Quick Transmigration: Saving The Crazy Villainess 396 Mo Chou 34

If one's unfilial daughter ran away and stole his money, what should a poor father from a very remote village do? 

Of course, report to the police!

For Zhao Guo, it did not matter that he was the head of a village full of sinners. He was wronged! So, he should demand justice!

With this in the middle-aged guy's mind, which was his excuse in leaving the village without the company of others, he managed to convince the villagers that he must go. 

Of course, he did after settling the matter with the owner of the barn that got caught on fire. Throughout the process, his face was not good, because unlike the other family who lost a child or wife bought only from traffickers, he lost, or rather, got betrayed, by a biological daughter. The pain on his face appeared greater than anyone else. At least, that was he implored to show everyone around him so they would listen to him more and be more considerate of him. 

"We let those foreigners inside our village in goodwill but look what they did! Those demons took away our children!" Zhao Guo roared at the entrance to the people who came to dissuade him from taking the trip. 

"I have to file a complaint to the authorities at the city!"

This happened a day after the escape of Fan Zheng's group. To his beautiful but idiotic words, not everyone really believed. Not everyone in the village was an idiot who did not realize that letting those abducted kids slip away was a sure-way ticket to trouble. Many from the older generation wanted to move the whole village away, preferably deeper into the mountains. 

"I don't think going to authorities is a good idea. We could be investigated." 

Quite a lot of women were nearby and threw a glance at the old man who stood before Zhao Guo. Although they immediately lowered their eyes on the ground or faked paying attention to their husbands' and kids' faces, if one looked closely enough, an odd glint flashed across their eyes. 

The new ones badly prayed in their hearts for the police officers from the nearest town to come and take them away. Those who had been there for more than a year stared complicatedly at their kids. They remembered the paper that suddenly appeared under pillows like a work of ghosts. 

Their momentary daydreaming ended up when the old man spoke again.

"Chief, I really suggest we take advantage of the fact that it will take days to go here on foot even if outsiders march towards here the moment those foreign kids make a report. We should relocate." 

Zhao Guo glared at the old man, disregarding their age difference, and strongly replied, "No! We stay! If we do as you say, we will appear guilty. But we are just honest people who paid what had been sold to us. Why would we move away to evade those outsiders? Did we steal the money we use to buy them?"

A reply rang from the crowd, an agitated one, "No! Call me whatever they want, but I'm no liar nor a thief!" 

Zhao Guo turned his head to where he heard the voice and nodded, "Right. You did not steal. So did everyone here! We made money honestly from the crops we harvested and the game we haunted. Why do we have to move locations and abandon the place where our ancestors lived?"

The sun had just rose from the east but many locals were tired from the chase in the forest and from the putting out of the fire last night. Perhaps that slowed down their cognitive function a bit so they only nodded at the words thrown at them. Well, in a way, if the first few phrases were a.n.a.lyzed, it was true none of them stole anything or anyone. They only bought who had been stolen from their families by the syndicate. 

Zhao Guo continued his pa.s.sionate speech, "I repeat, we did not take away what's not ours! If anything, we are the victims because when we bought 'them', those city people did not leave us any guarantee that we would not lose 'them'! On behalf of every victim here, I would find Mr. Feng to help us with this issue." 

The last name mentioned was the name of the middleman who usually talked to the villagers.

Zhao Guo did not say it specifically, but 'them' was referring to the women and kids. Moreover, while he brought up the word 'guarantee', it was obvious there was no way to demand explanation from those people since it was them who got careless in treating their guests.

Most of the locals were simple people who disliked wasting time in thinking too much. They easily got riled up by Zhao Guo's words. 

They seemingly forgot that the women and children were humans, not goods, and that there was no way to ask for something like warranty or buyer's protection. They also forgot they bought them not from legal sources. 

However, once people of considerable authorities came over to question them, would they be able to pretend like because they were at a remote place, they had no idea illegal trades like slavery were long abolished? Could they reason, with their village's detachment to technology as a reference that they still thought they were living in ancient times? 

It was hard to guess whether this bunch who were transacting with the traffickers were pretending to be ignorant. 

Yet, the agitated crowd did easily agree with their village head. Some of the wiser and sober men gave Zhao Guo a doubtful expression but because of the shouts distracting them, they failed to point out what was wrong. Swayed by the others, they began to think that Zhao Guo's statements made sense. 

"Yeah, we should seek help from Mr. Feng to retrieve my son!" 

