Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Chapter 16 Lost and Found

Lin Qin searched every room in the inpatient ward, both upstairs and downstairs, but couldn't find Liu Yaya.

Lin Ying was frantic and at her wits' end. "Could she have been kidnapped?"

There are quite a few cases of children being abducted in hospitals, but they usually happen in pediatric wards, and it's rare to hear of children being lost in regular wards.

Lin Qin's vision went black, and she collapsed.

The crowd was so frightened that they immediately called for a doctor and the police.

When Lin Qin slowly woke up, a group of people were surrounding her. She instinctively tried to get up to find her child.

The police officer quickly stopped her, saying, "Comrade Lin Qin, don't worry, the child has been found and is at the police station. We'll bring him back to you in a bit."

"Found it? Really?" Lin Qin looked at Lin Ying, whose eyes were filled with tears.

Lin Ying nodded emphatically, "It just happened. They said a kind person saw it and rescued him."

"What's going on? No, I have to go find Ya Ya. I won't feel at ease until I see her." Lin Qin insisted on putting on her shoes and going out.

The police officers had no choice but to take her to the police station.

On the way, I briefly explained the situation to her: "The child was indeed abducted by human traffickers. As soon as we left the hospital, a man named Chen Wenjun recognized us. Chen Wenjun is a fishmonger. Without saying a word, he rushed up and used a fishing net to trap the trafficker. With the help of passersby, we caught the trafficker without much effort, and the child was rescued."

My colleague took them to the police station to give statements. We were originally trying to find the child's relatives, but since the hospital had just reported a missing child, I came to check on things.

Upon hearing that it was Chen Wenjun, Lin Qin felt a wave of relief wash over her, and her whole body felt as if it had been drained.

In the police station.

Police officers are interrogating a child trafficker whose face has been beaten black and blue. "Tell me, why did you abduct children? Do you know how many years you'll be sentenced to for abducting children? Huh!"

The human trafficker shuddered. At first, he hung his head, intending to remain silent and deny everything.

He only became afraid when the police actually came and tried to drag him away.

He quickly said, "If I confess, could I get a lighter sentence?"

"You still dare to negotiate with us?" The police officer's eyes widened in anger.

The captain stopped him and asked gently, "Tell me about it."

The trafficker paused, then stammered, "I'm just a hoodlum, a thug! I haven't done anything serious like murder or robbery, just petty theft. I was short on cash lately, and a woman told me she wanted to sell a child, so I went."

Everyone turned to look at Lin Qin, who had just entered the room.

Lin Qin stared at the human trafficker in disbelief, wishing she could rush up and tear him apart alive.

The captain pointed at Lin Qin and asked the human trafficker, "Is it her?"

The trafficker glanced at Lin Qin and shook his head. "It's not her. It's a very beautiful woman with long curly hair, bright red lips, a mole above her eyebrow, wearing high heels, and about 1.5 meters tall."

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun exchanged a glance and called out in unison, "Fang Ying!"

Lin Qin looked excitedly at the police officers, "I know the woman he was talking about. Her name is Fang Ying, from Fangshan Community."

Without asking any further questions, the captain immediately dispatched two men to Fangshan Village to arrest Fang Ying.

When the two police officers arrived at Fangshan Community, it was already getting dark.

They weren't familiar with Fangshan Village, and when they finally arrived at the village entrance, they saw a man and a woman pulling and tugging at each other as they walked towards them.

The woman was clearly being forced; she struggled and tears streamed down her face.

"Hey! What are you doing!" the righteous police officer roared, and the two men strode forward. The woman, recognizing the officers, immediately cried out for help, "Officer, please help me! I don't want to marry him! I don't want to marry him!"

Qian Dashan looked wary, but refused to let go of the woman's hand. He patted his bag and said, "This is the wife I paid for. Her parents have accepted my betrothal gifts, and her household registration is with me. We'll register tomorrow and put her household registration in my house! Don't even think about taking my wife away!"

The police officers searched Qian Dashan's bag and found two household registration books inside. When they saw the names on them, both officers' expressions changed simultaneously.
They restrained the two people from the left and right.

"Fang Ying, we now suspect you of being involved in a child trafficking case. Please cooperate with us and go to the police station for investigation."

Fang Ying was stunned.

Qian Dashan was terrified and immediately sat down on the ground to deny it, "I won't go, I won't go! I have nothing to do with her!"

The police officer laughed in exasperation, "Isn't she your wife?"

“We haven’t registered yet. I’ll go to her house in a bit and get the betrothal gifts back. I don’t want this woman anymore!” Qian Dashan started to act shamelessly.

Seeing that the police officer didn't insist on taking him to the police station, he quickly grabbed his bag and ran away without looking back.

Fang Ying snapped out of her daze and immediately cried out, "I didn't abduct children! I'm innocent!"

The police officers carefully examined Fang Ying's dirty face and found that it was indeed different from what the traffickers had described. It was because of this that they hadn't forcibly kept Qian Dashan there.

The police officer on the left asked, "How many people in your village are named Fang Ying?"

"Just me," Fang Ying answered nervously.

The two police officers exchanged glances and decided to take Fang Ying back to verify her identity first.

When the police brought Fang Ying to the police station, Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin, who was holding Liu Yaya, were both full of questions.

The police officer asked, "Take a look, isn't this the Fang Ying you were talking about?"

Both of them shook their heads.

Lin Qin quickly said, "That Fang Ying has a mole on her eyebrow and is about 1.6 meters tall, it's not like that."

The police officer frowned. "This person is Fang Ying from Fangshan Community. We've asked around, and she's the only one named Fang Ying in the entire Fangshan Community."

"Impossible!" Lin Qin retorted hastily. "Fang Ying from Fangshan Village even got into a junior college. She must be quite famous in their village."

"She's a college student?" The police officer became increasingly suspicious of the information Lin Qin provided.

Just then, Fang Ying spoke up weakly, "Um... if I'm not mistaken, the person you're talking about should be called Fang Meixiang."

"Fang Meixiang?" Everyone was full of questions.

Fang Ying nodded firmly, "If we're talking about a woman in our village who's about 1.6 meters tall and has a mole on her eyebrow, the only one is Mei Xiang. But she's not a college graduate. She married far away after we failed our college entrance exams and hasn't been back to the village all these years. It can't be her."

The clue ends here.

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin had a vague suspicion, but they had no evidence and didn't know where the woman was, so they didn't dare tell the police their suspicions.

The group gave their statements and left the police station.

Lin Qin called out to Fang Ying, "Um, can I ask you a few questions?"

Fang Ying nodded knowingly, "Go ahead and ask me any questions you have!"

"Um... is Fang Ying really the only person named Fang Ying in your village? Has no one else gotten into a junior college?"

(End of this chapter)