Chapter 2: Human Traffickers
The green train rumbled, and the noise was accompanied by a pungent smell of fuel.
Xu Xiaoyue protected the package with one hand and used the other hand to cover the veil on her face. She raised her head and searched for her seat inch by inch.
The aisle was crowded with people, and Xu Xiaoyue's cautious look as she carried her luggage became an alternative sight.
The driver sent by the Yan family to pick her up only took her to the train station and then said he had something to do and had to turn back. Xu Xiaoyue bought a ticket to the capital by herself.
She had only sat down for two stops when she suddenly found a lesbian leaning against her seat.
She looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, with two black braids and visible dark circles under her eyes.
Before Xu Xiaoyue opened her mouth to speak, the female comrade said timidly, "Sister, I'm sorry to bother you. I'll just stay for a while."
Xu Xiaoyue nodded, put the luggage she was holding under her feet, and vacated half of the seat. "You can sit here for a while."
The man sitting opposite them couldn't help but stare at Xu Xiaoyue secretly ever since she sat down. After seeing her give up her seat, he raised his head to glance at the young female comrade and spoke as if to start a conversation.
"Little comrade, I saw you standing all the way. Thanks to the kindness of this female comrade, she vacated half a seat for you."
"Yes, otherwise I would have to stand all the way to the capital and both my legs would have been broken."
"You are going to the capital from here to visit relatives?"
When talking about the capital, the two of them started talking nonstop as if they had opened a chat box.
The train rumbled into the tunnel, the light was blocked and the entire carriage became dark. Xu Xiaoyue took the opportunity to secretly look at the man opposite.
He was wearing a well-fitting green Zhongshan suit, with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses under his thick hair, a black briefcase in his right hand, and spoke fluent Beijing accent, making him look like an extraordinary person.
The man noticed Xu Xiaoyue's gaze, and their eyes met in mid-air. A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as a greeting.
After exiting the tunnel, he seemed to remember something and took out a business card from his bag and placed it on the table. "We are also destined to meet. I work at the Capital Steel Plant. The plant is still short of a few female employees to receive leaders who come to inspect the plant."
"I see that you have good looks and speak Mandarin fluently. Are you interested in an interview? I can introduce you to someone. It shouldn't be a problem."
As soon as he finished speaking, the female comrade sitting next to Xu Xiaoyue's eyes lit up, picked up the business card on the table and read out the man's name.
Xu Xiaoyue turned her head, glanced at the man, and then looked at the business card.
"Steel plant?" Her red lips moved slightly.
The man opposite couldn't wait to explain, "Yes, female comrade, are you interested? The treatment in the factory is not bad, with food and accommodation provided, and the monthly salary can be 30 to 40 yuan."
Everyone around gasped. This was not just “not bad”; it was the opportunity they had always dreamed of.
Several people surrounded the man, chattering and asking how many people he wanted to recruit.
Even the pigtailed girl sitting next to Xu Xiaoyue turned her head to look at her and said excitedly, "Sister, you are going to the capital as well, right? We are lucky to have met a noble person. We can go together..."
"I won't join in the fun." Xu Xiaoyue shook her head slightly. Her tone was light, but the refusal was obvious.
Looking at the man surrounded on the opposite side, she paused, stood up and said to the people around her: "Please make way, I'm going to the toilet."
Xu Xiaoyue held a handkerchief in her pocket, her face calm, but her heart was already pounding. She walked a few steps to the conductor and whispered, "There are human traffickers on this train."
Before the conductor could react, the two people sitting in the corner with their eyes closed suddenly opened their eyes.
"What nonsense are you talking about!" After reacting, the conductor looked around and after confirming that no one noticed him, he glared at the woman in front of him with a sullen face.
It was obvious that the conductor in front of her did not believe her.
Xu Xiaoyue did not explain further, but stretched out her hand and pointed towards the compartment where she was and said, "Whether I am talking nonsense or not, you just need to keep an eye on that man."
"If I really misunderstood him, I am willing to apologize."
Seeing her so confident, the conductor walked over and pretended to glance at the man casually, then came back and scolded him softly, "The way he's dressed, it's obvious that he works for a regular unit. I heard he works in a steel plant."
