Chapter 16: Lost and Found

Lin Qin searched every room on every floor of the hospital’s inpatient department, but there was no sign of Liu Yaya anywhere.

Lin Ying was beside herself with worry. “Could she have been abducted?”

Child abductions at the hospital were not uncommon, but they usually happened in the pediatric ward. It was rare to hear of children going missing in a regular ward like this.

Lin Qin’s vision blurred, and she collapsed.

Everyone panicked, shouting for a doctor and calling the police.

When Lin Qin slowly regained consciousness, she found a crowd around her. Instinctively, she tried to struggle to her feet, desperate to find her child.

The police quickly stopped her. “Comrade Lin Qin, don’t worry. The child has been found. She’s at the police station and will be brought back to you shortly.”

“Found? Really?” Lin Qin looked toward Lin Ying, whose eyes were filled with tears.

Lin Ying nodded heavily. “Just now, someone kind saw her and rescued her.”

“What happened? No, I have to see Yaya for myself. I won’t be at ease until I see her,” Lin Qin insisted, putting on her shoes to go.

The police had no choice but to accompany her to the station.

On the way, they briefly explained the situation. “The child was indeed abducted by a trafficker. Just as she was leaving the hospital, a man named Chen Wenjun, a fish seller, recognized the trafficker. Without hesitation, he used a fishing net to trap the abductor. With the help of bystanders, they easily caught the trafficker and rescued the child.

My colleagues took them to the station to record statements. We were also trying to find the child’s relatives when we received the hospital’s missing child report, so I came to check it out.”

Hearing Chen Wenjun’s name, Lin Qin’s heart finally relaxed, and she felt utterly drained.

At the police station,

Officers were interrogating the trafficker, who had been beaten badly. “Tell us, why do you traffic children? Don’t you know how many years you’ll get for this? Huh!”

The man shivered, initially hanging his head, planning to keep silent and deny everything.

Only when the officers got serious and tried to drag him away did he realize the danger.

“Will I get a lighter sentence if I confess?” he asked hastily.

“You dare negotiate with us?” the officer snapped, eyes wide with anger.

The captain stopped him and gently said, “Go on. Speak.”

The trafficker hesitated, then stammered, “I’m just a hooligan, a rogue! I haven’t done anything major like murder or robbery, just petty theft and minor crimes... Lately, I’ve been short on cash. A woman told me she wanted to sell a child, so I went along...”

Everyone simultaneously looked toward Lin Qin, who had just entered.

She stared at the trafficker in disbelief, furious enough to tear him apart with her bare hands.

The captain pointed at Lin Qin and asked the trafficker, “Is it her?”

The trafficker glanced at Lin Qin and shook his head. “Not her. It was a rather glamorous woman, with long curly hair, bright red lips, a mole above her eyebrow, wearing high heels, about 1.5 meters tall.”

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun exchanged a glance and said in unison, “Fang Ying!”

Lin Qin looked at the officers, excited. “I know the woman he’s talking about. Her name is Fang Ying, from Fangshan Village.”

The captain didn’t ask further and immediately dispatched two officers to Fangshan Village to arrest Fang Ying.

By the time the officers arrived at Fangshan Village, dusk was falling.

Unfamiliar with the area, they struggled to reach the village entrance, where they saw a man and woman struggling as they came toward them.

The woman was clearly resisting, tears streaming down her face.

“Hey! What’s going on?” The officers shouted, stepping forward.

Seeing the police, the woman cried out for help, “Officer, please save me! I don’t want to marry him! I don’t want to marry him!”

Qian Dashan looked wary but held onto the woman’s hand. He patted his satchel. “I paid for this wife. Her parents accepted my betrothal gift, and her household registration is with me. Tomorrow we’re going to register our marriage. Don’t try to take my wife away!”

The officers searched Qian Dashan’s satchel and indeed found two household registration books. When they saw the names, their expressions changed dramatically.

They quickly restrained both of them.

“Fang Ying, you are now suspected of involvement in a child trafficking case. Please cooperate and come with us to the station for investigation.”

Fang Ying was stunned.

Qian Dashan was terrified and sat down, refusing to go. “I’m not going! I have nothing to do with her!”

The officers laughed in disbelief. “Isn’t she your wife?”

“We haven’t registered yet. I’m going to her house to get my betrothal gift back. I don’t want this woman anymore!” Qian Dashan began to resist.

Seeing the officers weren’t insisting on taking him in, he grabbed his satchel and ran off without looking back.

Fang Ying came to her senses and protested, “I didn’t traffic children! I’m innocent!”

The officers examined Fang Ying’s dirty face carefully; it didn’t match the trafficker’s description. This was why they hadn’t forcibly detained Qian Dashan earlier.

One officer asked, “How many Fang Yings are there in your village?”

“Just... just me...” Fang Ying replied anxiously.

The two officers exchanged glances and decided to take this Fang Ying back to the station to confirm her identity.

Back at the police station, Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin, holding Liu Yaya, were filled with questions.

The officers asked, “Does this look like the Fang Ying you mentioned?”

Both shook their heads.

Lin Qin hurriedly said, “That Fang Ying has a mole above her eyebrow, is about 1.6 meters tall, not like this.”

The officers frowned. “This woman is the Fang Ying from Fangshan Village. We checked, and there’s only one Fang Ying there.”

“That’s impossible!” Lin Qin protested urgently. “Fang Ying from Fangshan Village even got into college. She’s quite well known in their village.”

“A college student?” The officers grew more suspicious of Lin Qin’s information.

At that moment, Fang Ying spoke softly, “If I’m not mistaken, the person you’re talking about might be called Fang Meixiang.”

“Fang Meixiang?” Everyone looked puzzled.

Fang Ying nodded confidently. “If you talk about a woman about 1.6 meters tall, with a mole above her eyebrow, it can only be Meixiang. But she’s not a college student; she failed the college entrance exam and married far away. She hasn’t been back to the village in years. It can’t be her.”

The trail ended there.

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin had vague suspicions but lacked evidence. They didn’t dare tell the police, unsure of the woman’s whereabouts.

After making their statements, the group left the station.

Lin Qin called out to Fang Ying, “Um, can I ask you a few questions?”

Fang Ying nodded. “Sure, ask whatever you like.”

“Well... is there really only one Fang Ying in your village? None of you went to college?”