The plot in the book happened because the story needed it, but if the child in the arms of that human-trafficking couple wasn’t rescued…
Lu Siyuan and Lu Mingzhu had already obediently finished their meal. Su Yuanyuan cleared the table and gently pressed her forehead against the two little ones’.
“Hold Mommy’s hand tight. Mommy’s taking you to wash your hands.” Su Yuanyuan carried several bags and led the children past the couple.
The woman held the child in her arms and tucked the blanket around him. The blanket looked brand-new, as though it had just been bought.
“How much longer until Baoli?” The woman glanced out the train window.
The man cast a sideways glance at the two children Su Yuanyuan was holding hands with, his gaze meaningful. “About an hour. Once we arrive, make sure you have everything, and we’ll get off.”
Su Yuanyuan noticed the man’s gaze. Without saying anything, she hurried her steps and moved a little farther away from them with the two little ones.
The child on the other side was still making a fuss. Seeing how deliciously Su Yuanyuan and her children had been eating, the woman soothing her own child grew resentful.
How could they be so shameless?
When Su Yuanyuan led the children past them, the woman gave a cold snort.
“If you keep making a fuss, I won’t take you to Grandma’s next time. Where are we supposed to get the money to eat meat every day? If you spend all our money on train tickets, we won’t even be able to come back and see Daddy.”
When the woman mentioned that they wouldn’t be able to see Daddy, the crying child quieted down and stared blankly at her.
He was still young and didn’t understand what had happened at home, but he remembered that before they left, Daddy had reminded him that they had to spend their money carefully.
If they spent all their money, they wouldn’t be able to buy train tickets to come back.
The little boy wiped his tears and immediately shook his head. “Then I don’t want meat anymore.”
Su Yuanyuan was holding the two children and racking her brain, trying to figure out how to rescue the kidnapped child. She never expected the woman to be targeting her.
“That’s right. Good boy.” The woman smiled and wiped the child’s face, then glanced sideways at Su Yuanyuan, who had just walked over.
“We absolutely mustn’t learn from people who don’t know how to manage a household. Spending money recklessly until it’s all gone—how are you supposed to have money left for food? Excessive spending will only hurt yourself. Right, Little Treasure?”
Without waiting for the child to answer, the woman continued, “I really don’t know how some people can have such thick skin. They make a child cry and don’t even bother comforting them. How shameless.”
Even if Su Yuanyuan had been slow to catch on, she could now tell that the woman was making sarcastic remarks because she hadn’t shared her food with the child.
She gave a cold laugh, switched the hand she was using to hold the children, and immediately returned the sarcasm.
“That’s right. If you don’t have money, you really shouldn’t spend it recklessly. You have to live carefully and make every penny count. Otherwise, you’ll end up without a single cent in your pocket, unable to afford food, while still being jealous of what other people have.”
Su Yuanyuan wasn’t a pushover. She had plenty of food, but that wasn’t a reason for anyone to morally blackmail her into sharing it.
Thankfully, she hadn’t given them any of the braised pork earlier. Otherwise, she would’ve been furious.
She’d rather feed it to a dog than give it to someone like this.
Su Yuanyuan’s casual remark hit the woman’s sore spot perfectly.
The woman put the child down on the seat beside her, stood up, and shouted at Su Yuanyuan, “Who are you talking about?!”
Lu Siyuan and Lu Mingzhu were startled by the woman’s outburst. Su Yuanyuan silently pulled the children behind her. She looked around the carriage in confusion before realizing the woman seemed to be shouting at her.
“I-I… what did I do?”
Passengers were walking back and forth through the aisle. Lu Siyuan was pushed to the side by the crowd when a strong hand suddenly caught hold of him.
Lu Siyuan turned around and met the man’s eyes. He froze for a moment before smiling and thanking him.
“Thank you, Uncle!”
The man smiled. His gaze briefly passed over Su Yuanyuan before he stepped toward the other carriage.
The woman shoved Su Yuanyuan. “I’m asking you what you meant by what you just said!”
Su Yuanyuan had been drinking spiritual spring water every day recently, so the original body’s health had improved considerably. However, she still looked frail on the outside.
She simply went along with the woman’s momentum and fell sideways onto the seat, her eyes innocently turning red.
She looked helplessly at the people around them who had turned to watch.
“I just thought what you said made a lot of sense, so I was agreeing with you. I didn’t mean anything else. Did you misunderstand me, Sister?”
The moment those words came out, the atmosphere in the carriage became positively entertaining.
