From Pengcheng to Shancheng, the distance was three hundred and fifty kilometers. In an era where infrastructure wasn’t as developed as in later years, they set off at three in the afternoon, switching from the expressway to secondary roads, and then from secondary roads onto smaller roads and country lanes.

The sky grew darker and darker as they traveled, and the roads became more and more remote. It even started to drizzle again. Finally, at twelve o’clock at night, their car stopped in the town of Gongliang.

The group found a hotel to stay in. The hotel owner, seeing that they were a group of people who had traveled a long distance and were covered in dust, asked if they had eaten. Upon learning that they hadn’t, he enthusiastically helped arrange food at the restaurant next door to their hotel.

The restaurant owner had been somewhat displeased when the hotel owner’s call woke him up, but as soon as he heard that it was to prepare food for more than a dozen people and that it needed to be good, he immediately beamed with joy and started preparing with his wife.

When the food was on the table, halfway through the meal, Lin Shuyue’s phone rang. She took it out and saw that it was Hang Jiabai calling.

Lin Shuyue was a little surprised but still put down her chopsticks and walked aside to answer.

In the Pengcheng Public Security Bureau office, Hang Jiabai had also just returned not long ago. He happened to hear someone talking about the lively events that had occurred at the Public Security Bureau today. He was momentarily lost in thought. By the time he came back to his senses, the call to Lin Shuyue had already gone through, and Lin Shuyue’s familiar voice came from the other end.

It was already too late to hang up. Hang Jiabai could only bite the bullet and talk to Lin Shuyue, but fortunately, he did have things to talk to Lin Shuyue about.

“Lin Jianxin reported a total of three pieces of evidence against Zhang Zhenfa. The first is poisoning the competitor’s restaurant, the second is that Huanxiang Restaurant has been using some stale beef and fish for many years, and the third is that Zhang Zhenfa caused his first wife’s death.”

As soon as these three pieces of evidence came out, they were already involved in criminal cases. Especially the one about poisoning the competitor’s restaurant, which had caused a big stir in Pengcheng back then.

Dozens of people had food poisoning, one elderly person had died of kidney failure because of it, and two children had become disabled. The rest of the poisoned people also had some after-effects to varying degrees.

The owner of the competitor’s restaurant was still in prison. If Lin Jianxin hadn’t exposed this, it was estimated that the other party would have had to stay in prison for another ten years.

Zhang Zhenfa couldn’t do anything even if he kept denying it. Once this matter reached the police, it had to be thoroughly investigated.

Especially since Zhang Zhenfa’s health was no longer seriously impaired. The father-in-law and son-in-law had both been locked up now.

Zhang Zhenfa knew that once his past deeds were exposed, there was no possibility of him getting out. He immediately told the on-duty police officer that he wanted to report something.

“Zhang Zhenfa reported that Lin Jianxin was involved in black market activities, but he has no evidence.” The only evidence Zhang Zhenfa held against Lin Jianxin was the matter of Lin Jianxin selling his child.

The police already knew about this matter. Zhang Zhenfa had said he would spend money to buy Lin Jianxin’s silence, but Lin Jianxin hadn’t kept quiet. So Zhang Zhenfa could only bring up the matter for which he hadn’t found evidence yet.

“My colleagues have already gone to investigate, and there will be results soon. Also, Zhang Zhenfa said that his wife’s death was related to Lin Jianxin. Regarding this, both sides have their own versions of events.”

Lin Shuyue said she understood and thanked Hang Jiabai for calling to inform her specifically.

After hanging up, Lin Shuyue returned to her seat. Lin Shuxing had served a bowl of soup and placed it in front of her. “Who was on the phone?”

Lin Shuyue said, “A friend from the Public Security Bureau.”

Lin Shuyue didn’t keep them in suspense. “He told me that after we left, Lin Jianxin and Zhang Zhenfa started accusing each other.”

“Lin Jianxin reported Zhang Zhenfa for poisoning his competitor, Zhang Zhenfa reported Lin Jianxin for engaging in illegal activities, and then both of them said that Zhang Mei’s mother was killed by the other.”

Hearing this, the happy look on Lou Fengqin’s face couldn’t be concealed. “Yes, that’s how it should be. Let the dogs bite each other, the more the better! It would be best if they both killed each other!”

