Chapter 23 Goodbye 1 It seems there are some clever ones among these children...

Qiu Xiaoman woke up; Mango's barking startled her and made her open her eyes.

She stared blankly at Jiang Mingyuan, who was frozen in place, and asked in surprise, "What are you doing?"

Jiang Mingyuan quickly withdrew his hand and smiled awkwardly, "It's nothing, I was just worried you'd catch a cold, so I covered you with a blanket."

Mango immediately complained: "Master, he's lying! He wanted to hug you, but I didn't let him! Who knows if he has a wife or girlfriend?"

Qiu Xiaoman was genuinely unaware of this, but thanks to Mango's reminder, she immediately gave Mango a sausage as a reward.

Mango understood immediately: "So, should we handle this situation the same way in the future?"

“That’s right! Good mango, thank you.” Qiu Xiaoman stroked Mango’s head, not exposing Jiang Mingyuan’s lie.

She didn't want to pry into Jiang Mingyuan's private affairs. Otherwise, she would hate him just as much as the driver. Even if the driver was acting on someone else's behalf and it wasn't his fault, she still had the right to be angry.

She yawned, glanced at her watch, and asked, "Where's Captain Zou? Can I go back now?"

"Team Leader Zou just left, I'll give you a ride." Jiang Mingyuan quickly called the driver; he had already returned the car to Manager Zhao, so there was no other way.

While waiting, Qiu Xiaoman was no longer sleepy and asked about the progress of the case.

In short, this group frequently roams around North China. They are not interested in young children; their targets are teenagers or adult women.

As for why there are no adult males, Qiu Xiaoman herself can give the answer—she can't beat them.

These victims were sold to remote, isolated mountainous areas or underdeveloped rural regions.

"It seems their targets are all women who want to get married and have children," Qiu Xiaoman frowned. "Are they after the bride price?"

Jiang Mingyuan nodded: "That's right. In order to cover up their crimes of human trafficking, they would pretend to be the victim's family members and make excuses about a family emergency that required money urgently. The cost of buying and selling people would be paid in the form of a bride price to avoid attracting the attention of the buyer's neighbors. This model is very secretive and highly profitable, so their gang has grown to a considerable size."

Qiu Xiaoman pondered for a moment and asked, "Then what about his ID card?"

Jiang Mingyuan explained, "According to his own confession, he came from the south to work and had just joined the gang. He hadn't obtained a fake identity yet. While transiting through the mountains, a few kids got into a fight, and he went to separate them. At first, he didn't pay much attention, but halfway through, he realized his ID card was missing. He suspected that the kids had stolen it while he was breaking up the fight and might have hidden it somewhere at the scene to attract the police's attention, so he had to find his ID card as soon as possible."

"So that's how it is. It seems there are some smart kids among these children." Qiu Xiaoman perked up. If that's true, she really wanted to meet this smart kid after the children were rescued.

The driver arrived quickly, looking energetic. Qiu Xiaoman, a little curious, asked, "Aren't you sleepy?"

The driver explained, "My boss has two drivers, one for business during the day and one for working at nightclubs. I work the night shift; I slept during the day."

Qiu Xiaoman suddenly realized that she didn't need to worry about driving while fatigued.

On the way, the driver was eager to ask the questions his boss had given him, but Jiang Mingyuan gave him a look and he obediently shut up.

When Qiu Xiaoman arrived at her residence, Li Erhu, who was staying at Li Tuantuan's place, was awakened by the sound of the door opening and quickly came out to take a look.

"You're finally back! I thought you got lost at the police dog base." Li Erhu was, after all, a police officer, and it was impossible for him to know everything about the criminal investigation team.

He was very worried about Qiu Xiaoman, afraid that she would be bullied. Just as he was about to ask her something, Li Erhu noticed Jiang Mingyuan at the door and suddenly had nothing to ask.

With Brother Jiang around, there's nothing to worry about.

He quickly went to say hello, then turned around and said, "Xiao Qiu, I'm going back now. If you're not coming back at night, call me in advance and I'll keep an eye on them."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Tiger." Qiu Xiaoman closed the door and went to sleep.

As for the situation of the children in the orphanage, I'll ask about it tomorrow.

*

In the car, the driver, unable to answer his boss, had no choice but to bring up those questions to bother Jiang Mingyuan: "Xiao Ming, the boss asked me to ask, what's your relationship with that Xiao Qiu?"

“Colleague.” Jiang Mingyuan frowned, then quickly stopped him. “Tell him it’s impossible. People in my line of work are always in a chaotic situation. If I were to find someone who’s just as constantly on the go, wouldn’t I be asking for trouble?”

The driver said helplessly, "What's the use of telling me? The boss is eager to have his grandson. You go and talk to him yourself."

Jiang Mingyuan had a terrible headache: "That old man is really making things difficult for me."

The driver quickly defended his boss: "Parents always have the same heart. He's just concerned about you. You're already in your mid-twenties and still not married. Your classmate's son is already in elementary school."

Jiang Mingyuan said with a dark face, "Here we go again. Forget it, I don't go looking for people in the same industry."

The driver pursed his lips and advised, "But that Xiao Qiu is President Shen's daughter, isn't that great?"

