Chapter 36: Perilous
After the three of them had lunch at the state-run restaurant, Zhang Ze took Mao Jinqian inside to tidy up the room, while Su Ning didn’t rush back to the guesthouse to rest, but instead strolled leisurely on the street.
Passing by the supply and marketing cooperative, she unexpectedly discovered ginger candy for sale inside, something she had never tasted before. Seeing the hard, whole large block with bits of ginger foam inside, she suddenly took an interest and couldn’t help buying several pieces to try.
Just as she walked out of the supply and marketing cooperative’s entrance, a piece of ginger candy was already in her mouth.
It was very sweet, sickeningly so, with a hint of spicy ginger flavor. It wasn’t bad, but there was just an indescribable strange feeling.
Especially after swallowing it, from her tongue to her throat, it was like a small flame spreading and darting around, instantly making fine sweat break out on the tip of her nose and her forehead.
“Pfft~”
Suddenly, a burst of uncontrollable snickering came to her ears.
Turning her head, she saw a girl about her age, with braids tied at the ends with a pair of red and yellow butterfly woven cords.
That pair of laughing eyes had pupils black and shiny, and there was a very cute little mole at the base of her nose.
“Sorry, classmate, I was laughing at your reaction to the ginger candy, not laughing at you… no, I wasn’t laughing at you… ah, not that either…”
“Mm, I understand.”
For a moment, both of them felt the awkwardness of being caught by the other, and after exchanging a smile, they quickened their steps and hurriedly left the supply and marketing cooperative.
Walking off in opposite directions, neither of them imagined that they would meet again in that way not long after.
……
Placards with the names of their respective communes held high, a large group of educated youth chattered and asked questions, then gradually carried their luggage to the commune leaders assigned to them for going to the countryside.
The area all around was packed with locals who loved to watch the excitement.
Gu City was just a small county-level city, and for the educated youth coming from various major cities across the country in batches every year for the past two or three years, it was still novel to see.
If there were one or two troublemakers who didn’t know what was going on, there would be even more of a show to watch!
Not quite understanding what point in the increasingly inexplicably excited onlookers was making them so thrilled, Su Ning, standing on the outermost edge, secretly shook her head and gave up on the gossip.
After strolling around, it wasn’t entirely fruitless. As she turned to leave, she thought about the news she had heard.
Although the great natural disaster had passed two years ago, grain was still in short supply everywhere, especially all kinds of fine grain and nutritional supplements.
These two things could even be more useful than money and ration coupons, and used well, they could yield unexpected results.
Especially hearing that big aunt mysteriously ask her if she had grain on hand—three hundred jin of fine grain plus one hundred yuan could buy a formal job at the state-run restaurant.
The big aunt’s words undoubtedly gave her inspiration: so work quotas could be obtained this way.
“What are you doing? Let go of me! Help! Help!”
“Xiao Hua, you now… how can you not recognize me as your mom? Wuu wuu~”
“I don’t even know you, how could you possibly be my mom? Let go, let go of me right now!”
“Wuu wuu wuu, Hua’er, just listen to Mom’s advice, let’s go home first, okay? Your dad… he’s almost gone…”
The intense argument made Su Ning snap out of her thoughts.
Unknowingly, she had wandered into another “lively” circle.
In the crowd, a middle-aged woman wearing a gray polka-dot short-sleeved shirt was tightly grabbing with both hands the girl in front of her who kept trying to break free, tearfully pleading bitterly.
“Hua’er, just listen to Mom, okay? Wuu wuu~ I… I’ll kneel down, kneel and beg you, just come home with Mom…”
“Let go! I really don’t know her, and I’m not called Hua’er. Everyone, please help me, someone call the police for me!”
“Hua’er~”
The middle-aged woman looked utterly stricken, her tear-filled eyes brimming with both grief and disappointment.
That choked roar contained a mother’s heartbroken pain, instantly making those with low tear thresholds and full of empathy have red eyes.
In an instant, all sorts of accusations, curses, and mob-like persuasions buzzed in.
“Girl, just listen to your mom and hurry home to see your dad. If it’s true and you don’t even see him one last time… tsk tsk tsk, that would be great unfilial piety!”
