Old Mrs. Song is reborn; get out of here, you scumbag husband and illegitimate child!

Two male police officers were taking notes outside the curtain.

A female police officer in charge of assessing injuries is examining the injuries from behind a curtain.

Song Xianglan forced herself to stand up and recounted Erhua's disappearance and what the group from Zhangjiazhuang had said earlier.

I've told you everything in detail.

"Comrade, this is human trafficking. That old beast just admitted that he paid money, but it wasn't a bride price; it was money to buy his life."

Song Xianglan's voice was terribly hoarse, and every word she spoke sounded bloody. "In this remote mountain village, countless wronged women's souls are buried. You can't just ignore it."

The policewoman had short hair and looked to be in her early thirties at most.

He was writing down his injuries in a notebook with a pen.

The more she listened, the paler her face became, and the knuckles of her fingers, gripping the pen, turned blue from the effort.

She lifted the tattered sheet covering Erhua's body, her gaze falling on the mangled flesh. Her hand trembled violently, and the tip of her pen pierced the record paper.

"These beasts..." The policewoman gritted her teeth, her eyes instantly reddening.

We are both women.

The scene was so horrific it was unbearable to look at.

Song Xianglan looked at the policewoman and said, "If women don't help each other, there's no way to survive in this world. We have empathy and can't stand seeing people being trampled into the mud. We need to have the courage to overturn these rotten practices."

The nurse next to her was wiping Erhua's lower body.

Upon hearing this, tears streamed down her face, and she moved her hands even more gently.

Song Xianglan took a breath, her eyes sharpening:

"I'm not a pushover. We have to be careful who we help. I absolutely won't help those who want to drag us down with them. But this child... this child has suffered terribly."

The policewoman took a deep breath and described the injuries of Song Xianglan and Nie Erhua as much more serious.

She closed the notebook and forcefully smoothed out the torn page.

"Auntie, there's something... I need to tell you something."

The policewoman glanced at Erhua, who was still unconscious.

The voice was kept very low.

With a disgusting, unspeakable feeling, he said, "Of the few we caught outside, one of them, wanting to make amends, confessed."

Song Xianglan's heart skipped a beat.

"What did you confess?"

"That old man Zhang bought Erhua because he really wanted to carry on the family line. But after all these years of trying, Erhua hasn't gotten pregnant." The policewoman's throat bobbed as she said this, as if trying to suppress the urge to vomit. "That old man is really impotent."

Song Xianglan dug her fingernails into her palm.

"Starting last year..."

The policewoman closed her eyes briefly. "He kept Erhua tied up at home. As long as they gave him money or food, any bachelor or old man from the nearby villages could get into that house..."

"Clang!"

The nurse next to her slipped, and the stainless steel tray fell to the ground.

The piercing sound echoed in the treatment room.

Song Xianglan felt as if the taut string in her mind snapped.

A chill ran from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head, making her shiver all over. Then came a wildfire that burned her internal organs with pain.

She's a person!

She's a living, breathing person!

They were treated like livestock.

They were used as a tool for venting their frustrations.

He was chained in the darkness, living a life without seeing the light of day.

"Arrest them all. I'm going to kill them!" Song Xianglan suddenly sat up in bed, aggravating the injury on her back, causing her vision to blur, but she didn't care. "Officer, who are those people? Do you have a list?"

The policewoman reached out and pressed down on Song Xianglan, shaking her head with a bitter expression.

"Auntie, calm down."

"I can't calm down."

"There are too many to catch."

The policewoman's voice was filled with deep helplessness. "That involves several villages, possibly even hundreds of people. It's all about local clan relationships, deeply entrenched. The law doesn't punish everyone... It's especially difficult to handle in this place."

Even she, a local, knows how difficult this is.

Song Xianglan stiffened and slumped back onto the bed.

Yes.

Not decades from now.

In these remote mountainous areas, clan power outweighs the law.

The local police are also locals; they can easily become relatives even through unconventional means.

Even if someone dies, this problem will never be solved.

Even if it's exposed, who will be arrested?

The whole village arrested?

Even prisons can't hold them all.

A deep sense of powerlessness overwhelmed her like a tide.

There was movement on the hospital bed next to me.

"mom……"

A very soft call.

Erhua woke up, her eyes still somewhat dazed, but at this moment she stared intently at Song Xianglan, as if she were her only lifeline.

Song Xianglan could no longer hold back her tears.

He rushed over and grabbed Erhua's withered and thin hand.

"Erhua, Third Aunt is here."

Erhua just shook her head and stubbornly shouted:

"Mother……"

In her confused memories, only the word "Mom" could give her a sense of security.

