America 1881: Legend of the West

Santa Fe Cathedral, night, eight o'clock sharp.

"Master, are you religious?" Downey sat on a chair in the church auditorium, staring devoutly at the sacred statue of the Virgin illuminated by candles.

"Shut up, I'm a Christian!" Hanif whispered.

"Ah? Then what are we doing in the Catholic Church?" Donnie was shocked. Master, this is not contrary to his faith.

"Because this is the only place here that can afford to light a lamp at night and let strangers in." Hanif lowered his head and checked his revolver.

It is true that he is a Christian, but he has a flexible bottom line when it comes to religious beliefs.

"Strange, why is there no one else in the church today? The priest is also missing." Hanif was a little confused.

Of course the priest was missing, and he was locked up in his room by Sheriff Van Cleef, under the pretense of keeping him safe.

"Boss, if we do this, will the atmosphere in the church be too strange and alert the two people and the kidnappers?" one of the Sheriff's men reminded.

Sheriff Van Cleef removed his eyes from the crack in the back door of the auditorium.

He did not directly answer his subordinates' questions.

"Have you found any suspicious people around?" he asked in a low voice.

"No, we have set up hidden sentries up and down the church. As soon as anyone approaches, they will be discovered.

Van Cleef nodded with satisfaction and continued to observe the two people in the auditorium through the crack of the back door.

Time passed minute by minute, and no one waiting on both sides came yet.

Donnie looked around boredly, while Hanif was picking at his fingers.

The police sergeant behind the door took out his pocket watch and took a look at it.

It's 8:40, exactly ten minutes have passed.

"Do you have any news about the people who went out to search?" the sergeant asked the men behind him. He was a little anxious and found that he seemed to be overconfident in his judgment of the situation.

"Um, no, I didn't see anyone suspicious nearby." His subordinates hesitated.

"Then wait a little longer. As soon as the kidnapper shows up, we will take action."

"But, what if the kidnapper doesn't come forward?" The subordinate asked his own question.

"The ransom is so high, the kidnappers won't break it for a while." The police chief glanced at him and said firmly, "Besides, if they dare to break it, I dare to let them die."

……

Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, Steward's Temporary Home.

The door was locked, everyone outside the chamber of commerce was off work, and the corridor was dark.

The door to the butler's temporary office was open, and he was pacing back and forth anxiously.

Every time I walked back and forth, I would raise my head and look at the clock in the corner of the office.

There was a small box on the table, which contained six large gold bars, each weighing just over a kilogram and worth a total of five thousand US dollars.

This was taken out of the bank by the butler in the evening.

After the police chief left, he recalled what happened, and then asked the people around him about the police chief in Santa Fe.

After listening, I felt a cold sweat behind my back.

As the capital of New Mexico, kidnapping cases occur frequently around Santa Fe, and the Sheriff's style of solving crimes is so vigorous that he has sent many kidnappers to the gallows.

The only drawback is that the hostage mortality rate in the cases he handles is relatively high.

This ghost place in the west is indeed a civilized desert with no reliable people.

If the kidnapper knew that he had informed the police, his young master's life might not be saved.

I was so sick that I rushed to the doctor.

The butler decided to take action himself.

He made up his mind and went into the bedroom to change clothes.

When he sorted out his clothes and returned to the office, he found a person sitting on his chair, and another person sitting on the sofa, wolfing down pastries on the coffee table.

"Sorry, the door is locked and the window is open, so I just came in." The man sitting on his chair raised his head and pointed at the wide open window, a smile appeared on his yellow-skinned face. .

Chen Jianqiu took off his cowboy hat and put it on the small box on the table.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The butler became nervous. He turned around and looked for a pistol among the clothes on the hanger, but soon remembered that the pistol was in the drawer on the right side of his desk.

"You are breaking into a private house. This is near the city council. There will always be police patrols. I advise you to get out as soon as possible." The butler's eyes did not leave the box covered by the hat.

"Don't be nervous, sir, we are not bad guys, and the police are searching inside the church or outside." Chen Jianqiu said leaning back on his chair.

"Water! Well, bring water quickly! Well..."

While the housekeeper was still looking at Chen Jianqiu warily, the man sitting on the sofa shouted to the housekeeper. At this time, he was stuffing a whole piece of almond cake in his mouth and was choking because of lack of water.

Why is this voice so familiar?

The housekeeper looked closely at the man's face. After looking at it for a long time, he exclaimed:

"Oh my God! Is it really you, my young master?"

Astor IV's current appearance is no different from that of a country bumpkin that can be seen everywhere in the western countryside. He has straw-like hair and a weathered face. His identity can only be identified through the clothes that are covered with dust and mud.

"Well, it's me. Well, come on, stop talking nonsense and get some water!"

The housekeeper quickly brought the kettle and was about to put it on the stove to boil, but little Astor snatched it away. He didn't care that the kettle was cold water and poured it directly into his mouth.

"Pour a glass for the gentleman sitting over there." As soon as Astor swallowed the cake in his mouth, he started to order the butler.

If he looked like this in ordinary times, the housekeeper would definitely not notice it, but he has watched little Astor grow up and sees that he is fine, and now he feels distressed and happy at the same time.

The housekeeper brought some more pastries from the cabinet to little Astor, and then poured Chen Jianqiu a glass of water.

But when he looked at Chen Jianqiu's face, he looked more and more familiar.

"I seem to have seen you, you, aren't you Mr. Mark Twain's bodyguard? Then you disappeared with those Indians."

The person in front of me must be the kidnapper who kidnapped the young master.

But now that the young master has been sent back, he has more confidence. There is also bargaining capital.

The housekeeper cleared his throat and said to Chen Jianqiu in a neither humble nor overbearing tone:

"Well, sir, since the young master is back safely, I have nothing to say. I have prepared the ransom."

He took the box out from under his cowboy hat, opened it, and turned it around to reveal it before his eyes.

This country bumpkin would eagerly pick up the gold bars and then salivate over the box of gold.

However, Chen Jianqiu just glanced at the box and frowned.

When the housekeeper saw this, he couldn't help but feel nervous. Could it be that he had discovered that the amount of ransom was wrong?

"Your asking price is a bit high. I can't raise that much money at the moment. Can we talk about it?"

Chen Jianqiu still didn't respond.

The housekeeper didn't know why. He glanced at Chen Jianqiu's waist to determine whether he was armed, and at the same time calculated the time for the police to return.

"Give it to him, give it to him. Am I worth that little money? He is not a kidnapper. He killed my kidnapper." Astor had almost eaten and looked angry.

He stood up, wiped his mouth with the tablecloth, and then took a look inside the box.

"Here's a total of five thousand dollars, how about it?" He seemed to have regained the confidence of the richest man in New York.

Chen Jianqiu stood up, walked to the butler's side, took out his wallet from his pocket, counted five hundred dollars, and then stuffed the empty wallet back into the butler's clothes.

The housekeeper didn't dare to move the whole time.

"You can erase it with a fraction of three dollars." Chen Jianqiu picked up the box, "Thank you, boss."

After that, he walked towards the door.

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First update, second update later