Chapter 3 Salvation
Gu Qinglang saw his beloved daughter covered in blood scabs while he was still at the alley entrance. He rushed towards her, but his daughter fell to the ground when he was only three meters away. Startled, he immediately lunged forward and caught her!
The old village chief caught up and quickly helped the two up: "How are you? Are you hurt anywhere? How's Xiaoyinzi? Why did she faint? Let me take a look."
Knowing that the old village chief knew a little about traditional Chinese medicine, Gu Qinglang quickly handed the child over to him.
The old village chief checked Gu Qinglang's pulse, then looked at his eyes, and finally carefully examined the wound. He comforted Gu Qinglang, saying, "It's nothing. She just relaxed for a moment, lost too much blood, and fainted because it was too hot. Carry her to the eaves across the street, and I'll go stay with her."
Gu Qinglang nodded, avoiding Gu Yin's wound, and carried her to a shady corner so she could lean against it.
The old village chief, holding his copper pipe, stood beside her to prevent her from falling: "Go and take a look, don't worry about this! You've also scraped your arm, be careful," he said, pointing to his arm.
Gu Qinglang nodded, glanced at his daughter, and walked towards the car.
When Gu Yin fainted, and when Mo Wen saw the worry and anxiety on the faces of the people who came, as well as the sudden movement, he knew that these must be the little girl's family members. So he didn't go to see her, but took the toolbox and got into the car.
By the time Gu Qinglang arrived, the five-centimeter-thick iron plate had already been lifted up.
"My name is Gu Qinglang. That was my daughter, Gu Yin. My son, Gu Le, was the one who was arrested. So, do you see my son?" Gu Qinglang asked anxiously as he got into the car.
Mo Wen, who was holding tools in his hand, could only nod: "My name is Mo Wen, and I am a teacher at No. 2 Middle School. These are also teachers from our school. We haven't gone in yet, so we don't know what it's like down there."
After greeting them, Gu Qinglang crouched down and looked under the car. To his surprise, there was another net underneath. How much precautions were they taking? One after another! Fortunately, the net was only secured with wire. The group grabbed wrenches and pliers and got to work. In no time, the net was opened.
"I'll go down! I'm thinner here!" Gu Qinglang said, then bent down and went down to the ground.
The others were all physical education teachers, and they were quite muscular. The underground space wasn't large, so they would have to bend over or even squat to get down.
After Gu Qinglang went down, he realized that the underground space was pitifully small. There was no way to squat or sit! He could only lie down. Thinking that his precious son had been in this enclosed place for so long and he didn't know what was going on, he anxiously reached out and groped his way forward.
"Lele, A-Le! Gu Le! Son! Can you hear your father's voice?"
Gu Le had already woken up when they put the iron plate up, but she didn't realize where she was for a moment.
Upon seeing that familiar yet unfamiliar face, long-forgotten memories surged forth from the depths of my mind.
"Dad, Dad? I'm over here!" Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face.
"Daddy! I'm over here! Waaaaah! Daddy, Daddy, I'm here! Lele is here!" His voice was anxious and weak, filled with deep pain. He tried to crawl over, but he had no strength left in his body, not even the strength to turn over!
Gu Qinglang, who was crawling forward, heard his son's voice from the left and immediately turned around: "Were you scared? Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Daddy's here! Don't cry, don't cry, Daddy will take you out right away!"
When he was pulled into a warm embrace, Gu Le realized that this was not a dream! He had been found! He had really been found! Smelling the sweat on the other person's body, Gu Le felt exceptionally at ease. He shifted his body and buried his face in the chest he had fantasized about countless times.
Gu Qinglang checked his son over and over, and seeing that he was not injured anywhere, he finally felt relieved.
Sensing his son's presence, the man was truly frightened. He gently patted his head and said, "This isn't the place to talk. Dad will take you outside first!"
After saying that, he held Gu Le in one arm and slowly crawled towards the exit while gripping the ground with the other.
With the exit in sight, as he was about to get up, Gu Qinglang covered Gu Le's eyes with one hand and said to the people above, "Please cover his eyes when you carry him up. It's too dark down there. I'm afraid his eyes won't be able to handle the sudden light." After saying that, he handed Gu Le up.
Gu Le felt a stranger reach out and hug her. She stiffened for a moment, then relaxed, knowing it was someone her father knew. She called out to Gu Qinglang, "Dad, there are still people down there, but I don't know how many."
When he first woke up, he tried to kick them, but none of them reacted, suggesting they had been drugged like him.
Gu Qinglang paused as he was about to climb up, then put his feet down again: "Okay, don't worry, I'll go down and look for him!" After saying that, he lay down again and continued to grope around to rescue the person.
"Put the child here, it's cooler here!" The old village chief waved when he saw Gu Le being carried out.
The child had just been placed next to Gu Yin when the police, whom Mo Wen had called, arrived!