Song Xianglan looks like her mother and is good to her; that's what mothers are like.

Song Xianglan felt as if her heart was being torn apart, but she stopped correcting her and reached out to touch Erhua's messy hair: "Hey, Mom's here."

She took a deep breath.

Pointing to Erhua's slightly protruding belly, he asked the most cruel question.

"Erhua, listen to Mom. There's something in your belly. Do you want this thing, or do you want Mom?"

Erhua followed Song Xianglan's finger to her stomach, and a flash of extreme fear suddenly appeared in her eyes.

She began to tremble all over, as if she had remembered something extremely terrifying, and desperately burrowed into Song Xianglan's arms.

"No...it hurts...I'm scared..."

Erhua was incoherent, clutching Song Xianglan's sleeve tightly, "I want my mom, I want my mom, I only want my mom."

For her, this child brought only pain and torment.

Song Xianglan turned her head, her eyes as cold as ice.

"Doctor, this child cannot be kept. Please arrange surgery."

The doctor was about to nod.

The curtain next to them was suddenly pulled open.

An elderly woman, who looked to be in her fifties, was receiving an IV drip. She had been listening nearby and couldn't help but chime in:

"Oh, young lady, you can't say things like that."

The child is innocent, and he is not guilty either.

With just one sentence, you've deprived him of the opportunity to see the world. Isn't that a terrible thing to do?

The treatment room fell silent instantly.

The doctors and nurses frowned.

I was just about to pull the curtain back.

Song Xianglan glared angrily at the old woman.

Song Xianglan sneered, her voice not loud, but every word was like a knife, "How did this child come to be? Every drop of his blood flows with the sins of bad people, his birth is original sin."

The old lady was startled by Song Xianglan's murderous gaze.

He shrank his neck.

"That...that was a life too..."

"His paternal bloodline is disgustingly filthy." Song Xianglan pointed to Erhua's scarred face. "If this bastard is left, she will have to watch her enemy's face flash before her eyes for the rest of her life."

Every glance is a reminder of the suffering she has endured.

How are you going to let her live?

You say the child is innocent, but isn't she innocent too?

"With such a compassionate heart, you're going to raise a son for those bad people?"

The old lady's face flushed red, and she stammered, unable to speak.

"I...I just said it offhand..."

"What you say offhand is the most fucking bullshit." Song Xianglan spat fiercely. "Don't advise others to be kind if you haven't experienced their suffering. Shut your filthy mouth, or I'll sew your mouth shut if you dare utter another word."

The old woman was so frightened that she dared not utter another sound.

The doctor then walked over, interrupting the standoff.

"The patient is too weak; performing an abortion now would be too risky. We'll administer antibiotics intravenously to control the inflammation first, and then schedule the surgery in a couple of days. Take her to a ward now."

……

A five-person ward.

Song Xianglan and Erhua were seated by the window.

Just as I settled in, the door was pushed open.

Huang Ronghua came running in, panting, carrying two net bags containing aluminum lunch boxes and several steamed buns.

"Godmother, I bought some porridge."

Huang Ronghua put the things down, glanced at Erhua huddled under the covers, and her eyes reddened again.

But he quickly wiped his face and lowered his voice to speak:

"We've got news from the police station!"

Song Xianglan took a sip of water to soothe her burning throat:

"Did Zhou Fang and the others not suffer any losses?"

As Huang Ronghua served Song Xianglan porridge, he said, "When we get to the police station, the people from Zhangjiazhuang will turn around and accuse us of assault."

"Zhou Fang brought up Xiang Dong and also mentioned his relationship with his father-in-law's family in Haishi. Song Fei shouted that he had overseas Chinese relatives and said that this was a serious matter. If it was not dealt with seriously, he would go to the provincial capital to complain to the foreigners."

Song Xianglan was stunned.

He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

These kids may look reckless, but they're actually quite shrewd.

These days, it's not enough to just be right; you also need power.

The people from Zhangjiazhuang dare to be so arrogant because they think outsiders have no connections.

Now that Zhou Fang and his group have ripped off the "tiger skin" and revealed the background, the nature of the situation has immediately changed.

"What's the attitude of those police officers now?" Song Xianglan asked.

"Godmother, don't worry too much."

Huang Ronghua handed the porridge to Song Xianglan, leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "Song Fei is really ruthless. He told me at the police station just now that if the law is too lenient, he has plenty of ways to make those bastards regret being born when they get out."

Song Xianglan lowered her head and took a sip of porridge, the warmth flowing down her throat into her stomach.

A ruthless glint flashed in her eyes.

"This isn't over yet. Once Erhua's surgery is over and she's fully recovered, we'll settle the score with those beasts."