Chapter 54 Arrival in the North City
The train was delayed by a full three and a half hours, and it wasn't until 8 p.m. that the train arrived at Beicheng Station.
"Let's wait for everyone to leave before we go down. It's not safe with so many people around."
The appearance of the human traffickers yesterday made Chen Yun feel uneasy, so he waited for a while before getting off the bus.
Seeing that the little girl looked unwell and was in a hurry to get to the hospital, Hu Siyuan and Ren Qin quickly said goodbye to Chen Yun and the others and squeezed off the bus first.
Watching the couple walk away briskly, they slowly got out of the car.
The adults were very nervous; after getting off the bus, they didn't let the children get off the ground and had them held hands with the adults.
"My brothers said they were waiting at the exit, but I don't know if they're still there?"
There's no phone to contact right now. The station will notify you of train delays, but they won't say how long... Sometimes it can be seven or eight hours late.
“If they come back, we’ll call two taxis at the door. They’re a bit more expensive, but safer than private cars,” Li Huguo said.
As the two were making plans, a loud, intense cry suddenly pierced the night and reached everyone's ears.
"Xiaowei! Xiaowei, where are you!"
"Xiao Wei!"
"Has anyone seen my grandson...?"
"Police! Is there any police...? My grandson is missing!"
A series of shrill, distorted screams instantly tore through the noise on the platform, and Chen Yun instinctively shivered and looked in the direction of the sound.
"It's that old lady who skipped the ticket." Ruanqiu exclaimed in surprise.
The white-haired old woman, crying her heart out, sat on the ground, slapping her thighs hard, tears and snot flying everywhere.
"Xiaowei, my son! Where are you?!"
A middle-aged woman with short hair screamed, her voice distorted by extreme fear, and she wandered aimlessly through the crowd with a heavy sob in her voice.
Several figures in blue uniforms rushed past Chen Yun and the others.
"Sister, when did your son go missing?"
The train conductor grabbed the woman who was wandering around like a headless fly and asked her in a loud voice.
"When I got off the train, I turned around and disappeared." The woman clung tightly to the train conductor's sleeve as if she had grasped a lifeline.
"Did you see who carried or led it away?"
"The elderly couple, they look about the same age as my mother. The man is wearing black clothes, and the woman has a big mole on her face, located here..." The woman pointed to the corner of her mouth, describing the two people's appearance in as much detail as possible.
Chen Yun frowned. These two were clearly not the old woman she had met yesterday. It seemed there was more than one group of human traffickers on the train.
Did that old woman in the blue headscarf make a move...? A premonition told her something was wrong.
Thinking of this, Chen Yun quickly handed Gao Nianping to Chen Shu: "Mom and Dad, keep an eye on the child, there must be other children missing."
After saying that, he quickly told Gao Ming and Li Huguo to put down their luggage bags, while his eyes searched around the crowd that was packed with people.
If it were still yesterday's outfit, Chen Yun would have recognized him at a glance. The train conductor searched the train but received no feedback, which means that the person had changed clothes halfway through the journey.
If we can't look for clues in their clothes, then we must look at the children themselves.
After identifying her target, Chen Yun focused her attention on passengers with children, pacing back and forth on the platform.
She walked around twice without finding anything, and just when she thought she was overthinking it, she suddenly caught a glimpse of someone carrying a child trying to climb onto the opposite platform.
Judging from the back, it was a short-haired woman who had somehow jumped off the platform and crossed the two connected tracks, intending to climb to the opposite platform.
Moreover, there was a man on the platform pulling her.
The woman lifted the child up first, and Chen Yun immediately noticed that the boy's body looked limp and didn't seem to be asleep at all; rather, he seemed to have fainted.
“Brilliant, that person isn’t right,” Chen Yun said.
Then the woman raised her hands, and a blue headscarf fell out of her coat pocket, further confirming that the woman was the old lady she had seen yesterday afternoon.
"She's the human trafficker from yesterday!" Chen Yun shouted again.
Before the first sentence was finished, Gao Ming and Li Huguo had already rushed over. After Chen Yun finished speaking the second sentence, the train conductor heard the commotion and quickly jumped off the tracks.
Seeing that things were not going well, the man on the opposite platform immediately abandoned the woman who was still climbing up and ran away.
Unfortunately, the boy looked to be six or seven years old, and the man was running with great difficulty. In addition, there was no one waiting for the bus at the opposite platform, and the man was caught up by Gao Ming after only a few steps.
