Chapter 77

Chapter 77

The towel factory's security chief was surnamed Jiang, named Jiang Kaixuan—a very auspicious name—but he was dark-skinned and burly, looking rather formidable. He had participated in the Korean War in his early years and was a genuine "old revolutionary."

After surrounding the warehouse with his men, his first move was to have the warehouse manager, who had been stuck in the latrine, hauled back. Following Shen Banyue's advice, he also sent people to retrieve the three sacks and two individuals from the alley outside the factory.

The warehouse manager clutched his stomach, his face pale as a ghost, and whined in his own defense: "I ate a meat bun this morning, and my stomach's been acting up ever since. There's a shipment going out at noon, so I'd do a quick inventory and then have to run to the latrine again—I couldn't handle it anymore. Old Mo said he'd handle the inventory himself. He's always been honest, and besides, he wasn't going alone for the delivery, so I didn't see any harm in it..."

He was more than happy to go along.

Technically, it wasn't allowed, but the factory's management wasn't that strict, especially among the logistics staff. They interacted frequently, and it was common for the delivery team to help carry a bundle or check inventory during shipments—

If they took an extra bundle or two, they'd get their "share" later. At most, it was a bundle or two, just pocket money for everyone, and that amount could be written off as regular wear and tear. They wouldn't dare take more.

It was a kind of "unwritten rule."

Jiang Kaixuan asked darkly, "Where did the meat bun come from? Aren't you nicknamed 'Cheapskate'? Since when do you splurge on a meat bun?"

The warehouse manager let out an awkward chuckle: "Ah, Old Mo gave it to me—one for him, one for me. He ate his without any trouble, but I've been having diarrhea ever since. He said it's because I don't get enough grease in my diet and can't handle it all at once..."

As he spoke, he suddenly put two and two together, his eyes widening: "That son of a bitch Old Mo framed me?!"

Jiang Kaixuan glanced at Old Mo, who was lying there unconscious, and couldn't really answer that right now.

He turned to Lin Mian instead: "You're a scrawny kid, but you managed to take out Old Mo? Didn't you say he tried to knock you out with a rag? How did you end up knocking him out instead?"

"He said we had to go to the warehouse for towels, and I said I'd wait outside. But he was really pushy about inviting me in, saying he wanted to show me the factory's production results. Once I was inside, he crouched down to tie his shoelace and ended up behind me. I thought he was acting strange, so I stayed alert. When I heard him come up behind me, I deliberately stepped aside."

Telling this scary story, Lin Mian's tone was as calm as if he were answering a simple arithmetic problem. "His footing was a little off, and he couldn't control me. He fell first, so I picked up the rag and used it on him. I've seen that kind of drugged rag before, when I was kidnapped by traffickers as a child."

Jiang Kaixuan frowned hard: "Didn't you say he called you over to fix the tractor? Why would he want to knock you out? And more importantly, he had a delivery run scheduled today, so why call you to fix the tractor today? That broken tractor isn't even his usual responsibility."

Lin Mian replied, "If we knew that, we wouldn't have walked right into it."

Jiang Kaixuan was stumped. Shen Banyue smiled and jumped in, asking him, "Uncle Jiang, isn't it usually two people for a delivery run? Where's the other driver?"

Just then, the security guy Jiang sent came back. They were carrying the sacks and the individuals, and one empty-handed comrade reported, "Xiao Lu is lying in the duty room, dead asleep. No matter how we tried, we couldn't wake him up."

Dead asleep and unresponsive? More like he was knocked out too, right?

The pieces were starting to fit together.

Old Mo, for some unknown reason, had tried to knock out these two kids from Xiaodun Brigade and smuggle them out on the truck. But since a delivery required two people, he had first knocked out his partner Xiao Lu. That way, after driving the kids out of the factory and handing them off to his accomplices, he could return, wake Xiao Lu, and go on the delivery run. Xiao Lu might not even realize he'd been unconscious, thinking he just overslept.

As for the kids, if they disappeared while fixing the tractor in the factory, how would that be Old Mo's problem, who was already out on a delivery?

