The phone rang.

Liu Fen answered before Tang Hongen could reach it. She was worried it might be about Tang Youru—they had agreed to keep it from Tang Hongen initially. But Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng had acted so swiftly, coupled with Tang Fujun’s family’s eagerness for “compensation,” once the matter was exposed, everything happened too quickly. Xia Xiaolan hadn’t even had time to warn Liu Fen before Zhou Cheng asked Officer Ma to bring people in.

Now that the arrests had been made, it was time to tell Tang Hongen. The phone call came at precisely this moment.

“Is it Xiaolan calling? What’s happening so early?”

Ah, she was always rushing to answer the phone—he would have let her anyway! Tang Hongen had a smile on his face, but Liu Fen’s expression was troubled. As she listened, her eyes reddened, and she held the receiver while looking at him.

“Ah Fen, what’s wrong?”

Liu Fen handed him the receiver: “It’s not Xiaolan, it’s Zhou Cheng. Let Zhou Cheng tell you.”

Her concern was so evident that although Tang Hongen guessed at many possibilities, he never imagined Zhou Cheng would call early in the morning about Tang Youru’s matter!

Ah Fen and these two kids had been searching for his little sister behind his back?

And indeed, they had uncovered something—the clues were in his overlooked hometown, with his sister-in-law Shi Surong, whom he never wanted to deal with again… Zhou Cheng’s words on the phone made Tang Hongen grip the receiver so tightly his knuckles turned white!

“Alright, I understand. You and Xiaolan keep things under control in Beijing. I’ll be there soon.”

After hanging up, Tang Hongen sat in a daze.

Liu Fen was very worried.

“Ah Fen, I never imagined this.”

Though Shi Surong hadn’t confessed, the man nicknamed Lu Datou had already admitted everything.

Lu Datou had done this kind of trafficking many times. When the police came, his guilty conscience got the better of him. He had only stopped in recent years due to his age, never expecting that justice would eventually catch up with him…

Such people deserved death by a thousand cuts!

His poor little sister.

Tang Hongen hadn’t cried when he was sent to the cattle pen, but now his glasses fogged up.

Liu Fen sat down beside him and embraced him: “Hongen, we’ll find her. We’ll bring your little sister back.”

Soon after, the phone rang again.

This time, it was Secretary Lai, calling about Tang Chunlei’s plea for help.

Secretary Lai knew Tang Xianzhong had passed away recently. Would the leader want to get involved in Tang Chunlei’s request for help?

Regardless, this was a Tang family internal matter. Out of caution, Secretary Lai felt he should consult Tang Hongen.

“Tang Chunlei wants me to mediate justice?”

“Leader, what do you think…”

Tang Hongen said gravely: “Fine, I’ll serve this ‘justice’ for his mother. Xiao Lai, please book two tickets to Beijing, as soon as possible!”

Wasn’t it about serving justice?

As their uncle, he naturally shouldn’t appear completely heartless.

However, whether the final justice would be what Tang Chunlei wanted—that he couldn’t guarantee!

Around noon.

Xia Xiaolan kept checking her watch repeatedly.

Zhou Cheng had already gone to the police station, while she waited at the airport to receive Tang Hongen and her mother.

Just before one o’clock, she finally saw their figures.

Xia Xiaolan jogged over to them.

“Mom, Uncle Tang!”

“How’s the situation now? You and Zhou Cheng have worked hard,” Tang Hongen asked directly.

Xia Xiaolan briefly explained: “Shi Surong still won’t confess, but Lu Datou admitted everything. He said that 29 years ago, Shi Surong and her husband sold Little Aunt to him, and he then resold her elsewhere. Zhou Cheng and Officer Ma think we should follow Lu Datou’s leads.”

Did Shi Surong’s confession matter anymore?

What mattered was that the human trafficker Lu Datou had confessed.

He was a part-time trafficker. After the Reform and Opening Up policy, when private business was allowed, Lu Datou started trading livestock between villages and stopped trafficking humans.

If it weren’t for Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng’s determination to find Tang Youru, Lu Datou would have escaped legal punishment after his retirement.

Tang Hongen dared not imagine what his little sister endured after being sold.

Now he only hoped she was still alive.

Being alive was better than anything else.

“Investigate this Lu Datou thoroughly. Human traffickers always have a network—only traffickers can find people the police can’t. The upstream connects to downstream—follow Lu Datou’s chain of buyers!”

A fire burned in Tang Hongen’s chest.

He even hated himself for his so-called tolerance!

After his rehabilitation and return to work, he hadn’t thought about revenge against his brother and sister-in-law, treating them as strangers, never to interact again.

During that turbulent era, many inhumane things happened due to the special environment, and he wasn’t the only one who suffered such experiences.

After rehabilitation, he hadn’t magnanimously forgiven them—at most, he had ignored them, treating them as strangers.

But what happened to his little sister—Tang Hongen could never forgive that.

In the early 1950s, though the Tang family wasn’t wealthy, they weren’t so poor they had no rice to cook!

If times were hard, they were hard for everyone—the country had just been established, and everywhere was poor.

If other families could manage, why couldn’t the Tang family?

Why did they have to sell his little sister… Tang Hongen remembered his little sister with her two dimples when she smiled. He would hold her on his knee and teach her to write—even after twenty or thirty years, those memories remained vivid!

Thinking of his little sister being sold, suffering who knows what hardships in a strange place with a strange family, felt like someone was cutting his heart with a knife.

A pair of hands gripped his.

It was Ah Fen.

Ah Fen was always there.

Tang Hongen suppressed his pain and managed a weak smile.

Soon, Xia Xiaolan drove them to the police station.

As soon as Tang Hongen got out of the car, anxious Tang family members rushed over.

“Second Uncle, I didn’t expect you to come personally…”

Tang Chunlei thought sending a secretary or making a phone call could have resolved this.

The second Uncle coming personally showed he still valued family ties. If only his father hadn’t been so stubborn—if he had apologized to Second Uncle earlier, the family could have reconciled long ago!

Tang Ruojia also had tears in her eyes, “Second Uncle, these people suddenly arrested my mother from home—you must help us!”

Tang Hongen ignored both his understanding nephew and fragile niece, turning to ask Xia Xiaolan:

“Where’s Tang Fujun’s family? Are they here?”

Xia Xiaolan nodded, “They’re all waiting in the station. They want you to question them personally.”

Tang Chunlei and Tang Ruojia were bewildered.

How did Tang Fujun’s family get involved?

The second Uncle wasn’t close with anyone in the family, let alone these distant relatives!

Tang Hongen strode into the police station. Tang Ruojia tugged at her brother Tang Chunlei’s sleeve, “Brother, yesterday I saw Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng talking to Tang Fujun and his wife in the village.”

How were these events connected?

Tang Chunlei still didn’t know what had happened, but he had a very bad feeling.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier!”