Five people arrived in total. The lead policeman looked at the two children sitting on the ground. One was covered in blood, and the other was pale and limp, clearly without any strength. Then he looked at the man tied to the tire of the car and asked in a low voice, "I am Officer Wang. What is the situation? Have the children been rescued? Are they human traffickers?"
Mo Wen nodded and then explained, "There are still children in the car! I don't know exactly how many. There are also accomplices of the human traffickers in this house! Officer Wang, all the houses here have back doors. If there are too many people and things get noisy, I'm afraid they'll escape through the back door."
Officer Wang understood at this point and turned to his colleagues behind him, instructing them, "A few of you go and keep watch from behind! Make sure not a single ant walks past you!"
Everyone assured them, "Received!" and then dispersed.
Gu Le opened his eyes after a moment's adjustment and turned his head to see an old man and a little girl. He blinked, not quite understanding what was happening.
"Little Lele, how are you feeling? Are you dizzy?" the old village chief asked in a low voice.
Gu Le shook her head: "Thirsty, but not dizzy anymore."
“There’s no water here, and I, the old village chief, can’t just leave. I have to stay here and watch over your sister and you. When your mother and the others come over later, I’ll have them go and buy some! Just bear with it for now, okay?”
Gu Le nodded, then looked to the side and asked, "What happened to my sister?"
"She fainted due to exhaustion and blood loss, but it's okay, she'll wake up after a while."
Upon hearing this, Gu Le shifted his body, hugged his sister's arm tightly, rubbed against her shoulder, and then lowered his head silently. Soon, a patch of ground became wet. The old village chief, who had been watching the car, did not notice anything unusual about him.
Mo Wen reached out from the car and picked up one child after another from Gu Qinglang's car, carrying five in total before finally stopping!
Looking at the unconscious children, Officer Wang trembled with anger: "This is outrageous! So many children! Just sitting there in broad daylight with no one watching them! What does this mean!" He then kicked the car in anger.
Mo Wen lowering his head signifies what? It signifies that the human traffickers are emboldened! It signifies that this isn't the first time they've done this! It also suggests that they've likely abducted many people before and succeeded each time!
Gu Qinglang climbed up, rested for a while, and then, together with the others, carried the children to the eaves and placed them there.
Officer Wang made a phone call using a small black button phone, then went under the car and pulled out the bound human trafficker.
The man was jolted awake by the excruciating pain from the pulling on his wound. He initially thought it was the girl and was about to intimidate her with his eyes when he saw the police officer in uniform. He froze completely. Damn it, he'd been hunting geese all day and now he'd been pecked blind by one himself. He'd missed!
He initially wanted to feign innocence, but upon seeing the rows of children under the eaves, he finally stopped resisting.
Officer Wang squatted down, grabbed his collar, and asked sternly, "How many people are still inside?! Think carefully, if you lied, your crime will be compounded! When your family arrives, I won't be able to help you fend off their wrath!"
Upon hearing this, the man saw the man in the distance who looked like he wanted to devour him, and then thought about how he had been beaten up by a girl. Damn it, what a tough place! He should have known better than to come. Thinking that he might never come out of here, and then thinking about the two people inside, and the group of people still living a life of luxury in the base, he realized that he had no family left and wasn't afraid of their threats. Why should they be able to live a carefree life while he was arrested? Overwhelmed by jealousy and resentment, he immediately nodded: "There are only two people inside, a man and a woman. There are other people elsewhere."
Officer Wang gave him a deep look, loosened his collar, and stood up: "You better be telling the truth!"
Officer Wang walked up to the group and said, "There are two people inside, but I can't guarantee they're telling the truth. I'll go in first. Once inside, grab any tools you can find. Remember, safety must come first!"
The group nodded and followed Officer Wang to the door of the house.
Officer Wang leaned against the door, one hand touching the tools he had brought with him when he left, and the other hand was about to open the slightly ajar door when it was pushed out from the inside.
A yawning, crew-cut man appeared before the crowd.
The man with the crew cut still had his hand on the doorknob, but as soon as he saw Officer Wang in uniform, he turned and ran inside.
"Police! Stop right there! I'll open fire if you run again!"
A woman's scream came from inside.
The group pushed open the door and went inside, only to see a crew-cut man and a woman lying on the ground. Clearly, the two had just collided, and because the crew-cut man was too strong, neither of them could get up for a moment.
Seeing this, several people rushed forward and firmly pinned the person down.
"You guys keep an eye on them, I'm going in to check on them!" Officer Wang saw that the four of them were more than enough to control the two men, so he got up and went inside.
A short while later, several police officers came out of there together.
Officer Wang threw a bundle on the ground. Inside were not only some unknown drugs, but also many tools used in the crime, and even nun's clothes and hood.
"Bring them all back to the station! Be careful, they're skilled at their methods, don't let anyone escape!" Officer Wang had barely finished speaking when...
Crying, cursing, and screams could be heard from outside.
Gu Yin hadn't actually been unconscious for long; she was woken up by the noise.
