Su Li could have never imagined Little Tang Mo would call her Mom. The word was so soft it was barely audible, yet it sent a tremor through her very soul.
Her tears, like a river bursting its banks, began to fall even more furiously.
Through a blur of tears, Su Li raised a hand to gently stroke Tang Mo's little face. She choked out a reply, "Yes, Mommy's here. Don't be afraid. Go to sleep now, go to sleep."
Hearing her words, Tang Mo, who had been desperately fighting off sleep, finally closed his eyes and drifted off. A look of deep attachment to her lingered on his small face.
Su Li watched his small hand loosely clutching her clothes, her mind flooded with memories of all the childish, amusing moments she had shared with Little Tang Mo.
Even though she had been manipulated into growing distant from Little Tang Mo and had even done awful things, their initial bond was still there. After what happened today, Little Tang Mo had grown close to her once more.
Su Li's heart ached fiercely. Holding Little Tang Mo tightly, she went with Police Fang and the others to the police station.
Catching human traffickers was considered a major crime, so Fang Luo and his team took it very seriously. Su Li was needed to assist with the investigation, while Little Tang Mo and the other three abducted children had to be examined by a doctor to make sure they were okay.
The other three children had disappeared around the same time as Little Tang Mo. The traffickers confessed that they never staked out their targets. They typically struck right before a train pulled into the station, grabbing a child and immediately leaving the county town to sell them off. They claimed they had never failed or encountered any real danger.
Two of the three children had come to the market with their mothers and were also from rural villages. The third was from the county town and had been snatched after mischievously wandering away from home to play.
The parents of the child from the county town both worked at a factory; they hadn't even realized their child was missing. Meanwhile, the mothers of the other two children were frantically searching the market, just as Su Li had in her past life.
The mothers were found quickly. Upon seeing their children, they both broke down, wailing loudly. After hearing the full story, they immediately knelt before Fang Luo. Once they were finally persuaded to stand, they turned and knelt before Su Li.
By the time the investigation was mostly complete, the mother of the child from the county town had finally arrived. She, too, expressed her immense gratitude to Su Li.
Fang Luo took charge and had a doctor who worked in the county town personally examine the four children. The doctor explained that the children had been drugged, but the drug wasn't very potent. They would be fine once they slept for a few hours and the effects wore off.
Only then could Su Li and the three mothers finally relax. When they came out, Yin Cuihua, who worked at the county's textile factory, insisted on taking them all to her home for a meal. "You're all exhausted today," she said. "You absolutely must come to my house to eat before you leave. Especially you, Sister Su. You have to let me thank you properly."
Su Li had been walking the mountain roads for four hours since morning without a single drop of water, followed by a battle of wits and will to get the children back. She was exhausted to her core, both physically and mentally, and her stomach was completely empty. Unable to refuse the persistent offer, she agreed to go.
After a simple meal, Su Li and the others had to take their leave. With everything that had happened, it was already after four in the afternoon. The sky grew dark early in winter, and she needed to hurry back to Xinghua Village.
Little Tang Mo was still sleeping soundly. Su Li borrowed a child-carrying sling from Yin Cuihua and secured him to her back. It would make the journey easier and keep him warm.
In that era, a sling was an essential item for any family with children. Adults had chores to do and children to look after, and carrying a child on one's back allowed them to get a lot of work done.
Since Little Tang Mo was old enough to run around and play on his own, Su Li hadn't carried him on her back very often after marrying into the Tang Family.
Little Tang Mo had just turned five. He was a small boy and not particularly heavy, but after carrying him on a mountain path for three or four hours, even a light load would start to feel leaden.
Yet for Su Li, the weight was reassuring. It was this burden that made the reality of having found Little Tang Mo finally sink in.
Ever since her rebirth, Su Li had been in a strange state of mind. Rationally, she knew everything was real, yet she lived in constant fear that it was all just a dream.
Finally, with each step on the mountain path, Su Li found her footing in reality.
