Lin Qionghua tugged on her mother’s arm, “I suspect that the man bringing the baby boy to my uncle is a human trafficker.”
Song Lanfang looked at her in surprise, “You don’t think so, do you?”
Lin Qionghua stomped her foot, “Why wouldn’t I?! If it were truly as he said—that the father died, the mother remarried, and they abandoned the child—why wouldn’t the grandparents just find a familiar family to give the child to? I refuse to believe there isn’t a family in their village that is short a son.”
Rural areas also had family planning policies, and they were managed no less strictly than in the cities. Some families would have seven or eight children and still not give birth to a son, yet they wouldn’t give up; pregnant women would even hide in other places just to have a boy.
Song Lanfang felt her argument was too biased, “Our village has been demolished; maybe they just want the child to have a good life, can’t that be the case?”
Lin Qionghua actually found herself unable to refute this. Unable to find a reason to argue back, she asked her mother to provide proof, questioning her, “Is my scenario possible? If I were the one lost, would you be frantic?”
In any situation, one should fear the outcome of putting oneself in someone else’s shoes. Song Lanfang had just been thinking about “avoiding unnecessary trouble,” but after hearing this, she stepped past her daughter and walked straight inside, “Officer?”
The police officer was on his way to eat. Being stopped, he paused, “Big sister, is something the matter?”
Song Lanfang recounted the situation she had heard, point by point, “We can’t guarantee it’s definitely a human trafficker, but my daughter has a stubborn personality and insisted we report it.”
The officer looked at Lin Qionghua, “Reporting it is correct, but this case doesn’t fall under our jurisdiction. You should first report it to your local police station.”
Lin Qionghua pressed her lips into a thin line. She stared straight at the officer, “But I’ve heard that human traffickers dare to abduct children because they have helpers at the police station.”
The officer’s expression changed drastically, “Hey! You can’t just talk nonsense like that. Without proof, you… you are just a child, so I won’t hold it against you, but if you were an adult, you would have to bear legal responsibility.”
Lin Qionghua looked at him, “Can you guarantee that the police station is foolproof and that there are no corrupt officers?”
The officer was put on the spot by her question and didn’t know how to respond for a moment.
Song Lanfang quickly tried to smooth things over, explaining to the officer with a fawning smile, “My daughter is still young and doesn’t know any better; please don’t mind her. Actually, she is mainly worried that the child might truly have been taken by human traffickers. If that’s the case, you would have made a great contribution.”
Human traffickers who abduct people tend to get addicted to it; they generally wouldn’t stop after just one abduction.
The officer pondered for a moment, “Tell you what, give me the address. When that day comes, I will visit in a private capacity.”
Song Lanfang nodded immediately to thank him, “Should you bring a couple more people? It wouldn’t be easy for you to handle the escort alone.”
The officer understood, “Don’t worry, I will bring my father along. He is a veteran criminal investigator.”
“Great!” Song Lanfang thanked him repeatedly.
Once they were out of the police station, Song Lanfang gave her daughter a swat on the back, “Look at that, you got scolded by the police, didn’t you? You can’t rely on being young to speak recklessly. The officer might have thought I purposely taught you to say that. How wronged would I be?”
Lin Qionghua curled her lip, “I just feel that the system of not being able to appeal to a higher level is unreasonable.”
Song Lanfang felt helpless, “Whether it’s reasonable or not is not for you, a child, to decide. Let’s manage our own affairs first.”
She clutched her stomach—she was so hungry; where should they go to eat?
She scanned the surroundings and saw a row of storefronts across the street. She took her daughter’s hand and crossed the road, “What do you want to eat?”
Lin Qionghua thought for a moment and pointed at the shop with the most people.
Song Lanfang led her to the entrance, her brow furrowed tight enough to crush a fly, “There are too many people here; we’re starving, let’s go somewhere else?”
Lin Qionghua shook her head, “No! I’m eating here. There are so many people, which means the food is good.”
Song Lanfang was beyond frustrated. It might be delicious, but one has to wait. She was starving and didn’t want to wait.
However, her daughter had already found a seat where they could share a table, so Song Lanfang couldn’t very well drag her out. She followed her and sat down next to her daughter.
The two ordered a bowl of noodles each.
Song Lanfang paid the money and looked at her daughter helplessly, “Your father’s good cooking has spoiled your taste buds. What are you going to do when you get to middle school?”
Lin Qionghua was confused, “When I get to middle school, I’ll just come home to eat? Didn’t you promise me we’d move to the county?”
Song Lanfang paused for a moment and burst into laughter, “You’re quite confident.”
Lin Qionghua raised her chin, “Top 500 in the city, that’s a piece of cake.”
Song Lanfang looked at her daughter’s arrogant demeanor and found it amusing.
The old man sitting across from them laughed along, “Little one has quite an ambition!”
Lin Qionghua observed his posture, “Not as good as yours; I can tell at a glance you’re a veteran criminal investigator.”
The old man was already retired and naturally wasn’t wearing his police uniform, but he hadn’t expected the little girl to guess his identity. He burst into laughter, “Can you tell?”
Lin Qionghua nodded, “I can.”
She gestured toward her own eyes, “Your gaze is very sharp; you are constantly observing your surroundings. That is a professional habit.”
The old man showed her an appreciative smile, “Not bad. With such keen observation, you’ll be a good seed for becoming a police officer in the future.”
Lin Qionghua shook her head, “I don’t like being a police officer.”
The old man raised an eyebrow, “Why?”
“Police officers have to lead by example and have too many rules to follow; I’m not good at that. I like repairing cars,” Lin Qionghua confidently stated her career plan.
The old man wasn’t offended, “Repairing cars is pretty good too.”
