Chapter 63

Out of curiosity about City A, she rested her foot on the luggage and eagerly stared out the window. Across the platform, another train bound for Province S was also stopping at City A station. Passersby on the platform hurried about, almost everyone carrying bags as they squeezed onto the trains. Among such a bustling crowd, two little bald-headed kids pushing their way through stood out sharply and drew attention.

Looking closely, the two kids were tightly held by adults from their own family. The adults were trying to board the train, but the two children wanted to run off the platform. The adults, angry, raised their hands to hit the two bald heads, expecting the kids to behave. Unexpectedly, both kids bit down hard on the adults’ arms.

When the adults instinctively loosened their grip from the pain, the two kids grabbed each other’s hands, pushed past the crowd blocking them, and turned to run toward the front of the platform.

Qiao Xinyi had very sharp eyesight and immediately saw the two kids’ faces, sweaty from running. Without hesitation, she stood up and shouted loudly at Fu Qingshan:

“Fu Qingshan! Fu Qingshan! Hurry over and look! Aren’t those two kids Fu Linzhou and Fu Zeyu? I’m not mistaken, right?”

Fu Qingshan was just walking back after fetching water. Hearing her shout, he quickly ran over, bending down to look in the direction she pointed.

“Do you know those two adults? I saw them trying to drag the kids onto the train,” Qiao Xinyi asked.

“No, I don’t!” Fu Qingshan hurriedly stuffed the water bottle into his bag, opened the train window, and swiftly jumped out, glancing back to instruct Qiao Xinyi:

“You take the luggage and get off at the front, don’t run around, wait for me at the ticket gate.”

Qiao Xinyi glanced ahead. Seeing a crowd still blocking the exit, she threw the luggage out the window and then followed Fu Qingshan by jumping out of the window herself. Although Fu Qingshan’s jump looked effortless, Qiao Xinyi nearly twisted her ankle.

Catching her breath, she threw the luggage onto her shoulder and chased after Fu Qingshan.

As Fu Linzhou and Fu Zeyu ran, the adults who had brought them immediately gave chase. The platform was busy with people coming and going. Seeing the kids disobedient and the adults chasing, some kind-hearted passersby helped block the children.

Fu Linzhou and Fu Zeyu struggled desperately, shouting:

“We’re not going to S Province! We want to go to the provincial city to find Uncle! You liar, you promised to take us to the provincial city. We’re not going with you! Let us go!”

The two middle-aged men who caught up each carried one child and repeatedly thanked the bystanders for their help. They said the kids were mischievous and hard to catch. Having already been bitten once, and nearly losing a chunk of flesh, these two men had gotten smarter. They held the kids horizontally under their arms to prevent them from running if they got down, and with the other hand, pinched the kids’ mouths shut to keep them from biting or shouting.

Fu Qingshan rushed over, snatched Fu Linzhou from one man, and kicked the man holding the child in the stomach. He then put Fu Linzhou down and turned to grab Fu Zeyu.

“Uncle!” Fu Linzhou jumped excitedly on the spot when he saw Fu Qingshan.

The two men were slower than Fu Qingshan, less agile. In a blink, the two kids were behind Fu Qingshan.

The brothers immediately hugged Fu Qingshan’s legs from either side, shouting excitedly.

“How can you snatch children and hit people?” one of the middle-aged men asked, clutching his stomach while the other rubbed his leg.

“Do you know them?” Fu Qingshan asked the two kids.

“No! We met them at our hometown train station. They said they’d take us to the provincial city to find our uncle, so my brother and I followed them,” Fu Linzhou said loudly. “But they lied! They took us to City A, where we stayed one night, and now they want to take us to S Province!”

“Luckily, I overheard them talking when I went to the bathroom. Otherwise, my brother and I really thought they would take us to the provincial city to find Uncle!” Fu Zeyu stomped his foot, pointing at the two men.

“Uncle, beat them! They’re bad people who lie to kids!”

Qiao Xinyi caught up and heard everything. She said bluntly,

“They’re human traffickers!”

The two men didn’t expect that the children they had deceived from Tong’an County would meet the uncle they were looking for right at City A train station. Seeing the situation, the two men immediately took off running. Fu Qingshan gently pushed the two kids toward Qiao Xinyi and quickly took off in pursuit. When he saw the two kids also wanted to chase after, Qiao Xinyi grabbed one of them tightly by each hand and said, “We’re waiting here for him. If you run around like this, you’ll really be caught by human traffickers!”

“We don’t know you. What if you’re a human trafficker too?” Fu Linzhou struggled a few times but stopped when he realized he really couldn’t escape. He turned to look at Qiao Xinyi and suddenly burst out laughing.

“You’re bald too! Are you a boy or a girl?” Fu Linzhou asked.

“I’m your uncle’s girlfriend,” Qiao Xinyi replied. She then realized she’d been so focused on running that she hadn’t noticed her hat was hanging around her neck. She put the hat back on properly and reached out to touch the kids’ heads. She finally understood why Fu Qingshan loved to touch her bare head so much — it was actually kind of fun. Although her hair was starting to grow out and felt a bit prickly, these two kids looked like they had just shaved their heads.

“The photos your uncle showed me don’t have you guys bald. Your uncle isn’t here—who gave you this haircut?” Qiao Xinyi asked.

“That lying uncles! They said if we didn’t shave our heads, and if Grandpa and the others recognized us at the train station, Grandpa would take us home and we wouldn’t be able to go to the provincial city to find Uncle,” Fu Linzhou said. Hearing that Qiao Xinyi had seen photos of him and his brother made him believe she really was their uncle’s girlfriend. He patted his brother’s head and looked up to share his thoughts with Qiao Xinyi:

“My brother and I both like this haircut. It’s so cool and refreshing! Washing our hair is super fast. Do you like it too?”

“Thanks for the invitation to answer, but I don’t like it,” Qiao Xinyi said.

The commotion ahead had calmed down. She lifted her luggage with one hand, held the two brothers’ hands so they held hands together, and then held Fu Linzhou’s hand as the oldest brother. The three of them walked forward to find Fu Qingshan.

The two traffickers had already been caught by Fu Qingshan and were now being handed over to the train station staff, waiting for the local police to come take them away.

Seeing Fu Qingshan, the two brothers happily bounced toward him. But when they looked up at Fu Qingshan’s cold face and his almost fiery eyes, they immediately slammed on the brakes.

“Little brother! Oh no! Uncle is angry!” Fu Linzhou grabbed his silly little brother, who was still trying to run to Uncle, saying, “If we go over now, we’re going to get beaten!”

“Brother, what do we do?” Fu Zeyu became anxious.

Then the two brothers suddenly looked toward Qiao Xinyi. The little kids, with their shiny bald heads, looked up with big eyes full of expectation.

“When Fu Qingshan wants to hit you, I will definitely…” Qiao Xinyi said something that made the brothers unable to believe their ears just as they were about to relax.

“I will be right there on the side cheering him on.”

“How can you be like this~” Fu Linzhou looked at Qiao Xinyi angrily, and Fu Zeyu stomped his foot several times.

After Fu Qingshan finished handing over the traffickers to the staff, he came toward where the three were standing. His gaze landed on the two kids, and the lingering fear made his temper flare.

Seeing this, Fu Linzhou quickly pulled his brother behind Qiao Xinyi. From behind her, he peeked out and shouted at Fu Qingshan,

“Uncle, Granny Zhang told you in the county that you have a girlfriend, but my brother and I both think that the future auntie with the bald head looks better than that one!”