This is an ordinary ancient town in the south of the Yangtze River, with more than 100 households, basically maintaining the appearance of a hundred years ago.

In the rainy season of Huangmei, the drizzle gently beats on the bluestone paved path, and there are jagged old huts on both sides of the path, and there are few pedestrians along the way.

A young man in a wheelchair on the stone bridge of the small river, and a young girl behind him held an umbrella to protect the two from the rain, and the two seemed to be enjoying this picturesque scenery.

The streets on both sides of the river are the center of the ancient town, with shops selling grain, snack bars, barber shops, and so on.

The buildings are just as old, but the streets are exceptionally neat and clean, and at the end of the road is a small shop selling bean curd. With earthy gray walls and cyan tiles, it is a small two-story building that is no longer ordinary. The wooden signboard reads Mujia bean curd. From a distance, the small building is now in shambles, the door is not closed, the door panel is falling to the ground at will, the things in the store are scattered all over the ground, and the wooden windows on the second floor are also broken.

At the door of the grain and oil store on the side street, two aunts were chewing their tongues quietly under the eaves.

Although the distance was a little far away and it was raining, it was not a problem for Zhang Qilu at all, and he listened carefully to their conversation.

"Yes, Aunt Wang, my father-in-law came back to talk to us, it was very lively the night before yesterday. It seems to be going to the Mu family. ”

"Yes, yes, I don't know who this Mu family has offended, the family of three is gone now, your father-in-law is a village cadre, he must know something if he cooperates with their investigation, tell me quickly, what's going on."

"My father-in-law said that after the security officers investigated, there were several waves of people that night, and the first wave of people didn't know what they were looking for after entering the Mu family, and they made a mess of the house."

"What can they have in their family, except for the two and a half children, there is nothing, but don't say it, those two boys are still really good-looking, if they dress up and sing the Huangmei opera, they will look very good." As she spoke, the woman even sang with a gesture.

"Who's to say it's not, then another wave of people went, and they met and fought indiscriminately. What's even stranger is that it didn't take long for another group of people to come, and they cordoned off the entire street. ”

"Yes, I've heard that a lot of people have been injured and killed, and they have taken away teenage children. Do you think it's a human trafficker, we also have grandchildren, shouldn't we move to the town? ”

"What kind of human trafficker, no matter how powerful human trafficker is, it is impossible for him to kill and kidnap people so blatantly. But let me ask you, have you seen anything dirty these days? ”

"Yes, yes, last night, I saw a black shadow like a monkey flashing by, and it was terrifying."

Zhang Qilu didn't listen to it anymore when he heard this. smiled at Li Xiao beside him

"It seems that we are late, it was originally a store for their Mu family's father and three sons to support their family." Then Zhang Qilu told Li Xiaoxiao what he heard and what he analyzed.

Li Xiaoxiao always looks ignorant now, a girl who is bedridden all the year round is indeed more ignorant of the world, or it may be that she enjoys this real freedom and is too lazy to think, anyway, except for Zhang Qilu, she doesn't care much about anyone and everything.

"Brother Qi, you don't have to tell me this, I will listen to you anyway. I'll follow you wherever you're going. You have to remember that you promised my parents that you would take care of me for the rest of my life. "She would only say so much when she was alone with Zhang Qilu.

Zhang Qilu ignored her, and continued to himself, "I don't think he was caught, I heard that someone came and took away a lot of innocent children. If they catch him, it doesn't have to be that way, and let's go. ”

"Where are you going? Brother Qi" asked Li Xiaoxiao while pushing Zhang Qilu down the bridge.

"Didn't you say I would follow wherever I went?"

"If you don't ask, you don't ask. By the way, brother, when will you be able to walk? ”

The girl pushing the boy walked happily on the stone path.

"I don't know, it may take a few months, or a year and a half, and it will take a bit of time to find you this time."

"Okay, it's all my fault."

The two of them passed through a large archway while talking, which was regarded as an ancient town in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Yes, Brother Qi, where are we going, I'm a little curious now."

"I know a place where he could be there."

Li Xiaoxiao skillfully stopped a taxi.

......

Xiaoshan is located in the south of Lin'an, which was originally the backyard of Lin'an, there are a large number of state-owned factories, most of which have lost their former glory, and now can only vaguely see the prosperous years of the past. A large number of workers were laid off, and there was a serious loss of population, and Xiao Shan at this moment gave people a feeling of heroic twilight.

Zhang Qilu and Li Xiaoxiao are now in front of an old dormitory building. This is an ordinary four-story building, next door to the Xiaoshan gearbox factory. Because it is a unit that provides spare parts to shipyards in Jiangnan, it can barely maintain its operations. They could still faintly hear the metal pounding from the factory next door.

Zhang Qilu told Li Xiaoxiao behind him about the situation here

"Six years ago, his mother unexpectedly became pregnant again. In this era of only children, wanting to have a second child is basically a luxury for most families. In the end, their family was prepared to pay a fine of thousands of yuan against all odds, but his mother was unexpectedly born prematurely, under heavy pressure, hesitation, and a huge physical deficit caused by premature birth. Before he could be discharged from the hospital, his mother passed away. ”

Li Xiaoxiao said with some regret: "It's a pity to lose your life in order to have one more child." ”

"Every age has its own confinements. It can't be helped. Zhang Qilu explained

"Brother Qi, didn't you say that our children have some background in their families? Then how could his family do this for money. ”

"Their family is an exception, just an ordinary working family. His grandfather used to be a senior mechanic in this factory, so he was able to be assigned this two-room welfare house here. The second elders, who were supposed to enjoy retirement, also passed away not long after their daughter's death. After that, his father was alone with two children, lost his job, and his life became worse and worse. In the end, I had to go back to my hometown and make a living by selling tofu. Originally, I persuaded him to go with me, but his father and his younger brother were not in good health, and he kept dragging it out because he was not at ease. This place is only known to his dad and me. He always wore the key to this place like a treasure around his neck, and he walked up to us. ”

The structure of the house is old. At the end of the second floor is the doorway to a room. Zhang Qilu found that the door was unlocked, so he pushed the door directly and entered. In the room lay an emaciated teenager.

When Zhang Qilu saw this scene, he was surprised and delighted and called out, "Muzi Mountain." ”