Pastoral Daily Life

At the entrance of Xigang Village, Fang Lei parked his car on the side of the road, and Dahei followed Ah Huang into the village. Although it was less than half an hour since they discovered Ah Huang, the traffickers had always been cunning. If they took advantage of this half an hour to transfer Xiao Shi, they would just show up rashly and scare the enemy.

Lu Lingxi looked worriedly in the direction where Dahei had disappeared, praying in his heart that Xiao Shi was still in the village. He had always regarded Xiao Shi as his younger brother, and because Xiao Shi and he shared a secret, they were even closer. When he first heard that Xiao Shi had disappeared, he and Yu Xiaojuan were actually equally worried, and they only wanted to find Xiao Shi as soon as possible.

“Don’t worry, we will definitely find Xiao Shi, he will be fine.” Fang Lei thought of something, “Xiao Shi is very smart, you can see that he gets out of the car every now and then and leaves a mark. He must know that Ah Huang is behind him and is showing him the way.”

When Fang Lei said this, Lu Lingxi nodded. Although he couldn’t understand how Xiao Shi could still be kidnapped by human traffickers since Ah Huang was following him around. This time when he found Xiao Shi, he must talk to him about it, and it would be best if he didn’t wander off alone in the village in the future.

As the thought flashed in his mind, Dahei’s figure had already appeared in sight. From a distance, Dahei called out to Lu Lingxi, who understood that Xiao Shi was still in the village. He breathed out a sigh of relief and looked at Fang Lei, “Xiao Shi is in the village, do we have to wait for the police to come?”

Fang Lei nodded, took the phone and said something. Hanging up the phone he thought for a moment and instructed, “Let’s go around first and see what’s going on, the car will be parked here.”

Originally Fang Lei was thinking that he could do this alone, and that it would be good for Lu Lingxi to wait outside. But then he thought, who knows what would happen later, with Lu Lingxi following, in case something happened, he could still command Dahei and these dogs to interfere, which could be somewhat equal to the force of three or four policemen.

When the two of them got out of the car, Fang Lei kept thinking as he walked. His focus wasn’t on saving Xiao Shi alone, but on whether he could follow the trail and completely break up this human trafficking organization by saving Xiao Shi. Generally speaking, human traffickers have a complete chain of activities from the abduction of children to the sale of them, which is not a matter of one or two people, but a sizeable criminal organisation from top to bottom. In the past, the police used to carry out anti-trafficking activities, but traffickers were vigilant and ran away at the slightest hint of trouble. They roamed the country and were used to moving around, and often the police could only catch a few small fish and shrimps after a long time of setting up a trap.

It also suddenly occurred to Fang Lei that they had acted quickly this time and the traffickers might not be able to react. As long as the police controlled the information not to leak out, they might be able to catch a few big fish. Having made up his mind, Fang Lei took Lu Lingxi and followed Dahei into the village carefully.

It wasn’t yet one o’clock, and the villagers were probably still eating at home. The whole village was very quiet, and there wasn’t a single person outside. Outside the farmhouse, Ah Huang was standing guard. When he saw Lu Lingxi coming, he dug at the wall with some urgency, his intention quite obvious. He wanted to go over the wall and enter. Lu Lingxi tilted his head and took a look. Perhaps because the people there had a guilty conscience, the walls around this house were built higher than those of the surrounding neighbours, almost three metres high, so he didn’t think Ah Huang would be able to climb up. Stroking Ah Huang’s head reassuringly, Lu Lingxi steadied the dogs and looked searchingly at Fang Lei.

Fang Lei nodded appreciatively at Lu Lingxi. If there were some robbers inside, he would have rushed in with the dogs. But there was no telling how many little children would be inside, so Fang Lei couldn’t help but be cautious, just in case the traffickers were deranged enough to use the children as shields. He circled around and was wondering how to proceed when the sound of a man and a woman talking suddenly came from inside the courtyard, and there were faint footsteps coming towards the door.

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At this moment, even if the two of them left, they would not be able to go too far, but the most crucial thing was that if the people inside saw them and became suspicious, there would be trouble. When Fang Lei thought of this, he immediately instructed Dahei to block the door with a few dogs, and when the door opened, before the people inside could react, Dahei and Ah Huang rushed in one after another.

“What’s going on? Where did the wild dogs come from?” The woman’s panicked voice rang out, and the next moment she was thrown to the ground by Dahei.

The man, who wasn’t far from the woman, turned and ran, and three or four dogs rushed in, grabbing the man’s legs with their teeth and dragging him to the ground. The commotion in the courtyard soon woke Lai San, who was sleeping, and he immediately realised that something was wrong. The first thing he did was to look for his mobile phone and try to notify the others.

“Police, don’t move.” Fang Lei appeared at the door.

Lai San threw away his mobile phone and with a ruthless face drew a knife from under the bed. Ah Huang stared at him and leaped forward lightly, biting down on Lai San’s wrist. “Ah!” Lai San screamed miserably and let go of the knife in his hand as Ah Huang pinned him down, his sharp teeth only centimetres away from Lai San’s neck.

“Ah Huang.” Fang Lei said in a deep voice, a little afraid that Ah Huang would bite down. Before Ah Huang could bite, Fang Lei quickly handcuffed Lai San and tied him to the bed. In a short while, the man and woman in the courtyard had also been subdued. Fang Lei found two ropes and skillfully tied them together, and took the rags on the table and gagged the two. “That’s done.” He clapped his hands and looked at Lu Lingxi, “I’ll make a phone call, Xiao Xi, you go find Xiao Shi.”

