Bai Xuanting and Lin Shuyue stared at each other for a long time, then said softly, "Wait for me downstairs."
Lin Shuyue understood her lip movements and got down from the tree.
Bai Wenhua and Lou Fengqin were waiting downstairs.
As soon as she came down, Bai Wenhua couldn't wait to ask: "Ah Yue, what did you see? Was she locked up at home by Bai Wenwu and his wife?"
If, before coming here, Bai Wenhua had only a 10% chance of believing that Bai Xuanting was his daughter Pingping, then after seeing that the person living here was Bai Wenwu, the possibility soared to 160%. The rest still needed him to verify.
Lin Shuyue said: "I saw her. She is in the room on the second floor. She told me to wait for her here."
Bai Wenhua was a man of steel, but his eyes turned red. Lou Fengqin patted him on the shoulder.
The three of them waited under the tree, and Bai Wenhua picked up his cell phone to call his cousin from the same village.
After the call, he stood under the banyan tree, trembling all over. "Ah Wang and Ah Wei said they didn't know Bai Wenwu had a child. They said that Bai Wenwu had been married for five years and had no children. Then one year they suddenly got pregnant, and they had two sons in a row. A few years ago, they gave birth to a daughter."
What else doesn't Bai Wenhua understand?
In their hometown, if a couple has been married for many years without having children, they will adopt a child with good fortune and raise them as their own. In their place, this is called using a baby to have a baby.
Some couples do not want to raise someone else's child, so they adopt one and let the child grow up in their own home for a long time.
There is another type, which is the most vicious type, which is to steal other people's children and raise them in your own home.
"Ah Wang said that Bai Wenwu and his wife have never lost contact with them over the years. Especially Qian Shouyun, he often calls his wife, and during the chat, the topic turns to me." If it were normal, gossip between women would be normal.
After all, even though more than ten years had passed, the villagers would still talk about the incident in Bai Wenhua's family. But knowing that Bai Wenwu and his wife were suspected of kidnapping his daughter Pingping, the questions Qian Shouyun asked were not just gossip between women.
What was Qian Shouyun thinking when she kept asking about his movements? Was she trying to find out his whereabouts and keep track of his movements at all times? Were they also afraid that he would find out about them?
"Ah Wang also said that Bai Wenwu and Qian Shouyun adopted a child, but the child was in poor health and they never brought the child back to their hometown. Privately, they all speculated that they didn't care about the adopted child because they already had their own children." Whenever Bai Wenhua went to his hometown, he came and went in a hurry. He rarely talked about such family matters when he called his brothers who he had grown up with.
Bai Wenhua felt regretful and distressed. If only he had listened a few more times and asked a few more questions over the years, things would have been better.
He joined the army at the age of 19. He married his wife Liu Honglan in the third year of his service. The second month after he returned to the army after his vacation, he received a telegram from his wife saying she was pregnant. The following year, he asked for leave before Liu Honglan gave birth. He still remembers how excited he was when Pingping was born.
Although he was in the army, Liu Honglan would send him photos of Pingping every two months until she was two years old and was snatched away on the street.
Bai Wenhua had been looking for the child for so many years, but he had never thought about the people around him, and he had never thought about Bai Wenwu. Bai Wenwu was eight years older than him, and they had never played together since they were young. Because the two families were five generations apart, they didn't interact often. They were basically from the same village, and would greet each other when they met in the village.
Later, Bai Wenwu went out to make a living and they had even less contact.
Bai Wenhua thought of his wife who had passed away young, and his mother who was still talking about his granddaughter until her death. He wished he could return to Bai Wenwu's home and chop off all of them, one by one!
There were footsteps heard, and the three of them turned around at the same time to see that it was Bai Xuanting coming out.
She was wearing a pink sportswear, with bangs and black, beautiful hair that reached her waist. She was only seventeen years old, but already over 1.7 meters tall, with long legs. When Bai Wenhua saw her, his eyes became even redder.
Bai Xuanting looks like his wife. When his wife was young, she could attract countless people's attention wherever she stood.
Bai Xuanting's eyes fell on Lin Shuyue, and then on Bai Wenhua. She stared at Bai Wenhua for a long time.
Bai Wenhua walked towards her unconsciously, and Bai Xuanting just stood there, neither moving forward nor backward. Bai Wenhua stopped three steps away from Bai Xuanting: "Pingping."
