Leon listened to me and he calmed himself down.
“Okay, we shall wait and see. But this is not the solution, and we must figure out a way. Or we will break down within ten days because no one can survive this kind of torture, no matter how mentally strong he is. I don’t give a damn if I’m starved to death, but I can not put up with the idea of you being hungry.” Leon said.
I nodded. “I know you care for me, and so does Chenlei Hua. That’s why he locked us together. When I’m in pain or hunger, you couldn’t help but being overwhelmed by a strong sense of shame. He wants you to feel bad about yourself. He wants to crush your confidence and ego by making you believe that you can’t protect me, and that you are a real loser.”
“You are right. My Second Brother is very cunning and he knows humanity so well. But do you think he will let us go if I keep pretending to be tough? He has been waiting for so many years and he won’t stop unless his goal is achieved. That’s why, we need to find a way out” Leon had calmed himself down.
“What’s your plan?”
“I’ll beg him.” Leon said frankly.
My brows furrowed. “So our talk was totally in vain?”
“No. What you said made me realize that my Second Brother wanted to destroy my ego and self-esteem. Didn’t we think about it last night? If he wants a puppet, who he will pick? Now I have finally figured it out.” Leon said.
I figured it out all of a sudden. “He needs a person who is capable, authoritative, and who has the support of the Board of Directors. Aren’t you the most suitable person?”
“Yeah! There is no one better than me. If I cooperate with him, he would be able to manipulate me behind the screen, and then he will get into the group step by step, assert his authority, and when the time is good, he will kill me and become the leader of Hua’s Group.”
“But he knows that you will refuse to cooperate with him. That’s why he needs to break you first. But will you be broken by hunger?”
Leon looked at me and said, “This is only the first day and we are already anxious. What about five days later? Ten days later? You think we can still hold on by then? How is it possible when we are only given half an egg each day? Soon, our energy will be drained, and our spirits will sink, and our mental capacity will only get weaker and weaker. And then, we will do whatever Second Brother asks us to do. Nala, we are not saints and we will give in sometime.”
I wouldn’t believe it if he told me one day earlier, but now I do, because only one day passed and I am already on the verge of breaking down.
Because no matter how many obstacles we have confronted these years, people in our generation have hardly suffered from hunger. No matter how poor a family is, they can always manage to put food on the table, and the only difference is maybe the taste and quality of the food. And as for Leon, he was born with a sliver spoon in his mouth, so he knew nothing about hunger.
And that was exactly why Chenlei Hua wanted to crush us by starving us.
“So now you know his plan.”
“Almost, but I’m not one hundred percent sure. In another two days or three days, I will be so hungry that I’ll ask the person who sends us food to give a message to my Second Brother, telling him that I want to talk. And he will not talk with me the first time I ask him because he wants me to starve to the extreme. But eventually he will talk with me and he will give me his conditions. What do you think his conditions will be.”
I was so hungry that I couldn’t pay close attention to anything. But I thought about it anyway. “He will ask you to give him all your stocks and then, after inheriting the stocks from your father and big brother, he will be the biggest shareholder.
“Yeah. That is his first step. Then he will ask me to obey him and cooperate with him. Then he will send you away and hold you captive, so that he can have something to threaten me with. Then I’ll have to obey him or you will be killed. In that way, I’m still the chairman of Hua’s Group, but he will be the manipulator. He will get himself involved in the business and when the time is good, he will kill both of us and he will be the only inheritor in Hua Family.
I was too hungry, and I only nodded when he finished. But Leon seemed to be in a better spirit. He kept saying , “Now we know his plan, we can think about what can we do about it.”
“What’s your plan?”
“I’ll beg him. I’ll pretend to be broken. And I’ll tell him that I can do what ever he wants me to do.”
“But you will have to write a contract to transfer all your stocks to him, or he won’t let you go.” I reminded him.
“Don’t you remember? I have given all my stocks to you, and I have none left. Second Brother put a lot efforts into his plan but he didn’t know this detail.” Leon said.
“But will he believe you if you pretend to be broken? I know everything will be fine if you are released, because no matter where I was sent to, you will always be able to find me. I trust you.”
“Of course. I will ask Xuanlong to send some people to keep an eye on this place. And they will pay attention to every car that leaves this place, so we will find you wherever you are. But Second Brother is a cunning man. I believe he has some other ways to bring us under control, so we can never be too careful.”
“I have a plan, but I don’t know whether it will work.”
Leon looked at me. “What is it?”
“What are people like when they are broken by hunger? Do they go mad, or scream, or what?”
Leon thought for a while and said, “They will be weak, but they are also very edgy. Is that right?”
“So if we want to pretend to be edgy, what should we do? What kind of behavior should we display? Because we must act it right if we want Chenlei Hua to believe us, and then you can put your plan into practice.”
“I know. We should complain about each other and we should then argue with each other. Because anxious people are prone to conflict with each other and get out of control. So we need to put on a show for Second Brother.”
“You can beat me, and I can scratch your face. Then he will surly believe. But we are so hungry and weak, and we don’t even have the energy to fight one another. How can we make it seem real?”