Upon seeing this, Chen Yun quickly turned around to look at the two children.
"..."
Gao Nian'an excitedly waved his fists, his small body trying desperately to run forward, his expression showing that he wished he could join the chase after the bad guys.
Xu Cuihua couldn't hold back her granddaughter, who was as big as a calf, and was actually dragged forward a few steps.
Gao Nianping also turned his body to the side and stared intently at his father catching the bad guy, his two little hands clenched into fists and held nervously in front of his chest.
"Go, Dad! Defeat the bad guys!" Gao Nian'an shouted, cheering them on.
When Chen Yun turned to look at the other side again, Gao Ming had already snatched the child and tucked him under his arm, wrestling with the man with only one hand.
Despite being away from the military for so many years, Gao Ming's skills haven't become rusty at all; it seems he's been training a lot.
Soon, the train conductor took off his hat, threw it on the ground, and joined the fight.
This guy is also a trained fighter; there's absolutely no doubt that two of them could take on one.
The man was punched in the face by the train conductor, and immediately felt dizzy and unable to stand. He had just shaken his head when Gao Ming swept his leg and slammed him to the ground.
The other train attendants rushed forward and dragged the woman onto the platform by twisting her arms.
Chen Yun walked over, glanced at her, and said to the train conductor with certainty, "This is the human trafficker I reported yesterday afternoon." As she spoke, she brushed the woman's hair away from her forehead, saying, "The mud here hasn't even been washed off yet."
Clothing and posture can change, but bone structure is not so easily changed. Chen Yun, who studied anatomy, has done extensive research on this.
“This is not my grandson.”
As soon as Gao Ming put the child on the platform, the anxious white-haired old lady rushed over. When she saw that it wasn't her grandson, she started wailing again.
"Whose child is this!" the train conductor shouted into the crowd, but no one answered.
At this moment, the middle-aged woman who had been arrested immediately started wailing: "Why are you arresting me? I am the mother of my child, I am not a human trafficker!"
"What mother would give her child sleeping pills?" Chen Yun questioned coldly.
"What sleeping pills? The child is just asleep."
"Bullshit." Chen Yun cursed angrily, then revealed her profession: "I'm a doctor. How could I not tell whether the child is asleep or has taken medicine?"
"Let me take a look first." Chen Yun squatted down to check the child's pupils and breathing: "The child's breathing and heartbeat are stable, so the amount of sleeping pills taken should not be large."
Just then, two female train attendants suddenly ran off the train.
"Train conductor, we just woke up a woman on the train. She said her child is missing!"
"..."
"Bring him over so we can see if this is her son," the train conductor said.
Two children were lost on one train. If the child lying there isn't a woman's child... then that would be three children!
Everyone on the train should prepare to go back and be punished!
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario did not occur. After being helped by the flight attendant, the woman quickly recognized that this was her son.
Chen Yun breathed a sigh of relief.
"Take them to the security room, then report the missing children's situation and conduct a full search of the entire train station."
The situation has already been reported via walkie-talkie, and a thorough personnel check is underway at the exit, but there has been no feedback yet.
The train conductor and attendant escorted the two human traffickers to the security room for interrogation to determine if they were accomplices of another group.
The rescued boy's mother had probably also taken a small amount of sleeping pills; she was in a daze, as if she were drunk.
Chen Yun and the others, as witnesses to the act of bravery, also went to the safety room to give their statements, and left their names and addresses before leaving.
The train attendant personally escorted the group to the exit.
It was already 10 p.m.
A gentle evening breeze blew by. Although it was still hot, the air was dry, completely different from the sticky, watery summer of Panshui.
There wasn't a single star in the sky, and the moonlight flickered under the cover of dark clouds.
Emerging from the station exit, you'll find yourself in a spacious plaza. Even though it's already 10 PM, the plaza is still brightly lit and filled with passengers waiting to enter the station.
In this day and age, taking a long trip is bound to be extremely arduous.
"clever."
"dad!"
The man sitting alone on the steps suddenly turned around and greeted him with a joyful expression.
Gao Tiejun was very tall, seemingly even taller than Gao Ming. His police uniform blue trousers were faded from washing, and he wore only a bright white crew-neck t-shirt, revealing his well-defined muscular arms.
Chen Yun knew that her father-in-law was a retired police officer who had been forced to leave the front lines due to injury, but she did not expect his eyes and brows to be so sharp, as if he could see through what others were thinking with just a glance.
