“What’s going on? Why are you the only one coming back? Where are Mom, Dad, and Zongbao?” After the police left, Third Sister Zhao and Fifth Sister Zhao both asked Xu Huiqing in shock.
They instinctively ignored Second Sister Zhao.
Xu Huiqing smiled softly and weakly at Third Sister Zhao and Fifth Sister Zhao. “Didn’t the police comrades just say? They’re still being held at the Public Security Bureau. After all, it’s a major human trafficking case. It can’t be resolved in just a day or two.”
Third Sister Zhao and Fifth Sister Zhao were both stunned. “But Xiaoxi has been found… why…”
Xu Huiqing stared at them, enunciating each word. “You didn’t think they only trafficked Xiaoxi, did you?”
Leaving Third Sister Zhao and Fifth Sister Zhao as if stunned by a bomb, Xu Huiqing returned to her room to rest.
Third Sister Zhao and Fifth Sister Zhao’s heads were buzzing.
Especially Fifth Sister Zhao. When she was born, Father Zhao was already forty and Mother Zhao in her thirties. In her memory, life in the Zhao family had always been good. They moved from the old house into town, got a storefront, and became the first ten-thousand-yuan household in Water Wharf Town in the 1980s. They opened the first home appliance store. She had never wanted for food or clothing growing up.
She simply didn’t believe her parents could be human traffickers who sold women!
Fifth Sister Zhao recalled the family life she had witnessed growing up and said firmly, “Impossible! Mom and Dad can’t be kidnappers. It’s not like the family has no money? What need would they have to traffic women?”
Third Sister Zhao, however, fell silent.
She was born in a special era and still had impressions of Old Zhao often being away from home when she was little, running into the mountains.
She also remembered her mother frequently going into the mountains looking for him, saying he was gambling in the mountains.
Could it be it was actually about trafficking women into the mountains?
“Third Sister, what are you spacing out about?” She spun around quickly and ran toward the courtyard. “No way, I’m going to ask Huiqing to explain this clearly!”
In her consistent impression, her brother’s wife had always been the most easygoing person in the family. So every time something came up and they returned to their maiden home, they didn’t seek out Zhao Zongbao or Father and Mother Zhao. They went straight to Xu Huiqing. Father and Mother Zhao, and Zhao Zongbao, wouldn’t lift a finger for them without getting something out of it. They had always known their sister-in-law was easy to talk to, and maintaining a good relationship with her was most important.
She was always impetuous. The moment the thought struck her, she bolted into the back courtyard but was grabbed by the arm by Third Sister Zhao. “Wait!”
“Wait for what? If Mom and Dad don’t come back, Zongbao still has to come back, right? If he doesn’t get out, what about his leg? Surely they can’t just let him go lame?” Fifth Sister Zhao had always known her maiden family was well-off. For her own life to be good, her maiden family had to be doing well first. Only then would her in-laws not dare to bully her.
Otherwise, having only given birth to one daughter all these years, she would have been bullied by her husband’s family.
She genuinely treated her maiden family’s business as her own.
Third Sister Zhao’s expression was conflicted.
Fifth Sister Zhao looked at her Third Sister’s face, and her own expression gradually soured. Impatiently, she said, “Just say whatever you want to say!”
Third Sister Zhao hesitated before saying, “Do you remember… when we were little, how Dad was always running off outside?”
Fifth Sister Zhao hadn’t made any connection to human trafficking at all and said matter-of-factly, “Didn’t Grandpa say Dad went to gamble? I even remember Mom going into the mountains to look for him.”
Third Sister Zhao stomped her foot anxiously. “What kind of gambling requires running off every couple of days? What family fortune could withstand that kind of gambling? You were still young back then, you don’t understand. Even before that, Dad was frequently running into the mountains, sometimes not coming back for days!”
That was around ’77 to ’79. The Gang of Four had fallen, the Revolutionary Committee was being purged, the Director and Deputy Director had all been arrested, and the Little Red Guards below them were being arrested or scattered. Father Zhao was shrewd. The moment he sensed trouble, he hid in the mountains.
Sometimes he’d hide for ten days to half a month before sneaking back quietly. Only the Zhao family knew about it; they didn’t dare let outsiders find out.
