PCJ – Chapter 638 Rescue

Seven people were suddenly arrested from Yingpan Village, and seven trafficked women were rescued. The youngest was only in her teens, and the oldest was over forty. The earliest trafficked woman had been brought to the village for about ten years and had already given birth to three or four children. Their home was so poor they could barely get by, but the man worried the woman might run away, so he stayed home guarding her, relying only on gathering some wild goods from the mountains to trade for grain. But with so many mouths to feed, the little grain they got from the wild goods was nowhere near enough.

The most tragic woman had her leg broken to prevent her from escaping. When she was rescued, she looked neither like a living person nor a ghost. When Zhang Jiaohua and police from the Tianbaqiao Town police station found her in the cellar, they thought she was a corpse. If not rescued in time, she likely wouldn’t have survived much longer.

When Zhang Jiaohua and the others entered, the woman didn’t scream for help but trembled curled up in a corner. Her hair was messy, her face covered in black dirt, and it was unclear how long it had been since she last washed.

“Beasts!” Zhang Jiaohua couldn’t help but curse.

The Tianbaqiao police immediately handcuffed Gu Chenghe, the man who had bought the woman.

“What are you doing? What are you doing? Didn’t you say if we release the people, you wouldn’t pursue charges?” Gu Chenghe panicked.

“Not only are you involved in trafficking women, you are also suspected of abuse and intentional injury. You’ve turned a perfectly good person into this. Are you still human?” Police officer Zhang Jianyong said.

“She cost me fifty thousand yuan. She ran away many times; no matter how I persuaded her, she wouldn’t listen. Can I be blamed? Should I just throw fifty thousand yuan into the water?” Gu Chenghe said.

“Save those words for the courtroom,” Zhang Jianyong pushed Gu Chenghe hard, causing him to stagger.

“What’s your name? Where are you from?” Zhang Jiaohua asked the trafficked woman.

“My name is Lei Jingshu, from Xintian County. A man driving a van asked me for directions, then pushed me into the van when I wasn’t paying attention. On the van, they gagged me. After moving around several places, they finally sold me here. Boohoo… I have two kids at home. That day, I had an argument with my husband and went out for a walk alone. Who knew I’d be trafficked by these damned people. Here, I think about my two kids every day, about my husband. So I tried to run away. Even if it meant dying, I wanted to go back to see my children.” Lei Jingshu sobbed.

“When did you injure your leg?” Zhang Jiaohua asked.

“Just recently. I heard a cadre came to the village. I tried to escape to ask for help. This bastard broke my leg. Actually, he resents me because I didn’t give him a child. After I had the second child, the township government took me to be sterilized. No more kids now. I just didn’t tell them. Even if I could get pregnant, I would kill the child in my belly. I won’t have children for this beast!” Lei Jingshu, hearing Zhang Jiaohua speak to her in the Xintian dialect, seemed to see a relative. She cried loudly while speaking.

“Don’t worry, your leg should still be treatable. The police will soon contact your family to send you home. No one else will know about what happened here.” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“Cadre Zhang, could I ask you a favor?” Lei Jingshu asked.

“Go ahead,” Zhang Jiaohua nodded.

“I’m already like this. Even if I go home, I wouldn’t have the face to see my children and husband. After my leg heals, I want to go work along the coast. I just can’t let go of my children. Otherwise, I would have given up on life a long time ago.” Lei Jingshu said.

Zhang Jiaohua quickly comforted her, “Sister Lei, this is not your fault. Maybe your family is still looking for you everywhere. Think about it—your children won’t have their mother anymore and will suffer in the days ahead. Now that you’ve escaped danger, why not cherish the days ahead? No matter what happened at home, your two children are still your own flesh and blood. I think you should return to Xintian County, check on your family’s situation, and then decide what to do next. If you need a job, I can help you find one in Xintian. How about that?”

“I’ll think about it,” Lei Jingshu hesitated.

“Alright, I’ll treat your leg first. The town will temporarily arrange a place for you to stay. Once your leg recovers, then you can decide the next step.” Zhang Jiaohua said.

Lei Jingshu nodded. Though she had escaped the tiger’s mouth, the experience in Yingpan Village might become a lifelong shadow.

The truth couldn’t be hidden. The trafficking case in Yingpan Village eventually spread, with media flooding in from all over the country, instantly making this small village a national focus.

Bijiang City and Daihua County were passive, but Tianbaqiao Town, caught in the storm, was overwhelmed.

Originally, Zhu Qingdong had hoped to make a big political achievement from the saline-alkali land reform project but now had a headache every day. Every time he went out, various media stopped him for interviews. Normally, Zhu Qingdong would have welcomed the spotlight, but now he wished he could hide at home. However, he couldn’t avoid it. The top leader Yang Yongqiang was still in the hospital and managed to dodge the turmoil. Zhu Qingdong wished it were him lying in the hospital bed instead.

“You really stirred up a big mess. Why? We can rescue the women and arrest the traffickers, but why create such a huge scene? The Yingpan Village project was just approved; now, it’s uncertain if it can still be implemented,” Zhu Qingdong complained.

“Mayor Zhu, you can look at it from another angle. Yes, the bride-buying case happened in our village. But we handled it decisively and arrested all suspects. We successfully cracked a major cross-provincial criminal group because we provided accurate and timely information. Also, although the news is unfavorable to Tianbaqiao Town, it’s actually beneficial. More people now know how poor Yingpan Village is. Do you think the higher-ups won’t allocate funding?” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“Right, I think the higher-ups are even more anxious than us,” Zhu Qingdong smiled.

“Mayor Zhu, I think the trafficked women should be properly arranged by the town. We can’t let them return home in this condition. We should invite some psychological doctors to provide counseling and reduce their mental pressure. Otherwise, Tianbaqiao Town will really become the focus of everyone’s attention,” Zhang Jiaohua said.