Chapter 366
Even before the door to the room was opened, the sound of children’s intermittent sobbing could be heard from inside. He Xingzhi’s heart clenched immediately.
The police officer opened the door and was about to point out which little girl was He Hongni, but even after three years, He Xingzhi instantly recognized his sister among the group of girls.
“Hongni!” he called out, rushing over to her. But as soon as he held her, she began struggling violently.
“You’re not my brother! I don’t want to recognize you! Didn’t you already sell me?” she screamed, trying to escape He Xingzhi’s embrace.
The other children quickly ran over, crowding around and trying to pry He Xingzhi’s hands off, attempting to rescue He Hongni from him.
“Let her go! You bad guy, let go of Xiangxiang!”
“She’s not Xiangxiang, she’s my sister, He Hongni!” He Xingzhi retorted anxiously.
But the children didn’t care at all, each one acting like frenzied little calves. Of course, their efforts were no match for an adult, and their attempts to hit and push He Xingzhi felt like mere tickles to his tough skin, having no effect.
It wasn’t until He Hongni bit He Xingzhi’s hand hard that his excitement finally calmed down a bit.
He didn’t scream or push back, letting his sister vent her anger.
After watching for a moment, Su Hongchen noticed the girl wouldn’t stop biting and went over to pick He Hongni up by the back of her collar.
“Brother Ye, don’t! Hongni is just heartbroken after being abducted all these years. I’ll explain everything to her,” He Xingzhi quickly intervened.
But the little girl, having been forced to let go, angrily snapped back, “I’m not heartbroken. My parents treated me well! You were the one who abandoned me. Why are you pretending to care now? If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have lost our parents in the first place!”
Jiang Yexun, visibly upset, lifted the little girl to eye level, ready to say something. But He Xingzhi hurriedly took his sister back into his arms.
“Brother Ye, I’ll talk to her. Please don’t get angry,” He Xingzhi pleaded.
Jiang Yexun frowned but ultimately stayed quiet. He Xingzhi then carried He Hongni to another room. The other children tried to follow, but Jiang Yexun and Su Hongchen blocked them.
It was impossible to reason with upset children, so they allowed He Xingzhi to handle it alone.
Su Xiaoxiao wanted to follow as well, but she held herself back.
As the children realized they couldn’t get past Jiang Yexun and Su Hongchen, they gradually calmed down. They wiped their tears and glared hatefully at Jiang Yexun and Su Hongchen, their expressions resembling angry little calves, which was oddly endearing.
But as Su Xiaoxiao watched them closely, something didn’t seem quite right.
“Brother, don’t you think these girls are all unusually pretty?” she asked seriously.
Fair skin can be natural, especially if you check the inner wrists to see how light they’ll remain as they grow. These girls all had big eyes, high noses, and cherry-like lips—features that perfectly matched the beauty standards of this era.
“They’re bought children, so of course they chose the pretty ones. Who would want to raise an ugly child?” Su Hongchen replied, not thinking much of it.
But Su Xiaoxiao looked over at the two boys and added, “But those two boys aren’t very good-looking.”
She had thought the boys wouldn’t understand her, but after hearing Su Xiaoxiao’s comment, the two boys froze, then started crying loudly, baring their teeth.
Su Xiaoxiao’s head began to throb from the crying, and she quickly tried to explain, “I wasn’t saying you’re ugly; you’re just not the same kind of pretty as the girls. Actually, you two are still really cute.”
But the boys didn’t care and continued wailing. Jiang Yexun had no choice but to pull out a few pieces of White Rabbit candy from his pocket and hand them to the boys.
Sniffling, they quickly grabbed the candies, unwrapped them, and took a lick before handing them to the older girls. The girls each took a bite before giving back the tiny pieces of candy, barely the size of fingernails, to the boys.
Su Hongchen and the others couldn’t help but marvel at how well-behaved these children were, clearly well-raised by that couple.
Once the kids quieted down, Su Xiaoxiao signaled to Su Hongchen and Jiang Yexun, and the three of them left the room together.
After closing the door, Su Hongchen frowned and curiously asked Su Xiaoxiao, “What do you think is wrong?”
“If they cared about the children’s looks, there’s no reason why the boys wouldn’t be selected for that too. Look at that older boy; he’s quite… strikingly unattractive for his age, which doesn’t fit the pattern of Jin Xubo’s choices,” Su Xiaoxiao analyzed seriously.
Su Hongchen thought for a moment and said, “Jin Xubo kept their clothes. Even though they’re all dressed similarly now, the boys’ previous clothes were of much better quality. Maybe he thought boys from better-off families would have parents who wouldn’t stop searching for them. And if found, they might offer rewards.”
“What kind of rewards? And why buy so many pretty girls?” Su Xiaoxiao prompted.
Su Hongchen, initially unconcerned, finally realized something was indeed off.
“You think they were raising these children with another motive? Sure, right now no one cares much about social standing, but it’ll take over ten years for these children to grow up. Isn’t that planning too far ahead?”
“Who knows? Maybe they’ve been doing this for a while. That man looks around forty—if he started in his twenties, there could already be dozens of children raised like this. Just think how deeply attached these kids are to them. Even if they’re asked to do something wrong as adults, they might not object.
Plus, they could gradually manipulate the children into committing a few wrong acts, and once they’ve got blackmail material, the kids would have no choice but to obey. They might even be given as gifts to people Jin Xubo wanted to control.”
Su Xiaoxiao’s observations about the children’s attitudes and appearances made her speculate along these lines.
Su Hongchen’s face darkened immediately.
Su Xiaoxiao continued, “As for the unattractive boys, it’s likely they were from good families and are kept close to build emotional ties. When returned to their families, these boys might help them out of gratitude. And once they’ve done a few favors, they may realize something’s wrong, but by then it’ll be too late to escape.”
“How did you even think of this?” Su Hongchen asked, shocked.
But he couldn’t deny that her reasoning perfectly explained many of the strange things they’d noticed.
“No, I need to make a call to the National Security Office right away. If what you’re saying is true, this could be a major criminal case!” Su Hongchen said, rushing out urgently.