Chapter 13: Doing Her Part for the Sake of Carrying on the Lineage

Yu Jingjing sat down beside Zhao Yuan. Just as Chen Mingxu was about to ask her something, Zhao Yuan spoke up first: “Jingjing, are you alright? Are you feeling unwell? You were gone for so long.”

Earlier, there had been a crowd gathered in one area, but they didn’t know it was Yu Jingjing treating Old Master Gong. Because they had to watch their luggage, they hadn’t gone over to see the commotion.

“Yeah, yeah, Jingjing, are you feeling okay?” Chen Mingxu echoed.

“I’m fine. I didn’t even realize how long I’d been gone. But to be honest, my legs are a bit numb.” As she spoke, she gave her leg a quick thump to show she really had just been squatting at the toilet.

It was Zhao Yuan’s first time riding a train, and she wanted to check out the restroom: “I’m going to see what the bathroom on this train looks like.”

“Go ahead.”

A few minutes later, Zhao Yuan returned, leaning in close to Yu Jingjing with a constipated expression: “Oh my god, the toilet on the train is mobile! I looked down and saw the tracks beneath—I was too scared to go!”

“Hahaha.” Yu Jingjing burst out laughing. “Don’t tell me you held it in again?”

“No, I didn’t. Even if I wanted to hold it, I couldn’t.”

“You’ll get used to it after a few more trips.”

Just as they were chatting, a commotion erupted behind them. An old lady was slapping her thigh and wailing, “My money! Someone stole my money! There’s a thief on this train! I only dozed off for a bit, and all my money’s gone!”

The people around immediately started panicking.

“I was sitting right next to you. I didn’t see anyone steal anything. That thief must have lightning-fast hands to pull that off without anyone noticing.”

“Exactly! Everyone, check your money right away! Keep it where you can see it. Don’t let it get stolen!”

Everyone began checking their belongings. Many had their money tucked into their underwear, so they weren’t too alarmed—just made sure to guard that spot tightly.

Those who had money in their pockets or bags quickly moved it somewhere more secure.

In no time, the entire train car was in chaos, with people from other cars even coming over to see what was going on.

The train police arrived and questioned the old lady who had lost her money, beginning their search for the thief.

But no one had seen the theft take place or what the thief looked like. Finding them was going to be extremely difficult.

The old lady kept wailing, just as the train was about to arrive at a station. Suddenly, another voice shouted from another car: “My child! Someone took my child! Who took my baby?!”

She’d only stepped over to the next car to see the commotion, and when she came back, her son—who’d been sleeping on the seat—was gone.

A passenger next to her said her son’s grandmother had taken him.

“What grandmother?! It’s just me and my child on this trip. His grandma is back home. It must be traffickers—human traffickers stole my child!”

At that moment, the old lady who had lost her money wailed even louder.

“Officer! Please, help me find my money! That money is my son’s life-saving funds—you must help me!”

Stolen money here, a kidnapped child there—the two train cars were in complete chaos.

Yu Jingjing looked at the old woman who claimed to have lost her money. She was screaming with her mouth wide open, but her face didn’t look genuinely flustered or upset. In contrast, the mother of the missing child was wailing with gut-wrenching grief, punching herself in the chest.

“It’s my fault! It’s all my fault! I didn’t watch my child properly. Baby, Mommy is so sorry…”

A female officer tried to console her: “Ma’am, please don’t cry. Let’s look for the child together.”

Yu Jingjing quickly concluded that the old woman was likely faking it—she was creating a diversion to attract attention. In truth, she was working with the traffickers. Their real goal was to take advantage of the chaos to steal a child from another car.

With this realization, she approached the old lady. “I saw who stole your money.”

“Who?! Tell me quickly!” The old lady’s reaction was overly dramatic as she grabbed Yu Jingjing’s hand. “Sweet girl, if you can help me get my money back, I’ll be forever grateful!”

“It was the one who stole the child.”

The old lady immediately denied it: “Impossible! It couldn’t have been them!”

Yu Jingjing pressed further: “So you know who took the child? How would you know that unless you’re involved?”

The nearby officer and passengers finally caught on, and the officer quickly restrained the old lady.

“So you were just a thief crying thief. You and the traffickers are in it together.” He shot Yu Jingjing an approving look—thankfully, this clever girl picked up on the clues and got the old woman to slip up.

The old lady continued to protest, “No! You’ve got it all wrong! I’m a victim too—my money was stolen!”

Taking advantage of the struggle, Yu Jingjing discreetly pulled a silver needle from her storage space and pricked her pain point.

“Tell me—what is the trafficker wearing? What does he look like? Speak clearly.”

Overcome by the pain, the old lady blurted out the truth: “He—he’s wearing black clothes, has a beard… not very tall…”

“Be specific.”

“Bald!”

No one noticed the silver needle—everyone assumed the old woman confessed out of fear.

At that moment, Hu Dong and Lu Yunxiao arrived in the car.

“Hey, it’s that pretty young comrade again,” Hu Dong said. “Old Lu, she’s so pretty—aren’t you even a little moved?”

“Cut the nonsense. Focus on the mission. Let’s go catch the trafficker.”

They took the old lady’s description and headed to another car to find him.

A few minutes later, the trafficker was finally revealed: a bald man around fifty, wearing a patched black outfit. He was holding a boy of about three or four years old—the very child who’d gone missing.

The child appeared to be sleeping, curled up in the man’s arms.

Seeing his cover blown, the trafficker grew fierce. He pulled out a knife and held it to the boy’s neck.

“Don’t come any closer! Anyone takes a step, and I’ll kill the kid!”

The mother cried out in anguish from across the aisle: “Son! Please be safe—please! Don’t hurt him!” She tried negotiating: “What do you want in exchange for my son? Just say it—I’ll do anything.”

