Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Caught
The air was filled with a suffocating, damp and unpleasant smell. Liu Jinshi's throat was itchy and she couldn't help coughing violently.
With a creak, the small wooden door at the top of the cellar opened. Someone peeked in and cursed, "He's awake again! Why is the anesthetic so ineffective this time?"
However, he clearly had no intention of coming down to give Liu Jinshi more anesthetic. He simply threatened, "Behave yourself, or I'll come down and kill you."
With a bang, the door closed again.
Liu Jinshi shifted in the darkness. Her hands and feet were bound, making it extremely difficult to sit up. After several unsuccessful attempts, she finally gave up. She wanted to cry out, to curse, but her throat burned with pain, and in the end, only a few hoarse syllables uttered.
She opened her eyes but could see nothing. Fear seeped into her bones, making her body tremble uncontrollably.
She regretted it very much now. She regretted why she listened to the nonsense of Zhu Yongqi, the scoundrel, and why she was so unguarded as to follow him into the deserted alley. After regretting it, she hated Liu Mianmian, the instigator of all this.
If Liu Mianmian had not been recognized, if Liu Mianmian had not had any contact with Zhu Yongqi, if Liu Mianmian had not exposed her in front of Shen Weihong...how could she have cared about Zhu Yongqi, how could anything have happened?
But regret was useless now. She was imprisoned and could not escape. Thinking of the future she might face, Liu Jinshi cried out in fear.
It was unknown how much time had passed, perhaps a long time, perhaps a short time; Liu Jinshi could no longer tell. The small wooden door of the cellar opened again, a ladder lowered, and a burly man, holding a sack in one hand and the ladder in the other, climbed into the cellar.
The man fumbled on the wall, and with a click, a dim light bulb lit up.
He looked at Liu Jinshi and saw her lying there motionless. He stretched out his foot and kicked her twice, causing her to groan. He then made a sound of "tsk" and muttered, "Don't play dead. You're worthless if you're dead. I'll throw you into a sack and feed you to the dogs."
Liu Jinshi trembled with fear.
The man untied the sack he brought and dragged a person out of it like a piglet.
Liu Jinshi squinted her eyes, and in a daze, she saw the man with curly hair that fell past his shoulders. The liver-red top he was wearing looked very familiar. She kept looking at the man, and finally made out his facial features through his messy hair.
Liu Jinshi's eyes suddenly widened.
Suddenly, a flurry of footsteps could be heard from above the cellar, followed by an angry growl: "Qian Lao Er, you bastard, you're really crazy about money, you're crazy, why did you kidnap my sister when you could kidnap anyone else?! She's my sister, my only sister!"
Hearing this sound, Liu Jinshi began to moan softly.
It’s Zhu Yongqi, it’s that bastard Zhu Yongqi!
Another voice echoed from above the cellar: "You promised at least two shipments, and now we've only got one, and the other one has even gotten our people in. What do you think we should do?"
"What's wrong with my own sister? Haha, in our line of work, who hasn't messed with relatives and friends around them? The easiest ones to mess with are relatives and friends. Oh, no, the easiest ones to mess with are your own children. Ask Aunt Zhong where her daughter is, where her granddaughter is? Hahahahaha."
There was silence for a long time until Qian Lao Er spoke again: "Alright, let's go have a drink together. The police have been investigating closely these past few days, so let's stay out of the spotlight for now. We'll find a suitable time in a couple of days to take all this stuff away in one truck. When we get to Guangzhou, I'll take you out to eat and drink."
Afterwards, Qian Laoer dug into the cellar entrance and shouted, "Wu Laosan, what are you doing down there? I'm telling you, don't mess around. If you can't sell it for a good price, I'll chop you to death!"
Wu Laosan responded with a murmur, then reluctantly took his hand off the woman's chest. He cursed and, as he passed by Liu Jinshi, bent down and touched her butt. When Liu Jinshi whimpered, he kicked her hard: "Behave yourself."
