She turned her head and saw Zhou Chunhua, whom she vaguely recognized, and instinctively looked to her for reassurance.
“Auntie Zhou, who are all these people? Why are they all staring at me?”
But then she noticed that Zhou Chunhua was standing there with her eyes wide open, her mouth slightly agape in disbelief, her face deathly pale.
She simply couldn’t understand it. She had never failed before. How could this medicine have worked so well?
Li Gang was extremely excited. He hadn’t expected Comrade Su Man’s medicine to actually work. When he heard the girl address Zhou Chunhua as “Auntie,” the last bit of uncertainty in his heart disappeared.
He realized this was the perfect opportunity to expose the human trafficker and quickly asked,
“Miss, what’s your name? Do you know this woman?”
The girl on the bed, Sun Qinqin, still didn’t understand what was happening, but she could tell that the man in front of her meant no harm. She pressed her lips together and was just about to answer when—
Zhou Chunhua finally came to her senses. She lunged forward while shouting,
“Daughter! You’re finally awake! You passed out after eating something just now. You nearly scared me to death! Thank heaven, we happened to meet this doctor!”
Su Man knew she was trying to change the subject. She immediately understood what was going on and asked a question that cut straight to the heart of the matter.
“Miss, this woman just said your name is Juanzi. She said she’s your mother. Is that true?”
Seeing that the person asking her was a young girl around her own age, Sun Qinqin instinctively felt a sense of closeness toward her. But after hearing the question, she frowned in confusion.
“My name is Sun Qinqin. I only met Auntie Zhou before I boarded the train.”
She didn’t understand why Zhou Chunhua had said such a thing and looked at her in confusion.
“Auntie, why would you say that?”
Zhou Chunhua was frantic inside. Why was everything going wrong today?
The girl had woken up, which meant her plan had clearly failed. The most important thing now was to get away.
She immediately tried to explain.
“I… I just saw this girl traveling alone, and then she fainted. I was afraid people would misunderstand my intentions, so I said I was her mother. I was only trying to help!”
But suspicious looks still fell upon her.
Everyone could still vividly remember how frantic she had acted earlier.
They were complete strangers who had only just met. How could she possibly have been that worried unless all of it had been an act?
Once they thought about it that way, everyone around them felt a chill run down their spines.
What exactly was this seemingly ordinary, simple-looking woman trying to do? She had actually pretended to be the girl’s mother while the girl was unconscious!
If it hadn’t been for this doctor who happened to save her, the woman might have already taken her off the train!
Someone in the crowd finally realized what was happening and couldn’t help blurting out,
“Could she be a human trafficker?”
The moment those words were spoken, it was like a thunderclap exploding in the middle of a calm plain.
The crowd erupted.
The woman’s so-called kindness just moments ago, along with the doctor’s supposed diagnosis—all of it had seemed perfectly natural. But now that they thought about it, it seemed highly likely that the two of them had planned everything together.
Zhou Chunhua’s lips trembled and her face went pale.
She knew that if she was officially identified as a human trafficker, she was finished.
She immediately collapsed onto the floor, throwing a tantrum and rolling around, desperately trying to muddy the waters.
“I was only trying to help! I saw this girl traveling alone and wanted to lend her a hand! There are so many of you, and you’re bullying me just because I’m an honest woman! You’re falsely accusing me!”
“My whole family has been farmers for generations! You’re looking down on working people! I don’t want to live anymore! I’m going to report all of you!”
Hu Ming, who had been scared stiff the moment everything went wrong, was still leaning weakly against the wall.
Seeing Zhou Chunhua’s reaction, he finally managed to regain some composure and immediately joined in.
“Why are you accusing this woman of being a human trafficker? What evidence do you have?”
Seeing how confidently they defended themselves, some of the people around them began to waver again.
Su Man knew exactly what they were thinking. They believed that since the girl hadn’t actually been taken away yet, they could argue their way out and escape.
So she turned directly to Sun Qinqin and asked gently,
“Miss, do you remember eating or drinking anything before this happened?”
Sun Qinqin had drunk water from Su Man’s space. Although she had only just woken up, her mind was clear, and she actually felt even better than she had before losing consciousness.
She had watched everything unfold beside her in utter shock.
Especially when she heard people suspecting that the woman was a human trafficker, she felt a wave of fear wash over her again and again.
Then she remembered meeting this woman at the train station.
From the very beginning, Zhou Chunhua had been exceptionally warm and friendly. She had said that her husband and son had both died, and that she was traveling to seek refuge with her only daughter, who had married and moved far away.
She had even said that her daughter was about the same age as Sun Qinqin and that seeing her made her feel especially close to her.
Sun Qinqin had felt sorry for her after hearing that. She had thought it would be nice to have someone to talk to along the journey.
And when she saw that the woman hadn’t managed to buy a seat, she kindly invited her to sit with her.
But now that she thought about it, Zhou Chunhua had been subtly asking questions from the very beginning—whether she was traveling alone, where she was going, and so on.
The food and drinks she had brought from home were definitely fine.
The only suspicious thing had happened while they were eating.
Zhou Chunhua had insisted that she drink some water she had brought with her.
She had said it was sweetened water from home and insisted that Sun Qinqin try some.
Unable to refuse, Sun Qinqin had taken a few sips.
Not long afterward, she had suddenly felt dizzy. Her vision had gone black, and she had lost consciousness.
Sun Qinqin wasn’t stupid.
Putting everything together with what was happening now, she immediately realized that there had to be something wrong with the water.
At this point, she had more or less realized that she had fallen into the hands of human traffickers!
Before she left home, her family had repeatedly warned her not to talk too much to strangers while traveling.
Yet she hadn’t taken their warnings seriously.
The thought of being unknowingly taken off the train filled her with wave after wave of fear.
Her face instantly turned pale. She pointed at the woman’s bag and said agitatedly,
“I drank the water she brought with her, and shortly afterward I lost consciousness! She must have drugged me!”
The moment Zhou Chunhua heard Sun Qinqin say this, she instinctively clutched her bag.
Li Gang immediately signaled to several train police officers nearby.
They stepped forward and reached for her bag.
Seeing that the situation was turning against her, Zhou Chunhua immediately clamped both hands around the bag and shouted,
“Help! Someone’s trying to steal my bag! What right do you have to search it?!”
Seeing her reaction, everyone immediately understood.
There had to be something wrong with the water inside that bag.
Someone in the crowd shouted,
“These damn human traffickers! Don’t let them get away! Let’s restrain them first. Someone hurry and get the train police!”
Li Gang seized the opportunity and had several of his colleagues restrain them.
Then he shouted above the commotion and pulled out his police identification.
“No need. We’re the train police!”
Zhou Chunhua had still been crying and struggling when she heard those words.
Combined with everything that had just happened, she finally understood.
Doctor?
Su Man and this man had been acting all along!
Their goal had been to wake the girl up so she could testify against her.
Zhou Chunhua’s heart sank.
She knew it was all over.