Once she was ready, Qin Jiao slipped out of the space in a flash.

The room was dark, and the one next door was pitch-black as well. A faint, flickering light seeped out from the adjacent room. Someone was probably watching television, but the volume was turned down very low.

Qin Jiao took out her flashlight and shone it around. The room was empty; the simpleton she had knocked unconscious had been taken away. But the air in the room was foul, mingled with the faint scent of floral water.

A thought suddenly struck Qin Jiao. She scanned the room with her flashlight and found a few things. She took several pictures with the camera Shen Yi had lent her, then crept to the door and pushed it open. After listening for a moment and confirming no one next door had noticed anything, she tiptoed to the main entrance.

She gave it a gentle push. The door was unlocked. ’Someone in the family must not have come back yet,’ she thought.

Qin Jiao pushed the door open, moving as quietly as possible. After making sure no one was outside, she slowly made her way over to a nearby cucumber trellis.

She had just breathed a sigh of relief and was about to use the opportunity to escape when suddenly, she heard voices.

Confident that her position was well-concealed, Qin Jiao stayed perfectly still. The two speakers were approaching, and she recognized them as Lin Xiaohua and her husband.

Her husband was cursing. "Damn it, if I find out which son of a bitch dared to hit Xiao Guang, I’ll cripple him!"

Her simple-minded brother had been knocked unconscious and sent to the village clinic. They had only just breathed a sigh of relief after being told he was fine.

Lin Xiaohua, however, was worried about something else. "Why don’t we get out of town and hide for a few days?" she said. "With that girl gone, I just have this really bad feeling."

"Uneasy my ass! It definitely wasn’t her family. Someone must’ve used the chaos to snatch the girl. We’ll just have to chalk it up as a loss and accept we didn’t make any money. If you’re still worried, go to the county town tomorrow. And remember to get rid of those other two, the smaller ones. Sell them off, quick."

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan."

Qin Jiao’s heart pounded as she listened. ’So, they kidnapped Xiao Shi today but just hadn’t had time to move her yet. And they already have two other children in the county town, planning to get rid of them all at once!’

She secretly committed their words to memory. The moment the couple went inside, Qin Jiao bolted, running for the edge of the village.

It was past one in the morning. Silvery moonlight bathed the ground. The night was punctuated by the occasional cry of a child or the bark of a dog. As Qin Jiao was leaving the village, she spotted several dogs.

The dogs watched Qin Jiao with curiosity, their fur beginning to bristle. Just as they were about to start barking, Qin Jiao instantly vanished into her space.

The dogs were instantly baffled.

’Where did she go?’

When Qin Jiao entered the space, she found Xiao Shi and Shen Yi locked in an awkward stare-down. The moment she saw her sister, Xiao Shi rushed to her side. "Sis, where did you go?"

Having just been kidnapped, the little girl felt extremely insecure. She stared up at Qin Jiao with pleading eyes, which made Qin Jiao’s heart melt.

’In her past life, Xiao Shi had been trafficked to a remote mountain village and suffered a miserable fate. The thought of her sister’s tragic past filled Qin Jiao with an overwhelming urge to go beat up Lin Nian, her cousin, and her cousin’s husband all at once!’

Qin Jiao took her little sister’s hand and sat her down on the sofa. "I went out to check on the situation," she said. "I need to get you home, Xiao Shi."

"Oh. Then, Sis, where are we?"

Seeing her sister again instantly restored the little girl’s sense of security. She had actually already looked around the place. She saw the bright red tomatoes growing in the yard. ’Oh, and strawberries! I’ve only eaten strawberries once in my whole life, that time Aunt Du brought some back. Sis told me then that someday, she’d let me eat as many as I wanted!’