When Lei Junyue left with Qian Jianshe, Jiang Ling had wanted him to deliver the stolen bicycle bell case files to Ying Songmao, but he unexpectedly refused.
Lei Junyue laughed brightly. “That’s something you promised to give him yourself. You go deliver it.”
With no other choice, Jiang Ling had to go in person.
She turned to the other three members of the case team. “Captain Ying says that the bicycle bell theft case we solved is valuable enough to write a paper about. All four of us will be listed as authors.”
The office erupted in cheers.
“A paper? That’s awesome!”
“My name will appear under the title? How honorable!”
“Captain Ying is a graduate student at Huaxia Public Security University. If he submits a paper, it’s sure to be accepted—we’ll all benefit from it!”
Even Wei Changfeng, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, got excited. “A paper? Haha! Our Jinwu Road Police Station is going to become famous!”
Jiang Ling raised her hand. “Hold on, the paper isn’t written yet. Captain Ying just asked me to deliver the materials.”
Wei Changfeng patted Li Zhenliang on the shoulder. “You’re going with Xiao Jiang!”
Li Zhenliang almost gasped from the force of the pat. “Old Wei, watch it—you’ve got only one hand left.”
Wei Changfeng laughed and pretended to pat him again. “Hurry up already!”
Li Zhenliang dodged while calling, “Okay, okay, we’re going!”
The station had no vehicle to spare, so the two took the bus.
Jinwu Road Police Station was a bit out of the way, and reaching the municipal bureau required a transfer at the train station.
The buildings around the train station were low-rise. In Jiang Ling’s memory, the Yin Xin Building with its blue glass curtain walls hadn’t been built yet. Passersby dressed in styles reflecting the era: fashionable women in wool coats and bright red berets, and migrant workers carrying gray-and-white snakeskin bags or blue-and-red woven bags, wearing thick padded jackets.
The square in front of the station was crowded with people, thick with the local accent.
“Provincial City! Provincial City! Leaving soon!”
“Yuezhou! Yuezhou! Anyone going to Yuezhou?”
These were the calls of long-distance bus conductors from the station to various parts of Hunan Province.
“Buy instant noodles, get hot water free…”
“Big-shoulder, fitted little blazer, same style as The Great Times, cheap! Come take a look!”
These came from street vendors surrounding the square.
From the speakers came a song not heard in a long time: Love Song 1990.
“Your jet-black eyes and smiling face
I can’t forget how your features changed
The light old days float away so lightly
Looking back, years have rushed by.”
The scene before her seemed like an old, faded videotape. But Jiang Ling had no mood to admire the novel yet unfamiliar environment; her mind was focused on one thing.
—Where is Shen Xiaomei, who is now only eleven years old?
Lin Xiaoyue had been found, her psychological issues resolved, and afterward, the mother and daughter relied on each other. Naturally, she wouldn’t have dropped out or become homeless, and she couldn’t have met Shen Xiaomei.
Yet, just thinking of Shen Xiaomei, nicknamed “Crazy Bell,” made Jiang Ling’s chest tighten.
Who would willingly live on the streets and steal to survive if they were born into happiness?
Shen Xiaomei had a missing right ear, a burn scar on her left shoulder, and a crippled right hand with only three fingers. Every night she woke repeatedly, murmuring, “Don’t panic, don’t panic, the bell won’t ring.” She must have lived in a cruel, cold environment.
Jiang Ling did not expect that she would soon see Shen Xiaomei.
But the first person she saw was actually the victim of another case.
While waiting for the bus, Jiang Ling felt someone tug at her pant leg. A timid voice came from below: “Kind sister, please, have mercy…”
A chipped enamel bowl was held out, containing a few scattered bills.
Looking down, Jiang Ling saw a little beggar standing in front of her.
The child was only five or six, dressed in rags, hair dirty and matted, a palm-sized face tilted upward. Her black, shiny eyes and rounded diamond-shaped lips showed potential for beauty, but two large patchy scars on her cheeks twisted her features into something horrifying. Anyone seeing her would sigh at the lost beauty.
This face!
Jiang Ling remembered it.
In her previous life, she had only seen it in an autopsy report.
A small, frail body wrapped in a rag, buried in the backyard of a remote farmhouse, bruises covering the face, neck, and limbs, a hardened steamed bun stuffed in her mouth—the cause of death: suffocation.
Only eight years old, yet she had died silently, abused to death by traffickers.
This little beggar was named Shen Xiaowei, birth name Xu Qingyao. Kidnapped by traffickers at age three, her face was destroyed, forced to beg. Even after death, she had been under the control of a gang called “Hawks.”
This “Hawk” gang was among the cruelest of human traffickers.
At first, they bought abandoned or disabled children from remote villages and took them to the city to beg, exploiting people’s pity for profit. These sickly children were abused to the point that few survived beyond three years.