The trafficker sneered coldly: “Tell the officers to let me off when the train stops, and make sure I leave the station safely. Then I’ll release your son.”

“Alright, alright!” The woman rushed to plead with the officers.

But the train police were worried the trafficker might be pretending. If they let him leave the station, he might not release the child at all. On the contrary, he might disappear with the child altogether, making it even harder to rescue the child later.

Yet, if they didn’t follow the trafficker’s instructions, they feared he might really harm the child.

The train was about to reach the station, and under the mother’s repeated insistence, the train police finally decided to let the trafficker off the train.

The trafficker made everyone move aside and was about to reach the door when suddenly a shadow flashed by. Someone darted behind him and snatched the knife from his hand, while another person took the child from him.

The two people were none other than Lu Yunxiao and Hu Dong. The trafficker was completely subdued by Lu Yunxiao and handed over to the train staff.

When Yu Jingjing arrived, she saw the tall and imposing Lu Yunxiao and Hu Dong beside him. So they had been on the train all along. Now, should she hurry to the restroom to change clothes and then come back to ask them about the handkerchief?

Changing would take time. She was worried that if she went out and came back, they might already be gone.

Hu Dong noticed Yu Jingjing staring at Lu Yunxiao and immediately nudged him, reminding him, “Old Lu, that female comrade is looking at you again. She’s definitely interested in you. Look, over there.”

Lu Yunxiao followed Hu Dong’s cue and looked over, sure enough, he saw Yu Jingjing staring at him. He subconsciously raised his hand to touch his face, but he felt that the way she looked at him was somewhat different from the other women.

Yu Jingjing realized he was looking back at her and instinctively shifted her gaze to Hu Dong. Lu Yunxiao followed her gaze to Hu Dong and, for the first time, thought Hu Dong looked quite handsome.

Yu Jingjing’s gaze lingered on Hu Dong for just a moment before moving elsewhere.

Lu Yunxiao was relieved. She hadn’t been looking at him on purpose, probably just happened to glance his way.

He touched his face again, suddenly feeling a bit insecure about his looks.

Had his looks declined today?

Was he not that handsome anymore?

The woman who had lost her child came over holding her son and expressed her gratitude, “Benefactors, thank you, thank you! If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what kind of fate my child would have faced. You’re like his second set of parents!”

She bent her knees, about to kneel before Lu Yunxiao and Hu Dong, but the two of them quickly held her up.

“Sister-in-law, that’s too much. This is what we should do,” Lu Yunxiao said.

As for being a second parent, he never planned to have children in this life, let alone be a father.

He remembered that it was Yu Jingjing who got the trafficker’s description from the old lady and said to the woman, “If that female comrade hadn’t asked about the trafficker’s appearance, we wouldn’t have found him so quickly and rescued your child.”

Then, the woman went to thank Yu Jingjing.

“Young lady, I’ll never forget this great kindness. You helped save my child. I’ll be grateful to you for life.”

“It’s nothing, big sister. I just did what I should.”

As soon as she finished speaking and looked up, Lu Yunxiao and Hu Dong had vanished again.

She couldn’t help but wonder if those two were ghosts—appearing and disappearing like that without a trace.

On their way back to the last train car, Lu Yunxiao and Hu Dong were stopped by a slightly chubby girl.

This girl had her eyes locked solely on Lu Yunxiao. Looking at his devastatingly handsome face, she wished she could glue her eyes to it.

He was too handsome—absurdly handsome, sinfully handsome, bleedingly handsome—so much so that she could barely breathe or pull herself away.

“Do you need something?” Lu Yunxiao looked at her coldly and asked.

“Handsome guy—oh no, comrade—may I ask your name? I feel like I know you from somewhere. Are you him?”

“I don’t know you,” he replied with the same distant expression and aloof tone. “We have things to do. Please move.”

“Are you really not him? Tell me your name. Maybe you are him?”

“I truly don’t know you. I have business to attend to over there. I’ll come back and talk to you later.”

As if he’d actually come back.

The girl was overjoyed. She hadn’t expected the handsome guy to say he’d come back and chat with her. She quickly moved out of the way.

Hu Dong started gossiping again, “Old Lu, I just remembered—the look that fairy-like female comrade gave you was different from how this one looked at you. I don’t think she was lusting after your good looks. Ah, just think—this kind of woman is the only one you attract. Common, gaudy types.”

“Hm?” Lu Yunxiao couldn’t help but once again question his own attractiveness. Was he only capable of attracting such types?

Forget it. Whoever he attracted didn’t matter.

“I’d rather not attract any women at all.”

“What a waste of such a handsome face growing on you.”

Lu Yunxiao said very seriously, “Dongzi, do you really not know what my ambition is? If I had this face just to attract women, I might as well not have it.”

“Hahahaha, Old Lu, you’re shameless!”

“Damn right! If I don’t want it, should I paste it on your face?”

Hu Dong caught up and kept digging, “I say, Old Lu, are you seriously planning on staying single forever?”

“Of course.”

“Then what about carrying on the family line? Aren’t you going to do your part?”

“As for producing offspring… passing down the family line… my eldest brother and third younger brother can handle that. I don’t need to worry.”

Though his eldest brother still didn’t have children yet, he figured his third brother would be prolific enough.

Anyway, he would never become a breeding machine in this life.

“You say you don’t plan to marry just because you haven’t met the right one,” Hu Dong said coolly. “Old Lu, I’m just waiting for the day you get slapped in the face.”

“Don’t worry. That day will never come. If it does, I’ll call you Dad.”

“Pfft! Hahaha! Old Lu, I’ll be waiting!”

“You’ll be waiting forever.”