It seems that the villain is targeting me.

The relative here refers to her third cousin, who was also the one who introduced Zheng Qiong to the job in the factory.

Those two days happened to be the days when the factory paid salaries. She accidentally overheard the finance department chatting with someone and suddenly realized that her third cousin had been fraudulently collecting her salary.

The normal daily wage in the factory is 60 yuan per day, and night shifts are charged separately.

But the third cousin told Zheng Qiong that she only had 25 yuan a day, and the extra 35 yuan was secretly deducted by him, the introducer, and split with the finance department in a 40% to 60% ratio.

Only then did she realize that the people recommended by her third cousin to work in the factory seemed to have similar characteristics:

They are either left-behind children like Aqiong whose parents are working away from home, or young girls who come from the countryside to work and know nothing.

My third cousin is so heartless that he obviously has no conscience at all. He keeps trying to take advantage of relatives and friends.

What made Aqiong even more frightened was that his third cousin was far from satisfied with this.

This person also wants to make more money by taking advantage of these young kids who know nothing.

From then on, Aqiong always paid attention to the words and deeds of his third cousin, and finally caught him once.

This was actually his own gaffe after drinking, in which he proudly talked about his glorious deeds when he was working in the past.

According to my third cousin, a worker in the factory where he used to work had his arm cut off by a machine. According to regulations, the factory had to compensate the worker with a large sum of money.

As a result, the third cousin suddenly had an idea and threatened the other party that he had damaged mechanical equipment worth millions and had to stay and pay compensation.

The worker was frightened and resigned on his own initiative. The factory did not compensate him a penny, but he was promoted by the boss as an exception because he recovered the "losses" for the factory.

"Back then, I made… three times what I make now! More than three times!"

My third cousin was cursing and burping at the same time.

"Oh, if it weren't for... if it weren't for the factory going bankrupt... I, I would still be doing well there!"

"I'm so unlucky! I'm not destined to be that way, you know?" He beat his chest and stamped his feet at the table, "I'm not destined to be that... rich!"

Someone at the table agreed with him, saying, "Yes, it's hard to make money nowadays, and all the bosses are black-hearted."

Finally, the third cousin smiled again with his eyes narrowed, and said with a big tongue: "Oh, don't worry, don't worry, there are still ways to make money."

We have to wait a little longer. What my third cousin said is very intriguing. We have to wait for a while.

A few people set up a table in the factory dam, bought some cold dishes and peanuts, and started bragging and chatting.

They had no intention of lowering their voices, so Arjun, who was watching from a distance, heard everything clearly.

After thinking about those words for a while, I basically understood: the "method" of making money that my third cousin mentioned was most likely her.

Do you want to take away the fruits of her labor and make her work for nothing without getting paid?

Or did he intend to deliberately let her become "unfortunately" disabled while working on the assembly line so as to extort compensation from the factory?

In short, no matter which one it is, Arjun doesn't want to be a "means" for others to make money.

She didn't ask her third cousin to "wait for a while".

After finding out the factory where his uncle used to work, Zheng Qiong spent two cents to make two calls in a public telephone booth.

Not long after, the unfortunate worker brought a large group of relatives to the factory to make trouble.

My third cousin was grabbed by the indignant family members, pinned to the ground and beaten so badly that two of his teeth were knocked out. If the police had not responded quickly, he would probably have died there.

The last factory

The manager tried to settle the matter peacefully and fired my third cousin on the spot, and also asked the finance department, who had been in cahoots with him for a long time, to pack up and leave as well.

Zheng Qiong did not tell her grandmother the details of the incident, nor did she have time to tell her child.

Although my third cousin is a bastard, he is still a relative of mine with a close blood relationship.

This also involves the grievances and hatreds of the previous generation, which is really difficult to sort out.

She didn't want her grandmother to worry about the younger generations at her age, so she kept it a secret.

At this point, she thought the matter was resolved.

Arqiong still remembers that he went to work in the factory that day as usual.

Because her work ID was damaged, she went back home to replace it with a spare one, and had lunch with her grandmother and her sister who had just finished school.

