The man’s footsteps immediately stopped. He looked puzzled.
“Me? You’re talking about me? How did I become a human trafficker?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the man behind them caught up.
Under the glow of the fire, Huo Yuan clearly saw the man’s face and the military uniform he was wearing.
“Southwestern Military District?”
The man who had caught up nodded repeatedly.
“Yes, yes! Battalion Commander Huo, I’m from the Thirteenth Battalion. We even helped move things together on the day our battalion commander got married. My name is—”
“Lu Fusheng.”
“Yes, yes! You remember me!”
Lu Fusheng was both delighted and amazed.
Everyone said that the Ninth Battalion’s Battalion Commander Huo was terrifyingly sharp. He remembered every single mistake his subordinates made, so no one should ever provoke him.
Now it seemed those rumors really hadn’t been exaggerated.
Huo Yuan had no time to reminisce with him. He pointed at the man standing between them.
“You said he’s a human trafficker?”
“Yes, yes.” Lu Fusheng scratched his head. “I was home on leave for half a month. I just got back on the train today when I saw him jump out of the window and run away. Oh, right, he also stole money from one of the villagers!”
“I didn’t! I really didn’t steal anything!” the man hurriedly protested. “My name is Luo Ping. I live in Jinsha County. You can go check!”
“Then what about the child? If you didn’t do anything wrong, why did you jump off the train?”
“I—I…”
Luo Ping stammered and fell silent.
Li Zhongyi repeated the reason he had given earlier.
Lu Fusheng clicked his tongue and was completely at a loss.
“That actually makes sense.”
Huo Yuan looked at Lu Fusheng.
“Who told you he was a human trafficker? What evidence do you have?”
Lu Fusheng explained what had happened before he got off the train. In the end, he frowned.
“I just thought his behavior was too suspicious. And since a child was involved, I got off the train to chase him.”
“So basically, you have absolutely no evidence,” Li Zhongyi said, raising his chin. “That child looks seven or eight years old and is conscious. How could he not know who this man is?”
Huo Yuan glanced at Li Zhongyi.
The latter immediately understood. He stepped forward two paces and crouched down.
“Little guy, come here. Look at Uncle.”
The child clung tightly to the man’s leg and refused to let go, not even turning his head.
Luo Ping gave Li Zhongyi an awkward smile.
“Sorry. Xiaoshu is shy around strangers, and he’s sick too.”
He simply turned the child around so that he was facing Li Zhongyi while still holding onto his leg.
“Xiaoshu, this is a soldier uncle. He’s not a bad person. Answer whatever he asks you, understand?”
Li Zhongyi saw the child nod.
Although his face was covered, judging from his eyes, he didn’t seem to have any intellectual disability.
Li Zhongyi put on a kind smile.
“Xiaoshu, who is the person beside you?”
“Dad.”
The child’s muffled voice came through the scarf wrapped around his face.
“What is his name?”
“Luo Ping.”
Li Zhongyi asked several more questions, and the child answered every one fluently.
There was no need to say anything else.
The four men were now convinced that these weren’t human traffickers but an actual father and son.
With the misunderstanding cleared up, Lu Fusheng rubbed his nose and stepped forward to pat Luo Ping on the shoulder.
“Sorry, we misunderstood you.”
Luo Ping shook his head.
“You were only doing it for the child’s sake. Oh, right, I really didn’t steal that woman’s money.”
He took the initiative to empty his pockets and turn over the bag he was carrying, pulling everything out one item at a time.
Aside from some food and cooking utensils such as rice and salt, there was nothing else.
Seeing that there wasn’t even a knife inside, Li Zhongyi and the others finally lowered their guard and warmly invited the father and son to sit by the fire.
Huo Yuan, however, stood to the side with a frown.
Li Zhongyi pulled him over to sit down as well and whispered,
“Battalion Commander, stop dwelling on it. He’s just an ordinary villager.”
He didn’t even have a weapon, so there was no way he was connected to the mission they were carrying out.
Huo Yuan replied quietly,
“Even if he isn’t suspicious, stay cautious.”
“Got it.”
After they finished speaking, they saw Luo Ping take a clay pot out of the cloth bag he had spread open earlier.
He poured water from his flask into it and began boiling medicine. Then he took out two sweet potatoes and tossed them into the fire.
Noticing everyone looking at him, Luo Ping felt rather embarrassed.
