Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

Chapter 303: Chapter 285: Searching for Clues

Everyone asleep? Any accomplices? Luo Qianqian frowned, uncertain whether the child belonged to the woman in front of her. Remaining silent, she took out her phone and snapped a picture, then chatted casually with Chang Xi.

”I’ve heard that there’s been a lot of child trafficking going on lately.” Luo Qianqian raised her voice as if by accident, only to see the middle-aged woman glaring at her fiercely. Startled, she glared back, but when she looked again, it seemed like an illusion; the middle-aged woman was holding the child with a gentle expression on her face.

”Exactly, if you were a little younger, who knows, you might have been trafficked.” Chang Xi said with a smile, ”But luckily, there’s me. No one dares to traffic you.”

”Are you kidding? Nowadays, little boys are worth more money.” The young woman in the bunk above Chang Xi said with a grin, ”In our village, there was a family who couldn’t have kids, so they bought one. They paid fifteen thousand for a girl, and the younger they are, the more valuable because they’re less troublesome.”

Luo Qianqian nodded, ”Right, if I weren’t this old, who knows, I might really have been trafficked, since I am so exceptional and adorable.” Luo Qianqian looked at the girl above Chang Xi with a smile, ”But sister, you’re so pretty, you need to be careful too. You might be trafficked to some mountain village to be a bride or something. I’ve heard they now use pregnant women or women with children to lower people’s guard.”

Seeing the middle-aged woman’s face grow darker, Luo Qianqian knew she hadn’t guessed wrong; there was definitely something off about her.

Chang Xi noticed the middle-aged woman’s strange behavior along with the flicker in Luo Qianqian’s eyes. Coming from a noble clan with military background, she was alert to the obvious nervousness, and looked at Luo Qianqian with a raised eyebrow.

Luo Qianqian nodded and said nothing.

The girl sitting above Chang Xi watched the two with amusement, her admiration clear, but the pair, busy looking for evidence, didn’t notice the girl.

”You don’t know, but those traffickers have all sorts of tricks. They’re afraid of getting caught, and will feed the kids sleeping pills, so if you see a child who’s always calm and doesn’t make a fuss, the train attendants will ask proactively,” Luo Qianqian said cheerfully, ”I learned this from my brother ’Shufan’ when he came home last time.” Of course, this was a lie; Luo Shufan never took the train, preferring to spend more money just to get home faster.

”Really?” said Chang Xi, her interest piqued by Luo Qianqian’s words. She looked at the child in the middle-aged woman’s arms, her expression uncertain, ”This little one doesn’t cry or fuss, not like a normal child, a little noise would be normal.”

The middle-aged woman immediately retorted, ”What are you implying?” Her eyes widened, giving off a shrewish vibe.

”Auntie, you’re so stingy. We didn’t mind when the kid asked us for food, and now we can’t even take a joke,” Luo Qianqian pouted, looking aggrieved.

Chang Xi stifled a laugh, still offering comfort, ”Be good now, not everyone is like the kind people we meet; there will always be those with ill intentions.”

Luo Qianqian nodded, ”I know, the TV says that good always triumphs over evil.” Then she picked up her phone and wallet and said to Chang Xi, ”Sister Xi, I saw someone eating instant noodles, and now I want some too. I’ll go check if there’s any for sale.”

Chang Xi nodded and continued, ”I’ve heard that nowadays, child traffickers should get life imprisonment. If you ask me, it should be the death penalty. Isn’t every child a treasure to their family?”

Then she suddenly thought of Ye Meng, resting her chin in her hand. Her family could have two children because her mom was a minority, and the fact that they were twins was an accident, but Ye Meng didn’t seem to belong to a minority, did she?

The middle-aged woman didn’t dare to talk to Chang Xi anymore and busied herself with coaxing the child to sleep.

Meanwhile, Luo Qianqian left the sleeper car, following the direction the middle-aged woman had come from, searching for the little boy. Instead of arguing with the woman, it made more sense to ask around herself.

After weaving through crowds, she finally saw the familiar little boy, only he was laying on the seat, asleep again. Next to him sat a middle-aged man chatting with someone nearby. There was another child sleeping in the seat across from the little boy, beside whom sat another middle-aged man engaged in conversation, seemingly discussing something.

Luo Qianqian moved closer, pretending to rest against the seatback for a moment.

”Your village is certainly better off than ours: mostly elderly, no one left to do the harvest in the fall.”

”You call that a problem? Nowadays the young people all go out to work, taking their kids with them shows they value the next generation’s education. If the old folks are left, they’re just a burden. In our village, the elderly have come together, afraid something might happen at any moment and there would be no one to know.”

”Then you folks aren’t really good people...”

”Aren’t you the same, bringing us along with you?”

Luo Qianqian listened with furrowed brows, thinking, could these be part of a child trafficking ring?

”Ouch.” Luo Qianqian was bumped by a taller young man and rubbed the sore spot with an angry glare at the boy.

The boy frowned and dragged Luo Qianqian to the side of the restroom, ”Are you an idiot?”

Luo Qianqian looked at the boy with a puzzled face. How was she stupid? Was she bumped stupid?

”You dare to approach without knowing who the other person is?” The boy’s eyebrows furrowed deeper.

”You know the situation?” Luo Qianqian’s eyes widened.

The boy nodded, ”I’ve been following them for a while now. Don’t meddle in this, I have to save my brother.”

Luo Qianqian rolled her eyes, ”Even if you’re a bit older, can you guarantee you won’t end up with broken arms and legs begging or trained into some kind of thief or something?”

The boy’s gaze flickered but he didn’t speak.

Luo Qianqian felt that a few middle-aged men had already noticed her. She quickly grabbed the young man’s arm with a pitiful look, ”Just take me with you, I really don’t recognize the way,” she said while walking on.

The boy was startled by Luo Qianqian’s sudden act and nodded subconsciously, then with a bewildered face, ”Where do you want to go?”

”The dining car.” Luo Qianqian said, tilting her chin, nowhere near the pitiful look she had before.

The boy silently led Luo Qianqian along, somewhat regretting his earlier nosiness. But seeing those twinkling eyes, he couldn’t bear the thought of her falling into that den of dragons and tigers.

At the dining car, Luo Qianqian’s playful smile had vanished without a trace. She looked at the boy seriously, ”Who are you, and what do you know?”

The mobile phone had been recording for over ten minutes already.

The boy was taken aback and frowned, ”What do you mean?”

”Like the thing that appeared in your pocket after you bumped into me just now.” It wasn’t her stuff, Luo Qianqian’s things were safely nestled in her hands.

The boy’s face turned cold, ”You saw that?”

”Not bad sleight of hand, but my eyes are pretty good too.” Luo Qianqian indeed saw it, the boy had slipped the wallet from the pocket of a middle-aged man sitting down into his own, and seeing that the boy seemed ready to take action, she smiled slightly, ”If I wanted to report you, I would’ve called the police already. We’ve met more than one officer just now.”

The boy was stunned but not as nervous anymore. What Luo Qianqian said was true. ”So, what do you want to do?”

”Tell me what you know and your purpose.”

”I’m here to find my brother,” the boy said coolly.

”Stop lying to me,” Luo Qianqian raised a smile, ”You don’t have a brother.”

”How do you know?!” The boy glared, slamming the table as he stood up.

Luo Qianqian opened her mouth, and after a long pause, she slowly said, ”I guessed. Now that it’s confirmed, can you tell me?”

The boy looked at Luo Qianqian with a cry and a laugh. Is this even possible?

Luo Qianqian stared back indifferently. Yes, it’s possible.