Bai Xuanting didn't reply. She looked at Bai Wenhua for a long time before she spoke: "Are you here to take me away?"
The tears that Bai Wenhua had been holding back fell at this moment: "Are you willing to go with me?" Every word Bai Wenhua said was trembling.
"Then will you let me study? Will you let me attend one party after another? Will you let me drink with one man after another?" Every question Bai Xuanting asked was like a stab in the body of Bai Wenhua.
When people are sad to a certain extent, they can't even speak. Bai Wenhua wanted to say that he wouldn't, he would never. But as soon as he opened his mouth, he choked up. He could only shake his head.
Bai Xuanting smiled and said, "Then I'll go with you."
Bai Wenhua nodded and wanted to go forward and hold Bai Xuanting's hand, but when he was about to touch her, he turned to look at Lou Fengqin. Lou Fengqin wiped her tears and went forward to hold Bai Xuanting's hand: "Pingping, I am your father's friend. We are here to take you home."
The word "go home" touched Bai Xuanting's calm face.
Lin Shuyue looked at the three of them and said, "Let's go, they are out looking for someone."
Lou Fengqin looked ahead nervously, then took Bai Xuanting's hand and walked towards the exit of the community.
Bai Wenhua followed immediately, and Lin Shuyue followed behind to cover the rear.
As soon as they came out of the banyan tree, Bai Wenwu and Qian Shouyun came under the tree: "Bai Wenwu, didn't you say you heard someone talking in the backyard?"
Bai Wenwu turned around the banyan tree three times and said, "I heard it. It's strange that there is no one here. By the way, where did Ah Ting say she was going?"
"She said that the property manager of the community invited her to dinner, so I let her go. The property fee of this community is so high, and Qin Da has gotten into trouble. You love playing cards and can lose several thousand yuan in one night. What if you can't pay the property fee? Ah Ting is so beautiful. By having dinner with the property manager of the community, we can be exempted from several months of property fees and water and electricity bills. What a good thing." Qian Shouyun said this very naturally.
Bai Wenwu also thought it was normal.
Qian Shouyun asked, "How did Ah Hua find his way here? Does he know Ah Ting's background?"
Bai Wenwu was not worried about this at all: "Ah Ting has been hidden by us. No one in her hometown knows what Ah Ting looks like. How could he find out? He must have come to Pengcheng for a difficult period and heard that we are doing well, so he came to us for help."
Qian Shouyun was convinced by Bai Wenwu: "What you said makes sense. Ah Wu, did you see the two women Ah Hua brought? I won't talk about the older one, but the younger one is really pretty, she's as pretty as our Ah Ting."
Lin Shuyue heard a crisp slap: "I warn you not to have too many small thoughts and do too many things, otherwise you will not be able to finish it."
Lin Shuyue listened to the two people's voices, her hands clasped on the wall, and she forcibly cut off a corner of the drill. How could there be such a scum in the world! He stole someone else's child, raised the child as a cash cow, and didn't treat the child well at all.
She was sent to Hong Kong to participate in a beauty pageant when she was at the age when she should have gone to school. She was sent to live with an old man when she should have been enjoying her youth.
Lin Shuyue couldn't help wanting to turn around and chop off the heartless couple. They even had evil thoughts when they saw a pretty girl.
But she couldn't. Lin Shuyue opened the mall of the Good and Evil Discrimination System and refreshed it over and over again. Today was five o'clock on Wednesday. After waiting for another seven hours, the system mall would refresh. Lin Shuyue hoped that this time, the mall would be able to refresh the props of punishment.
Lin Shuyue felt more and more uncomfortable. How sad it was that a former reserve police officer, facing some evil people, placed all her hopes on metaphysics. Just because the law has its sentencing standards, people like Bai Wenwu and his wife, the sentence is too low. At most, it's only ten years!
How can Bai Wenhua, his wife and mother, make up for the fact that he has been running around outside for the past ten years and that Bai Pingping has suffered in her home for so many years?
The probability of being treated well by a foster family after being abducted like Lin Shuyang is extremely small. What happens to Bai Xuanting is the norm.
But it is precisely because of this that people feel despair. How can there be such a thing as human traffickers in this world? They should be cut into pieces and go to the eighteenth level of hell after death.
