Tang Cuiju had an emotional outburst and cried very sadly. She hugged her very tightly. After she finished crying, with her eyes swollen like walnuts, she expressed her inner unease and tension with a feeling of having regained what she had lost, and kept asking her questions.
"What happened? You're so smart, how could you get kidnapped? And you've been gone for so many days! You scared me to death!"
Seeing her sister patting her hand with a mixture of heartache and helplessness, Xiao Jiu felt bad too, because she had indeed been living in fear these past few days. What was even more unbelievable was that none of the money she threw away had helped her call the police, meaning the money had been wasted.
"Alright, second sister, stop crying. Look, I'm fine now, aren't I? This was an accident, and I was just too presumptuous."
Relying on his trump card, he didn't fight back against those people, never expecting that a rainstorm would save him.
Although Xiao Jiu had already explained it many times, she still explained it to Tang Cuiju in detail again.
The part about falling into the cave was deliberately omitted because it seemed more like a bonus added by the system for the female protagonist.
There was a sense of unreality to it, especially since the money wasn't obtained in a perfectly legitimate way, so she didn't plan to touch it for the time being.
And the trip to find the human traffickers wasn't entirely in vain.
"Sister, the profile I provided to the police is at least 70-80% accurate. I believe that Aunt Mei will be caught sooner or later. Only when she is caught can those missing children be found."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly.
"It's fortunate that even though the Tang family is bad, they only thought of sending the child to the neighborhood and didn't directly sell him to human traffickers."
If it really comes to that, we might not be able to find those sisters again.
Do you know what, sister? All those pretty and educated girls that Aunt Mei kidnapped, don't sell them to the south or even smuggle them to Hong Kong to work as prostitutes.
"That was terrifying. Luckily, I hadn't fully grown in, and luckily they were greedy and insisted on selling that baby, otherwise I probably would have been sold to the mountains long ago."
"If we hadn't kept this from your grandparents and your brothers, things would have been in complete chaos."
It was also during this time that my eldest sister took charge of the overall situation and had absolute confidence that you would be alright.
I won't even go into how hard your parents have worked, but honestly, Xiaojiu, being their daughter was the best decision you ever made.
Xiao Jiu knew this very well; heaven knows how heartbroken she was when she saw their haggard faces at the police station.
I increasingly regret my impulsiveness, but after the impulse subsides, I feel that I did the right thing.
If it weren't for her, baby Ni would have been dead.
That's a life, no matter what!
"We've asked the school for leave for you, but we haven't let them know at all."
Being abducted is not a good thing. In this day and age, people's thinking is still somewhat feudal. Girls care about their reputation, and no one would joke about someone's reputation unless it is absolutely necessary.
"Fortunately, your school didn't have a holiday this week, it was a continuous session, so Yuanyuan didn't have a chance to come and find out anything."
She disappeared for a week. Cuiju had taken the afternoon off, but Xiaojiu urged her to go back to work.
"Look, I'm perfectly fine. Let's go back, I'll rest for a while, take a shower at the public bathhouse, and go back to school tonight."
Seeing that she couldn't stop her, Cuiju could only let her go. As soon as she left, Aunt Weng came over.
"Are you alright? Your sister has been absent-minded these days, running around every day, her face is all dry and she never smiles."
"It's alright, Grandma Weng. I was hospitalized with a cold and pneumonia, and my family brought it to me as soon as I recovered."
"Oh my, no wonder you've lost so much weight and your complexion doesn't look good. You'd better take good care of yourself."
After saying that, he glanced at Xiaojiu with a hint of embarrassment. What else could he not understand?
She immediately nodded to her, especially since she also wanted to see if the rice she brought back from the cave was edible, so she gave the old lady thirty catties.
"This rice hasn't been husked yet. Please see if it's edible. If it's fine, I'll give you more as I see fit. This is all I have for now. I'll send you the rest in a week."
The grains in the cave felt dry to the touch and didn't smell much, so there shouldn't be any major problems. But to her surprise, the old man and woman waved their hands and said...
"Oh, it's alright, it's alright. This is rice, why bother removing the husks? Just boil it and eat it."
What? You're going to eat it with the bran too?
"You don't know this, do you? Rice bran is in short supply right now. It's okay, you can't buy it anyway, so we can save ourselves an extra step. Just boil it directly. Boil it a little longer to bring out the sticky texture of the rice oil, and the taste will be just as good."
Xiao Jiu watched them happily carrying the grain with a bitter expression, secretly cursing himself for being 'unaware of human suffering'.
The bran was so hot to the touch that even if you cooked it in a pot, the taste was indescribable. But they didn't seem to care at all. No wonder they had survived the impoverished years and seen all kinds of things. In their eyes, this little bit of food was actually a good thing.
Having not taken a proper shower in a long time, Xiao Jiu deliberately chose a time when it was less crowded to go to the public bathhouse.
