Shen Qingyuan followed the labor foreman to the other side of the dock, asking Cheng Zhiwen, "There are twenty-three young girls in total. Can you find a way to buy them twenty-three tickets to return to China as quickly as possible?"
Cheng Zhiwen grunted in agreement and said to Jiang Shen, "Do as Boss Shen says."
Jiang Shen accepted the order and immediately turned back to the dock.
Shen Qing and Cheng Zhiwen, along with several attendants, continued to follow the labor foreman and the girls.
The British man who was supposed to be contacting them hadn't shown up yet, so the labor foreman and the girls stood under an iron shed waiting.
He kept rubbing his hands together, occasionally making small gestures as if counting money, and looking expectantly in the same direction.
Shen Qing knew that was the direction the British contact had come from, so he told He Fei to keep an eye on things while he went forward to negotiate with the labor foreman.
"Name your price and sell these girls to me!"
The labor foreman turned around at the sound and saw Shen Qing and Cheng Zhiwen again. He immediately yelled, "I already said I'm not selling! Why are you two still haunting me?! Get out of here right now! If you cause any more trouble, when the British come, you'll be in big trouble!"
Shen Qing retorted angrily, "Selling to the British is selling, selling to us is selling too, what's the difference? We even paid more than the British!"
Seeing her firm tone, the other party became even more agitated, spat on the ground, and raised the whip in his hand to swing at her: "I won't sell to you! Get out of here right now!"
Cheng Zhiwen reacted quickly and pulled Shen Qing behind her to prevent her from being hit by the whip.
Over there, He Fei, who was keeping watch, whispered, "Two British men are walking over from that direction; they're probably here to make contact."
Shen Qing saw this and knew that the arrival of the British would make things even more complicated. He gritted his teeth and pulled out his pistol.
Seeing this, He Fei stepped forward and twisted the labor foreman's arms.
Shen Qing immediately pressed the muzzle of the gun against his lower back and whispered, "Take those girls back to the ship, now! Or I'll kill you!"
At this moment, Cheng Zhiwen also pulled out a gun from He Fei's waist and pressed it against the labor foreman's temple.
The labor foreman had just seen a gun with his own eyes, and he was so terrified that he wet himself. He nodded and cried, "Good...good man, spare my life!"
Shen Qingqiang thrust forward again: "Enough talk! Let's go!"
Ahead, Jiang Shen ran up quickly and reported, "There are no ships returning to Shanghai today, but there is a ship from London to India that departs in half an hour."
He Fei asked worriedly, "Those who haven't arrived in Shanghai yet? What should we do then?"
Shen Qing made a quick decision: "Get on the ship first! Get out of here! We can transfer to another ship to go back to China when the ship docks at the next port! Jiang Shen, go buy the tickets!"
Once they were on board and the ship had left the dock, the British buyers were powerless to stop it.
After that, you can disembark in any country and buy a new ticket to return home!
Jiang Shen didn't move. He looked at Cheng Zhiwen and, after receiving a nod of approval from Cheng Zhiwen, turned and ran towards the ticket office.
Shen Qing turned to the girls lined up and shouted, "Quick! We'll take you home! Come with us now!"
The girls initially looked confused and bewildered, but they all smiled when they heard the word "go home".
At the age of five or six, they didn't quite understand what being sold to England meant, but they did know that going home was the happiest thing.
Through Shen Qing's life-or-death efforts, he finally managed to safely get more than twenty girls into the cabin.
Cheng Zhiwen had He Fei and two attendants, a total of three people, board the ship together to escort the girls back to China.
Shen Qing repeatedly instructed He Fei: "You must send these girls back to their parents. Remember that!"
But Cheng Zhiwen stopped her: "No, send these girls to Shanghai, find a place to settle them down, and we'll deal with it when Boss Shen and I return to Shanghai."
Shen Qing looked at him, puzzled: "Why not let them go home?"
“Sending them back to their parents will only lead to them being sold a second time.”
Shen Qing suddenly realized.
The ship sounded its horn; it was time to set sail.
Cheng Zhiwen said one last thing to He Fei: "As for that human trafficker, find a chance to throw him overboard tonight!"
His voice was low and his tone was indifferent, as if he were speaking normally, but he was giving instructions to end a person's life.
Shen Qing was quite shocked.
They walked toward their hotel, passing the shed where the labor traffickers had just waited for their contact.
Two British men were waiting there, muttering curses and saying that the labor trafficker was late and that they would beat him up when they saw someone.
After cursing, he lewdly said, "These Eastern virgins will definitely fetch a good price! I'll have money to go drinking tonight!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qing was shocked. She turned around and glanced at the passenger ship sailing away in the distance. She was relieved that the poor girls had boarded the ship safely and prayed in her heart that they would return to Shanghai safely.
With red eyes, she looked at Cheng Zhiwen, only to see him with a calm expression, as if he were just an indifferent bystander.
But he clearly participated in rescuing those girls.
Shen Qing asked, "Didn't you feel anything when you saw those poor girls being rescued?"
He smiled faintly and said, "You'll find that on every ship from China to Britain and America, there will be girls like these. At first, you'll really want to save them, but slowly you'll realize you can't save them all, and you'll become numb."
Shen Qing was taken aback and said in a low voice, "Is it on every ship?"
"Yes."
"There are just too many to save even if you wanted to..."
The fact that thousands of girls under the age of ten are trafficked to countries like the UK and the US every year was a huge blow to Shen Qing.
She had to rethink the meaning of her existence in this era and whether she could do something for these poor girls who were about the same age as Su Lan.
Originally, she just wanted to pay off her debts and then live a carefree, unambitious life in the late Qing Dynasty.
But as she walked this path, she felt she could do more. Even if she couldn't change history, saving a girl was one thing.
Just like Su-Lan, after breaking free from that terrible family of origin, she became lively and cheerful. While helping with the business, she also realized her own value.
Shen Qing hopes that more girls will be like Su Lan.
In a hotel in London.
Shen Qing sat on the sofa, waiting for Cheng Zhiwen to complete the check-in process and give her the key, while pondering the path she would take in the future.
Seeing Cheng Zhiwen approaching, she quickly stood up to greet her: "Is it all done? Just give me the key."
Cheng Zhiwen gave her nothing, glanced around, and said in a low voice, "Let's go, let's go up first."
The two went up to the third floor.
The dimly lit corridor, with its thick carpet, was completely silent.
Shen Qing also refrained from speaking.
Until Cheng Zhiwen opened the door to a certain room.
With a clang, the dim, lazy light of London streamed in as the door opened.
Cheng Zhiwen raised her hand and waved, then walked straight in.
Shen Qing stood at the door without moving.
He turned around and looked at me: "Aren't you coming in?"
She frowned at him: "It seems you didn't open my room. I'll go downstairs and get a room myself."
After saying that, he turned to leave, but Cheng Zhiwen pulled him into the house.
With a "bang," he slammed the door shut and locked it from the inside.
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