And if things went wrong, his buddies could tip him off while he was on the road, and he could just take off.

But the big question was: why did these people want to knock out these two kids, and where were they planning to take them?

"And what about these three?" Jiang Kaixuan pointed at Qian Tao and the others, who had just been pulled out of the sacks. "These are from the Revolutionary Committee, right? Are they in on it with Old Mo and his crew?"

Qian Tao and his men weren't unconscious, but they were dizzy from being carried around. As soon as they were freed from the sacks, they started squawking in protest. Shen Banyue kicked each of them to shut them up before saying, "No idea. They tried to ambush us. The sacks, the cloth strips, and the sticks in the bags—those were their tools."

Jiang Kaixuan: "..."

So, six full-grown men had tried to ambush them, and not a single one had succeeded—they'd all been taken down instead. For a moment, Jiang Kaixuan didn't know whether to marvel at how much these two kids were hated, how pathetic these six guys were to fail so miserably at their dirty work, or how sharp and quick these kids were.

If these two hadn't called him right away, he might have wondered who the real bad guys were.

"Alright, let's take everyone to the commune. The public security officer will sort things out." Jiang Kaixuan waved his hand, signaling his men to haul the captives.

Shen Banyue's eyes flickered.

—

At the commune compound.

Cao Guilin walked to the entrance, carrying a big tea mug, and chatted with the security director, Jin Anguo: "I thought I just saw Dai Xianghua walk by. Am I seeing things?"

Jin Anguo took a sip of his tea and chuckled, "You're not seeing things. That kid's been working at the county office, and now he's all cleaned up and slick—different from us old farmers!" Despite the ribbing, he was genuinely happy for Dai Xianghua, with whom he had worked for years. The public security officer job wasn't technically a real cop gig, but getting into the county public security bureau was a step up.

Cao Guilin's eyes flickered, and he asked casually, "Did the bureau give any instructions? I haven't heard a thing."

Jin Anguo, worried Cao Guilin might get the wrong idea, quickly explained, "No, no. I bumped into them at the gate and asked Old Dai a couple of questions. He's here looking for a kid—Lin Mian, you know him, right? The boy adopted by Xiaodun Brigade. He was in the papers recently. Turns out his biological grandfather recognized him from the article and, since he's too ill to travel, sent a relative to find him."

Cao Guilin's expression shifted slightly: "Looking for Lin Mian?"

Jin Anguo didn't notice his reaction, glancing toward the leadership office and smiling, "The relative from the Lin family—wearing glasses, looks very refined. Clearly an educated man."

Cao Guilin had stopped listening. He muttered a few perfunctory words and turned back to his office.

Sitting at his desk, he carefully reviewed their plan. Old Mo was an old hand, even if he hadn't done this in ten or twenty years. Fooling two half-grown kids shouldn't be a problem.

As for the others, the authorities had searched high and low for them back then without finding a trace—they weren't pushovers either.

And they had arranged everything in advance: Old Mo would drive to the neighboring city, while the others would take the two kids south to the border. Two separate routes. Even if someone noticed something was off, it shouldn't cause any issues.

The only problem now was that Lin Mian's family had shown up. The sudden disappearance of the two kids would be discovered sooner than planned.

Cao Guilin had originally wanted to sit back and watch events unfold, avoiding exposure unless absolutely necessary. He had no intention of revealing himself or fleeing with that gang of desperadoes. But now, with this completely unforeseen turn of events, a sense of foreboding crept into his heart. Something felt like it was slipping out of control.

After some deliberation, he stood up, deciding to take a risk and check the rendezvous point from a distance.

Just then, he heard a familiar, crisp voice calling out "Uncle Jin" from outside the door. He whipped his head around, and his pupils contracted sharply.

The girl, who should have been knocked out and transported away, appeared unscathed in the commune compound. To Cao Guilin, it was like a ghost story. Before he could figure out what was happening, the girl rushed in, panting, and said, "Officer Cao, Lin Mian—Lin Mian is missing."

She grabbed Cao Guilin's sleeve and pulled him out without ceremony: "Please help me find him!"