The entrance fee was only one cent, and it even included a steam room and a clean and hygienic shower. She took a comfortable shower there for two hours before going home.
The rice from the cave included both regular rice and millet. Regardless of the type, she found it hard to swallow, as it even had a strong earthy taste. If she grabbed too much, it was difficult to swallow; if she grabbed too little, the soup she made was so thin and watery that it was not worth eating.
But when she saw Grandpa and Grandma Weng drinking soup without changing their expressions, she also suppressed her discomfort and struggled to put the soup in her mouth and chew it.
You can imagine how hard it is to chew a mouthful of bran, but in the process of chewing, you can squeeze out the rice inside the bran, and in the end, you can actually swallow it.
She stared blankly at the bowl of rice bran water in front of her, forcing herself to chew it bite by bite until she finished it all, then prayed that her powerful stomach could completely digest it.
This kind of thing is fine to eat once in a while, but if she eats it every day, even if she's willing in her heart, her stomach won't be.
After so many days of wandering, Xiao Jiu specially made noodles for dinner, stir-fried tomatoes and eggs, washed a bunch of chives, and a pot of traffic light-style noodle soup was ready.
After having dinner with Tang Cuiju, she rode her bicycle to take her to school. She didn't even go to the dormitory and went straight to the classroom.
When her classmates saw her return, after several days of hardship and sleeping outdoors, and that she looked noticeably thinner, they all asked her with concern.
"Why haven't you been to school for so long? You don't look well either, you're so thin your eyes are bulging out."
Xiao Jiu summed it up in one sentence: "It's nothing, I just had a fever, a pretty high one, and then I started coughing. It just wouldn't get better, so I stayed home for a while. Let me see my notes from this period. I missed more than a week of classes this time, and I need to catch up quickly!"
"You got first place in the class in the opening exam! With your ability, don't worry, you won't fall behind much."
Her roommates comforted her and showed her their notes on subjects they were good at. Xiaojiu looked at the dense words and formulas and felt her head was spinning. But there was nothing she could do. If she didn't study, she wouldn't have a job in the future. She needed a stable job for the next twenty years.
After class, her little darlings all gathered around her.
"Tell me quickly, what's your relationship with Zheng Yuan, that second-year high school student? He's been coming to our class to see you every day this week, hasn't he?"
"Yeah, when did you two get so close? Every time he hears you're not coming, he looks so anxious. It's making us all depressed."
Zheng Yuan?
My parents also mentioned that they only found out about this because this kid went to report it to the police; he really helped them.
"I fainted on my way home and he took me to the hospital. Maybe he was worried about whether I was alright?"
We weren't close before; I only knew we were from the same county.
Despite what she said, Xiao Jiu still walked towards Class 1 of Grade 11 after her evening self-study session. They finished their self-study session at 9:30, but Grade 11 finished at 10:00.
As expected of someone who's already been admitted to university without taking the entrance exam, he was actually sitting in the last row, dozing off. Xiao Jiu crouched down and went over, throwing a clod of dirt at him. Startled awake, the older brother instinctively turned his head to look, and when he saw Xiao Jiu giving him a disdainful look, he immediately cursed.
"Holy crap, you're alright? When did you get back?"
When all the tall guys around her looked at her, Xiao Jiu blushed uncontrollably and awkwardly made a gesture at him.
Zheng Yuan then remembered something, turned around to greet his deskmate, crouched down, moved to the door, and ran out.
As soon as they stepped outside, he excitedly grabbed her and spun her around: "Are you really alright? You little ingrate, you didn't even tell me you were alright. Do you know how scared I've been these past few days? I haven't slept for days!"
"Pah, you've done too many bad things, haven't you? You haven't slept for days, but you seem to be eating and sleeping perfectly well. When you abandoned me, did you ever think about feeling guilty?"
"What are you saying? I was doing it all for my parents. They finally got into university through a special program. If something happens to them, how will I guarantee their future?"
"Wow, I never would have guessed that my senior brother is such a filial son!"
"My mother developed many health problems from hunger so that I could go to school, so of course I have to take good care of her."
Do you know why I went to Tongji University? Because their affiliated hospital was willing to treat my dad's eye condition.
When I go to school, I have to take my parents with me; they have sacrificed so much for me.
So, little sister, I'm sorry, but there was nothing I could do. Now that I see you're safe and sound, I'm relieved.
"If you ever need anything, just let me know. Consider it something I owe you, okay?"
Seeing Zheng Yuan's serious expression, Xiao Jiu suddenly felt guilty and casually smiled with relief.
“Brother Zheng, I was wrong too. I shouldn’t have accused you like that. My situation is no different from moral blackmail. Please don’t take it to heart.”
Congratulations on achieving your wish! I also wish your uncle and aunt a speedy recovery. As for favors, you don't owe me anything!
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