The police arrived at this moment, there were four of them in total, and each of them was quite old.
They got out of the car and first glanced at the microphone in Pang Hui's hand and the camera following him, then frowned.
The oldest policeman looked around and asked directly, "Who called the police?"
While he was asking questions, the other three policemen had dispersed and were heading towards the onlookers around.
Zeng Guozhu, who was standing next to Lu Ercai, no longer had the arrogance on his face. He forced a fawning smile, took out a cigarette from his pocket, walked up to the policeman and offered him a cigarette.
"Comrade police officers, you have worked hard. You have worked hard. Come on, have a cigarette first."
The police officer questioning him frowned even more: "Don't try to trick me. The people's police don't take anything from the people. Tell me first, who called the police? Who abducted whose child?"
The nationwide fight against human trafficking is underway, and local police stations issue at least one anti-trafficking bulletin every week. Pingsha Police Station finally received such a report, and took it very seriously. Not to mention that all the police stations were dispatched, but two-thirds of them came, and the remaining one-third were waiting for news in the station.
The interrogating policeman scanned all the people at the scene with his sharp eyes. Some people who usually liked to commit petty thefts did not dare to look at him, and even did not dare to watch the excitement, and left in shame.
Zeng Guozhu was extremely embarrassed. He was very proud and the smile on his face froze when he was rejected in front of so many people.
But he and Lu Ercai still didn't speak. They had calculated everything, except Lu Yinglan's sudden arrival. All the calculations of Lu Ercai and Zeng Guozhu were based on the assumption that Lu Yinglan would not show up.
They asked, and the police officers at the police station usually wouldn't check the household registration book. Even if they did, it wouldn't matter, because everyone in their village could testify that she was Zeng Xiaoyi's mother.
But now that Lu Yinglan is here, Lu Ercai can no longer say those words that confuse right and wrong. Family members know their own business, and if Lu Yinglan reveals their transactions over the years, they will get nothing in return.
Lin Shuyue felt that she had many advantages, one of which was that she had been kind-hearted since she was a child and hated to see others in trouble. She stood up straight, threw the apple core she had eaten accurately into the trash can in the yard, and then said, "These two people came to call the police, saying that we kidnapped their daughter."
Lin Shuyue pointed at Lu Ercai and Zeng Guozhu.
Lin Shuyue didn't know anyone from Pingsha Police Station, but the police officers there knew her. After all, this person had been receiving awards from the Public Security Bureau for several months. Most of the meritorious service they had received from the Municipal Bureau was related to this person. After knowing that Lin Shuyue was the "defendant", the four police officers who came became skeptical about what Zeng Guozhu had just said on the phone.
Reporter Lin has done countless good deeds, and even assisted the police in arresting a gang of child snatchers that had been rampant in Shenzhen more than a decade ago. For such a person, and you say she abducted young girls? Isn't that nonsense?
Anyone can be a human trafficker, but Lin Shuyue cannot be one!
But as professional police officers, they couldn't be unprofessional. He nodded to Lin Shuyue and asked Zeng Guozhu: "Is that so? Tell us the whole story."
Zeng Guozhu put the cigarette back into the box with a stiff face, curled his lips and looked at Lu Ercai. Lu Ercai no longer had the energy to beep like before. She opened her mouth but no sound came out.
The police officer questioning him frowned and lost his patience: "What's going on with you?"
"Comrade police officer, let me tell you." Lu Yinglan spoke from the side.
The police officer who was questioning her looked at her and asked, "Who are you?"
"I am Zeng Xiaoyi's biological mother." After her grandmother passed away, Lu Yinglan has not returned to Pengcheng for many years because she feels that this city has long lost its place for her.
At the beginning of this year, she suddenly wanted to come back to see the familiar streets and Zeng Xiaoyi, but she was later tripped up by something and didn't come. Lu Yinglan didn't expect that she would come back again because of Zeng Xiaoyi's matter. But this time, she had to come back.
She didn't like Zeng Xiaoyi, but she couldn't just watch Zeng Xiaoyi jump into the fire pit. She had been a sister with Lu Ercai for more than ten years, and she knew Lu Ercai's character too well. Lu Ercai was a bottomless pit, and no matter how much money or things she had, she couldn't fill it.
