Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The slap from Bald instantly hushed the bustling restaurant hall. Those with buns in their mouths, bowls in their hands, or chopsticks poised all stared in stunned silence towards the commotion.

The old woman stood there stunned for two full seconds. When she finally processed what happened, she felt her world had collapsed.

She came from three generations of poor peasants, had five sons, and her youngest was even an army officer. Apart from before liberation, she had lived a proud and respectable life for most of her years. When had she ever suffered such humiliation?

Whether it was a human trafficker or the King of Heaven himself who slapped her, she wasn't about to take this lying down.

With a sharp cry of "You plague-ridden bastard bound for a thousand deaths, how dare you hit me!", she threw herself at the trafficker, her fingers curling into claws with practiced ease, instantly leaving three crimson scratches on his neck.

A diner at the next table, fearing she was outmatched, stepped forward to intervene: "Auntie, take it easy, we're no match for a man... Oh my, those moves!" Turns out you're no pushover either, auntie.

The trafficker, already bruised and battered from being beaten by a little girl that morning, was caught off guard and scratched bloody by an old woman. His composure shattered.

He knew he was no match for that little girl, but an old woman like this? He was confident he could take on at least three.

"Damn it, you're looking for death!"

The trafficker began to fight back. One punch knocked out a tooth from the old woman. Amid her piercing shrieks, he tried to kick her, but was grabbed and held back before his foot connected.

Losing a precious tooth only fueled the old woman's rage. Taking advantage of the people holding him back, she lunged again with another "Nine Yin White Bone Claw", directly raking her claws across the trafficker's face.

This sent the trafficker into an even greater fury. Using all his strength, he periodically broke free from those restraining him to violently retaliate against the old woman.

Surrounding diners and restaurant staff swarmed in, trying to restrain the enraged pair. The scene descended into utter chaos.

As soon as Bald stood up to slap her, Shen Banyue had already scooped up Xiao Dizi and retreated, not forgetting to grab the enamel basin of buns along the way.

By the time chaos erupted, they were already pushed to the outer edge of the crowd.

"Children, stand over here, don't get stepped on," a kind-looking woman made room for them and asked curiously, "I saw you came with that man, and the old woman arrived later, right? What's going on with them? How did they start fighting out of nowhere?"

A woman with a somewhat stern face next to her asked, "What's your relation to that man? Is he your father?" She nudged the square-faced man beside her: "Guo Qiang, block a bit, don't let people crowd the children."

Guo Qiang.

Shen Banyue's eyes flickered slightly.

There must be many people named Guo Qiang in this era. But this time and place... Whether it was Xiao Dizi's protagonist aura or the original plot's influence, their luck was good. They seemed to have encountered their future adoptive parents without much effort.

Time to test her acting skills again.

Shen Banyue lowered her eyes briefly. When she looked up at the adults, her expression was perfectly timid and bewildered: "He's not our dad. We don't know him. He wouldn't let us talk, or he'd hit us. The old granny... she said it was too expensive, asked for twenty less, and then they started fighting."

These two information-packed sentences made the three concerned adults change their expressions. The kind woman couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice, "Oh dear, could they be child traffickers?!"

Almost simultaneously, from within the encircling crowd, the old woman, once again at a disadvantage, finally abandoned reason. Her shrill, distorted voice nearly lifted the roof: "He's a child trafficker! He's a human trafficker! Beat him! Beat him to death—"

The trafficker's furious roar echoed at the same time: "Damn it! This old hag is spouting nonsense because she can't win!"

The scene instantly became even more chaotic.

Shen Banyue glanced back and happened to see the trafficker, dodging blows, climb onto a table through a gap in the crowd.

The weather was nice, the restaurant windows were wide open, and they were quite low. Jumping from the table to the outside would be easy.

Shifting bodies blocked her view, but Shen Banyue clearly remembered: outside the window was a small open area with several bicycles parked haphazardly.

The script she gave the trafficker was: complete the transaction normally, find an opportunity to teach the buyer a lesson.

The trafficker wasn't stupid either. Publicly clashing with a buyer easily exposed him.

But he was under Shen Banyue's thumb. Even if he didn't get exposed immediately, things wouldn't end well for him later. So, creating chaos to slip away in the confusion might be his only chance to escape.

That's why he slapped the old woman so decisively.

And now was clearly an opportunity. If he was fast enough, jumped out the window, and immediately rode a bike away, the confused onlookers might not react in time.

But Shen Banyue, of course, wouldn't let him escape.

She took a deep breath and suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs: "Uncle Bald, can you please not sell us to this mean granny? She's so scary! Waaah—"

The skinny girl, holding the enamel basin in her left hand and Xiao Dizi in her right, wailed while seemingly clumsily yet incredibly nimbly weaving around the people in front of her, heading straight for Bald's direction.

When she was just a step away from the table, she suddenly stumbled, crashing into a burly man standing by the table.

Caught completely off guard, the burly man felt as if he'd been hit by a sledgehammer. He lurched forward uncontrollably. In his panic, he grabbed Bald, trying to steady himself. The result was both of them tumbling and rolling to the ground amidst the crowd's gasps.

"Guo Qiang" had somehow caught up. After steadying the swaying Shen Banyue, he immediately stepped forward and pinned Bald down: "He's a human trafficker!"