After he finished speaking, the conductor looked Xu Xiaoyue up and down and said in a mocking tone, "That gay man looks like an honest man, but you are dressed like this. Are you trying to seduce him but failed? I have seen many lesbians like you..."
After hearing this, Xu Xiaoyue really wanted to slap her twice.
In order not to attract attention, she bought a silk scarf to cover half of her face when getting on the bus. She almost wrapped herself up from head to toe. I didn't expect that people would still think there was something wrong with her.
But what Xu Xiaoyue didn't know was that compared to exposing her entire face, this half-covered veil only leaves a pair of eyes exposed, coupled with her overall temperament, makes people unable to help but peek at the beauty under the veil.
"I've seen a lot of people like this. Why is your brain still not working? Don't you know that people like me are not easy to mess with?"
"How did you..."
Before the conductor could finish his words, Xu Xiaoyue glanced coldly at the woman's ID card and turned away.
"Tsk tsk, that lesbian has a really bad temper, but she also has a really pretty face."
"Yan Tuan, how credible do you think her words are?"
A deliberately low voice sounded from the corner, and after speaking, the voice looked at the person next to him.
The man was wearing a black jacket and black pants with long legs that had nowhere to go in this small space.
She has neat short black hair, a pair of eyes that shoot out cold stars, and two curved eyebrows that are as dark as painted. Even if she doesn't speak, she has a presence that is hard to ignore.
"Without investigation, you have no right to speak." After saying that, the man stood up and walked towards the carriage.
Xu Xiaoyue was disappointed. As soon as she sat down, her stomach started to growl. She had not eaten a single bite since she got on the train.
A blush appeared on her cheeks. She put one hand to cover her stomach, and when she looked up, a pastry of unrecognizable shape was handed to her. The golden crust was wrinkled when it was opened, perhaps because it was wrapped in too many layers, but one could still vaguely smell its fragrance.
"Sister, this is what my mother made for me. There is one left, half for each of us."
After saying that, before Xu Xiaoyue could even say no, half of the food was stuffed into her palm.
Food was especially precious in that era. Xu Xiaoyue could feel her blood sugar gradually starting to drop. Without giving it much thought, she just said thank you and swallowed the cake with some water.
The green train was shaking as it moved. Xu Xiaoyue leaned against the backrest, becoming more and more sleepy. Her consciousness gradually became hazy. When she was about to fall asleep, she suddenly opened her eyes again.
Something was wrong. Even if she had hypoglycemia, she wouldn't be this sleepy.
Not only was I sleepy, my whole body felt weak and I had no strength at all.
The first person that came to Xu Xiaoyue’s mind was the human trafficker who claimed to be from the steel factory, but she was very careful and did not take anything from him.
She pinched her palms hard, pressing her nails between them to make them bleed to stay awake. In a flash, Xu Xiaoyue reacted.
Oh no, this lesbian is in cahoots with the man opposite!
Xu Xiaoyue immediately wanted to stand up and shout for help, but when she struggled to move, her sleeves were pulled hard, forcing Xu Xiaoyue to stay in her seat.
"Sister, why are you carsick?"
"We're about to arrive at the station. Just bear with it for a while and I'll take you downstairs to get some fresh air." The girl with pigtails spoke with worry in her tone, but her other hand was tightly covering Xu Xiaoyue's mouth in a place that was invisible to outsiders.
After controlling the man, the woman nodded. The man carrying a briefcase opposite her stood up, pretending to stretch his body, and walked to their seats to block the exit.
The rumble of the green train became quieter and quieter, and finally it slowly stopped.
The crowd squeezed out of the car. The man held Xu Xiaoyue in his left hand and covered her face with his briefcase.
The female comrade on the right pulled Xu Xiaoyue's arm, and the two of them blocked her in the middle, unable to move forward or backward.
There were people everywhere. Xu Xiaoyue wanted to shout something, but her voice was drowned out by the crowd as soon as she came out.
Seeing herself being taken step by step to the exit of the carriage, she was only two steps away from getting off the train with the two men.
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