TPW – Chapter 93

“W-why wouldn’t I be human?” Even though she was inwardly guilty, Li Xiuxiu still tried to appear unafraid.

She glanced toward the courtyard gate and muttered, “I ran into the police just now on the street. They said child traffickers are rampant these days. Not a single stolen child gets found. Isn’t your wife devastated? I’m even willing to give her my son as comfort—how is that wrong? I’m just being kindhearted…”

What? Many people thought they’d misheard—how could someone be this outrageous?

Not only did she not feel she was wrong, she even seemed smug about it?

“F*ck!”

Tian Jianzhong had just pushed his way in to see what the commotion was when he heard what Li Xiuxiu said. Furious, he grabbed her by the collar and yanked her out: “Li Xiuxiu, are you even human?! Huh?!”

Qiao Lu’s child had just gone missing, and she was drowning in grief. Not only did this woman not offer any comfort, she deliberately made things worse—what else was this if not begging for a beating?

“I’ve heard of cuckoo birds in the animal world, but I didn’t think there’d be a human equivalent too. Disgusting!” Tian Jianzhong glared at her angrily.

Cuckoo birds are known as one of the most “vicious” birds in nature, infamous for their bizarre and disturbing reproductive strategy.

They lay their eggs in other birds’ nests instead of incubating them themselves. To keep from being discovered, they even throw out one of the host’s eggs—bartering one for another.

When the unsuspecting host bird returns to the nest, the eggs look so similar that she doesn’t realize the switch, and she raises the cuckoo egg with care.

The cuckoo chick hatches first and, while the host bird is out foraging, pushes the remaining eggs out of the nest, killing them all.

In the end, only the cuckoo chick remains.

When the mother bird returns to the now-empty nest and sees only the chick… If she were human, she’d probably have a mental breakdown on the spot.

In everyone’s eyes, what Li Xiuxiu had just said made her even more detestable than a cuckoo bird!

After all, cuckoos do this to reproduce—it’s just animal instinct. They’re mindless creatures.

But Li Xiuxiu? She was a human being, an “intelligent” species educated in a civilized society. Her behavior was just plain malicious—stupid and cruel.

Li Xiuxiu was caught off guard by Tian Jianzhong’s tug, nearly stumbling. She jostled the baby in her arms to steady herself, heart pounding, and huffed, “Alright, alright, it’s my fault, I’ve got a foul mouth, I shouldn’t have said that, okay?”

But honestly, she didn’t see what was wrong with what she’d said.

Given the current situation, if Qiao An couldn’t be found, Qiao Lu would definitely fall apart. So why not give her another child? With time, the pain of losing hers would fade, and she wouldn’t dwell on the missing one anymore.

There had been a woman in their village who went insane after losing her child. Later, another family who couldn’t afford to raise all their daughters gave one to the madwoman. And guess what? The moment she had a child, the woman recovered. Not only did she stop being crazy, she practically came back to life.

Now she did farm work while raising her “daughter.” The two of them were happy and healthy, no different from any normal family. She never even brought up her lost child again. So perfect, right?

That’s why Li Xiuxiu thought Qiao Lu should be “cured” the same way.

And if she could give her own son to them to raise, she’d even be willing to give up her claim on their house!

Li Xiuxiu had been observing for a while and had reached a conclusion: the Xu Haizhou family was seriously rich.

From the clothes they wore to the appliances in their house—they had the best of everything in the entire courtyard!

She also heard both husband and wife were business owners. Xu Haizhou ran a clothing store that was doing great, and Qiao Lu had her own little workshop. People even called her “Sister Qiao Lu” or “Boss Qiao.” Apparently she had so many “employees” no one could count them!

If her son could grow up in a wealthy household like that, wouldn’t he live a blissful life?

Even if he didn’t grow close to her, blood ties couldn’t be severed. He was her biological son—how could he not take care of her when he grew up?

“You really don’t want him?” Li Xiuxiu asked again, clearly still not convinced.

Qiao Lu clenched Xu Haizhou’s arm tightly, barely suppressing the urge to curse. Her chest hurt from the sheer rage.

Everyone nearby wanted to give Li Xiuxiu a good kick—what, did she think the couple was so desperate they’d take anyone’s child? Were they incapable of having their own? Had she lost her mind?

“Scram, scram—just shut up already!”

“Are you even fit to be a mother?”

Xu Haizhou’s voice was sharp and cold as frost: “Do I need to get a forklift to throw you out?”

His voice was like a cold blade, laced with a fearsome chill that made people’s hair stand on end.

Li Xiuxiu flinched and twitched her mouth. Just as she took a step to leave, she still couldn’t keep quiet: “Then if you really can’t get your son back… you two have two rooms in this house. Isn’t that a bit of a waste? Can I maybe…”

“No, you can’t! GET OUT! GET LOST!” Qiao Lu grabbed a teacup and hurled it at her.

