Chapter 539 — The Plan Goes Smoothly; The Car Stopped at the Foot of Twin Swallow Mountain, Where the Road Ahead Was a Rugged Stairway Too Steep for Vehicles, So the Taxi Could Go No Further.

"Folks, you'll have to walk up to the resort from here. My car can't go any higher — it's stairs all the way!" The taxi driver, unsure whether Zhong Yongliang had ever been to this place before, spoke up by way of explanation, sparing them the trouble of asking.

"I know!" Zhong Yongliang paid the fare. The driver had clearly mistaken the lot of them for students on their way to the resort up top.

Life was 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 here before. She and Shen Yushu had no occasion to go to resorts anyway — a resort with only the two of them would be dull.

"Hah, I came up to this very resort with my dad just last night!" Zhong Yongliang said, unable to keep the pride from his voice. He had indeed come last night, and with his old man, no less — Li Cihua had treated them, and Jin Gubang and a young fellow called Bing Shao had come along too!

It had opened Zhong Yongliang's eyes considerably, and made him bolder still! Given his background before, he had genuinely hesitated, not quite daring to act. The cave and the plan had long been prepared, but Zhong Yongliang could never screw up his courage, wary as he was of Gu Pengzhan's standing.

But after last night, Zhong Yongliang had come to know Li Cihua, and Bing Shao too! Bing Shao was a man of great connections — even Li Cihua deferred to him with the utmost respect — and his own father worked for Bing Shao and Li Cihua as well. Could the Zhong family fail to prosper hereafter?

So today, Zhong Yongliang could scarcely wait to set his kidnapping plan in motion.

Gu Mengyao nodded, uninterested in the resort. Her mind was fixed on finding her mother: "Zhong Yongliang, hurry up and take me to that woman who looks like me!"

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

"Why so much blather? Get moving!" Gu Mengyao said, impatient. Zhong Yongliang chuckled inwardly, while outwardly betraying nothing as he led Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu up the mountain.

Though the sky had dimmed to half-dark, the foot of the mountain was still fairly crowded, for the resort stood halfway up the slope. This, in turn, gave Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu an unconscious sense of security.

With so many people about, nothing could possibly happen! Had there been no one at all, Gu Mengyao would certainly 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 little effort to reach the resort at the halfway point.

"Mengyao, are you tired? Why don't we grab a bite at the resort first?" Zhong Yongliang asked.

"Eat what? I'm not hungry! Take me there now!" How could Gu Mengyao have any thought for food at a time like this?

"All right, let's go then!" Zhong Yongliang nodded with reluctance, then pressed on up the path.

By daylight, there would surely have been no small number of sightseers and photographers heading for the summit, but with night fallen, no one was climbing any longer. In an instant the earlier liveliness had drained away, and only Zhong Yongliang, Gao Xiaofu, Gu Mengyao, and Shen Yushu remained on the little path.

"That person — she was here yesterday?" Gu Mengyao felt the first stirrings of doubt. Even if Zhong Yongliang had run into her mother, what would her mother be doing here?

"That's right. I followed her from the resort all the way to here. 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 in the dead of night?"

Zhong Yongliang's counter-question dissolved Gu Mengyao's doubts. It had to be said, Zhong Yongliang had some brains about him — he was no pure fool, and this plan had been executed only after careful design.

So Gu Mengyao said nothing more and followed Zhong Yongliang up the mountain. After several hundred more meters, Zhong Yongliang suddenly turned and headed off toward a small fork in the path!

The fork had no stone steps at all — nothing but bare earth. Gu Mengyao could finally hold her tongue no longer: "Why are we on this little 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, this is the way she went!"

"Oh. Then let's keep going." Gu Mengyao did not believe Zhong Yongliang would dare try any tricks — for three years now, he had always done as she wished and never once dared overstep.

Luckily they hadn't gone far this time. Zhong Yongliang pointed at a cave mouth not far off and said, "This is the place! I followed her here yesterday, and then in the blink of an eye the woman was gone. If I weren't made of sterner stuff, I'd have sworn I'd run into a ghost!"

Gu Mengyao shot him a glare. Your mother's the ghost, she thought. But she had no wish to offend Zhong Yongliang just now, so she reined in her temper and asked, "This is the place? So did she go into the cave?"

"That I couldn't tell you. How about we wait here a while?" Zhong Yongliang stood where he was, unwilling to go any further.

"Hey, why don't you go take a look at that cave over there?" Gu Mengyao pointed at the cave mouth nearby and ordered Zhong Yongliang.

"I…" Zhong Yongliang hesitated. "It's so late — there wouldn't be wolves or anything, would there?"

"This is a resort scenic area. How could there be wolves? Wouldn't that scare off all the tourists?" Gu Mengyao assumed Zhong Yongliang was simply frightened — though to be fair, venturing into a cave this late at night really was rather creepy.

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

"Huh? Me…?" Gaoxiao Fu had been named, and could only trail reluctantly after Zhong Yongliang. But once they were far enough away, his expression changed entirely, a smug smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "Bro Liang, everything's going according to plan!"

"That's right! They're both girls. Shen Yushu may be the bolder of the two, but in this pitch-black night, I doubt she'd dare come over!" Zhong Yongliang nodded. "The incense is all ready?"

"Ready ages ago — remote-controlled power-on, too. But since they didn't follow us, we won't need it." As he spoke, Gao Xiaofu fished a pack of chewing gum from his pocket, handed a stick to Zhong Yongliang, and said, "Bro Liang, chew one beforehand, and the incense won't affect you later!"

Zhong Yongliang nodded, peeled off the wrapper, popped the gum into his mouth, and began to chew.

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