TPW – Chapter 94

“Calm down, calm down!” Two police officers immediately stepped forward to stop Xu Haizhou’s “rampage.”

They could understand his emotions, but they couldn’t let him beat someone to death.

After arresting all the suspects, one group of officers began the interrogations, while another contacted the children’s parents.

As a result, the entire police station was filled with the cries of adults and children alike—cries of grief mixed with relief.

The police interrogated the child trafficking gang throughout the night. Other than the children who hadn’t yet been sold or transported, six were still unaccounted for—including Xu Haizhou’s son.

“Where’s my son? Where the hell did you sell him? Speak! Speak!!”

Originally waiting in the front hall, Xu Haizhou suddenly burst into the interrogation room. His appearance was so sudden that the officers inside froze for two seconds before scrambling to drag him back out.

“There were so many boys. How should I know which one you’re talking about?” Faced again with Xu Haizhou, who had beaten him earlier, the gang leader was clearly shaken. His heartbeat pounded, and his tone carried a trace of feigned grievance.

Breaking free from the officers’ restraint, Xu Haizhou rushed forward and grabbed the man by the collar: “Textile Factory Kindergarten! My son saw someone who looked like me running away, and then he disappeared!”

Someone who looked like him?

At that, the trafficker’s memory started to clear.

Yes, he remembered that child—too pretty to forget. Pale and tender-skinned, with a soft, crisp little voice. When the kid saw him, he shouted “Daddy” in excitement, only to realize he’d mistaken him for someone else and dejectedly walked away.

It had been a complete accident. That child hadn’t even been his target that day…

Seeing the bloodshot fury in Xu Haizhou’s eyes, as though he were ready to flay him alive, the trafficker shivered involuntarily.

Swallowing a mouthful of spit, he said, “Was the kid wearing a yellow jacket, with little yellow ducks on his shoes…?”

Aside from the face, the outfit had been eye-catching too—unlike anything commonly sold, made of expensive-looking material.

He had hesitated at first. That child clearly wasn’t from an ordinary family—what if he belonged to someone with power and influence? But the boy’s “quality” was rare and would fetch a high price.

Tempted by the potential profit, the trafficker had made his move.

“Yes! That’s my son! Where the hell did you send him?” Xu Haizhou’s hand at the man’s collar tightened, inching toward his throat, strangling.

The police quickly pried him off to prevent him from choking the man to death, but they didn’t let him leave either. They waited to hear where the child had gone.

“H-He… cough cough…” Under Xu Haizhou’s fierce stare, the trafficker’s eyes darted about as he slowly confessed, “That child was just too pretty… as soon as we brought him back, the buyers picked him immediately for a thousand yuan…”

A thousand yuan. One thousand yuan!

Normally, three hundred was already a huge sum for a child. Their deals rarely exceeded that.

Qiao An was fought over by two couples—one started at seven hundred, then they raised it by a hundred each time until the bid reached one thousand. Only then did the “lucky” couple take him away.

Suppressing his inner rage, Xu Haizhou roared, “Where are they now? Where did those buyers go?!”

After getting the address from the trafficker, the police sent a team to go with Xu Haizhou. They rushed to the location, only to learn from a neighbor that the buyers had moved out a week ago…

To give hope, only to dash it again—such cruelty is unbearable for any parent.

The next morning, Xu Haizhou returned home, only to find Qiao Lu gone. The neighbor, Wu Guifang, said she had gone to the train station again.

With a headache pounding and a heart full of pain, Xu Haizhou rode his bicycle straight there.

At first glance, he spotted his young wife sitting all alone on the stone steps at the train station entrance, silently staring at the crowd in front of her.

People passed by in streams—large hands holding small ones—but none of those little hands belonged to her…

“Haizhou.”

Sighing, he draped his arm around her shoulders.

“You didn’t come home all night. Where were you?” She gently leaned her head on his shoulder. He was her only support now—her only support.

“At the police station,” Xu Haizhou said hoarsely.

Qiao Lu blinked in surprise and turned to him with dry, red-rimmed eyes. “The police station? You were there that long… Is there news?”

After a slight hesitation, Xu Haizhou nodded and gently brushed her damp hair from her temple. 

“Mm, there’s news about the child.”

“Really?” Qiao Lu shot upright.

“Yeah.” Looking at the joy in her eyes, Xu Haizhou couldn’t bear to tell her the cruel truth.

“Then… then our An’an… Can we get him back?” She asked with such hope—how could he bear it, how could anyone bear it…

Swallowing his bitterness, Xu Haizhou held her tight. “Yes.”

Qiao Lu burst into tears of joy, clinging to him and sobbing softly. Her eyes hurt again.

With a coaxing voice, he said, “Come on, let’s go home first, okay?”

“Mm.”

