Chapter 32: Abducting Her
In his excitement, he almost blurted out, "My own daughter picked it with her own hands."
Ling Anxun’s gaze darkened. He immediately sensed something was wrong.
He slowly leaned forward, his voice dropping low.
"Your own what? Go on."
Cao Daqiang instantly clamped his mouth shut, clenching his jaw. He refused to utter another word.
He turned and shoved his daughter, who had been hiding behind him, forward, urging her in a low voice.
"Jiajia, quickly, thank Mr. Ling. Beg him not to be angry with us."
But Ling Anxun had a cold, stern-looking face.
Just sitting there, he exuded an imposing aura that sent a chill down the spine.
A young girl like Jiajia, standing before him now, could barely keep her legs from buckling.
She opened and closed her mouth, but her throat was too tight for a single word to escape.
Annoyed, Ling Anxun waved a dismissive hand.
"That’s enough. A bunch of troublemakers. Get them all out."
An aide immediately stepped forward and began to solemnly wheel him away.
Cao Daqiang tried to say more, but the aide blocked him and forcibly pushed him out the door.
’Ever since he started asking about the person’s whereabouts, how many groups had shown up trying to falsely take the credit?’
’He’d lost count.’
’Each one was a better actor than the last, and each one was more fake.’
’He’d long since grown numb to it.’
Lying down, his mind filled with anxiety, he tossed and turned for an hour without falling asleep.
He didn’t know how long it was before he finally, groggily, drifted off.
His consciousness had barely submerged when the dream began.
This time, the ethereal little girl from his dreams was being chased.
She wore a mud-stained, old cloth dress. Behind her, several figures in black held ropes in their hands, closing in step by step.
Ling Anxun instinctively tried to rush over and save her, but the moment he moved his leg, his body lurched downward.
THUD!
He’d fallen to the ground.
He looked down to see his legs were like two logs of wood, completely without feeling.
He snapped his eyes open, his forehead drenched in a cold sweat.
The moonlight still streamed through the window, but his heart could no longer find peace.
’Tonight’s incident had left its mark on him after all.’
He couldn’t help but recall the words Cao Daqiang had accidentally let slip.
"That girl gathers herbs in the mountains, and even wild beasts give her a wide berth... She said... that the plant was an Immortal Herb, and that eating it could make a person’s legs heal..."
The more he mulled it over, the more something felt off.
No matter how he looked at it, the meaning behind those words seemed to be about *that* girl.
If that was the case, then the person he was looking for was very likely someone he already knew.
’In that case, I might as well start my search in the area around the Cao family’s home.’
The next morning, Ling Anxun personally sketched a portrait of Shanshan.
When he was finished, he wrapped it in oil paper and discreetly handed it to a few trusted confidants.
He instructed them to conduct a door-to-door search in the neighborhood around Cao Daqiang’s residence.
Meanwhile, it was already noon by the time Cao Daqiang returned home with his daughter, both looking dejected.
When Liu Yingzi saw the state the two of them were in, her heart sank.
"How did it go? It didn’t work? I swear I just saw that wild girl come back on her own! Did Mr. Ling figure out we were lying and do something to you?"
"She came back?"
Cao Daqiang’s eyes went wide, and his Adam’s apple bobbed violently.
"There are wolves in those mountains! How could a child make it back alone? That’s impossible!"
"How should I know? All I know is she was standing right in front of me, alive and well."
Liu Yingzi’s voice trembled.
"Her hair was a mess, like a bird’s nest, and her pants were all torn at the cuffs. Her face was covered in mud, but that face... I’d recognize it with my eyes closed!"
She pulled her daughter into a room to comfort her.
Then she pulled Cao Daqiang into a corner and asked in an urgent, hushed voice.
"Daqiang, what do we do now?"
"Don’t panic."
Cao Daqiang took a deep breath.
"I’ll make sure Jiajia solidifies her status as the ’savior.’ As for that other girl..."
