Chapter 447 - 445: Showing Off
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, a voice called out from the room, "Sister Hong, Sister Hong..."
Wu Chunsheng shot up in bed and started cursing, "You foolish girl! You were so close to death and didn’t even realize it. Sister Hong? Yeah, right! More like Sister Bai!"
Lin Changyou and Wu Jiafu got up as well. Lin Changyou pulled on the light, and the room brightened.
Wu Chunsheng walked to the doorway of the room. He saw Wu Xiaoqing and the other girls sitting dazed on the edge of the bed. Seeing him, they shrank back in fear. "Dad, what are you doing here?"
Wu Chunsheng pointed at her and cursed, "You shameless girl! If your Uncle Jiafu and I hadn’t gotten here yesterday, you all would’ve been dragged deep into the mountains by now."
He hadn’t slept a wink all night, worried that Little Qing’s fiancé’s family would find out she’d run away and come to their house to break off the engagement. Not only would her own reputation be ruined, but she’d also drag down her younger siblings at home.
The girls looked at the men, their faces filled with terror. "What? She said she was taking us to learn to be seamstresses! Where’s Sister Hong?"
"Learn to be seamstresses! Did it not occur to you to wonder why you all passed out right after eating those noodles?" Wu Jiafu said, looking at the girls with a scornful expression.
With red-rimmed eyes, Zou Chunhong looked at him. "Uncle Wu, where is Sister Hong? Can you bring her out? We want to ask her what’s going on."
"What’s going on?" Wu Jiafu snapped. "If you want to ask questions, go ask them at the police station."
Xu Xuefei looked at him and asked, "Uncle Wu, where’s Wen Hui?"
Wu Jiafu gave her a pitying look. "Wen Hui woke up last night. She’s sleeping in the other room with her second aunt. You’ll find out what happened when she wakes up and you can ask her."
Xu Xuefei nodded, her face flushing. She looked like she wanted to say something but was too embarrassed to speak.
Wu Xiaoying looked at Wu Chunyu sheepishly. "Dad, I need to use the outhouse."
"I’ll take you," Wu Chunyu said, his face grim.
"We need to go too." The other girls climbed off the bed and followed Wu Xiaoying out of the room.
"Wait, Wangcai is outside. Let me tie him up, then you can come out." Lin Changyou hurried out to the covered porch, led Wangcai over to the vegetable garden to tie him up, and then called the girls out.
Lin Changyou said to Wu Chunyu and the other men, "The police said yesterday that Little Qing and the others need to go to the station once they wake up. I’ll go make something to eat, and then we can all head over together."
The Wu brothers said gratefully, "Sorry for all the trouble, Second Brother-in-law."
"Don’t mention it," Lin Changyou said with a smile as he went to the kitchen.
Wu Wenhui and her aunt got up and came out as well. "Dad, are Little Ying and the others all awake?"
Wu Jiafu nodded. "They’re all awake. Zou Chunhong is still asking for Ge Hongyu. In a little while, you can tell them what happened."
"I know," Wu Wenhui said, walking toward the outhouse.
Xu Xuefei saw her as she came out and grabbed her arm. "Wen Hui, Uncle Wu said Sister Hong is a human trafficker. What’s really going on?"
Wu Wenhui looked at her, her expression full of lingering fear. "Yesterday, you all fell asleep right after eating the noodles. My eyelids felt really heavy, so I fell asleep too. When I woke up, I found my mouth had been gagged and my hands and feet were tied with rope. You were all just like me, still fast asleep."
"I tried to scream, but I couldn’t make a sound. I was scared to death. Then I heard shouting from downstairs, and I heard my dad calling for me, so I desperately kicked my feet against the floorboards... Later, the police arrested Ge Hongyu and a man. They said you all need to go to the police station for questioning when you wake up."
Wu Xiaoying and the other girls came out one by one and gathered around her, scarcely able to believe their ears. They all remembered, though, how their eyelids had felt so heavy after eating the noodles, how they couldn’t keep them open no matter how hard they tried...
