"New warehouse"
The sun, which had only revealed a faint glimmer of sunlight, now splashes its halo across the world, and the cool spring breeze is filled with a warmth that draws you in.
But Wen Dai had no time to care about whether it was warm or not.
She endured the journey from morning until 1 p.m., changing positions several times, but her legs still couldn't take it anymore. When she asked Cai Qi, she learned that they were still on the road.
[Cai Qi: It's probably because we're a police car, and it's really crowded in town. A lot of people have gathered around, and the road is cluttered with stalls and debris. We've been stuck for a long time, and we're still trying to communicate with them. It's clear they have protection, and their deliberate delaying tactics are too obvious. You absolutely must hold on! I'm going to find someone to borrow a motorcycle!]
With difficulty, Wen Dai tilted her dizzy head back and squinted at the bright, white sun in the sky. Colorful spots of light flashed through her mind, and her rumbling stomach bothered her again.
Rubbing her stomach, which was feeling nauseous from hunger, Wen Dai picked up her bag, wanting to find a more comfortable place to hide, when she suddenly noticed that the back door of the wooden house was open.
The elderly woman who emerged looked around, seemingly searching for someone. She carefully opened the iron gate at the edge of the low fence, raised her hand as if making a megaphone, and softly called out, "Sister, sister—"
Wen Dai, who had just gotten up a little, shrank back without hesitation. She crouched down in the weeds and observed the old woman's every move through the gaps.
Trust, especially trust in strangers, should usually be fluid; right now, she doesn't trust the old woman.
The human heart is the hardest thing to grasp; who knows if she has changed her mind and betrayed us?
Just as Wen Dai was about to turn around and hide behind, the old woman's voice suddenly became louder: "Hey, little sister!—" followed by a series of hurried footsteps, as dense as a tap dance.
"Girl, why aren't you answering? Oh dear, don't hide here anymore, this is a snake's den! Those people are all gone, girl, come back with me, haven't you eaten yet? Come on, come on." The old woman, who had taken a few big steps up, stretched out her arm and grabbed Wen Dai's thin arm.
Caught red-handed, Wen Dai slowly turned her head and forced a polite smile, but the smile only looked strange on her sallow face, which was already showing signs of fading makeup.
"Thank you, Auntie. I'm not eating; I'm on a diet. I think it's quite refreshing outside, so I won't go back and cause you any trouble. Besides, the investigator is on his way, and my friend will be here soon, so I'll just stay here outside."
However, the old woman was relentless. Her strength, honed from years of farm work, was incomparable to that of Wen Dai, a lazybones with a weak constitution.
Her desire to leave was nipped in the bud, and her body, still attached to her arm, staggered backward with the powerful pull.
Forced to stand up and turn around, Wen Dai and the old woman looked at each other. The old woman had a serious expression on her face and said in a righteous tone, "I've already taken your money, how could I just leave you here outside and ignore you? I'm not the kind of person who takes money and then doesn't care about anything. I secretly left you some food at home; come on, come on, don't be polite with your aunt."
Wen Dai was practically dragged down the hillside by the old lady and shoved back into the house. As soon as she entered the house, the old man who was smoking in the main room raised his face, which looked inexplicably haggard.
The eyes that were so bright and alert in the middle of the night are now just lifeless.
Upon seeing Wen Dai being pushed in, he paused for a moment, then stood up, his smile clearly forced. He pointed to the dining table with the cigarette between his fingers, "Come on, let's eat. I secretly saved some food for you, so make do with this."
Wen Dai looked in the direction he was pointing and saw two dishes and a bowl of rice on the shiny wooden table. The dishes were simple stir-fried mushrooms and scrambled eggs with carrots. Both dishes were served in small plates, which showed that what they said was true. These must have been set aside separately after the dishes were cooked.
Wen Dai waved her hands twice, glancing apologetically at the people staring at her in the main room, from the old man with the cane to the old woman standing behind her. "I'm sorry, but I really don't have an appetite. Maybe I'm just having some water and soil incompatibility."
Some hunched old ladies moved over with some difficulty. They raised their hands and put them on Wen Dai's arm. Although they were old and thin, they were quite strong and pulled the unsuspecting Wen Dai so hard that she stumbled.