With Xu Haizhou’s promise, Qiao Lu finally managed to sleep for a little while after countless sleepless nights.

But her rest wasn’t peaceful—she woke up once in the middle of the night, her mind filled with images of her son’s every smile and frown.

She lay in pain for a long time, then fell back asleep from sheer exhaustion.

Meanwhile, Xu Haizhou, after settling her at home, rushed back to the train station to keep watch—too anxious to even think of sleeping.

Elsewhere, Chen Botao had “returned the treasure intact.”

The whole Chen family was so overjoyed they nearly set off fireworks. Upon hearing that it was Xu Haizhou who found the child, they immediately brought their son to kneel and kowtow in gratitude.

Though grateful, they didn’t rest. Whenever Chen Ershun and his wife got off work, they’d help Qiao Lu search for her son.

Their gratitude couldn’t be expressed in any other way.

Over the next few days, countless parents trickled in to thank Xu Haizhou.

Tearfully and joyfully, they expressed their thanks with offerings of fresh eggs, candies, and pastries. The courtyard was packed wall-to-wall with people—it was a lively scene.

Upon learning that Xu Haizhou’s own child still hadn’t been found, the parents comforted him with bittersweet sympathy.

Only those who’ve suffered this kind of pain can truly understand it.

Although six children remained missing, Xu Haizhou’s actions had made a major impact—he’d directly taken down the biggest, most rampant trafficking gang in Lucheng.

But neither he nor his wife could feel even a shred of joy.

When the police came to inform him of a commendation ceremony and said a reporter from the newspaper wanted to interview him, Xu Haizhou refused them all.

His son still wasn’t found—how could he be in the mood for interviews or awards?

All the traffickers’ illegal earnings were confiscated by the Public Security Bureau, out of which 1,000 yuan was rewarded to the Xu Haizhou couple.

They so dearly wished that this 1,000 yuan could be exchanged for their child…

After a brief discussion, the couple decided to evenly distribute the money among the five other families who still hadn’t found their children.

Searching day and night for a child meant being unable to work—200 yuan per couple could at least cover a significant part of their living expenses for some time.

This act truly made outsiders look at the couple with newfound respect.

Even though their own lives were “miserable beyond words,” they still couldn’t turn a blind eye to the suffering of others.

Another half month passed. Even the police had begun to lose hope and gradually loosened their surveillance at train and bus stations.

It was at that point that Xu Haizhou suddenly told the other five couples to begin guarding the train and bus stations.

Although no one understood the reason behind it, they all did as he said.

These days, Xu Haizhou had become the leader of their group. When everyone else panicked, he remained calm and composed, always analyzing the situation rationally.

Whether or not he was always right didn’t matter—he gave them someone to rely on. Whether they could find their children or not, whenever they heard his instructions, they felt a spark of hope.

“Where’s Xiaohui? She didn’t come today?”

Xiaohui was one of the mothers in the group who had lost a daughter. The child was only three years old, the couple’s first child after five years of marriage.

Feng Gui, another mother who lived near Xiaohui, sighed and said, “This morning, while her husband was making breakfast, she tried to hang herself in their room…”

“What?” Everyone gasped. Even Qiao Lu looked at her in shock.

“How could this happen? How could it…”

“Is she okay? Was she saved in time?”

Feng Gui shook her head. “She’s fine, they got to her just in time, but… I don’t think her mental state is okay. I’m afraid…” She sighed.

“Damn those traffickers! How many families have they destroyed?!”

Qiao Lu’s heart ached. The scene hit her hard. Her nose burned, and she felt the urge to cry.

No, she had to be strong. She couldn’t fall apart before they found their child.

Haizhou was right—your health is the foundation of everything. If parents wanted to find their children, they had to stay strong. They had to.

Since the guards at the stations had loosened, Xu Haizhou would rush over to anyone carrying a child at the train station, regardless of whether the child was a boy or a girl.

Why even stop those with girls? He was afraid someone might put a wig on the child to confuse others.

It sounded absurd and laughable, but it was the desperate caution of a father.

And in return, he heard the same three words over and over from parents: “You’re crazy.”

Now, on the 23rd day since Qiao An’s disappearance, aside from Xu Haizhou and the other five families, no one else had the energy to help anymore.

Everyone had their own lives. They couldn’t abandon their jobs to search every day. At most, they’d take a stroll and keep an eye out after work.

The shop’s business was now entirely dependent on Li Hongjun and the two clerks they had hired. The couple didn’t have the energy to manage it anymore.

It was early November, the temperature had dropped, and the cold had fully settled in.

Drizzle after drizzle fell for days, as if even the heavens were weeping for them.

That morning, Qiao Lu jolted awake from her sleep at 5 a.m. Almost simultaneously, Xu Haizhou also woke up and pulled her into a tight hug.

