lcionline Chapter 1618: Hidden Corner
Chapter 1618: Hidden Corner
A hot, scorching wind blew through the empty streets.
Li Xiangnan led his wife back to the car. Qin Ruobai kept looking back: "Those two children...the injuries on their bodies..."
"Hmm." Li Xiangnan started the motorcycle and said in a low voice, "Something's wrong."
It’s not like I haven’t seen children begging before, but most of them were accompanied by adults or were directed from a distance.
The two children were like frightened sparrows, especially their behavior after the whistle, as if they were being controlled by someone.
And the wounds on their bodies... were too neat, they didn't look like they were caused by fighting, and they looked like they were deliberately inflicted for people to see.
The couple didn't speak again for the rest of the journey.
It was not until he returned home and told his parents what happened in the hospital that Li Xiangnan looked at his wife and told her not to get too excited and to pay attention to her emotions.
But the heat remains, and a chill creeps up my spine.
Qin Ruobai's hand unconsciously stroked her belly, and an inexplicable worry always surged in her heart.
At night, Qin Ruobai tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.
As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw the frightened eyes of the two children and the scars on their bodies.
There is also the baby in Wu Wanchun's arms who was given an injection right after birth.
What's wrong with this world? Why can't even children grow up safely?
The moonlight outside the window shone in dimly. She tossed and turned in bed, and finally sat up.
She could hear Li Xiangnan's steady snoring beside her, but she knew that he wasn't sleeping soundly either - this was the tacit understanding between the couple after many years.
The next morning, Qin Ruobai went to work at the bureau.
Li Xiangnan was worried and took a detour to send her off.
The morning light in July is already very scorching, and people on the road are hurrying to avoid the early heat.
At an alley not far from the Municipal Bureau, Qin Ruobai saw the brother and sister again.
Today they changed the place. The boy was still kowtowing while the girl was sobbing quietly beside him.
Qin Ruobai's heart suddenly tightened - she clearly saw that there seemed to be more scars on the boy's arm, and one of them was even oozing blood.
"Stop the car!" Qin Ruobai shouted to her husband, her voice filled with a determination she herself hadn't expected.
This time she didn't wait for Li Xiangnan to react, and got out of the car and walked towards the children.
Xu Qiluo, who was riding a bicycle, happened to pass by. Seeing that the couple had parked their car so quickly, he followed them and asked, "Ruobai, what's wrong?"
When the boy saw someone coming, he kowtowed again skillfully.
But when he saw that it was the person who gave him the money yesterday, a hint of obvious panic flashed in his eyes.
"Don't be afraid, little one," Qin Ruobai asked softly, pulling out a few White Rabbit candies from her pocket to prevent hypoglycemia. "Tell me how you got hurt. Can I help you?"
The girl stared at the candy and swallowed. Just as she was about to reach out her dirty little hand, the boy suddenly pulled her behind him and looked across the street with horror.
Qin Ruobai followed his gaze and saw a man in a straw hat squatting on the side of the road repairing a bicycle, glancing over here seemingly unintentionally.
It was the man who rode the bicycle with a red rope yesterday!
Just this one glance made the boy feel like he was pricked by a needle. He pulled his sister up and turned and ran.
This time they were so panicked that they even kicked over the broken bowl on the ground, and a few coins rolled all over the floor.
\"Hey! Don't run!\" Xu Qiluo wanted to chase, but was stopped by Qin Ruobai.
She noticed that the man repairing the bicycle also stood up and pushed his bicycle away slowly.
Before leaving, he glanced in the direction the children were running away, his eyes as cold as ice.
Qin Ruobai was restless at work all day.
Even the applause at the end of several meetings seemed to turn into the sound of children running away.
When she got off work, she specifically asked Li Xiangnan to pick her up and talked about this matter all the way.
"Those are definitely not ordinary beggars," Qin Ruobai said firmly. "They are terrified of someone. And I always feel... they want to ask for help, but they don't dare."
Li Xiangnan listened silently and tightened his grip on the handlebars.
Years of medical practice gave him an instinctive intuition about danger.
Moreover, he can probably tell at a glance what caused a person's injuries!
This matter is indeed not simple.
Three days later, Qin Ruobai accompanied the pregnant Xu Qiluo to the People's Hospital for a prenatal check-up.
In the alley at the side door of the hospital, she saw the brother and sister for the third time.
This time they were not begging, but hiding behind the trash cans, peeking into the hospital.
The boy was holding a dry and hard steamed bun in his hand and was breaking it off bit by bit for his sister to eat.
The steamed bun looked rotten, but the girl ate it voraciously.
Qin Ruobai asked Xu Qiluo to wait while he approached quietly.
But before he reached her, the boy suddenly turned around as if with telepathy, picked up his sister and ran away again.
This time Qin Ruobai saw it clearly - the moment the boy turned his head, she clearly saw an obvious burn on his neck, with a strange shape, like a brand.