Because of the high mortality, the gang escalated to abducting children, gouging eyes, chopping off feet, or cutting off hands. Their methods were brutal. Survivors became tools for making money; those who couldn’t survive were left to die.
Jiang Ling lifted her eyes, observing the surroundings carefully.
The square was crowded, but her sharp gaze quickly spotted two children dressed in rags like Xiaowei.
One was a boy with amputated legs, sitting on a wooden board with four wheels beneath. Using his hands as paddles, he moved the small cart around, kowtowing to people, drawing many passersby to drop coins in his enamel bowl.
The other was a petite girl with a missing right ear and a crippled right hand with only three fingers, twisted and claw-like. She held an enamel bowl in her left hand, her thin frame making her eyes appear especially large. Even the most impatient passerby would sigh and give some coins.
This girl was none other than Shen Xiaomei.
In that instant, Jiang Ling understood everything.
Before Shen Xiaomei began wandering the streets, she had been under the traffickers’ control, forced to beg.
During this time, Shen Xiaomei had not only lost an ear but also bore burn scars on her body, the result of cruel abuse at the hands of traffickers.
Because of this mistreatment, she had developed a strange, sensitive, and irritable personality and could not sleep peacefully.
She may have met Lin Xiaoyue after a difficult escape from the “Hawk” gang, and the two became friends bound by hardship, huddling together for warmth.
But at this moment, she was still in the traffickers’ hands, surviving by begging.
Including Xiaowei, there were three child beggars in the square in front of the station. Based on the “Hawk” gang’s typical methods, two would likely be hiding nearby controlling the situation, one keeping watch, and one acting as an enforcer—usually posing as a married couple. So, where were they?
Perhaps because Jiang Ling had been silent for too long, Xiaowei lowered her gaze and, summoning courage, tugged at Jiang Ling’s sleeve once more. “Sister, give me a little. I haven’t eaten all day. I’m so hungry.”
Jiang Ling took a coin from her pocket and dropped it into Xiaowei’s worn begging bowl.
The little girl smiled brightly, thanking her repeatedly.
Seeing the girl so happy over a single coin made Jiang Ling’s heart ache, but she did not show it on her face. She handed the satchel containing the files to Li Zhenliang and whispered, “Stay alert and act according to the situation.”
Li Zhenliang took the army-green satchel, feeling a bit nervous at her action. He looked around but saw nothing amiss. “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Ling lowered her voice. “Stay calm. Don’t look around. There’s a trafficker gang here.”
For a moment, Li Zhenliang’s mind went blank.
He was only running some materials to the municipal bureau, planning to familiar a bit with the technical division with Jiang Ling—how could they possibly encounter a trafficker gang?
Li Zhenliang had originally been just a community police officer: gentle, even-tempered, mostly handling minor civil disputes. He only started encountering criminal cases after teaming up with Jiang Ling on field duties.
Human traffickers, and in a gang? This was a major case!
He had only been in the case unit for three months—now he was expected to handle such a big case?
Li Zhenliang dared not glance around; his neck stiffened instinctively. Gritting his teeth, he asked, “H-how many traffickers? Should we call the police?”
Jiang Ling gave him a sidelong glance. “We are the police.”
Stammering, Li Zhenliang said, “I-I mean, we should call the anti-trafficking squad.”
Human trafficking cases were normally handled by the second division of the criminal investigation unit. In early 1990, the Ministry of Public Security’s Criminal Investigation Bureau tasked local police to take such cases seriously, and Yan City had even established a dedicated anti-trafficking squad. Li Zhenliang thought they should call them directly. They were well-equipped and experienced, certainly stronger than he and Jiang Ling.
Jiang Ling scanned the scene with her eyes.
The boy with the amputated leg and Shen Xiaomei, who had been begging in the square moments ago, now had the silhouettes of a man and a woman beside them. Since she could only see their backs, Jiang Ling could not read their faces, but her instincts told her that the couple was alert.
The reason the Hawk gang had never been caught was because of this vigilance.
They were like hawks on lookout. At the slightest disturbance, they would whisk the children away and relocate before returning.
Even if kind-hearted people tried to help the children, they would swiftly remove them. By the time those people returned with the police, the gang had long vanished without a trace.
Jiang Ling’s voice remained calm. “You go call for backup. I need to keep the children here.”
If these three children were not secured today, Jiang Ling didn’t know when she would find them. By the time she did, they might already be dead—or surviving on the streets as petty thieves.
Upon hearing she wanted him to make a call, Li Zhenliang disappeared in a flash.
Though Jiang Ling had not specified exactly how many were in the gang, Li Zhenliang assumed there were at least seven or eight. With only the two of them, there was no way they could take on a trafficker gang. He had to quickly get the anti-trafficking squad over.