She walked to the dining table, held the rice bowl in front of Wen Dai, and said, her mouth still trembling, "Eat, eat."
But after Wen Dai took the rice bowl, she put it back on the table and said with difficulty, "I really don't want to eat anything, you don't need to worry about me."
Whether it was due to the old lady's advanced age and hearing loss or something else, she was still immersed in the world of forcing Wen Dai to eat, holding the dish of food close to her mouth, as if she wanted to force it into her mouth.
The old man with the cane avoided Wen Dai's gaze and went straight to the old woman's eyes. The two looked at each other for a while, ending with the old man blinking his eyelids.
He took his cane and walked unsteadily to the kitchen. He came out shortly afterward, with a glass of water in his previously empty hand.
He stepped forward and pushed the old woman away with his arm. His eyes, which could no longer be fully opened, glared at her, and his hoarse voice rang out: "If someone doesn't want to eat, don't force them to."
With the old man's help, Wen Dai's ability to refuse food turned into water.
Turning her head away from the water cup that was being brought to her lips, Wen Dai stood on tiptoe, tilted her chin up, and turned her face to the side. She gently pushed away the old man who was leaning closer and said helplessly, "I'm not thirsty. I've drunk a lot of water."
"Just one sip, just one sip." The persistent man became the old man, stubbornly holding the water glass to Wen Dai's lips, while the cane in his other hand swayed as if it would fall to the ground at any moment.
The old man, having finished his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground, stepped on it with his old-fashioned military green canvas shoes, and rubbed it hard with his toes for a while. He then raised his face again, paused for a moment in front of Wen Dai's profile, and his eyes met the old woman's for a fleeting glance.
He clenched his fist, took a barely perceptible deep breath, then walked over to Wen Dai's side, raised his hand and patted her shoulder, saying, "Have some water. The water in our house is better than the water outside; it's all clean well water. It'll soothe your throat."
Wen Dai also felt a sense of oppression coming from behind, as the old woman's broad body blocked the light from coming from behind.
"Yes, have some water. You need to drink some water even if you don't eat, otherwise we won't feel at ease." Her voice came from behind Wen Dai's ears.
It really is surrounded by tigers and wolves.
Wen Dai, who was surrounded, unconsciously frowned and her fingers twitched.
Finally, she raised her hand and took the glass, gazing at the pale water swirling inside.
She brought the cup to her lips, tilted her head back and took a sip, her throat bobbing, before putting the cup back on the table with a displeased expression.
With her feelings laid bare, Wen Dai bypassed the old woman and returned to the room she had been in, slamming the door shut behind her.
The old woman, who wanted to chase after her, was stopped by the old man, who looked into her eyes and shook his head, saying, "No need to go over there. I saw her throat move; she must have drunk it."
"I saw it too." The old man gripped his cane tightly and said in a deep voice. He turned his gaze to the cup on the table, where the water in the enamel cup rippled.
The group waited outside the room for about half an hour before the old woman went to the door first. She exchanged a glance with the old man on the other side, then raised her hand and knocked on the door, calling softly, "Sister, sister!"
No one answered.
The old woman put some force into the hand resting on the door, and pushed it open with a creak. She then tiptoed to the door of the inner room, raised her hand, and carefully knocked twice. "Little sister, are you asleep?"
There has still been no response.
The old woman pushed the door open again, and what she saw was Wen Dai lying face down on the bed.
The person lying on the bed had their feet dangling off the edge of the bed, their head tilted to the side and pressed against the blanket, their face squeezed up, and their heavily made-up face revealed the fair skin beneath the foundation.
After carefully examining the situation, the old woman turned around and, after confirming that Wen Dai had lost consciousness, winked at the old man twice, signaling him to come and help her move the person.
The black backpack was left alone on the bed, while its owner was carried away by a burly man and a lean man.
The tricycle parked at the door came in handy. The old woman carried Wen Dai while the old man rode the tricycle, and together they took her to the villa where trafficked people were detained.
Having apparently eaten something good again, the woman in the red suit walked over, a toothpick in her hand, picking her teeth as she went, accompanied by two relatively young men.
Upon seeing the old woman holding Wen Dai and the old man standing silently beside her, she sneered disdainfully and said sarcastically, "Oh dear, so there are still people involved—we told you to join earlier but you wouldn't, and you only agreed after things have turned out like this."