Xu Haizhou stepped forward, yanked Li Xiuxiu by the collar, and dragged her out of the courtyard.

If it weren’t for the baby in her arms, Xu Haizhou would’ve thrown her out right then and there. Only a rough toss would have been enough to vent the fury in his heart.

Song Qingping was fuming too. Imagining herself in Qiao Lu’s place, she got so angry she grabbed a broom and began hitting Li Xiuxiu with it: “Get lost! You ungrateful wretch, shameless thing! No one in this courtyard wants you here! Wherever you came from, go back there! Don’t come here again to be an eyesore! Scram!”

Li Xiuxiu wasn’t someone without a temper. After nearly a month of living in a dilapidated temple with no home to return to, she had been bottling up her frustration. Now, after being thrown out and beaten again, she couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Her true nature burst out, revealing her shameless side:

“Fine! I’ll go back to where I came from!” She pointed to the house behind Xu Haizhou and his wife. “I was born in those two rooms! My mom didn’t even go to the hospital—she gave birth to me right in that room! You want me to go back? Then clear those two rooms out! Otherwise, where am I supposed to go back to?”

Song Qingping was so angry she laughed, took a deep breath, and pointed to the old Li family home: “You know your mom gave birth to you, so how did you repay your dad? Without your dad, your mom couldn’t have had you! And this is how you treat your father?”

“Exactly! Do you even realize your father got sick from being so angry at you? If it weren’t for you, he might still be alive!” Chen Jiamei never missed a chance to stab someone where it hurt most.

Seeing Li Xiuxiu’s expression like she’d just eaten shit, Chen Jiamei finally felt satisfied.

It was only today that Li Xiuxiu found out the truth.

“What? That’s impossible. What are you talking about? How could I be the reason my dad died? I just… I just got married. It’s not like I did anything unforgivable…”

Tian Jianzhong chimed in, “You got married, sure, but why couldn’t you marry someone in Lian? Have you ever thought about how your dad only had one daughter—just you? Everyone else in the family is gone, and now you’re married off. Who’s going to take care of him? He was so old, worked so hard to raise you, and for what? To watch you abandon him?”

“If it were me, I’d have dropped dead on the spot too! Even Xu Haizhou couldn’t have saved me!” Chen Jiamei scoffed. “And not only did you marry off, you never came back to visit. Not even a letter! Isn’t that infuriating? Giving birth to you wasn’t worth it—should’ve made a roast pork bun instead.”

“You think I wanted to? You think I didn’t want to come see him or send him letters? I didn’t have a choice!” Li Xiuxiu wiped her tears desperately. Her two poor little daughters clung tightly to her clothes, completely lost.

They were terrified—it was the first time they’d seen so many people yelling at their mom. Their big, misty eyes were brimming with tears, but they hadn’t cried yet.

“Life in the countryside is so hard. We were poor—how could we afford train tickets? How could I afford to send letters? Every penny had to be stretched! What did I do wrong?” she pleaded.

Some of the softer-hearted folks, hearing this, actually started to feel a bit of sympathy for her again.

But then Song Qingping said, “When you were a rural educated youth, didn’t you know what kind of life your husband’s family lived? Weren’t you the one who chose to marry into poverty?”

Chen Jiamei added, “Exactly! You made your bed—you lie in it!”

Li Xiuxiu pounded her chest in frustration. “Yes, I chose to marry him. And I’ve borne all the consequences. But I really had no choice—what did I do wrong? When you marry a chicken, you follow the chicken; when you marry a dog, you follow the dog. I followed him—I became his wife—of course I had to prioritize our little family! Do you think I have the ability to take care of both sides?”

She was really just that stubborn—prioritizing her own little family over her natal one.

People didn’t even know whether to call her selfish or selfless.

All they could do was sigh—the world is big, and there’s all kinds of people in it!

In the end, Li Xiuxiu’s sob story failed, and she slunk off in embarrassment.

There’s a saying: the most dangerous place is often the safest place. As the intense crackdown eased, everyone let their guard down, thinking society was now secure—but traffickers took the opportunity to wreak havoc.

By the fourth day of Qiao An’s disappearance, four children had already gone missing in the southern part of the city!

Across the whole of Lian City, a total of eleven children were missing!

It was utter lawlessness—no regard for the law whatsoever!

The Public Security Bureau was alarmed, and so were all the residents. Even the slightest disturbance now sent adults and children into panic.

Take today, for instance: when Chen Dacai got home from work, his son Chen Jingtao was nowhere to be seen. He called a few times in the courtyard but got no response. Strangely, his daughter Chen Nannan was home—they always came home together after school. There was no reason Jingkang would still be at school.

He went inside to ask his wife, but Lin Caihe had just gotten back from work herself. She had no idea where their son had gone. Usually, it was his mother who picked the boy up from school.