She had read plenty of web novels in her life. She hadn’t wasted all that reading.
Hot-tempered and reckless people were the easiest to deal with. Just go along with what they said and act pitiful. It worked every time.
“She was just agreeing with what you said. Your child was making a fuss, so why are you taking it out on a random passenger?”
A passenger watching the commotion leaned out from their seat to look.
Although they hadn’t seen how the conflict had started, everyone had heard what the two women were saying.
“Isn’t she basically saying that the other woman didn’t share her food with her child? She’s got quite the nerve. Meat is so expensive. If she wants to eat it, she can buy some herself. There’s nothing shameful about not having money to buy it, but you can’t keep staring at what’s in someone else’s bowl.”
Quite a few passengers turned their attention toward them and began pointing and whispering about the woman.
The woman’s face flushed red, then turned pale. Su Yuanyuan quickly spoke up.
“Sister, I really didn’t mean anything else. The child is still young, so it’s normal for him to make a fuss. I just thought what you said was very reasonable. I was worried that the child didn’t understand how difficult it is for adults to earn money. Jobs aren’t easy to find these days. Why are you scolding me?”
Su Yuanyuan looked completely bewildered. Her face was somewhat pale, and she was carrying several bags while taking care of two children. She looked exhausted.
“You shameless woman, pretending to be pitiful! I’m not a man. Your tricks won’t work on me!”
The woman’s face turned red with anger, but she couldn’t do anything to Su Yuanyuan with so many passengers watching.
She glared viciously at Su Yuanyuan before grabbing her child and walking away.
As she passed Su Yuanyuan, she deliberately shoved her hard.
Su Yuanyuan’s lower back slammed against the back of the seat, and she sucked in a breath from the pain.
She really had some strength.
Su Yuanyuan rubbed her lower back and glanced toward the sleeping-carriage area.
Just as she expected, the child in the woman’s arms still hadn’t woken up.
During her argument with the woman just now, the woman’s voice had been much louder than the child’s.
Yet the child hadn’t woken up at all.
If it had merely been a suspicion before, Su Yuanyuan could now be certain that something was wrong with the child.
In this era, human trafficking was rampant. Some kidnapped children were sold to other buyers, while others had their hands and feet broken and were forced to beg.
Families whose children were kidnapped could be torn apart forever.
The human traffickers of this era were ruthless people.
What could she do to safely rescue the child from the traffickers?
Su Yuanyuan held the children’s hands and headed toward the restroom. Lu Mingzhu tugged gently on Su Yuanyuan’s pinky finger and asked cautiously, “Mommy, are you okay?”
That woman had been so fierce just now.
But Mommy had said that when they were outside, adults should handle adult matters themselves, and the children only needed to obediently stay by her side.
Su Yuanyuan came back to herself. She tightened her grip on both children’s hands and smiled reassuringly.
“I’m fine. You two have to stay close to Mommy, okay? If you can’t see Mommy, shout loudly right away. And if Mommy doesn’t come back, find a train attendant.”
Of course, Su Yuanyuan wasn’t going to let go of the children’s hands easily.
It was always better to be prepared for the worst. She also needed to teach the children what to do first if something unexpected happened.
“Mommy, don’t worry. My sister and I are very smart. We won’t get lost,” Lu Siyuan said seriously.
Su Yuanyuan was amused and nodded solemnly.
“Then Siyuan and your little sister are both very good.”
After passing through one carriage, they reached the restroom and washbasins in the middle. Su Yuanyuan threw the trash in her hand into the bin, then washed the aluminum lunchbox and put it back into the cloth bag.
The trains of this era didn’t have children’s sinks yet. The washbasin was rather high, so Su Yuanyuan put her things down by her feet and lifted Lu Siyuan up so he could wash his hands and face.
Lu Siyuan was only three years old, so he wasn’t heavy.
It was just that Su Yuanyuan was too thin, making it look rather strenuous for her to hold him.
After Lu Siyuan finished washing, Su Yuanyuan put him down.
Thinking about the child still in the traffickers’ hands, she took a deep breath.
To anyone watching, it looked as though she was simply exhausted from carrying the child and was having trouble catching her breath.
Su Yuanyuan was just about to pick up her daughter when someone beside her walked over.
“Let me help you.”
The man’s voice was deep and cool, yet steady. It was the kind of voice that naturally made people feel comfortable and reassured.
Lu Siyuan’s eyes lit up when he saw the man.
He whispered, “It’s you, Uncle.”
It was the soldier uncle who had caught him when he’d almost been pushed aside in the carriage just now!