Chapter 236: When the Gossip Squad Starts Talking, All Secrets Are in Their Hands
If Chen Ye Chu could somehow buy the kind of specialized fish bait they had in modern times, Ning Xiyue figured she’d have to go take a look herself.
But first, she decided to stroll around and check out the situation.
She had already spotted Aunt Liu waving at her from a distance.
When Ning Xiyue walked over, she realized the entire Gossip Squad was already assembled — sitting by the riverbank, chatting and knitting sweaters.
Once she joined them, the full lineup of the Daliu Team’s legendary Gossip Squad was complete.
Aunt Zhang’s eyes lit up the moment she saw her long-lost chat buddy. She waved eagerly. “Xiyue! Haven’t seen you in ages! Come, come, sit with us and have a good gossip!”
“Coming, coming.”
Ning Xiyue set down a brick as her stool, plopped herself on it, and pulled a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds from her pocket to share with the aunties. As they cracked seeds and chatted, she listened happily to all the local gossip.
It was totally worth joining the Daliu Team’s Gossip Squad — between the few of them, they managed to fill her in on every juicy detail she’d missed over the past month.
Once they caught her up, Aunt Liu launched into yesterday’s big news — which happened to involve Ning Xiyue herself. So she turned to her with a curious question:
“Xiyue, how did you come across that kid Gou Dan yesterday? What luck that was! If you hadn’t found him, poor Huaihua would’ve gone mad.”
“I just happened to bump into him when I came back yesterday. Pure luck,” Ning Xiyue replied vaguely, careful not to say too much.
The human trafficking case wasn’t over yet — the crackdown on that organization was only beginning. The less she said, the better; she couldn’t risk affecting Comrade Li and the others’ operation.
Luckily, the aunties didn’t press her. Aunt Liu had only brought it up to set the stage for what she really wanted to talk about.
“These human traffickers these days are downright evil. You all heard? The new mayor’s son — the one who just arrived in our town — got taken by traffickers.”
“Oh? What happened?” Ning Xiyue stopped cracking seeds, giving Aunt Liu her full attention.
“Come on, tell us already,” Aunt Qian urged.
Aunt Liu spat out a seed shell and continued:
“Xiyue, you probably don’t know — the new mayor of our commune just started this month. I heard some bad people wanted revenge on him, so they kidnapped his son and sold the child to traffickers. The culprits were caught later, but the boy’s still missing.
Poor thing — such a lovely child, only five years old, suffering like that. It’s been over a month now, and there’s still no trace of him. He’s probably gone for good.”
She shook her head in pity. “The mayor’s wife — such a fine woman — lost her mind after the boy went missing. Yesterday when Gou Dan went missing too, the mayor himself took charge, sending everyone in the commune out to look. What a good man.”
Ning Xiyue hadn’t heard about any of this. Poor child, poor mother — all caught up in something they didn’t deserve.
“No wonder the mayor’s got gray hair even though he’s still so young,” Aunt Zhao suddenly realized. Then she clenched her jaw angrily:
“Those scum — those traffickers deserve to die! Who could lay a hand on a child?”
“Exactly! My second uncle’s cousin works as a clerk in the commune, and he said our mayor’s got powerful connections. Even the county officials treat him politely — so his family’s clearly not ordinary.”
Aunt Zhao went on, adding more insider gossip about the mayor’s family.
“Even a family like that isn’t safe — if their child can be stolen and never found, that just shows how rampant these traffickers have become.”
Aunt Zhang was spooked, patting her chest to calm herself. “We’d better keep an eye on our kids from now on. If any strangers come into the team, we’ll spot them fast — but still, what if it’s like poor Huaihua, who just took her kid to town and lost him? Too scary!”
Ning Xiyue reminded them gently, “Never trust strangers. And when you take kids out, make sure you hold onto them tight.”
She couldn’t help admiring these aunties’ information network — they somehow already knew the mayor’s entire family situation, while she hadn’t even met the new mayor yet!
She silently wished that the mayor’s child could be found safe and sound.
That thought suddenly made her recall the boy who’d been chained up like a dog. She wondered how he was now — whether he’d found his family, whether his hands and feet were alright, whether the hospital could heal him.
Back in the cellar, he’d refused to let her get close, so she hadn’t been able to check his injuries. Once he was rescued, he’d been sent straight to the hospital, and she hadn’t had the chance to visit.
That child still lingered like a thorn in her heart. Every time she remembered the trafficker kicking him, or the sight of him huddled in a corner clutching a bone, her chest would ache.
If possible, she should find a way to visit him — maybe do something to help. He was still so young, with so many good years ahead of him. He shouldn’t have to carry a lifetime of pain because of what those monsters did.
Ning Xiyue began thinking she might study bone-healing and tendon-repair medicines. Such remedies could be useful in the army too — and she could earn a bit of pocket money on the side.
After that, she stayed listening to the aunties’ chatter. Between them, she learned plenty of local gossip and hidden tidbits — truly, when the Gossip Squad started talking, every piece of news in the entire team (and even the commune) ended up in their hands.
Finally, her head buzzing with gossip and her heart thoroughly satisfied, Ning Xiyue stuffed her hands in her pockets and went off to check on Chen Ye Chu’s fishing progress.
Whoa — she hadn’t expected much, but what she saw left her completely stunned!
