HPDBC Chapter 39: The Child is Lost
Chapter 39: The Child is Lost
"What? The child is missing? Have you looked for him properly? Where did he go missing?"
The woman in front of Zou Yishui was flustered by his barrage of questions and said in a tearful voice, "She said she was going to the toilet, but I had luggage on my seat and couldn't leave, so I let her go by herself. But she didn't come back for a long time. When I went to the toilet to look for her, the child was gone."
"You're from carriage number 6, right? I remember the child. Calm down, how long has the child been away from their seat?"
"It's been about ten minutes."
Tang Zhenghong breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this answer, and then asked, "What's the child's name? Are you and the child the only ones in the car? Did you meet anyone you knew who traveled with you?"
Perhaps the question had hit the nail on the head, because the sister-in-law calmed down: "Her name is Yingying. Our husband's surname is Yang. We haven't given her a formal name yet. This trip is to visit her father, who is in the army in Guangxi Province. We haven't run into any acquaintances on this train."
Since the case involved military dependents, Tang Zhenghong asked more detailed questions: "Did you decide to visit your husband on short notice? Did you tell anyone? How old is Yingying? Is she in school?"
"Only our unit leaders know. My husband's unit has a high level of confidentiality, and as a family member, I understand the rules and haven't told any outsiders about this. It was yesterday when they called to say that her father was injured, and the leader specially approved me to take the child to visit him. Yingying is five and a half years old and hasn't started school yet."
"Okay, sister-in-law, don't worry, the child should still be in the car. Go back to your seat and wait for news. We'll go find the child now."
On the way, Zou Yishui said with a worried look, "Zheng Hong, should we report this to Captain Lu? In case... we can't afford to take responsibility."
"Finding the child is the priority. This section is all tunnels, making it inconvenient to jump off the train. It shouldn't be related to the family's work. I guess either the child ran to the wrong carriage, or they encountered an accident or someone they know."
"Accident?"
"I'll tell you about this later. Brother Zou, which carriage had the fewest people when we were patrolling just now? Especially those with children, whose children were still sleeping."
Zou Yishui rubbed his face and followed Tang Zhenghong, saying, "I really can't remember right now."
"Okay... Brother Zou, could you please find the water supplier for me quickly? He's in charge of the sleeper tickets, right?"
Time was tight, and Zou Yishui nodded without asking why, "Okay, he just went to the dining car, I'll go find him now."
Tang Zhenghong recalled the condition of the carriages during his first patrol.
He suspected that there was a high probability that the little girl had run into someone she knew. Traffickers generally wouldn't abduct a little girl like that. Under the old ideas of valuing sons over daughters, girls are likely to be stuck in their hands, unless there are cases like child brides, but the probability is very low.
Old customs such as child brides and arranged marriages have been a focus of our work in the past two years.
Make bold assumptions and verify carefully.
Even if Yingying runs into someone she knows, she probably won't go with them, right?
After all, she was away from home, and her mother should have given her instructions in this regard. She could have simply gone back and told her mother who she had met.
Unless she encountered a friend, and that friend was brought by a stranger...
A search was conducted from carriage six to carriage five, but no children or parents were found to have left.
These carriages are the closest to the toilet Yingying went to, so the probability is the highest.
Tang Zhenghong even began to doubt whether he had guessed wrong.
Fortunately, hard work pays off.
When Tang Zhenghong saw an empty seat in carriage number four, his eyes lit up. He quickly asked the woman reading a book opposite him, "Excuse me, when did the person in this seat leave?"
The woman was a little annoyed at being disturbed, but seeing that Tang Zhenghong was a policeman, she replied, "He just left a little while ago, I didn't pay attention to how many minutes."
"Did you see which direction they went?"
"It seemed to be in the direction of the restroom. Their child was sick and they had given him medicine twice in a row. I even advised them against it because the interval was too short, suggesting they take the child to the restroom to induce vomiting. Later, I don't know how, the woman came back with her luggage and left. I didn't ask any more questions."
Tang Zhenghong understood, thanked them, and hurried toward the dining car.
