Jiang Chengbei’s expression darkened.
Recently, he had indeed heard that a gang of human traffickers from outside the area had moved in, specifically targeting women and children. As a soldier, it was his duty to protect the people.
“Where was it? Take me there.”
Joy surged in Jiang Yanyan’s heart. She casually pointed toward a nearby alley.
“Over there.”
Ning Xi hadn’t expected traffickers to be so brazen these days bold enough to abduct people in broad daylight. She instinctively wanted to follow, but Jiang Chengbei turned back at that moment, his dark eyes heavy and stern as they fixed on her.
“Don’t go over there. Stay here and wait for me!”
With that, he didn’t have time to think further. His long legs carried him off at a run.
Jiang Yanyan followed closely behind.
“Second Brother, I’ll show you the way.”
But when the two of them reached the alley, it was completely empty there was nothing there at all.
Jiang Chengbei frowned sharply and looked at Jiang Yanyan.
“Where are they?”
There were no traffickers at all it had all been a lie Jiang Yanyan made up on the spot.
She pretended to look anxious, glancing around. “Maybe they ran off. Second Brother, how about we look around nearby?”
As she spoke, she started walking deeper into the alley.
Jiang Yanyan was just an ordinary rural girl. Her temper was bad and she had her own petty schemes, but now she had become an accomplice to human traffickers. When she thought of Ning Xi possibly being sold to old bachelors or to a black coal mine, she felt both a twisted sense of relief and deep fear.
Her eyes darted around, and she didn’t dare meet Jiang Chengbei’s gaze.
She was afraid he would see through her at a glance.
Seeing this, Jiang Chengbei narrowed his dark eyes.
He had spent years in the military, skirting danger countless times, dealing with ruthless and cunning enemy agents. He almost instantly sensed something was wrong. He grabbed Jiang Yanyan’s wrist.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not!”
Jiang Yanyan denied it immediately, forcing herself to meet his eyes, biting her lip in grievance.
“Second Brother, I’m your own sister. You don’t even believe me? What good would lying to you do me?”
As she spoke, she let out a soft cry of pain.
“Second Brother, you’re hurting me. If you don’t believe me, let’s go report it to the Public Security Bureau. I really did see traffickers!”
Jiang Chengbei still felt something was off. He stared at her for several seconds before flinging her hand away and saying coldly, word by word,
“It’d better be true.”
With that, he strode out of the alley.
But the familiar slender figure was nowhere to be seen outside the supply cooperative.
His heart sank.
Jiang Chengbei crossed the distance in a few strides, his face already turning grim.
He rushed into the supply cooperative and asked the sales clerk loudly, his voice taut like a fully drawn bow.
“Comrade, where did the pretty young woman who came in with me just now go?”
The two of them were both striking in appearance, especially Ning Xi beautiful like someone from a magazine. The clerk had remembered her at a glance.
Now, seeing the man before her with his cold, severe expression and the killing aura surrounding him, she was stunned.
“I saw her stand at the entrance for a while, then she carried her things and went into the alley across the street.”
Before she even finished speaking, the tall, broad-shouldered figure had already dashed out.
Jiang Chengbei sprinted toward the alley the clerk mentioned. But when he arrived, Ning Xi was nowhere to be seen. What he saw instead made his pupils shrink sharply, his heart aching as if stabbed.
The ground was a mess.
The items he and Ning Xi had carefully picked out were scattered everywhere, and the butterfly pastries he had specially bought for her were smeared with dust.
It was as if the owner of those things had suddenly encountered danger and been forcibly taken away…
Ning Xi was gone!
Jiang Chengbei instantly realized that Ning Xi had been the real target of the traffickers, and that he himself had fallen for Jiang Yanyan’s trick of luring the tiger away from the mountain. Thinking of how he had worried about Ning Xi’s safety and deliberately told her not to follow him, regret exploded in his heart.
This was all his own carelessness!