He climbed up the ladder and out of the cellar. The small wooden door was closed again, but there was still a dim light in the cellar.
Wu Laosan forgot to turn off the lights.
Liu Jinshi burst into tears.
Humiliation, fear, and regret overwhelmed her like a tide.
"Cry, cry, cry, there's no point in crying." Zhu Meiqi whispered, "Are you as miserable as me? I was tricked out by my own brother. Damn it, Zhu Yongqi, that bastard, he deserves to be struck by lightning and has no descendants. He actually got involved with human traffickers and wanted to sell his own sister!"
As she spoke, Zhu Meiqi couldn't help crying. "I heard that girls abducted by human traffickers would be sold to the poorest mountain villages. A family with five brothers would buy one girl as a wife. That's still considered good. Some would even be sold to brothels and have sex with dozens or even hundreds of men every day. Zhu Yongqi, you bastard, you are not a human being—"
The small wooden door of the cellar was suddenly opened again, and Zhu Meiqi's crying stopped abruptly. From Liu Jinshi's perspective, she could see that she was biting her lips tightly while crying.
Wu Laosan was cursing beside the small wooden door. He took a wooden fork and tried to hook the light cord for a long time. Finally, he hooked the light cord. With a snap, the light went out, the small wooden door closed again, and the cellar returned to darkness.
Only suppressed, hoarse crying remained.
Three days passed and the police still hadn't found the person.
"Zhu Yongqi and Zhu Meiqi are both missing. They usually hang around everywhere, and no one pays attention to their whereabouts." Jiang Hongmei said while eating wontons. "Your mother cries at home every day. It's better during the day, but she cries at night too, like a ghost, it's so creepy."
Jiang Hongmei ran to Qiuzhi Lane early every morning. At first, she sat obediently in the yard, eating melon seeds and waiting for Liu Mianmian to wake up. Later, she ran to knock on the door of the east wing, and then she ran into the house directly to dig Liu Mianmian out of bed.
Look, even the wontons cooked by Aunt Liu herself are mixed in.
"This group of people are veterans with rich experience in committing crimes. I'm afraid they are not that easy to find." Liu Mianmian felt it was too hot, so she pinched the spoon and blew gently on it. "It's too difficult to find people these days." There was not even a camera on the road, and all clues depended on investigation and reporting.
Jiang Hongmei automatically understood the meaning. "That's right. Ten or twenty years ago, you needed a letter of introduction to go out. There were several people living in one courtyard, and the neighbors were very clear. Now it's different. With the return of educated youth and farmers, many courtyards have tenants from other places."
But it's true.
After all, compared to a decade or so ago or even decades later, it is more difficult to catch bad guys these days.
Liu Mianmian remembered that when she was a child in her previous life, she often watched news reports about fugitives who had been fugitives for many years being found. This should be the result of various technological advances.
The news of Liu Jinshi's abduction had spread throughout the military factory's family compound, and the women and children there had been less likely to go out. Rumors swirled that Zhu Yongqi might also be involved, and the unruly scoundrels in the compound had become the talk of the town, with everyone from their own family to their neighbors looking at them with suspicion.
Jiang Hongmei was also quite upset. After all, her family and the Liu family were next-door neighbors, and she and Liu Jinshi saw each other every day.
It feels very different to go from seeing someone being abducted as rumored to seeing someone being abducted every day.
Just thinking about it gives me chills.
However, Jiang Hongmei knew more than others. Considering what she had heard and seen before, Jiang Hongmei actually guessed the whole story almost exactly.
Liu Jinshi wanted to instigate Zhu Yongqi to throw dirty water on Liu Mianmian, but she didn't expect that she would be courting disaster and end up getting herself involved.
Neither one nor two are good things.
It’s really chilling to think about living in the same yard with such a person.
