Farming Life Starting in Africa

Upon hearing this news, Leng Feng's eyes flashed with a fierce light, like knives. It turned out he was already so close to those people, in the same city, perhaps even having brushed past them just a couple of days ago.

Rosen pressed on curiously, "Is there any other news? Any details about those people, please?"

"No more for now, but that madman Sharaf is asking me for five thousand dollars, to be deducted from the next payment. Damn it, what a loss!" Zhou Weijie slapped his thigh, looking pained.

Rosen chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "Haha, it's normal to make and lose money in business all year round. My uncle sold his shop and still lost over ten thousand dollars."

Zhou Weijie glanced at Rosen and said irritably, "You can't trust what that unscrupulous businessman says. The goods in his store are worth at most thirty or forty thousand US dollars. Only he can understand his accounts, but the costs are definitely doubled in the books."

Rosen pointed to Leng Feng, whose expression was unpredictable, and said with a smile, "But before he transferred the liquor, he bought eighteen cases of Maotai from this guy. That batch of liquor was worth almost $90,000, which is hard currency."

"Don't worry, he definitely won't give it to that sucker," Zhou Weijie waved his hand. "It's probably already been resold to someone else. There are still quite a few Chinese people in Ullers, so the wine won't have any trouble selling. It can be resold for several times the price."

Upon hearing Zhou Weijie's words, Rosen realized that a shrewd businessman like Qian Bida would never suffer any loss; he would try to squeeze every last drop of profit from even the smallest thing.

Then Zhou Weijie changed the subject, saying, "Alright, let's get back to your two kidnapped friends. I've contacted the Iron Army. Their list only has that guy named Ma Xiao, and the ransom is $80,000. Miao Feng isn't with them; he either died in the chaos or he's missing, his whereabouts unknown."

When Rosen heard the news, his head started spinning. Where could Miao Feng have gone? He would have to ask around, and if all else failed, he would have to contact people in his workplace to look for him.

"Why has the ransom increased so much? Wasn't it at most 20,000 before?" Rosen asked, frowning.

"They suffered a lot of losses this time when they kidnapped people," Zhou Weijie shrugged and spread his hands. "A whole carload of women were also kidnapped on the way. I don't know which group did it. Quite a few people died, and they paid out a lot of compensation alone." His meaning was clear—the cost was high, so the ransom amount they demanded naturally increased. The money was ultimately paid out to the victims.

"Fine, damn it," Rosen muttered, rubbing his temples. The root of the price increase was still his fault. "I hope the Ma family still has that much wealth, otherwise they'll have to write me an IOU and I'll have to sell my blood to pay it back." He took out his phone and called Pan Wenjia, pressing the speakerphone button. The call rang several times before being answered. "Sister Pan, there's news from Ma Xiao."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, then Pan Wenjia's voice came through, visibly excited and trembling: "Is it true? I received his letter too, it was sent by the kidnappers. He's in the hands of the rebels, demanding a ransom of $100,000. They want us to raise the money within a week and give it to their people, then they'll release Ma Xiao."

Rosen was stunned when he heard the number. He turned to look at Zhou Weijie next to him, his eyes full of questions—why was there an extra 20,000? Wasn't it supposed to be 80,000?

Zhou Weijie shrugged and mouthed, "I have a lot of influence."

Rosen roughly understood; he had to save face for the middleman and not let him work for nothing. He nodded and continued on the phone, "Sister Pan, I'm going to pick him up. Don't worry too much; it's good that he's alive."

"But Xiao Luo, we don't have enough money," Pan Wenjia's voice was a little hurried, and you could tell she was holding back tears. "We have to go back and sell the house, and we can't raise that much money in a short time."

Hearing this, Rosen wanted to curse—as expected, Ma Xiao's family wasn't well-off. His wife was going to have a baby, and by the time she came back, their savings would be gone. They only owned one house, and the mortgage wasn't even paid off yet. How were they going to live? "It's okay, I'll cover it for now. We'll talk about other things after Ma Xiao gets out. Any news from Brother Miao? I haven't received any messages from him; I haven't been able to get in touch with him."

Actually, companies like theirs can cover part of the ransom – after all, they work outside the company, and the company has insurance for them, so theoretically, they should be able to claim compensation for such accidents. But the process is incredibly slow; by the time it's all done, the person is already dead.

"Miao Feng called Lao Tian from his workplace this morning using his mobile phone," Pan Wenjia said. "He was also kidnapped, but I don't know the kidnappers' situation. They're demanding a ransom of $10,000, but I don't know the specifics."

Do you have Lao Tian's phone number? I want to contact him directly.

"Yes, yes, I'll send it to you in a bit."

"Alright, Sister Pan, I'll get back to work here. I'll go pick up Lao Ma in the next couple of days. Don't be too anxious or stressed; it's not good for the baby."

Suddenly, there was a moment of hesitation on the other end of the phone. Pan Wenjia's voice sounded conflicted, as if she had been holding back for a long time before finally speaking: "Um... Xiao Luo, could you help check on the other kidnapped people? There are two doctors from our unit who are on assignment in Africa. They're both really good young people. Their families are willing to pay the ransom. They'll give you the money when they get back. They definitely won't renege on their debt."

Rosen paused for two seconds, then sighed, "Sister Pan, I'll try my best. I'll definitely help if I can, but this is a difficult matter. I need to bring Lao Ma back first."

Pan Wenjia's sobs came through the phone, her voice broken and intermittent, making one's heart ache.

After hanging up the phone, Rosen irritably pulled out a cigarette case from his pocket, took one out and put it in his mouth. He flicked the lighter twice before lighting it, took a deep drag, and tossed the cigarette case to Zhou Weijie.

If it weren't for the debt he owed Pan Wenjia, he really wouldn't want to get involved in such matters. Asking him to kill someone was fine, but asking him to save someone was a bit of a stretch.

"The Chinese here have become walking wallets," he said, exhaling a puff of smoke and squinting. "After this incident, the Chinese here will all be easy targets, and everyone will want to take advantage of them."

Leng Feng looked at him with some confusion, not quite understanding. "How did you become a fat sheep? Wasn't it like this before?"

"Those guys found out that kidnapping Chinese people would bring them ransom, and a lot of money at that—hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars—it's more profitable than anything else," Rosen flicked his cigarette ash. "Do you think they'll start targeting Chinese people in the future?"