Chapter 729: Chapter 729

Jiang Xiaoxiao watched the weary Song Moting take off his clothes.

"Not Tang Yuan and Baozi?"

Song Moting avoided looking into her eyes and answered softly.

"No, I went there. Those two children were abducted! But they’re not Tang Yuan and Baozi. They’ve been taken to the welfare house, waiting for the police to find their parents."

Jiang Xiaoxiao closed her eyes, feeling lost at heart.

Yet another fruitless search.

These past few months, they’ve been caught in a cycle of hope and disappointment time and time again.

Jiang Xiaoxiao firmly told herself, no, it wouldn’t be in vain.

As long as she persevered, sooner or later, she would find her precious son.

Three months have already passed; if necessary, another decade or two wouldn’t matter.

To ask her to give up searching for her child was simply inconceivable.

In these past months, she tried to imagine what Tang Yuan might like now.

What changes might occur as he grows up.

She even bought toys he might like.

Would he be attracted to balls or toy trucks?

Would he mimic the engine’s rumbling while playing with toy cars?

By the age of three, he was already riding a tricycle.

She guessed he would pick up stones, catch insects, and stuff them in his pockets... She couldn’t bring herself to catch insects, but stones... stones she could manage.

It was from that time that she began collecting stones.

She hoped that her son would be very happy to see them when he returned.

If she still couldn’t find him, Jiang Xiaoxiao imagined that in a few years, Tang Yuan and Baozi would be losing their baby teeth, their newly grown adult teeth appearing too large next to their young faces, but their baby fat gradually disappearing.

Little boys would start liking basketball and soccer, maybe other hobbies too. Latest content publıshed on 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝓷𝓮𝓽

When they grow a bit older, she thought, they should have a geared bicycle—each speed representing a year.

Perhaps they would later become fascinated by computers.

Jiang Xiaoxiao tightened her chin, blankly scanning the night sky enveloped by darkness.

She couldn’t allow herself to imagine that Tang Yuan and Baozi were no longer alive. She imagined them living normal and happy lives, perhaps found, bought, or adopted by others who loved them and took good care of them.

At any rate, it was just a theory.

The most likely scenario is that they were sold through traffickers to remote mountainous regions, where it’s said many parents want a boy.

Both of them are highly sought after.

These people simply don’t care that the children they are raising were stolen, and the families that lost them are shattered, with heartbroken parents left to weep in sorrow alone.

She tried hard to believe, to convince herself, imagining Tang Yuan and Baozi playing somewhere, growing healthily, laughing freely.

The worst situation is not knowing what’s happening to them now, and anything is better than thinking they’re already gone.

But what if—what if they were unlucky?

Would those bastards, those child-trafficking, life-destroying scoundrels bother to bury small sacrifices?

Or would they just toss them somewhere in a ditch to feed...

No, Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn’t think more.

She couldn’t let those chilling imaginations form.

Otherwise, she would lose control, and now she absolutely could not lose control.

Song Moting held her tightly, in his eyes reflected a pale and tired face, with deep black circles under the deeply set eyes, and determined lines etched beside his lips.

Tonight, she looked older than her actual age of twenty-four.

Under the fluorescent light, her messy hair appeared a harsh white.

Jiang Xiaoxiao knew that the day the children went missing, Fan Xiuying noticed a streak of her hair turning white.

That white tuft was very noticeable, reminding everyone how much Jiang Xiaoxiao understood the pain parents go through when losing their children.

Her goal was singular: to find the children.

He quickly pressed her against the wall, his hand firmly placed on her waist.

Jiang Xiaoxiao was startled and looked up into his resolute face and narrowed, wild eyes.

"Take good care of the kids, I will find them! Bring them back, do nothing else, take care of yourself."

He growled through gritted teeth.

This Jiang Xiaoxiao made his heart ache beyond measure.

She snuggled closer to him, feeling herself suddenly succumb to sleepiness, as she hadn’t rested well for a long time.

Song Moting let her sleep and held her the whole night.

By morning, he was already gone.

She sat on the bed, staring blankly at the empty spot beside her.

She knew he hadn’t just gone to the kitchen to fetch breakfast, nor out to exercise; she could feel the house was empty, with no one but herself inside.