The work on the assembly line was no different from usual, so she worked diligently. However, not long after, the manager came to see her.

The other party asked her to resign voluntarily on the pretext that she had concealed the fact that she was a minor.

It was indeed true that he was a minor, and Arjun had already anticipated that he would be fired.

Since the third cousin was fired from the factory, given his cynical personality, he would definitely retaliate by making her lose her job, regardless of whether he knew that it was Aqiong who did it or not.

Fortunately, Aqiong didn't miss this job that required him to stay up late and work overtime.

She read the resignation terms briefly and thought there wouldn't be any traps, so she signed them, took her compensation and prepared to leave.

However, what surprised her was that after she came out of the factory, she actually saw her third cousin with a bruised face and nose at the door.

It seemed that the other party had been waiting at the factory gate for a long time, and Zheng Qiong saw him as soon as he went out.

The third cousin walked towards her with one hand behind his back and a wry smile.

It was as if he had completely forgotten about the fact that he had withheld his wages. He first pretended to be friendly with her for a while, and then he flattered her and asked her to borrow money.

Arjun acted very cold. She didn't want to have anything more to do with her uncle, but she also didn't want to anger him.

She politely declined his request to borrow money, and said that she had to go home to take care of her grandmother and had to leave first.

Although my third cousin failed to borrow the money, he was not angry. Instead, he kept apologizing with a flattering look on his face and even said he would treat Aqiong to a meal.

Arjun also refused.

She noticed that from here on, her third cousin's expression became strange. His face became darker and darker, and he started swearing in dialect.

Aqiong was also a little scared, and shouted loudly that he wanted to go back, and turned around to run away.

But she ultimately failed to leave.

The third cousin grabbed a brick from behind and hit her hard on the back of her neck. Although he didn't knock her out, he made Aqiong stagger and fall to the ground.

She reasonably suspected that the other party hit her on the back of the head.

Zheng Qiong looked back dizzy, and the last image in her memory was a speeding van.

When she woke up again, her hands and feet were tied and she was stuffed into the back seat of the car.

Zheng Qiong finally understood what his uncle meant by the way to make money.

He actually got in touch with human traffickers.

Arjun was so immersed in his memories that he didn't hear the footsteps coming from the floor at first.

It was not until she heard the sound of a lock being turned in the dark room that she realized someone was coming.

Zheng Qiong raised her head quietly and found that the door was open, and dazzling light shone in from outside.

With the help of this dazzling light, she briefly caught a glimpse of the original appearance of the room.

With just a quick glance, Zheng Qiong saw countless numb and gloomy faces, many of which were disabled people with missing limbs, and some of them were even children.

Those twisted limbs and dull eyes... made her feel creepy.

Zheng Qiong noticed that the other two people in the cage were trembling with fear. They shrank timidly to the innermost part of the cage, as if they were afraid of the light.

She hid herself silently, hiding herself behind the door as much as possible.

However, contrary to her wishes, the strangers stopped in front of the cage she was in.

Zheng Qiong smelled a strong smell of disinfectant on those people.

But even such a strong smell of alcohol could not suppress the faint smell of blood coming from them.

"Just check the blood of these few people," Zheng Qiong heard the leader of the group start to order, "Hold on tight, and we'll move the goods tomorrow."

Zheng Qiong stood there in a daze for a long time before realizing that the other party was speaking Cantonese.

Then, her heart skipped a beat: Oh no, I’ve encountered someone who takes the products apart and sells them in retail.

I would also like to thank her for her hobbies when she has nothing to do - this girl loves watching all kinds of movie discs. She rented a lot of pirated ones and took them home, watching them one by one on that old DV player.

Although she can't speak yet, after listening many times, she can understand most of it even without subtitles.

Zheng Qiong probably never thought that her unprofessional hobby would eventually save her life at a critical moment.

Things are getting serious, she thought, these human traffickers are out to kill her.

If they were kidnapped and sold whole, that would be fine, there would always be a chance to escape. What I fear most is having their stomachs ripped open and sold at retail.