His eyes turned cold.
Seeing his expression, a chill ran down Liu Yingzi’s spine.
"You... don’t you go doing anything illegal."
"Relax. I know what I’m doing. You don’t need to worry about it."
With that, Cao Daqiang shook off his wife’s hand and strode into his room.
Liu Yingzi wanted to ask more, but didn’t dare.
She stood at the doorway, listening to the sounds of him rummaging through drawers and cabinets inside.
Finally, she stamped her foot, feigned ignorance, and turned to walk away.
Cao Daqiang had no intention of getting his own hands dirty.
On his way back, he’d overheard a few old men talking at the mouth of an alley.
Human traffickers had been active in the area recently, targeting girls around eleven or twelve years old.
An idea immediately sparked in his mind.
Of course, he wouldn’t handle it personally. He would have Jiajia do the "legwork."
He pulled a few bills from his pocket and stuffed them into his daughter’s hand.
"Jiajia, Daddy has some money for you. Go find Shanshan and play with her. Keep her company, chat with her, and take her for a walk to the old mill on the back hill. It’s quiet there, and not many people go."
Jiajia clutched the money, her eyes lighting up.
"Really? Can I buy a teddy bear?"
"Yes, buy it. I’ll buy it all for you."
Cao Daqiang patted her on the head.
But a cold glint quietly flashed in the depths of his eyes.
He had already staked out that location. It was a known spot where the traffickers often made their move.
Determined not to disappoint her father, Cao Jiajia pulled out all the stops.
She pouted, she whined, and finally resorted to physically dragging Shanshan to the target location.
Wiping away tears, she clung to Shanshan’s arm.
"Shanshan, please just behave... Just this once, okay? Daddy said that if you go, he’ll buy me that new dress—the pink one with the bow!"
Shanshan frowned, refusing to budge an inch.
Jiajia grew desperate and simply draped her entire body over her, still muttering incessantly.
"Waaaah... Don’t go, I really want you to stay with me..."
"Cao Jiajia, let go of me! You really aren’t afraid of me taking a bite out of you, are you?!"
A fierce light flashed in Shanshan’s eyes, and she ground her teeth with an audible CLICK.
Cao Jiajia shuddered but clung to her even tighter.
"Waaaah... I’m scared, I’m so scared! Cao Xueshan, don’t eat me! I’ll give you candy, Daddy just gave me money!"
As she spoke, she fumbled in her pocket, pulled out a piece of milk candy, and stuffed it into Shanshan’s hand.
But Shanshan wasn’t falling for it.
’She was puzzled. What kind of act were these two putting on?’
While they were locked in a stalemate, an elderly couple who looked to be in their seventies or eighties slowly approached.
The moment Shanshan saw them, her brow furrowed.
An overwhelming evil aura emanated from the pair. One look was enough to know they had done many terrible things.
She unconsciously took a small step back.
"Hello, little girls. We’re trying to visit a relative, but we can’t quite remember the way. Could you help us?"
The old woman spoke first.
Jiajia couldn’t be bothered with the old couple. She just wanted to get Shanshan to the spot her dad had told her about.
"Just a few more steps, we’re almost there..."
The old man was looking all around.
Seeing that no one else was around, he gave his companion a meaningful look.
The next second, the two of them lunged.
Each grabbed one of the girls, clapping a hand over her mouth and shoving them both into a dilapidated van parked nearby.
The driver stomped on the gas, and the van vanished in the blink of an eye.
Hiding in the shadows, Cao Daqiang watched the entire scene unfold without moving a muscle.
Only when the van had completely disappeared from sight did he collapse to the ground, letting out a long sigh of relief.
’Perhaps...’
’...this was the best possible outcome.’
He’d always despised having daughters, deep down in his bones.
Ever since Cao Jiajia was born, he had been clamoring to have a son.
But Liu Yingzi always used the excuse that their child was still too young, dragging her feet and refusing to agree.