RYEY -Chapter 336 Wu Xiaolin’s Identity

Mother Li was overwhelmed with emotion: “Y-you-you… where is my grandson? I’m his grandmother, his biological grandmother…”

“Please, don’t get too agitated, ma’am. Just wait a moment.”

“Grand…wah…grand…wah…wah…”

Xiao Chengli took the phone from the director and immediately started calling out, crying at the same time. His sobs were heartbreaking. Mother Li felt as if a knife were stabbing her heart, and tears streamed down her face:

“My precious! Don’t cry! Tell me where you are. Your father, mother, and grandfather have been searching for you every day. Now that we’ve found you, they’ll be overjoyed—no, ecstatic!”

“Grandma, I’m at the Jinxian Public Security Bureau. Please make my mother come quickly to pick me up. I’m scared… I almost got beaten to death… wah…”

“What? You were beaten? Are you hurt? Where? I—I’ll go find your mother right now and have her come immediately…”

“Ma’am, please don’t panic. Let’s first notify the child’s parents and grandfather. The child is very safe at our bureau. I’ll make sure he’s taken care of—eating, drinking, and all other needs. You can rest assured.”

The director noticed that the situation was delicate; further conversation could delay catching the criminals. They still needed Xiao Chengli to guide them.

“Alright, I’ll go out now. You must take good care of my grandson. He mustn’t get lost again.”

Mother Li quickly agreed. Before hanging up, she anxiously reminded him once more. Only after receiving the director’s affirmation did she put down the phone. Thinking for a moment, she picked up a pen and paper, wrote a few words, and placed it in the most obvious spot.

Unfortunately, she didn’t know where the Jinxian Public Security Bureau was, nor how to write the two characters for Jinxian. She just wrote “Public Security Bureau,” locked the door, and went to find Cheng Qiao.

“Xiao Chengli, uncle has something that needs your help. Can you help me?”

“Uncle, as long as I can do it, I’ll help.”

“Good child. These traffickers are terrible. We must catch them and rescue more children. So can you…”

“Uncle, you’re the director, right? Please go save Wu Xiaolin first. If she’s sold, we’ll never find her again.”

Hearing the director talk about rescuing more children, Xiao Chengli happily interrupted him. He wanted Wu Xiaolin saved first so she could return safely to her parents.

The director froze. Wu Xiaolin—the granddaughter of the senior Wu family leader, who lived up in the mountains—had been tricked away, and her whole family was in a panic.

Even though he could mobilize all of Beijing’s police forces, the old leader’s high morals meant the search had to be discreet. The police in the capital weren’t enough to cause public trouble for the government.

Still, many people were deployed, searching everywhere for the little girl. They had received leads and conducted inspections both overt and covert.

But as time passed, confidence in finding her waned. If the traffickers sold the girl to some remote, impoverished village, she would be nearly impossible to locate.

The director, trembling with emotion, grabbed Xiao Chengli’s hand and stammered, “Good child, do you remember the route? We’ll leave immediately.”

“I need to first go back to the long-distance bus station. A woman took me there, bought a ticket to the train station, and then planned to take me far, far away.”

The director nodded repeatedly, picked up the phone, and dialed an internal line. Three minutes later, all the bureau staff appeared in the office. Only two officers, one male and one female, were left behind while the rest set out.

The director carried Xiao Chengli in the cargo area of a three-wheeled motorcycle, leading two officers, and ten minutes later they reached the bus station.

Xiao Chengli held the director’s hand, recalling the route he had taken with the woman. But as they walked, some paths became unclear; he had been carried by her back then.

The director didn’t rush, standing aside to smoke. He had already instructed others to hurry over. Halfway through his cigarette, Xiao Chengli suddenly screamed:

“Mom! Mom!”

The director quickly turned and saw Xiao Chengli running toward a woman, who turned around and happily ran to meet him.

She was the woman who had bought Xiao Chengli for 550 yuan. Since Xiao Chengli had been taken by a man, she had hurried away—otherwise, she might have been caught.

She ran desperately until she could run no more and sat by a wall to rest for half an hour before recovering.

Seeing the sky, she realized there were no more buses to the train station today, and her money was running low. She would have to spend the night at the station.

By the time she returned, over two hours had passed. She had planned to squat in some corner for the night, but her heart was unwilling to let go.

Five hundred and fifty yuan—her life’s savings—had been lost. She hadn’t expected the child to be taken, so she had planned to return to the traffickers to demand her money.

Yet she hadn’t gone far before Xiao Chengli saw her and happily shouted, for he no longer remembered the way, and she surely did.

The woman hugged Xiao Chengli tightly, afraid of losing him again. Xiao Chengli felt some guilt—he didn’t really want to recognize her as his mother, only to have her guide the way.

“Mom, where are you going?”

“I was going to the traffickers to demand money, but since you’re back, we won’t. Child, I have no money left; we’ll just spend the night at the station, alright?”

“Take me to the traffickers. I want to find people.”

“Child, you’re crazy! They only sell people. You won’t find anyone there.”

“Uncle, please explain to her.”

The woman finally looked up and saw, ten meters away, a group of over ten police officers in white uniforms. Her scalp tingled.

“Child, you actually called the police to arrest me?”

“No, Mom. They’re here to catch the traffickers. The director said that if you guide us, your past illegal actions in trafficking will be forgiven.”

“But…”

Before she could finish, the director and his team charged over. Surrounded by so many strict officers, the woman finally nodded.

The director had planned to carry Xiao Chengli, but he cleverly held the woman’s hand. As long as she believed he was her son, she would guide them properly.

As they neared the traffickers’ hideout, darkness fell. The director signaled the others to split up.

“Mom, when we meet the traffickers, tell them I’m sick and need to switch people.”

“I won’t switch.”

“Mom, that’s to trick the traffickers. Do you remember the little girl beside me?”

The woman thought for a moment and shook her head. There were too many children; she couldn’t remember. But her eyes lit up—if the child liked a little girl, she could even bring her home as a child bride.