Shen Banyue dragged Cao Guilin all the way out of the commune compound, chattering as she went: "I went to Yunding Middle School to bring food for Brother Wendong and the others. Lin Mian left first, but when I asked at the towel factory, they said they hadn't seen him, and Master Mo had already left on a delivery. Officer Cao, do you think there are bad people in the commune? We're not that young anymore—could there still be traffickers trying to snatch us? You know the commune best, so please help me look! Oh, it's all my fault for dragging you out in such a hurry. Should we ask the militia uncles to help search too?"

Her rapid-fire chatter put Cao Guilin at ease.

It seemed Old Mo hadn't waited for her and had taken Lin Mian away first.

Cao Guilin's eyes darkened slightly, and he said gently, "Xiao Yue, don't worry. There's a place near the towel factory called Nine-Bend Alley. It's easy to get lost in there. How about we start looking there?"

Nine-Bend Alley near the towel factory was exactly where Shen Banyue and her group had dumped the sacks, but they had done so near the factory end. Cao Guilin led her to a different section. At the end of this alley was a wasteland connected to the main road leading from the commune to Jiangcheng. In a corner of the wasteland sat a tractor piled high with straw.

A glint of ruthlessness flashed in Cao Guilin's eyes, but his voice grew even gentler: "That pile of straw looks a bit odd. How about we check it out?"

Shen Banyue nodded, acting like a naive little fool, and strode toward the tractor without even asking what was odd about it. A cold smirk curled at the corner of Cao Guilin's mouth. He bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and quickened his pace, raising his hand to strike Shen Banyue on the head—

Shen Banyue suddenly sidestepped, turned around, and asked calmly, "Officer Cao, what grudge do you have against me that you'd want to bash my head in?"

Since he'd been found out, Cao Guilin decided to go all in. Without a word, he charged forward, looking like he was ready to fight Shen Banyue to the death. But before he could grab her, two people sprang out from the side. One kicked him hard, and the other tackled him to the ground. Then two more emerged, pinning his limbs firmly.

Cao Guilin struggled and lifted his head, catching a glimpse of Jiang Kaixuan's dark, fierce face. His heart trembled as a single thought surfaced: *It's over.*

—

"You saw in the paper that the kid's doing great over at Xiaodun Brigade. He's shot up a lot these past few years, and his grades are excellent. I hear even the teachers at the brigade elementary school say they can't teach him anymore. He was supposed to start middle school at the commune after New Year's. Of course, it's best if the child can return to his family."

Dai Xianghua walked Cui Yue out—the guy claiming to be Lin Mian's relative. Cui Yue smiled and said, "Shanxi County's got honest, simple folks—we saw that in the paper too."

"Absolutely." Dai Xianghua jumped at the chance to hype up Yunling Commune again. "I'm familiar with Xiaodun Brigade. I'll borrow a couple of bikes, and we can ride over."

He stopped at the door of the Public Security Commissioner's office, glanced at the empty room, and knocked on Jin Anguo's door next door. "Old Jin, where's Special Commissioner Cao?" Normally, Cao Guilin, as the commune's Public Security Commissioner, was supposed to come along to Xiaodun Brigade.

Jin Anguo came out and said, "About ten or twenty minutes ago, Little Yue came by and dragged him off. Seemed like there was some urgent matter."

Dai Xianghua was surprised. "Little Yue is at the commune?"

Jin Anguo nodded. "You're going to Xiaodun Brigade to find Lin Mian, right? I'd hold off if I were you. Lin Mian and that girl are glued at the hip; they might both be at the commune. Wait until Old Cao gets back and ask him first."

As he spoke, Jin Anguo's gaze shifted, and he suddenly saw Jiang Kaixuan, head of the Towel Factory's security department, hauling someone into the yard. The guy on his shoulder had his hands and feet tied with hemp rope and a rag gagging his mouth. Even so, Jin Anguo immediately recognized him as Cao Guilin.

"Jiang, Chief Jiang, what the hell are you guys doing?"

