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The entire interrogation process was kept strictly confidential, and the result was completely beyond Wei Ci’s expectations. In the end, the one directly arrested was Wei Qinghao, the second son of her third uncle. It was like a bolt from the blue, leaving the entire third branch of the Wei family dumbstruck on the spot.
“Impossible! This was the doing of the second branch, what does it have to do with my Qinghao?”
Third Aunt Wei immediately jumped up from the ground and started shouting.
Xiao Duan’an adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. His words came out slow and measured, but struck like a hammer:
“Wei Qingmiao has already confessed everything. She only took Wei Ci out to play. It was Wei Qinghao who took her away and sold her to the traffickers. The money went into Wei Qinghao’s hands, and he was the one who spent it. It had nothing to do with Wei Qingmiao.”
“Bullshit! Don’t I know what kind of person my son is? With that mouse’s courage of his, even if you lent him two more guts, he wouldn’t dare do such a thing. Who’d believe he wasn’t instigated? It was that Wei Qingmiao who egged him on!”
After she finished, Third Aunt Wei ignored the ugly look on Xiao Duan’an’s face. She plopped right down on the ground, slapping her thighs and wailing. While she cried, she cursed the entire second branch of the family up and down, her colorful vocabulary so fierce it made Xiao Duan’an’s glasses slip off his face, and he even forgot to pick them up.
S-Scary… so scary.
Wei Ci’s peach blossom eyes also went wide. She hadn’t looked for long before a pair of large hands covered her excited gaze, pulling her out from behind Xiao Duan’an’s tall figure and tucking her behind his own back protectively.
“Ah Ci, be careful. The people outside are dangerous. Big Brother will protect you.”
Hearing the double meaning in his words, Xiao Duan’an’s swordlike brows twitched. His phoenix eyes flicked faintly toward Wei Qingfeng, then he politely nodded to Wei Ci’s “innocent and pure” expression. Turning away, he strode off. His broad back filled his uniform, shoulders wide and waist narrow, black trousers framing long, powerful legs, and his pert hips all but demanded attention.
Her head forcibly turned in another direction, Wei Qingfeng clenched his teeth and muttered,
“Ah Ci, be good. You’re still young. Some things can’t be rushed.”
Wei Ci blinked her peach blossom eyes, dimples appearing as she nodded obediently to her cousin’s gaze. But in her heart, her little inner theater was already on its eight-hundredth act—she’d nearly thought up names for her great-grandchildren.
Her aunt had once said: there are plenty of men in the world, but very few exceptional ones. A man like this—tall nose bridge, slim waist, long legs, the kind of waist that promised stamina and the kind of frame that screamed virility, not to mention a face as fine as a celestial being—just one kiss from him could make your soul ascend. If you meet one, don’t be polite. If you can’t abduct him home, even just sleeping with him once isn’t a loss.
Perhaps thinking of this, the little girl’s face turned crimson. She covered her cheeks with her hands, shy and embarrassed.
“Big sister, are you sick with fever too?”
The little boy clinging silently to the hem of Wei Ci’s clothes was so short that everyone had overlooked him. He hadn’t spoken a word, just stood quietly watching all the people around. Now, seeing Wei Ci’s flushed cheeks, he looked puzzled and worried, tiptoeing to stretch out his hand to feel her forehead, checking if it was hot.
“Who’s this?”
Wei Qingfeng picked up the little boy and set him in front of him, big eyes staring into smaller eyes.
“He was trafficked with me. Everyone else’s families came and took them back. Only me and him, nobody cared about.”
Turns out he was a pitiful little one too, trafficked together with his younger sister.
Wei Qingfeng’s heart overflowed with guilt. He hugged the boy into his arms, forced his features into something gentler, and gave him a smile so terrifying it sent chills down the boy’s spine.
“Kid, what’s your name?”
The little boy trembled, clutching tightly at Wei Qingfeng’s clothes, and stammered,
“I… I forgot.”
He’d just had a fever, and after that he forgot everything—except that he was male. Not even his own name remained.
While Wei Qingfeng was still locked in a stare with the little boy, Wei Ci had already quietly shuffled to Xiao Duan’an’s side. She peeked up at him shyly, her big eyes blinking innocently.
