Chapter 102 The Middleman

There was another young woman who had been arrested in the same batch as them. He Caiwei woke her up in the same way. The girl was also frightened, but she knew she couldn't shout at this moment, so she didn't speak. Instead, she carefully observed her surroundings.

She recognized the one-year-old child who was placed on the haystack; he was the child of the couple who had shared a sleeper compartment with her on the train.

The couple were both wearing military uniforms, and the man looked to be of a fairly high rank.

This is a terrible thing. How did these human traffickers manage to bring this child here?

The young woman told He Caiwei everything she knew. He Caiwei also felt that the couple who lost their child must have been knocked unconscious by the trafficker, or something must have happened, otherwise the child wouldn't have been taken away by the trafficker like that.

He Caiwei secretly took a thermos from her small cloth bag. The thermos contained malted milk powder, a specialty of this era. She poured a small cup of malted milk powder for each of the group members, and after drinking it, they leaned against the wall to regain their strength.

The children were all still asleep. He Caiwei suddenly felt that the youngest baby seemed to understand, so she quickly went over and picked the baby up. If a child that big woke up and couldn't find anyone, he might cry, and that would definitely disturb the people outside. If someone came in, they would be in trouble.

He Caiwei had just picked up the child when she met his big, dark eyes. The little guy looked at her and realized he didn't recognize her. Suddenly, he pouted and was about to cry. He Caiwei quickly took a candy from her space, unwrapped it, and stuffed it into the child's mouth to stop his crying.

After finally getting the child to sleep, the group carefully examined the cellar. He Caiwei, whose senses were quite acute, heard what sounded like an iron gate opening, the same sound they had heard when the gate to the courtyard opened earlier.

"It looks like someone's trying to get out. Second brother, be careful. I'll go check it out." He Caiwei carefully pushed the cellar entrance and found that it could be opened, but only a small crack. After looking around, she saw a pair of feet wearing green liberation shoes at the door.

Seeing those feet, He Caiwei dared not make any rash moves; she was genuinely afraid of being seen when she opened the cellar.

Suddenly, a soft bark came from outside, and the owner of the pair of canvas shoes standing at the door disappeared from He Caiwei's sight.

He Caiwei darted out of the cellar at lightning speed, while Lu Qingzhu caught the falling wooden lid behind her and carefully put it back in its place.

He Caiwei observed the situation outside the cellar. The place looked like a kitchen, but it seemed like it hadn't been used for a long time. There was a thick layer of dust on the stove, and the cabinets and cupboards were broken.

Judging from its appearance, it was obvious that no one had been here for many years. As soon as she stepped out of the kitchen, she came face to face with the policeman who was about to climb over the wall. He Caiwei was so startled that she staggered back several steps.

When they came out again, they found the person with the gun sitting there waiting for them. They looked at each other but didn't say anything. They just carefully made their way to the main room where there were voices.

There were only three people left in the house, currently in the main room. They were drinking wine and eating peanuts at the octagonal table.

After carefully examining their surroundings and noticing that they didn't have any guns, one of them had a large knife tucked into his waistband and what appeared to be a dagger strapped to his leg.

He gestured towards the police officers on the wall, telling them there were three people inside, and they only had knives, no guns.

The police officer on the wall said something to the people outside, and soon he came down from the wall, followed by three other people.

He Caiwei walked over and whispered, "There were originally six people in here. Three went out to find buyers. The remaining three each had a large knife and a dagger. There were no gun marks. There were three young women and six or seven children in the cellar. One of them was just over one year old. I have already woken up the young women, but I dare not wake up the children. I am afraid they will cry when they wake up."

"Let's find a place to hide and wait until the people who went out to find buyers come back before we arrest them all at once." The lead policeman quickly made a decision; arresting only these three wouldn't be enough.

“There’s a woodpile near the kitchen where we can hide, but I don’t know how many people it can hold. There’s a small door near the kitchen, and a water vat in the backyard; we can also hide there through that small door. Those people don’t go to the backyard; this place is probably a temporary hideout. Besides the main room, the place where they’re drinking right now is the cellar. The rest of the place is covered in a thick layer of dust; it looks like no one’s been here for a long time.” He Caiwei finished speaking and prepared to find a place to hide herself. She needed to find information about these bandits and the person in Kyoto who wanted to sell her. She also needed the letter and her own photo.

She doesn't remember leaving any photos outside, nor does she remember having any photos at all. So how did so many people get her photos?

After arriving here, she didn't take many photos, except for school photos.

When she returned to university to report back from leave, her teacher asked her to provide three one-inch ID photos.

I don't know who had the connections to get her photo and deliver it to human traffickers.

"Little sister, why don't you go back to the cellar first? Wait until things outside are resolved before you come out." The police officer was worried about the safety of the outside world and wanted the girl to go back to the cellar.

"No, I want to get my photos back from them later. I don't know where these people got them from, I need to get them back so I don't have to be on guard against them every day." He Caiwei didn't want to miss the opportunity to get her photos back.

"Photos? What are these human traffickers trying to do? Why do they have your photos?" The police officer was puzzled. This is an operation to arrest human traffickers, so why are these young girls' photos in their hands?

"I don't know. I heard from that guy called Lao Si that someone gave them a small yellow croaker and told them to go to Kyoto, get me out, and sell me. A small yellow croaker, huh? I'm quite valuable." He Caiwei pouted when she mentioned the small yellow croaker.

She's only worth the price of one small yellow croaker! My goodness, she has more than a whole box of small yellow croakers on her, and she's only worth the price of one small yellow croaker.

Suddenly, they heard meowing and barking outside. He Caiwei quickly pulled everyone aside: "Someone's coming. This is their code for entering, and it's predictable." Now they didn't even have time to find a place to hide, so they all huddled together in the kitchen.

It was too dark, and the police were there. They couldn't see clearly how many people came in, but Caiwei and she could make out that three of them were accomplices, and two others were probably middlemen.

Because it was late at night and quiet, they didn't speak, but went straight into the main room after entering the courtyard.

After confirming that there was nothing wrong, they sat down to drink. The two middlemen probably wanted to take advantage of the fact that it was still dark, so they only drank two cups before urging the traffickers on the other side to bring the person out.