Chapter 5, Human Traffickers
"Daohua, what are you looking at? It's time to go into the inn."
Seeing that Daohua kept turning her head to look back, Yan Wentao pulled her hand and moved closer to her, carefully protecting her and preventing people around her from bumping into her.
The rice flowers grew well. Even though she was dressed as a man and wearing coarse linen clothes, she was still very pretty and very eye-catching. After getting off the carriage, many people were looking at them.
Old Lady Yan also looked over and said, "Don't look around."
As the two were pulling each other, Daohua quickly withdrew her gaze, suppressed the uneasiness in her heart, and did not dare to look back again.
She was not a real child. When she saw the bruised and swollen young face revealed through the opened corner of the car curtain, she immediately realized that something was wrong.
But she didn't dare to find out the truth.
There was nothing else to it. There were two tall and strong middle-aged men standing next to the carriage.
Soon, Daohua was pulled into the inn by Old Lady Yan. At this time, Uncle Sun and Aunt Sun, who had gone to park the carriage, also came back.
Old Mrs. Yan asked for two guest rooms, one for her, Daohua, and Aunt Sun, and one for Uncle Sun and Yan Wentao.
"We've been traveling all day, let's all go back to our rooms and rest."
Old Lady Yan pulled Daohua towards the room. During this time, Daohua couldn't help but turned around and looked outside the inn again.
Unfortunately, the curtains of the carriage were completely drawn, and from the outside, nothing could be seen to be wrong.
However, the two strong men were still guarding nearby.
Daohua glanced at the bulging waists of the two men, her eyes flickering.
After returning to the room, Daohua was a little absent-minded. She only ate a few bites of the food brought to her by the servants.
Seeing this, Old Lady Yan thought her granddaughter was tired from traveling, so she urged her to go to bed and rest.
At night, Daohua tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, the image of that bruised and swollen child's cheek would appear in her mind.
Is it a human trafficker?
Or is it the dirty deeds of the wealthy and powerful families?
No matter what it is, it seems that it is not something she can control, and she does not have the ability to control it.
The two middle-aged men who might have weapons hidden on their waists were obviously ruthless. On her side, her grandmother, uncle Sun, and aunt Sun were all old, and her third brother was only a 13-year-old boy. They had no ability to fight them at all.
If they are not careful, they might even get themselves into trouble.
"Why aren't you sleeping yet? Are you tired?" Old Mrs. Yan noticed that her granddaughter was still awake, so she resisted the urge to sleep and gently patted her back.
Looking at the old lady's peaceful face, Daohua's heart slowly calmed down, her brain emptied, her eyelids became heavier and heavier, and she slowly fell asleep.
The next morning, Old Mrs. Yan woke up Daohua.
"There are more and more refugees on the road. It's better for us to get to Linyi County as soon as possible."
Old Mrs. Yan was worried about the unsafe conditions on the road, so after thinking about it, she decided to speed up her journey.
After breakfast and checking in, Old Mrs. Yan led her grandchildren out of the inn.
When leaving, Daohua noticed the carriages in the inn and found that the suspicious carriage she saw yesterday was gone. She felt a little complicated, not knowing whether she should be relieved (no need to worry about whether to save people or not) or worried about the people in the carriage.
Along the way afterwards, Daohua and the others saw more and more refugees.
Moreover, from time to time, you can see some refugees robbing passers-by.
For safety reasons, Old Lady Yan spent some money and joined a team of escorts to travel with them.
Due to the endless robberies on the road, the journey was inevitably delayed. In the evening, the escort agency failed to reach the designated inn and could only find a dilapidated temple to rest.
As soon as she entered the dilapidated temple, Daohua's expression changed immediately.
That carriage!
The carriage was tied in the yard of the dilapidated temple. Two strong men squatted beside the carriage and lit a fire. They were roasting a piece of unknown meat.
"Woo woo woo~"
When everyone passed by the carriage, they heard a noise coming from inside and looked over.
At this time, a woman got out of the carriage and said with a smile: "The child at home is throwing a tantrum."
Hearing this, the people from the escort agency said nothing and walked straight into the dilapidated temple.
Old Mrs. Yan had a gloomy face. She held Daohua and Yan Wentao tightly and quickly caught up with the people from the escort agency.
"Brother, there is something wrong with the carriage. There are at least more than ten children in it." A young man in the escort agency whispered to the boss of the escort agency.