The heinous things Father Zhao had done as a Little Red Guard, Grandfather Zhao and Grandmother Zhao never told Third Sister Zhao and the others. So naturally, Third Sister Zhao didn’t know exactly what Father Zhao had been up to. Now, the more she thought about it, the more wrong it all seemed!
Back then, every household kept their wealth hidden. Although Father Zhao, as a Little Red Guard, had plundered plenty of gold, silver, and jewels, he kept them hidden privately and never showed them off. Outsiders didn’t know the Zhao family’s true assets. Hearing he’d gone into the mountains to hide from gambling debts, no one was suspicious.
In the Eighties and Nineties, crackdowns on gambling were severe. Many small-time hoodlums and lowlifes who loved to gamble didn’t dare do it in town or the village. They’d run into the mountains, find a cave, or throw together a shabby little thatched hut, and gather there to gamble in secret.
The more Third Sister Zhao thought about it, the more she felt her father was probably indeed a trafficker. Her expression grew increasingly anxious. She said to Fifth Sister Zhao, “Mom and Dad are probably…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words that followed. Pulling Fifth Sister Zhao to a corner, she whispered, “You’re the youngest in the family. There’s a lot you don’t remember or know. Eldest Sister, Second Sister, and I were born earlier. Back then, Dad was hardly ever home. He didn’t even have a proper job, so what was he running off for? Do you remember? Every time Dad came back from going out, he’d bring food back and bring money back. I saw him, several times, pulling gold bracelets and gold rings out of his pockets to give to Grandpa and Grandma!” She stomped her foot anxiously. “Who pays off gambling debts in the mountains with gold bracelets and gold rings?”
A jobless lowlife like him, where did he get so much money for food and clothes?
Fifth Sister Zhao, however, was clear-headed. “What are you babbling about? Even though I was young back then, I have memories too, okay? Dad was definitely going to gamble! I remember how fierce the crackdowns on gambling were back then. Police were always going into the mountains to raid gambling dens!”
As she spoke, Fifth Sister Zhao’s voice gradually lowered too. The two sisters looked at each other, growing suspicious and uncertain. “Oh my god, could Dad really have gone into the mountains to…”
The two sisters looked at each other in blank dismay, fell silent, and didn’t dare say another word. Nor did they dare go and ask Xu Huiqing about the situation, afraid that their loose talk might harm Father and Mother Zhao.
In their hearts, Xu Huiqing was still an outsider after all.
Mother Xu went back the next morning. At noon, Father Xu arrived.
Third Sister Zhao and Fifth Sister Zhao had already prepared the meal. Xu Huiqing was holding Xiaoxi. Third Sister Zhao was holding the newborn. Both felt guilty because the Zhao family’s selling of Xiaoxi had caused this rift with Xu Huiqing, and they found Father Xu’s arrival very awkward. Fifth Sister Zhao and her husband had even gone home for a while.
They hadn’t been home in days. Their daughter was still young. The father-in-law and mother-in-law lived in the countryside. For the past couple of days, the mother-in-law had been looking after their child. The mother-in-law lived with the eldest brother’s family from the countryside and had a strong preference for sons over daughters. They didn’t feel at ease leaving their daughter there.
Xu Huiqing simply greeted Third Sister Zhao, who was holding the newborn, and took Father Xu to the town police station.
Third Sister Zhao thought she was going there to deal with Father and Mother Zhao’s situation and even waved her off, telling her to explain things well to the police.
Once they were out the Zhao family’s gate, Xu Huiqing asked Father Xu, “Dad, did you bring the family household registration booklet?”
Father Xu didn’t ask why and simply handed the booklet to her.
He’d already heard from Mother Xu back home that Xu Huiqing wanted to transfer Xiaoxi’s household registration to the Xu family’s booklet.
This was very common in the countryside. Many families with extra daughters born against the family planning policy would leave them to be raised in the wife’s maiden home. Some even gave away several daughters in a row.
On the way, Xu Huiqing had originally planned to tell Father Xu about her intention to divorce but felt Father Xu definitely wouldn’t agree. The words reached her lips, but she swallowed them back. She took Father Xu straight to the police station and stated she wanted to transfer her household registration.