With a loud bang, plaster flew from the wall.
Jiang Chengbei pulled back his fist, his knuckles bright red.
He didn’t even frown, as if only physical pain could offset the remorse tearing through his heart. When he went to look for Jiang Yanyan again, she was already gone.
Jiang Yanyan had long since hidden herself.
She knew that with her second brother’s sharp instincts, she could fool him for a moment but not forever. Once he realized he had been tricked, he would never let her off easily.
Fortunately, Qiao An had succeeded.
And she was finally safe.
Standing in the empty alley, Jiang Chengbei felt like he could tear Jiang Yanyan apart with his bare hands.
He had thought Jiang Yanyan was just spoiled by the family. In reality, she was simply rotten to the core—capable even of conspiring with human traffickers to go after Ning Xi.
His teeth ground together audibly, murderous fury surging in his eyes.
Even if he had to dig three feet into the ground, he would find Jiang Yanyan. Only she knew where Ning Xi was. Searching blindly would only waste the best chance to rescue her but to be absolutely safe, he also had to make a trip to the Public Security Bureau.
A military family member had been abducted on the street!
The public security authorities took it extremely seriously. The bureau chief personally received Jiang Chengbei.
“Recently, we’ve received multiple missing-person reports. Without exception, all the missing individuals are young women. Battalion Commander Jiang, please rest assured the Public Security Bureau is already following leads and will definitely rescue your wife safely.”
Jiang Chengbei knew that relying on the bureau alone to investigate would take several days to make progress.
The key breakthrough was still Jiang Yanyan. A girl not even twenty, with no money and no letter of introduction, couldn’t run very far.
The most likely place was that she had hidden back in the village.
“Where is Jiang Yanyan?!”
Back at the Jiang home, Jiang Chengbei kicked open the door to Jiang Yanyan’s room.
Hearing the noise, Tian Guilan rushed out. At a glance, she saw the terrifyingly dark expression on her second son’s face, and a bad feeling immediately rose in her heart.
What had that girl Yanyan done to provoke her second brother again?
This child was getting more and more troublesome!
With a trembling voice, she asked, “What’s wrong, Second Son?”
“Jiang Yanyan conspired with human traffickers to take Ning Xi away!”
Jiang Chengbei’s words struck like a bolt of thunder. Tian Guilan swayed, nearly collapsing. She grabbed the doorframe and muttered to herself,
“That’s impossible. How could Yanyan do something like that?!”
That was Ning Xi.
Her second son’s wife just registered their marriage, about to hold the wedding banquet…
“There must be some mistake. Yes, it has to be a mistake!”
“When I find her, I will never let her off!”
“She’s your own sister!”
The ruthlessness in her son’s words scared Tian Guilan so badly her legs went weak.
Jiang Chengbei’s eyes were bloodshot as he forced out each word.
“Ning Xi is my wife.”
Thinking of how Ning Xi had been taken to who knows where, his chest felt as if it were being torn apart. She was so delicate and timid, and so beautiful once she fell into the hands of traffickers…
He didn’t dare think any further.
Tian Guilan’s vision darkened in waves. She still wanted to say a few words in defense of her daughter, but the old man of the family roared forcefully, leaning on his cane,
“What are you still standing around for?! Go find Jiang Yanyan!”
The Jiang family searched everywhere for Jiang Yanyan. The police also dispatched officers to investigate and make inquiries. Meanwhile, Ning Xi was taken to the old warehouse.
Qiao An was overly confident.
He was convinced that Jiang Yanyan wouldn’t betray him. That woman was stupid as a pig, selfish and cowardly she wouldn’t have the guts to reveal his hiding place. So he had no intention of moving. His eyes were fixed intently on Ning Xi, who lay unconscious.
The more you looked at this woman, the more enticing she was!
One of his lackeys grinned too, his eyes full of desire.
“So pretty like a fairy from the heavens.” He rubbed his hands together and chuckled. “Boss, can I…?”