I waited for Kansmina's answer.

Her eyes that passed through me finally focused on my face, and there was a dust in her eyes that was so far away from her past life.

The sunlight outside the window shrouded in, and Canmina sat in my shaded shadows, immersed in the darkness and blurred.

"I had a daughter named Mi'er."

My Russian is not very bright, and if I hadn't known about it beforehand, Canmina's pronunciation would have sounded even more hoarse and vague, and I wouldn't have understood it.

"In Russian, 'have' is in the past tense." She took the initiative to explain to me, looking even sadder, "I turned twelve last year, but I am still a child. She can sing and dance, can speak English fluently, and is like an upper-class girl. Many of the children here don't study, so I worked hard to earn money and sent Mi'er to primary school, hoping that she would do well in the future. Last year, when Mi'er was admitted to the best middle school in town, she lied to me that she wanted to go sightseeing in Moscow with her friends, and I agreed...... I actually agreed! Oh, my God! ”

Kansina's tone suddenly changed to resentment, "Mi'er was abducted at a Ukrainian train station in July last year...... Never came back! ”

I have already heard this story in its entirety, not only was he taken captive, but a week later someone from the village brought news that he had seen Mi'er in Kyiv. She had already changed her outfit and was dressed in extreme revealing, standing on the side of the street with a wooden expression to solicit customers. Behind her, stood several large, black-suited men with sparkling eyes. The townsfolk did not dare to come near, but they watched from a distance for a long time, and after making sure that it was Mi'er, they hurried back to tell Kansmina.

In Ukraine, this is not new.

Human trafficking is divided into source countries and inbound countries, and Ukraine is a large source country for mass production and an indispensable link in the industrial chain.

"In 2010, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published a report that included a number of countries in the list of countries of origin of trafficking in persons, and Ukraine was included in that list. Southeast and South Asia and Eastern Europe are among the world's hardest hit by human trafficking – more than 225,000 people from Southeast Asia and 170,000 from the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries each year. In both areas, the trafficking population is all women and children – who are sold into brothels. ”

This passage was published in the newspaper two years ago after I compiled and condensed various international reports.

At that time, I was also a journalist – a reporter for the international news section of the Hong Kong Humanities Newspaper. Two years ago, as a fledgling journalist in Hong Kong, I was in the limelight for a while. Won two major journalism awards in Hong Kong in one year.

Any comfort is too pale in the face of the loss of her daughter, she has had enough of the pain, but I can only and must tear open her wounds.

"Kansmina, have you put it down? …… You're so young that you could have another child. ”

Kanmina smiled sadly, "Joe, you haven't been a mother, you won't understand. Even if the wizard predicts that my next child will become president, I just want Mi'er. ”

I was silent.

"What about your husband? What did he think? ”

"I haven't seen that man since Mi'er was born...... And my family. "I hadn't thought to open her wounds before and probe so deeply. But now it seems that it was the right thing to do.

"In other words, you can live for Mi'er wholeheartedly?" I slowly enlightened her.

"Yes."

"As long as Mi'er has a glimmer of life, are you willing to catch it and go out of your way to save her?"

"Of course!" She bit her lip heavily.

"If I were you, I wouldn't have waited any longer...... Mi'er would never be able to run back on her own. ”

Her eyes were closed.

"Kansina, you must have had a hard time in the first few years when you were alone with children, right?"

Once again, she fell into mourning. "Those years...... Very bitter. Like vines, they can't survive on their own, so they can only rely on big trees. ”

Got it.

But for now, that's all it takes.

I reassured her, "There will always be a way out." You can't drown in water for the rest of your life - either you will be killed or you will be saved. "I speak from my heart, not only to her, but also to comfort myself.

These words seemed to ignite Kanmina at once, she wiped the corners of her eyes and rubbed her face, her gray face welled up with a layer of ruddy blood, and she said to me while drinking, "Joe, don't talk about me, let's talk about you!" ”

What do I have to say? Life was lackluster after arriving here, and life before was ...... It's like running too fast all the way and not paying attention to your feet, stepping on a landmine, unable to lift your feet and lifeless, in short, inexplicable and embarrassing.

Thinking about this, I couldn't help but feel down. Seeing her concerned expression, I took a deep breath and replied, "I'm sorry Cammina, but the past was so far away for me as it was in my last life. I'm here to escape the past, and I don't want to expose my scars for the time being. ”

She nodded, turned and pulled out a new, unopened bottle of wine. What an empathetic and good girl.

But the next sentence she asked, "Why are you here?" Ukraine is not a good place to relax, and it is a suburb of the city, not more prosperous than the city and there are no scenic monuments, and we people here want to go out - why did you choose to settle here? ”

Still have to uncover the scars.

"Two months ago in Germany, I lived near the port, the space was cramped, the order was very chaotic, and every day there was a large influx of fresh faces, many of them smugglers, but also a considerable number of children. It is a blind spot under the jurisdiction of the law, many people can't survive, and suicide and death from illness are common. So I left there and just wanted to find a small secluded town, with a small population and slow enough life, away from the bustling harbor, preferably not too hot. Drawing a circle on the map of the northern hemisphere with a pen, excluding the areas you don't want to go, I casually clicked to Ukraine. The market was too noisy and not peaceful enough, so I moved to the outskirts of the city, and besides, the prices here were relatively cheap. "I tried to be natural, but the more I said it, the more it seemed to be explaining.

What is being explained? I hope Canmina doesn't think too deeply.

Canmina didn't ask any further questions, and we continued to drink.

I wondered in my heart: This is an exchange of tears, right? In general, our relationship should go further, right? But actually, for some reason, I even felt like she was on guard.

The second bottle quickly bottomed out, and we both got a little drunk and started talking about inconsequential topics.

"Joe, are you married?"

"Nope." I was gloomy, "I had a sweetheart," and I deliberately used the past tense to describe my feelings.

"What kind of man is it?"

"Smart, decisive - very handsome." We laughed together, and tears came out of our eyes.

"You love him so much?"

Come to think of it, it's complicated.

"We were in love."

"Then why are they separated?"

"Because of his cleverness and decisiveness? - I don't know. ”

Cammina apparently disagreed with my sloppy statement, she was a wise woman and would not continue the subject.

I think there is only one truth in love: if you love each other, you should stay together...... Everything else is.