Back to the 1970s: Building My Fortune Through Time Trading-Chapter 370: Searching for the Missing Children
The distance was a bit far, and she couldn’t hear the noises inside clearly. She got a little closer but still couldn’t make it out.
Just as she was about to move closer, Zhang Yulan suddenly pushed the door open.
"Zhang Yulan, are you crazy? Opening the door without saying a word!"
A sharp voice emerged from the wide open door, a voice Su Xiaoxiao remembered vividly.
It was none other than Zhang Yulan’s mother-in-law, whom she’d met before.
"What are you doing? I’m talking to you, where are you going?"
Soon the tone of the voice changed, seemingly with tension.
Following this was a loud bang of the door, two screams sounded simultaneously, a man and a woman by the sound of it.
Even without seeing, Su Xiaoxiao could roughly guess what had happened.
No wonder Sister Zhang didn’t look good earlier; it was the man cheating and being caught red-handed.
This man really was trash, not only cheating but having the audacity to bring someone home.
Even his own mother was at home helping keep watch. What sort of a bizarre family was this?
Yet, his awful mother-in-law even righteously cursed at Zhang Yulan.
"What’s wrong with my son finding someone? It’s all because you can’t lay an egg. Having kids without a single one with a handle, you’re lucky I haven’t made my son divorce you."
Soon the man’s voice followed, with pleading, "Yulan, I can’t help it; you know what they say, without descendants, it’s the greatest unfilial act. Our Zhang family has only me as heir, I have to leave some for our family. I swear this is the only time; just forgive me this once, I promise I’ll live well with you afterwards."
Though the man’s words sounded sincere, they were actually more infuriating than the mother-in-law’s curses. What does he mean he can’t help it?
If he didn’t want to, could anyone force him into such a thing?
"Why are you explaining to her? If it wasn’t for her being useless, would we need this? Let her quit her job to rest at home, but no, she went and got herself sterilized, tch, ungrateful."
Liu Chunxiang’s words grew increasingly nasty; she never thought highly of Zhang Yulan as a daughter-in-law.
Others’ daughters-in-law always obeyed their mother-in-law, but she argued every day; it was as if they were mortal enemies from a past life.
It’s one thing to be rebellious, but she couldn’t even give birth to a boy, having two girls one after another.
Thinking of having a third, this wretched woman secretly got sterilized, claiming two daughters were enough.
Nowadays, no family has fewer than four or five kids; the more, the merrier. She was deliberately trying to sever the Zhang family’s lineage.
Liu Chunxiang grew angrier the more she thought about it. If it weren’t for her decent job, she’d have made her son divorce long ago.
Zhang Yulan searched around, not seeing her two daughters, and questioned Liu Chunxiang, "Mom, where have Juanjuan and Niuniu gone? Why can’t I see them?"
"They were just playing at the door, how would I know? Those money-losing brats just run around wildly; I don’t have eyes on them."
Liu Chunxiang retorted with hostility.
From her indifferent attitude, Zhang Yulan shook with rage.
Her two kids were only three and four years old, not very sensible yet, and the mother-in-law just left them outside.
Claiming she sent them out to play, maybe she wished they’d get lost.
She was forced to conceive her second child when the eldest was three months old; barely out of confinement, she was made to do laundry and cook by her mother-in-law because they were girls, harming her health ever since.
Her mother-in-law and husband kept trying to make her have a third child quickly.
Zhang Yulan couldn’t endure anymore and secretly got sterilized, causing her husband and mother-in-law to harbor resentment for her.
Zhang Yulan, traditional in thinking and afraid of her daughters being mistreated, suffered in silence for the children over the years.
She handled all household chores at home, and her salary card was in her mother-in-law’s hands.
Thinking that it was because of her salary, her husband and mother-in-law treated her and the kids slightly better over the years.
Now she realized she was gravely mistaken.
The slight goodwill from her husband and mother-in-law was due not to conscience but because her husband had long been fooling around with a widow, openly bringing her home to mess about.
Clearly, it was guilt and fear.
"They’re still so young, and you locked them outside! Liu Chunxiang, Zhang Defa, I warn you, if anything happens to my daughters today, I won’t rest even as a ghost!"
Zhang Yulan shoved them aside and ran out.
At this moment, she couldn’t care less about her husband’s infidelity, her mind focused entirely on her daughters.
She couldn’t imagine how she would live if anything happened to them.
Tears blurred her vision, and as she dashed out, she bumped into someone head-on.
In her stupor, she nearly fell backward.
Su Xiaoxiao reacted quickly and held her up, "Sister Zhang, are you okay?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
As she steadied Zhang Yulan, she noticed Zhang Yulan was trembling all over, her lips torn and bleeding.
"The kids, Xiaoxiao, help me find the kids."
Zhang Yulan forced herself to calm down and managed to say a complete sentence.
"They’re just money-losing brats, why bother looking? Best if they died outside!"
At this moment, Liu Chunxiang’s venomous voice faintly came from inside.
Zhang Yulan trembled even more fiercely, with worry and resentment.
If she wasn’t urgently looking for her kids, she’d certainly go back and kill these disgusting creatures dressed as humans.
"Sister Zhang, don’t panic; think carefully, where do the children usually like to play? Who would they visit?"
With the vicious voice continuing from inside, Zhang Yulan dug her nails into her palms, forcing herself to calm down.
The children were waiting for her; she had to remain composed.
"At Grandma Wang’s on the first floor, the pastry shop at the West Street corner, and Aunt Niu’s ahead of the street..."
She thought through all the places the children might go.
Su Xiaoxiao had a good memory and noted them down as she spoke, "Sister Zhang, let’s split up. You go east, I’ll head west. Don’t worry; the kids are still young, they shouldn’t have gone too far."
She could only try to comfort Zhang Yulan now.
Zhang Yulan nodded vigorously, wiped her face with her sleeve, and hurriedly set out in search in two directions.
It was work hours, so the streets weren’t crowded.
Su Xiaoxiao rode her bicycle and quickly checked all the places Liu Cuilan mentioned, but no one had seen the children.
Could they have been abducted?
The thought popped into her head uncontrollably, with images of missing kids on packages flashing through her mind.
Su Xiaoxiao shook her head forcefully; no, it wasn’t time for wild thoughts. She needed to search more places quickly.
Even if the kids unfortunately encountered traffickers, maybe they hadn’t gone far.
With this in mind, she sped up, searching along the direction the kids might have gone.
As she passed a corner, she unexpectedly collided with someone coming the opposite way.
