A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

Mu Nanzhao directed the way, and after walking west along the official road for a short distance, they turned onto a small road.

These human traffickers look very experienced.

They deliberately abandoned the main road and took a detour to prevent the victims of the lost child from catching up with them.

Mu Nanzhao said, "The oxcart they were driving probably didn't go too far."

"Two pairs of children's footprints, one of which is slightly larger, which should be Gouwa and Shitou."

"However, they didn't follow too closely, which is quite clever of them."

"Don't chase too fast, lest the sound of your horse's hooves alert the enemy."

Gu Xixi breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, if these madmen get desperate and take the child hostage, it will be terrible."

Just as Mu Nanzhao had predicted.

After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, we turned a corner and saw a flatbed cart pulled by a yellow ox in the distance.

Besides the one person driving the carriage, there were three men sitting on the carriage floor.

There were several large sacks piled up among them.

No doubt about it, it's this group of people!

Gu Xixi looked around but couldn't find Shitou and Gouwa.

She whispered, "Could those two have already been put away?"

Mu Nanzhao glanced at the roadside bushes. "Not necessarily."

He told Gu Xixi to stop, dismounted, picked up a few stones, each about the size of a child's fist, then remounted and said, "Go faster, don't worry about what's ahead."

Gu Xixi didn't know what he was going to do, but out of trust, she did as he said without hesitation.

It sped off like a whirlwind, startling everyone in the car in front who turned to look.

Before they could react, Mu Nanzhao threw out stones one after another.

The first stone jammed the rear wheel, forcing the oxcart to stop.

The next few blocks hit the heads of four human traffickers in succession.

Accompanied by screams, bright red blood blossomed one after another on the white snow.

Gu Xixi stopped the horse just behind the oxcart.

The traffickers rushing to catch the carriage were the first to fall to the ground from the front and immediately lay still.

The three people on the car floor were also rolling around with their heads in their hands, their cries of pain echoing throughout the room.

It seems that they have all lost the ability to resist.

Gu Xixi was dumbfounded. She had just watched Mu Nanzhao throw the stone with such ease, without even needing to gather his strength. She never expected the stone to be so powerful.

Just then, two little kids darted out from the roadside bushes, shouting, "Sister Xixi!"

"Mr. Chen!!"

Gu Xixi dismounted and asked, "Are you two alright?"

Stone said, "It's alright! These bad guys didn't notice we were following them!"

Gouwa puffed out his chest, "We followed their tire tracks all the way, and then hid in the bushes to follow them."

Gu Xixi glared at the two little ones with a stern face, "You two ran out to risk your lives without even saying hello to the adults, and you're quite proud of it?"

"I'll deal with you two when we get back! Come and help me now!"

She turned and walked toward the carriage, pulling out several hemp ropes from her bag.

Gouwa and Shitou worked together to tie up the four human traffickers tightly.

There were three burlap sacks on the cart, and when you opened them, they were all filled with little girls.

Xiao Tao and Dou Dou were quite frightened and burst into tears whenever they saw someone they knew.

The other girls caught it too and started crying with their mouths wide open.

Gu Xixi wasn't very good at coaxing children, so she took out a small bag of pine nut candy and slapped it on Shi Tou's hand.

"Quickly comfort them and stop the little girls from crying."

Gu Xixi jumped off the cart and walked towards Mu Nanzhao, saying, "Gouwa and Shitou must have seen you make a move."

Mu Nanzhao said calmly, "It's just throwing stones; anyone can do that."

“But what about you…” Gu Xixi turned to look at the children and said in a low voice:

"Was that just throwing stones normally? You almost cracked someone's skull open on the spot."

Mu Nanzhao pondered, "It seems I went a bit too far."

He looked up at Gu Xixi and said, "If anyone asks later, just say they were hit by stones, and when they fell, they pushed and shoved each other, and then hit the car, which aggravated their injuries."

Gu Xixi was silent for a moment, then said, "Very good, that's what you said when you handed it over to the government."

She realized that Mu Nanzhao had not only adapted to the identity of Chen Fang.

They're becoming increasingly adept at fabricating lies.

On the oxcart, Stone and Dog did not fail in their mission.

The girls gradually stopped crying. Each of them had a piece of candy in her mouth, with tears still in her eyes, and she was eating it with relish.

Gu Xixi let Mu Nanzhao ride a horse alone, and let the children all ride in the oxcart.

She drove back and got onto the main road, only to encounter Old Qian leading a large group of villagers.

All the able-bodied young men and women from Huachidu Village are here.

Each person held a farm tool in their hand, looking menacing.

Old Qian first saw Gu Xixi and Mu Nanzhao, "My niece? Mr. Chen?"

Gu Xixi slowly stopped the car. "Uncle Qian, and everyone else, don't worry, the children are fine."

After confirming that Sakura and Doudou had been brought back safely, everyone still surrounded the oxcart, filled with righteous indignation, intending to take the traffickers off and teach them a lesson.

Gu Xixi looked troubled. "Let's not do it. If we kill someone, it will be hard to explain to the authorities."

Only then did everyone notice that several human traffickers were tied up in a corner, their heads and faces covered in blood.

Even Lao Qian looked surprised.

Gu Xixi said awkwardly, "They're all alive, they just have some external injuries that look scary, but they won't die."

Old Qian waved his hand and said, "Then stop fighting and hand them over to the authorities."

The county government received the criminal that day, and at noon they specially dispatched two constables to the village to inquire about the situation.

Gu Xixi and Mu Nanzhao, as eyewitnesses, provided their testimonies.

Naturally, one of the questions would be, "How did the prisoner suffer a head injury with blood and brain damage?"

This is what later Western medicine calls a "concussion".

Gu Xixi followed Mu Nanzhao's advice.

Since Shitou and Gouwa were far away in the bushes at the time, they didn't see clearly. They only knew that those bad guys had indeed fallen into a heap and were crying for their parents.

This indirectly corroborates Gu Xixi's words.

The constables did not suspect anything in the end, and returned home after recording the information.

This incident served as a wake-up call for every household in Huachidu Village. With the village school closed for the holidays and children running around playing, safety issues cannot be taken lightly.

It just so happens that the adults are all free at home lately, so they have plenty of time to take care of the kids.

The snow lessened in the afternoon, but began to snow harder again before evening.

Aunt Zhang stewed a large pot of vegetables. Thinking that with such heavy snow, no one would come at this moment, she walked to the gate, intending to lock it early so that the family could stay in peace on the kang (a heated brick bed) and eat.

But just as she touched the door latch, a loud and urgent knocking sounded.

Aunt Zhang peeked through the crack in the door with suspicion. "Who is it?"

Four tall men stood outside the door, dressed in black robes and boots, all dressed as government officials.

The person knocking on the door had a stern face and a somewhat fierce tone, "Open the door! Is Chen Fang home?"

Aunt Zhang had no choice but to open the door, forcing a smile as she said, "Didn't the constables from the yamen only go back at noon? Why are they here again? And it's so late, in this heavy snow..."

"So what if it's snowing heavily?" the constable retorted impatiently, pushing past Aunt Zhang and entering the courtyard without another word.

"No matter how heavy the snow, we will still arrest those who deserve it!"