One could immediately tell from Gao Tiejun and Chen Shu's demeanor who was a "civilian official" and who was a "military general" who was a "military general."
"Dad, this is my wife, Chen Yun." Gao Ming put down the woven bag, put his arm around Chen Yun's shoulder, and introduced them one by one: "This is Nian An, and the younger one is Nian Ping."
"Okay, okay." Gao Tiejun's gaze lingered on Chen Yun's face for a few seconds before quickly shifting away, finally landing on his two grandchildren.
He patted Gao Nian'an's head, who was already asleep on Chen Yun's shoulder, and then reached out to Gao Nianping: "Come here, Grandpa will hug you."
Gao Nianping thought for a brief two seconds, then obediently released his arms from Chen Shu's neck and reached out to Gao Tiejun.
"Greetings, in-laws, welcome to Beicheng."
He bounced the child around in his arms for a moment before greeting Chen Shu and Xu Cuihua with satisfaction.
"Uncle Gao."
No one from the Li family came to pick up the couple, but Li Huguo didn't seem to find it strange. Instead, he excitedly introduced Gao Tiejun to his wife and son.
Later, Chen Yun learned that Li Huguo had spent most of his time at the Gao family home since he could remember, and was closer to Gao Tiejun and his wife than to his biased parents.
Gao Tiejun freed one hand and took Li Shuaishuai from him.
Holding a doll in each arm, her eyes narrowed with joy. All the fatigue from waiting all night vanished at that moment.
“Your brother has to go to work tomorrow, so I let him go home first.”
"Dad, shall we take a taxi back?" Gao Ming asked.
As soon as I reached the square, several people gathered around me; they seemed to be taxi drivers waiting for passengers nearby.
“I borrowed a van from the bureau that can transport people; one van is enough to take us all back.”
"Where did you park? There are a lot of car thieves near the station."
"fine."
Gao Tiejun seemed to particularly like children. As he spoke, he rubbed his forehead against the chins of the two children one by one, making the two chubby little boys giggle incessantly from the tickling of his hair.
"And the room we're staying in..." Gao Ming asked again.
“Your mother has cleaned two rooms. You can stay in one, and Huguo can stay in the next room.” Gao Tiejun’s attention was entirely on the children, and he didn’t take his eyes off them even when answering questions. “Your sister-in-law has also boiled the bath water. Go back, take a bath, and go to sleep. We can talk about anything else tomorrow.”
The car was parked on the side of the road, with the words "Police" printed in large letters on the door. Just because of those two words, it should be safe no matter where it is parked.
Everyone got on the bus.
Gao Tiejun pulled the handbrake, and the car lurched and groaned like an old ox before finally starting. The moment it started, Chen Yun was almost jolted so hard that he bumped into the back of the seat in front of him.
"Dad, should I drive?" Gao Ming nervously gripped the handle on the roof of the carriage.
"It's an old car that's over ten years old, it's the same no matter who drives it," Gao Tiejun said, stepping on the gas pedal and the car instantly sped off.
Although it was a thrilling experience, thankfully the car finally made it onto the road smoothly.
Li Huguo, who had been holding back for a long time, finally had a chance to ask, "Uncle Gao, can I stay at your place tonight?"
Gao Tiejun grunted in response, looking straight ahead and speaking casually: "Your parents are visiting your sister-in-law's house and won't be back until tomorrow."
Li Huguo scoffed dismissively, leaned back in his chair, and stopped asking questions.
They had already told their mother the exact departure time over the phone a month in advance, but only at the last minute did they mention that they were going to visit someone.
Even when visiting someone's home, they wouldn't leave a key. Li Huguo was too lazy to expose his parents' intention to embarrass Ruanqiu.
"You and Ruanqiu can stay at my house without worry." Gao Tiejun looked at Li Huguo through the rearview mirror: "Your dad is confused, don't pay any attention to him."
"Thank you, Uncle Gao." Li Huguo sighed and patted his son's head. "What era are we living in? My parents are still so old-fashioned. I really don't understand them."
Gao Tiejun spoke again, this time to Chen Yun: "If Gao Lan causes you trouble in the future, just ignore him."
"Okay, Dad," Chen Yun replied with a smile.
The Gao family lived in a place called Guanming Hutong. The alley was so narrow that only two people could walk side by side, and cars couldn't drive in at all.
Gao Tiejun parked the car haphazardly at the entrance of the alley, grabbed his things, and slammed the door shut.