“I only have two sweet potatoes left. Sorry, comrades…”
Li Zhongyi froze.
“No, no, it’s fine. We’ve already eaten. You two eat them yourselves.”
If this man had offered them food, Li Zhongyi might have been suspicious again.
But he hadn’t.
Now Li Zhongyi was completely convinced and relaxed as he chatted with Lu Fusheng.
A moment later—
Crack.
The bushes in the distance rustled again.
Huo Yuan immediately raised his gun and aimed it at the spot.
Li Zhongyi was getting annoyed.
“Who is it this time? It’s awfully lively out here tonight.”
He raised his gun and was just about to order the person to come out when a girl emerged from the bushes.
Who else could it be?
It was Qian Xing, who had followed them all the way up the mountain.
Since she could rest inside the Blessed Gourd Realm, Qian Xing wasn’t particularly worried about her own safety.
Her only concern was finding the soldier who had run off earlier.
Along the way, she had also gathered some common medicinal herbs.
She kept following the trail until she saw a fire burning in the distance.
Qian Xing didn’t know what the dark object pointed at her was, but judging from the unfriendly expressions on their faces, she knew it couldn’t be anything good.
Her gaze swept between the man holding the child beside the fire and the soldier she had been tracking earlier.
She smiled.
“Don’t be nervous. I’ve met them before. I’m not a bad person.”
Lu Fusheng leaned closer and narrowed his eyes as he studied her for a moment.
Then he nodded at Li Zhongyi and the others.
“She was on the train too. She was sitting opposite Luo Ping. Why did you come here?”
The last question was directed at Qian Xing.
Qian Xing smiled.
“I saw the mother and son sitting across from me looking so pitiful, so I wanted to help them get their money back. What? He didn’t steal it?”
The excuse was actually somewhat far-fetched.
But Qian Xing didn’t know that at this time, the slogan of learning from Lei Feng and doing good deeds was being promoted enthusiastically everywhere, and there were plenty of kindhearted people around.
So her behavior didn’t seem particularly strange to them.
Hearing this, Lu Fusheng lowered his guard a little more and explained what they had just figured out.
“So that’s what happened. Then we misunderstood him.”
Qian Xing blinked.
“I’m a little cold. Can I come over and warm myself by the fire?”
She looked like a frail young woman, so Li Zhongyi couldn’t very well refuse her.
After exchanging a glance with Huo Yuan, he nodded.
When Qian Xing reached the fire, she finally got a clear look at the others.
Especially the man sitting diagonally across from her.
Under the firelight, his features looked even more sharply defined, and he was almost ridiculously handsome.
He was exactly the type Qian Xing liked.
Her gaze was far too unabashed for Huo Yuan to ignore.
He raised his head, intending to warn the girl across from him.
But the moment he lifted his eyelids, he met a pair of smiling eyes.
Those slightly curved cat-like eyes were clear and bright, without the slightest trace of flirtation or shyness.
It was as though she were merely admiring beautiful mountains and scenery.
Huo Yuan was momentarily at a loss for words.
The displeasure in his eyes faded somewhat, and he looked away, staring thoughtfully at the fire in front of him.
Qian Xing found it rather amusing.
This man looks cold, but his temper isn’t actually that bad.
She shifted her gaze and casually looked toward the man holding the child.
He held the child with his left arm while reaching out with his right hand to lift the lid and check the medicine inside the pot.
Seeing that he was having trouble, Li Zhongyi helpfully offered,
“Let us keep an eye on the medicine for you. How long does it need to boil?”
Luo Ping grinned.
“Once the water boils, another ten minutes will do.”
“Okay, let me take a look…”
Li Zhongyi lifted the lid and tilted the pot slightly to look inside.
Tiny bubbles were beginning to rise through the water.
“It’s not boiling yet. Give it a little more—”
Before he could finish, there was a loud smack.
The pot in his hands was kicked away.
The clay pot shattered on impact, scattering into pieces across the grass along with the medicinal herbs inside.
“You—you want to do what?!”
Luo Ping was startled.
He immediately shoved the child in his arms toward Huo Yuan.
“Battalion Commander Huo, please keep an eye on him.”
Huo Yuan suddenly found himself holding a child and was just about to speak when the foot that had kicked over the pot followed through.
It swung toward the child’s waist.
Huo Yuan’s arms closed around empty air.
He raised his eyes toward the owner of that foot.