The police looked at Lu Ercai, then at Lu Yinglan: "Okay, tell me, what's going on?"
Lu Yinglan looked around at the crowd watching the excitement, then lowered her head, glanced at the suitcase in her hand, and slowly let out a sigh of relief: "Zeng Xiaoyi was born by me when I was sixteen. After the child was born, because I was unable to raise her, the child was taken away by my sister Lu Ercai to raise."
When talking about Zeng Xiaoyi's birth, Lu Yinglan still felt a little uncomfortable. When she was 16 years old, she was raped on her way back from the field. Not long after, she became pregnant. She went to the hospital to have an abortion, but the doctor said that a B-ultrasound machine had just been brought in and asked her to do an examination. After the examination, the doctor told her that her endometrium was naturally thin, and if she had an abortion, she might be infertile for life.
After thinking it over again and again, Lu Yinglan decided to give birth to Zeng Xiaoyi. During her pregnancy, Lu Yinglan was looked down upon. Her father, who favored boys over girls and cared about his reputation, even refused to let her sit at the table because his dream of selling her for a high price because of her beauty was shattered. Her mother also ignored her. She was able to get by with the help of her sisters and her grandmother.
"After Xiaoyi was taken away by her, I went out to work. Every month, I would send money to my sister. When Xiaoyi was three years old, I went to their village and moved Xiaoyi's household registration out and registered her in the collective household of their village." Lu Yinglan had complicated feelings for Zeng Xiaoyi. She hated the memory of being raped because it ruined her life. Her hatred was inevitably transferred to Zeng Xiaoyi.
After Zeng Xiaoyi was taken away by Lu Ercai, Lu Yinglan felt relieved. But as time went by, she still missed her, and missed the few months when Zeng Xiaoyi was in her belly. She remembered clearly when she moved. Sometimes she dreamed about the year Zeng Xiaoyi spent with her after she was born. Zeng Xiaoyi was wrinkled when she was born, but slowly, she grew whiter and tenderer, and looked very much like her, both in appearance and in her eyes.
But even so, Lu Yinglan never regretted sending Zeng Xiaoyi away. Not only because she couldn't get over the psychological hurdle, but also because she was unable to raise Zeng Xiaoyi at that time.
Over the years, Lu Yinglan has never lacked money for Zeng Xiaoyi's support. Sometimes when Lu Ercai said she wanted to buy something for Zeng Xiaoyi or enroll her in cram school, she would give her extra money.
She knew that Zeng Xiaoyi was not having a good life under Lu Ercai's control, and she also knew that most of the money Lu Ercai wanted might not be spent on Zeng Xiaoyi, but she didn't care.
But her indifference has a bottom line. She cannot tolerate Zeng Xiaoyi becoming Lu Ercai's cash cow for life. Lu Ercai has a big appetite. Zeng Xiaoyi can satisfy her now, but after a while, she will not be satisfied. Just like the child support she has given to Xiaoyi over the years.
At first, she only needed 20 yuan a month, but now, even 300 yuan a month can't satisfy her appetite. She would make up excuses to ask for money from time to time. If she didn't stop it, Zeng Xiaoyi's life would probably be ruined.
Lu Yinglan finished speaking and lowered her head.
Having a child before marriage is shameful in the eyes of the world, and it is even more shameful for Lu Yinglan.
At that time, she was pregnant and attracted everyone's attention wherever she went. The fact that she was pregnant with a rapist's child even triggered a lot of gossip among the villagers. She could hear them talking about her wherever she went.
Lu Yinglan still can't forget what her father said to her: 'Why don't rapists rape others, but instead rape you? You should look for the reason in yourself, because flies don't bite eggs without cracks!'
When her father said these words, he must have forgotten that it was he who asked her to go to the fields to check the water because they were lazy and didn't want to go so he pushed it to her.
Lin Shuyue keenly discovered that after Lu Yinglan said this, the eyes of people around her looked at Lu Yinglan strangely.
This kind of thing is normal everywhere. The police comrade nodded and asked Zeng Guozhu: "The child is not in your name, and is not in the same household registration book with you. How can you be considered their biological parents? And you accused other people kidnapped the girl. Do you have any evidence?"
