Su Man’s gaze fell on the girl lying on the bed. She was breathing evenly, completely unaware of what fate awaited her.
If no one intervened…
In her previous life, while washing clothes by the river, Su Man had heard a young wife from another village tell her about such things.
Some villages were so poor that the men couldn’t afford to marry a wife, so several bachelors would pool their money to buy a wife from somewhere else, essentially sharing the same woman. Most of those women had been abducted and sold by human traffickers. Trapped deep in the mountains with no way to escape, they lived utterly miserable lives.
They had to get up and work before dawn every day, and at night they would be assaulted by the men one after another. Any sign of resistance would earn them a brutal beating, leaving their bodies covered in bruises year-round.
Some men went even further, breaking the women’s legs to keep them from escaping.
Just hearing about it had been terrifying. Su Man had even comforted herself back then, thinking how lucky she was that she hadn’t been sold to a place like that.
Although she wasn’t a hundred percent certain about what was happening now, she couldn’t stand by and watch a girl in the prime of her youth potentially fall into such a fate.
The train would reach the next station soon. If she couldn’t find something suspicious before then, the girl could very well end up in danger.
By now, everyone else had dispersed. Only the chubby female train attendant remained nearby, reporting the situation. Once the train arrived at the station, she would help the middle-aged woman and the doctor carry the girl off the train and find a hospital.
But Su Man had only a suspicion. She had no concrete evidence. Surely everyone would assume she was simply overthinking things.
She might even get herself into trouble.
Su Man glanced at the man beside her who claimed to be a doctor named Hu, and suddenly, she had an idea.
She immediately clutched her stomach and cried out, “Ow!”
The people nearby turned to look at her.
The kindhearted older woman beside her hurriedly asked,
“Little girl, what’s wrong?”
Su Man pretended to be in terrible pain, her voice weak.
“I don’t know what’s wrong. Maybe I ate something bad at lunch. My stomach really hurts!”
Juanzi’s mother turned around and looked Su Man up and down. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.
This girl was truly lovely. Her fair face was framed by well-proportioned, delicate features, and even the plain homespun clothes she wore couldn’t conceal her natural beauty.
The more the woman looked at her, the more pleased she became. This girl was even better-looking than the one lying on the bed.
That’s right. The middle-aged woman claiming to be Juanzi’s “mother” was actually a human trafficker named Zhou Chunhua.
She was working with the man who called himself Doctor Hu. His name was Hu Ming, and he wasn’t a doctor at all.
Even before boarding the train, they would select their targets, specifically looking for young, attractive girls who were traveling alone.
Zhou Chunhua would first approach them, using her plain appearance and friendly demeanor to gain their trust, then invent some tragic story about her own life. Girls who hadn’t experienced much of the world were usually compassionate, so they rarely let their guard down and were easy to deceive.
During this process, Zhou Chunhua would take particularly good care of the girl. Anyone watching would assume the two had been traveling together all along, laying the groundwork for the act that would come later.
Once aboard the train, Zhou Chunhua would wait until no one was paying attention and slip a powerful sleeping drug into the girl’s food or drink. Normally, a person wouldn’t wake up for at least three days and three nights. After the train had passed several stations, she would pretend to be the mother of an unconscious child and call for help.
That was when Hu Ming would make his appearance.
After all, hardly anyone knew much about medicine, and people naturally trusted and respected doctors. Once he announced his supposed diagnosis, he would then pretend to be kindhearted and offer to accompany them to the hospital.
After going through the whole routine, no one would suspect a thing.
They had already pulled off this scam successfully many times.
They had thought today’s operation would go smoothly as well. They hadn’t expected an unexpected bonus.
Zhou Chunhua hurried over and helped Su Man up, settling her on the edge of the bed before asking with concern,
“Girl, are you traveling alone? Where’s your family?”
Su Man lowered her head and put on an especially dejected expression, her voice filled with sorrow.
“I’m all alone now. My parents are both gone. I’m traveling south by myself to stay with my aunt.”
Zhou Chunhua was secretly delighted, but she put on a sympathetic expression.
A girl like this was practically impossible to find!
They couldn’t take two people away at once, but as long as they could trick this one into getting off the train, that would be enough. They had people waiting to receive their victims.
And now this girl had a stomachache. She was sick.
It was practically a gift from heaven!
She quickly shot Hu Ming a meaningful glance, signaling him to play along.
After working together for so long, Hu Ming immediately understood.
He stood up, cleared his throat, and said,
“Miss, let me take a look at you.”
Several people nearby who hadn’t left yet chimed in.
“That’s right, girl. There’s a doctor right here. Let him have a look!”
Su Man shyly replied in a soft voice,
“Then I’ll trouble you, Doctor.”
With that, she held out her wrist.
When Hu Ming saw the delicate wrist before him, fair as frost and snow, his eyes went straight to it. An obscene look uncontrollably surfaced in his eyes.
Zhou Chunhua noticed his pathetic behavior and glared at him in exasperation. She gave a light cough as a warning.
Hu Ming came back to his senses. Pretending to remain calm, he pushed his glasses up and placed his fingers on her wrist, putting on an act of taking her pulse.
Su Man endured her disgust and waited.
After a while, several older women who were still nearby watching the commotion began to grow anxious and asked on her behalf,
“Doctor, how is she?”
Hu Ming put on a formulaic smile.
“Little girl, don’t worry. It’s just a common case of gastrointestinal discomfort.”
Everyone around them breathed a sigh of relief.
But then Hu Ming changed his tone and sighed.
“However, I just felt something else in your pulse. There’s something wrong with your liver. I’m afraid you need treatment as soon as possible!”
Su Man put on a terrified expression, even stammering as she spoke.
“I… What exactly is wrong with me?”
Hu Ming shook his head regretfully.
“We’ll have to go to a hospital and run some tests before we can know exactly what’s wrong. But don’t lose heart. I’m a liver specialist at the Kyoto Hospital, and my own teacher is a nationally renowned expert in liver diseases!”
“You’re lucky you ran into me today. I caught the problem early. Whatever it turns out to be, I’ll be able to treat you!”
He then put on a troubled expression.
“But you’re supposed to be heading south to find your relatives…”
Su Man immediately picked up on his cue and replied pitifully,
“That’s all right. I can go find my aunt later. My parents left me some money. Doctor, as long as you can cure me, I’ll pay whatever it costs!”
Hu Ming and Zhou Chunhua were practically bursting with joy when they heard that.
They hadn’t expected such an unexpected windfall from this trip. The woman was so beautiful, yet she was surprisingly stupid. They had deceived her with barely any effort.
They were going to make a fortune this time!
What they failed to notice was the faint upward curve of Su Man’s lips.
They really were con artists!