Chapter 54
Auntie Wang, who had just been shoved aside, finally snapped back to reality. She stomped her feet and began to wail, “Murder! Someone’s coming to murder us! Help!”
Her son, who had lost two teeth from Liu Zhengyong’s punch, clutched his mouth and groaned as he climbed up from the ground. He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and unleashed a string of curses.
“Damn it! You come to our house to snatch someone? You must be tired of living!”
Soon, the villagers had gathered, crowding Liu Zhengyong’s family and the five law enforcement officers into the small courtyard. Many of them were even carrying sticks and farm tools, their eyes glaring at the outsiders.
“These dogs are bullying a widow and her son, trying to steal their child!”
“Is there no law in broad daylight?!”
“Put the child down and get the hell out!”
Huang Yongmei was deaf to their venomous threats. She held her daughter tightly, pushing aside the tangled hair and cupping her face with both hands. The girl’s face was covered in dirt and grime. Her left cheek was swollen, and her left eye was bloodshot. Tears streamed down Huang Yongmei’s face as she cried out, “It’s Jiajia! It’s my Jiajia!”
Liu Zhengyong stood guard beside his wife and daughter, protecting them. The family of three huddled together.
Liu Jiajia, her teeth clenched, gripped her mother’s clothes. Her eyes were fixed on Auntie Wang and her son, who were still cursing nearby. Suddenly, with a strength that came from nowhere, she charged at them like a little calf. Huang Yongmei and Liu Zhengyong, shocked, quickly held her back. Jiajia screamed and cried until her voice was hoarse. Huang Yongmei, holding her daughter, wept with her, her heart breaking. All she could do was repeat her name over and over, trying to soothe her.
Auntie Wang was also startled by Jiajia’s sudden, frenzied outburst. She spat and said, “A family of lunatics.”
Liu Zhengyong held his wife and daughter and started to move towards the gate. “We’re going home. Jiajia, Dad and Mom are taking you home.”
Seeing them try to leave, the villagers immediately swarmed forward, pushing them back while cursing. The small courtyard became impossibly crowded, the air filled with the sharp squeals of frightened pigs from a nearby pen. The stench of the pigsty washed over them. Watching the villagers’ mouths open and close, spittle flying, they looked like monsters drooling a yellowish saliva, ready to devour them. Huang Yongmei felt her head spin. In that moment, she had only one thought: she had to get her daughter out of here.
The five accompanying law enforcement officers formed a protective circle around the family. The team leader, Officer Wu, took out his badge and shouted, “We are the police! Anyone who continues to interfere with official duties will be considered an accomplice to human traffickers and will be arrested on the spot!”
The moment he said “police,” the villagers were stunned into silence. No matter how brazen they were, they were still afraid of the police. They quickly dispersed, no longer daring to get involved in Auntie Wang’s business. One by one, they hurried home to hide the children they had bought.
Huang Yongmei and Liu Zhengyong got into the car first with Jiajia. Once inside, Huang Yongmei held her and coaxed her for a long time before she finally quieted down. She huddled defensively by the car door, her eyes filled with fear and distrust.
Liu Zhengyong took out a blanket, wanting to cover her, but she flinched away.
Huang Yongmei’s heart ached. She took out the toy she had specially brought from her bag—Jiajia’s favorite as a child, a little red race car. Although the couple had carefully preserved it, after so many years, the paint had faded a little.
“Jiajia, look. This was your favorite toy when you were little. You picked it yourself for your second birthday. Do you remember?” Huang Yongmei said softly, carefully handing the toy to her.
Jiajia looked at the little red car, and seemed to fall into a memory. She reached out and touched it gently. A memory from over a dozen years ago suddenly returned. She remembered her mom and dad holding her hand, dressing her in her prettiest little skirt, and taking her to buy a birthday present. She had chosen this little red car. Her mom had also bought her many dolls, and a birthday cake shaped like a flower. Her mom and dad had even sung her the birthday song.
Back then, she had been the happiest little princess in the world.
“Mama…”
Jiajia spoke for the first time, her voice as dazed and confused as a child just learning to talk.
Tears burst from Huang Yongmei’s eyes, and she pulled her daughter into a tight embrace. Liu Zhengyong was also wiping away tears on the side.
“Mama, why did it take you so long to find me?” Jiajia clung to her mother, crying. “They hit me. I couldn’t run away. I missed you so much.”
Huang Yongmei stroked her daughter’s hair and wept. “It’s Mama’s fault. Mama lost you.”
In the car, the family of three cried together. In the Wang family’s courtyard, the police were still dealing with Auntie Wang and her son.
The two of them were still stomping their feet, not giving up. “So what if you’re the police? Does that give you the right to snatch people?”
Officer Wu said sharply, “Is this child really yours? Her name is Liu Jiajia, and she was abducted ten years ago!”
Auntie Wang tried to bluff. “What Liu Jiajia? This is our little girl, Wang Ling. We even have her registered on the household record. Can the police just spout nonsense?”
“If we’ve come here, it means we have conclusive evidence. A simple DNA test right now will tell us who this child really is.”
Hearing this, Auntie Wang faltered. Her son’s mind worked faster than hers. He immediately changed his story, claiming they had found Jiajia and had taken her in because she was a pitiful orphan.
The mother and son duo stuck to their story, refusing to mention buying a child. The police, unable to proceed, were about to send Jiajia’s family back first and return to investigate later when the car door opened. Huang Yongmei and Liu Zhengyong got out, accompanying Jiajia.
Jiajia’s emotions seemed to have stabilized significantly. In the car, Huang Yongmei had wiped her face with a wet wipe and had carefully tied up her hair, revealing her originally delicate features.