What evidence could Zeng Guozhu have? They had always known that Zeng Xiaoyi lived in Lin Shuyue's home. They spent the money sent by Lu Yinglan every month lavishly. They never said a good word about Lin Shuyue's family. They only called the police because they thought Lu Yinglan wouldn't come. But now that she came, their only advantage was gone.
The couple was silent.
"It's fine if you called the police, but you also called reporters. What do you want to do? You saw that the child had money, and you wanted to take her money? Go away, go away." In just a moment, one of the policemen had already understood the whole story, including the reason why Lin Shuyue's family raised Zeng Xiaoyi. He shouted directly at the onlookers.
As soon as the police spoke, the people who came to watch the excitement scattered like birds and beasts. After the crowd dispersed, Lin Shuyue saw Zeng Xiaoyi standing behind the crowd.
Zeng Xiaoyi's face was very calm at this moment, as if she had already expected that she was not the biological child of Lu Ercai and Zeng Guozhu.
Lou Fengqin really didn't see her just now, and was startled. She hurried over and said, "Xiaoyi, why are you back? Didn't you eat at school?"
Zeng Xiaoyi shook her head: "I left a test paper at home, I came back to get it."
"Xiaoyi, you're back. Come inside quickly." Lin Shuxing called in the yard. Zeng Xiaoyi glanced at Lou Fengqin and walked home. From beginning to end, she did not look at Lu Ercai and her husband, nor at her biological mother Lu Yinglan, nor at the reporters and police carrying cameras and microphones.
She went back to her room to get the test paper and was stopped by the police.
The policeman's attitude was very gentle: "Zeng Xiaoyi, right? It's just right that you're back. Now, Zeng Guozhu and Lu Ercai have called the police and said that Lou Fengqin and Lin Shuyue abducted you. What do you say?"
Zeng Xiaoyi glanced at Lu Ercai and Zeng Guozhu, and Lu Ercai gave her the same look as before. Zeng Xiaoyi suddenly remembered that many years ago, when she was about eleven or twelve years old, Lu Yinglan was coming to her house, and Lu Ercai taught her in advance that if Lu Yinglan asked if they were nice to her, she must say yes.
At that time, Zeng Xiaoyi was particularly eager for Lu Ercai's attention. Although it was strange, she still nodded obediently. When LvuYinglan came, she was wearing a red dress and looked very beautiful. It was the first time Zeng Xiaoyi was stunned by someone. She remembered that Lu Ercai was like this when she was favored.
LvuYinglan asked her that question, and she said it according to Lu Ercai's instruction, but in a corner where Lu Yinglan didn't notice, she was still pinched by Lu Ercai, which was very painful. Zeng Xiaoyi also remembered it clearly.
Memories of her childhood came flooding back to her mind at this moment, and all the grievances finally disappeared at this moment.
It turned out that Lu Ercai and Zeng Guozhu were not her biological parents, and they had no blood relationship. She suddenly felt that the clouds in the world had been cleared away and the sun had come out.
She looked at the police and said, "No, I was not abducted by my godmother and my second sister. On the contrary, they took me in."
"At the beginning of April this year, Zeng Guozhu and Lu Ercai sent me to an Internet addiction treatment school because I talked back to them. After I was arrested at the school, I returned home and was locked up by them, forcing me to get married. After I escaped, my second sister found out and introduced me to work as a handyman in the small restaurant run by my eldest sister and her husband. They paid me 300 yuan a month."
"Later, they sponsored me to go to high school. My godmother adopted me as her goddaughter. My food, clothing, housing and transportation were all taken care of by my godmother and her family. During this period, Lu Ercai and Zeng Guozhu found my classmate and asked me to go back and get married. My supposed to be partner's wife had just passed away last year and she had a 14-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son."
As soon as Zeng Xiaoyi said this, before anyone else could do anything, Lu Yinglan had already picked up a tile that the village kids used for hopscotch and threw it at Lu Ercai.
"Lu Ercai, I knew you were a good-for-nothing, but I didn't expect you to be such a good-for-nothing. I gave three hundred yuan a month, plus tuition and tutoring fees. Adding up, it's at least a thousand yuan a month if not eight hundred. With so much money, you're still not satisfied? What kind of beast are you? Xiaoyi is only seventeen years old, and you let her marry that kind of person?" Lu Yinglan was really angry.