They left the community, and the community guard was sitting in the security room enjoying the fan, not paying much attention to them.
Lin Shuyue sat in the driver's seat, Bai Wenhua sat in the front passenger seat, and Lou Fengqin held Bai Xuanting's hand and sat in the back seat of the car.
Lin Shuyue drove home. The car was very silent except for the humming sound of the air conditioner.
At an intersection with a traffic light, Lin Shuyue stopped in the traffic and waited for the green light. Bai Xuanting spoke up, breaking the silence: "I actually knew you were my biological father when I was ten years old."
Her words caught everyone's attention and everyone turned to look at her.
Bai Xuanting leaned back in the back seat of the car, with a faint smile on her face: "Since I can remember, I was not allowed to go back to my hometown. Every time they came home, they would hire a nanny to look after me. I always felt that I was not their biological child."
"Because I don't look like them at all, nor like my brothers and sisters." Bai Xuanting has never had a high status in Bai Wenwu's family. Ever since she was old enough to understand, her mother would not hug her like other mothers.
At such a young age, she had to do a lot of housework. If she did a good job, no one would praise her, but if she did not do a good job, Qian Shouyun would beat her and twist her ears. Bai Wenwu would just drink and watch, and never say a word to Qian Shouyun.
Later, when she had younger brothers and sister, her life became even more difficult. She had to take care of them after school, and if they cried or made a fuss, she would be scolded and beaten.
When their family went out to play and others praised her for her good looks and her younger brothers and sister for their spiritedness, Qian Shouyun's face would become unhappy.
Bai Xuanting had long believed that she was not the child of Bai Wenwu and Qian Shouyun. The day it was confirmed that she was not the child, she was seven years old.
Since then, she has been thinking about finding her biological parents. But she was under too strict supervision. Qian Shouyun would pick her up after school, and the electronic devices and phones in the house were always locked.
She didn't even have a single friend. Whenever there were classmates who tried to get close to her, Qian Shouyun would come out and use harsh words to stop them from getting close to her.
So she never took the initiative to make friends again. She unraveled the phone calls between Qian Shouyun and Bai Wenwu, and then she found that when they called back to their hometown, they always mentioned the name Bai Wenhua. They always asked where this person named Bai Wenhua was and what he was doing.
And whenever someone came from her hometown, she would be taken away and hidden.
Such unusual behavior made her sure who her biological parents were.
When she was fourteen, she learned that Bai Wenhua was also looking for her. She was very excited and took the initiative to bring up the matter of the Hong Kong beauty pageant. Bai Wenwu and Qian Shouyun, who had been thinking about how to sell her for a good price since she was eleven, were tempted.
"I originally thought that when you read the news that I won the beauty pageant, you would come to me on your own initiative." Bai Xuanting smiled bitterly: "I forgot that beauty is sometimes a good thing, but sometimes it is a bad thing."
"After I won the beauty pageant, Qian Shouyun took me to various dinners all day long. She kept my phone with her 24 hours a day, and she stayed by my side even when I slept. Later, I was sent to Qin Da's side."
"Compared to her, Qin Da is even worse. I was placed in a small villa with at least three servants around me who were supposed to serve me but actually monitored me. My phone was equipped with a location tracking system, and every time I made a call, the record would be sent to Qin Da's phone."
"I have high-end clothes to wear, luxury bags to carry, and even if I like some jewelry, someone will bring it to me. But I feel like a clown, a pet dressed up beautifully. I am wearing all the famous brands, but I look like I am naked."
Bai Xuanting grabbed her hair in pain. Her life was like a canary trapped in a cage.
During the two years she had been with Qin Da, he had given her a lot of money, but all that money was in the hands of Qian Shouyun and Bai Wenwu. She had only one room in Bai Wenwu's villa that was so small that not even sunlight could get in, and there was only room for a single bed.
Although her sister's room is not as big as her two brothers', it is very well decorated with a soft bed, cute dolls everywhere, and beautiful dresses like a little princess.
Lou Fengqin hugged Bai Xuanting to prevent her from hurting herself again.
Bai Wenhua was already sobbing: "When you participated in the beauty pageant, I was looking for you outside, in the mountains in the northwest. There was no signal in the mountains. When we left the mountains, the news in the newspaper had changed."