Then, her voice rang out, clear and firm.
“Uncle, I want to report this village for trafficking women and children. It’s a human trafficking den!”
The Wang family had not sent her to school, but she had learned some characters from another abducted woman in the village. And her memory was excellent. She had written down, without a single omission, the names and addresses of all the abducted women and children in the village. She had even secretly noted the appearance of the traffickers when they came to the village to make “deliveries,” and she was able to describe the appearance and whereabouts of several of them in detail.
The police were shocked to see this list of thirty to forty people. This was an incredible case of organized crime. Such a major trafficking case was immediately reported up the chain of command.
Later, after a thorough investigation, it was found that out of the fifty-three families in this village, forty-one had bought children and women. Among them were twenty little girls, thirteen women, and eight little boys. It was no exaggeration to call it a “trafficking village.”
According to some villagers, boys were the most expensive, and most families couldn’t afford them, so many chose to buy a little girl or directly buy a woman to give birth to a son. And every one of these abducted women lived a life worse than death. When the police went from house to house to rescue them, some had already been driven mad, some had been beaten to the point of disability, and some were in a daze, like walking corpses. Only the woman who had taught Jiajia to read still had a spark of life in her eyes. She was a recent university graduate who had been abducted and brought here just a year ago. In that year, she had been constantly trying to lead all the abducted people to escape. Jiajia was the same; the two had hit it off and would often find opportunities to meet and discuss their plans. It was also this university student who had carefully collected the information of all the abducted individuals, which Jiajia had then memorized, thinking that if she ever had a chance to escape, she would definitely come back and rescue everyone.
Fortunately, the arrival of Liu Zhengyong and his wife had allowed these children to return to their parents’ arms ahead of schedule. On the afternoon Jiajia was rescued, the leaders had acted decisively, dispatching local police forces to the village. Under Jiajia’s guidance, they had rescued every single abducted child and woman. The next day, their names and photos were compiled, and the search for their families began. In just two or three days, all of them had been returned to their homes.
This village had a stable network of traffickers. At first, the villagers were unwilling to talk. But as the matter escalated and the story of the “trafficking mountain village” became a sensation on the internet, with netizens calling for severe punishment for the buyers as well, the villagers began to worry that they would be charged as accomplices for harboring criminals. Only then did some of them start to provide information about the traffickers.
This, in turn, led to the uncovering of a trafficking ring of over a hundred people. Following the leads, nearly a thousand abducted women and children were rescued. Due to the large number of people involved, the case even reached the top leader. He personally went to visit Liu Jiajia and the equally brave university student, Zhang Yunqing, who had played a key role in the anti-trafficking case by courageously writing down the list and identifying the traffickers.
Now, Jiajia’s injuries had mostly healed. Her hair was neat, she was wearing clean, fresh clothes, and there was a smile on her face.
After staying in the capital for a few days to assist with the investigation, the family of three returned to their hometown. The ten-million-plus yuan that Xia Anran had donated, after covering the previous food and lodging expenses, was mostly given to these families who had been left destitute or broken by their search for their children. The professors at the Academy of Sciences had also pooled a considerable sum of money for charity, just like her. In addition, for her contribution to the rescue and identification, the government had also given her a reward.
Huang Yongmei and Liu Zhengyong had never imagined that this trip to the capital would not only bring them their daughter back but also provide them with the funds to start their family anew.
Jiajia began to go to school like other children. Her parents used the money to start a small business, which was very successful. Their family’s life was getting better and better, as if the nightmarish ten years had never happened.
And on the internet, the public continued to follow this astonishing trafficking case.
[Am I seeing this right? Out of fifty families in a whole village, forty were involved in trafficking????]
[Holy crap… it’s an entire industry.]
[What a demonic village.]
[They should all go to hell!]
[I wouldn’t believe it if you told me they weren’t accomplices.]
[Ahhh, I can’t take it! They’re not human!]
[Science and technology is the way to go! This gene-locating technology developed by the Academy of Sciences is a monumental achievement. It has saved so many families.]
[Academician Gong is the GOAT!!!]
[So much good news from the Academy of Sciences lately. First absolute zero, now gene-locating. Is our country’s technology about to take a great leap forward?]
[Right now, all I care about is whether the traffickers will get the death penalty!!!]
[Rest assured, it’s a guaranteed death penalty. For a social incident of this magnitude, the sentencing is usually very fast. They won’t live to see the new year.]
[Jiajia is so smart and brave. I cried several times watching her story.]
[Latest news: some of the villagers have also been sentenced as accomplices, and those who harbored and concealed criminals have all been arrested.]
[Ahhh, serves them right!!!]
….
At this moment, on the great prairie, Xia Anran was also closely following the progress of the case. She was very happy to see it being solved so smoothly. Ren Yi, as a soldier who had fought on the front lines for years, although in the anti-drug task force, had also heard a lot about trafficking cases, so he had chatted with her about the current methods of combating it.
The other members of the production team were ecstatic to know that the technology from the interstellar era had helped so many families. It was as if they had been injected with chicken blood, making their already enthusiastic streaming efforts even more fervent. They had to work harder, stream more, and earn more Activation Coins to bring more help to the people!
The system, seeing everyone so full of energy, was also extremely satisfied.
[You’ll be able to upgrade again soon! Keep it up!]
[Earn more money! Let’s go!]
And then Xia Anran typed a “1” in reply.
The system was so angry it almost started smoking again.
After following the case, she began to prepare for today’s prairie livestream. After scouting multiple locations, they had planned a spot that was in an animal gathering area but was relatively safe.