"No." The man spoke directly in a flat tone, raising his eyes to look at her with a hint of indifference, and continued, "People pay us to do things, and the client requested confidentiality on information concerning her. Do you really think we’d be stupid enough to tell you and ruin our reputation?"

After speaking, he continued picking up food to eat.

Xu Qian held her remarks in her stomach; she really wanted to say, ’You’ve already done something illegal like kidnapping, and you still care about reputation?’

But if she were to ask that, the man would definitely reply, ’Being a kidnapper is also a profession.’

"..."

Xu Qian fell silent, while Song Qiao pulled Xu Qian to sit by her side. Instead, she looked at the man in front of her and asked, "Are you saying that if the other party doesn’t pay you in two days, you’ll release us?"

The man’s hand paused mid-action with his chopsticks, turned to look at Song Qiao, and nodded. "If they don’t pay us, do you think we’ll continue to support you?"

Song Qiao was at a loss for words.

Hearing the man’s words, Xu Qian suddenly felt relieved, her previous displeasure and dissatisfaction dissipating.

After all, it could prove they were still safe for the moment.

But then she thought, what if the other party does give them the money? Wouldn’t she and Qiaoqiao be in big trouble?

The man swept his gaze over his unmoving subordinates and said, "Why are you all still standing there? Sit down and start eating. Or are you just going to watch me eat? I won’t feel embarrassed."

Upon hearing this, everyone chimed in unison, "Thank you, boss," and promptly sat down.

That momentum gave Xu Qian and Song Qiao quite a shock.

However, one had to admit that the man in front of them was pretty easygoing, at least with his subordinates—a different story for others, like them.

Everyone sat down and immediately relaxed, picking up their chopsticks and devouring the food ravenously.

Song Qiao watched the way they ate, slightly taken aback, as if those people hadn’t eaten in forever; the manner of their eating was truly a sight you couldn’t bear to look at.

Glancing at the man again, she found that he ate elegantly, every move exuding a noble air.

He didn’t look like a kidnapper but rather like a refined gentleman.

She also noticed it was a villa they were in, and judging by the decor and furniture alone, it wouldn’t cost less than tens of millions. Plus, this villa... logically, they shouldn’t be short of money.

So why did they kidnap them for money?

Song Qiao couldn’t understand.

While lost in thought, the man’s gaze landed on Song Qiao, and he casually said, "Not eating? Let me tell you, at their eating speed, in a few minutes, there won’t be anything left on this table. If you’re hungry later, we won’t be serving a second meal."

Song Qiao snapped back to reality, glanced at the food, and indeed, in just a minute or two, more than half had disappeared. Her mouth twitched as she looked at the man eating again, noticing that despite his fast eating pace, his manners were quite engaging.

Redirecting her attention, Song Qiao decided not to think about anything else and focused on eating, occasionally helping Xu Qian by putting food into a disposable bowl beside her.

...

At eleven p.m., Lu Jingchen was still in the CK Group’s office. He hadn’t returned to the villa or gone to the Lu Family Mansion. With Xu Qian and Song Qiao not yet found, he couldn’t calm down to deal with other matters.

Not many knew about the internal loss of the VIP client list at CK Group, only those clients who got wind of it through informal channels. For now, the news hadn’t leaked out.

The opposite party hadn’t leaked the client information, which made Lu Jingchen think there might still be a turnaround in this matter.

The office door was knocked on while Lu Jingchen was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the scenery. Hearing the knock, he paused, assuming Assistant Xue had returned, and blandly said, "Come in."

The door opened, but instead, there came the sound of high heels tapping on the floor.

Upon hearing the footsteps, Lu Jingchen immediately felt something was off, quickly turning around to see Tan Shuyaenter the room carrying a thermal food container.

Tan Shuya was wearing a plain dress with a jacket draped over it; her hair was straightened and hung freely, giving her an elegant appearance that invited a second glance.

As she got closer, a faint fragrance wafted into Lu Jingchen’s nostrils. It wasn’t the smell of perfume, but more like a floral scent—quite pleasant and one he recalled smelling on Song Qiao when he took her to the hospital after she had fainted at the police station upon her return to the country. However, since Song Qiao lived with him and used the same body wash, that scent had disappeared.

It was probably the scent of some body wash.

Tan Shuya approached Lu Jingchen, noticing the momentary daze in his eyes. A smile subtly spread across her face as she softly spoke, "Jingchen, I called Assistant Xue earlier. Assistant Xue said you were still at the office, so I came directly. You haven’t had dinner yet, right? I made something for you..."

As the woman approached, he unconsciously stepped back a little, widening the gap between them. He didn’t like any woman other than Song Qiao getting close to him.

Especially those irrelevant women.

After hearing Tan Shuya’s words, his eyes darkened a bit, thinking he might be paying Assistant Xue a bit too much lately.

After creating some distance, Lu Jingchen returned to his desk and sat down, speaking to Tan Shuya with a detached tone, "You haven’t fully recovered yet; you should rest well at the villa. There’s no need to come over; I’m not used to eating late-night snacks."

Unless Song Qiao made him a midnight snack, he really had no appetite for anyone else’s cooking.

With Tan Shuya, he still felt a bit guilty, given that she had saved him back then and could no longer bear children because of it.