They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 374 Missing

Upon hearing the screams at the door, Liang Minglang abandoned his concealment and knocked out Lou Er and the other two men before rushing out. He went the wrong way and had to turn back, but luckily he made it back in time.

Xu Zhichun nestled in his arms and gently shook her head. Her eyes welled up with tears, and she belatedly realized that fear was surging within her. She lowered her head and quietly and quickly wiped away her tears.

"I'm fine. I'm so glad you came."

Liang Minglang felt even more guilty. "I'm sorry."

Xu Zhichun shook his head.

After a while, she recovered and realized she was nestled in Liang Minglang's arms. Her face flushed, and she pretended to stand up casually. "What's going on in that courtyard? What is Lou Er doing? Did you see it?"

Liang Minglang's eyes darkened slightly: "There are several children locked up there. I suspect they are human traffickers. The Lou Er you mentioned should be one of them."

"What! We need to report this to the authorities immediately!"

"it is good."

Liang Minglang nodded, dragged the man and woman into the thick grass and hid them, then went with Xu Zhichun to report to the authorities.

Recently, several families have had their children go missing, and the victims have reported the matter to the authorities. Magistrate Lu was already overwhelmed with the problem when Xu Zhichun and Liang Minglang came to report the case.

Magistrate Lu was overjoyed and immediately ordered Constable Yu to lead a search party to raid the courtyard and arrest all those involved.

"Madam Xu, Liang Minglang, I really don't know how to thank you both. You discovered this just in time!"

Liang Minglang clasped his hands in a fist and said, "We just stumbled upon this by accident. It's nothing, really not worth mentioning. It's a blessing that Qingshui County has such a good official as Lord Lu. If there's nothing else, we'll head back now."

Liang Minglang was subtly trying to distance himself from the matter in his words. Others might not have noticed, but Magistrate Lu understood immediately.

He smiled knowingly and nodded: "This matter has nothing to do with you. Very well, I will not keep you any longer. Please leave."

"Thank you, sir."

Liang Minglang bowed to express his gratitude and left with Xu Zhichun.

“These people may have accomplices. Human traffickers are all insidious, despicable, vicious, and shameless. If they find out that we ruined their plans, they might do something behind the scenes. It would be best if we didn’t get involved. Lord Lu should think so too.”

Therefore, although they helped the government a lot in this matter, Lord Lu would not publicly praise or commend them, and would even order that no one would mention their connection to the matter again.

Liang Minglang was afraid that Xu Zhichun would be disappointed, since he had helped so much but Lord Lu did not praise him, so he made a special explanation.

Xu Zhichun hadn't really thought much about it. She didn't need praise or compliments, as they were irrelevant to her at the moment. But after hearing Liang Minglang's words, she suddenly realized and smiled, "Yes, you're very thoughtful. That's for the best!"

It's better to avoid trouble than to cause more; nothing beats living a peaceful and stable life.

Xu Zhichun had a half-finger-long scratch on her neck from the woman's fingernails. She hadn't noticed it before, but now the dark red scratch was quite obvious, with some dried blood. Liang Minglang raised his hand to touch it, but his hand froze and he put it down again. "Let's go to the pharmacy to buy some ointment first. Does it still hurt? Luckily, the wound isn't deep. It will heal slowly after a few days of using the medicine, and there won't be a scar at all."

"it is good"

Xu Zhichun really wanted to say that she had medicine at home, since she had all kinds of ointments in her space, which were much better than any medicine she could buy at a pharmacy. But she was afraid that Liang Minglang would ask her questions and want to know what kind of ointment it was when they got home. She dared not show it to him, she would never dare to.

After all, he had served in the military and might know a lot about various wound medicines. His own methods had worked on Xiao Mingxuan and the village head, but Xu Zhichun had no confidence in fooling him.

She was still very self-aware and knew her own limitations.

After some delay, the two returned home as dusk had fallen.

The atmosphere was a bit strange, heavy and dull.

Xu Zhichun sensed something was wrong, but before she could ask, Granny Qin Qing and Mu Xiang hurriedly told her, "Qiao'er is missing, and the whole village is helping to look for her!"

"The little girl is usually very well-behaved, I don't know what happened, where did she go?"

"It would be troublesome if someone ran up the mountain, tripped, and passed out in some corner. The village is surrounded by mountains, how are we supposed to find them?"

It was getting dark.

"Ugh"

"Madam, would you like to go and see Madam Xiaojuan? Poor Madam Xiaojuan, she has fainted from crying, she must be so worried."

Xu Zhichun was stunned. "Such a thing happened? When did this happen?"

"Qiao'er didn't come home for lunch. Madam Xiaojuan thought she was playing at someone else's house, but after searching all the houses she usually frequented, she couldn't find her. That's when she got worried and searched the whole village, but still couldn't find her. And so—"

Xu Zhichun and Liang Minglang looked at each other, their expressions a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.

Both of them thought of Lou Er, who was involved with human traffickers.

Why was Lou Er startled and hurriedly hid when he saw Xu Zhichun? If he really did kidnap Qiao'er, then his guilty conscience would make sense.

"I'm going to check on Aunt Xiaojuan."

"Knowing Spring!"

Liang Minglang grabbed her arm and pulled her aside to whisper, "Things aren't certain yet. When you talk to Aunt Xiaojuan, don't give her too much hope. I'll go into town again tomorrow morning; Lord Lu should have definite news. If you're too certain, what if it's not true?"

This is not going to end well.

Although they both suspected that Qiao'er was most likely taken away by that scumbag Lou Er, they had no evidence.

Xu Zhichun nodded: "I won't talk nonsense. I should have gone to see those abducted children back then."

If Joel had been there, she could have been brought back then.

Liang Minglang comforted her, "Who could have imagined something like this? Aunt Xiaojuan won't blame you."

Xu Zhichun felt a warmth in her heart, and replied, "Mm."

At Yang Ming's house, both Yang Ming and his son went out to find people. The village head's wife, Zeng Xiaoyan, and many other women were there. Everyone was offering their own comfort to Zeng Xiaojuan. Zeng Xiaojuan sat blankly in the chair, her eyes red and swollen, her gaze unfocused, looking completely lost and as if she were half-dead.

Everyone sighed inwardly, feeling uneasy.

No one would feel good in this situation.

But once a child is gone, they're gone. No matter how much you worry and frantic you are, the child can't be found immediately.

"Madam Xu has arrived!"

"Madam Xu is here! That's wonderful!"

"Yes, yes, Madam Xu is good with words, Xiao Juan might actually listen to a few of her words."

"Yep."

Strangely enough, from some point onwards, Xu Zhichun seemed to have become the backbone of the village. It was as if everyone could feel at ease as long as she was there, and even the most difficult problems could be solved.