Chapter 9: Lifting a Rock Only to Drop It on One's Own Feet

She had only lived until the late 1980s in her previous life before she died, so she was originally unaware of future events. However, she had finished reading an entire book before her rebirth, and through the author's perspective, she knew everything.

In the future, society developed extremely well. Every household lived in high-rise buildings, everyone had a car, and people managed to have meat at every meal and new clothes to wear every day.

There were also mobile phones and computers. No matter how far apart two people were, as long as they had a phone and a computer, they could see each other and chat face-to-face, just as if they were right beside each other.

She was determined to work hard to live until that time, so she could live that kind of life too.

Walking out of the post office, Wen Xi quietly put the stamps into the system warehouse, then headed toward the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. By this time, there were noticeably far fewer people at the cooperative than before. She took a lap first to see what each counter was selling, then went to the back to queue up.

While queuing, she took out some ration coupons from the system warehouse. Her family treated her well, but her Second Brother treated her the best. Every month when he got his salary, he would give her all the coupons, and give her a portion of the money too. It could be said that ever since Second Brother started working, Wen Xi had never lacked money.

When Wen Xi went down to the countryside, she brought a lot of things from home, so she didn't actually lack much. But now in the village, social interactions were very important.

If she didn't want to be isolated and helpless, she had to get on good terms with the villagers.

So Wen Xi weighed out several catties of cheap fruit candies. With these things, she could get close to the village kids in the future, giving herself a few little helpers.

After that, Wen Xi bought a packet of brown sugar, a box of peach crisp biscuits, four padlocks, three pairs of yellow canvas shoes for work, three pairs of labor protection gloves, and three pairs of boots. This was the central-south region; there were leeches in the fields. She had been bitten in her previous life, so in this life, she had to be fully prepared.

After buying the things, Wen Xi didn't linger at the cooperative. She carried her purchases out and, just as she exited, saw an old woman at the entrance of the alley across the street. The woman's head and face were covered by a headscarf, her complexion sallow. One arm clutched a little girl tightly, while the other hand rested on the girl's face—but it looked more like she was covering the girl's mouth.

The little girl was dressed prettily and cleanly, wearing delicate little leather shoes. At a glance, one could tell she wasn't someone a poor, suffering family like the old woman's could afford to raise. She must be from a well-off family.

Wen Xi instantly understood. This was definitely a human trafficker.

"System, System, human trafficker spotted ahead. What do I do?" Wen Xi was empty-handed; she definitely wasn't a match for a trafficker. If she went to report it to the police now, they wouldn't make it in time. If she tried to tail them, she might get herself caught too.

In this life, she still wanted to live well!

Watching the old woman hunch over and continue running into the alley, glancing back repeatedly to check the situation, Wen Xi hurriedly followed cautiously from a distance.

"Host, watch me." The system responded, then made its move.

Wen Xi didn't see it act. She only saw the old woman fall to the ground with a thud, completely motionless. She must have fainted.

The little girl in her arms tumbled out, rolling a couple of times on the ground before sitting up, looking bewildered, then bursting into terrified tears.

Wen Xi rushed over, helped the little girl up from the ground, and gave her a quick check. She found no obvious injuries. It seemed the girl had just been abducted and they hadn't had time to take her back or do anything to her yet.

"Little sister, do you know this person?" Wen Xi pointed at the old woman on the ground and asked.

It would be bad if she wrongly accused someone.

But her intuition told her there was absolutely no relationship between these two.

The little girl stopped crying and looked at the old woman's face, then shook her head in panic. "I don't know her. She grabbed me. She's a bad person..."

Seeing the girl's panic, Wen Xi hurriedly pulled her into her arms, gently patting her back to soothe her. "It's okay, it's okay. Big Sister has dealt with her. In a bit, we'll send her to the police station, put her in jail, so she can never hurt anyone again. Okay?"

The little girl sobbed, "Okay."

At that moment, a young man in a police uniform suddenly appeared at the alley entrance. The man's breathing was slightly heavy, sweat on his forehead glistening oilily in the sunlight.

Wen Xi had been worrying about how to get to the police station, and here a patrolling officer appeared. She hurriedly walked over carrying the little girl and said quietly, "Comrade Policeman, a human trafficker has been found here. She just used a knockout drug to knock this little girl out..."

Wen Xi looked up, and her gaze was instantly captured. The man before her was handsome, with a high nose bridge and deep eyes that seemed to look at everything with deep affection. His features were as clear as if carved, his wheat-colored skin looking healthy and sexy. Those long legs looked powerful and explosive.

Although Wen Xi was still young and had no intention of finding a man, there was no harm in admiring a handsome guy, right? Everyone loves beauty, after all!

Wen Xi was sizing up the man, and the man was naturally sizing up Wen Xi too. He even found himself unable to look away. When he realized this, he forcibly pulled his rationality back. It was simply incredible that someone could unknowingly make him unable to move his gaze.

"Dad, Lili almost got kidnapped by a bad person just now." The little girl stepped forward and hugged the man's leg, crying in fear. "It was this big sister who saved me. Otherwise, Lili would never see Daddy again."

Wen Xi hadn't expected he was already married. No wonder he had a mature charm. But in this era, people married early; men often married at seventeen or eighteen. So him being married was normal. With his good looks and good job, there were plenty of people wanting to marry him and plenty wanting to set him up.

Yan Zheng had made Yan Lili call him 'Dad' instead of 'Uncle' when there were female comrades around. But hearing this 'Dad' today made him feel like a breath was stuck in his chest.

He really had lifted a rock only to drop it on his own foot.

Yan Zheng squatted down, hugging Yan Lili, and said gently, "Lili, stay with Big Sister for a bit. Uncle will go catch the bad guy, okay? Otherwise, if the bad guy wakes up and runs away, we won't be able to catch her later."

Yan Lili wiped her tears and nodded chokingly, "Okay."

Yan Zheng led Yan Lili to Wen Xi and thanked her sincerely, "Comrade, thank you for saving my niece. You didn't just save my niece; you saved our whole family."

His older brother and sister-in-law worked at a research institute. Currently, Lili was their only child. The child was left at home with his parents. If Lili had been successfully abducted, his parents would blame themselves and feel guilty for the rest of their lives. They might even fall ill and never recover...

He didn't dare think further, so he was truly grateful to the young girl in front of him.

(End of Chapter)