't for you asking, Mengyao, I wouldn't come here for anyone else!" Zhong Yongliang said ingratiatingly. "Yesterday, she went this way!"

"Oh, then let's keep going." Gu Mengyao did not believe Zhong Yongliang would dare play any tricks, for in the past three years he had always gone along with her and never once dared to overstep.

Fortunately this time they did not walk far. Zhong Yongliang pointed at a cave mouth not far off and said, "This is the place! Yesterday I followed her here, and then in a flash the woman was gone. If I weren't bold, I might have thought I'd run into a ghost!"

Gu Mengyao glared at him. Your mother's the ghost, she thought. But at this moment she did not want to offend Zhong Yongliang, so she reined in her temper and asked, "This is the place? So did she go into the cave?"

"That I don't know. How about we wait here a while?" Zhong Yongliang stood where he was, unwilling to walk any farther.

"Hey, why don't you go check that cave over there?" Gu Mengyao pointed at the cave not far off and ordered Zhong Yongliang.

"Me..." Zhong Yongliang hesitated. "It's so late -- there aren't wolves or anything, are there?"

"This is a resort scenic area. How could there be wolves? Wouldn't that scare all the tourists away?" Gu Mengyao thought Zhong Yongliang was merely being cowardly, though to be fair, going into a cave this late at night really was rather frightening.

"All right then!" Zhong Yongliang had no choice but to nod. "Xiaofu, come with me and take a look!"

"Huh? Me...?" Named by Zhong Yongliang, Gao Xiaofu could only trail after him with a sullen look. But once they were far enough away, Gao Xiaofu's expression changed to quite another face, a smug smile hanging at the corner of his mouth. "Brother Liang, everything is going according to plan!"

"That's right! They're both girls. Shen Yushu may be a bit bolder, but I figure in this pitch-dark, she definitely won't dare come over!" Zhong Yongliang nodded. "Is the incense all ready?"

"Ready long ago. It's even remote-controlled and electrified, but since they didn't follow us, we won't need it." As he spoke, Gao Xiaofu took a box of chewing gum from his pocket and handed Zhong Yongliang a stick. "Brother Liang, chew one beforehand, and the incense won't affect you later!"

Zhong Yongliang nodded, peeled off the wrapper, and put it in his mouth to chew.

Once the two reached the cave, Gao Xiaofu activated the incense device. The incense ran on a storage battery, so no power source was needed.

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