Chapter 498: Self-Rescue (3)
"Huh? They’re not crying?"
The woman gripped her leather whip, looking at the group of children huddled together, trembling with fear but not wailing loudly. She was completely surprised.
This almost never happened. These annoying kids, when had they ever not cried their eyes out and driven her crazy...
But... it was better if they didn’t cry. It saved her the effort.
The woman scanned the group and saw two children who couldn’t hold back their tears, but were desperately covering their mouths to keep from making a sound. She couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
"So sensible..."
She pursed her lips, not really caring. After another scan, she bent down and picked up the enamel basin she had brought earlier.
"Here, this really is for you to eat. Eat up now."
She gave it a hard shove, pushing the enamel basin—which was chipped in many places and didn’t look very clean—toward them.
The contents of the basin were revealed.
It was cornbread buns—not well-risen and a bit hard as iron.
Aside from the children in patched clothes, the better-dressed ones had mostly never seen or eaten cornbread buns before.
Little Tang Mo hadn’t eaten them much, but he recognized them.
Back in Xinghua Village, people ate cornmeal buns often. After all, white flour was a rarity.
Although he had been doted on since he was little and grew up eating white flour and rice, he had still seen them plenty of times.
Seeing the cornbread buns brought back memories, and Little Tang Mo couldn’t help but think of Mrs. Tang. His face paled for a moment, but he quickly pulled himself together.
"If you don’t want to starve to death, be good and take one to eat. This is the only meal you’re getting today."
After speaking, the woman bent down again and picked up an army-green canteen, which was also missing a lot of its paint.
"Here, this is water. Since you’re being obedient, I’ll let you have a drink."
When she finished, she gave them a scrutinizing glance. Little Tang Mo kept his head slightly lowered, huddled up and blending in with the other children.
Beside him, Little Tongtong tried to look up, but he pushed her head down.
It was one of the rules Su Li had taught him for protecting himself: play dumb.
If an abducted child acted too smart, the traffickers wouldn’t be pleased; it would only make them wary.
In his past life, Little Tang Mo had been too smart and hadn’t known how to hide it. At a young age, he had clearly remembered his name, home address, his parents’ names, and so on.
A child like that was always a risk to let go. The traffickers, afraid he would cause trouble, had subjected him to so much abuse that he eventually lost the ability to speak.
Little Tang Mo kept a low profile, so the woman paid him no mind. She searched around, found the youngest boy—who was just over a year old—then climbed up and dragged him out by his feet.
The little boy was completely terrified, unable to even cry.
The woman casually held the child, whip in hand, and shut the door.
After the sound of the lock turning, that strange noise came again.
Little Tang Mo stared at the door, his hands clenched into fists.
While the woman was finding the little boy and dragging him out, he had looked up and peered outside.
And in that one glance, he saw it. He saw it all clearly.
There wasn’t much to see outside, as they appeared to be in a remote location, but he saw it.
He saw the name of a repair shop and its address. The address was still in Yuanjing.
’So... during the night I was unconscious, they hadn’t moved from Yuanjing.’
’This is great... Yuanjing City, the repair shop’s name, the address—I’ve memorized them all. And Zhengxi Village, where that little boy will be sold...’
Besides this information, when the woman opened the door, Little Tang Mo finally realized where he was.
They weren’t in a wooden hut at all, but a truck bed.
They were in the back of a cargo truck, in a compartment lined with a layer of wooden planks...
"SOB... SOB..."
As Little Tang Mo was thinking, a suppressed cry came from beside him.
The children had listened to Little Tang Mo, carefully keeping themselves from crying out. The whip in the woman’s hand had proven him right. They had held back their tears desperately, but now that they were alone, they finally couldn’t take it anymore and began to sob into their hands.
"Momo..." Little Tongtong’s lip trembled, and she looked like she was about to cry too.
"It’s okay, don’t cry." Little Tang Mo pulled himself together, stood up, and went to get the enamel basin.
"Did you see the whip in that bad auntie’s hand? If you cry, you’ll get hit, so everyone be good and stop crying."
Little Tang Mo said this in a low voice, and a few of the children immediately obeyed, desperately holding back their tears.
"Come on, it’s time to eat. We’ve all been hungry for a day, so you must be starving. If you eat, you won’t get sick and you won’t be hungry."
He distributed the cornbread buns. The woman had probably counted them out; there was one for each child, with one left over.
A few of the children grabbed the buns and started eating, but they were so dry that many couldn’t even swallow.
Some of the other children complained that it tasted bad. Little Tang Mo patiently took the army canteen, poured some water into the cap, and gave it to them to drink.
Seeing this, Little Tongtong started to help, and finally, two of the relatively older children, a boy and a girl, also joined in.
When everyone had finally finished eating, Little Tang Mo gave Little Tongtong some water and had her eat her cornbread bun before he started to eat and drink himself.
The children were all terribly thirsty. He subconsciously let Little Tongtong have two extra sips, so by the end, there were only two sips of water left in the canteen.
After drinking water and eating the buns, everyone’s spirits lifted a little.
Little Tang Mo thought of the little boy who had just been taken. He knew that at any moment, more of these children would be taken away.
He thought for a moment, then explained what to do if they were taken away individually: don’t be scared, don’t cry, be obedient to the adults, and wait for good people to come and save them.
Little Tang Mo promised he would do everything he could to find them.
The children were terrified, but they all nodded continuously.
As Little Tang Mo was giving his instructions, Little Tongtong, whom he had posted by the door to listen for any movement outside, suddenly shushed them.
"There’s a noise."
All the children immediately fell silent and huddled in a tight circle around Little Tang Mo.
Little Tang Mo strained his ears and heard a CLANGING, BANGING sound.
The next second, the truck bed began to shake.
Little Tang Mo instantly realized that they were about to be driven away.
As for where they were being taken, Little Tang Mo had no idea. The only thing he knew was that during the journey ahead, he had to find a way to save himself, escape with Little Tongtong, and go back to his mother.
’Mom... Mom... She must be terrified right now, and she’s definitely looking for me...’
Little Tang Mo had been forcing himself not to think about Su Li, but as he felt the truck slowly start to move, heading down an unknown road, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking of her and wanting to cry.
Little Tang Mo forced his eyes wide open, pushing the tears back. He gripped Little Tongtong’s hand, his gaze slowly becoming firm.
’Mom, just wait a little longer. I’ll be back soon...’
The truck carrying a cargo of children slowly started down the road, gradually picking up speed.
The truck traveled on, stopping and starting. With each stop, one, two, or three children would disappear. Every time the truck stopped, the person who came to take a child looked different.
Along the way, because this batch of children was especially obedient and didn’t cry or make a fuss, the truck driver didn’t starve them much, nor did he ever hit them.
Every morning and evening, there were cornbread buns or flatbreads and water to drink.
Little Tang Mo cross-referenced the map of Huaguo in his head, trying his best to memorize every address.
When they stopped in towns or counties along the way, Little Tang Mo... it wasn’t that he didn’t have a chance to call for help and escape, but in the end, he didn’t do it.