After Ding Xiaomei heard that, she hugged her sleeping child and cried silently. “It’s my fault. It’s my fault for hurting him.”
Jiang Yao asked, “I see that the two of you have been wandering outside for a long time, right? Can you tell me what’s going on? I know a lot of people. Perhaps if you tell me your difficulties, I can help you.”
Maybe Jiang Yao’s voice was too gentle and soothing, or perhaps when Jiang Yao told Ding Xiaomei about the child’s condition, she gave Ding Xiaomei the feeling that she was a very kind doctor, or maybe Ding Xiaomei needed someone to listen to the pain that she had hidden for so many years, so Ding Xiaomei did not hide it from Jiang Yao. She told Jiang Yao the reason she had been wandering with the child for several months.
Jiang Yao had been talking on her phone while Ding Xiaomei was talking, so Lu Xingzhi, who was waiting in the dark, heard everything she said.
Some people might say that if one did bad things, one would enjoy life, but one would also get what was coming.
Jiang Yao and Lu Xingzhi would not have suspected human traffickers were to blame for Ding Xiaomei and her brother’s disappearance if they had not heard Ding Xiaomei’s story first.
Human traffickers took advantage of Ding Xiaomei’s age and sold her to be a wife in a rural area. She had to endure a lot of humiliation, suffering, and torture during that period. She was beaten until she miscarried—she was nearly beaten to death. Giving birth to the child she held in her arms was a challenging experience for her.
Some men promised that their wives would not be tied down after becoming pregnant and giving birth to a son—a promise made to carry the family line. However, the buyer insisted on tying Ding Xiaomei to them until the child was over four years old. She was treated with contempt and cruelty. Everyone would kick and beat her up if there was a problem in the family.
More than three months ago, Ding Xiaomei discovered a way to flee the terrifying village with the child. The amount of money she took from that destitute family was barely enough to cover her bus fare. After that, she fled with the child. After that, she walked all the way there on her two legs, begging all the way.
Due to a lack of funds, she was forced to sleep on the street with the child, eat whatever she could find in the trash can, and drink water from the roadside pool to stay hydrated.
Ding Xiaomei was angry when she heard Jiang Yao mention the police because she had run away after she was sold. She had gone to the local county town to report to the police, but in the end, she was sent back to the village. By then, she had received punches and kicks from the buyer’s family. She had been severely injured and had to lie in bed for half a month, unable to get off it.
Ding Xiaomei had no idea where her younger brother had gone. After the two siblings were taken away by human traffickers, they were immediately separated. After that, Ding Xiaomei never saw her younger brother again.
The reason Ding Xiaomei did not dare to look for her family after she had escaped was not that she could not remember her home. She had been 15 or 16 years old when she was sold. She remembered her home and the phone number of her family’s snack bar.
She did not go home because she felt ashamed. She did not dare to go home because she had lost her younger brother. Furthermore, she brought her son with her. If she went back, it would be a disgrace to her family.
Ding Xiaomei wanted to bring her son with her as she tried to find her younger brother. When would she find him? When could she return home for her family?
Ironically, the human traffickers took advantage of Ding Xiaomei and her younger brother because their eldest brother’s child was sick and they needed money badly. If the Dings did not come up with the cash, the child would have to die.