Everyone who saw him thought it seemed like they were seeing a modern-day version of a bandit, plus his way of walking.

Light on his feet, perfectly balanced—like a return to some violent, lawless era.

It was easy to imagine him with swords strapped to his back, his face half-covered with black cloth beneath the nose.

Song Moting calmly walked into narrower and dirtier alleys.

His right hand touched the dagger on his wrist, not grabbing it, just gently resting on it, as if declaring his intent to do something at any moment.

He turned into an alley even smaller than all the others, finally stopping in front of a door.

The door was originally black, now left with only some mottled paint flecks.

Some holes in the door were covered with thick cardboard, nailed in place.

He gently knocked on the rotten wooden frame, then quietly waited.

Hearing the sounds of a fight from within, the door opened a small crack, and a clouded eye peeked out.

The owner of the eye spoke with a murmur full of vigilance.

"Who are you looking for?"

His tone turned the two words into a command.

The woman responded cautiously.

Song Moting reached out and pushed the door open.

The woman screamed in protest, stepping back a few paces, but seeing him not stepping inside, she hesitated and glared at him.

He said nothing, just quietly waited.

The narrow room was very dimly lit, but it was enough for Song Moting to see the woman’s eager expression watching him.

Perhaps because there was another man present, she felt reassured and muttered.

She gestured for Song Moting to enter.

The room was filled with a sour odor.

Only a lamp without a shade was lit in the corner. The woman looked in her forties; her obese, greasy skin indicated that although her living place was like a garbage heap, food was not scarce.

Song Moting showed a few more bills in his hands, handing the money to the woman.

She nervously watched his outstretched hand, then snatched the money as if fearing he would back out.

"You’re not delivering?"

The seated man lifted his head.

Meanwhile, four or five men appeared behind, holding weapons, staring emotionlessly at Song Moting.

The woman had a relieved expression on her face.

"I’m looking for someone, two children, three or four-year-old boys."

Song Moting took out a photo.

"You’re in the wrong place! There are no kids here!"

The man replied angrily.

Spitting on the ground, Song Moting had no admiration for his behavior.

"I want an answer. Someone said they saw you with two boys."

Song Moting wasn’t questioning, he was certain.

The man’s face was full of resentment, a string of curses poured out, too fast for Song Moting to fully understand, but his conclusion was that this man wanted to kill him.

The man in front felt the threat from Song Moting.

Several men rushed forward.

The man’s long tirade of insults ended, and everything was over.

Jin Dachuan clapped his hands and spoke.

"Three months ago, two boys were brought to you."

The man and woman argued.

They couldn’t admit it. What they did was despicable, and once discovered, it would lead to imprisonment.

They couldn’t admit it.

They had encountered this type of thing a lot.

Without evidence, the police couldn’t do anything to them.

"Since there are none! Then you can go straight to the police station. Take them there, here’s the ledger."

Song Moting flipped through a tattered notebook in his hand, which noted the children’s prices and ages, along with other miscellaneous things.

Several strong men appeared.

The man and woman were terrified.

"We’ll talk! We’ll talk, don’t send us over there."

Song Moting looked down at the people on the ground, "Don’t make me waste my breath."

The man’s gaze darted between Song Moting and Jin Dachuan as if considering who posed the greatest threat.

They were like all scoundrels, with an inherent strong survival instinct. His gaze settled on Song Moting.

He glared at him because he was frightened, knowing many inside details, unable to move.

He could have lied, but Song Moting could see him considering, clearly reading his mind from the changes in his facial expressions.

But Song Moting remained as steady as a rock, silently waiting. The man couldn’t tell what he knew or didn’t know.

In every aspect, he was certain that he could see through lies.

So he swallowed hard and whispered.

"The kids were sold to a village on Wong Chau Mountain."

"Both of them were sold there?"

As he waited for the answer, Song Moting involuntarily held his breath, his nails piercing into his palm.

"There were five kids at the time,"

the man said. "They were transported over the mountain by car that day. Those two kids were the last ones sent."

He cautiously glanced at Song Moting.

"Those two were very troublesome, the police were looking for them, we couldn’t wait."

Heaven knows they realized later they had taken on two major troubles.