“You girl, dressed all proper and looking so pretty, how can your heart be so cruel and vicious? Making your mom kneel and you’re not afraid of heaven striking you with lightning!”
“Exactly, how can there be such a heartless girl!”
“Elder sister, I’m telling you, you’re just too soft. If this were in my family, I’d have beaten her with bamboo shoots long ago. Daring to yell at elders and her own mom, the world’s gone mad!”
“Exactly, girl, be obedient and hurry home with your mom!”
Luo Shuangshuang listened to the one-sided words from the crowd around her favoring the middle-aged woman, her heart and eyes filling with despair: why? Why wouldn’t a single person believe her?
“I really don’t know this person! Who, who can help me? I’m not going, let go of me!”
Amid the pushing and pulling, the long hair scattered messily around her face was flung back by her more violent struggles, fully revealing that pair of eyes filled with terror.
The little mole at the base of her nose, the red and yellow scattered woven cords…
‘It’s her!’
Tiptoeing closer for a clear look, she recognized her at a glance and immediately recalled the school gate kidnapping incident that was almost exactly like the current situation.
Her mind buzzed, and seeing the middle-aged woman about to drag the person away directly with the help of several enthusiastic onlookers, Su Ning forcefully pushed through the crowd, strode to block their path, and shouted—
“Where do you want to take my classmate? I’ve seen her mother, and that person is not you at all!”
“Hiss——”
“This, what is this situation?”
The middle-aged woman was stunned by the sudden situation, but fortunately her reaction speed wasn’t slow, and she immediately snapped back and asked in return.
“What do you this girl want to do? Do you know her? Just saying I’m not her mom?”
“She is my classmate Hu Xiyue, how could I not know her? She is not Xiao Hua as you call her at all, you naturally are not her mom, you are a human trafficker wanting to abduct pretty girls, right!”
“You…”
“You what, I know her name, her school, even her home address, but what about you? You say her name is Hua’er? What is her surname? How old is she this year? What is her birthday?”
“I…”
“I what, for your own daughter, shouldn’t such simple information come out without thinking, straight out of your mouth? You simply can’t say it, because you are a human trafficker!”
Su Ning was full of confidence, even the made-up name came out without thinking, without any hesitation or panic.
Clear-headed and sharp-tongued, one question after another directly forced the middle-aged woman to retreat repeatedly.
“Girl, don’t meddle in others’ business, didn’t your family adults teach you that!”
“What is others’ business? Letting you abduct my classmate on the street in broad daylight is others’ business? I dare to go to the police station to confront and verify the truth of what I said, but do you dare?”
Taking advantage of the woman being panicked and desperately trying to come up with an idea, Luo Shuangshuang, who was both despairing and joyfully welcoming the turnaround, immediately burst out with super strong survival instinct and forcefully broke free from her restraint.
Without the slightest hesitation, she ran behind the girl she had only met once, her hands uncontrollably hugging the person, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.
This moment, Luo Shuangshuang thought, would be forever engraved in her mind.
Because at the most despairing and helpless moment when she was about to fall into darkness, there was this little fairy who descended from heaven and yanked her out fiercely!
“The human trafficker wants to run!”
“Quick, grab her! Damn trafficker should be beaten to death!”
“Huh, she really is a human trafficker?”
“Wasn’t it because she couldn’t answer that girl’s one question? If not guilty, why run?”
“Oh my god! I almost became an accomplice, that human trafficker deserves a thousand cuts, beat her to death!”
“In broad daylight, so brazenly abducting a girl, too arrogant! I’ll go report to the police!”
The onlookers who finally realized something was wrong were both shocked and afraid, the scene like an exploded boiler.
Especially those few who had stepped forward to help earlier, their backs were soaked with cold sweat.
Just a little bit, just a little bit more and they would have become knives in the hands of the human trafficker!
The crowd, ashamed and annoyed, surrounded the middle-aged woman who wanted to run and gave her a beating with fists and feet.
The police who received the report quickly arrived at the scene, not only directly cuffing and dragging away the middle-aged woman who had been beaten black and blue, but also keenly catching the two accomplices hidden in the crowd who were responsible for stirring things up and picking up later.
This matter spread at the fastest speed, shocking the entire Gu City.
Especially families with girls were tense and frightened for a long time, not daring to let the girls go out alone.
