“Uncle Tang—”

Tang Hongen stumbled at the doorway, but Zhou Cheng, who was standing by the door, caught him.

When he straightened up, he found Xia Xiaolan and the others looking at him with concern.

His anger had gotten the better of him earlier; he had maintained composure in front of Shi Surong but nearly collapsed after leaving the interrogation room.

“I’m fine. She has confessed. Now the focus is on following Lu Datou’s leads to find her!”

A fire was raging in Tang Hongen’s heart, burning his internal organs with pain, making him wish he could reduce Shi Surong, Lu Datou, and the others to ashes—this fury needed an outlet!

“We’ll find her, no matter the cost,” Liu Fen said, feeling helpless with worry.

She had never seen Tang Hongen this angry before!

He was always composed, wise, and in control… The fire burning within Tang Hongen was scorching Liu Fen too; her heart ached for her husband!

“Uncle Tang, please take care of yourself. How can you reunite with Aunt if you make yourself ill? We’ll find her. There are too many evil people in this world; good people can’t be the only ones suffering.”

Bad people did evil things and lived comfortably while good people suffered.

Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t count on heaven to deliver retribution to evil people—heaven was too busy and might not get around to it for a long time. Better to roll up their sleeves and handle it themselves!

Tang Hongen nodded, “You’re right.”

Good people couldn’t be the only ones suffering.

He didn’t know if Little Ru would grow up to be good or bad, but when she was lost, she was an innocent child.

There were no trafficked children who didn’t suffer; it was just a matter of how much.

While his sister was suffering, Shi Surong and Tang Xianzhong were spending the money from selling her.

His mother had fallen ill from the shock and passed away.

Tang Hongen made two phone calls at the police station, and in just half a day, the case was transferred from the local police station to the city bureau, with the station assisting.

“Comrade Zhenxing, this isn’t about doubting your abilities. I hope you can understand my feelings. For 29 whole years, I’ve been in torment! Finding her one day, even one hour earlier means one hour less suffering for her…”

“I understand, completely!”

Assisting was fine with Ma Zhenxing; he hadn’t planned to claim all the credit for this case anyway. Solving it quickly was what mattered.

Better yet if they could follow the leads and save more people!

Outside the police station, Tang Chunlei and Tang Ruojia were stunned.

The police cars coming and going—what major case had occurred?

Finally, Tang Hongen emerged from the police station surrounded by several people. Tang Chunlei’s heart was racing as he forced himself forward:

“Second Uncle—”

Tang Hongen nodded, “I know what you’re worried about. Don’t worry, I’ll handle this matter!”

These words should have delighted Tang Chunlei, but for some reason, he couldn’t meet Tang Hongen’s eyes.

He felt intimidated by the official authority!

In that moment of hesitation, Tang Hongen had already gotten into the car.

Xia Xiaolan persuaded Liu Fen to get in too, “Mom, Zhou Cheng, and I are here. We’ll notify you immediately of any developments.”

Through the lowered window, Tang Hongen remembered to instruct Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng:

“Let the police handle the investigation. Just assist from the side, don’t exhaust yourselves.”

Without even glancing at Tang Chunlei and his sister, the car sped away.

As Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng were about to return to discuss going to Jibei Province with Ma Zhenxing, Tang Ruojia suddenly jumped out and grabbed her arm:

“Stop right there! Xia Xiaolan, explain yourself clearly, what’s going on?”

“Ruojia, don’t make trouble—”

“Big brother, you’re still defending them? They act one way in front of Second Uncle and another behind his back. I must make her explain!”

With such little strength, Xia Xiaolan could easily break free without Zhou Cheng’s help.

Xia Xiaolan gave a cold smile:

“You’re quite perceptive. I truly look down on you all. The rot starts with your parents—bad bamboo can’t produce good shoots. Tang Ruojia, what about you deserves any respect? Haven’t even gotten into Huaqing University yet but already acting like heaven’s favored daughter. Uncle Tang hasn’t even acknowledged you thick-skinned relatives, yet you think you’re a high official’s niece, so noble? I’ve never seen a ‘beggar’ put on such airs!”

“Who do you think you are? You only married Second Uncle because of your mother, and now you’re bullying others—”

Tang Ruojia’s eyes welled with tears.

She had always been proud, but Xia Xiaolan had publicly said such harsh words, and worse, each word had struck her weaknesses.

Still young and inexperienced, without thick enough skin, she was about to cry.

It was pathetic that she couldn’t even compete in thick-skinnedness with Xia Xiaolan.

“At least I have a mother I can rely on. You’re the pitiful one—your mother only drags you down. Better try getting into Huaqing University on your merit. As for being a high official’s niece, I’m afraid you won’t have that pleasure!”

Xia Xiaolan’s attitude and the implications in her words, along with Second Uncle’s indifference toward them, transformed Tang Chunlei’s unease into reality.

Xia Xiaolan saw that he was more clear-headed than Tang Ruojia; though bewildered, he didn’t come forward to argue.

“Brother Chunlei, I’ll call you this one last time. I feel you’re not entirely bad. Life is unpredictable—without your desire to repair relations with Uncle Tang and proposal to search for our ‘lost’ aunt, we wouldn’t have discovered the truth about how she was ‘lost.’ I almost want to thank you… But for you, things didn’t go as planned. You knew Uncle Tang and Little Aunt were close, that he was haunted by her ‘disappearance,’ but you didn’t know that your mother, that venomous woman, had sold her to human traffickers!”

“Impossible!”

His mother sold Little Aunt?

Tang Chunlei wanted to rush into the police station to get answers.

Before he could think further, Zhou Cheng came over:

“No need to waste words with them. Didn’t Uncle Tang say he would see justice done!”

Only the target of justice wasn’t who the Tang siblings thought—not the arrested Shi Surong, but the sold Tang Youru!

Leaving the Tang siblings behind, Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng began their journey.

That same day, they followed the police to Jibei Province.

Lu Datou’s downstream contact wasn’t Tang Youru’s actual buyer; that person had resold her. The seller had specified selling her to a remote and poor area, which happened to be exactly where traffickers preferred to sell.

After all, unlike today, back then the government had cleared out all the dens of vice-like brothels and opium houses. Trafficked boys were mostly sold to childless families as adopted sons, while trafficked girls were sold as adopted daughters or child brides.

Tang Youru was resold five times before finally being sold as a child bride in Dian Province!