“What’s wrong? Another nightmare? It’s okay, it’s okay. Dreams are the opposite of reality. I’m here, I’m here.”

“Haizhou, I dreamed of An’an. It’s the first time… it’s the first time I’ve dreamed of him since all this began.”

Qiao Lu sobbed uncontrollably, even more devastated than when she first learned that An’an was missing.

“An’an said, ‘Mama, I’m leaving you now. I’m going to leave you forever.’ He said goodbye… he said he’s never coming back…”

Qiao Lu’s tightly wound nerves finally snapped—not because of just one dream, but because of days and days of exhaustion and emotional strain that finally ignited the fuse.

Without saying a word, Xu Haizhou got dressed and climbed out of bed.

Qiao Lu tried to follow, but he pressed her back down.

He tucked the blanket around her. “Stay home and rest for a bit. I’ll go search. Who knows? Maybe today we’ll find him.”

“Why?” Qiao Lu asked through tears.

“I don’t know. Lately, I’ve started to believe in fate. Maybe that dream was An’an sending you a message.”

Xu Haizhou had always been a staunch atheist, but watching his wife’s mental state deteriorate, he forced himself to be her pillar of strength. Truth was, he was barely holding it together himself.

His last hope was now placed in something like divine intervention.

Call it a final gamble.

He returned to the train station and resumed his routine—approaching every child he saw. If the station guards didn’t recognize him by now, people would probably think he was some kind of lunatic.

After checking outside, he entered the waiting area.

There were more people inside, and it was warmer than outside. Xu Haizhou’s freezing body gradually thawed, and his hands regained strength. He could now grab anyone with ease—if they tried to run, they couldn’t escape.

There were fewer people inside than outside. After making a round, he was about to sit down and rest.

Just then, he caught sight of a couple walking briskly toward the ticket checkpoint, carrying a child on their back.

The child was being carried by the father and appeared to be asleep—soft and limp, resting sweetly on the man’s shoulder. The tiny hands were looped around the father’s neck, looking very trusting.

Half the child’s face was covered by a thin blanket, so Xu Haizhou couldn’t see clearly from a distance.

But soon, something caught his eye—the child’s skin was incredibly fair.

The only exposed hand was so pale it practically glowed!

Then he looked at the parents. They weren’t exactly dark-skinned, but their skin was clearly yellow-toned—obviously people who spent time outdoors, not the kind who stayed indoors much…

Driven by a sixth sense, Xu Haizhou dashed into the checkpoint area.

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

The couple had just passed the checkpoint when Xu Haizhou grabbed the man’s arm and stopped them.

Security rushed toward him, but he had already crossed into the checkpoint.

Xu Haizhou yanked off the blanket covering the child’s face. Even in the dim lighting of the waiting area, he clearly saw the sweet, sleeping face of the child!

His heart surged with a mix of joy and disbelief. “An’an?!”

He blinked hard. This wasn’t an illusion!

Tears welled up immediately. “An’an! An’an!”

But the child was sleeping so soundly that not even his loud cries could wake him.

Panicked, Xu Haizhou tried to pull the child off the man’s back.

The man, startled, quickly scooped the child into his arms. The woman, hearing the commotion, ran up and began yelling at him:

“Who the hell are you?! Are you a child trafficker? How dare you try to snatch a child off my husband’s back?!”

Hearing the word “trafficker,” the crowd reflexively surrounded Xu Haizhou.

The recent news about traffickers in Lian City had already spread far and wide. Was this man insane, trying to snatch a kid in broad daylight?

Eyes red, Xu Haizhou clung tightly to the man’s clothes. “He’s the trafficker! The child on his back is mine! He stole my son!”

“An’an! An’an!” A grown man doesn’t cry easily—unless it cuts to the bone.

Xu Haizhou wept uncontrollably, his face twisted with emotion as he demanded, “What did you do to him?! What did you do to my son?!”

“You’re crazy! That’s my son! Are you insane?!”

The couple tried to push past him toward the platform, but Xu Haizhou clung to them like a madman. They couldn’t shake him off—even with both of them together!

“He’s insane! He’s trying to steal our child!”

“Someone help us! Please help!”

People did help—but instead of helping them escape, they surrounded all three of them and the child.

No matter who the real parents were, nobody would be allowed to leave until the police arrived and got to the bottom of it.

Seeing the growing crowd and the olive-green uniforms of the approaching officers, the couple knew they were out of time.

They made a snap decision—tossed the child aside and bolted!

Self-preservation came first.

But Xu Haizhou reacted faster and caught Qiao An in his arms. Hugging him like a priceless treasure, he held on tightly.

“Don’t let them run! They’re traffickers! Traffickers—!”

Thankfully, with the help of the crowd, the couple who bought the child were quickly caught. There was no escape this time!