189 Big Mistake
"I don't know you. I don't want to!" Jin Jiahe backed away with his hands behind his back. When he saw the uncle in front of him holding a toy and moving closer to him, he was so frightened that he turned around and ran away.
The teachers at school have said he shouldn't go with strangers. His parents and brother have also said many times that strangers who try to lure him with toys and treats are child traffickers!
"Catch the human traffickers!" Jin Jiahe shouted as he ran.
The man who had just been playing with the child with toys froze for a moment. He had only taken a few steps when a group of elderly men and women emerged from the alley. Some grabbed brooms, while others were barefoot and carrying shoes, and they ran aggressively toward him.
"Wait! It's a misunderstanding! It's a misunderstanding! I'm not a human trafficker!"
"A human trafficker would admit to being a human trafficker? He doesn't look like a good person! Beat him up and send him to the police station!" Aunt Hu, who lived closest to the alley entrance, was the first to rush out and waved her hand to call on her old neighbors to beat him up.
Grandma Bai's skills are as sharp as ever; even without anything in her hands, her big slaps still make a resounding thud.
Even though they were a few steps late leaving the house, they still squeezed to the very back and wouldn't stop until they were hit.
Human traffickers are people everyone hates.
Jiang Guiying was herding Lin Ting and Gu Yu home for dinner like ducks. Before they even reached the alley entrance, she heard someone shouting to beat up human traffickers. Startled, she quickly held the two children tightly by the hand. No matter how curious she was about what was happening ahead, she didn't dare to take the children any closer.
By the time the security personnel from the car factory separated the crowd from the human traffickers, the traffickers were already bruised and battered, lying on the ground covering their faces and hissing and laughing as they said they would call the police.
"You don't need to tell me, the police will definitely report it! You dead human trafficker, you're just waiting to be shot! Bah!"
When Guan Yuehe returned home from get off work, she heard that a big misunderstanding had occurred in the alley that day.
The culprit who mistakenly beat up a toy vendor for a child trafficker was Jin Jiahe from Wu Erni's family in courtyard number two.
"What kind of good person would grab a toy and keep asking a child if they want it? Especially one who looks fierce... Oh dear, look at the mess this has made."
"So how was it resolved later?" Guan Yuehe asked curiously.
"They'll have to pay compensation, what else can they do?" Jiang Guiying said, "Wu Erni and her husband took fruit to the hospital to apologize, and I heard they paid a full two hundred yuan. Just now, they took the child to thank their neighbors and brought some gifts. I think they lost a lot of money."
After all, the neighbors only came out to help because they heard that the Jin family was arguing about human traffickers, so it wouldn't be right for them not to go and visit them.
What if the child really does encounter human traffickers in the future? Should the neighbors help or not? If they help, it might lead to another misunderstanding, and they might end up having to pay compensation themselves. If they don't help, what if it really is a human trafficker?
"Consider it a way to avoid further trouble."
Guan Yuehe thought about it and realized that it made sense.
Money can be saved, but if a child is kidnapped, that's really... Turning her head, she saw Lin Ting clinging to her arm and acting coquettishly. Guan Yuehe didn't dare to think any further.
"Auntie, when I grow up, I want to be a police officer too, just like Officer Song, and catch bad guys!" Gu Yu imitated Officer Song's serious demeanor with his hands on his hips and his brows furrowed.
Guan Yuehe poked her cheek and said, "Don't wait until you grow up. First, learn to write your dad's name fluently before you think about catching bad guys."
He added, "An illiterate person can't be a policeman, nor can they be a just and upright official."
Gu Yu snorted, "I don't need to write my dad's name on my homework!"
In September, Gu Yu started attending the primary school affiliated with the Five Star Automobile Factory. For the first two weeks of school, Gu Yu studied very hard and told the adults what she had learned every day. However, when writing her father Gu Mannian's name, she got impatient and insisted on changing his name to one that was easier to write.
This kid's dreams are quite varied. When he first started school, he said he wanted to go to university and graduate school, and become a good official like his mother. Later, he said he wanted to open a sunflower seed store, and now he says he wants to be a policeman.
Gu Yu didn't want her aunt to laugh at her, so she covered her ears and said she wanted to watch TV.
"Don't look yet. Grandma's telling you, you're not allowed to run around after school. Your aunt is coming to pick you up, so you just wait for Grandma at the gatehouse..."
"Mmm-hmm!" Gu Yu nodded repeatedly, pouting impatiently, but still listened attentively to the end.
Jiang Guiying didn't say anything more and let her continue watching TV. She turned her head and sighed, saying to Guan Yuehe, "When you were little, groups of kids would often go to and from school together without any problems. How come there are so many human traffickers now?"
Let alone when Guan Yuehe was a child, even ten years ago, human traffickers weren't as rampant as they are now.
Jingjing and Tingting are about the same age these past few years. When they were in elementary school, they used the bus tickets their families bought for them to go to and from school together with their friends.
