Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 570 - 0531: Splitting Up (2)

Li Yuzhu said, "You’re right, Da Niu’s child must be with Hu Shuangcheng’s mother, but the child is only a month old; if anything happens, it would be irreversible. I think we should remind them, they’re so worried that they’re confused and only cry without taking action."

Mu Yuanxiu said, "I will first go to the village to find people to help search for Guoguo and Jingjing, let’s meet at the haystack across from Uncle Liu’s house later. Don’t tell our parents about this for now; they’ll be anxious but unable to do anything, so we should go since we can move quickly."

Li Yuzhu nodded, "I understand, you go find people first, I’ll be right there."

The two discussed the plan and acted separately.

Mu Yuanxiu went to find acquaintances for help, while Li Yuzhu walked into the Liu Family’s yard.

Liu Da Niu and Lady Liu were crying out loud, probably too confused to help.

Li Yuzhu didn’t bother with them.

She walked over and pulled Hu Shuangcheng aside, "Hu Shuangcheng, have your mother and sister been here?"

Hu Shuangcheng was taken aback by the question, "Them? Haven’t seen them? If they took the child, everyone would recognize them, right?"

Li Yuzhu said, "Wouldn’t they get someone to take the child away? You should immediately ask everyone in the yard if they’ve seen them come by, especially ask the children."

Adults helping the Hu Family mother and daughter take away Liu Da Niu’s son would cause enmity once the news spreads, but if a child was taken, that child might just get a beating, and both families would remain as they were.

Moreover, a child unaware of the Liu Family’s and Aunt Hu’s conflicts could be easily manipulated.

One sentence alerted Hu Shuangcheng, who strode into the crowd. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Li Yuzhu exhaled, hurriedly leaving to meet Mu Yuanxiu.

She arrived at the haystack Mu Yuanxiu mentioned, seeing three young men already waiting there.

"Miss Li, Yuanxiu asked us to wait here, he’ll be here soon." one of the young men said.

Li Yuzhu nodded, "Thank you all."

Several youths sheepishly touched their heads, "No worries, we’ve grown up playing with Yuanxiu, helping a bit is nothing."

Before long, Mu Yuanxiu arrived with a few more people, striding toward them.

He found ten people altogether.

These people included youths, middle-aged, and young adults.

There were also two sharp-looking children under ten.

Mu Yuanxiu looked at everyone and said, "You’ve all seen my niece and nephew, Guoguo is quite smart, she understands everything you say, if you call out, she’ll respond immediately upon hearing the sound. I think they might be playing hide and seek, or have been taken away, so you should search every corner and inquire if any suspicious ox carts passed by. In particular, look for a man with One Tuft of Hair on his face and a gaunt-faced woman around thirty."

Li Yuzhu looked at Mu Yuanxiu in surprise, "Yuanxiu, who are these two people? How do you know Guoguo and Jingjing might have been taken by them?"

Mu Yuanxiu glanced at her, not answering, addressed the ten people, "The Taohua River Village has only one village road, but this road has three exits, leading west to the Huang Village market, east to Qingshui River Village, and a small path to the ferry crossing five miles away along the big river; that area can’t accommodate ox carts, only ferries, but we also need to guard against anyone taking the children across the river. Upon reaching the ferry crossing, inquire if anyone boarded a ferry with children. We’ll divide into three teams to search along the three routes."

Including the ten people he gathered, plus him and Li Yuzhu, there were twelve people.

Mu Yuanxiu divided them into three groups.

"If you find anyone suspicious, inform me immediately." Mu Yuanxiu looked at everyone and solemnly said, "These two children are very important to the Li Family; we must find them."

Children are important to every family; some have younger siblings, some have just become fathers, some have newly acquired grandchildren, all are fond of children.

"Don’t worry, Yuanxiu, we’ll search carefully," everyone said.

Mu Yuanxiu cupped his hands in thanks to everyone, "I thank you."

"No worries, Yuanxiu." Several people then began to separate and proceed.

Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu took the two younger boys and quickly headed towards the Huang Village market street.

She thought about the two people Mu Yuanxiu had mentioned, curiously asked, "Yuanxiu, you still haven’t told me, who are those two people you mentioned?"

