Chapter 36: The Decision to Flee

As they passed the house where the mad woman lived, Jiang Yao hesitated for a moment before walking toward the window.

"Yaoyao, what are you doing?" Zhao Xiaoting instinctively called out, lowering her voice. "They say that woman throws stones at people!"

"It's fine, I want to have a word with her." Jiang Yao had already reached the window.

Ji Yuanyuan’s eyes widened in disbelief. "What did she just say? She wants to talk to that woman? But isn't she... mentally unstable?" She gestured toward her own head as she finished the sentence in a hushed tone.

The others were equally baffled, yet they followed her over nonetheless.

The room was pitch black; naturally, there were no lights. To call it a house was generous; it was essentially a woodshed used for storing firewood. As Jiang Yao peered through the dilapidated window, a face suddenly pressed right up against it.

Even though she had steeled herself, she was startled and instinctively took two steps back.

"Damn it!" The people behind her were also frightened by the movement.

The woman stared at her intently. Her face was so filthy that her original features were obscured. She looked to be in her forties, but she was as weathered and haggard as a woman of fifty or sixty.

The woman began to giggle foolishly, reaching a hand out through the gap in the window. Her laughter was chilling in the dark of night. "Are you here to take me home? Hee hee, that's good, that's good!"

Jiang Yao’s eyes flickered. "Where do you want me to take you?"

The woman froze, a look of confusion flashing across her eyes as she muttered, "Home, take me home..."

Almost everyone present was stunned. Jiang Yao quickly pressed, "Isn't this your home?"

The woman’s expression shifted instantly, her eyes turning fierce as she pounded hard against the window. "Get out! Liars, you're all liars!"

Her mental state had become extremely unstable, and Jiang Yao dared not provoke her further. However, these few short sentences had already revealed a great deal.

"There really are women trafficked into this village!"

At the very least, that woman did not seem to have gone mad for no reason; perhaps, as the little girl had suggested, she had been driven insane.

Duan Yiren parted her lips. "What should we do now? Should we call the police?"

"Huangmao" looked at her with frustration. "Sister, where are you going to find a police station here? Besides, we have to escape first before we can even call for help!"

"Exactly. The people in this village don't know we've discovered their crimes yet. We should leave first thing tomorrow morning," Chi Xing said, his tone brooks no argument.

If conditions allowed, they would have preferred to leave at night, but they were surrounded by mountains. Attempting to escape in the dark was nearly impossible, with visibility so restricted that one wrong step could lead to a fatal fall off a cliff.

On the way back, they ran into the little girl again.

She was sitting by the side of the path, sobbing. As the group exchanged glances, Jiang Yao stepped forward. "Little sister, why are you sitting here crying all by yourself?"

Zhaodi wiped her tears and recognized Jiang Yao as the sister who had given her candy. She replied in a muffled, nasal voice, "Papa hit me."

"Why did your father hit you?" Jiang Yao’s gaze darkened. Regardless of the reason, hitting a child was truly despicable.

Tears welled up in Zhaodi’s eyes. "Papa hits me every time he gets drunk. I don't even know what I did wrong..."

"Alcoholism and domestic violence? What a total animal!" Wei Kai muttered, filled with indignation.

"And where is your mother?" Ji Yuanyuan couldn't help but ask.

Zhaodi’s expression turned bleak. "Mama left. Papa said she ran off with some wild man, but I know that's not true." Her eyes reddened. "She went to a place very far away and will never come back."

As she said this, everyone understood what she meant.

Her mother had either escaped this place or had already passed away. Given the difficulty of escaping, the latter seemed far more likely.

Jiang Yao suddenly thought of something. "Can I ask you a question? Why did that little boy say earlier that Brother Zhuzi is the smartest person in the village?"

Zhaodi tilted her head and thought for a moment, her tone innocent. "Because he can bring back many new brides."

The implication behind those words was bone-chilling.

Zhaodi looked at Jiang Yao and the others, blinking her moist eyes. "Papa said you are also new brides. Pretty sister, do you want to be a bride, too? But brides cry every day, and they get hit..."

The women present turned pale, goosebumps rising on their arms. Without their knowledge, they had already been marked and priced as prey!

Jiang Yao took a deep breath. "This sister does not want to be a bride. Can we keep our conversation a secret and not tell anyone else?"

She pulled out a piece of candy and handed it to her.

Zhaodi’s eyes lit up and she nodded. "Sister, I’ll keep it a secret!"

She thought these sisters were so beautiful, and they smelled nice, and they had such sweet candy. She didn't want them to be brides; if they were, they would be beaten and could never return to their own homes.

"You're such a good girl," Jiang Yao said, patting her head.

...

Watching the little girl head home, the group could no longer sit still.

"They actually set their sights on us! No wonder they were so welcoming before! Treating us to good food and drink—they were just fattening us up like sheep for the slaughter!" Ji Yuanyuan gritted her teeth in fury.

Yaoyao was right; there was no such thing as a free lunch, especially since they had even paid for that meal!

"Huangmao" cursed, "And that Zhuzi, looking all decent and honest, he's actually a human trafficker! I bet the one who pushed me off the mountain today was one of his people!"

Throughout the journey, Zhuzi had helped them quite a bit and seemed friendly enough. Who would have thought he was the one hiding the deepest?

"He might not be a trafficker himself, but he likely acts as the go-between," Jiang Yao said thoughtfully.

She had noticed back on the bus that while everyone else in the village spoke in the local dialect, Zhuzi spoke relatively fluent Mandarin. For ordinary people, that would naturally lower their guard. Furthermore, his appearance was incredibly deceptive—with his honest, down-to-earth face, who would suspect he was involved in such schemes?

"You girls should be extra careful tonight. I don't think we should wait until tomorrow morning—we're leaving tonight!" Chi Xing decided firmly. Since they knew the villagers had designs on them, they couldn't just sit there waiting for disaster.

If the villagers found out they were planning to leave tomorrow, they certainly wouldn't let them go easily. With the villagers’ superior numbers, a confrontation would put them at a major disadvantage.

Jiang Yao agreed with Chi Xing’s proposal. "Let’s set a time. In the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep, we'll all meet at a designated spot."

After discussing and confirming the time and place—meeting at the crooked tree at the entrance of the village in the early hours—they returned to their lodgings, each heavy with their own thoughts.