Later, probably three or four years ago, adults started picking up and dropping off their children themselves. If they didn't have time, they would ask other neighbors to pick them up together.
“There are always human traffickers, but now that living conditions are better, traffickers who used to be confined to a small place can now travel all over the country.”
Back when she was a child, urban-rural restrictions were particularly strict, population mobility was limited, and obtaining a letter of introduction was not as easy as it is now.
Back then, transportation was inconvenient; bicycles were rare and expensive, and public transportation was scarce. It wasn't an easy task for human traffickers to steal a child and take him away.
Unlike now, if human traffickers find an excuse to get a letter of introduction to buy train tickets, they can easily abduct a child onto a train and make it difficult to find them again.
"That's true. Look at our alley, those street vendors can just find an excuse to get a letter of introduction and head south."
“By the way,” Jiang Guiying asked, “when is Yiku coming home? Lin Ting asks us every day, and we’re afraid that when he comes back, he won’t recognize anyone.”
Guan Yuehe didn't know when Lin Yiku would be able to finish his mission and go home, but every day, truckloads of People's Liberation Army soldiers were still taking prisoners away.
“It’s okay, I show her Lin Yiku’s picture every day, she’ll definitely recognize him. Her dad is the only one in our alley who wears a military uniform.”
There were other people in military uniforms, but they were all serving in other places.
Jiang Guiying glanced at Lin Ting, who was sitting next to Gu Yu, and thought to herself: It's hard to say. It's not impossible that Lin Ting might mistake the photo for her father.
—
The matter of mistaking someone for a human trafficker came to a complete end with the compensation paid by Wu Erni's family.
Although it was a big blunder, there were also some benefits.
Rumors circulated that strangers would be beaten up as human traffickers if they went to sell things in Ginkgo Alley, so no one carried their wares there anymore.
"There used to be a young man who would come to sell fish at the end of every month. Could he have been scared away by the rumors circulating outside?"
"Now that you mention it, I remember a little girl who said she was coming to our alley to sell food, but she hasn't shown up yet!"
However, no one took this small matter to heart. After all, eating one less bite wouldn't mean losing a piece of meat. The supply from the meat stations and supply and marketing cooperatives outside was much more plentiful than before, so how could worker families worry about not being able to buy a bite to eat?
In the past, Guan Yuehe would definitely have sighed and complained, but now she often eats in the company cafeteria and doesn't cook at home much, so she doesn't bother to check if there's food available outside.
But only two days after the incident of mistaking a human trafficker for a human trafficker, Jin Jiahe ran back to the alley and said that an uncle was following him.
"Oh, Jiahe, is someone going to sell you toys or food this time?"
“If he wants to follow you, just run home. With so many of us, how can we be afraid of human traffickers? But this time we need to ask him clearly. Like last time, we beat someone without asking, and Erni’s family suffered a huge loss.”
Jin Jiahe scratched his head, thinking to himself that it made sense; at worst, he could just run home.
On Sunday afternoon, Guan Yuehe had just finished making this year's sauerkraut and was preparing a delicious meal for dinner when Aunt Hu rushed back, slapping her thigh and exclaiming, "Wu Erni's youngest son is missing!"
Jin Jiahe has disappeared?!
Jin Junwei had just returned from taking Yuanbao to his martial arts class. Upon hearing this, he asked, "Could it be that the child ran off to play by himself and hasn't come back?"
"Why are you running away?! A few kids went out to play, got separated, and when they came back, Jiahe was the only one who hadn't returned. Everyone they asked said they hadn't seen him."
"Jiahe kept saying a few days ago that someone was following him; I'm afraid human traffickers have been watching him for a while now..."
"Erni and her husband went out to look for people. Chang Liuqian asked everyone in the various compounds who had free time to go out and help look. I'm coming back to pass on the message to our No. 1 compound. I won't talk to you anymore."
After finishing her story, Aunt Hu ran to the backyard and told the other families about the situation.
Before long, people from each household started pushing strollers out, preparing to go out and help look for their children.
Tsk!
While gritting her teeth and cursing the human traffickers, Guan Yuehe, who couldn't even have a peaceful Sunday, took the still-sleeping Lin Ting to Courtyard No. 3.
A short while later, Guan Yuehe and Zhou Hongqi, who was sitting opposite, both pushed their motorcycles out of the house.
"Yuehe, Zhou Gong, you have motorcycles, so split up, one to the train station and the other to the bus station." As soon as Grandpa Chang saw her and Zhou Hongqi, he made the arrangements, and also arranged for the other families with motorcycles to go to the city's bus station.
Guan Yuehe remained silent on her way to the train station. Chang Zhengyi, who was assigned to go with her, also dared not utter a sound, as he felt that Sister Yuehe was currently furious.
But once they arrived at the train station, Guan Yuehe calmed down and split up with Chang Zhengyi. One of them went to find the police station next to the train station, and the other went to find the train station staff.
It would be too difficult for the two of them to find someone at the train station.