Jiang Ling quickened her pace and caught up to Xiaowei, who was begging from other passersby, scooping her up. “Yaoyao, I finally found you!”
Holding this poor child in her arms was the only way Jiang Ling could feel at ease.
The little girl, suddenly lifted off the ground, froze in fright, pressing her lips tightly together and clutching the worn bowl with her coins like a startled fawn. She stared blankly at Jiang Ling. “I-I’m Xiaowei, not Yaoyao.”
Jiang Ling knew this, of course. Xu Qingyao had been abducted at age three and had long since forgotten her real name.
But Jiang Ling was different. She had seen Xu Qingyao’s corpse photos, witnessed her parents’ tears, accusations, and cries on television. She had imagined, if she were Xu Qingyao, if she had died, would her parents be as heartbroken as Xu Qingyao’s parents?
No need to pretend—just thinking about saving the child in front of her made Jiang Ling uncontrollably emotional. She looked at the child in her arms and said, “Yaoyao, I’m your aunt, your aunt.”
Jiang Ling was dressed plainly, with delicate features and clear eyes. The joy in her gaze was genuine, instantly drawing the attention of passersby.
“What? This little beggar is your niece?”
“How could you adults let such a young child beg on the streets?”
“The child doesn’t recognize you. You’re not a trafficker, are you?”
Xiaowei’s clothes were tattered, her hair messy, and her body smelled, but in Jiang Ling’s arms she was soft and warm, instantly melting her heart. She paid no attention to the comments of others, holding Xiaowei as if she were a precious treasure, smiling joyfully at her.
Xiaowei met her gaze and timidly asked, “Aunt?”
Jiang Ling nodded and gave her a candy she had prepared earlier.
The candy melted in her mouth, the sweet flavor spreading, and the anxious Xiaowei gradually calmed. She stared at Jiang Ling, not daring to blink, as if afraid this was a dream, worried that if she blinked, this gentle “aunt” would vanish forever.
Days of being beaten every day and going hungry—could they really be over?
Passersby, witnessing the scene, stared curiously at the two of them.
A middle-aged woman came closer, clearly hearing everything, and asked proactively, “Are you this little beggar’s aunt?”
An elderly man, looking like a retired cadre, also asked, “Is this child from your family?” He trusted his own judgment of people—Jiang Ling didn’t look like a human trafficker. She didn’t seem disgusted by the beggar; she joyfully held the child and called out her name. This child was most likely hers.
Jiang Ling held Xiaowei in one arm, her gaze calm as she looked at the concerned crowd.
Her words were few but concise and clear: “Yes, this is my sister’s child. She went missing in the provincial city three years ago. The family has been searching ever since.”
A story about a lost niece being found at a train station was exactly the kind people loved to hear. Gradually, more and more people gathered, asking questions and exchanging comments.
The woman who had been guarding Shen Xiaomei earlier in the station square sensed something was wrong. She hurried over, pushing through the crowd, and lunged at Jiang Ling, shouting, “Put down my Xiaowei!”
Exactly what Jiang Ling had wanted—she had been watching carefully for any movement around her. Seeing someone rushing toward her, she sidestepped with a flash, coldly watching the woman.
The Hawk gang had finally revealed themselves!
The woman’s cheeks were sunken, her eyebrows messy, the corners of her eyes drooping in sorrow. That thin face and those cruel, triangular eyes triggered memories in Jiang Ling; the criminal file came to mind.
Case Number: NJ-1999-074
Case Type: Child trafficking, abuse, intentional homicide
Name: Xie Jiayan (born 1960, from the North)
Education: Incomplete primary school
In 1987, Xie Jiayan, driven by poverty, abducted a nephew for a reward of one hundred yuan, beginning a path of child trafficking that would last over a decade. From 1987 to 1989, she trafficked five children from Xiang Province to northern cities for sale. In 1989, she was arrested on suspicion of child trafficking and detained for three months before being released.
In 1990, Xie Jiayan resumed her crimes and quickly became one of the leaders of the Hawk gang. In 1997, the traffickers’ hideout in Xinchang County, Hunan Province, was raided by the police, but Xie Jiayan successfully escaped, assumed a new identity, and continued her crimes. It was not until 1999 that she was captured and her crimes fully uncovered. She, along with the gang, was sentenced to death.
According to the timeline of the previous life, in 1997, Xiaowei’s body was dug up from the backyard of a farmhouse in the outskirts of Qingshi Town, Xinchang County. The number of children who had died at the hands of the Hawk gang reached thirteen.
Now, it was still four years before the gang would be caught.
And six years before Xie Jiayan would be sentenced to death.
Action had to be swift.
Xie Jiayan had to be stopped, and the Hawk gang had to be taken down as soon as possible!
Otherwise, the number of trafficked children would keep growing, and more lives would be lost under their hands.
…
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