Chen Yun confirmed that the car doors were not locked...
The alley was pitch black with no streetlights, and the moon was sometimes visible and sometimes hidden behind the clouds, so Chen Yun couldn't see anything in the alley.
When Gao Ming and the high-speed rail soldiers used flashlights to illuminate the road, they could barely see that it was a cement road, and there seemed to be a lot of debris piled up on both sides of the road.
"arrive."
No. 6 Guanming Hutong.
Two menacing door gods with fierce expressions were pasted on the lacquered red gate, pushing it inward while gripping the door knocker.
A creaking sound.
The door to the first room in the main house was pushed open first, and Dong Qiaoying walked out of the room quickly, wiping her hands.
The lights in the second room also came on.
"Erming, where are your wife and my grandson and granddaughter..." Dong Qiaoying looked around at everyone and quickly recognized Chen Yun: "You must be tired from the journey. Come in and rest for a while. I'll go make some noodles now."
"Mom," Chen Yun hurriedly called out.
"Give Nian'an to me." Dong Qiaoying wiped her hands on her apron, hurriedly took the sleeping Gao Nian'an from her, and then turned to call, "Zhifang, the water in the pot is boiling, cook some noodles."
The courtyard was large, and after Dong Qiaoying's deliberately loud "clamor," the lights in several rooms in the east and west wing rooms were turned on.
"Your mom has been busy in the kitchen the whole time. She made fresh noodles tonight, just waiting for you to come home and cook them." Gao Tiejun said with a smile, leading his two wide-open boys into the kitchen.
The first room on the left belonged to Gao Tiejun and Dong Qiaoying. She carried Gao Nian'an straight into the room.
"Come in and rest for a while." Qiu Zhifang quickly opened the door to the main room and then enthusiastically took the bag from Chen Yun's hand: "I'll go and start a fire to cook noodles right away."
He was at most 1.55 meters tall, wearing a frayed floral polyester shirt with fraying edges; even in the dim light, you could see the curled-up lines on the frayed edges.
Qiu Zhifang has gained a little weight, and her face shows signs of fatigue from years of hard work and lack of sleep. There are also many sunburned age spots on the corners of her eyes and cheeks.
But as Gao Ming described, his sister-in-law Qiu Zhifang was so gentle that she was even somewhat weak.
He spoke softly, seemed to habitually avoid eye contact, and appeared somewhat timid and hesitant.
"Hello, sister-in-law." Chen Yun greeted her with a smile.
"Sister-in-law... Hello, sister-in-law." Qiu Zhifang seemed surprised that Chen Yun would take the initiative to greet her, and after a moment of hesitation, she replied, "Come in quickly, come in quickly."
The main room was spacious, about 20 square meters. In addition to an eight-immortal table, there were two black artificial leather spring sofas against the wall.
"Rest first, we'll go look at the house after we finish eating the noodles," Gao Tiejun waved to the group.
As soon as Gao Nianping entered the room, he circled around the octagonal table. Perhaps he had never seen such an old object before. He was very curious, sometimes touching the patterns on the table, and sometimes crawling under the table to look at it.
Li Shuaishuai was Gao Nianping's little shadow. The two children were not shy at all and soon started chasing and playing in the main room.
Chen Yun's impression of Gao Tiejun was that he was... so full of taking care of his grandson.
Everyone else sat down, but he was the only one following behind the two children, going around and around, thoroughly enjoying himself.
Seeing how much Gao Tiejun liked children, Ruanqiu whispered in Chen Yun's ear and teased, "I think it will be hard for your family to move out."
The love between grandparents and grandchildren is now fully and vividly present before my eyes...
After all, it was the home they had grown up in, so Gao Ming and Li Huguo were very relaxed after returning. They sat for a while and then went to the kitchen to help.
Chen Yun and Ruan Qiu sat there as awkwardly as newlywed brides.
"Grandpa, I want to go see my sister."
After touching everything in the room, Gao Nianping turned around and hugged Gao Tiejun's leg, asking in a childish voice to go see her older sister.
Li Shuaishuai followed suit and hugged the other leg as well, but what he asked was, "Grandpa, when will the noodles be ready? I want to eat noodles."
"Go see my sister first, then go to the kitchen to check on the noodles!"
Gao Tiejun led the two children out of the main room, and also called Chen Shu and Xu Cuifen along, saying that he would take the two of them to see the house first.
