Chapter 301
The other person glanced back at him and laughed, "You even have to ask such a simple question, you're really dumb."
And they call it the best elementary school in the city center. It doesn't seem as impressive as the rumors say.
"Teacher, my tummy hurts, I need to poop."
"Why do you have so many problems?"
Zhou Zehan immediately let out two loud "pfft—" farts in a row, startling the man who quickly changed his tune. Waving a hand in front of his nose and rolling down the window with the other, he said, "Kid, don't you dare poop in my car. Lao Wang, find a place to pull over."
The man driving looked around warily, and seeing no other cars, finally stopped.
Zhou Zehan immediately said, "Teacher, I don't have any paper."
The two men's faces turned green. "What paper? Just use a couple of tree leaves!"
Zhou Zehan wrinkled his nose in disdain. "No way, that's dirty."
After saying that, he looked left and right, picked up a notebook nearby, tore off two sheets of paper, and said, "I'll use this."
The two men hurriedly waved him off, telling him to hurry up.
Zhou Zehan, clutching his stomach, got out of the car and followed one of the men to the side to do his business.
There was nothing around, just empty space and a broken road.
He looked around, twisted his butt, and squatted down. Seeing the man come closer, he said, "Teacher, stay farther away. My poop is really smelly."
He then let out a few more farts.
The man halted his steps, immediately turned around, and walked away. "Hurry the hell up!"
Seeing the man turn his back, a glint flashed in the little boy's eyes.
...
Downtown.
The police had already begun their search.
Child trafficking incidents had been happening for a long time. There had been children going missing before, though not many. This time, with so many disappearing at once, the entire police station was in an uproar.
A team led by Captain Li began a carpet search.
Even though there were no surveillance cameras, there was only one main road leading out of the city.
The worry now was that if they had already left the city, finding them would be difficult.
In this era without cameras, once a vehicle left the city center, it meant these children would be extremely hard to recover.
Searching for them would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
This was also why human traffickers were so rampant during this time.
The police contacted all roads to set up blockades and investigations.
However, as time passed, there was no news.
The parents had started causing a commotion, especially the parents of Class Four. Upon hearing their children were missing, some nearly fainted.
Besides their children, the school principal's granddaughter, Chu Xiang'er, and Director Li's grandson, Li Youcai, were also missing.
The whole school was in chaos.
The principal seemed to have aged ten years overnight, and Director Li was collapsed on the ground, wailing and crying for her parents.
She only had this one precious grandson. If he were really sold to some remote village, how could she go on living!
The disappearances of Jiang Jiu and Xiao Han were also full of oddities.
Because the group that went missing were clearly from the fourth grade.
So why would Xiao Han and Jiang Jiu disappear with them?
After collecting herself, Si Nian began to speculate.
At a time like this, it was crucial not to panic, or important clues could easily be overlooked.
Although Xiao Han seemed a bit slow, he wasn't that foolish. She had taught him not to talk to strangers, not to take food from strangers, let alone go with them.
For him to be taken away so quietly, these people must have drugged the children?
But with so many children and the traffickers having only one van.
They definitely couldn't have fit everyone, and traffickers never operated in large groups.
From this, she guessed the traffickers were few in number, maybe two or three.
But even two or three people would find it almost impossible to drug and quietly take away so many children at once.
Especially not the Second Child. He would only ask others for food, but if someone offered it to him, he would absolutely not take it!
So there must have been someone helping, drugging a group of children simultaneously, which was why they left so quickly.
In other words, among their group of teachers, there was very likely an accomplice.
The only person in the whole school capable of such a heinous act was probably just one.
Teacher Xu.
Si Nian immediately looked in Teacher Xu's direction.
She stood at the back of the crowd, head bowed, watching the wailing Director Li and the parents, her lips pressed tightly together.
She seemed to be holding something back.
Si Nian clenched her fists.
Yes, it must be her.
She pulled aside the dazed Wang Xiaoli and walked to the entrance.
"What is it, Teacher Si?"
Si Nian asked, "Do you know if anything has happened around Teacher Xu recently? The more specific, the better."
She had heard from Wang Xiaoli that she and Teacher Xu lived in the same building.
Wang Xiaoli usually complained about Teacher Xu to her when she had nothing better to do.
They were the type who couldn't stand the sight of each other anyway.
Hearing this, Wang Xiaoli came to her senses and said, "You're asking about her, could it be..."
Si Nian gave her a look, and she immediately stopped.
After thinking carefully, Wang Xiaoli said, "Teacher Xu isn't doing so great either. Even though the fourth-grade parents demanded she come back to teach and she kept her job, these past few days some parents have been blocking her at her building demanding refunds."
"You know about Director Li's tutoring class, right?"
Si Nian nodded.
Wang Xiaoli continued, "Because of the school situation, the Li family closed the tutoring class to lay low. Now lots of people are clamoring for refunds. Not sure if the Li family is unwilling to pay or what, but the parents Teacher Xu referred there came to her for the money. Teacher Xu is so stingy, of course she refused. Then she got threatened..."
"Threatened?" Si Nian was surprised.
"Yes," Wang Xiaoli said. "Someone wrote on our building with paint, telling her to pay back the money, cursing her. I heard if Teacher Xu didn't pay, they'd take her son to settle the debt! Those people hired debt collectors to help, it's really scary. Now everyone in our building avoids her, afraid of getting involved."
"Teacher Xu referred so many kids over the years. With that much money, the Li family doesn't want to pay it back. Those people don't dare mess with the Li family, so they go after her. She's only putting on a brave face. Her husband is even talking about divorcing her..."
Wang Xiaoli could go on and on about gossip.
But it was useful.
Si Nian suddenly understood why Li Youcai and the principal's granddaughter Chu Xiang'er were kidnapped.
They seemed like the two children Teacher Xu valued most. No one would ever suspect her.
But thinking about it carefully, during the last competition, Li Youcai had even pushed her. Probably after it blew up, Director Li also shifted the blame onto her.
Plus the principal lecturing her every other day.
With her already ruthless personality, it would be strange if Teacher Xu didn't resent them and turn to the dark side.
The Eldest Child leaving Class Four was definitely the right move.
But why were the Second Child and Jiang Jiu dragged into this?
With Jiang Jiu missing, the Jiang family was also in an uproar!
Division Commander Jiang hadn't yet recovered from the earlier incident of his subordinate's child going missing. He never expected the traffickers would dare kidnap his own grandson. He flew into a rage and mobilized his forces, determined to bring these people to justice.
For a time, the entire city center was on edge.
The news that the division commander's grandson and several schoolchildren had been kidnapped by traffickers quickly spread far and wide.
After learning the situation from Wang Xiaoli, Si Nian immediately went to find Captain Li and his team, who were preparing to set out.
"Sister-in-law, don't worry. I will definitely help you find Xiaohan!" Captain Li looked at her, full of remorse.