Lu Lingxi nodded and turned towards the east side of the house. As soon as Lai San had been subdued, Ah Huang squatted there, barking in a low voice through the door. When Lu Lingxi heard it, he knew that Xiao Shi was locked up inside.

“Brother Xiao Xi.” Xiao Shi called out excitedly as he peeked through the crack in the door.

Lu Lingxi finally calmed down when he heard this voice. When he found the key and opened the door, Xiao Shi rushed into Lu Lingxi’s arms like an arrow. Lu Lingxi hugged Xiao Shi and smiled, but when he raised his eyes to see the situation inside the shed, his smile suddenly froze on his face. Xiao Shi wasn’t the only child inside, there were three other children locked up with Xiao Shi. When he was outside, Lu Lingxi had noticed that the windows in this shed were very small and located high up under the eaves to let in a little light. Now that he opened the door he realised that there was nothing in the shed but a large sponge mat on the floor. In the dim light, three children huddled together, looking at him with some fear.

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Realising something, Xiao Shi turned to Lu Lingxi and asked, “Brother Xiao Xi, the police will send all these little brothers and little sister home, right?”

Lu Lingxi looked at these little faces full of fear and panic and nodded vigorously.

Fang Lei came over after making the phone call, saw the situation in the shed and cursed, “Bastards.”

As a police officer, Fang Lei has personally caught many criminals, robbers, killers… everyone. If he was asked whom he hated the most among those people, human traffickers definitely had to be at the top of the list. Every time a small child was lost, three families were destroyed at the same time. In the past, most of these children were sold to families without children, so that they could at least grow up safely. But now more of them were controlled by criminal organisations that forced them to become beggars in the big cities. In order to beg for more money, some of these children had their legs broken, some had their faces cut and some had been deliberately burnt. Fang Lei dared not imagine what Xiao Shi’s future would have been if they had not found him in time.

Letting out a heavy breath, Fang Lei and Lu Lingxi carefully carried these children out of the shed. Lu Lingxi found some food in the kitchen and poured a few cups of warm water for them. The children liked Lu Lingxi more than Fang Lei. Although they were still timid and didn’t dare to speak, as long as Lu Lingxi fed them, they all obediently followed suit and ate.

Fang Lei sighed, “I’ve already called my colleagues, they should be here soon. Xiao Shi’s mother has also been informed. Xiao Xi, you can just take Xiao Shi back later.”

“What about them?” Lu Lingxi gestured to the three children around him.

“Don’t worry.” Fang Lei said, “These kids were probably all lost in the past day or two, so a check of the police records should be able to find their families.”

Lu Lingxi nodded. After the two of them finished talking, Fang Lei thought of asking what had happened to Xiao Shi. How did he get tricked into being abducted?

Xiao Shi pouted discontentedly and said loudly, “I wasn’t tricked into being abducted, I went with them on purpose. I knew they were bad guys, and I wanted to help Uncle Policeman catch the bad guys.”

Before he could finish speaking, Fang Lei’s face darkened. With one hand, he picked up Xiao Shi and held him down on his lap and slapped his ass several times. “What did you say? You went with them on purpose? You knew they were bad people? Do you know that everyone is looking for you, your mother is going crazy?”

Xiao Shi didn’t get Fang Lei’s praise as he had expected, but got a beating and struggled at once. “I’m helping Uncle Policeman catch the bad guys, I…”

Fang Lei unceremoniously gave him a few more slaps, “What can you do before your hair grows? Did the police ask you to help? What if something went wrong?”

“I have Ah Huang, I’m not afraid!” Xiao Shi shouted, his eyes widening, aggrieved. Tears were hanging on his eyelashes as he wanted to cry and tried to hold back his tears. “I want Brother Xiao Xi, I don’t want to talk to you!”

Only after Fang Lei finished slapping him did he realise that he had no relation to Xiao Shi and it wasn’t his turn to punish this bear kid. Hearing what Xiao Shi said, he instantly threw Xiao Shi to Lu Lingxi next to them. Xiao Shi hugged Lu Lingxi and was about to complain, but soon found that Lu Lingxi’s face wasn’t good either and he was looking at Xiao Shi with a stern expression. Just now, Fang Lei had acted too quickly, otherwise Lu Lingxi would have spanked Xiao Shi himself. He felt that Xiao Shi was too bold. He was only five years old and dared to be so lawless; he had to be taught a good lesson.

Xiao Shi immediately changed his response mode, pursing his mouth and asking pitifully, “Brother Xiao Xi, are you going to spank me too?” As he said that, he touched his bottom, his other hand clutching tightly at Lu Lingxi’s clothes while he tilted his head back and desperately squeezed out his tears.

Lu Lingxi’s heart softened, but he still said seriously, “Do you know you’re wrong?”

Xiao Shi reluctantly nodded, “Yes, I know, I shouldn’t make Mom worry and make Brother Xiao Xi worry.”

“And what else? Do you know how dangerous this is?”

Xiao Shi blinked and exclaimed, “I have Ah Huang, Ah Huang will protect me.”

This was the second time Xiao Shi had said this. Lu Lingxi frowned, thinking that this was Xiao Shi’s real problem.

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