Chronicle of the 70s
Chapter 86 - 084 Procrastinate Time - Two

Chapter 86: 084 Procrastinate Time Chapter Two

Passengers on the bus were not allowed to take their luggage away. Everyone got off one after another, with Li Xianglu dragging her feet at the very back, while Qin Xi had gone ahead to keep an eye on that man and woman.

The people ahead did not look back, allowing Li Xianglu to seize the opportunity to bend over, feeling beneath the seat in the second to last row and then rising to walk forward naturally.

After everyone had left, a public security officer remained with the driver and conductor to conduct an inspection.

They entered a large courtyard surrounded by five or six public security officers, and were then led into a building that resembled an abandoned factory, very spacious.

The doors were closed, and the officers asked everyone to line up properly and present their letters of introduction and household registration certificates.

Almost everyone had them, except for a few who were originally from Provincial City, but they too had letters of introduction, although issued by their workplaces in Provincial City for travel to the county.

In short, everyone had one.

Li Xianglu, sharp-eyed, noticed that the man and woman two people ahead of her were also presenting their letters of introduction and squeezed over to take a look, saying, "Oh my, why doesn’t this include the child’s name?"

Li Xianglu’s words made the two of them very nervous, but the person lined up behind said, "What does the child need a letter of introduction for? They don’t take up a seat when buying a ticket, nor do they need a room when staying somewhere."

Li Xianglu feigned realization and said, "Well, it must be convenient to carry someone else’s child out, and no one would notice!"

The woman who had engaged in conversation with Li Xianglu was even more surprised and gaped, puzzled by the response.

But the man and woman in front panicked instantly, with the woman angrily retorting, "How can you falsely accuse people like this? He is my son!"

Li Xianglu snorted disdainfully and shook her head, "Do you have proof then? How can you prove the child is yours?"

Suddenly, everyone was stunned. Could someone really be carrying another person’s child on the bus? Could these two be human traffickers?

The woman became frantic, her eyes furious and round with anger, about to lash out at Li Xianglu.

Li Xianglu deftly stepped back, continuing to shout, "Just look at the two of you, not even a couple, yet taking a child out with you. Did you steal someone else’s child or what?"

As these words came out, everyone started suspecting the pair, for throughout history traffickers have been the most detestable, previously known as ’kidnappers’, and now as human traffickers, universally abhorred.

Losing a child is unbearable pain for a mother, for any family.

At that time, people had a particular abhorrence for criminal offenders. No one would stand by idly, and people quickly surrounded the two, with an elderly woman commenting, "It’s strange, with all this commotion, why doesn’t the child wake up?"

Li Xianglu said, "Yes, the child was crying at noon on the bus, and then that uncle gave the child some water, and he fell asleep. Who knows what kind of magical water that was, that could put a child to sleep just like that!"

None of the encircled crowd was naive, and they immediately realized that the child might have been given a sedative. Everyone became angry; if she were his real mother, how could she bear to treat her child like that.

At this moment, two public security officers arrived, asking the people to line up properly, and everyone started discussing the suspicions about these two individuals.

So, these two became the primary subjects of scrutiny, bemoaning their misfortune while occasionally shooting daggers at Li Xianglu with their eyes.

Li Xianglu, unconcerned, said to the officers, "Officer, that child has been unconscious. We should see what’s going on. I noticed on the bus that the child’s cheeks were very red, hope he’s not running a fever."

Upon hearing this, the officer nodded and gestured for someone to come and pick up the child. The woman started to dodge, but upon seeing the imposing peaked caps, her legs trembled: "Officer, please don’t hurt my son."

The policewoman sneered coldly, "First, we need to confirm whether he’s your son or not!"

Upon hearing this, the woman’s legs went weak and she began to tremble uncontrollably.

The man, however, remained extremely calm and suddenly let out a sigh, "This child is indeed not ours."

Everyone was taken aback.

The man continued, "Actually, this child is the result of my wife’s affair with another man. In a moment of anger, I took the child. I was furious; she bore another man’s child before we even divorced!"

Stunned by this revelation, everyone thought was flabbergasted by such a shameless woman who had an affair while still married. Suddenly, everyone started sympathizing with the man before them, finding him to be extremely pitiful.

The woman timely interjected, "I’m just helping Mr. Lin look after the child. He isn’t the biological father, but since they aren’t divorced, why can’t he take away his wife’s child?"

This man turned out to be a teacher, and everyone suddenly understood. Although cultural workers faced disdain in society at that time, the underlying respect for the educated couldn’t be erased. Everyone’s demeanor became solemn as they sought an explanation.

Li Xianglu smiled. This man was clearly an experienced child trafficker, skillfully manipulating public opinion to clear his name, portraying himself as a victim to gain everyone’s sympathy.

Back then, communication was especially undeveloped; not like in previous times when a single phone call could resolve such a situation. Most truths were conjectured based on the circumstances at hand.

Li Xianglu grew puzzled; why was this man so calmly admitting the child was not his own? Wasn’t he afraid of being caught lying?

For a while, everyone felt extremely sorry for the man, with several other male passengers even offering him cigarettes to console him.

Li Xianglu felt something was off, and at that moment, a driver and a ticket collector entered, carrying a blue bundle and a brown suitcase.

The lost items were found, and everyone was momentarily overjoyed, except that the package of biscuits Li Xianglu mentioned wasn’t amongst them.

Qin Xi came over and whispered, "We’ve contacted the county town, and no child was reported missing."

What?

Li Xianglu was taken aback for a moment, then glanced again at the man surrounded by people and suddenly realized.

Yes, he was delaying time!

She remembered, from a previous life, watching an explanation on how human traffickers transported children.

If traffickers had a gang, they would have transit stations in major locations. Generally, everyone would bring the children to the stations at a pre-arranged time. If someone didn’t arrive on time, the traffickers would change the location of their children, making it harder to track down the trafficking ring.

Then there was the issue of sentencing. If this man insisted this was his first time kidnapping a child, the punishment would differ from that for multiple abductions!

So cunning!

With that in mind, Li Xianglu turned to Grandpa Li standing beside her and said, "Grandpa, check the time."

Grandpa Li looked at his watch and said, "It’s just past eight, why?"

Li Xianglu pulled Qin Xi aside and started whispering. Qin Xi’s expression changed; although shocked, she quickly walked over to her friend to relay the situation.

ps: If there’s no additional update, there will only be one in the afternoon. I’ll post it later—off to make dumplings!