Bai Xuanting leaned in Lou Fengqin's arms. There was a smell of soap on Lou Fengqin's body. The smell of soap was not that pleasant actually, but at this moment, in Bai Xuanting's heart, it smelled much better than those big-name perfumes that Qin Da bought for her from abroad, and her mood slowly calmed down.
"I know, so I never blame you." Bai Xuanting learned about Bai Wenhua's whereabouts from Qian Shouyun's phone call to their hometown.
She felt that this was all God's trick.
She had already given up hope that Bai Wenhua would find her, but in the afternoon, when she saw Bai Wenhua, Lou Fengqin and Lin Shuyue knocking on Bai Wenwu's door, she was still very excited.
She knew that Bai Wenwu would come to see her, so she ran to her room and pretended to be asleep. It was not until Bai Wenwu came to her room that she pretended to have just woken up.
She sat on the bed, looking at Bai Wenwu standing by the window, watching Lin Shuyue's every move downstairs.
Bai Wenhua left, and at that moment, Bai Xuanting was filled with disappointment and despair.
Just when she was completely desperate, she saw Lin Shuyue climbing up the tree.
At that moment, Bai Xuanting felt that after being blind for more than ten years, God finally shone the sun's light on her.
She listened patiently to Bai Wenwu's lecture, and pretended to be calm and coaxed Qian Shouyun, saying that the property manager invited her to dinner. Then she ran out of the door and ran to the back door. She saw Bai Wenhua and the other two waiting there. She felt that at that moment, she heard the sound of flowers blooming and the rustling of banyan leaves in the wind.
That sound was so beautiful. It made her want to cry.
But she had cried so much that she couldn't cry anymore.
She watched her father burst into tears in front of her, she watched him want to answer her questions but was too anxious to say a word, she watched him clearly want to get closer to her but was afraid of being rejected by her and dared not come forward. At that moment, Bai Xuanting's heart was warm.
As Lou Fengqin patted her on the back from time to time, Bai Xuanting's tears finally fell.
She pinched Lou Fengqin's clothes and gradually burst into tears. Her voice gradually became louder and louder, filled with pain and despair. As a father, at this moment, Bai Wenhua's heart was filled with pain, grief, and guilt.
Lin Shuyue parked the car on the side of the road. It was finally going to rain in Pengcheng, which had been sunny for many days, and a big dark cloud gathered on the horizon.
Bai Xuanting stopped crying, and Lin Shuyue said, "Go home first, take a shower, have a meal, and have a good sleep. Tomorrow, we will go to the police station to report the incident, and then go to the hospital for a paternity test."
Bai Xuanting's case is much more complicated than Lin Shuyang's. Lin Shuyang was sent out personally by Lin Jianxin, and he can accurately tell the address where Lin Shuyang was sent.
Bai Xuanting was taken away by Bai Wenwu and his wife, and there were no witnesses around. At this time, nothing can prove the parent-child relationship between her and Bai Wenhua better than a paternity test certificate. Not only that, their paternity test must be done under the supervision of the police.
Bai Xuanting had no objection, and neither did Bai Wenhua.
Lin Shuyue wiped her eyes and drove home.
Lin Shuxing and others were at home, and they all knew about Bai Xuanting's existence.
After getting off the car, Bai Xuanting took the initiative to hold Bai Wenhua's hand.
The soft hands reminded Bai Wenhua of when she was just born. At that time, she loved to grab everything in her hands. They were so small that they didn't have any bones. Bai Wenhua didn't dare to move when she grabbed them. Sometimes she would grab them for an hour.
Originally they thought that they would have many opportunities to hold hands for the rest of their lives, but Bai Wenhua never dreamed that that time of holding hands would be the last time.
He finally spoke, his voice hoarse and choked: "When you were just born, I also held your hand. Later, I returned to the army and only saw the photos your mother sent me. When you were lost, I was only one week away from my vacation."
Bai Xuanting blinked, and Lou Fengqin covered her mouth, not daring to cry out loud.
After ten years of searching for her relatives, this was the first time Lou Fengqin saw Bai Wenhua cry. It was also the first time she heard Bai Wenhua talk about this matter.
After entering the yard, Lin Shuyue closed the big iron gate.
Bai Wenhua's words broke his defenses.
Bai Wenhua said: "Pingping, Daddy has been protecting thousands of families on the border, but he couldn't even protect his own family."