He really died in a remote corner and no one knew about it.

But now for Zheng Qiong, even if she knew that the other party had bad intentions, she had no way to deal with it.

Because she was afraid of taking sleeping pills, she endured not drinking much water along the way. After being locked in the iron cage, she didn't get any decent food and had no strength to escape.

A man in a dusty white coat came over, grabbed the person inside through the iron bars, pulled his arm out of the bars and drew blood.

The reactions of these trafficked people were different.

Some people were so scared that they kept shaking and dared not move, while others screamed like crazy and reached out to scratch and beat the people in white coats who were drawing blood.

His white coat was scratched, and he immediately opened the iron cage in anger, pulled out the girl who was resisting fiercely, and dragged her out by her hair.

The heart-wrenching cries gradually faded away from the door.

However, the human traffickers who were still in the room were not moved at all, not even blinking an eyelid.

They were even talking and laughing to each other, but because they spoke too fast, Arjun couldn't hear clearly what they were saying.

The person outside the door didn't come back for a long time, so another person came forward and took over the job of the man in the white coat.

The subsequent blood drawing went much more smoothly. No one resisted and everyone numbly handed over their arms.

I have to think of a way to escape, Arjun reminded himself, I can't just wait for the police to rescue me.

Soon it was her turn. Arjun slowly approached the cage and stretched out her arms.

A needle was inserted into the arm, and a test tube was connected to the other end.

The blood drawing process was actually not very painful. Zheng Qiong watched the somewhat sticky liquid gather at the bottom of the glass tube and fill half of the test tube.

The bright red color gave her a chill.

All the selected people had their blood drawn, but the poor girl at the beginning never came back - perhaps she would never come back.

I won't do that, Zheng Qiong thought, I will resist, I will escape from here, after I have rested well... I will...

Chapter 39 Don't Get Lost

"Eight Treasure Porridge with Peanuts and Melon Seeds, anyone want one?"

The creaking sound of the cart passing by woke Chen Xiaoya from her sleep. She opened her eyes in a daze and found that the person who had been sleeping next to her had disappeared at some point.

Where was she now? Chen Xiaoya looked out the window. She could see scattered buildings gliding by quickly. Perhaps she was close to the city—but where was Xiaoniao? Where was Xiaoniao?

Was everything that happened last night just a dream?

The heart that had just woken up began to beat anxiously.

She quickly scanned the soft sleeper compartment but couldn't find the familiar figure.

Chen Xiaoya used her hands to support the bed and climbed up in a panic. Her movement caused the coat that was originally on her shoulders to slide down to her knees.

She subconsciously grabbed the coat that was still warm in her hand.

Those are Xiaoniao's clothes.

Chen Xiaoya calmed his somewhat disordered breathing and finally felt a little more at ease.

The sound of the cart outside the door had gradually faded away, and Chen Xiaoya stepped forward tentatively, stepping on his shoes.

The sliding door of the soft sleeper compartment was half open, and she was able to see Xiao Niao standing in the aisle outside the compartment. The latter had a frown on his face and seemed to be adjusting and fiddling with something in his hand.

Chen Xiaoya stretched her neck and looked for a while, but she couldn't see clearly what the bird was holding in its hand. She just found that the other person's lips seemed to be moving slightly - she knew that this person usually had the habit of talking to himself, so she was not particularly surprised.

She slowly retracted her neck and sat back on the bed without disturbing anyone.

By now, Chen Xiaoya has basically settled down, and the anxiety he felt about traveling far away for the first time seems to have been greatly alleviated with the presence of his companions.

She sat back on the bed, subconsciously rubbing the white sheets under her palms. When she looked up, she could see the words "Huaxia Railway" written in faded red letters on the wall.

She vaguely remembered that she was holding her schoolbag before going to bed, but when she woke up, she saw that the bag had been patted and tidied up and placed at the head of the bed, together with the shoulder bag that Xiaoniao was carrying.

Chen Xiaoya guessed that Xiaoniao must have woken up first and snatched the schoolbag from her arms - how soundly did she sleep that she couldn't even wake up like this?