"A couple of human traffickers from Huang Village, some say they stole children before, but there’s no evidence, and accusations against them fell through." Mu Yuanxiu said, "Yesterday I saw their ox cart on the village road behind Uncle Liu’s house."

"Traffickers?" Li Yuzhu was shocked.

Mu Yuanxiu squeezed her hand, "Yu Zhu, don’t worry, we will definitely find Guoguo and Jingjing."

"Alright..." Li Yuzhu nodded.

But she couldn’t help worrying, no matter how smart Guoguo was, she was just a one-and-a-half-year-old child, could she outrun two adults?

Jingjing was also not yet four years old.

The two of them took the other two young boys, inquiring along the way.

When they reached the village entrance, a child playing with mud on the roadside said he saw an ox cart going towards Huang Village while he was squatting in the outhouse, through the gap in the thatched shed, the driver had One Tuft of Hair on his face.

Mu Yuanxiu gave the child one coin as thanks and handed five coins each to the other two children, "Go back and tell the others we’ve found the ox cart, tell them not to search anymore, and when we return, we’ll definitely treat them to a drink."

The two children, taking the money, turned and ran back.

"Ox carts don’t go fast, Yuanxiu, let’s run," Li Yuzhu said.

"Alright."

The two of them ran ahead.

.

The middle-aged man with One Tuft of Hair hadn’t directed the ox cart to the market, but detoured into a small grove halfway.

After the grove, another small path appeared.

Inside the ox cart, a child was impatiently whining.

"Damn woman, get the child to calm down."

"I know, I know."

"Is my mom really ahead?" a little boy’s voice tentatively asked.

"Yes, she is ahead, she said she wants to see you and take you with her." the gaunt-faced woman said with a smile, "Come, hungry? Want some cake?"

The little boy was Li Jing.

He glanced at the sesame cake, furrowing his brows, shaking his head, "I ate, I’m not hungry."

"That’s fine, but if you start crying and throwing tantrums, your mom will get upset upon seeing you and won’t meet with you." the gaunt-faced woman took a rounded wooden toy from the corner of the cart and handed it to Li Jing to play with.

Li Jing glanced at her, took it in his hand but didn’t play with it, only holding it.

He truly dared not speak more.

They said they were taking him to see his mom; he hadn’t seen her in so long, he missed her.

"Jingjing, mom won’t meet us." sitting beside Li Jing, Guoguo reminded, "Aunt Chai will be our mom, that mom doesn’t want us anymore."

Li Jing bit his lip, his eyes turned red instantly, tears welling up, he blinked, two big tears rolled down.

"No, she will! She will want me! Guoguo, you’re lying." Li Jing couldn’t hold back anymore, sobbing, "I want mom, I want mom!"

"What’s the matter again? Tell them to shut up!" The man with One Tuft of Hair turned his head and angrily shouted.

The gaunt-faced woman got angry as well; she grabbed a small knife from the corner of the cart, pointing it at Guoguo, "Little girl, small as you are, with plenty of words, say another and I’ll gouge your eyes out. Little brat with a foul mouth! You made the good boy cry!"

Guoguo looked at her, didn’t blink, showing no fear.

On the other hand, Li Jing was scared by the shiny knife, trembling, his face turning pale.

He held Guoguo tightly, kicking at the woman, "Don’t gouge her eyes." He also covered Guoguo’s mouth with his hands, "She’s not speaking anymore, see, she hasn’t spoken."

Guoguo turned to Li Jing, surprised, eyes wide.

She reached over and embraced Li Jing as well.

The gaunt-faced woman looked at these two children, stunned.

She slowly twirled the knife, "Good, it’s best not to cry; remember, if you make noise again, I’ll gouge your eyes so you’ll never see your mom."

Li Jing kept his hand pressed on Guoguo’s mouth, tightening his lips.

The two children stared at the woman without speaking.

"See, that’s good behavior." the woman smiled.

The ox cart traveled for half an hour, coming to a stop before a small wooden cabin.

This was a melon shed.

The area in front of the house was spacious, in the summer, this place was planted with a field of watermelons.

This was the Chai Family’s second house’s melon patch.

The sound of the ox cart stopping alerted the person inside the cabin.

A middle-aged woman who looked like a servant came out.

Upon seeing the middle-aged man with One Tuft of Hair, she raised her eyebrows to ask, "Have you brought the children?"