—

Public Security Commissioner Dai Xianghua returned to his office after patrolling the market. He had just sat down, planning to drink some water and rest, when he suddenly heard a commotion outside the door, mixed with curses and screams.

He quickly put down his cup and went out. Good heavens, at least twenty people had gathered outside.

"What's going on?" Dai Xianghua spotted Shen Guoqiang at the center of the crowd and said in surprise, "Hey, Qiangzi, you're back? Wait, what's this all about?"

They were classmates in Yunling Middle School. After graduation, one became an apprentice at the Jiangcheng Machinery Factory, and the other became the Public Security Commissioner for the commune. They had a good relationship and had kept in touch over the years.

But before Shen Guoqiang could answer, others started chattering all at once.

"Human trafficker! We caught a human trafficker! And this black-hearted old woman, she's the buyer."

"They couldn't agree on a price and started fighting inside the state-run restaurant. My goodness, their nerve!"

"Yeah, yeah! He tried to run halfway, but the worker big brother kicked him down. We got in a few punches too, hehe."

...

Dai Xianghua looked at the trafficker everyone was pointing at and twitched the corner of his mouth.

With so many people, each throwing a few punches, no wonder his face was almost swollen like a pig's head.

The office was too small. Dai Xianghua borrowed a meeting room from the commune and had someone call Security Director Jin Anguo and a few militiamen over to help.

In this era, communes typically didn't have police stations; they usually had one or two Public Security Commissioners. However, the security organizations within government agencies, enterprises, and institutions were quite robust. Security departments and militia teams were also authorized to carry firearms. Catching thieves or traffickers was one thing; they were even capable of capturing bandits or spies.

Although there were many people at the scene, few truly understood the whole story. After the men separately gathered some information, Dai Xianghua persuaded the enthusiastic onlookers to leave: "We will investigate this matter thoroughly. Everyone crowding here affects our work. Hurry and go enjoy the market. If you're late, all the good stuff will be picked over."

After everyone left, Dai Xianghua shook Shen Guoqiang's hand: "I heard your eldest nephew is getting married. You came back for the wedding banquet, right? When you pass by on your way back to Jiangcheng in a couple of days, drop by. Let's brothers have a couple of drinks then."

Shen Guoqiang patted Dai Xianghua's shoulder: "Alright, you get busy first. I..."

He wanted to say he'd leave first, but when he turned his head, he saw two beautiful children, one big and one small, following closely behind him. Two pairs of moist, bright eyes were fixed intently on him.

The words on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back. For some reason, Shen Guoqiang felt like a cruel father abandoning his own well-behaved little girls.

Almost without thinking, he half-crouched down. "You be good and listen to Uncle Dai. He'll take good care of you. I'll come back to see you in a couple of days."

Shen Banyue blinked and held out the enamel basin she had been clutching tightly. "Here, Uncle, you eat."

Xiao Dizi licked her lips, said in a tiny, milky voice. "Uncle eat."

The buns in the enamel basin had gone cold, but they still smelled pretty good. Shen Guoqiang noticed both girls sneaking a swallow.

Perhaps they were too terrified from the beatings and yelling by the traffickers, but despite holding a basin full of buns, they hadn't dared to take a single bite.

Yet now they were offering them to him.

Shen Guoqiang felt a lump in his throat, and his voice softened further. "I'm not hungry. You eat them. These buns are cold. Have Uncle Dai warm them up for you first."

Dai Xianghua: "...Right, right. The commune has a canteen. Xiao Zhou, run these over to the canteen to get warmed up."

A militiaman ran over and took the enamel basin.

Shen Guoqiang fished out five yuan and stuffed it into Dai Xianghua's hand. "Get the kids some treats and sweets." The commune would provide meals, but kids can't live on meals alone.

Knowing how he was, Dai Xianghua didn't refuse.

With the case needing attention, Shen Guoqiang didn't say more. He said his goodbyes and took off.

Just then, the militiaman returned with the heated buns. Dai Xianghua teased, "These buns smell so good. Can I have one?"

Shen Banyue, holding the enamel basin with one hand and Xiao Dizi with the other, asked innocently, "Uncle Dai, there are still many children on the mountain waiting for you to rescue them. How can you still be thinking about eating buns?"

Dai Xianghua: "..."

If she didn't want to share, fine, but did she have to be so sarcastic?

Of course, the child wasn't wrong. Saving those kids came first.

Dai Xianghua had guessed the traffickers might have accomplices and possibly other victims. Interrogation took time; Jin Anguo was still "intimidating" the trafficker... He had forgotten this child was old enough to provide a lot of information.

However, Dai Xianghua truly didn't expect that this child wouldn't just provide a lot of information, but information far beyond his imagination.

"You remember the way down the mountain and can draw it?"

"You overheard them talking? There's an accomplice named Granny Cao living in Zaoshu Hutong, Yongding District, Jiangcheng?"

"They have an account book hidden in the mountain courtyard?!"

...

Over an hour later, Dai Xianghua and Jin Anguo led a team charging into the hunter's courtyard deep in the mountains. Guns drawn, tense and alert, braced for a desperate, last-ditch fight from the traffickers, they kicked the door open only to find two... human dumplings?

Everyone: ???