Someone was treating the wound on her forehead, and a gentle breeze was blowing by, making the wound feel less painful.
"Xiaoyin! You're awake? Do you feel unwell anywhere?"
A female voice rang out above her head.
Gu Yin looked up and saw her mother, Li Mengxin, looking at her with concern, holding a bottle of Yunnan Baiyao in her hand.
Gu Yin stared blankly at her, not replying for a moment.
Seeing her daughter like this, Li Mengxin asked worriedly, "Are you still dizzy? Mom has applied some medicine powder around your wound. You can't move the wound. We'll go to the hospital later. You might need stitches."
Seeing that Gu Yin had woken up, Gu Le hugged her arm tightly again, her eyes shining: "Sister, let me blow on it again, and it won't hurt anymore!"
Upon hearing the word "elder sister," Gu Yin's eyes flickered. She turned her head and saw the boy holding her. He had round, bright eyes and a chubby face that wasn't as dark as Gu Yin's. His complexion was a little pale, and he was looking at her expectantly.
"Ah Le?" Gu Yin reached out and pinched his chubby cheek, a little puzzled.
Gu Le rubbed her face against Gu Yin's hand and said with a smile, "It's me, sister, it's Le! I'm saved! Sister saved me! Sister is amazing! So amazing!" Her eyes welled up with tears as she finished speaking.
Gu Yin's tears streamed down her face. They were finally rescued! In her past life, she didn't know where her younger brother was until she died. She didn't know how many times she had despaired! If it weren't for the belief of 'finding her brother' that sustained her, she would have left with her family long ago. For her in her past life, living was too tiring!
Gu Le's cry of "It was my older sister who saved me" finally dispelled the despair Gu Yin had felt in her previous life, and made her truly feel that she had been reborn, her younger brother had been saved, and everything was different from this point on!
She smiled as she looked at the beautiful scene before her; it wasn't a dream. How wonderful!
A commotion arose, and Gu Yin turned her head to see her grandmother, Li Mingfang, pushing through the crowd and storming over.
Seeing her granddaughter's pitiful look, and then looking at the scab-covered wound on her head, Li Mingfang felt both heartache and anger: "You brat, you ran over here without even treating such a big cut! What were we supposed to do if something happened to you?! We say you're as wild as a boy, and you really think you're a boy! At least bring an adult with you! All that blood, what a waste of all that rice!" After saying that, she pretended to be angry and patted her shoulder.
Gu Yin looked at her mother, then at her stern-looking grandmother beside her, and softly called out, "Grandma~"
Looking at her injured granddaughter who was still calling her "my dear granddaughter" in a soft voice, Li Mingfang pursed her lips and stood up: "Okay, okay, I won't say anything to you!"
After he finished speaking, he saw the police leading two people out of the building.
Alright, the one outside is injured and can't fight, but we can fight these two now!
Today was market day, and everyone in the family was busy in the fields. She and the old village chief's wife went to the market to buy some daily necessities. Just as they stepped out of the market, they saw the eldest son's family, the second son's wife, and the old man rushing towards them. When she went up to ask, she learned that her grandson had been kidnapped and her granddaughter had chased after him all by herself.
Upon hearing this, Li Mingfang staggered, her mind filled with self-blame. If only she hadn't come to the market, if only she had brought her two children with her. If something had happened to the children, she wouldn't want to live anymore!
I handed the vegetable basket to the old village chief's wife and followed my family into the alley. There I saw seven or eight children sitting in a row in front of a house. My own children were there too. My muddled mind finally came back to its senses.
Upon seeing the bound man, she immediately stepped forward and slapped him several times. It was only after the old village chief told her that the man was injured and she couldn't hit him anymore or something bad would happen that she stopped.
Now that she sees other human traffickers, how could she possibly tolerate it!
Before Officer Wang could speak, he saw an old woman hurriedly grab a sandal and slap the trafficker across the face, cursing his ancestors as she did so.
"this……"
"Officer Wang! Let's go over here and talk!" Gu Qinglang quickly led the person aside.
The remaining police officers looked at each other, then pretended to be alert to their surroundings, observing everywhere but not focusing their eyes on the two prisoners.
Grandpa Gu Jianguo, his eldest son Gu Qingming, and his eldest son's wife Li Xiang stepped forward to stop the old lady. While they were saying things to stop her, they were actually hitting the two human traffickers with their feet and hands.
Seeing the two screaming men, the man tied up outside the door trembled and lay on the ground, not daring to utter a sound, for fear that he would also suffer.
"Your family members should take your child to the hospital for treatment. Please also take the other children with you. I will have two colleagues accompany you. After I bring the trafficker back to the station, we will go to the hospital to have your two children make statements."
After speaking, Officer Wang looked at the agitated family members and sighed, "I know you're very angry. I'll give you a piece of advice: there's a crackdown going on recently, so let them off the hook."
Gu Qinglang's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he nodded: "Then let's take the children to the hospital first! We'll talk again later!"
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