The young people could still muster the energy to talk after a few days of travel, but the two elderly people were so tired that their eyelids were practically glued together.
Chen Yun and Ruan Qiu both let out a sigh of relief almost simultaneously.
"If only we were as outgoing and friendly as the kids," Chen Yun said.
“You’re better than me. At least Uncle Gao and Aunt Gao seem like reasonable people, unlike Li Huguo’s parents…” Ruanqiu gestured towards the outside with an unpleasant expression: “They’ve only just arrived and they’re already acting like mothers-in-law. I don’t know how we’re going to get along in the future.”
Just a wall away, the neighboring house was dark and deserted, unlike the Gao family, which was filled with an atmosphere of welcoming their daughter-in-law.
Even if the train is delayed, there will still be noodles to eat as soon as I get home... handmade noodles, no less.
Ruanqiu was already worried about how she would get along with her in-laws even before meeting them.
“Every family has its own problems.” Chen Yun pointed to the fourth room next door, where the light had been on for a while and then went out again. “Gao Ming’s sister is not easy to deal with either.”
"I heard from Li Huguo that Gao Lan is not easy to get along with..."
The two people inside were chatting quietly, while the small kitchen was now crowded with people.
Li Shuaishuai leaned on Gao Tiejun's shoulder, craning his neck to see what was cooking in the pot, which drew everyone to watch.
Then he saw a pot of boiling water and immediately sighed, his interest waning: "I thought there was something delicious to eat."
"It'll turn into delicious noodles in no time," Gao Nianping said to Li Shuaishuai in her childish voice, then pointed to the bowl covered with a bamboo sieve on the table: "After the noodles are cooked, pour a big spoonful of vegetables on top, and it'll smell amazing!"
Li Shuaishuai swallowed hard: "Is it the kind of noodles Uncle Gaoming makes?"
Do you think my dad's noodles are delicious?
Li Shuaishuai nodded quickly.
“Dad said that Grandma taught him how to make noodles. Since Dad’s noodles are delicious, Grandma’s noodles must be even better.” Gao Nianping used a quote from Chen Yun to leave Li Shuaishuai bewildered.
The truth is that Dong Qiaoying only knew how to make hand-pulled noodles, and because she made them particularly badly, Gao Ming had to specifically learn how to make them again from the canteen chef when he was in the army.
Li Shuaishuai exclaimed "Wow!" with great anticipation.
This delighted Dong Qiaoying, who had just entered the room. She took Gao Nianping and gave his chubby little face a couple of kisses, not wanting to let go at all.
A child's impression of their grandparents largely depends on what the daughter-in-law says in front of the children.
The two children's few words made Dong Qiaoying's feelings for Chen Yun even stronger.
They learned about their son's dating life, marriage, and the birth of his child through photos in the letters.
How can you tell what kind of personality your daughter-in-law has from just a black and white photo? I saw her with my own eyes today... The more I look at her, the more I like her.
"How about sleeping with Grandpa and Grandma tonight?"
Dong Qiaoying carried Gao Nianping to the stove. Gao Ming reached out to hug her but dodged to the side, seemingly intending to hold the child in one arm and cook noodles with the other.
Gao Nianping glanced at his father, whose hand was outstretched in mid-air, and shook his head firmly.
"I'll sleep with Mom and Dad tonight, and then I'll sleep with Grandpa and Grandma in five days."
Dong Qiaoying was amused and kept asking why: "Why five days? Why not three days?"
“Five days…” Gao Nianping spread his chubby little hands and seriously counted on his fingers: “On the first day, we need to get familiar with the house. On the second day… on the fifth day, we’ll get familiar with Grandpa and Grandma. Then I can sleep in the new bed.”
"You brat." Gao Ming chuckled, rubbing his forehead.
These were the words he used to coax his siblings to sleep in their crib, saying that they would get used to the crib on the first day and feel very cool on the second day... and now he's actually using them.
Unfortunately, Li Shuaishuai was quite uncooperative, and upon hearing this, he simply clutched his stomach and laughed so hard he almost fell over.
“Gao Nianping wets the bed, so he doesn’t dare to sleep with his grandparents.”
Gao Nianping grabbed his short, chubby arm and huffed, "I only wet the bed twice, unlike you who wets the bed all the time! Aunt Ruanqiu said you were reincarnated as a chamber pot."
Li Huguo: "..."
The adults couldn't help but burst into laughter.
After years of quiet, the Gao family finally welcomed back laughter and joy tonight.
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