Chapter 445 - 443: We Agree
The upper floor was cramped, and with his height, he had to stoop to walk.
Yang Dingbang pulled the cloth gag from Wu Wenhui’s mouth. Wu Jiafu, along with Wu Chunsheng and his brother, also climbed up. The moment Wu Wenhui saw Wu Jiafu, tears started streaming down her face again.
"Dad, I was wrong... WAH... WAH..."
Wu Jiafu went over and gave her a light smack. "You damn girl, you scared me to death!" he said, starting to untie the ropes binding her hands and feet.
Wu Chunsheng and his brother looked at Little Qing, Little Ying, and the other two girls lying there as if they were asleep. "Wen Hui," they asked worriedly, "what happened to them?"
Wu Wenhui sobbed as she explained, "After Little Qing, Little Ying, and I followed Ge Hongyu to the East Market, I asked her to take me to see my second aunt. She said we should eat first, so she cooked noodles for us and promised to take me right after we ate.
"I was carsick and couldn’t eat, but Ge Hongyu insisted I have at least a little. The next thing I knew, I woke up here, and then I heard Dad yelling for me from downstairs..."
Yang Dingbang said, "They were probably drugged. Wen Hui was carsick, so she ate less and woke up faster."
Wu Jiafu’s face was pale with lingering fear as he looked at Wu Wenhui. "It’s a good thing you ate so little. Otherwise, where would we have ever found you?"
The men untied the ropes on the sleeping girls and carried them downstairs.
Yang Dingbang walked over to Ge Hongyu. "What did you give them?"
Ge Hongyu kept her head down and said nothing. Lin Guoliang kicked her. "Are you going to talk or not?"
Ge Hongyu shot him a dark look before finally speaking. "There were sleeping pills in the noodles. They’ll wake up tomorrow morning."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that.
Ge Hongyu had lured the girls out, drugged them, and locked them upstairs. She definitely wasn’t taking them to learn tailoring. Considering that, plus what the onlookers had said earlier, Yang Dingbang rode his motorcycle back to the police station. He brought a colleague to take Wu Wenhui’s statement and took Ge Hongyu and the burly man back to the station for interrogation.
Wu Xiaoqing, Little Ying, and the others would have to wait until they woke up to give their statements at the station.
Li Xiangyang and Xu Dong rode Lin Guoliang’s old roadster bicycle back to Yucai Road. Yang Dingbang left a police car behind to take Lin Changyou, Wu Jiafu, and the others back to Lexing.
Wu Shufen looked at the girls sleeping like the dead on the bed, her heart still pounding with fear. After exchanging a few words with Wu Chunsheng and the others, she had Lin Changyou cook them some noodles.
She pulled Wu Wenhui into a room and asked worriedly, "Are you hurt anywhere? Did you... suffer any harm?"
Wu Wenhui froze for a moment before understanding. "As soon as we arrived, she cooked noodles for us, and then I fell asleep," she whispered. "I’m not hurt anywhere."
Wu Shufen angrily gave her a few light smacks. "A grown girl like you, and not an ounce of sense in your head! Don’t we all know what kind of person Ge Hongyu is? She was a troublemaker even when she was a girl living at home, and you dared to run off with someone like that?"
The memory of waking up with her hands and feet tied made Wu Wenhui shudder. "I wanted to learn tailoring, but my mom wouldn’t let me. She wanted to set me up on blind dates, so... so I ran away."
Wu Jiafu came in and glared at her. "A young girl, and you’re as reckless as they come! An apprenticeship for over fifty yuan a month? You wouldn’t even find a deal that good in your dreams!"
"If your uncle and your cousin’s husband hadn’t been here to help today, Ge Hongyu would have sold you off to some remote mountain village tomorrow! Sold you to one of those old bachelors! Then what would you have done?"
The more Wu Wenhui thought about it, the more terrified she became. "I was wrong. I’ll never run away again."
Wu Shufen shot Wu Jiafu a look, then turned back to her niece. "All right. I’ll take you to the backyard to take a bath and change your clothes. Then I’ll go over to your first aunt’s place and let them know you’re safe so they can stop worrying."
Wu Wenhui nodded. "Thank you, Second Aunt."
"Be more obedient from now on. Don’t go running off." Wu Shufen led her to the backyard bathroom, ladled hot water for her bath, and once she was out and settled in to sleep, headed for Wu Shufang’s house.
When Wu Shufang and Zhou Dashan saw her arrive, they rushed out anxiously. "Did you find them?"
Wu Shufen nodded. "We found them... It’s a good thing we had Ding Bang and the others to help. Any later and it would have been a disaster."
The two of them breathed a sigh of relief. Zhou Dashi sighed, "It’s a good thing they were there to help. Where would we have even started looking?"
"Come on, I’ll go with you to see them," Wu Shufang said, heading for the back door.
Wu Shufen smiled and nodded. "Let’s go. Jiafu, Chunsheng, and his brother are eating noodles. They should be about finished by the time we get there."
Zhou Dashan followed them toward Lin Lan’s house.
Wu Shufen smiled. "This afternoon, Little Lan asked me to talk to you about Zhigang and Qiaohui and see what you and your husband think. I had just reached the Eucalyptus Forest when I ran into Jiafu, so I completely forgot to mention it."
Wu Shufang stopped and looked at her in the moonlight. "Are you saying that Zhigang and Qiaohui are... seeing each other?"
Wu Shufen asked in surprise, "Qiaohui never mentioned it to you? Little Lan and Xiangyang only found out today, too. Zhigang originally wanted to ask the family elder to act as the matchmaker, but she said I would be a better fit, so Little Lan had me come ask what you and your husband think."
Wu Shufang shook her head with a wry smile. "That silly girl doesn’t tell me anything these days. I just figured since she’s with Little Lan, I have nothing to worry about. Besides, she’s busy day in and day out, and so are we. We barely get a chance to see each other."
"Zhigang seems like a decent guy, just a little short and average-looking," Zhou Dashan commented.
Wu Shufen replied, "Yes, he is a bit short. Changyou and I have known him for over half a year. He’s a sharp but steady young man."
Wu Shufang nodded. "Shufen, where is Zhigang’s family from? I’ve only ever seen him at Little Lan’s shop."
Wu Shufen sighed. "I heard from Little Lan that Zhigang was homeless since he was a child. He only found a place to settle down after he met Xiangyang. He’s been working for Xiangyang ever since. Once he saved up some money, Xiangyang bought him a small courtyard house in the alley behind Yuezhen’s place."
"He used to guard the black market with Ah Yong, and now he helps Little Lan watch the shop and goes to the slaughterhouse early in the morning, so that house has been sitting empty. If you and your husband agree, I can take you to see it."
Realization dawned on Wu Shufang. "Oh! I thought he was living in Little Lan’s shop because he didn’t have a place to stay."
Zhou Dashan chuckled. "You silly woman. Think about how much the clothes in Little Lan’s shop are worth. Would Xiangyang and Little Lan let him live there if he wasn’t someone they trusted completely?"
Wu Shufang smiled and nodded. "I know Little Lan and Xiangyang trust Zhigang. I was just worried he didn’t even have a place to live. Since he has a house in the East Market and Qiaohui likes him, we have no objections."
’Marrying Zhigang would be good for Qiaohui,’ she thought. ’It’s countless times better than marrying some boy from a mountain hollow back home.’
Wu Shufen smiled. "Since you and your husband have no objections, I’ll tell Zhigang tomorrow and have him pay you a formal visit."
"Good. Pick a good day and let me know," said Wu Shufang.