"Forget it, let's not talk about them. They're not good people." Jiang Hongmei changed the subject. "I've already negotiated with them about the defective goods. The goods are worth a thousand yuan in total. I can raise three hundred yuan, and you can give me another seven hundred yuan. Then the profit will be 30% to 70%."
"No need. Consider the two hundred as a loan from me. We'll split it fifty-fifty." Liu Mianmian waved her hand, stopping Jiang Hongmei from speaking. "You found the source of the goods, and you'll be primarily responsible for sales. A thirty-seven split means you're working for me for free."
She sipped the sweet wonton soup and said nonchalantly, "I don't mind this little money."
Jiang Hongmei choked and looked at the exquisitely decorated restaurant in front of her. She had no way to refute it.
She can earn money herself, and her husband's family is also rich, so she really doesn't need these little things.
"Okay, then you have to go to the market with me to sell goods, and I will pay you your wages later." Jiang Hongmei also has a straightforward personality.
Liu Mianmian thought for a while and said, "Let's wait until all the human traffickers are caught before selling the goods." She didn't want to be caught at the market and said that she was his wife, and then be taken away in a mess.
Jiang Hongmei twitched her lips: "Okay."
It is said that human traffickers approached her many times but failed to trick her into taking the bait. If everyone had this level of vigilance, the police wouldn't have to work overtime every day to search the entire city for people.
However, after hearing what Liu Mianmian said, Jiang Hongmei was actually a little scared. She had a bit of a strong and aggressive personality, but this was from a normal person's perspective. She was not afraid of quarreling or fighting, but if the other party was a human trafficking gang, she would still be very scared.
Even though she goes to Qiuzhi Lane every day, she doesn't dare to go to any deserted place and doesn't dare to talk to any strangers on the road.
Jiang Hongmei thought about it and decided that she should listen to Liu Mianmian. Otherwise, she would not make any money but end up losing herself.
Tsk, this human trafficker is affecting their ability to make money.
In fact, it's not just them. Everyone in Nancheng who has heard about this incident has become much more cautious recently, especially some young people. They go out less often and are quite panicked.
The police were naturally under immense pressure, with officers like Lin Zhe and his colleagues dispatching numerous personnel to provide support. After investigations revealed that Liu Jinshi wasn't the only missing person, two other women and three children were also missing. The police were working overtime to investigate.
Fortunately, they were not completely without clues. They had a portrait sketch provided by Shen Weizhuo and a fat man who was suspected to be a member of the human trafficking gang.
A few days later.
At dawn, a rapid knock on the door broke the silence. Aunt Liu put on her coat and walked to the door to open it: "Oh, who is it? It's so early in the morning, I'll wake up Weizhou and Mianmian."
The gate opened, and Jiang Hongmei was standing outside holding her bicycle. When she saw Aunt Liu, she immediately shouted excitedly, "Aunt Liu, the human traffickers have been caught!"
Aunt Liu was stunned for a moment, then she became excited: "He was caught?!"
Jiang Hongmei panted slightly and nodded, saying, "He was caught in the early morning. The police just came to inform the Liu family. I rushed over to report the news as soon as I heard it."
Aunt Liu said with a complicated expression, "Has the girl from the Liu family been found?"
She knew that the girl from the Liu family had bad intentions and wanted to throw dirty water on Liu Mianmian. It was very likely that she was kidnapped while discussing something bad.
Being abducted by human traffickers is tragic, but this girl is not a good person either.
He clearly took over Mianmian's identity and lived a good life in the city for more than 20 years, but he didn't feel he owed her anything. Instead, he wanted to frame Mianmian. What a black heart he has.
"The police didn't send him back. They said he was taken to the hospital and suffered a lot, so he needs to be treated for a period of time. They also said that he needs to cooperate with the investigation during this period." Jiang Hongmei's expression was subtle. "I secretly overheard a little bit. The police also asked in detail about the composition of the Liu family, the relationship between Liu Jinshi and Mianmian, and whether there were any conflicts between them."
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