The mountain path was steep, and with Little Tang Mo on her back, Su Li struggled onward one step at a time. She was panting, her limbs ached, and she was drenched in sweat. Countless times she wanted to stop, but she forced herself to keep going.
She had to get back as quickly as possible, before it grew completely dark. After being tormented by illness for half her life, it had been far, far too long since she had felt the power of a healthy body.
Rushing as best she could, Su Li finally returned to Xinghua Village by moonlight at around nine o'clock.
Xinghua Village was one of the countless villages in the Southwest, named for the apricot blossoms on the mountain. It was situated right against Xinghua Mountain with a river flowing before it—a picturesque setting nestled between mountain and water.
Xinghua Village consisted of seventy or eighty households, scattered from the foot of the mountain to halfway up its slope. When Su Li arrived, the village was peaceful and still, the silence broken only by the occasional bark of a dog.
The village wouldn't have electricity for another decade or so. Every household relied on kerosene lamps. Since it got dark early in the winter, most families who weren't out visiting neighbors had already turned in for the night.
Xinghua Village was not prosperous; most families still lived in houses with thatched roofs. Building a house meant finding good soil, mixing it with water and straw, and forming it into rectangular adobe bricks. Once dried in the sun, these bricks were used for construction. Such houses were quite sturdy, and while most couldn't afford tiles for the roof, the dwellings were considered good.
The Tang Family lived on the west side of the village in one of its few tile-roofed houses. The main building was rectangular, with a central hall flanked by rooms. There was a wing to the right, and a smaller annex on the left served as the kitchen.
The Tang Family had a large, fenced-in courtyard where they kept chickens. Su Li pushed open the two wooden gates. Gazing at the Tang home, which felt both familiar and foreign, she was overcome with a wave of complex emotions.
"Mother?" Su Li called out a few times in the courtyard, but Mrs. Tang didn't answer.
'Why isn't she home? Could she still be out?' Su Li wondered. She thought for a moment and decided to put Little Tang Mo down first.
Little Tang Mo was still asleep. The moment Su Li laid him on the bed, a chill went through her as she realized her back was completely drenched with sweat from carrying him.
Little Tang Mo still shared a bed with Mrs. Tang. Su Li fumbled in the dark to light a kerosene lamp, then tucked the boy in before rubbing her aching shoulders and leaving the room.
Holding the kerosene lamp, she stood on the covered porch, dazed for a moment. 'Though I would have preferred to be reborn before marrying into the Tang Family, being able to save Tang Mo is still the best possible outcome.'
Su Li had sweated so much she was desperately thirsty. She went to the kitchen annex and drank two full dippers of water before her thirst was finally quenched.
Just as she finished the water, Su Li heard a commotion of voices outside. She stepped out to find the courtyard full of people.
Well, 'full' was an exaggeration, but there were about ten people there. They were all villagers, and the torches they held cast a bright light across the yard.
"What are we going to do? What are we going to do..." Su Li's mother-in-law fretted, then looked up and saw Su Li emerge from the kitchen.
"Su Li, where's Momo? What have you done with Momo!" Mrs. Tang shrieked, lunging at Su Li the moment she saw her.
Su Li's gaze darkened as she looked at the crowd. Her memory suddenly flashed back to her previous life. She had experienced this exact scene before, only then it had happened three or four hours later.
"Isn't Tang Mo at home?" Su Li replied with a frown. She was about to point toward Mrs. Tang's room when the older woman seized her by the arm, her voice a hoarse shriek.
"Momo's not home! Su Li, I told you to watch him! What kind of job did you do? You... you didn't really... you didn't really sell him, did you?"
Su Li's eyes turned sharp as daggers. "What did you just say?" 'I already told her Tang Mo is at home!'
"Su Li, don't get upset. Aunt Tang is just speaking out of desperation." A soft, worried female voice chimed in. Su Li whipped her head around, her gaze burning like a torch as she stared at the speaker.