Sweet Rebirth: The Little Healer

Zheng Delin smirked triumphantly. ”Of course. I heard the little girl is the real prize, like a little jade doll.”

”Oh, I’ll have to see for myself then.” The old woman shut the door. ”Open it up, let me see. If the quality is good, I’ll make it worth your while.”

The thought of getting paid pushed aside Liu Lanhua’s fear. What was done was done; it was too late for regrets. Getting the money was all that mattered.

Liu Lanhua deftly untied the sack and pulled the two children out. Because her hands and feet were bound and her mouth was gagged, Little Red Carp could only sit on the ground.

When the old woman saw Little Red Carp’s tender, pink-cheeked appearance, her eyes widened. She stammered, ”M-my heavens... This child’s features are exquisite. She really is the prize you mentioned. Wait here, I’ll go get your money.”

The old woman went inside and returned with two hundred yuan. ”Two hundred for these two kids. Normally they’d only be worth one-fifty. The extra fifty is a bonus for bringing me such good quality.”

Zheng Delin snatched the money and gave only one hundred yuan to Li Siming and Liu Lanhua. ”Not bad, right? A hundred yuan just for grabbing two kids.”

Liu Lanhua stared at the hundred yuan in her hand, then at the other hundred in Zheng Delin’s. They had worked so hard and taken such a huge risk, only to get half the money? This Zheng Delin was too crooked.

Seeing her expression, Zheng Delin knew exactly what she was thinking and sneered, ”Too little? Then it can all be mine.”

Hearing this, Li Siming quickly reached out and took the money. ”It’s not too little, not at all! We could work hard for a whole year and not end up with a hundred yuan.”

”Heh, you’re the smart one,” the old woman chuckled. ”Better to be in our line of work than toiling away. One job can feed you for a year. Heh heh, if you get any more good merchandise in the future, just bring it to me. But you’d better be careful. If a single word of this gets out, your whole family will die! Don’t underestimate my reach. The reason Zheng Delin here is so obedient is because he knows what I’m capable of.”

At this, Zheng Delin’s face was all smiles. He said placatingly, ”Aunt Wang, you’re a major figure in our circle. I wouldn’t dare act out of line in front of you.” He then turned to the others. ”If you have any funny ideas, Aunt Wang will make sure your whole family dies without a grave.”

”We’ll remember, we’ll definitely remember. We wouldn’t dare say a bad word about Aunt Wang.” Liu Lanhua came to a stark realization. People who dared to traffic children were the most vicious criminals, capable of murder and arson.

Fearing that any delay might lead to trouble, Li Siming wanted to leave as soon as possible now that the handover was done and they had the money. He said, ”Thank you, Wang Dadan, and Zheng, for the opportunity. It’s getting late, we should be heading back.”

”Alright, then you can go,” Aunt Wang nodded. ”It’s dark out. Xiao Zheng, go arrange lodging for them. Take good care of our brothers and sisters. We’ll all get rich together in the future.”

”Yes, yes, Aunt Wang.” Zheng Delin agreed profusely, not daring to show the slightest disrespect. It wasn’t just because Aunt Wang was their God of Wealth, but because she had vicious, murderous people behind her who had actually killed.

Just then, seven or eight people vaulted over the wall. Among them was Zhao Nuanyang. Seeing his sister tossed on the ground, his eyes turned red with fury, and he lunged forward, kicking Li Siming square in the chest.

Li Siming couldn’t dodge in time and was kicked to the ground.

The moment Wang Pozi saw so many people arrive, she knew it was over. Ignoring the ”new merchandise” on the ground, she turned and bolted for the house.

Xu Jinda led his men storming in and caught Wang Pozi just as she was trying to escape through a hidden tunnel. They gagged her to prevent her from biting her tongue to commit suicide.

The other door was blocked. Zheng Delin spotted a doggy door and tried to crawl through it. Unfortunately, he was too fat and the hole was too small. He was caught easily.

Liu Lanhua, seeing her husband get hit, was completely panicked. When she saw the men coming for her, she abruptly sat on the floor and cried out, ”Zheng Delin forced us to do this! He forced us...”

Li Siming scrambled up from the ground and hastily added, ”He forced us! He said if we didn’t do it, he’d kill our whole family! It was all that old woman and Zheng Delin who forced us.”

Zheng Delin was tied up with no chance of escape. Hearing this, he cursed, ”It was clearly your son who came to me! Besides, you’ve still got the money from selling the kids in your pocket. Now that there’s trouble, you want to pin it all on me? No way!”

Zheng Delin was finished, but he wasn’t about to take the fall for someone else.

Xu Jinda was thrilled. He couldn’t care less about them turning on each other. Take them all away! He could finally close the case and earn a commendation.

”Take them back,” Xu Jinda said quickly. ”Zhao Nuanyang, you carry your sister. Xiao Liu, you carry the boy on your back.”

After kicking Li Siming, Zhao Nuanyang had already gone to his sister’s side. He picked up Little Red Carp, pulled the dirty rag from her mouth, and said, ”Don’t be scared, Little Red Carp. You’re safe now.”

Little Red Carp lay in her brother’s arms and said softly, ”We need to go back quickly. We still don’t know what’s happening with our sister!”

”Right, right!” Zhao Nuanyang said urgently, turning to leave with Little Red Carp in his arms.

Xu Jinda grabbed Zhao Nuanyang. ”Young man, come with us to give a statement!”

”Xu, Li Shan is in the village planning to harm my other sister. I have to get back and save her,” Zhao Nuanyang said, and tried to run off again.

Seeing how reckless the young man was, Xu Jinda didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ”Mr. Zhao, don’t go!” he said quickly. ”For one thing, you’ve been hungry for half the day. It’s getting dark now, and it’s not safe to travel at night. Besides, if you go back on foot, you won’t reach Nianqiao Village until midnight. Come back with me first. I’ll take your statement as quickly as possible and then have someone personally drive you back.”

Zhao Nuanyang paused. That made sense.

”Okay!” Zhao Nuanyang nodded. ”Xu Jinda, please be quick. Li Shan knows Martial Arts. I’m worried about my sister.”

Xu Jinda nodded. He was very courteous to Zhao Nuanyang, who had given him this crucial lead. He patted his chest and said, ”Right, right!”

Xu Jinda was in high spirits. They had been caught red-handed—four traffickers. With a proper interrogation, he could get a lot more information out of them.

Once they reached the public security station, Xu Jinda immediately had someone take statements from Zhao Nuanyang, Little Red Carp, and the eight-year-old boy, Zhao Xiaohai.

Although Little Red Carp was young, she was able to give a clear and logical account.

Zhao Xiaohai was a little scared, but seeing so many people around made him less afraid. He explained in full detail how Liu Lanhua had lured and threatened him, hoping he could be forgiven.

Xu Jinda was overjoyed. He could finally report a successful mission. Perhaps he could even find the children from previous trafficking cases now.