Chapter 362 - 317: Jiang Junlin
Chapter 362: Chapter 317: Jiang Junlin
Over there, Hu Laosan’s wife also started wailing and wiping away her tears. "That’s right! My son is a college student with a state-assigned job, and my daughter is a teacher. They’re both state cadres! You must have the wrong people. Let them go!"
"No hysterics!" a stern-faced police officer barked. "Do you think we have nothing better to do? We only act and make arrests when we have solid evidence. We’ve already explained everything. If you have something to say, save it for the official interrogation. Now, shut up! You two, be quiet!"
Glared at by the officer, Mrs. Hu and the two crying girls stifled their sobs. Hu Laosan sized up the smiling plainclothes officer and asked cautiously, "Officer, Xinghua... have you really found her?"
The plainclothes officer nodded. "We found her. How else could we have dismantled the human trafficking ring and followed the trail to you?"
"Um, is Xinghua okay? She’s my granddaughter! We didn’t traffic her, really!"
"Whether that’s true or not, you can tell it to the police. What I can tell you is that Xinghua is doing very well. She’s with her parents and younger siblings, and she’s found her biological grandparents. In fact, her grandparents provided significant help in this anti-trafficking operation. Their one wish was to see every last one of you from the Hu Family brought to justice. You’re Hu Laosan, so you should remember Xinghua’s grandparents. Their surname is Mo, and they’re from G Province. Years ago, you and your wife rented a room in the same courtyard as them. They had a son named Mo Jiabao. When he was just a month old, you and your wife stole him. Mo Jiabao was wearing a jade lock, and with that jade lock, he found his biological parents in G Province. The family is reunited now. Mo Jiabao will be back in a while to handle his household registration. His parents might even come with him. You’ll all have a chance to meet."
Hu Laosan’s jaw dropped, his face turned deathly pale, and then his eyes rolled back in his head. He collapsed with a THUD!
"AHH! He’s dead! Hu Laosan, don’t you die! What will I do if you die?"
Mrs. Hu shrieked and threw herself onto Hu Laosan’s body. In her panic, she kicked Hu Laoer, who flew into a rage and kicked the couple back several times, cursing, "You pair of wicked, troublesome messes! What kind of crap have you gotten into? You’ve dragged all of us men down with you! You’ve ruined us!"
The plainclothes officer got up and walked over to Hu Laosan. He crouched down, pinched the philtrum below his nose, and then patted his gaunt, angular face. "Get up. You think this will get you out of it? They want to meet you. We have to make sure you stay alive for that. You’re not dying."
The truck remained parked at the village entrance. Word was that some officers had gone to a smaller village behind Hu Village to arrest two more people—a pair of cattle thieves. They would leave once everyone was rounded up.
The crowd of onlookers grew larger. The village party secretary and other cadres were in the crowd, gesticulating and lecturing on the spot. Hu Laoer’s wife, daughter-in-law, and children huddled around the truck, sobbing. Eldest Hu also cursed for a bit, wanting to get closer to ask his two brothers and nephews a few more questions, but his wife and two sons, who had rushed over after hearing the news, pulled him away without another word. They didn’t want to get involved in the Hu Family Courtyard’s rotten affairs, nor could they afford to.
Just then, a black bicycle turned off the main road onto the path to Hu Village. Riding it was a young man with handsome features and a tall, slender build. He wore a white shirt and black trousers, appearing gentle, refined, and melancholic. Encountering the crowd at the village entrance, the young man had no choice but to dismount and walk his bicycle slowly. Someone recognized him and called out with a smile, "Mr. Jiang."
Mr. Jiang saw the police and the massive crowd gathered in layer upon layer. He couldn’t help but ask what was going on. Someone told him, "Hu Laoer’s and Hu Laosan’s families did something terrible! They’re being arrested. More than half the family is being taken away!"
"What terrible thing did they do?" Mr. Jiang asked.
"Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi conspired to traffic Xinghua! Hu Laosan, Hu Jia’an, and his wife helped them. The trafficker was their own relative! And Hu Laoer’s sons, it was because..."
