HiddenFor to display the encoded character

I have a string of elements passed to a hidden field for some jquery. Some elements in the string have an apostrophe '

in it, which the html helper converts to'

I've tried several options, but none works:

• @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.qNotes)
  
  
  usual
• @HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(Html.HiddenFor(model => model.qNotes))
  
  
  Displays it on the page instead of hidden
• @Html.Hidden(HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(Model.qNotes).ToString())
  
  
  Still encodes it

Not sure how to go to this line if necessary to my predecessor.