"And my daughter!"

"It's unacceptable for me not to gain my daughter back! To buy her, I even sold two hens and five cows!"

The village head watched the expressions on everyone's faces and heard out their yells before raising a hand.

"Alright. I heard you all and understand that you are all with me in this. I need to go as soon as possible because I also need to ask for help to find my daughter. She might have been threatened by those ungrateful foreigners! As her father, it's my responsibility to bring her back too. As your chief, it's also my responsibility to bring back your children!"

Zhao Guo successfully left after getting the blessings of his fellow villagers. All he had in his person was a bundle of clothing hiding some paper bills and coins that Zhao Ai missed. He felt regretful that he could not sell his house to raise funds. However, he knew he should not wish for more now that escaping was the main priority. Yes, he had no more plan to go back to the village. 

What a joke. The moment Zhao Guo realized the new kids were taken away by the group of students, he foresaw troubles heading their way. 

He was clear that there was no chance their village would escape the eyes of the police after it was revealed that more than five abducted children were found in the village! As the village head, he would most likely become the scapegoat so that not many locals would be thrown to jail. He could not allow that to happen! 

Since Zhao Guo was very experienced in trekking the rugged paths in the forest and he was ready for the long trip, bringing a wooden bicycle with him, he reached the civilization before nightfall. It was not the town where he and his fellow villagers usually sell their produce. This way, he luckily avoided the ghost and the villainess who later appeared there.

Before pa.s.sing the night in an acquaintance's house, he did report to the police about Zhao Ai, a theft case, not kidnapping or missing case 

On the next morning, he went to the bank and inquired about his money where a teller perfunctorily told him, "Sir, your name and date of birth match with one of our accounts here. And there's nothing to withdraw from it since it has already closed yesterday."

Although the middle-aged man did some psychological preparations, he still couldn't help but ask dumbfoundedly, "There's no money left? Miss, can't you double-check for me?"

"I'm sorry, but the account has already closed. Even the deposit was taken away."

Zhao Guo became angry. "You let a minor withdraw from my account just because she has my pa.s.sbook?!"

The teller looked a bit offended but still patiently said, "Sir. It's not because she's minor, but because she has proven that she is your daughter and that she has your written approval."

"Nonsense! That's impossible! I didn't give her my approval!" As he was clear about the amount there, which might seem unimpressive to city people but was a large one for poor people like him, he felt like it was suddenly so hard to breathe.

"She presented valid proof." The teller only shook her head and then presented a photocopy of the letter. When he adamantly refused to acknowledge it, she suppressed the annoyance in her face and called one of the security personnel who then showed him the footage on the day Zhao Ai made the withdrawal. 

There had been more exchange of words to convince the aged man. Zhao Guo could only leave dejected and furious at the mad girl that stole his whole savings. Not even learning the officers from the station had marched towards the village erased the uncomfortable ache in his heart. 

A week later, when Zhao Guo was temporarily helping in the construction site to earn some money, he heard from his loud-mouthed colleagues that a dozen men was escorted outside the forest by the police officers of the neighboring town. A few women were said to be with them. He guessed they were the minority who wanted to gamble on their family's affection for them to be accepted back home despite having such shameful experience. It was said the ladies had once talked about some other women escaping prior with their kids.

The Zhao village had become infamous in the area. Zhao Guo was naturally incensed as he was not clear about the details.

But while he sympathized with his fellows, he was actually more relieved that he was not one of the men sentenced to prison service. It was a ha.s.sle to not have a house he could stay in for free and to have no one preparing his meal, but it was way better than receiving the harshest sentence if ever he got caught. 

After work and the foreman distributed their pay, Zhao Guo hurriedly packed up to migrate to another county since there was a high chance the villagers not apprehended would seek him out.

He arrived at a town adjacent to City B where the cost of living was still quite okay for someone like him who could only work as a helper on fields.

There, he gradually forgot that he was supposed to look for Zhao Ai and beat her up for her unfilial deeds. Until he followed his employer to sell their crops in City B where Zhao Guo coincidentally saw his daughter looking so pretty and happy while being accompanied by a rich-looking young man that was not Fan Zheng.

This happened on the day Gu Mochou went back to City B, on the day she reunited with Jiang Li who was wearing the skin of a narcissistic country b.u.mpkin secretly observing her in the shadows, ready to rescue her from deadly encounters and punish her for the lightest misdeeds.