Mr. Jiang only heard the words "Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi conspired to traffic Xinghua." He froze as if struck by lightning, his mouth agape. His face instantly turned a deathly, ashen white, but his eyes gradually turned crimson, practically shooting sparks. He suddenly threw his bicycle aside, rushed to the side of the truck, and began pounding on the truck bed with both fists, roaring, "Hu Xiu’e! Hu Aiyi! Are you even human?! It was you who harmed Xinghua! You... you two venomous creatures! Get out here! Come out! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!"
Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi were squatting just behind the truck’s side panel, curled into balls. They didn’t dare show their faces, wishing they could retreat into a shell like a snail.
This Mr. Jiang was none other than the handsome, cultured young teacher Jiang Junlin that Yu Wumei had mentioned. It was no exaggeration to say that all the female middle and elementary school teachers in the entire commune secretly had a crush on him. Jiang Junlin was indeed exceptionally handsome. A graduate of the provincial normal university, he was assigned a teaching post at the commune’s middle school. Hu Xiu’e and her niece, Hu Aiyi, were merely temporary primary school teachers, yet they both shamelessly vied for his affection. The number of other, more qualified girls who liked him was countless.
Belonging to the same school district, all the teachers knew each other. Since Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi both liked Jiang Junlin, they naturally found frequent excuses to visit him, engineering "chance encounters." Over time, they became familiar acquaintances. When Jiang Junlin needed to make a home visit in Hu Village, the two women eagerly offered to guide him and even enthusiastically invited him to their home for a meal. But who would have known that the moment Jiang Junlin stepped into the Hu Family Courtyard, his eyes would fall on Xinghua? The chemistry between people can be so strange. From then on, Jiang Junlin started visiting Hu Village often, teaching Xinghua and her younger siblings to read and write and helping her with chores. In contrast, he completely ignored his "good friends" Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi, leaving them out in the cold.
Hu Xiu’e was Hu Laosan’s youngest daughter and had been doted on by her parents since childhood. Hu Aiyi was Hu Laoer’s eldest granddaughter and was similarly valued. Normally, the two of them treated Xinghua like a common servant girl. With Jiang Junlin being the man they both loved, how could they possibly tolerate Xinghua snatching him away?
The two of them hated Xinghua to the bone and schemed up all sorts of ways to eliminate this thorn in their side. In the end, with a little prodding and a personally crafted plan from Hu Laosan’s wife, Xinghua tragically fell into their trap and was sold to traffickers.
Of course, Jiang Junlin didn’t know the inside story. He would never have imagined that Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi, both temporary teachers, could be so depraved. Xinghua disappeared during the winter holidays while he was back home. His father was sick, so he didn’t return to Yutian Commune until after the Lantern Festival when school started. The beginning of the semester was a bit hectic, and it was a few more days before he finally found the time to go to Hu Village to look for Xinghua. By then, the place was empty. Not only was Xinghua gone, but her parents and younger siblings had vanished without a trace.
Jiang Junlin was stunned. The first thing he did was ask Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi, but of course, he couldn’t get the real story from them. They just said Xinghua’s family had gone to visit relatives.
In the days that followed, Jiang Junlin visited the Hu Family Courtyard many times but could never get a straight answer. He then asked some of his students from Hu Village. They didn’t know the specifics either, but they had vaguely overheard the adults in the village gossiping that Xinghua had gotten lost on her way home from the market and that her family had gone out to look for her and never returned.
Jiang Junlin was deeply saddened. He started spending a lot of time with Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi again, often accompanying them back to the Hu Family Courtyard. He wanted to get news about Xinghua, but due to Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi’s deliberate manipulations, it appeared to others that he was fond of the Hu family’s aunt-and-niece pair and was perhaps planning to choose one of them to date.
The new school term was about to start, and Jiang Junlin had to return to school. Just as Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi were gearing up for a fierce competition, they were caught completely off guard when the police cracked Xinghua’s case. In a major operation to arrest and round up the trafficking ring, the aunt and niece both fell into the net of the law.
The man of their dreams was right before their eyes, but they would never have the chance to fight over him again.