"Zhenghong, quick, you guessed right, this is Comrade Wang Shou. He said that only a family of four received sleeper tickets. He said the child was sick and there was no other way, so Comrade Wang Shou gave them sleeper tickets. I just asked, and the girl's age and clothes are exactly the same as Yingying's."
Sleeper berths are usually reserved for leaders by the water supplier.
Of course, some items will be sold outside the store as appropriate during the trip.
"Comrade Wang, thank you for your help. Which carriage did you buy a ticket for? How long were you gone?"
"Follow him closely, about a few minutes apart. We'll be filling up the car next to our rest car. I'll take you there."
Lu Zhang looked at the three approaching people with some confusion, especially Zou Yishui, who had even drawn his gun. He asked in a low voice with a grim face, "What's going on?"
"Captain Lu, a military family's child has been abducted. A couple with a boy just switched to sleeper berths under the pretext that the child was sick. They happen to be in the next rest carriage."
The matter was urgent, so Zou Yishui tried to explain the situation as concisely as possible.
Since it involved military family members, Zou Yishui drew his gun just in case it might involve special agents.
"Huo Chong, did you see someone walk by just now?"
Lu Zhang just went to the restroom, so he asked Huo Chong, who had been outside the restroom.
"That's right, not long ago."
"Alright... let's prioritize rescuing the children and ensuring their safety. Yi Shui, you take the gun and guard the outside. You absolutely cannot let them escape to this side, understand? Huo Chong and Zheng Hong, come with me and put your guns away."
Zou Yishui wiped the sweat from his hands on his clothes and picked up the gun again: "I promise I won't let them disturb the leaders."
"Comrade Wang Shou, you just helped them, you look familiar. Could you help me find an excuse to call them out? There are children inside, be careful they might do something desperate. You also need to be careful yourself."
Wang Shouyue nodded eagerly.
"Don't move! Hands up! Stop! We'll shoot if you run again!"
Just as they reached the last door of carriage number 12, the man, who hadn't slept, stood warily by the window, looking for an opportunity to get off. When he saw Tang Zhenghong and the others approaching, he knew something was wrong and instinctively tried to jump out the window to escape.
He had one foot on the window, but there were others even faster.
Wang Shouping was incredibly quick at boiling and delivering water. Before Tang Zhenghong could react, he was already in front of the man and grabbed him by the back of his collar.
The man's legs buckled, and he almost fell out of the window, waving his hand wildly and shouting for help.
Fortunately, Lu Zhang reacted quickly, rushing forward and grabbing the other leg to pull it back.
Seeing that the man was under control, Tang Zhenghong quickly pushed down the woman who was jumping off the bunk bed after hearing the noise.
Looking up at the sleeper berth, I didn't see the child.
"Where are the children?"
"In...in the blanket."
At this moment, Zou Yishui, who was on guard outside, also came over. Pointing to the large quilt wrapped neatly with rope on the bed, he asked incredulously, "Inside?"
Without waiting for a reply, he quickly untied the rope.
It was indeed Yingying, her mouth stuffed with a wad of cloth wrapped inside the blanket, her face flushed red from the stuffiness inside.
Zou Yishui removed the cloth, and Yingying's throat twitched slightly, a reflexive movement of her body while unconscious.
"What did you feed the child? And what about the other one?"
"Relax...relax a little, I can't breathe, cough cough..."
The woman, her face pressed against the ground, gasped for breath: "She was on the sleeper berth up there. She had a fever and was given medicine. She fell asleep... this little jinx gave her a sleeping pill, but it wasn't very strong; she'll wake up in a bit."
Sedatives have existed for a long time. Ancient Mongolian and Han medicines were examples. The movie actor who was defiled by Zhang Shankun during the Republic of China era drank alcohol laced with sedatives.
The commotion alerted the guards at Ruanbao. Upon seeing that they were human traffickers, they put away their guns. However, after hearing that the little girl was a military family member, their expressions turned serious, and they quietly instructed Lu Zhang to investigate whether she was an enemy agent before leaving.