Chapter 532: Rescue (7)
The human trafficking in Taoyuan Village... if one were to trace its history, it would be impossible to pinpoint the exact year it began.
In any case, the oldest elders in the village said their ancestors had been doing it for generations.
The profession of a human trafficker is an old one, and Taoyuan Village’s involvement in it was just as ancient.
Because the village was so remote, relying on the heavens for a living was just too difficult. It was hard to find wives. And if they couldn’t find wives, were they supposed to just let their family lines die out?
In the end, they embarked on this path.
Normally, human traffickers shouldn’t be short on money, yet the villagers were always desperately poor.
Because all the money they earned from trafficking was used to buy wives.
There were very few women in their village—or rather, very few baby girls.
Every household only wanted to have sons to carry on the family line.
The village midwife was very skilled; she could tell if a baby was a boy or a girl just by looking at the mother’s belly. If it was a boy, they kept it. If it was a girl, they aborted it. On the rare occasion a girl was born, she was never valued.
When times got tough, or to raise money for their brothers to marry, these girls would also be sold off.
These girls didn’t think there was anything wrong with being sold. They would even hope to fetch a higher price. After being sold, they would live diligently with their husbands.
When a boy was born in the village, his only goal in life was to make money, make money, and then buy a wife and have children.
Generation after generation, the cycle continued, right up to the present day.
Because of an incident in their ancestors’ time, where a man took a woman he’d personally abducted as his wife—only for her to burn his entire family to death—a rule was passed down: a woman personally abducted by a villager could absolutely not be brought back to the village, let alone be made his wife.
So they continuously abducted and sold women, then turned around and bought wives from other traffickers. That was how they had always done it.
Besides the ones they bought, a small number were women they married from other places after paying a hefty bride price, but there weren’t many.
Taoyuan Village looked like any other ordinary village, with people farming and working every day. It was only during the off-season that the men would go out in batches to do "business."
The rest of the villagers would wait for them to bring back money.
They didn’t see selling women as a crime, only as their livelihood.
The recent purchase of Miao Zhi and the others was no different.
The village chief’s son was more worldly. It was expected that he would one day inherit his father’s mantle and become the next village chief. His standards were much higher than those of the other young men.
He had already reviewed the new arrivals three times, but hadn’t found anyone he liked.
He’d complain that one wasn’t pretty enough, another’s figure wasn’t good enough, or that one was uncultured. After being picky for so long, he finally found one that suited him.
Miao Zhi had delicate skin and a wild streak. She was beautiful, and her skin was smooth to the touch. He was quite satisfied, and in the end, he spent a large sum of money to buy her.
The price was almost enough to buy two others.
The villagers were full of praise and envy.
The village chief’s son took Miao Zhi to the cellar and stripped her of her clothes to prevent her from escaping. Looking at her, he was dying to take her right then and there, but he forced himself to hold back.
The village had a custom: marriage and continuing the family line were major events that had to be done on an auspicious day for it to be perfect.
So the village chief’s son endured, waiting for his father to choose a wedding date. Every day, he would go down to the cellar to satisfy his cravings in other ways.
Miao Zhi was filled with hatred, shame, and despair. She was so hopeless she nearly killed herself.
The family had worked hard for over a decade to save up enough money to buy a wife. How could they let her commit suicide?
The village chief’s son was furious and "taught Miao Zhi a lesson" more than once after that.
Two days later, as luck would have it, the auspicious day was set.
The village chief’s son was overjoyed and couldn’t wait to share the news with Miao Zhi.
"Our wedding day has been set. Once we’re married, we’ll live a good life. Don’t worry, as long as you can give me a son and settle down with me, I’ll treat you well."
Miao Zhi didn’t feel good about it at all. All she wanted was to escape, but there was no way out.
On the fifth day of her captivity, Miao Zhi finally found a way to sneak out of the cellar.
Ignoring the fact that she was naked, she wrapped a towel around herself and tried to flee. But just as she left the courtyard, she was discovered by villagers and dogs and dragged back.
Miao Zhi didn’t want to recall the hellish days that followed. By the time her wedding day arrived, she was in a daze, not far from madness.
She was finally brought out of the cellar. Two women held her down and washed her clean, then dressed her up in a brand new, crimson wedding gown.
But as soon as the gown was on, so were the ropes that bound her and the gag that was stuffed into her mouth.
Bowing during the ceremony, sitting in the main hall and listening to the entire village celebrate at the wedding banquet, forced to hear the festivities, Miao Zhi was utterly despondent. She had already decided that tonight, she would take one of them down with her to the afterlife.
They say it’s better to live a bad life than to die, but she truly couldn’t endure it any longer. She knew what was waiting for her tonight.
They probably thought that once she truly became the village chief’s son’s woman, she would settle down and live peacefully. But she couldn’t do it.
’I’d rather die... I just can’t...’
Just as Miao Zhi was contemplating how to die, she suddenly heard something unusual. And then, she actually heard Su Li’s voice.
At first, Miao Zhi thought she was hearing things. But whether it was an auditory hallucination or not, she tried with all her might to cry for help and draw attention to herself.
Miao Zhi’s hands and feet were tied, and two women held her so she couldn’t move. The only thing she could move was her head, and she thrashed it around desperately, trying to get noticed.
But a moment later, she heard a low-voiced threat.
"If you don’t want that woman who came with you to die, then you’d better behave!"
Miao Zhi wanted to die herself, but when she thought of the girl who had taken care of her when she was sick, the one with whom she had shared hardships, she couldn’t bear the thought of her dying.
Miao Zhi instantly froze and stopped struggling. Just as she despaired, thinking Su Li would leave just like that, there was a sudden turn of events. She was rescued.
Recalling everything she had been through in the past half-month, Miao Zhi thought back to her previous carefree days and felt as if she were in a trance, as if that life had belonged to a past incarnation.
She hated the people of Taoyuan Village, hated every single one of them. After muttering curses, she stepped forward, grabbed a woman, and demanded loudly.
"Where is the girl who came with me? Take me to her now!"
The woman looked at Su Li and Wu Sheng, who had followed, then at the dark muzzles of the guns pointed at them, and nodded, trembling.
"I know, I know where she is."
"You dare!"
The woman’s words had barely left her mouth when three furious shouts rang out.
They came from the village chief, the village chief’s son, and the man who had bought the other woman.
That man looked to be nearly thirty. He had worked his fingers to the bone to finally buy a wife; how could he be willing to let her be rescued just like that?
"Don’t you dare take them! I don’t believe they’d actually kill all of us! There are so many of us, you think we can’t beat a few of them?!"
The village chief’s spirits rallied. Ignoring the warning, he also shouted.
"That’s right! Everyone has weapons at home! Rush out and get them! They can’t beat us!"
At the village chief’s instigation, all the villagers began to stir restlessly.
That man, in particular, looked ready to leap into action.
Just then, two cold snorts were heard in unison.
"Who says we can’t win!" That was the captain and Wu Sheng.
The captain glanced at Wu Sheng, then without a moment’s hesitation, shot the village chief in the leg.
A BANG was followed by the village chief’s squeal, like a pig being slaughtered.