Chapter 31: Is the Child Alright?

“You’re a goddamn piece of trash!” Ye Qinglan spat, stepping on the man’s hand as she ran after another person.

By the time others arrived, Ye Qinglan had already carried Hutou and dragged the other man back, throwing him in front of them.

“Comrade Lin, is the child alright?” Comrade Li asked.

Ye Qinglan turned Hutou’s face towards them: “You can see for yourself.”

At a glance, everyone gasped in shock.

The child’s cheeks were so thin they were sunken, his whole body looked like a big head on a small body, his mouth was covered in blood, and his clothes were torn to shreds. Even refugees weren’t this miserable.

According to the timeline, this child had been wandering in the mountains for almost half a month. Crab Mountain wasn’t very high, only a few hundred meters, and there were no wild beasts on it, only some weasels, wild chickens, and the like.

But even so, it was scary at night. How did this child survive these days? What did he eat and drink?

Many of the public security officers had children of their own, and seeing this, their noses turned sour.

“Let’s go down the mountain first. The child needs to go to the hospital.”

As Ye Qinglan carried Hutou past the man with the telescope, she saw his hand lying on the ground and stepped on it again: “If your hand is useless, then don’t use it.”

“Aaaaaah!”

Another heart-wrenching scream.

It was almost five o’clock when they reached the foot of the mountain. The villagers hadn’t dispersed yet, they were all gathered around the police car. Seeing them carrying the child and dragging the man down the mountain, they all curiously stretched their necks to look.

The group got into the car and drove straight to the Shengnan County Hospital.

The child was given anesthesia, and he was suffering from malnutrition and fever.

When Hutou woke up, it was already nine o’clock at night. Seeing the doctor and Ye Qinglan, he thought he had gone to heaven.

“Uncle, brother, is this heaven? Did my mother come? Can I see my mother?”

Ye Qinglan: “This isn’t heaven, this is the hospital.”

Xiao Hutou immediately pouted, his eyes filled with tears.

But he still whispered to the doctor: “Uncle, I’m not sick, I don’t need injections, I don’t have any money for you.”

The doctor felt his soul being crushed.

He sighed: “The whole world of adults can’t accommodate a child, even making a child sick and afraid to be hospitalized, this is the tragedy of humanity.”

Then he looked at Hutou: “Good boy, don’t worry, uncle doesn’t need your money, uncle will pay for you.”

“Doctor, I’m his relative, I’ll pay for it, thank you for your kindness. When he’s better, I’ll take him away from here. Not all humans are human, and this world will definitely get better, you don’t have to worry, we have to believe in the country.” Ye Qinglan said.

The doctor couldn’t help but think of the war years, and then think of the present, it was indeed so.

He nodded: “You’re right. He’s been hungry for too long, give him some light food first, he can’t handle too greasy food.”

“Okay, thank you for reminding me.”

“You’re welcome.”

The doctor turned and left.

Ye Qinglan patted Hutou’s little head: “Don’t worry about the money, I’ll take care of it.”

Hutou looked at him, blinking his eyes.

The little guy’s voice was milky: “Brother, are you really my relative?”

“Sort of, you call me brother, don’t you?”

Ye Qinglan’s counter-question made Hutou unable to hold back anymore, all the grievances of these days welled up, and tears streamed down his face.

He sobbed and told Ye Qinglan everything, one moment talking about how his uncle and aunt beat him, the next moment talking about how his elder brother wanted to sell him, and how the people who bought him said they would make him work like an ox in the future. He was a human being, how could a human be an ox? He didn’t want to wear an oxhide and be an ox, so he ran away.

Seeing Hutou crying, Ye Qinglan fell silent for a moment, reaching out to hug the child.

He told him: “Don’t cry, the public security officers have already avenged you. It’s wrong for them to sell you, so your elder brother has been arrested. As for your uncle, listen to the doctor, take your injections and eat properly. When you grow up, you can beat them back yourself, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Hutou nodded heavily.

Ye Qinglan smiled.

Just as they finished talking, the two public security officers from Pingxin County who came with Ye Qinglan came back. They had gone to the Shengnan County Public Security Bureau to listen to the interrogation results.

Ye Qinglan told them: “You’re back just in time, please watch him for a while, I’ll go get him something to eat.”

“I’ll go buy it.” The comrade surnamed Sun said, and added: “Let Xiao Wei tell you about the case.”

Ye Qinglan thanked him.

At this time, Xiao Wei told her that the few people they met on Crab Mountain this afternoon were small hooligans from Haicheng, the man with the telescope who was the leader was called Kunpeng, and he was one of the group of thugs who smashed and looted a few years ago.

The reason they kidnapped Hutou was because Kunpeng loved to play poker, and after losing all his money, he still wanted to gamble, but he was short of money.

His lackeys happened to be from the village next to Hutou’s. They came up with the idea, saying that there was a strong child in their area, whose parents had died, and his elder brother disliked him very much. If they caught him and sold him to those childless people, they would definitely make a lot of money, and his elder brother wouldn’t look for the child, he would only think he had gotten rid of a burden.

The few of them discussed it and went to catch the child.

But when they got there, they heard that Hutou had gone missing.

The lackey didn’t believe it was missing, and sure enough, they found out from the child from Hutou’s elder brother’s family that the child had been sold!

Then they followed this lead and found Crab Mountain.

Ye Qinglan listened and asked: “Where did he get his gun? And the telescope?”

“It was the one called Mao Xi beside Kunpeng who had it hidden. Mao Xi was also one of the thugs who smashed and looted a few years ago. He had hidden a lot of good things, the telescope was taken from a teacher’s house during the robbery. The gun was borrowed from someone he gambled with.”

Ye Qinglan thought for a moment and said: “I saw Kunpeng draw his gun, he was very skilled, like someone who often uses guns. And the man who lent him the gun is also suspicious. Comrade Wei, this matter needs to be investigated in detail by Shengnan County and Pingxin County, don’t let go of any potential bad guys.”

After all, she wasn’t a local public security officer, even if she had suspicions, she couldn’t investigate here.

Comrade Wei nodded: “Don’t worry, we’ll definitely get to the bottom of this, we won’t let go of any suspicious aspects.”

After a while, Comrade Sun who went to prepare the meal came back, buying a bowl of vegetable porridge.

Hutou hadn’t eaten properly for many days, and even the vegetable porridge tasted delicious.

After finishing it, he fell asleep again, calling for his mother in his dreams.

Perhaps due to his innate constitution, the next day the child was bouncing around, the only thing that made people feel sad was how thin he was.

But his strength was really amazing!

In front of Ye Qinglan’s own eyes, he lifted the tool man, Comrade Wei, with both hands. Imagine how strong he would be when he grew up, considering how thin he still was.

After the two public security officers went out, Ye Qinglan quietly smiled and asked Hutou: “Hutou, would you like to go home with your brother? My brother’s house has many, many People’s Liberation Army uncles, you’ll never be afraid of bad guys there, and you can always eat your fill, do you want to go?”