Moreover, although their clothes were dirty and torn, the material was not bad. It was clearly the Dacron that city children often wore.
When Qin Ruobai returned home that night, she said to Li Xiangnan with a worried look on her face: "I always feel that those two children want to ask for help, but they don't dare. Xiangnan, do you have any way to approach children like these? They seem particularly afraid of adults."
Li Xiangnan pondered for a long time, tapping his fingers unconsciously on the table.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up: "Don't worry about this for now, I'll go ask! Xia Haiyang has recently started selling popsicles in front of the hospital. His business is getting better and better, and he hangs out with Ge Dongxu a lot. They're both old Beijingers and know the place well. I'll go talk to them tomorrow."
As for Ge Dongxu's somatic disease, he didn't move around much in Yanjing. But even though Xia Haiyang was only thirteen or fourteen years old, he had been working hard in Yanjing for many years and knew people in every corner of the capital, becoming Li Xiangnan's best eyes and ears.
The next day, after sending his wife Qin Ruobai to work, Li Xiangnan came to the entrance of Nianwei Hospital early.
"Xiao Xia, how's business been lately?" Li Xiangnan rummaged through the wooden box, his eyes lighting up as he said, "You even remembered to use a quilt to keep warm. It's an old tradition!"
"Hey, I learned all this from the people before me! I'm a bit late to the popsicle business this year, but I can still make a little money!" Xia Haiyang picked up one and handed it over. "Brother Nan, I saw Brother Chaodong the other day! His sister-in-law brought him here specially to introduce him to us! Brother Nan, your brother really looks like you!"
Li Xiangnan touched his face, eating a popsicle and saying with a smile: "If Chaodong heard you say this, he would be so happy! He just envied my good looks!"
"Hahaha!" Ge Dongxu and Xia Haiyang laughed immediately.
"When he comes back from Brother Zhang, I'll have him sell you some popsicles!" Li Xiangnan thought, "It would be good for him to gain some experience!"
"It's just a matter of one word!" Xia Haiyang and the other man looked at each other and smiled slightly.
\"Xiao Xia, have you noticed that there seem to be more children begging on the streets recently? I remember that many of them beg together! There don't seem to be many who come out alone..." Li Xiangnan asked casually.
Xia Haiyang, who was repairing the wooden saddlebags on his stall, shook his head when he heard this, his hammer clanging loudly. "That's right. There have been more beggars in recent years, but most of them are accompanied by adults. As for the ones you mentioned who act alone... there are some, but they are always elusive."
At this time, Yu Yiyang passed by here and came over, lowering his voice: "Uncle Xiangnan, to be honest, I thought they were colleagues before, and I noticed a few children like them. They have one thing in common - they all have injuries on their bodies, hide when they see people, and... "
He looked around mysteriously. "They change groups every few days. It's like someone's orchestrating this."
Li Xiangnan's heart sank: "Oh? Was it specially arranged?"
\"I didn't say anything." After saying this, Yu Yiyang quickly waved his hands, but the meaning in his eyes was clear.
This little guy is really smart!
It gave Li Xiangnan a new direction.
What an unexpected gain!
Yes, Yu Yiyang and his father, the whole family are flyover craftsmen, they must be very sensitive about this matter of their children, they are afraid that their peers will steal their jobs!
But it was precisely because of this attention that Li Xiangnan received certain information.
At this moment, Xia Haiyang suddenly knocked on the toolbox lightly with a hammer.
A suspicious person is coming.
Li Xiangnan understood Xiao Xia's reminder.
He pretended to tie his shoelaces and caught a glimpse of an old man pushing a garbage truck slowly passing by.
The old man looked ordinary, but Li Xiangnan noticed that his eyes were always scanning every corner of the street, as if he was patrolling something.
There was also a red rope tied to the handle of the garbage truck.
After the old man walked away, Xia Haiyang whispered, "I've seen this old guy several times. He hangs around where children are begging. One time, I saw him secretly stuff a steamed bun into a child's mouth, and the child was so scared that he trembled."
The clues were pieced together bit by bit, and a terrible guess formed in Li Xiangnan's mind.
He recalled the rumors he had heard in his previous life - some criminal gangs specifically controlled children to beg, and even deliberately beat the children to disability to gain sympathy.
Could it be that there are such dark hands under the feet of the emperor?
If his wife Qin Ruobai had not accidentally discovered the little beggars on the street a few days ago, he would never have noticed these children in the dark corner!
Li Xiangnan is about to become a father, and this feeling of empathy surges in his heart over and over again.
Where do those children come from?
Are their parents searching for them all over the world?
If one day in the future, these people set their sights on their sons who have just started elementary school...
Li Xiangnan sat in front of the bed, looking at the starry sky, his hand unconsciously touching his wife's bulging belly.
There is a little life growing up there, but what about those children outside? Where is their future?
The night wind blew by, bringing with it faint cries from afar. I didn't know if it was an illusion, or if the children who had nowhere to escape were calling for help.
He came to the living room and called Song Zimo...