Wu Wenhui looked at the girls and said in a low voice, "Last night while you were all still asleep, I heard my second aunt’s husband say that being sold off into the mountains wouldn’t have been the worst of it. Being locked up by Ge Hongyu and forced into prostitution, that..."
She took a deep breath, unable to continue.
"..." Wu Xiaoying and the others looked at her, their faces etched with horror.
Wu Shufen called out to the girls standing by the outhouse door, "Come wash your faces. We got your bags back. Go change your clothes. After you eat, we’re going to the police station."
"Okay, Second Aunt," Wu Wenhui replied, turning her head.
Wu Shufen picked up a bamboo basket and headed toward the vegetable garden.
Wu Wenhui led the girls to the backyard to wash their faces.
Zou Chunhong tugged on her sleeve. "Wen Hui, is that your second aunt? I thought she married someone from Shilian."
Wu Wenhui nodded. "She did. This is my cousin’s house. My cousin and her family moved into a new house, so they let my aunt’s family live here."
Zou Chunhong said with envy, "Your cousin’s husband must be really rich to give a house to his in-laws to live in."
Wu Wenhui looked at the other girls smugly. "My dad told me that for my cousin’s engagement, her fiancé’s family gave them everything—a sewing machine, a bicycle, a television, you name it."
Zou Chunhong was overcome with envy. "A sewing machine and a bicycle would be amazing enough, but a television? We’ve never even seen one! Your cousin is so lucky. She found such a rich man and even brought her side of the family to the city."
Wu Wenhui frowned at that. "My second aunt’s family isn’t doing poorly, you know. Her husband used to be the production brigade’s accountant, and they even run a pig farm. My youngest male cousin is in the Liberation Army, and my third cousin is a veteran who now works at the People’s Armed Forces Department in East Market. He’s really handsome, too."
"Right, all your relatives are so capable," Zou Chunhong said. "Wen Hui, are you an idiot? Your cousin’s husband is so rich, your aunt lives in the city, and you still ran off with Ge Hongyu!"
Wu Wenhui bit her lip and said quietly, "I told my dad I wanted to go learn to be a seamstress with Ge Hongyu, but he wouldn’t let me. He said Qiaohui and Xinglan were already in East Market learning how to make pastries from my cousin, and that he’d send me to the city to learn from her too, right after the rice harvest."
She hesitated for a moment before adding, "Tong Xinglan and I don’t get along. Since she was going to be here, I didn’t want to come. Then I thought about how I could earn fifty yuan a month with Ge Hongyu, plus I’d get to be with Xuefei and Little Ying, so... I ran off with you guys."
Zou Chunhong looked at her with jealousy. "You really don’t know how good you have it. If my family had successful relatives like yours, I never would’ve gone to learn to be a seamstress with Ge Hongyu."
Wu Xiaoying chimed in, "I tried to talk her out of it too, but she wouldn’t listen. She insisted on running away with us, and we almost got sold off into the mountains."
"Little Ying, it’s a good thing Wen Hui was with us. Otherwise, your dad would never have found us," Xu Xuefei said.
"Xuefei’s the sharp one," Wu Chunyu said, looking at the girls. "If it hadn’t been for Wen Hui’s cousin’s husband last night—he called a friend who’s a police officer to help search—we never would have found you."
Wu Chunsheng stared at Wu Xiaoqing with a grim face. "You’re always finding things to complain about at home. Once you get sold off, it’s too late for tears."
Wu Xiaoqing hung her head, not daring to say a word.
Seeing her silence, Wu Chunsheng added, "Go to the backyard and help wash the vegetables. Don’t just stand there, make yourself useful."
"Oh!" The girls filed into the kitchen and headed for the backyard.
Zou Chunhong pulled Wu Wenhui back, whispering, "Wen Hui, I need to talk to you about something."
Wu Wenhui stopped and looked back at her. "What is it?"