"No, I don't want to get involved in the Shen family's mess. Take me to the club, and I'll talk to my dad myself." Jiang Mingyuan had to nip his father's foolish idea in the bud as soon as possible.

When they arrived at the VIP area's card room, they found Shen Qinghuai there. He had probably just vomited and was lying exhausted on the sofa next to them, looking like he was in great pain.

The room reeked of alcohol, mixed with the sour smell of gastric juices and rotten food, making it suffocating.

Jiang Mingyuan quickly opened the window and asked curiously, "Why hasn't Uncle Chen gone back?"

"Why go back? We'll be arguing all the time, it's so annoying." Shen Qinghuai's troubles weren't caused by Qiu Xiaoman, after all, Liang Yuting was someone who saw threats everywhere.

He has a female secretary, which would arouse suspicion.

He would be suspected if he met any female boss.

If he smiles at any woman, people will suspect him.

Even if he comes home late from social engagements, he will still be suspected.

He finds it annoying, so sometimes he doesn't go back. Sometimes when he does go back, he gets so angry that he runs out to clear his head.

Qiu Xiaoman's arrival only slightly increased the frequency of Liang Yuting's already high level of arguing.

Today, he met a female boss he had worked with before. At that time, he was going through a divorce with Liang Yuting, and Liang Yuting was being unreasonable and suspected that he had fallen for the female boss. She even went to the female boss's company to cause trouble.

Liang Yuting caused a scene again today, and he couldn't stand it, so he took advantage of his drunkenness to run away and impulsively bought a car and gave it to Qiu Xiaoman.

Upon seeing Jiang Mingyuan, he suddenly narrowed his eyes: "What brings you here? Did you take my daughter home?"

Jiang Mingyuan ignored the question, turned to look at his father who was also drunk and incoherent, sighed silently, and thought, "Never mind, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

When he came out, he saw a familiar figure and greeted her helplessly: "Aunt Liang, are you looking for Uncle Chen? He's here. There are only my dad and a few other uncles inside. There are no young ladies."

Liang Yuting didn't believe it; she had to see it with her own eyes to be sure.

As they passed each other, she remembered something, grabbed Jiang Mingyuan's arm, and asked, "I heard that that wild child went to your police station?"

Jiang Mingyuan squinted at her, then suddenly asked curiously, "Who told you that?"

"Who else could it be but your uncle?" Liang Yuting seemed quite frank.

Jiang Mingyuan didn't believe it. His uncle hated this woman the most. Just because of her family dispute with Shen Qinghuai, the police station had to dispatch officers countless times. It was simply too much of a nuisance.

His uncle would never tell this woman about Qiu Xiaoman, absolutely not!

Considering that the news of tracking human traffickers had been leaked, and that Liang Yuting had called Qiu Xiaoman a "wild child," clearly showing hostility, he reasonably suspected that this woman was suspicious.

He was wary and asked, "What did my uncle say?"

Liang Yuting pouted: "I just said it offhand."

That's even more impossible. His uncle is very busy; he wouldn't have time to gossip like that with her.

Jiang Mingyuan calmly replied with an "Oh," and said, "Anyway, I don't know any wild children. If you want to inquire about anyone, please just call them by their name."

Liang Yuting felt a heart attack from his retort and angrily said, "Why are you pretending when you already know the answer to this question!"

Jiang Mingyuan looked completely innocent: "I wasn't pretending, Aunt Liang. I found two homeless children at the train station. Are they the wild children you're talking about? I'm sorry, I've already gone through the proper procedures to send them to an orphanage, and I've been searching for the family members who hurt them. They're not adults yet, so they can't work for the police station."

Liang Yuting choked. She had indeed heard about this. The parents of those two children probably wanted to have a third child, a son, but didn't want to pay the fine for having too many children, so they pushed them into the reservoir, intending to drown them.

Unexpectedly, the two girls were lucky enough to climb ashore downstream of the reservoir and then followed the main road all the way to Beidu.

Knowing that they would be killed even if they went home, the two children simply claimed ignorance, saying they didn't remember who their parents were.

The police had no choice but to send them to a welfare home first and then investigate their origins. There has been no progress so far.

This matter was reported in the newspaper, but she didn't learn about it from the newspaper.

She stared blankly at Jiang Mingyuan, hesitated for a long time, and finally ended the unpleasant conversation.

Turning around, she went to the card room, pushed open the door, and saw Shen Qinghuai, who was living a life of debauchery. She couldn't help but ask coldly, "Why don't you go back?"

Shen Qinghuai was still under the influence of alcohol. He glared at Liang Yuting and demanded, "I heard you. Who did you call a wild child?"

Liang Yuting didn't want to make a scene at the club, or she'd be subjected to sarcastic remarks from those wealthy women.

She bent down, trying to pull Shen Qinghuai home, but Shen Qinghuai pried her hands away, shouting reeking of alcohol, "I'm asking you a question! Tell me! Who's the wild child?"

Liang Yuting had a sense of shame; there were other owners in the card room, big and small, and she didn't want to lose face. She snorted coldly, turned around, and left.

The next morning, she made a phone call and asked, "Did that wild child come back last night?"

The voice on the other end replied, "You're back. Are you looking for her?"