Because it was too late, everyone ate much faster than usual. After eating, everyone returned to the hotel. Lin Shuyue, her mother, her sister, and Zeng Xiaoyi stayed in one room.

The remaining men were free to arrange their own rooms.

That night, the women in their room, including Zeng Xiaoyi, didn’t sleep well.

Especially Lou Fengqin. One moment she would think about how tall and heavy Ah Yang would be after so many years, and the next she would worry about whether the family that bought him treated him well, whether they abused him, and whether they let him go to school.

Then she would wonder what he would do if that family didn’t treat him well, and then what she would say, what she should do if he wasn’t doing well.

She tossed and turned like this until dawn.

As soon as it was dawn, everyone got up, washed up, and went downstairs. It was still drizzling today.

Bai Wenhua, Luo Zhengjun, and three plainclothes police officers also came down from upstairs.

When they went to Santai Village, which Lin Jianxin had mentioned, the local police also followed in plain clothes.

Compared to yesterday’s journey, where people were still talking, today’s journey was mostly silent.

The car finally arrived at Santai Village. It was a village on a plain. It was June, and there were many fields of crops on both sides of the road. Clumps of bamboo forests could be seen everywhere in the village and at the edges of the fields.

After entering the village, the police officers in front stopped the car, put up their umbrellas, and braved the rain to go to Zhou Longxiang’s house, where Ah Yang had been sold.

There was a pomelo tree in front of Zhou Longxiang’s house, lush and green at this time, with fist-sized pomelos growing on the branches.

The local police knocked on the Zhou family’s door. After a while, footsteps could be heard from inside.

Soon, the door opened, and a boy of about eighteen years old appeared before everyone.

The moment he appeared, Lou Fengqin’s tears fell.

This boy looked too much like Lou Fengqin, and he also looked very much like Lin Shuxing and Lin Shuyue.

The boy’s name was Zhou Shuyang. The words that were about to come out of his mouth were swallowed back when he saw Lou Fengqin.

He looked at the group of people again. Being smart, he already understood what was happening.

“Is this Zhou Longxiang’s house?”

He didn’t ask anything, didn’t say anything, just quietly said, “Yes, please come in.”

Lin Shuyue and her sister supported Lou Fengqin as they followed behind the police.

It was a house that could be described as having bare walls. There wasn’t a single valuable item inside or outside.

An old man in his seventies came out, and the local police immediately went up to explain the situation.

The old man was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously looked at his grandson.

After a long while, he sighed. “You’ve finally come.”

The old man’s words puzzled everyone. As soon as she entered the door, Lou Fengqin grabbed Ah Yang’s hand, and she was already sobbing uncontrollably.

Ah Yang lowered his head, letting Lou Fengqin hold his hand.

The old man went into the room and came out shortly with a letter. “This is a letter left by my son. He passed away ten years ago.”

The police officer handling the case took the letter and read it. After reading it, he gave the letter to Lou Fengqin.

In the letter, Zhou Longxiang clearly explained the ins and outs of what had happened back then.

Back then, he and Lin Jianxin were friends working on the same construction site.

After Lin Jianxin got involved with Zhang Mei, they rarely saw each other.

The next time Zhou Longxiang saw Lin Jianxin was more than half a year later. He came to Zhou Longxiang and said he wanted to give him a child. But it wasn’t easy for him to have a child, so he wanted 5,000 yuan for nutrition fees.

Five thousand yuan was simply an astronomical sum in those days. Zhou Longxiang had been working on construction sites all these years, earning only a little over a hundred yuan a month. Where could he get 5,000 yuan?

And Zhou Longxiang had already decided that when he had money, he would go to an orphanage to adopt a child. He had even inquired about the adoption procedures.

But Lin Jianxin said that if he didn’t want the child, he would sell him to some other people on the construction site.

Zhou Longxiang knew better than anyone what kind of people those were. Would the child have a good life if they got him?

So Zhou Longxiang took out all his savings, a full 1,000 yuan, and gave it to Lin Jianxin.

Then he brought Lin Shuyang back. He only changed the child’s surname, not his given name.