After thinking for a moment, Guan Yuehe borrowed the police station's phone and called Changhu Police Station, asking them to contact the police station in Sun Dashan's hometown to check if Sun Dashan had come to Beijing.
The Changhu Police Station replied immediately after hearing the news: "We are already contacting the police station in Sun Dashan's hometown."
Guan Yuehe breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed she wasn't the only one who suspected Sun Dashan.
Why target Jin Jiahe out of so many children? He's not young anymore; you can't raise a child like that. If age wasn't a concern, why choose him from so many others?
Upon closer reflection, Sun Dashan naturally came to mind.
Sun Dashan should have finished his labor reform and returned to his hometown long ago, but in the past year or two, it hasn't been difficult to get a letter of introduction to enter the city. Who knows, Sun Dashan might be in Beijing now.
After leaving the police station, Guan Yuehe followed the police's instructions and went to the platform to look for someone.
She found a stool, stood on it, and stared wide-eyed at the sea of heads when she suddenly heard Chang Zhengyi shout, "Don't run! Put the child down!"
—
"Put down Jin Jiahe!"
On a rare Sunday off, Zhou Baoan went out shopping with his friends from his vocational school days. Just as they were about to head to a small restaurant in a back alley, they suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the distance.
Upon closer inspection, the child the man had just carried off the cart was none other than Aunt Wu's son, Jin Jiahe!
She was absolutely certain that the person carrying Jin Jiahe was not Uncle Jin!
Who would be carrying someone else's child so suspiciously? A child trafficker!
Zhou Baoan immediately ran forward, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Hey, you man in the gray hat up ahead! Everyone, catch the human trafficker!"
"Who? Who is the human trafficker?" People on the street stopped what they were doing, and some of the more impatient ones had already rolled up their sleeves.
"That guy in front carrying a boy! The one wearing the gray hat! He's carrying my younger brother, but I don't know him! He's running away!"
Zhou Baoan ran and shouted all the way, and at this moment she was glad that her master Zhou Hongqi always said that she needed to train her strength, otherwise she definitely wouldn't have been able to catch up.
Of course, we also want to thank the selfless volunteers who lent a helping hand!
As soon as she shouted "Catch the human traffickers!", an older woman immediately responded and also shouted "Catch the human traffickers!"
With so many people around, the traffickers have no chance to escape, especially since he's carrying a child.
"We've got him! Quickly, let that woman come and see her brother."
Ignoring the human traffickers, Zhou Baoan went over and patted Jin Jiahe several times, but there was no response. Frightened, she quickly checked Jin Jiahe's nose.
Thankfully, it's still breathing.
"He's definitely been drugged. That damned human trafficker, he should be shot!"
"Quickly find a car and take the child to the hospital."
"Wait a minute, young comrade, are you really this child's biological sister?"
Zhou Baoyu quickly said, "His family and my family live in the same compound. We work at the Wuxing Automobile Factory and live in No. 2 Ginkgo Hutong. This is my worker's ID card. Oh, and these guys also work at the automobile factory... Sun Dashan!"
Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Baoyu saw Sun Dashan being carried up and recognized him at a glance.
"Is he someone you know?" The surrounding crowd frowned. Could it be a misunderstanding and they've arrested the wrong person?
Zhou Baoan snorted coldly, "I'd remember him even if he were ashes! He's a human trafficker!"
Twelve years ago, in order to seize her family's house, they colluded with her father's relatives to kidnap her and Bao Ning. Now they actually want to kidnap Jin Jiahe!
This dead human trafficker is now in her hands!
Despite Zhou Baoan and her friends showing their identification, the people who offered to help were still not entirely convinced and insisted on taking them to the nearby police station to find the police.
As the group walked along, the trail of onlookers behind them grew longer and longer.
What are you doing?
"We caught a human trafficker and are about to take him to the police station."
"Oh! I'll have to go check it out!"
—
On the other side, Guan Yuehe had just subdued a human trafficker. Seeing that the trafficker was struggling fiercely, Guan Yuehe gave him two elbow strikes without saying a word, which finally calmed him down a bit.
Chang Zhengyi felt both relieved and embarrassed. He scratched his head and didn't dare to meet Guan Yuehe's gaze.
He had just seen a man dragging a child who looked a bit like Jin Jiahe away, and the child was struggling desperately. His heart skipped a beat, and his mouth reacted faster than his brain, and he shouted out.
No sooner had she shouted than Guan Yuehe rushed over to grab the person.
result!
The child, who had just refused to leave, was so frightened that he immediately clung to the man's leg and cried "Dad!" He mistook Guan Yuehe for a child trafficker, and this child was not Jin Jiahe.
Chang Zhengyi's shout didn't scare the man holding the child, but it did scare another man holding a child. Then, an older woman behind them cried out that her child had been stolen, so Guan Yuehe rushed over.
They really caught the human traffickers.
Author's Note: [Cat paw] I didn't go out for nothing!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