Besides, Chen Jingkang wasn’t a kindergartener—he was already nine years old. The children who’d gone missing in Lian recently were all under six and still in kindergarten. She honestly hadn’t been too worried.

Who would steal a kid as big as Jingkang? Even if they did, he’d be hard to manage. Little kids in kindergarten were the ones in demand.

Their nephew Chen Botao was an exception—he was seven, but born prematurely, so he had always been weak and sickly.

As a result, he started school a year late. He was still in kindergarten and looked small for his age. Strangers often mistook him for a six-year-old.

Unable to find his son, Chen Dacai exploded and started yelling at Lin Caihe.

“You useless woman! If Jingkang gets kidnapped, I swear I’ll make you pay!”

But Lin Caihe wasn’t as gentle as her name suggested. She snapped back immediately: “You’re blaming me? The kid goes missing and it’s my fault? I work every day, then come home and cook and clean for your whole family. I just got back—how is this on me? Isn’t it your mother who always picks him up? You want to blame me? Why don’t you blame your mom?!”

“You—!”

Just as Chen Dacai was about to fire back, Zhang Hongyan walked in from the outer courtyard holding Chen Jingkang’s hand, squinting at the bickering couple.

“What are you yelling for, huh? Just got home and already screaming? What, things have been too quiet lately?”

Chen Jingkang broke free from his grandmother and ran straight to the bedroom, clutching a freshly baked sesame bun.

“Ooh! Sesame bun! Big bro, give me half!”

The two kids happily shared the bun in the bedroom. And as for that soy sauce bottle in Zhang Hongyan’s hand…

Well, turns out the kid had just been sent by his grandma to buy soy sauce.

Now it was Lin Caihe’s turn to scream at Chen Dacai.

To be fair, it wasn’t unreasonable for Chen Dacai to panic. The recent child trafficking cases had everyone on edge.

Their own nephew had been kidnapped. The neighbor’s son too. The cries of those mothers still echoed in his nightmares. No one dared to imagine what they’d do if it were their own child.

“Haizhou, security is tight at the train stations, bus depots, every exit from the city. They’re checking everyone’s luggage, especially places where a child might be hidden—but not a single kid has been found. I think… they must still be in the city.”

Li Yu’s words snapped Xu Haizhou to attention.

“Any more kids gone missing recently?” he asked.

“I heard one disappeared yesterday. But not from a kindergarten—this one went missing on the way home from school with an adult. The location was several blocks away from the kindergarten.”

Xu Haizhou frowned, increasingly sensing something was wrong. “Lost on the way home? Where were the adults?”

“They say the kid ran off when the adult wasn’t watching.”

“Ran off?” Not traffickers?

But even if a four- or five-year-old child got separated, they should still be able to find their way home. There are plenty of good-hearted people these days—any adult the kid asked would at least take them to the police.

Suddenly, Xu Haizhou’s expression changed. He grabbed his companion’s shoulder, his eyes darkening. “Let’s go! Stop waiting at the train station—we’re going to the kindergarten!”

“Huh?” Kindergarten?

Lately, police inspections had been strict—even if you gave traffickers ten sets of guts, they wouldn’t dare appear near a kindergarten!

Would they even catch anyone by going there?

The kindergarten had tight security. Since it belonged to a factory compound, any incidents would bring responsibility to the factory, so they had invested in more security guards.

But don’t forget—the most dangerous place is often the safest place to hide.

“Hey, Chunlan! What a surprise to see you here. Picking up your grandkid too? It’s been ages. How have you been?”

Just having picked up her well-behaved grandson from the kindergarten, an old lady was walking him home. She hadn’t gone far when a middle-aged woman called out to her.

“You are…?”

The woman looked to be in her late thirties or early forties, with a neat ear-length haircut and bright, sharp eyes. Her face was always smiling and seemed easy to get along with.

The old lady squinted and looked carefully, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t figure out who this woman was.

With the tone of a familiar old friend, the woman smiled brightly. “It’s me, Chunlan! Has it really been that long since we last met that you’ve forgotten me?”

As she spoke, she gently took the old lady’s wrist, gazing at her with a beaming smile. “Remember now? It’s me.”

Though she was addressed as “old lady,” she was only a few years older than the woman before her—about four or five years difference. It was just that the sun and wind had aged her appearance. So she didn’t feel particularly offended at being called “Chunlan.”

She was only wondering—could this woman really be an old friend?

The two chatted for several minutes. The woman refused to say her name, acting like she was just teasing her for fun.

The old lady kept trying to remember, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall.

After a while, the child at her feet grew bored of waiting and started looking around.

At some point, an old woman had appeared beside them—hunched over, with kind, gentle features.