The head of the escort agency glanced back at the carriage in the yard and said, "Don't meddle in other people's business when you're out."
Hearing the conversation, Daohua looked up at the two of them.
Old Mrs. Yan also noticed something, so she found a seat next to the people from the escort agency and sat down, whispering to her grandchildren not to run around.
As night fell, several more waves of people came to the ruined temple.
During this time, many people noticed that something was wrong with the carriage in the yard, but no one stood up.
Daohua buried her head in Old Lady Yan's arms and carefully looked at the expressions of everyone in the dilapidated temple.
It's none of my business, I'm used to it, Ignore it, and feel numb.
Do these people have no conscience?
That’s not necessarily the case.
They knew that the three people in the yard might be human traffickers, but for those who have been wandering outside for years, returning home safely is their greatest wish, and they don't care about the unfair things that happen on the road.
They can barely protect themselves, so how can they have the energy to care about the lives of others?
Seeing that Daohua was staring at the yard, Old Lady Yan suddenly covered her eyes with her hands.
She knew that her granddaughter had been smarter than ordinary people since she was a child, but sometimes being too smart was not necessarily a good thing.
"Go to sleep. We have to travel tomorrow."
Old Mrs. Yan whispered to Daohua.
After listening to this, Daohua nodded and closed her eyes at the right time, but she couldn't fall asleep.
Human traffickers.
What she learned in her previous life made it impossible for her to turn a blind eye.
However, she did not have the ability to save the abducted children.
Daohua's mind was in a daze the whole night.
At dawn, while she was powerless and in the indifference of others, the two strong men drove away in the carriage.
Old Mrs. Yan sighed silently, took out some dry food and told her grandchildren to eat it, but she didn't eat a single bite herself.
Just as the escort agency had packed up and was about to leave, a sudden noise came from outside the dilapidated temple.
"Oh no! Those refugees are starving and robbing anyone they see."
The boss of the escort agency's expression changed, and he immediately shouted, "Hurry, get out of here quickly." If they were surrounded by refugees in the dilapidated temple, the goods would definitely be lost, and they might not live to see tomorrow.
Old Mrs. Yan also had a look of fear on her face. She held her grandchildren tightly and hurriedly told Uncle Sun to pull the carriage.
Although Uncle Sun is almost 60 years old, he is very agile and his movements are even faster than the young people in the escort agency. He pulled the carriage over, and as soon as Old Lady Yan and the others got in, he immediately drove the carriage out of the ruined temple.
After galloping for more than ten miles out of the ruined temple and seeing no refugees on the road, Sun Bo slowly slowed down.
"Slow down and wait for the escort agency."
Old Mrs. Yan was worried that it was unsafe to travel alone, so she decided to go with the people from the escort agency.
In the carriage, Daohua's heart was still beating wildly.
When people are starving, they become extremely crazy.
When she rushed out of the ruined temple, she saw a pool of scarlet blood outside.
Growing up in a harmonious society, she had never seen anything like this before. Even now, her scalp still tingles when she thinks about it.
Daohua felt a little stuffy in the carriage, so she quickly lifted a corner of the curtain, trying to use the scenery outside to dilute the bloody images in her mind.
The carriage swayed slowly, and Daohua's mood gradually calmed down.
Suddenly, a carriage stopped by the roadside caused Daohua to tremble.
"Daohua, what's wrong?" asked Old Mrs. Yan worriedly.
She was careless. She didn't expect the drought in the north to be so severe and there were so many refugees along the way. If she had known earlier, she should have taken the water route with San'er and the others. Daohua was probably frightened by the situation just now.
Daohua quickly lowered the curtain and said calmly, "I'm fine."
Old Mrs. Yan pulled her into her arms, said nothing, and just patted her back.
Daohua snuggled up to the old lady obediently, but after a while, she suddenly stood up, lifted the curtain again, and looked back.
The curtain was raised and lowered, raised and lowered again, over and over again.
Daohua took a deep breath and looked at Old Lady Yan: "Grandma, I want to get off the bus."
Old Madam Yan looked a little reluctant, but she also knew that people have urgent needs and it would be bad to hold her granddaughter back: "Grandma will go with you."
Daohua immediately shook her head: "No, Third Brother can just come with me."
Old Lady Yan thought for a moment and looked at Yan Wentao: "Keep an eye on your sister, go and come back soon!"
(End of this chapter)
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