Behind Jiang Kaixuan were the whole Towel Factory security team. The commune sometimes borrowed people from the factory when short-handed, so Jin Anguo recognized many faces. Crucially, each of these men also carried someone bound with hemp rope on their shoulders—some with their eyes shut tight, like they were out cold, others darting their eyes around like they wanted to scream... and three of them wore red armbands!

Were these guys starting a revolt or what?

What Jin Anguo didn't know was that Jiang Kaixuan was just as stressed. They'd caught the guys, but what to do next was anyone's guess. So when he walked into the yard and saw Dai Xianghua, he was thrilled. He hurried over to Dai Xianghua in three quick steps and dropped the guy in front of him.

"Old Dai, you're here, perfect! This Cao Guilin tried to attack Little Yue—picked up a rock and was about to smash it right into the kid's head. We all saw it, so we grabbed him."

Seeing their boss drop the guy in front of Dai Xianghua, the rest of the security team did the same, tossing their captives at him like dumplings into a pot.

Jiang Kaixuan explained, "These two, and these two, are likely Cao Guilin's accomplices. They tried to drug Little Yue and Lin Mian and ship them out of town. This one's from our factory's transport team, also in on it, supposed to do the dirty work, but Lin Mian took him out."

He then pointed to the three with red armbands. "These three attacked Little Yue and Lin Mian near Yunling Middle School, carrying clubs, rope, and sacks. I don't think they're working with Cao Guilin's crew."

Dai Xianghua stared at the dozen or so people on the ground, his head spinning. He exchanged a glance with the stunned Cui Yue, and it felt like Cui Yue's earlier words—"Shanxi County's got honest, simple folks"—were echoing in his ears like a chant, over and over, dripping with irony.

Cui Yue had a complicated look on his face. He opened his mouth and asked, "Is the Lin Mian they're talking about the one I'm looking for? Where is he? Is he okay?"

Jiang Kaixuan waved his hand. "Don't worry, those two kids are just fine. They stopped by Yunling Middle School on the way. Ah, speak of the devil."

Cui Yue looked up and sure enough, saw two teenagers, a boy and a girl, walking in. They were chatting and laughing as they walked in, looking totally relaxed, like nothing had happened.

—

Dai Xianghua quickly called his superiors to report and get instructions, temporarily commandeering a Liberation truck from the Towel Factory. With the militia, he hauled the captives straight back to the county. Why two groups had attacked the two kids at the same time, and where Cao Guilin's group intended to take them, would need more investigation and questioning by the public security authorities.

Director Gong, who'd been in a meeting, rushed out to take control. He personally assigned Cadre Xiao Ding and Jin Anguo to take the two kids back to the brigade, while also calling the county leaders to report and subtly fish for info on Cui Yue's identity.

Before Cui Yue showed up, the county had called to tell them to cooperate in verifying the kid's identity... but they hadn't said anything about verifying Cui Yue's identity. Now, Director Gong was worried Cui Yue's identity might be fake—what if he'd seen the paper and showed up to scam them? Then they'd lose the kid.

Not that a kid this age couldn't get lost—hadn't someone already tried to ship them out of town?

The county leader hesitated a few seconds, spoke vaguely, and hinted that Cui Yue's identity was legit, telling him not to dig into it and to keep things quiet.

Director Gong had a hunch and finally felt relieved.

Cadre Xiao Ding and Jin Anguo went with Shen Banyue and the others back to Xiaodun Brigade, first meeting up with Brigade Leader Shen Zhenxing. Shen Zhenxing was almost knocked flat by the flood of news. His first move was to pull the two kids over, check them over top to bottom, and make sure they hadn't lost a single hair. Only then did he let out a long breath and complain, "The commune's hiring and assigning of people is way too sloppy. How the hell did a scheming bastard like that end up as a Public Security Commissioner and a worker?"

Cadre Xiao Ding and Jin Anguo wanted to defend the commune, but facts spoke louder than words. They exchanged a glance and couldn't say a word.

Wasn't it absurd? A Public Security Commissioner colluding with unknown people to target the commune's "Little Hero."

What a mess.

