Chapter 254: Pulling Up the Radish Brings Up the Mud

Li Dahe stood at the back of the crowd with his eyes red as he watched Gao Taohua. He didn’t expect that his mother’s fuss from the previous day would actually work in favor of Zhang Guoqing, leading Gao Taohua to marry him without hesitation.

After arriving in the city, Lu Yichen took Shitou to the elementary school near the City No. 1 High School to complete the enrollment process. There was an entrance exam, which might take some time.

Meanwhile, Luo Qiao returned home in the city first to drop off her things, then took her admission notice to report to City No. 1 High School. There were signs at the entrance, and by the time she arrived, it was no longer crowded.

When she handed over her admission letter at the registration desk, the teachers handling the paperwork all looked up at her. One female teacher was the first to react, “Are you Luo Qiao, the top scorer in this year’s entrance exam?”

Luo Qiao smiled and replied, “Yes, I’m Luo Qiao.”

The teacher, with a beaming smile, said, “You finally made it! We were wondering why the top scorer hadn’t shown up yet.”

Luo Qiao didn’t reply, just smiled as she stood there. The teacher was about to say something more, but another teacher in the middle interrupted, “Alright, don’t scare Luo Qiao.”

Then they looked up and asked, “Luo Qiao, will you be boarding at the school or commuting?”

Luo Qiao softly replied, “Teacher, I’m applying to commute.”

The paperwork was processed quickly, and a senior student from the second year escorted Luo Qiao to the classroom for Class 1 of the first year, smiling as she said, “Luo Qiao, this is your classroom.”

Luo Qiao smiled and said, “Thank you for showing me the way.”

The senior student replied, “No need to thank me, it’s my duty. Go on in.” After saying that, she turned and left.

When Luo Qiao entered the classroom, it was noisy, with students greeting each other. As soon as she walked in, the room suddenly fell silent.

A male student called out, “New student, please introduce yourself.”

Luo Qiao smiled lightly and said, “Hello everyone, I’m Luo Qiao.”

Her introduction was brief, but after hearing it, the class erupted in chatter. No one had expected the top scorer to be so beautiful.

A girl sitting closest to Luo Qiao exclaimed, “You’re Luo Qiao, the top scorer of this year’s city entrance exam!”

Luo Qiao smiled and nodded, asking, “Are we free to sit wherever we like?”

The student replied, “Yes, just find a spot and sit down.”

Luo Qiao chose a seat in the second-to-last row, mainly because it was the only one left available. After sitting down, she realized why no one had picked that spot—the desk was old and wobbled from side to side.

The male student sitting next to her said, “Luo Qiao, how about I switch seats with you?”

Luo Qiao smiled and replied, “No need, I can just fix the desk later. It’s not a big deal, but thank you.”

The male student, feeling a bit embarrassed, scratched his head and said, “No need to thank me, really.”

Meanwhile, back in Qingshan Village, the police officers are really capable. By almost noon, they had tracked down the two men who had conspired with Gao Suhua.

It turned out that they were brothers from a village about ten miles away, called Cuijia Village. Since the village was on a mountainside with limited farmland, it was very poor, and most families didn’t want to marry their daughters there.

The Cui brothers had worked hard to save up enough money to buy a bride for their older brother. Gao Suhua had heard about their situation and took the initiative to reach out to them. They had originally planned to act earlier, but Luo Qiao had gone to the city, delaying their plans.

The Cui brothers were very pleased with Luo Qiao’s circumstances, believing that once they had her, she wouldn’t be able to escape, and she’d have to live a quiet life with them. That led to the events of the previous night.

Because of the fear of any possible complications, they hurried to consummate the marriage as soon as they brought her back.

Zhao Xiaomei had woken up shortly after being taken. Unfortunately for her, this time wasn’t like before. She screamed that they had taken the wrong person, that she wasn’t Luo Qiao. But older brother Cui didn’t care what she said and dragged her into the room to consummate the marriage.

When the police arrived, Zhao Xiaomei was still crying her heart out in the bed. Upon hearing the police were outside, she ran out barefoot, her hair messy, screaming that she had been knocked unconscious and kidnapped.

The Cui brothers quickly explained, “Officer, don’t listen to her nonsense. We paid a bride price. We have a written receipt from her mother.”

The older brother Cui quickly went back into the house and retrieved the receipt he had hidden, handing it to the police.

The police officer took the paper and saw Luo Qiao’s name written on it, confirming that a bride price of 200 yuan had been paid, and signed by Gao Suhua.

The officer’s anger flared up. This wasn’t just about trespassing and theft — this was a case of human trafficking. And now, to make things worse, they had even kidnapped the wrong person.

The police took Zhao Xiaomei and the Cui brothers into custody. For convenience, they didn’t return to the commune’s police station but instead returned to Qingshan Village, where they began questioning everyone at the village headquarter.

The case quickly unraveled. Gao Suhua had intended to sell Luo Qiao to the Cui family in Cuijia Village for 200 yuan to be the Cui’s older brother’s wife. Luckily for Luo Qiao, she had gone out that evening to fetch something and happened to come across Grandpa Lin from the village, who had fallen ill. While helping him get to the commune health clinic, she had unknowingly avoided the plot against her. It was a stroke of good fortune.

As for the Cui brothers, in their confusion, they had accidentally abducted Zhao Xiaomei, who had gone out to watch the commotion. And to complicate things further, they consummated the marriage that night.

There were several suspicious points in the case: First, Zhao Xiaomei claimed she had been knocked unconscious, while the Cui brothers said they had jumped into the courtyard and found nothing unusual, just grabbing the person they found lying on the bed. Gao Suhua had told them only one girl lived in that house.

But no matter what the brothers said, it was clear that Gao Suhua had schemed to sell Luo Qiao but ended up sacrificing her own daughter.

Luo Qiao’s alibi was solid, as her rescue efforts coincided with the time of the kidnapping, ruling out any possibility that she had swapped places with Zhao Xiaomei. The Cui brothers were too scared and forgot to mention that the front gate’s latch had been bolted.

The news spread like wildfire through Qingshan Village, causing yet another uproar. Luo Qiao seemed like such a pitiful girl — if she wasn’t being targeted for murder, she was being plotted against and nearly sold. Thankfully, her luck had saved her each time.

The police officers, recognizing the severity of the case, decided to take all involved parties into custody. They asked the captain to notify Luo Qiao to come back soon to assist with the investigation.

Now, Gao Suhua became infamous—this was a case of human trafficking. The whole of Qingshan Village and Chaoyang Commune were buzzing with gossip. Luo Qiao had gained even more attention, but people didn’t know what to make of her situation.

She was an excellent student, yet so many people seemed determined to harm her. Some even joked that, if not for her ability to narrowly escape danger each time, they might’ve thought she was a jinx!