Su Qing looked at the young woman. Judging by her clothes alone, she could tell the girl came from a well-to-do family. However, the panicked look on her face, coupled with her plea to "Save me," left Su Qing rather puzzled, wondering what had happened to the young woman.

Before Su Qing could speak, a man and a woman in their forties or fifties rushed over and said to the young woman, "Girl, don’t be so stubborn. Come home with us."

The young woman said in a panic, "I don’t know you! I don’t know you at all!"

"You foolish girl, you’re my own daughter! How can you be talking such nonsense?" the middle-aged woman said, her face full of displeasure. "You can’t just find yourself a rich boyfriend and decide you don’t have parents anymore."

With that, she covered her face and began to sob.

By now, the sky had darkened and the streetlights had come on. There were still quite a few people on the street, and seeing the commotion, they started to gather around.

Someone in the crowd who had heard the woman’s words said to the young woman, "Miss, your mother’s right. You can’t just find a good boyfriend and disown your parents."

"That’s right! Everyone, you be the judge!" Seeing she had an ally, the woman wiped away her tears. "How could I not recognize my own daughter? Just look at us, see how much we look alike! If we weren’t mother and daughter, how could we possibly look so similar?"

The crowd took a look, and it was true—the young woman and the middle-aged woman did indeed share a resemblance.

The young woman grew even more frantic. "No, you’re lying! I don’t know you at all! I have my own family! This is my sister, my own flesh-and-blood sister!"

As she spoke, the young woman tightened her grip on Su Qing’s arm and insisted, "This is my own sister."

Hearing this, the onlookers turned to look at Su Qing. Many were startled by the scar on her face. Someone asked doubtfully, "Is that really your sister? Your biological sister?"

The young woman wiped away her tears. "How could I possibly not recognize my own sister?"

Hearing this, Su Qing simply raised an eyebrow, her expression noncommittal.

Seeing this, the middle-aged woman flew into a rage. "You wretched girl! You just grab a random person and say she’s your sister? Take a good look! Does she look anything like you? And another thing—let everyone here see for themselves! Who do you look more like, me or this so-called sister you just grabbed off the street?"

The man, also in his forties, chimed in, "That’s right, girl. You can’t get successful and then disown your own parents. That’s just unfilial!"

The uninformed crowd, for the most part, sided with the couple, chiding the young woman for being unfilial and thinking she shouldn’t disown her parents just because she’d made something of herself.

Of course, a few felt that things might not be so simple and chose to remain silent observers.

Tears of frustration streamed down the young woman’s face. "They’re not my parents! They’re just trying to trick me and take me away!"

"You wretched girl, how dare you spout such nonsense! If we’re not your parents, then who is?" the couple demanded, practically jumping up and down in agitation.

"You’re liars! You’re human traffickers!" the young woman screamed, breaking down completely.

The crowd erupted in murmurs. They looked from Su Qing and the young woman to the middle-aged couple, suddenly unsure who was telling the truth.

Just then, Su Qing spoke up with a gentle smile. "Why don’t we call the police? We can go to the station, explain the situation to the officers, and let them help us figure out who’s telling the truth. How does that sound?"

"Right, if you can’t sort it out, call the police!" Hearing Su Qing’s suggestion, the onlookers chimed in. "Exactly! No need to argue about it on the street. For something this messy, the police are the best ones to handle it." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The moment they heard "call the police," the couple clearly grew flustered. The woman stammered, "C-call the police for what? This is a private matter between me and my daughter! What does it have to do with the police?"

Then, the woman shot the young woman a hateful glare and said furiously, "Fine! You win! If you have the guts, then go your whole life without acknowledging your parents! A disrespectful child like you... I’d like to see if you don’t get what’s coming to you! Just watch, one day your own children will disown you too! Old man, let’s go."

With that, the woman pushed through the crowd with a heartbroken expression and rushed off. The man gave the young woman one last look of profound disappointment and then left in a huff.

A few people in the crowd realized what was happening and tried to stop the couple, but they moved with surprising speed and vanished into the night.

Seeing the middle-aged couple leave, the young woman finally let out a sigh of relief. She turned to Su Qing and said, "Thank you for helping me. If it weren’t for you, they might have actually dragged me away."

After that, she turned to the surrounding crowd. "This young lady isn’t actually my sister," she explained. "I only said that because I was desperate. Thankfully, she helped me anyway. I’m sorry for lying to all of you."

As she said this, she gave an embarrassed bow to the crowd.

Seeing how the couple had fled guiltily at the mere mention of the police, the crowd naturally understood they had been duped. Someone immediately said with embarrassment, "Oh my, we’re so sorry. We were completely fooled by them. It’s a good thing you weren’t taken away, or we would have been their accomplices!"

"To be fair, I do look a bit like that woman, so it’s no wonder you all thought that. In any case, thank you," the young woman said with a small smile. She then turned back to Su Qing. "But the one I have to thank the most is you. If you hadn’t suggested calling the police, I’m afraid they would have never left. My house is just nearby. If you have a moment, please come over for a bit. Let me properly express my gratitude. Otherwise, if my parents found out I let my savior get away just like that, they’d definitely scold me."

Hearing the young woman’s words, the remaining bystanders laughed. Someone good-naturedly called out, "Yeah, go on! Give her a chance to thank you!"

Su Qing gave a faint smile. "It was nothing, really. There’s no need."

Hearing this, the young woman quickly said, "It may have been nothing to you, but it was a great kindness to me! If those two traffickers had taken me, who knows where I would’ve ended up? My life might have been ruined. If I don’t thank you properly, I’ll feel indebted to you for the rest of my life."

"Oh, just go! You’re both girls, you could become good friends. It must be fate!"

The remaining onlookers also smiled and chimed in, encouraging Su Qing to accept the young woman’s request.

Su Qing lowered her head slightly, her eyes cast down as she let out a soft chuckle. "Alright. In that case, I’ll be imposing on you."

The young woman was overjoyed. "It’s no imposition at all! When my parents find out you saved me, they’ll want to thank you properly too! Come on, my house is just up ahead."

As she spoke, she pointed toward the entrance of a nearby alley. "It’s right over there."