When she was pregnant, Lu Ercai was the best person to her. She had been married to Zeng Guozhu for two years without giving birth to a child, and her life in Zeng's family was not easy, but she still gave her some food and daily necessities from time to time. Even though she knew that Lu Ercai did this because she wanted the child in her belly, Lu Yinglan was still grateful for what she had done.
When Zeng Xiaoyi was three years old, she knew that Zeng Xiaoyi was not doing well. The only thing she did for Zeng Xiaoyi was to take out all her savings at that time to bribe the leaders of Zengwu Village to let them take the lead and move Zeng Xiaoyi's household registration to the village collective. Over the years, Lu Yinglan has contributed a lot to the infrastructure construction of Zengwu Village. It's just that no one else knows about it.
Lu Ercai also knew that she was wrong in this matter. After Zeng Xiaoyi disobeyed, she was very unhappy. Since they were all from the same clothing wholesale market, she chose a day with the most people to come and cause trouble, and then she also snatched a lot of their customers. The merchants and regular customers in their entire wholesale market also knew about their immoral behavior, and now their business has plummeted.
People who used to have a good relationship with her no longer like to talk to her.
When the police heard this, his face turned black: "You are committing a crime, do you know that? Okay, now follow us to the police station."
Zeng Xiaoyi didn't have to go with them. After she understood the situation, the police let her go back to school. After all, she is now a high school student, which is the most critical time in her life.
Zeng Xiaoyi didn't even look at Lu Yinglan, but when she reached the intersection, she stopped a vehicle, turned around and looked at Lu Yinglan for a long time. When she got in the vehicle again, the wind blew and her tears flowed all over her face.
Pang Hui and his cameraman were about to run away, but were stopped by the police. They had no choice but to follow them to the police station. Pang Hui was very satisfied with today's first-hand information. The topic of the new champion of "Singing With You" being an ungrateful person who was famous for not supporting her parents was too old-fashioned. How could it be as attractive as the mystery of the champion's life experience?
Pang Hui had thought it through. He would go to Lu Yinglan's village to ask someone about what happened back then. He must use his pen to trample Zeng Xiaoyi, the newly crowned champion, under his feet. He and Zeng Xiaoyi had no grudges, but she was Lin Shuyue's sister. This alone was enough to make Pang Hui hate her.
After he no longer needed Lu Ercai and her husband, Pang Hui told the police that Lu Ercai and her husband had come to him to expose Zeng Xiaoyi. There were also many rumors made up by Lu Ercai, one of which was particularly explosive, saying that Zeng Xiaoyi had been undisciplined since childhood and had had ambiguous affairs with three boys for a bite of food. One of the three boys was Lin Shuyang.
As soon as this sentence came out, Lou Fengqin exploded. She took advantage of the police not paying attention and ran over to slap Lu Ercai twice on the cheek. The police who were taking their statements pretended to shout twice, and Lou Fengqin knew that she had to stop while she was ahead, so she slapped her again before backing away.
Lu Yinglan didn't get the upper hand, but her delicate and beautiful face was already covered with frost.
The questioning ended quickly. Zeng Guozhu was detained for five days and fined 200 yuan for making a false police report. Lu Ercai and Zeng Guozhu had never thought that there would be such a punishment for making a false police report. Lu Ercai almost fainted. She was illiterate. Zeng Guozhu was in charge of her clothing stall. Now Zeng Guozhu was detained for five days. How much did she lose in these five days? And the 200 yuan fine, was it a fine? That was Lu Ercai's life!
With the purchase of a house, her dream of earning 200,000 yuan a year without doing anything was shattered. Lu Ercai fainted and woke up in a clinic next to the police station. The police officer who was guarding her told her to pay for her own medical expenses and then left. Lu Ercai sat on the bed in a daze, unable to react. Her cell phone rang. It was the Hong Kong agent calling.
Lu Ercai hurriedly explained the situation, and the agent on the other end called her a waste and hung up the phone.
The matter was over, Lin Shuyue and the others went back, and Lu Yinglan followed them dragging her suitcase.
