Jiang Yan was in so much pain that she was nearly suffocating, so she didn’t notice this detail.
Huo Zhanting, meanwhile, had only one thing on his mind: subduing the woman who was part of the trafficking ring. He didn’t notice it either. He dragged and half-carried Jiang Yan away from the main room and into a corner farther away.
Only then did Huo Zhanting lower the arm he had held across Jiang Yan’s chest.
At the same time, the gun in his hand was pressed against Jiang Yan’s forehead.
“Don’t move, and don’t scream. Otherwise, I’ll blow your brains out!”
Now that she was facing Huo Zhanting directly, Jiang Yan noticed the insignia on his shoulder and realized there had been a misunderstanding. Unfortunately, her mouth was still covered, so she had no way to explain.
Jiang Yan could only nod frantically, indicating that she would cooperate.
And, big brother, please don’t let that gun go off by accident!
Jiang Yan’s heart leaped into her throat.
Huo Zhanting stared intently at Jiang Yan. Only after making sure she really wasn’t going to scream did he release his hand from her mouth.
Jiang Yan immediately explained, “Big brother, I’m not a human trafficker! I was kidnapped on the train by human traffickers. I’m a victim!”
Her peripheral vision caught sight of the gun pressed against her forehead.
“I also just snatched this gun from the traffickers. That fake mother and daughter took me to the basement…”
Jiang Yan told Huo Zhanting everything she had seen in the basement, including how she had wrested the gun away from the traffickers and killed them.
After hearing her explanation, Huo Zhanting tilted his head slightly and gave Jiang Yan a sidelong look.
“You’re the little girl from the train who eats an extraordinary amount and has extraordinary strength?”
You’re the one who eats an extraordinary amount! Your whole family eats an extraordinary amount!
Jiang Yan ground her teeth, but her face broke into a radiant smile.
“That’s right, that’s right, it’s me. So, soldier, could you maybe take that gun away from my forehead?”
As she spoke, Jiang Yan raised a hand and pushed the gun away from her forehead.
“Sorry!”
Huo Zhanting withdrew the gun apologetically.
Although he believed Jiang Yan, just to be safe, Huo Zhanting also confiscated the gun she had snatched from the traffickers.
Only then did he go after the traffickers.
The reason this trafficking ring had been so difficult to apprehend, besides their ability to hide, was that they had guns.
But now that their hideout had been discovered, Jiang Yan had already taken out four or five of the traffickers and seized three guns. Their firepower had been reduced drastically in an instant.
Huo Zhanting quickly dealt with the remaining traffickers and successfully rescued all the women and children who had been abducted.
However, he had still arrived too late. The condition of the women in the basement was simply horrifying.
Huo Zhanting couldn’t bring himself to look.
After confirming Jiang Yan’s identity through the three newly abducted female victims, he went outside to wait for the local Public Security Bureau officers to arrive and take over.
Their military unit was only responsible for apprehending the criminals. The local police would handle everything that followed.
However, Huo Zhanting insisted that every one of the traffickers be sentenced to death.
The police arrived quickly as well. After completing the handover with them, Huo Zhanting was about to go find Jiang Yan.
He had mistaken the young woman for a human trafficker and nearly hurt her. Feeling guilty, he intended to apologize to her in person once more.
“Boss, I think I just saw Commander Sun’s grandson. He was in the main room with the traffickers!”
“Are you sure?” Huo Zhanting’s expression turned grave.
When he had first gone in to arrest the traffickers, he had indeed seen a child in the main room. But he had assumed the boy was the traffickers’ grandson.
Commander Sun’s grandson had been brought to the military base a month ago. Huo Zhanting had been away on a mission at the time, so he had never met the boy.
Qi Xiao had seen him before.
“I’m sure. I’ve seen Commander Sun’s grandson before. That was him!”
Huo Zhanting immediately understood the situation. He said solemnly to Qi Xiao, “Let’s go. We’ll take the child back first!”
Something had come up, so Huo Zhanting no longer had time to apologize to Jiang Yan in person. Instead, he asked a comrade to pass along a message.
That comrade was none other than Zhou Zhengguo, the director of the Public Security Bureau.
The two already had a good relationship, and Huo Zhanting had just helped solve such a major human-trafficking case. Naturally, Zhou Zhengguo took the matter seriously and went to see Jiang Yan personally.
Zhou Zhengguo had also heard from Huo Zhanting about Jiang Yan’s heroic actions.
“Comrade Jiang Yan, thank you very much for your bravery. Thanks to you, we were able to successfully destroy the traffickers’ hideout and rescue the victims!”
Zhou Zhengguo was sincerely grateful and secretly praised Jiang Yan as a fine comrade.
“By the way, Comrade Jiang Yan, where are you being sent for rural service? We’ll send a letter of commendation and a banner there to show our appreciation!”
In those days, honors and recognition were highly valued.
Zhou Zhengguo assumed Jiang Yan was a sent-down educated youth. A letter of commendation and a banner would make things much easier for her in whatever village she was assigned to.
