How could I possibly be confined in a cage?

The next day, Qingru officially started her job and appeared at the police station with Guo Zixing.

"Hiss~ Isn't this..." Chief Zhang felt that the person in front of him looked a little familiar.

It turned out that Qingru had tied up her long hair, was wearing a hat, long boots and a short jacket. Her black outfit was simple, elegant and capable, making her stand out.

However, she was quite different from the Qingru in the photos that Chief Zhang had seen before. But as a chief of police for many years, he recognized her at a glance, but did not point it out for Guo Zixing's sake.

After all, it was the Guo family who ordered the arrest, and now they're keeping the person by their side. Who knows what they're up to?

Qingru was a little nervous when she saw Chief Zhang, after all, she had escaped from his clutches once.

Guo Zixing wasn't so cautious. He ignored Chief Zhang's questions and introduced Qingru to everyone who was looking at her, "This is Qingru. She will be my deputy from now on. This arrest operation went smoothly. Next, we need to rescue those abducted children. Qingru has experience dealing with human traffickers. We can hear her thoughts."

Qingru took a deep breath, skipped the pleasantries, and began to recount her prepared words, “You’ve all probably seen me before. I was the one you all rescued that day. I won’t go into the details, but in short, these people are utterly depraved and have no moral compass whatsoever. Niu Da and his second wife, in order to be together openly, actually sold off his first wife and daughter. Not to mention the girls from their village, they were all tricked into working at the Dongyang Cotton Mill. But ostensibly working, they were actually signing indentures and then disappearing without a trace. The girls who signed indentures with them five years ago have vanished without a trace. I don’t know how many wronged souls have been imprisoned in that cellar where I was held. I personally witnessed one being thrown out. I’m afraid there are still some left in their cellars to this day!”

After hearing this, everyone sighed, especially those with children at home, who couldn't help but feel a sense of lingering fear.

"That Niu Da seemed like a pretty honest and simple guy. Who knew he'd do something like this?"

"Sigh...who knows? The world is going to the dogs, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be!"

"He'd even sell his own wife and daughter! He's inhuman! He's worse than an animal!"

……

Listening to the curses of the crowd, Chief Zhang thought that although selling one's children was common these days, it was a "mutual consent" situation where people had no other choice but to sell their children, rather than outright abduction.

"Are you talking about the Toyo Cotton Mill?"

Qingru nodded. "Yes, I heard it with my own ears. They distributed twenty girls to the 'labor contractors.' Chief Zhang, do you know anything about this?"

Chief Zhang said, "I do know about the Toyo Cotton Mill. It was founded by a Japanese man named Namio Hayakawa, who was a comprador."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

Chief Zhang added, "My younger sister also works in a textile factory. It's not like what you described. There are many female factory workers in the city, and they all go home every night."

Qingru frowned. She knew about this situation because she also had classmates who worked as accountants in a textile factory, but they had only heard about it, and it was different from what she had seen with her own eyes.

“I saw it with my own eyes. Surely there must have been some mistake in the process. Women in the countryside are rarely educated. They may have different jobs than female students in the city, so their situations are different. People are divided into different classes, not to mention their positions.”

Qingru's words make sense; none of them really know what's going on inside the cotton mill.

Sergeant Zhang asked, "If what you say is true, then may I ask, how did you escape from their clutches?"

Qingru shook her head slightly, a bitter expression on her face. "Because they think I'm a rare commodity, and they can sell me for a better price." Then, she changed the subject. "By the way! Everyone, I have something very important to remind you all." She paused, then added, "I've heard them mention someone repeatedly, with a lot of taboo about her, called... 'Aunt Mei.' I think that if they can sell so many people to various places, there must be a larger gang behind them. Therefore, I'm going to publish an article in the newspaper to explain these situations and warn the world. And those girls who were sold to the Japanese cotton mills, their experiences may be even more tragic than I imagine, so please do your best to rescue them as soon as possible. Also, families with young children or girls must pay attention to their safety and never let them fall into the hands of human traffickers, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable."

After hearing this, the people around nodded in agreement. After all, women and children are already in a vulnerable position in this era, and they are not fools. They naturally understand the implications of this situation.

Qingru looked at Guo Zixing, signaling him to reveal the plan so that the sooner it could be implemented, the sooner people could be saved.

Guo Zixing stepped forward and outlined his plan: "The most urgent task is to rescue the people alive. Zhang Gong, you handle that. You know a lot of people from all walks of life; try to find out what's going on in the textile factory. Secondly, we need to publish a notice in the newspaper. Although it might alert the perpetrators, the more important thing is the deterrent effect, making them afraid to commit crimes again for a while, which will allow the rescue operation to proceed more smoothly. Zhang Xun, you contact the newspaper for this. Make sure they have good writing skills, preferably something dramatic and engaging to attract more readers. San'er, you're fast; go and tell Cheng Ping to put in extra effort and extract more useful information from those three human traffickers as soon as possible."

"Yes," the group acknowledged and was about to leave when Guo Zixing stopped them again. "Also, make sure the news of the capture is publicized in a prominent way, but keep the rescue operation low-key and don't leak the information. Once you're done with today, tomorrow try to get Qingru in as an undercover agent."

Qingru stepped forward and said firmly, "That's right, how can we catch tiger cubs without venturing into the tiger's den? I would appreciate it if Chief Zhang would do his best to squeeze me in."