Chapter 16: Regaining What Was Lost

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

Lin Ying was so anxious she lost her composure. "Could she have been kidnapped?"

Kidnappings at hospitals weren't unheard of, but they usually happened in the pediatric ward. It was rare to hear of a child going missing from a general ward like this.

Lin Qin’s vision went black, and she collapsed.

The crowd was terrified and hurriedly called for a doctor and the police.

When Lin Qin slowly regained consciousness, a group of people was surrounding her. Subconsciously, she struggled to get up to look for her child.

A police officer quickly stopped her. "Comrade Lin Qin, don't worry. The child has been found. She's at the police station, and we'll have her brought back to you in a moment."

"Found? Really?" Lin Qin looked at the teary-eyed Lin Ying.

Lin Ying nodded heavily. "It just happened. They said a kind-hearted person saw her and saved her."

"What happened? No, I have to go see Yaya. I won't be at ease until I see her." Lin Qin insisted on putting on her shoes to leave.

The police officer had no choice but to take her to the station.

On the way, he briefly explained the situation. "The child was indeed kidnapped by a trafficker. Just as he walked out of the hospital, he was recognized by a man named Chen Wenjun. That Chen Wenjun is a fishmonger; he didn't say a word, just rushed up and trapped the trafficker with a fishing net. With the help of passersby, they captured the trafficker without much effort and saved the child.

My colleague took them to the station to give statements. We were originally trying to find the child's family when the hospital reported a missing child, so I came over to check."

Hearing it was Chen Wenjun, the weight on Lin Qin's heart lifted, and she felt as if her strength had completely drained away.

At the police station.

The police were interrogating the trafficker, who had been beaten into a pulp. "Speak! Why did you kidnap the child? Do you know how many years you'll get for child trafficking? Huh!"

The trafficker shivered. At first, he hung his head, intending to stay silent and play dumb to the end.

It wasn't until the police started getting serious and threatened to drag him away that he finally felt fear.

He hurriedly said, "If I confess, can I get a lighter sentence?"

"You dare negotiate with us?" The officer was so angry his eyes widened like copper bells.

The captain stopped him and asked gently, "Let's hear it."

The trafficker paused and spoke hesitantly, "I'm actually just a hoodlum, a street thug! I haven't done anything major like murder or robbery; at most, I'm just a petty thief. It’s just that I’ve been short on cash lately, and a woman told me she wanted to sell a child, so I went..."

Everyone turned in unison to look at Lin Qin, who had just walked in.

Lin Qin stared at the trafficker in disbelief, wishing she could rush up and tear him apart.

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 woman who looked quite glamorous, with long curly hair, bright red lips, a mole above her eyebrow, and she was wearing high heels. She was about 1.5 meters tall."

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun exchanged a look and shouted in unison, "Fang Ying!"

Lin Qin looked at the officers excitedly. "I know the woman he's talking about. Her name is Fang Ying, from Fangshan Commune."

The captain didn't ask further and immediately sent two men to Fangshan Commune to arrest Fang Ying.

It was already getting dark by the time the two officers arrived at Fangshan Commune.

They weren't familiar with the area. Just as they reached the entrance of the village, they happened to see a man and a woman pulling at each other as they approached.

The woman was clearly being forced; she was struggling, and there were tears on her face.

"Hey! What are you doing!" The righteous officer roared, and the two men strode forward.

When the woman saw they were police, she immediately cried out for help, "Comrade Police, save me! I don't want to marry him, I don't want to marry him."

Qian Dashan looked vigilant but refused to let go of the woman's hand. He patted his satchel. "This is a wife I paid to marry! Her parents accepted my bride price, and her household registration is here with me. We're going to register tomorrow and move her registration to my house! Don't even think about taking my wife away!"

The officer rummaged through Qian Dashan's bag and actually found two household registration booklets inside. When they saw the names on them, both officers' expressions changed.

They grabbed the two of them, one on each side.

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

Fang Ying was stunned.

Qian Dashan was terrified. He sat on the ground and started denying everything. "I'm not going, I'm not going! I have nothing to do with her!"

The officer laughed in anger. "Isn't she your wife?"

"We haven't registered yet! I'll go to her house in a bit and get the bride price back. I don't want this woman anymore, is that not enough?" Qian Dashan started acting like a rascal.

Seeing that the police weren't insisting on taking him to the station, he hurriedly grabbed his bag and ran off without looking back.

Fang Ying came to her senses and hurriedly cried out, "I didn't traffic any children! I'm being framed!"

The officer looked closely at Fang Ying's dirty face. It really didn't match the trafficker's description. That was the only reason they hadn't forced Qian Dashan to stay.

The officer on the left asked, "How many people named Fang Ying are there in your village?"

"Just... just me..." Fang Ying answered nervously.

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

When the police brought Fang Ying to the station, Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin, who was holding Liu Yaya, were full of questions.

The officer asked, "Take a look. Is this the Fang Ying you were talking about?"

Both shook their heads in unison.

Lin Qin hurriedly said, "That Fang Ying had a mole above her eyebrow and was about 1.6 meters tall. It's not her."

The officer frowned. "This person is the Fang Ying from Fangshan Commune. We checked; she's the only one in the whole commune named Fang Ying."

"Impossible!" Lin Qin retorted urgently. "The Fang Ying from Fangshan Commune even got into a junior college; she should be quite well-known in their village."

"A junior college student?" The officer became even more suspicious of the information Lin Qin had provided.

Just then, Fang Ying spoke up weakly, "Um... if I'm not mistaken, the person you're talking about should be named Fang Meixiang."

"Fang Meixiang?" Everyone was full of questions.

Fang Ying nodded firmly. "If you're talking about a woman in our village who is about 1.6 meters tall and has a mole above her eyebrow, that's only Meixiang. But she isn't a junior college student. We both failed the college entrance exam back then, and she married far away. She hasn't been back to the village in all these years, so it couldn't be her."

The trail ended there.

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin had a vague suspicion, but they had no proof, and since they didn't know where that woman was, they didn't dare share their suspicions with the police.

The group finished their statements and left the station.

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

Fang Ying nodded. "Ask whatever you want!"

"Um... is there really only one person named Fang Ying in your village? No one else got into a junior college?"