"Go, throw her over to the pile of new goods, and make her wash her face when she wakes up." The woman in the red suit took out a toothpick, made a vague gesture in the air, and ordered the man beside her to catch Wen Dai.
As the man carried Wen Dai up, she glanced at Wen Dai's face, clicked her tongue in disgust, and said, "To dress herself up like this, I really don't know how she could come up with such a thing."
When she opened her eyes again, Wen Dai had already entered the so-called "new goods room".
Although the room had a large floor-to-ceiling window without any security bars, one could tell from the glass that it wasn't so easy to break.
Apart from that, there was no bed in the room, only a quilt on the floor.
Wen Dai, who had been thrown to the ground by the burly man, sat up. She looked at the other people in the room and was shocked to find that, apart from herself, who was clearly an adult woman, the others all looked quite childish.
The youngest girl appeared to be only seven or eight years old, and a slightly older girl was holding her.
After Wen Dai woke up, a girl with slightly swollen cheeks and bruises around her eyes crawled over and knelt down in front of Wen Dai.
"Where did you come from? Are you from this village? Have they gone out to kidnap people again...?" The last sentence sounded more like she was talking to herself.
Wen Dai sat up and tugged at her floral blouse. Listening to the girl's question, she instinctively reached up and touched her face.
Even without makeup, she still has the charm of a country girl? It seems her disguise skills are quite good.
Seeing that Wen Dai hadn't answered for a long time and still looked lost, the girl raised her hand and waved it in front of her eyes, asking with concern, "Are you alright? Hi?"
Coming to her senses, Wen Dai lifted her eyelids to examine the girl in front of her. Coincidentally, the more she looked, the more familiar she seemed.
Without any intention of hiding it, Wen Dai reached into her blouse right in front of her, rummaged around for a while, and finally pulled out her phone.
Noticing the surprised look on the girl's face, she grinned and deftly turned on her phone, saying casually, "They didn't search me. I keep a lot of things on my person."
The light from the phone screen attracted the other people in the room. Several girls who had long lost hope saw a glimmer of light and spontaneously moved to gather around Wen Dai.
None of them spoke; their most unanimous action was to purse their lips and stare intently at Wen Dai and her phone with their bright, budding eyes.
Wen Dai casually held up her phone, took a picture of a familiar girl in front of her, and sent it to Cai Qi and Cui Lin; she then took pictures of the other girls. Leaning back, she turned her phone to landscape mode and photographed these still bewildered girls.
The photos were naturally given to Cai Qi and Chen Sizhe.
Wen Dai's busy demeanor kept the others from speaking, but their hearts, which had fallen into a state of stagnation, were truly revived after seeing Wen Dai's gentle warmth.
After quickly processing the message, Wen Dai stuffed her phone back into her clothes. She tugged at her wrinkled blouse and finally had time to explain to the girls in front of her.
The first girl she noticed was the one with bruised and swollen eyes.
"You must be Wen Weiwei? I have your photo on me, but it's not easy to take it. I was asked by your mother to come and find you. My name is Wen Dai. You might not remember me. After all, when we were still in contact, you were about two years old, I think. I don't know if you were even two, but Aunt Cui Lin was still holding you."
Her eyes were still throbbing. Wen Weiwei stared blankly at the woman in front of her, whose makeup was like that of a ghost. It wasn't until the woman raised her hand to touch her face and asked her what was wrong with her that her tears finally started to flow and rolled down her cheeks.
The fourteen-year-old girl was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions, including grievance, fear, and confusion. Now, as her tense nerves relaxed, tears streamed down her face.
She covered her mouth and sobbed, her cries muffled, only a few breaths escaping from between her fingers.
The other girls asked in unison, "Will you rescue us all?"
The eyes that had been extinguished of hope regained their sparkle. The little girl, held by the older girl, simply raised her dirty face and stared intently at Wen Dai with her clear eyes.
Suddenly becoming the one everyone hoped for, Wen Dai unconsciously straightened her back. She glanced around at the girls locked in the room and solemnly nodded, saying, "I'm here to assist the investigators in combating child trafficking." Although the investigators didn't believe me at first...
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