Jiang Yan looked a little awkward.
“Well… I’m not an educated youth going to the countryside. I’m going to join my husband at his military posting. My fiancé is a soldier!”
Uh…
Now it was Zhou Zhengguo’s turn to feel awkward.
But as an old revolutionary who had been through countless situations, he quickly recovered.
“Ah, I knew there had to be a reason Comrade Jiang Yan was so capable—brave and resourceful. Turns out you’re a military wife! Ha ha…”
Zhou Zhengguo awkwardly brushed past the subject, then asked Jiang Yan, “May I ask who your fiancé is and which unit he serves in? I’ll see if there’s a vehicle heading that way and have them give you a ride.”
Jiang Yan couldn’t have been happier.
Train tickets were expensive, after all, and not easy to get.
“My fiancé’s name is Huo Zhanting,” Jiang Yan said.
Huo… Huo Zhanting?
Zhou Zhengguo’s eyes widened.
Was this the Huo Zhanting he knew?
Suppressing his shock, Zhou Zhengguo asked Jiang Yan, “Which unit is he with?”
Jiang Yan found Zhou Zhengguo’s reaction strange, but she answered honestly.
“0713!”
It really was Old Huo!
Then why didn’t she know Old Huo? And apparently Old Huo didn’t know her either!
What kind of engaged couple didn’t even know each other?
Suddenly, Zhou Zhengguo remembered that recently, many enemy agents had been impersonating military family members to steal intelligence.
Could Jiang Yan be one of them?
“Xiao Liu, take Comrade Jiang Yan to the interrogation room,” Zhou Zhengguo suddenly shouted to his subordinate outside.
Hearing this, Xiao Liu rushed over like a gust of wind. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs and moved to cuff Jiang Yan…
Jiang Yan sidestepped him and looked at Zhou Zhengguo in confusion.
“Director Zhou, what do you mean?”
Zhou Zhengguo wore an expression that said he had seen right through her.
“Jiang Yan, stop pretending. You’re not Huo Zhanting’s fiancée at all!”
Jiang Yan was speechless.
“How am I not Huo Zhanting’s fiancée?”
Zhou Zhengguo found it ridiculous.
“If you’re Huo Zhanting’s fiancée, why don’t you know him? And why doesn’t he know you?”
“We’ve never met, so of course we don’t know each other… Wait. The tall man who arrested the traffickers earlier—that was Huo Zhanting?”
Jiang Yan finally caught on.
“Mm-hmm,” Zhou Zhengguo said with a soft grunt.
Damn it! What terrible luck!
First, Huo Zhanting had mistaken her for a human trafficker, and now, because of him, she was being mistaken for an enemy agent!
Were she and Huo Zhanting simply cursed to be incompatible?
In this sensitive era, once someone came under suspicion, there was no choice but to cooperate with an investigation.
Resigned to her fate, Jiang Yan followed Xiao Liu away, cursing Huo Zhanting and his entire family inwardly.
In fact, Zhou Zhengguo was also worried that he had made a mistake and wronged an innocent person. As soon as Jiang Yan left, he hurried to verify her identity.
After the matter was reported through several levels and everyone spent most of the day running around, they finally received confirmation from Huo Zhanting’s superior that Jiang Yan’s identity was genuine.
She really was Huo Zhanting’s fiancée.
No—by now, their marriage certificate had already been issued. She was officially Huo Zhanting’s wife!
“So this was all just one big misunderstanding…”
Feeling both guilty and embarrassed, Zhou Zhengguo personally went to the interrogation room to bring Jiang Yan out.
To make up for his mistake, Zhou Zhengguo also had Xiao Liu take Jiang Yan to the cafeteria for a meal, telling them to put it on his tab.
Jiang Yan didn’t bother being polite with Zhou Zhengguo.
He had been the reason she’d gone hungry in the first place. Eating one meal at his expense was hardly unreasonable.
But when Zhou Zhengguo went to the cafeteria to settle the bill and heard the amount, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“Old Zheng, how much did you say the total was?”
Zhou Zhengguo thought he must have misheard.
“Twelve yuan and eighty cents,” Old Zheng repeated.
It really was that much!
Once Zhou Zhengguo was certain he hadn’t misheard, he was so shocked he nearly stumbled over his words.
“Jiang, Jiang Yan ate what? No, wait… Did she eat everything in the entire cafeteria?”
“Not quite. She only ate ten steamed buns, ten stuffed buns, and five people’s worth of rice…”
Old Zheng listed everything Jiang Yan had eaten, then added, “I kept my eye on her the whole time. She ate every last bit. Didn’t leave a single grain of rice!”
She… ate all of it?
Zhou Zhengguo swallowed in shock.
He suddenly felt a little sorry for Huo Zhanting.
Finding yourself a wife who could eat that much… What kind of pressure was that?
Bah!
He was the one who deserved sympathy now!
Twelve yuan and eighty cents!
That was more than half a year’s worth of his private savings!