After finishing his noodles, he left first.
Lin Qionghua looked around and asked Song Lanfang, “Mom, how do you think this shop’s business is?”
Song Lanfang didn’t understand why her daughter was asking this; wasn’t it obvious? The shop had twelve tables, all of which were full. Some people couldn’t find a vacant seat and had to share a table with others.
Lin Qionghua smiled and said nothing.
Once the two bowls of noodles were served, Lin Qionghua took a bite and asked Song Lanfang, “Mom, do you think these noodles are delicious?”
Song Lanfang took a bite and nodded, “Not bad.”
But the price was so expensive; a bowl of noodles like this was only 150 grams at most, yet they charged her 1.5 yuan.
Lin Qionghua looked at her with a grin, “Then compared to Dad?”
Song Lanfang didn’t even think about it before blurting out, “Of course your dad’s are better. Your dad is a native village chef. Even Master Yang said he has a talent for cooking.”
Lin Qionghua nodded. She admitted that; her father loved to eat and loved to cook, and the same ingredients in her father’s hands tasted better than anyone else’s.
After eating, they didn’t linger and left the shop.
Song Lanfang actually wanted to go back to the shop where she had previously bought gold jewelry, “Should I buy another piece and then confront them? Or maybe I should just expose their true faces. We can’t let them keep hurting people.”
Lin Qionghua was horrified, terrified that she would actually do it. She hurried to grab her mother’s arm, “Mom, please don’t go. Didn’t you hear the police officer just now? Speaking requires evidence; without proof, it’s false accusation and you’ll bear legal responsibility. I don’t want a mother who’s in jail.”
Seeing her daughter so frightened, Song Lanfang thought about it—it was true, she had no evidence, and she didn’t even know how to tell if gold was real or fake. She couldn’t just rely on her own words to declare the gold fake, could she?
She got into the police car and complained to her daughter, “I just feel so aggrieved. That was over ten thousand yuan! How much work would one have to do to earn that much back?”
Lin Qionghua quickly held her hand, “Mom, don’t worry, I will definitely buy you real gold jewelry in the future.”
Song Lanfang waved her hand, “No matter how good the gold you buy is, it can’t offset the anger I feel this time.”
Lin Qionghua chuckled, deliberately changing the subject, “Mom, look at how well the noodle shop we went to just now is doing. If Dad opens a shop in the county, business will only be even better than theirs.”
Song Lanfang was indeed attracted by this; she had great confidence in her husband’s culinary skills, but she worried about one point, “Store rent in the county must be very expensive, right? It would be a pity to spend all the money earned on rent.”
Lin Qionghua didn’t know how much store rent was right now, but she felt it shouldn’t be too expensive because housing prices hadn’t risen yet.
She smiled and said, “Then you can ask around. If it’s profitable, once I get admitted to middle school here, you two could open your own shop.”
Song Lanfang didn’t refute her.
If her daughter really went to the county to study, they would definitely need to find something to do. Her husband was already earning money from his stall; setting up a stall in the county might get them chased away by city management, but opening a shop might be a good choice.
She touched her daughter’s head, “Alright! Your father and I will ask around.”
When they arrived home, Lin Qionghua went to write her test papers. Lin Weishen had already returned, so Song Lanfang pulled her husband into their room and told him everything that happened today, point by point.
Lin Weishen was quite surprised, “Our daughter has quite the imagination; she actually thought it was a human trafficker.”
Song Lanfang rolled her eyes at him, “You’re even praising her. What if it’s fake? We’ll lose face big time. I heard from sister-in-law that the man is her eldest daughter’s husband’s biological second uncle—they are very close relatives. They were just being kind, willing to help my eldest brother and sister-in-law find a child, and we turned around and reported them. If this gets out, we won’t be able to face anyone.”
Lin Weishen waved his hand, “It’s fine, the police have their own discretion and won’t leak this. You just act like you don’t know.”
Song Lanfang said awkwardly, “I’m not good at lying.”
Lin Weishen offered her a suggestion, “Then just stop hanging around your sister-in-law. If you don’t cross paths, you won’t be awkward, and you won’t have to lie.”
Living in the same village, they were bound to see each other, so Song Lanfang really couldn’t guarantee that, “I’ll try my best.”
She asked Lin Weishen how business went today.
Lin Weishen sighed, “Business is okay for now, and the hair accessories are selling well, but I’m worried about what I’ll sell once the weather turns cold.”
Popsicles and mung bean jelly were things only sold in the summer. Once school started, he would only be able to sell hair accessories, which couldn’t bring in much money.
Song Lanfang thought for a moment and told him about taking her daughter to eat noodles today, “That shop’s business is quite good. Why don’t you sell noodles too?”
Lin Weishen frowned, “That’s fine, but will they sell well? Besides, you have to set up tables and chairs; that’s too many things to carry.”
Song Lanfang remembered, “The middle school is so close to our house; why don’t you make some food? I heard from sister-in-law that the middle school hasn’t built a cafeteria and only provides windows; the meals supplied every day are simply not enough for the students to eat. Many students bring rice from home. How could cold rice and cold dishes be as good as hot ones?”
The town middle school wasn’t a closed-off school, and its management wasn’t particularly strict. Very few students from the graduating class were admitted to key high schools, and they didn’t receive much support from the Education Bureau either. All the facilities were quite average.
Lin Weishen had passed by the school gate before and had indeed seen people selling food there; those people could sell whatever dishes they made. With his culinary skills, there certainly wouldn’t be any problems.
He nodded, “Alright! Once school starts, I’ll do just that!”
He needed to ponder which food items would be more cost-effective.
After all, children had limited living expenses, and being served large portions until they were full was the most attractive thing to them.