Water Wharf Town was only so big. Xu Huiqing was a former teacher at the Town Central Primary School. Her in-laws ran the only shop in town. Plus, yesterday’s incident had been the talk of everyone in Water Wharf Town. Many people recognized her.
The officers at the police station, seeing her come in today, thought she was there to ask about Father and Mother Zhao. They never expected Xu Huiqing had actually dragged Father Xu there to transfer her household registration.
Previously, Mother Xu had only told Father Xu about transferring Xiaoxi’s registration to the Xu family. Arriving at the station, they hadn’t expected Xu Huiqing to transfer her own registration along with it. Father Xu sensed something wasn’t right. “What are you transferring your registration for?”
Right in front of the police station officers, Xu Huiqing asked Father Xu directly, “The Zhao family is a human-trafficking den. If I don’t take this chance, while I’m still young, to quickly break away from the Zhao family, do you want me and my child to live in a human-trafficking den in the future?”
Father Xu blurted out, “But that doesn’t mean you have to divorce!” He pulled Xu Huiqing outside to an empty courtyard in the station, his brow furrowed. “If you divorce, what about the children? How pitiful would the children be?”
Xu Huiqing laughed. “Wasn’t it pitiful when Xiaoxi was sold? Do we have to wait until they come back and sell me too before you’ll think I’m pitiful?”
Father Xu, who had seen the greatest evils in the countryside as nothing more than disputes between neighbors, frowned. “Is it really that serious?”
It was hard for him to imagine Father and Mother Zhao selling their own daughter-in-law. He couldn’t conceive of such a thing even in his dreams.
In Father Xu’s eyes, divorce was harder to accept than the sky falling.
He couldn’t understand it. Just days ago, he was happily anticipating the good news of his daughter having a second child. In the space of a few days, his son-in-law’s entire family had been arrested and taken to the Public Security Bureau, and his daughter wanted a divorce.
In this day and age, who got divorced?
But he also couldn’t bring himself to tell his daughter to continue living with the Zhao family. Back when the Zhao family had come to propose with a bride price of three thousand yuan, he was the one who had strongly advocated for Xu Huiqing to marry into the Zhao family. He thought the Zhao family was wealthy, town residents. Xu Huiqing was a teacher at the Town Central Primary School. Marrying into town meant her workplace was close by. Any child she bore would have a non-agricultural household status from birth.
The Zhao family only had Zhao Zongbao as their only son. In the future, everything the Zhao family owned would be his. Marrying him meant Xu Huiqing would never struggle, would enjoy a lifetime of comfort.
For Father Xu, who had toiled his whole life in the countryside, facing the yellow earth and turning his back to the sky, the Zhao family was the highest branch he could have his daughter cling to!
His daughter marrying into the Zhao family brought face to the entire Xu family in the village. Especially every market day, when villagers took their mountain goods to set up stalls right outside the Zhao family’s door. Just saying on the road, ‘Fortune Electronics Store is run by my son-in-law’s family’ gave the speaker face.
As for the Zhao family wanting a grandson, everyone took it for granted.
Who doesn’t want a grandson? Without a grandson, isn’t the family line dead, the lineage cut off, seeds and generations ended?
Father Xu could even understand Father and Mother Zhao’s actions.
The only thing Father Xu felt the Zhao family did wrong was not discussing selling Xiaoxi with his daughter beforehand.
He couldn’t even understand that. The Zhao family wasn’t short of money. Why would they sell their granddaughter!
If they really didn’t want to raise her, just send her to the Xu family. Would they not raise Xiaoxi?
Wait until she’s seven or eight and needs to start school, when the family planning policy wasn’t so tightly enforced, and then register Xiaoxi. Wouldn’t that be the end of it? How did things blow up into such a huge mess?
In his heart, Father Xu both blamed Xu Huiqing for not being obedient back then and refusing to send Xiaoxi to the countryside to be raised, and blamed the Zhao family for handling things poorly.
Of course, it was no longer a matter of whether the Zhao family handled things well. Now, it was the fact that the Zhao family was a human-trafficking den, that they were kidnappers!
He clutched his hair and slumped dejectedly at the entrance of the police station, just watching as Xu Huiqing transferred her own and Xiaoxi’s household registration onto the Xu family’s booklet.
Only when Xu Huiqing saw her own registration transferred out of the Zhao family’s booklet did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
She could finally leave!