I'm just a trainee police officer. I don't really want to solve the case.

It turned out to be Taotao.

Su Xiaoxiao was surprised. What happened?

Wasn’t this child rescued last night? Why haven’t his parents taken him away yet?

Seeing Taotao staring at the bun in her hand, she took one out of the bag and handed it to him.

"Taotao, why haven't you gone home yet?"

"I'm waiting for mom and dad to pick me up." Taotao said vaguely while chewing a bun.

"So when will your parents come to pick you up?"

Taotao pointed at the sleeping Li Yan and said, "This sister said they have something to do and will come to pick me up later."

Su Xiaoxiao thought, this is not right. She remembered that when they were searching for the child last night, they asked Taotao’s mother to go to the police station and wait first.

Under normal circumstances, once the child is rescued and a statement is made, the parents can take the child home.

At this time, Li Yan woke up after hearing the noise, sat up straight, and stretched.

"I'm exhausted."

"what happened?"

Seeing that Li Yan’s dark circles were bigger than hers, Su Xiaoxiao handed her the soy milk she bought on the road.

"Don't mention it."

Li Yan glanced at Taotao who was eating buns obediently at the side, and came close to her and whispered.

"After the child was rescued last night, we couldn't contact the child's parents. There was no other way, so Director Chen called me back. The child woke up and couldn't see his parents, so he cried and made a fuss. I couldn't sleep all night. I was so sleepy."

"Isn't the child's mother here?"

"That's what's strange. I heard that she only stayed for a while and then sneaked away when no one was paying attention."

Li Yan looked back at Taotao and saw that he was only busy eating the buns and not looking over here, so she continued speaking.

"The child was found, but the adult couldn't be contacted. Isn't that strange? Not only did he not answer the phone, but later he turned off his phone. What's even more outrageous is that the child's father's phone was also turned off, so neither of them could be contacted. Later, I found a way to contact someone at the child's father's company, but they said he had already left work. Really, I don't know where he went to fool around."

"Now what?"

"Keep in touch. I heard you've already contacted my mother."

Just as she thought, the woman last night was not the child's biological mother, but the stepmother.

It's not that she is prejudiced against her stepmother, but that woman is too obvious.

The stepmother ran away. Haha, Su Xiaoxiao sneered in her heart, maybe she felt guilty?

How can a woman who deliberately wants to abandon her child be a good person?

But what about that dad?

His wife and child were missing for a whole night and he didn't even notice. Maybe he didn't do anything good?

The two were talking in low voices when suddenly a woman rushed in from outside the door.

The woman was about thirty years old, wearing a long trench coat, with slightly curly hair, and her face, which was delicately made up, was full of anxiety.

As soon as she saw Taotao, she rushed over and hugged him, "Taotao, mommy is here."

Taotao was stunned for a moment and struggled to push the woman away.

But the woman hugged him too tightly, and he was too small to break free.

"Let me go, you are not my mother, you are not my mother!" Taotao suddenly cried out, "Wuwu, I want my mother."

The woman was so angry that she pushed Taotao hard and yelled, "You little heartless boy, I am your real mother. That bitch is not your mother. Don't call her mother!"

Taotao was pushed to the ground by her, and Su Xiaoxiao hurried over to help Taotao up.

"Who are you? Why are you making trouble in our police station? Is this the place for you to make trouble?!" She looked at the woman coldly and scolded her.

The woman realized her own gaffe, smoothed down the hair that had fallen from her cheeks, and lowered her voice.

"Excuse me, police officer. I'm Taotao's biological mother. My name is Qiu Yan. I'm here to take Taotao home."

Su Xiaoxiao deliberately walked around Qiu Yan, looking her up and down.

"Biological mother? Why doesn't she look like that to me? A biological mother would treat her child like this!"

The woman was anxious.

"I am really Taotao's biological mother! I was just a little angry just now. Police comrade, you don't know that Taotao's father divorced me because of that bitch. We..."

"Qiu Yan, what nonsense are you talking about in front of the police!"

Another man walked in from outside the door and rudely interrupted Qiu Yan's words.

