Being a kindergarten teacher really was a good identity.

I had sold her granddaughter, yet she still had to apologize to me.

Yes, you should apologize to me. Why was your child a granddaughter?

It made me earn so much less money.

Besides… this couldn’t be blamed on me.

If you all weren’t so poor, I would have treated you very well.

“Auntie, you don’t need to apologize to her.” Chen Ting pulled the old lady and said, “I’ll take you to see the police. You can say whatever you need to say.”

She looked at me meaningfully: “Say whatever you have to say. We’ll catch the bad people sooner or later.”

They turned and entered the police station. I didn’t have that kind of patience.

I returned home, lay on the bed, and counted the money.

Three thousand yuan, no more, no less. It was time to get myself some essence and eye cream.

I’d been very angry lately. I had to take good care of myself.

I browsed through my phone, preparing to scout several more targets in my leisure time, so I went online to search for the most profitable industries in society today.

A new term appeared before my eyes.

“Psychological Counselor.”

Online, it said psychological counselors made a lot of money—expensive counselors charged several thousand yuan per hour of consultation.

I quickly got an idea. I found a psychological counseling studio very close by, targeted a young and accomplished male counselor there, added his contact information, and started flirting with him.

A psychological counselor truly was a profession specialized in chatting with people—chatting with him was very comfortable.

I told him that because of my inadequate care for children, I had received criticism from many people. He also extended a warm invitation to me, saying he could diagnose me once for free.

How could he be so kind?

He had just seen those revealing photos in my social media feed.

But this was exactly what I wanted.

Three days later, in the evening, when I was arranging to meet with that psychological counselor the next day, I was suddenly startled by an urgent knocking at the door.

“Who is it?”

Bang bang bang!

“Who?”

I kept asking, but there was no answer from outside. I was getting a bit panicked.

Bang bang bang!

“If you keep knocking, I’ll call the police!”

“Call the police my ass, it’s me!” Brother Qu’s low voice came through. “Open the door!”

My whole body stiffened. I couldn’t help feeling a bit afraid.

What was he doing here?

Didn’t he know the police were looking for him?

After thinking for a few seconds, I slowly opened the door.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Let’s talk inside.”

Without a word, he pushed the door open and went straight into the room.

“Brother Qu…” I was somewhat angry. “Do you know how dangerous the situation is right now? If you want to get caught, I don’t. That girl…”

Before I could finish, Brother Qu tossed over an envelope.

I opened it to look—it was two stacks of bills, probably twenty thousand yuan.

“Xiao Ran, I found good buyers. The people in their village have money and high demand for children. Are you interested in doing another job?”

I could hardly believe I could receive over twenty thousand yuan this time.

“Do another job…?” I hesitated somewhat. “Brother Qu, do you know what critical moment this is?”

“One last time.” He lit a cigarette and said to me, “This time I’ll give you fifty thousand yuan. After that, we’re even.”

I wanted to refuse righteously, but the four words “fifty thousand yuan” were too enticing.

“Brother Qu, sixty thousand yuan.” I said. “This time I’ll pick a smart little boy for you. I guarantee the buyers will like him.”

“Don’t push your luck. This money needs to be divided among many people. If I give you sixty thousand, I won’t be able to explain it.” Brother Qu flicked the ash on the ground, his eyes extremely cold. “Fifty thousand. Yes or no?”

I looked at his expression, swallowed slightly, and said, “Sixty thousand. Not a penny less.”

“You bitch…” Brother Qu gritted his teeth. “You want to die?”

I squeezed out a smile: “Brother Qu, right now the police are worried about not finding evidence. You wouldn’t want to be reported, would you?”

“We’re grasshoppers tied to the same rope.” Brother Qu said heavily. “If you report me, can you escape yourself?”

“I was coerced.” I smiled. “I can’t beat you, so I had no choice but to follow your arrangements.”

“You…” Brother Qu glared at me, thought for a while, and said, “Fine. Sixty thousand it is.”

“This time I want one hand to deliver the money, one hand to deliver the person.” I said.

“Why the hell do you only think of good things?” Brother Qu sniffed. “We need to sell the goods before we can have money. How could we possibly give you money as soon as we meet?”

“That’s not within my consideration.” I shook my head and said, “I’m only responsible for bringing the person out. So when I hand the child over to you, my work is done.”

Brother Qu extinguished the cigarette in his hand, moved his obese body to stand up, then reached out and lifted my top.

“Xiao Ran, thinking you’re so clever will get you killed sooner or later.” He said.

Without courtesy, I directly removed my top.

“Brother Qu, beautiful women are dangerous drugs.” I slowly grabbed his pants. “You’re already deeply addicted, aren’t you?”

“Heh.”

…

The next day, Brother Qu left again before dawn. I also came to the kindergarten as usual.

I decided that after this deal was completed, I would leave this place.

Anywhere would do. With this eighty thousand yuan in hand, I’d dress myself up nicely and hook a few more big fish.

Now I had capital—I should be able to access more high-class places.

Near dismissal time, I again proposed to take a child home. This time, my chosen target was Chen Moran.

This child was also easy to get. I heard his mother had something growing in her brain and was in the hospital preparing for surgery. His father was so busy he couldn’t manage—how could he have time to look after the child?

Chen Ting very seriously refused me. She insisted I was connected to human traffickers, so she absolutely couldn’t hand the child over to me no matter what.

“Listen, Chen Ting, think about it carefully…” I said to her with a fake smile. “Even if I really am an accomplice of human traffickers, how could I possibly commit crimes repeatedly in such a short time?”

She thought for a while and said, “That still won’t work. Call Chen Moran’s parents and have them come pick him up.”

“Okay, okay…”

I was so clever.

I had already anticipated this situation.

I opened my phone’s contact list, scrolled to “Chen Moran’s Father’s” number, barely showed it to Chen Ting, then dialed.

Brother Qu answered the phone.

“Hello, is this Chen Moran’s father?” I asked.

The other side paused, then said, “What’s wrong?”

“Sorry, could you please come pick up the child after school?” I asked with a smile. “I’ll wait for you at the entrance.”

“Got it.” Brother Qu answered in a low voice.

“Give me the phone.” Chen Ting said.

I shook my head and handed over the phone.

“Hello.” Chen Ting took the phone and said, “Are you Chen Moran’s father?”

“Yeah.”

“Please be sure to come pick up Chen Moran on time. There are human traffickers around the kindergarten right now.” Chen Ting said. “Also, please note down a phone number. This is the officer in charge of the kidnapping case at our kindergarten. If you can’t make it, please call the officer. The officer will be responsible for taking the child home.”

Chen Ting gave the other side a phone number.

“Okay, I understand.”

After hanging up, Chen Ting turned to me and said, “Xiao Ran, I’ll have the police watch the school entrance surveillance at all times. If you dare take the child away, I absolutely won’t let you off.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” I smiled and nodded. “I told you I’m not colluding with those traffickers.”

I was about to shake off Brother Qu—how could I possibly collude with him?

After school, I stood at the school entrance holding Chen Moran’s hand, quietly waiting.

I had already instructed Brother Qu that he just needed to throw the money to me when he snatched the child, and I would still have no suspicion.

However, I felt the atmosphere around the school today was somewhat strange, as if many people were watching me.

Were they envying me?

I stared at the three tall pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in the distance and devoutly made a wish.

I hoped Buddha would bless me, this pitiful woman, and bless me to always prosper.

After completing this deal today, I’d go meet that psychological counselor tonight. Just thinking about it—what a prosperous day!