And over the years, he had never hidden Lin Shuyang’s background from him. Lin Shuyang had always known his original name.

However, Zhou Longxiang didn’t know where Lin Jianxin’s home was back then. Once he left, Lin Shuyang had even less chance of finding his way home.

Old Man Zhou told the police, “In the years after Ah Yang was brought here, Ah Xiang had been working outside. He went to look for Lin Jianxin several times, asking him when he would take Ah Yang back. He always said that he had directly given Ah Yang to our Ah Xiang.”

“What a sin, what a sin.”

Lou Fengqin closed her eyes in pain, clutching Lin Shuyang’s hand tightly. “Ah Yang, Mom didn’t know when you were taken away. Lin Jianxin kept saying you were kidnapped.”

“All these years, I’ve been looking for you. I’ve never given up.” Afraid that Lin Shuyang wouldn’t believe her, Lou Fengqin took out the missing person notices she had printed over the years from her bag, from the year Lin Shuyang was lost until this year.

Besides that, there were also posters of him.

“We only found out yesterday that you were given away by Lin Jianxin.”

Lin Shuyang looked at the woman who looked so much like him, then looked at the missing person notices in his hand. Tears gradually welled up in his eyes.

He had hoped countless times that his biological mother would appear before him and tell him that he hadn’t been abandoned by her.

But he had waited for so many years. They had finally come, but he had already grown up.

Old Man Zhou walked up to Ah Yang and said to him, “Ah Yang, your mother and sisters have come to find you. Go with them.”

Lin Shuyue and Lin Shuxing had already introduced themselves to Lin Shuyang.

Lin Shuyang looked at Old Man Zhou. “Grandpa!”

Old Man Zhou said with a smile, “Your aunt comes every day, saying she wants to take me to live with her so I can enjoy my old age. You were still young before, so I kept refusing. Now that your mother has come, I can finally go and enjoy a few days of peace and quiet.”

Lin Shuyang cried. At this moment, a fat man also walked in.

This was the village secretary of Santai Village. He already knew the purpose of Lou Fengqin and the others’ visit.

He walked in, smiling and offering cigarettes to Bai Wenhua and the others, and said, “The people in our Santai Village all know that Ah Yang was left here by Ah Xiang’s friend. Police officers, the people in our village are not involved in human trafficking.”

Over the past two years, cadres often came down to the village to conduct legal education campaigns. Old Man Zhou also knew what the crime of human trafficking was. “Yes, yes, we didn’t engage in human trafficking.”

“That’s right, that’s right. Ah Xiang has been so good to Ah Yang all these years. Ah Yang is even the only student in our village who got into the National Middle School.”

After hearing these words and combining them with Lin Shuyang’s words, Lou Fengqin knelt down towards Old Man Zhou. “Uncle, thank you, thank you for taking such good care of Ah Yang.”

Lou Fengqin had traveled to many places, and few lost children were as well-off as Ah Yang.

The fact that the Zhou family allowed Lou Fengqin to take Ah Yang away filled Lou Fengqin with both relief and gratitude.

Her face was full of gratitude towards the Zhou family.

The police officers who came along were also very satisfied with this situation. They had originally thought there would be a tough battle to fight.

Old Man Zhou helped Lou Fengqin up. “Ah Yang is a good boy. It’s our Ah Xiang’s blessing to have such a child to see him through his old age. In the future, please treat Ah Yang well.”

Old Man Zhou’s daughter was married in the same village and rushed over when she heard about this.

She was very outgoing and immediately started chatting with Lou Fengqin, telling her about the interesting things that had happened to Lin Shuyang over the years.

Lou Fengqin was talking to Aunt Zhou, but her eyes never left Lin Shuyang.

Lin Shuyue had already turned on the Good and Evil Detection System. The people in this village, even those with the highest good-evil value, were not as high as Zhang Mei’s.

Old Man Zhou’s good-evil value was only three percent, and Aunt Zhou’s was two percent higher than his.

Lin Shuyue and Lin Shuxing together kept chatting with Lin Shuyang. Lin Shuyang was very shy, but he answered all the questions his two older sisters asked him.

While they were chatting, Lin Shuyang said, “Big sister, I remember you.”