The man was probably in his thirties, of medium build, wearing a slightly wrinkled suit and a pair of rimless glasses. He looked gentle, but at this moment there was obvious anger on his face.

"I am not talking nonsense. I am telling the truth. Police officer, please judge for yourself. He is just a scumbag who loves the new and gets bored with the old!"

The woman refused to give in and shouted even louder.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Su Xiaoxiao was annoyed by their quarrel. "If you want to quarrel, go home and quarrel. First, tell me why you are here."

"I'm Taotao's father. My name is Gu Dacheng. You were the one who notified me to pick up the child." The middle-aged man explained with embarrassment.

He still hasn't figured out what happened. How did his child get lost? His wife Liu Lijuan is also missing. He didn't go home for just one night and felt like the world had turned upside down.

When he turned on his phone in the morning, he saw a bunch of messages. When he called, he found out that it was the police looking for him. His child had been kidnapped the day before and then rescued. The police asked him to go and pick up the child quickly.

He couldn't contact his wife, so he had to come here by himself. Who would have thought that he would see his ex-wife Qiu Yan at the police station.

"How dare you come to pick up the child? The child has been at the police station for a whole night and neither of you could find him. Is this how you normally take care of the child?! Officer, the child cannot go back with him. I am the biological mother and I want to take the child back."

Facing Qiu Yan's accusations, Gu Dacheng was not willing to be outdone.

"How dare you say you are the biological mother? You've been divorced for two years. Have you come to see your child once? The child doesn't even recognize you. How dare you say that, biological mother?"

Seeing that the two were arguing endlessly, Su Xiaoxiao slammed the table and said, "What are you arguing about? This is the police station, not your home. Talk properly."

She pointed at Gu Dacheng and said, "You are the guardian of the child, right?"

"Yes, that's right. It was agreed during the divorce that I will have custody of the child."

"Okay, you can take your ID card to go through the formalities and take the child back."

Qiu Yan wanted to argue but was stopped by Su Xiaoxiao.

"Don't bother to argue here. If you really want the child, you can go to court to apply for a change in custody. It's useless to make a fuss here. The child's father is the guardian now. We can't let the child go back with you."

"Comrade Police Officer, I..."

Qiu Yan wanted to say something when the phone in her hand rang. When she saw the word "husband" on the caller ID, her expression changed slightly. She walked to the side and pressed the answer button with trembling fingers.

"Where the hell have you been? You've been missing since early in the morning. You've gotten bold, haven't you? Come back here!" A deep male voice came from the phone.

"I'm just out to buy some vegetables. I'll be back soon and make you something delicious at noon." Qiu Yan said in a low voice, with obvious flattery in her tone.

The other party ignored me and hung up the phone.

Qiu Yan felt a little regretful. When she received a call from the police station in the morning and heard that her son had been abducted, she ran over in a hurry. The person at home didn't know about it, and she didn't know what kind of anger she would face when she returned home.

Just now when he said he wanted to take the child back, he was just talking, trying to make Gu Dacheng angry. It's impossible for him to really take the child back.

She couldn't even protect herself, so how could she protect her son?

"Taotao, mom will come to see you next time." Qiu Yan squatted down and hugged Taotao, kissed him on the head, stood up and prepared to go out.

"Wait a moment." Su Xiaoxiao stopped her.

Qiu Yan looked at her in confusion.

"Do you need help?"

Su Xiaoxiao pointed at her wrist.

There's a bruise on it.

It is early summer and the weather is already hot, but this woman is still wrapped up tightly, just to hide the scars on her arms. The same goes for the delicate makeup on her face. The bruises at the corners of her eyes cannot be completely covered up even with concealer.

Qiu Yan hurriedly pulled her sleeves down. She thought she had concealed it well enough, but she didn't expect that her embarrassment had already been seen by others. She couldn't help but well up tears in her eyes.

She turned her back and wiped away the tears that were overflowing from her eyes.

"Thank you, no need."

She shook her head gently with a bitter smile on her face. No one could help her.

Su Xiaoxiao stuffed a note into her hand with her phone number on it.

"You can call me when you need me."