Chapter 4: The Incident
After saying that, Chen Jiumei took out a receipt and said to Chen Xing who had just come in:
"Five thousand to buy her, plus the three thousand that bitch stole, a total of eight thousand. If you can't find her, just pay her! Don't blame me, Chen Jiumei, for being unreasonable."
At this time, everyone looked at Chen Xing. Chen Xing seemed a little afraid of Chen Jiumei. He threw his cigarette holder to the ground, his lips trembling, his face flushed, and he uttered a few words: "Find her! Find her mother!"
Then the whole village started to go out of the mountain with torches to look for her. Zhang Wei looked at Old Lady Chen's hateful eyes and felt that he had to leave quickly.
Zhang Wei looked at the yard that was about to become dark again, and suddenly felt that she might have a way to walk across the cliff path!
It definitely won’t work tonight, everyone is out looking for someone, and there are people coming and going on the street.
Chen Jiumei didn't come back until the next morning. Old Mrs. Chen cursed all night long and didn't let Zhang Wei enter the kitchen in the morning. She didn't even have any sweet potatoes to eat that day.
Fortunately, Zhang Wei still had some food reserves. She ate some of the roast chicken she had hidden before, and then climbed into the granary through the window to steal some sweet potatoes. She felt relieved.
At noon, a strange woman came over. She spoke Mandarin and was obviously better dressed. When she entered the village, she looked at the playful children unscrupulously.
Zhang Wei watched her go to Chen's house, so he hid himself to see what she was doing there.
Unexpectedly, the usually harsh old lady Chen was actually very polite to her. She even made her some brown sugar tea and spoke in poor Mandarin with a hint of flattery:
"Aunt Li, please come over here. My wife—"
Before Old Lady Chen could finish her words, Aunt Li San raised her hand to stop her from talking. She frowned, took a sip of tea and said:
"Ninth sister told me that this is all your fault. Who wouldn't keep their daughter-in-law properly locked up? Only your family is kind-hearted?"
"I've been fooled by that vixen!" Old Mrs. Chen regretted her decision and hesitated before speaking.
"That five thousand dollars bought—"
Aunt Li raised her eyebrows and said, "I call you Sister Chen, but you have to be reasonable. Your son is also reasonable when it comes to the payment of money and goods. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here today!"
So this woman is a human trafficker. No wonder her eyes are so shifty. So what's she doing here? Is she trying to buy another one, or... is she trying to sell her off?!
Zhang Wei couldn't help but think of the worst. Her hands were wet with sweat. As soon as this thought came to her mind, she wanted to roll up her package and run away. Now she could only patiently continue to listen:
"Then Third Aunt, are you coming?"
"Your ninth sister said I can choose people. If Qin Yuan doesn't come back, she asked me to find one for him. But he doesn't want that girl from your family anymore. He can sell her to offset some of the money. I just stopped by today to take a look at the goods in advance."
Zhang Wei understood the meaning from her words. Since Li Sangu came here, it meant that no matter whether Qin Yuan could be found or not, she would definitely be sold!
Damn it! Neither of these mother and son are good people. Zhang Wei felt that with Qin Yuan's ability, they would definitely not be able to find her. No matter what, she had to leave tonight...
Fortunately, she was basically prepared.
Zhang Wei returned to the Chen family's house before nightfall. Aunt Li had already left. Perhaps because she thought she could make some money, Mrs. Chen had cooked some sweet potatoes and heated up some leftovers from the banquet. Zhang Wei ate a lot, filling her stomach.
When it was completely dark, Chen Jiumei and the others still hadn't returned. Zhang Wei knew that they would not give up until three or four days had passed.
Old Mrs. Chen didn't sleep all night yesterday and started snoring as soon as she lay down. Zhang Wei just quietly left the room.
There are only two locks in the entire Chen family, one on the box and the other on the granary, so Zhang Wei sneaked into Chen Jiumei and their room again, intending to search for some useful things.
Zhang Wei went in with the flashlight he had stolen before. The box was still open, and Qin Yuan's clothes were still in the closet. The only other valuable things he found were a lighter on the bedside.
Finally, Zhang Wei arrived at the village entrance barefoot in the dark, carrying a backpack made of urea bags and ropes, which contained a few sweet potatoes, half a nearly rotten chicken and sixty yuan.
Unfortunately, no matter how much she looked, the only clothes she could find were the one she was wearing. The inner sweater had no elasticity, and the outer jacket was a school uniform with the zipper head missing. The words on it were worn out and could not be seen clearly. It was too long to reach Zhang Wei's knees, and the pants had to be rolled up several times, but at least it did not hinder walking.
There was someone guarding the path at the entrance of the village. A fire was lit and a man was sitting on the ground dozing off.
Zhang Wei looked towards the other side of the cliff, and sure enough, she could not see anything. Her confidence in walking over there increased a little more.
She stared at the dozing man as she lightly walked to the intersection, her bare feet making no sound as she stepped on the ground. Then, she slowly walked forward, feeling the stone wall with her hands. If she couldn't see the bottom of the cliff, it didn't seem so scary...
Zhang Wei secretly observed several times during the day. As long as she walked a certain distance ahead, there would be an ordinary mountain road behind. She supported her hands on the cold stones and walked forward as quickly as possible. There was no moonlight in the sky, and she did not need light.
She counted silently in her mind as she walked. When she reached 5,300, she finally touched the soil. Only then did Zhang Wei realize that her clothes were soaked with sweat...
Zhang Wei turned on the flashlight and found that the person was indeed coming. However, she was not familiar with the road ahead, so she could only continue walking with the flashlight. The flashlight only shone at the ground, not in the distance, for she was afraid of meeting someone on the road.
Zhang Wei has very little to fear due to her long-term independent life. She is calm in the quiet night, and the road to freedom is under her feet. However, she has not yet figured out what to do next after dawn.
She didn't know how long she had been walking. Her feet had long lost all feeling, and her hands were red and swollen from crossing the cliff. She didn't know how long it would take until dawn. Zhang Wei listened carefully and heard the sound of water. She wanted to take a break.
After following the sound for a while, she stepped on smooth stones. Zhang Wei found a flat river beach, which seemed to be some distance away from the roadside. She found some dry firewood, started a fire, and sat in front of the fire. Her sense of security increased greatly, and she decided to wait until dawn before continuing her journey.
Soon it was daybreak and the fire was out. Zhang Wei's body was wet with dew. She opened her eyes and saw farmland and houses not far away. It seemed that she was almost in town.
She washed her face by the river, roasted the last half of a chicken, and ate a full meal before continuing on her journey. However, she had to be more careful next time. Chen Jiumei and many other people in the village were looking for Qin Yuan in town. If they were caught, all her efforts would be in vain...
So she planned to go to the town as soon as possible while it was still light, to see what was going on. If she could find a car, she could leave quickly. She hoped that everything would go well.
"Gulu--bah!"
In a yard in the town, Chen Jiumei had already gotten up. With a gloomy expression, she spat out a mouthful of mouthwash, which happened to land on Chen Xing who was leaning over.
Chen Xing's expression changed slightly, but he suppressed it, wiped it off, and asked in a flattering tone:
"Brother Jiu, are you still going to the county town today?"
He made a big mistake and has been following Chen Jiumei around and working hard these days.
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