“Have you ever been kissed?”
“Pfft—cough, cough…”
The scene fell into silence. Then came the sound of water spraying and papers falling to the ground one after another. Everyone was left gaping at the blunt question. Some had wanted to continue watching the drama, but when the man narrowed his eyes, they all hastily looked away, pretending to be busy.
Duan Leng lowered his head toward the tiny girl at his side, helplessness flashing in his gaze.
“Are you trying to set me up with someone?”
His voice was deep and magnetic, husky with decadent allure, making Wei Ci’s knees nearly buckle.
Wuwu… his voice was so nice. Even better than one of Auntie’s lovers who worked as a songstress’ companion.
“I… can I?”
Wei Ci’s shyness made the tips of her ears turn red, her little face blooming with a blush.
Since childhood, Wei Ci had had one dream—she wanted to find lots of men, more than her aunt ever had, and not only in number but in quality too.
Perhaps he hadn’t expected the little girl to be so bold. Duan Leng raised a brow in surprise, smoothly using the folder in his hand to block the girl who was leaning closer. His long legs stepped back a pace.
“Sorry, I already have someone.” Even if he didn’t, he had no interest in minors.
Crack!
All of Wei Ci’s pink bubbles burst instantly. Her expression turned pitiful, and she visibly slumped. If she’d had a tail, it would surely have drooped to the ground by now.
Who could understand? Just a second ago, she’d been smug that she’d set her eyes on a man better than all of Auntie’s men put together. But in the next moment, reality crushed her—he already belonged to someone else!
Her aunt had always said, “Play with men however you like, but never, ever touch one who already has a master.”
Suddenly, her collar was yanked tight, and her cousin Wei Qingfeng’s gritted teeth spat words in her ear:
“Very good, little Wei Ci, your guts have grown fat!”
She actually dared to confess to a man in public. Did she think her older brother was dead?
And besides, she was just a little brat who wasn’t even as tall as the doorframe. Talking about boyfriends? Meanwhile, her eldest and second brothers were still bachelors!
Wei Ci wilted, about to be dragged away, when someone stepped forward to stop them:
“Wei Zhizhi, Meng Wa says she wants to see you.”
Wei Ci was puzzled. See her? Why? She wasn’t anyone important, not Xiao Duan’an. Seeing her couldn’t reduce a sentence.
The messenger nodded, voice a little helpless:
“She refuses to cooperate and confess the crime unless she sees you first.”
At first, Wei Qingfeng absolutely refused to let his sister meet this so-called Meng Wa. They were victims—why should they meet those people? Wasn’t their misfortune already enough?
But with the second and third branches of the Wei family making such a ruckus, the hall was filled with wailing and crying. Since the result hadn’t been announced yet and Wei Qingfeng couldn’t take his sister away, he had no choice but to follow her in to meet Meng Wa.
“I envy you.”
Handcuffed, Meng Wa looked at Wei Ci with a serious gaze. Her amber eyes softened for a brief moment.
“Do you want to hear my story?”
Wei Ci widened her eyes. Though she sat primly, her gaze clearly spelled out four words: go ahead and tell me.
“I was trafficked into their hands five years ago.”
Back then, she was only fifteen, just a naïve third-year middle schooler. She was snatched right off the street on her way home from school, and from then on, her nightmare began.
She had a delicate face, and her temperament was meek. At the time, there had been around fourteen or fifteen girls abducted with her. But in the end, she was the only one left alive. Because she had caught the eye of the gang’s leader, and that very night, she was thrown into his bed.
She had cried, screamed, fought back. But after being beaten half to death several times, she learned her lesson. She no longer had the strength to resist.
“In fact, I once had the chance to escape. But I was too cowardly. When the other girls broke free and pulled me to run with them, I was too weak. I cried, begging them not to leave me. My crying gave us away. In the end, none of them escaped.”
She was kept by the leader as his tool for venting, while the other girls suffered worse fates—violated and then sold off to remote mountain villages full of bachelors, never to leave for the rest of their lives.
Meng Wa’s gaze returned to Wei Ci. Her expression was dazed, a smile yet tears lingering at the corners of her eyes.
“Do you know how much I envy your courage? You did what I always wanted to do but never dared.”