Shen Zhenxing grumbled for a while before belatedly realizing another matter. "This comrade is here to find Xiao Mian?" He smiled and said, "That's good news!"

Cui Yue observed coldly, feeling far from welcome. Everyone looked at him with scrutiny. At the Shen family home, this feeling deepened. The elderly couple questioned him thoroughly, and upon learning that Lin Mian's father had been transferred to the Northeast, their faces grew longer than a horse's.

Only when they heard that the child's grandfather worked in a remote, rundown research institute in the Northwest, had missed news of the child by chance, and had fallen seriously ill from worry while searching for him, did their expressions soften.

Cui Yue mentioned that the grandfather had already applied to his unit to take his grandson back to the Northwest, and the unit had approved given their circumstances.

He assumed it was natural for the grandfather to want the child back, but Wang Guizhi frowned and said, "Didn't you say his grandfather works in a pretty shabby, remote research institute? That sounds like poor conditions. Wouldn't the child suffer there? I've heard that in the Northwest, even getting a vegetable to eat is hard. How could Xiao Mian endure that?"

Cui Yue was taken aback. "It's not that difficult."

He was the deputy director of the base's logistics department, responsible for meal arrangements. Conditions weren't great, but they weren't that bad either... Cui Yue thought of the stewed chicken, braised fish, garlic sprouts with cured meat, and vibrant green vegetables at lunch, and suddenly felt his confidence waver.

Even if those dishes were specially prepared for them, the ingredients couldn't have appeared out of thin air.

Moreover, at the table, the elderly couple hadn't paid much attention to the guests; they were too busy serving food to the two children, clearly heartbroken after hearing about their near-danger.

Whether Shanxi County's folk were simple and honest was debatable, but this family truly doted on the child.

Cui Yue sighed inwardly and changed his approach. "Regardless, the grandfather is eagerly waiting for his grandson in the Northwest. Xiao Mian can't just not go, can he? When I left, the old man was wiping tears at the unit's gate. If I don't bring Xiao Mian back, how disappointed would he be?"

Wang Guizhi was silent for a moment, then waved her hand. "I'm not saying that. Even if we've raised him for three years, we can't tear apart flesh and blood. I'm just worried. The Northwest is so far, and that place you mentioned seems hard to reach. If you take him away, I won't know how he's doing over there."

She seemed to make a decision, slapped her thigh, and said, "I'll go with you. I need to see that place for myself and meet the child's grandfather before I can rest easy."

Cui Yue was taken aback, wanting to say this wasn't allowed, but he couldn't explain it to Wang Guizhi. As he hesitated, he heard the girl beside him say, "Grandma, I'll go with you. Let's all go meet Grandpa Lin."

Seeing Shen Dechang also mumbling as if to speak, Cui Yue quickly said, "I need to call and ask first. Two people at most—any more definitely won't work."

Shen Dechang's eyes dimmed. He pursed his lips and stayed silent.

Saying he needed to call, Cui Yue acted decisively and rode back to the commune with Cadre Xiao Ding and the others.

Once they were gone, Wang Guizhi patted Lin Mian's head and asked, "Do you still remember your grandfather? Was he good to you? Is he anything like that bastard father of yours?"

Having lived together for three or four years, Lin Mian sometimes let things slip, and from those fragments, the family could tell his father was no good.

Lin Mian looked unusually confused. He shook his head and said, "Grandpa has always been in the Northwest. He sometimes writes letters, but Dad never showed them to me, so I don't know where he works... But he sometimes sends me snacks and once sent a model airplane. I've never met him."

Shen Banyue glanced at him thoughtfully. She had a guess: Lin Mian's grandfather was probably at some classified unit. The Northwest—she understood.

So Cui Yue probably wasn't just calling to ask; he was likely reporting for instructions.

Hadn't he said the old man was wiping tears at the unit's gate when he left? This so-called relative, whom Lin Mian had no memory of, was probably not a relative at all but a colleague from Grandpa Lin's unit, right?

But these were just her guesses. Without Grandpa Lin coming in person and with Cui Yue's identity unverified, there was no way they'd let Lin Mian go with him.