She bent down and extended a wrinkled hand, holding a piece of fragrant rice cake. Smiling broadly, she said to the child: “Good boy, here’s a yummy rice cake.”

Being randomly offered food, the child was actually a little wary. But seeing the kind smile on the old woman’s face—like flower petals—he couldn’t help but think of his own grandma… and how could a grandma be bad?

So he reached out to take the rice cake.

The old woman took a step back while still holding the cake.

The child unknowingly let go of his real grandma’s clothes and, mesmerized by the rice cake, slowly followed the old woman as she backed away.

Outside the kindergarten, the scene was noisy and bustling, full of grandparents picking up their grandchildren. Who would notice a kindly “grandma” and “grandchild” walking off together? No one would suspect a thing.

Unfortunately, no matter how clever their disguise was, they were still noticed by Xu Haizhou, who was watching from across the street.

Li Yu and two other brothers had also noticed and were ready to rush over and stop the old woman.

But Xu Haizhou held them back.

“Don’t rush. Let’s follow them and see where they’re taking the kid.”

The child was completely absorbed by the rice cake, while his real grandma was still chatting with the unfamiliar woman, laughing and reminiscing.

By the time the old lady realized the child was missing and turned around in a panic to shout, even the woman who had been chatting with her had vanished!

They followed the old woman through winding alleys with the child. Eventually, the child sensed something was wrong and started crying and fussing, wanting his grandma. But the old woman’s feeble limbs couldn’t restrain him.

Luckily, she had accomplices.

Soon, as they turned into a quiet alleyway, a strong man stepped out, grabbed the child, clamped him under his arm, covered his mouth, and viciously punched his little bottom. “Cry again, make noise again, and I’ll beat your ass until it blooms! You’ll never see your mom again!”

The child was terrified. He didn’t dare cry or struggle, only let his tears fall silently.

Xu Haizhou and his companions followed at a cautious distance. The clearer they saw what was happening, the colder their hearts grew.

He couldn’t bear to imagine if An’an were treated like this… He was relieved Qiao Lu hadn’t come—if she saw this, she probably wouldn’t be able to hold it together…

The alley was long, winding, and narrow, like a serpent slithering through the connected courtyards of old homes.

On either side were dilapidated walls covered in moss. Wild grass and climbing vines grew wildly between the cracks in the bricks. The narrow shadows made the alley feel dark and oppressive.

As they went deeper, everything around them fell silent. The corners of the walls smelled faintly of waste and sewage.

After about ten minutes of walking, they finally reached the place where the traffickers were hiding the children.

Once they confirmed the location, Li Yu took one of the brothers to report to the police, leaving Xu Haizhou and another behind to keep watch.

Li Yu was quick—less than ten minutes later, he returned with the police, who had even dispatched the station’s only car.

Xu Haizhou said, “I checked—there’s a back door. Dahua’s guarding it.”

Li Yu: “Alright. Officer, please have someone cover the back door.”

The lead officer waved his hand. “Follow me.”

It was dinnertime. Smoke curled from the rooftop.

Maybe because it was mealtime, no one inside had come out since entering. After the officers arrived, they first blocked the front entrance and waited for reinforcements before breaking in.

Five minutes later—

“Don’t move! Stay where you are!”

“Don’t move—!”

A loud bang.

Chaos erupted inside—screams for help, the cries of young children.

“Waaah—help, help! Help, help—no, no, I want my mommy, I want my daddy! Waaah—help me, save me—!”

It was shocking—inside the small, dark room were children. A whole group of them, huddled together in the center of the room, trembling and tear-streaked.

Because the door had been thrown open so suddenly, and their eyes had long adjusted to the dark, the children instinctively stopped crying and shut their eyes in the sudden light.

A rough count—twelve or thirteen of them. All around kindergarten age, maybe even younger.

Frantically scanning the crowd, Xu Haizhou spotted a familiar face.

“Chen Botao!”

The little boy looked up. When he saw who it was, he trembled with excitement and cried out, “Uncle! Uncle Xu! Waaah—Uncle Xu!”

Xu Haizhou rushed forward, embracing him tightly and patting his back to comfort him.

“Where’s An’an? Did you see our An’an?” His voice was shaking.

Sniffling, Chen Botao clung tightly to Xu Haizhou, breathing in his reassuring scent. He shook his head and said, “I don’t know… I don’t know where An’an is… I didn’t see An’an… Waaah—I want my mommy, I want my daddy, Uncle…”

Cradling the boy’s fragile body, Xu Haizhou anxiously turned around, shouting in disbelief: “An’an! An’an!”

No reply came—only the cries of frightened children, the shouts of the police, and the groveling pleas of the traffickers… but no other voice.

Xu Haizhou gently set Chen Botao down, grabbed a trafficker at random, and punched him hard in the chest. Veins bulged on the back of his hand as he roared:

“Where’s An’an?! Where is my child?!”