Chapter 29: Trip to Haicheng

“Is that your great-nephew?” the waitress said, her voice filled with excitement. This was the first strange thing she knew about him:

“Everyone here knows that kid is incredibly strong. He could lift a 150-pound adult over his head when he was only five! We all said that if he grew up, he’d be able to lift a ton. It’s just a shame he was born in this small place. If he’d been born in Haicheng or Beijing, he’d have a great future.”

Ye Qinglan thought to herself, this kid was even stronger than what Wei Han had said. If it was true, he was definitely a natural powerhouse.

Such a child, if he was also intelligent, would be perfect for training as a spy.

The waitress continued, “If he could participate in the sports meet, in weightlifting, he’d win awards left and right! He could participate in that… wait, no, you said you were going to Qinnan Town? I remember he’s not from Qinnan Town, he’s from Wamiao Town, the same town as my grandma’s house.”

Qinnan Town was a name Ye Qinglan had just mentioned.

She changed her words, “Maybe my mother remembered wrong. She’s getting old and a bit confused. Comrade, could you ask again, what specific brigade is he from? Or does he just live in town?”

The waitress didn’t answer, but looked at her with a questioning face, “Comrade, isn’t that your great-nephew? Why don’t you know anything about him?”

“It’s a long story. My family was poor before, with many children, and we couldn’t afford to raise them all. My mother gave my second sister away. Now our family situation has improved, and we want to find my second sister. We finally got some information. I was studying abroad and came back to my hometown. My mother told me about this and asked me to find her.”

She didn’t feel any awkwardness lying, nor was she afraid of being exposed. If one lie wasn’t enough, she’d just add another.

After she said this, the waitress understood.

She clapped her hands together, “You’ve come to the right person! I remember that kid’s family is from the Red Star Brigade, the Xiaoliu Production Team, now called Xiaoliu Village. His mother’s family is from the same brigade as my grandma. In spring, I heard my grandma say that the kid’s mother wasn’t well. I don’t know how she is now. I haven’t seen my grandma in half a year.”

Ye Qinglan hadn’t expected to find the child’s address so easily.

She quickly thanked the waitress, “Oh, comrade, thank you so much. This information is really important to me. I don’t know how to thank you. How about this, I’ll give you a yuan as a thank you.”

“No, no…”

The waitress was actually quite tempted. A yuan was a lot, but it felt too mercenary to take money for just a few words. She firmly refused.

The two of them politely declined each other for a while.

Ye Qinglan thought to herself, this girl’s mental outlook was really good. After thanking her again, she left. She had finished her meal anyway.

Leaving the state-owned restaurant, she went to the bus station to inquire about buses to Wamiao Town.

The people at the station said that Wamiao Town was only ten or so miles from the county town, relatively close, and there were many buses passing through. She stayed at the county town’s guesthouse for the night.

The next morning, she bought a few cans of canned food and a few bags of candy and took a bus to Wamiao Town.

After arriving, she walked another three or four miles to reach Xiaoliu Village. She found the village head, who sighed and looked gloomy when he heard that she was looking for the child.

Ye Qinglan felt a bad omen.

“Village head, is there something inconvenient?”

The village head finally spoke, “Comrade, you’re too late. Hutou disappeared a month and a half ago. His uncle and aunt took him to the market a month and a half ago, and when they came back, the child was gone.”

Hutou was the name of the strong child.

Ye Qinglan thought to herself, how incredibly coincidental!

“Village head, didn’t the village search? Didn’t you contact the police?”

The village head said, “How could we not search for a missing child? We just couldn’t find him. I wanted to contact the police, but his uncle and aunt wouldn’t let me. They said the police were too busy and we shouldn’t bother them. They also said that Hutou was strong and wouldn’t suffer even if he was lost, and maybe he’d find his way home someday. If his own family doesn’t care, what can outsiders do?”

What kind of nonsense was that?

Ye Qinglan felt something was wrong.

“Village head, can you tell me more details? I’m really this child’s relative, I came from Fanzhou and live in Fanzhou. This stuff was meant for the child’s family, but now I’m giving it all to you. Why was Hutou with his uncle and aunt?”

The village head glanced at the things on the table and then slowly started to speak: Hutou’s father had died when he was young, and he had always lived with his mother. But in spring, his mother also died, and he went to his grandmother’s house.

But his grandmother and two uncles hadn’t separated their households. He stayed there for less than a month, and his uncles and aunts didn’t want to raise another child, so they sent him back.

Before he went missing, he had been living with his uncle and aunt, and a blind grandmother.

The reason the village head looked so bad was because he suspected that the child had been given away or sold by his uncle and aunt. But it was too much to say that they had given away their younger brother’s only bloodline, so he lied and said he was lost, and he didn’t want to report it to the police.

Ye Qinglan got the useful information she needed. She stayed at the village head’s house for a while, and then suggested going for a walk in the village. The village head asked his grandson to take her around.

As soon as she left, the village head’s wife said, “Is this comrade really Hutou’s relative?”

The village head shook his head, “Maybe. She looks quite wealthy.”

He sniffed a cigarette but didn’t dare to light it. It was the cigarette Ye Qinglan had offered him earlier. It was good tobacco. This one probably cost 50 cents!

The village head’s wife spat, “Rich or not, Hutou must have been sold by his uncle. That poor child.”

“What are you babbling about? There’s no evidence.”

“Tsk, evidence? Didn’t you see that they’ve been eating meat and chicken these days? Who has that much money to eat like that? There’s definitely something fishy going on.”

The village head’s face darkened. This family was not to be trusted.

Back to Ye Qinglan, she had walked around the village and got some information from the village head’s grandson. When she passed Hutou’s uncle’s house, she saw his two sons squatting in the yard, each holding a can of canned food, eating. Hutou’s aunt was plucking a duck. She had a basic judgment.

Leaving Xiaoliu Village, she went straight to Haicheng and found the Haicheng Public Security Bureau.

The next day, Hutou’s uncle and aunt were “invited” by the Pingxin County Public Security.

After just a few threats, they said they had sent Hutou to a family in the neighboring county, Shengnan County, and that family had given them 400 yuan as a thank you.

When Ye Qinglan and two police officers rushed to Shengnan County that night and worked with the Shengnan County Public Security to find the family, they were told that the child had run away!

The woman was furious, “If you hadn’t come here, I was going to find you at Xiaoliu Village in a couple of days. We had a deal. I gave them 400 yuan, and they sold the child to me. Now the child has run away, I have to ask them for the money back, and I have to ask them, is that a child? On the way, he tricked us into letting him pee. Then he grabbed my husband and threw him into the river!”