What if she lost the brother she'd raised for three or four years? Who would she cry to?

Even without losing him, just thinking about him leaving, possibly never to be seen again, Shen Banyue's heart, weathered by three lifetimes of partings and deaths, felt stuffed with cotton—heavy and suffocating.

Lin Mian's face crumpled, his eyes reddening as if he might cry at any moment. He choked out, "I don't want to go to the Northwest."

Wang Guizhi gently patted him. "If he's really your grandfather, worrying himself sick over you, can you not go see him? Don't talk nonsense. We'll go together. Grandma has to see you safe and sound before I can rest easy."

"Once you get there, don't be afraid. Put some extra money on you, and if things don't work out, find a way to call home, and your grandma will come get you back. It's just the Northwest, not America—as long as we have money, what's there to fear about getting there?"

Lin Mian gave a quiet, sullen "mm" in response.

Cui Yue's "just give a call" probably wasn't something that could be resolved with a single call. It took a full three days before he, Cadre Xiao Ding, and Jin Anguo came back to Xiaodun Production Brigade.

They also brought news from the county's interrogation.

To everyone's great surprise, among Cao Guilin's accomplices, two were the "higher-ups" of the trafficking ring that the police had been searching for three years without success, while the other two were people they had met through fraud and deception during their years on the run.

According to their confessions, Cao Guilin and Tian Xixiang were an item. However, Cao Guilin had always kept his head down and never got involved in the "business" matters, which allowed him to escape when Tian Xixiang was arrested.

Later, Cao Guilin was appointed as the Public Security Commissioner in the commune. When he came across the case files related to Tian Xixiang, he discovered that the entire trafficking ring had collapsed because of Shen Banyue and the other children. This made his blood boil toward them, and he had been looking for an opportunity to take revenge.

After he managed to get in touch with those traffickers, he kept urging them by claiming that Shen Banyue and the other kids were good-looking and could sell for a pretty penny. The traffickers didn't bite until they saw the photo in the provincial newspaper. Since they were already on the run in Jiangcheng, they decided to collude with Cao Guilin to plot the kidnapping.

Old Mo from the towel factory had worked under Granny Tian decades ago. After Granny Tian "hung up her hat," he settled down in Yunling Commune. Relying on the driving skills he had learned early on, he managed to land a job at the towel factory.

Old Mo was getting on in years and didn't want to engage in such life-on-the-line gigs anymore. But unfortunately, Cao Guilin knew his identity and held evidence that could expose him, so Old Mo was stuck doing his bidding.

Compared to Cao Guilin's meticulous plan, Qian Tao and his gang were practically at an elementary school level. Whether it was the motive for the attack or the method, it all sounded pretty brainless.

But same result, different paths—whether it was a well-thought-out plan or a spur-of-the-moment idea, neither group got the best of the two children.

Even Jin Anguo couldn't help but sigh, "When did you two get so skilled?" As a Security Director and a military veteran, he didn't dare claim he could handle that many people on his own.

Shen Banyue, however, was unabashedly confident: "We were trafficked as kids, so we have to stay alert even when things are calm and always guard against bad people. We've been training for years. I've always been strong, and Xiao Mian, since he lacks strength, focuses on agility."

Lin Mian couldn't help muttering, "I'm not weak either."

That got everyone laughing.

"At Xiao Mian's age, his strength isn't bad at all," Jin Anguo said matter-of-factly. "Xiao Yue, you're a powerhouse, so you can't measure others by your own standards."

Jin Anguo patted Lin Mian on the shoulder and added, "With skills like yours, we feel a bit more at ease about you going to the Northwest. Director Gong kept hammering home that we must ensure your safety—we old folks were really scared this time."

Shen Banyue smiled slyly at Cui Yue: "Uncle Cui, did you get through on the phone? Did they agree to let us go?"

Cui Yue had a fleeting moment of unease, feeling as if the girl's words carried some hidden meaning. But then he thought it was impossible—what's a kid that age gonna know?

He chuckled and said, "Yes, the tickets are already bought. We leave tomorrow."