Lin Shuxing had already prepared the food. Lou Fengqin glanced at her. Since she was a guest, she still asked, "Would you like to eat together?"
Lu Yinglan placed the suitcase at the door: "Thank you, big sister."
She followed Lin Shuyue into the living room. Lin Shuyue went to the kitchen to serve her food. Lou Fengqin sat opposite her, thought for a moment, and asked her, "Where do you live now?"
"In Guancheng. Not far from Pengcheng." Lin Shuyue put the rice in front of her. She thanked Lin Shuyue and continued, "I'm already married in Pengcheng. My husband knows that I have a daughter, but he doesn't support me to live there with my daughter."
This was the reason why Lu Yinglan shamelessly followed Lou Fengqin home today.
Lou Fengqin felt that the food in her mouth was no longer fragrant: "So what you mean?"
Lu Yinglan said, "So what I mean is, let Xiaoyi live in your house. During this period, I will give you 300 yuan a month as her food expenses, and I will pay for all her study expenses separately. In addition, I will also pay for any expenses she needs for her studies."
Lu Yinglan brought over the set she had given to Lu Ercai exactly as it was.
The living room was completely silent except for the sound of chewing food.
Lou Fengqin said: "I can't promise you that. Wait until Xiaoyi comes back and then you can tell her."
Even if she didn't have the money that Lu Yinglan had, she still treated Zeng Xiaoyi as her own child. And she thought that Zeng Xiaoyi still needed to know about this kind of thing.
Lu Yinglan nodded and said nothing more.
Lin Shuyue originally wanted to go to the newspaper office after lunch, but now she was not in a hurry to leave and just waited for Zeng Xiaoyi and the others to come back from school.
Lu Yinglan didn't leave either. She followed Lou Fengqin and told her about her past ten years.
"My husband is a businessman from Formosa, doing export trade in Southeast Asia. He is ten years older than me and has two children, but they both live with his ex-wife in Formosa. We have been together for more than ten years, but we have no children."
Lou Fengqin is peeling peanuts at the moment. These peanuts were sent by Lou's aunt some time ago. They were grown and dried by her family, and there are more than ten pounds of them. Lou Fengqin plans to peel them and keep them for stewing soup and frying peanuts. Her whole family likes to eat fried peanuts, whether they are mixed with salt and sugar or in cold dishes, they can all be eaten.
Lu Yinglan followed her in peeling peanuts. After hearing what Lu Yinglan said, Lou Fengqin asked, "Won't your husband blame you for not having children?"
"I can't have children anymore. I got sick when I gave birth to Xiaoyi. My parents didn't care about me at that time. Although my grandmother cared about me, she was an old lady and didn't have much money. When I later had money, I still couldn't get pregnant for a long time, so I went to check and found out about this situation."
Lou Fengqin was silent. She didn't know how to comfort Lu Yinglan. There was a big difference between not being able to have children and not wanting to have children.
Lu Yinglan is quite open-minded: "It's actually quite good not to have children. When I was pregnant with Xiaoyi, I vomited from the beginning until the birth. It's also quite good not to have children now. My husband already has children, so it's actually not important whether I have children or not."
Lou Fengqin was silent for a moment, then asked, "Where is Xiaoyi's biological father?"
This time it was Lu Yinglan's turn to remain silent. After a long while, Lu Yinglan finally said, "I don't know who her father is. Zeng Xiaoyi is the child I gave birth to after being raped."
As soon as these words were spoken, Lin Shuyue raised her head, and Lou Fengqin even stopped peeling peanuts.
Lu Yinglan said: "My husband's statement that he doesn't want me to take care of the child is a lie. It's me who can't face Xiaoyi. I can't get along with her. Her existence reminds me of my unbearable past all the time."
Lou Fengqin really didn't know what to say now. Before she knew about this, Lou Fengqin actually blamed Lu Yinglan. After all, as a mother, she really did not fulfill her responsibilities as a mother. Even if she gave money to Lu Ercai, she was irresponsible.
But after knowing this incident, Lou Fengqin didn't know how to comment on it.
She sighed and was about to speak when two policemen came in. When they saw Lu Yinglan, they asked directly, "Lu Yinglan, right? You are involved in two criminal cases. Please come back with us for an investigation."