Why did you provoke me?

The shout startled the two brothers driving in front.

"Brother, she seems to be awake."

"You don't need to say it, I heard everything."

Yu Meng didn't shout, "Untie my bag, I want to talk to you."

"Little girl, aren't you scared? You still want to talk to us. What do you want to talk about?"

"Let's talk about the price. How much am I worth?" Yu Meng said calmly.

"elder brother?"

"Open the bag and let her out for some fresh air. If she doesn't look well when we get to the field, it will lower her value."

Yu Meng was released. She looked around and saw that there was no village or shop in sight; she was on the edge of a grove of trees.

"You know Sister Xia from our village," Yu Meng stated definitively. "She's lame and doesn't fetch a good price, so you let her go."

The younger brother's mouth gaped open. "How did you know?"

His older brother slapped him lightly. "Go get some water nearby and come back."

Yu Meng manipulated things. "How much would you sell me for? Do you know I'm a mask-removing expert?"

"It can sell for 5 gold coins." The older brother lit a cigarette and nodded. "That little cripple said you have a lot of talent."

"Five gold coins, is it worth this risk?" He paused for a moment, then added, "Could I go to the woods over there? It's convenient."

It was already dawn, which meant they had been walking all night.

"Okay, but I'll have to tie a rope around your waist."

Yu Meng nodded in agreement.

The older brother held a cigarette in his hand, but Yu Meng's words kept replaying in his mind: "Is it worth 5 gold coins?"

A ten-year-old girl from a family that wasn't well-off could casually ask, "Is five gold coins worth it?"

As the smoke died down, he looked up and saw Yu Meng emerge from the woods. She hadn't run away.

He looked at Yu Meng, "That rope could be pulled open with a single tug, why didn't you escape?"

Yu Meng glanced at him. "You're making me walk all the way back? You don't seem so willing to do this kind of thing?"

"My name is Zhao Changsheng, and my younger brother is Zhao Changjiu. My parents want us to live a long life."

"This is your first time, right? You still don't really want to go down this path. Are you facing a problem?"

Zhao Changjiu, the younger brother, ran over. "Brother, water." Zhao Changsheng took it and drank a sip.

"Hey little girl, aren't you afraid of us? We're going to sell you."

Hearing his younger brother's words, Zhao Changsheng glared at him and said, "Shut up. You'll get beaten to death."

Zhao Changsheng looked at Yu Meng and asked, "There's some dry food here. Do you want some?"

Yu Meng nodded; she hadn't eaten anything last night.

Zhao Changsheng remained silent, staring blankly at the distant woods. He had tied the rope with a slipknot, intending for the girl to run away, but he hadn't expected her to return. The rope was thrown into the woods.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Zhao Changjiu tugged at Zhao Changsheng.

"This is a one-way street, brother can't bear it." Zhao Changsheng covered his face with his hands and squatted down in anguish.

"But we already promised Lao Wai, if we go back on our word now, will he forgive us?"

After finishing her dry rations, Yu Meng said, "Shall we have a fight? If you lose, you can send me back."

Zhao Changsheng suddenly stood up. "That's right, let's have a fight. If you lose, I'll send you back."

"elder brother!"

"We can't beat her, so of course we have to send her back." Zhao Changsheng seemed to think that he had lost gloriously.

"But if you do that, brother, you'll lose your wife."

Seeing them struggling with their decision, Yu Meng said, "Let's go, my parents must be worried sick."

Zhao Changsheng patted Zhao Changjiu on the shoulder, "It's okay, I'll definitely find you a sister-in-law."

On the way back, Zhao Changsheng told them about their situation: his father had been bitten by a wild animal while climbing the mountain and needed a lot of money for hospitalization, but his family couldn't afford it.

Later, a man named Lao Wai approached Zhao Changsheng, offering to lend him money if he would do him a small favor.

Zhao Changsheng couldn't bear to watch his father lie on the kang (a heated brick bed) waiting to die because he had no money for medical treatment, so he agreed. His younger brother overheard this and insisted on coming along, threatening to tell their father otherwise.

"We didn't steal you; I was just responsible for getting you there. They said you'd sell for five gold coins because of your talent, and they'd noticed you a while ago," Zhao Changsheng said as he drove.

"This car belongs to that guy called Lao Wai."

Zhao Changsheng nodded. "He's not afraid we'll run away; my dad's still in the hospital. We can't possibly run away."

Yu Meng pondered to herself that people in her town had been saying that children would go missing. Apparently, there was a group of human traffickers. But if she caught them, no, she was too young. She thought of the person who had offered to cooperate with her.

As it was getting dark, the car stopped. "The town we're in is just ahead. Have you thought about what to do?"

Yu Meng nodded. "Go to this place and find a man named Li Yiqing. Tell him I want to collaborate with him." She then handed him a piece of paper. "Give this to him and tell him to have Yu Li open it."

Zhao Changsheng repeated it. Yu Meng nodded.

"You know there's an old Wei family's recycling shop at the end of the street, right? I'll have my dad wait for you there; consider it payment for bringing me back."

"Hey, little girl, can we come to you if we need anything?" Zhao Changjiu called out from the side.

"Do you know where I live?" Yu Meng asked.

"I know. We wandered around there for seven days." Zhao Changjiu said a little embarrassed.

Yu Meng nodded, "Okay then. I'll be going now."

In the blink of an eye, Yu Meng disappeared into the night, moving very quickly.

Zhao Changjiu pointed in the direction Yu Meng had gone, "Brother, what happened to her? Can she fly?"

Zhao Changsheng wiped away imaginary sweat. "Changjiu, we've probably encountered a master."

Zhao Changjiu slapped his thigh. "Brother, let's follow her from now on, what do you say?"

"I wish they would take us in."

"She's asking you to do something now, so do it well. If she's happy, she might remember us if she needs anything later. Go now. I need to hide the car for a few days so Lao Wai can't see it. Brother, be careful when you go to town too," Zhao Changjiu nagdredged on.

Yu Meng was incredibly fast, and she had never told anyone that her right foot was special. It possessed extraordinary power; with just a flick of her right foot, the force would propagate in waves. Wherever that point of force touched, that place would be damaged. The degree of damage depended on Yu Meng's mood.

When Yu Meng arrived home, the front door was open, and she could still hear her mother crying.

Jiang Mingfeng comforted Dali in the yard, "My dad has already asked the public security brigade to investigate, and we should have the results tomorrow."

"Big sister!" A soft call seemed to explode like thunder. Dali turned around abruptly. "Little sister!" She ran over quickly, picked up Yu Meng, and burst into tears. "Little sister, where have you been?"

Hearing Dali's shouts, everyone inside ran out. When they saw it really was Yu Meng, they all stood there crying. Her mother ran over and hugged Yu Meng tightly, "Xiao Si, you're back! Are you hungry? Are you hurt?"