Ten Day Ultimatum

Chapter 204 A Hellbound Sin

Ms. Song stood up and looked me over from head to toe before speaking. "Ms. Xiao, I heard you've been working here for nearly two years and have never taken a child home. Why the sudden act of kindness today?"

"This is exactly to show my attitude..." I said with a wry smile. "I’ll turn over a new leaf."

In the end, those two fools agreed.

They still weren’t as clever as me!

Tonight, it would just be me and Shan Shan.

As the teachers and children gradually left the kindergarten, I found Shan Shan.

The little girl I had slapped dozens of times and pinched countless others.

"Shan Shan, I’m here to take you home," I said with a smile.

"Ms—Ms. Xiao..." Shan Shan lowered her head deeply, "I want Ms. Song or Ms. Chen to take me home..."

I smiled and leaned in close to her. "You little slut, I suggest you don’t push your luck. If you refuse, I’ll have to pinch your thigh, you know."

Shan Shan was trembling all over, her eyes filled with tears, wanting to cry but unable to let it out.

"Be good, I’ll take you home," I said, pulling her hand.

I nearly dragged her the whole way. The girl was completely uncooperative.

This is why I can’t stand kids.

Once we left the kindergarten, I turned through a few alleyways, heading to the agreed-upon spot with Qu ge.

"Ms—Ms. Xiao, this isn’t the way home..." Shan Shan said nervously.

"Don’t worry, I’m your teacher, I won’t hurt you," I said, gripping her hand tightly as I pulled her further down the alley.

Qu ge was waiting in a minivan, surrounded by a few men who looked rough and intimidating.

When they saw me approach, they all got out of the car.

"Qu ge, is this the person you mentioned?" one of the men with a scar on his face asked.

"Yeah," Qu ge nodded.

"F*ck, it’s a little girl."

Hearing that, Qu ge's expression darkened. "Xiao Ran, are you stupid?" he said harshly. "Why the hell did you bring a girl here?"

"Stupid?" I was taken aback. "You didn’t specify whether it was a boy or a girl. Can you blame me for this?"

"Alright, stop arguing," Qu ge said, his tone softening. "A girl’s still worth something. This is our first order since being released, so there’s no point in escalating this." He pulled Shan Shan into the minivan, then took out his wallet and counted out three thousand yuan for me.

"Three thousand?" I was stunned. "Qu ge, what kind of joke is this? Wasn’t it thirty thousand?"

"Thirty thousand is for a boy. A girl is only worth three thousand."

Without so much as a glance, he got into the car, leaving me boiling with anger.

"No!" I grabbed Qu ge’sarm. "You didn’t say anything about that! You only mentioned thirty thousand! Give me the rest of the money!"

"Let go of me!" Qu ge kept swatting at my hand.

"I won’t let go!" I shouted. "If you don’t give, I’ll scream! Let all the neighboring people around here hear it!"

"To hell with you!" Qu ge slapped me hard across the face, sending me crashing to the ground.

They sped off in their old minivan, leaving me there.

I lay on the ground for what felt like forever, until some of the nearby residents started gathering around.

"Girly, what happened to you?" an old lady asked. "Who was shouting just now? What happened?"

The crowd buzzed with chatter, and suddenly, an idea came to me.

"Call the police! They just kidnapped a child!"

The moment I spoke, everyone around froze, their faces full of shock.

...

I was taken to the police station, where they took my statement.

Chen Ting and Ms. Song, who had just finished work, arrived as well. Upon hearing that Shan Shan had been kidnapped, worry was written all over their faces.

They deserved Oscars for how well they were acting.

You two aren’t even related to Shan Shan, so what’s there to be so worried about?

"Xiao Ran, what did you do to Shan Shan?!" Chen Ting stormed in, grabbing my collar. "She’s already pitiful enough, and you still can’t leave her alone?"

A few officers quickly stepped in to stop her. "Ma’am, please calm down."

"I don’t need to calm down!" Chen Ting pointed at me, turning to the officers. "Officers, no matter what happened to Shan Shan, this woman is definitely involved! I swear to God!"

"Chen Ting, that’s enough," I stood up, my expression filled with anger. "I’ve already told you, she was kidnapped. A lot of the residents saw it. Not only did they take her, but they also hit me."

"You’re lying!"

Chen Ting looked furious, while Ms. Song stood off to the side, lost in thought.

Before long, Ms. Song turned to one of the officers and asked, "Where was Shan Shan taken from?"

"At the east end of Old South Street," the officer replied.

"Old South Street?" Ms. Song furrowed her brows and looked at me. "To get to Shan Shan's house, you just take Yangjiang Middle Road. Why did you go to Old South Street?"

"Yangjiang Middle Road? This was my first time taking Shan Shan home, so I didn’t know the way. I must have gotten lost," I answered.

One of the officers tapped the desk and said, "Ma’am, Xiao Ran, I hope you’re not hiding anything. Everyone wants to find the child as soon as possible. If you’re lying, it will be hard to carry out the search."

"I’m not lying," I shook my head. "Those people took the child and hit me. There were so many of them, I couldn’t even fight back."

I secretly smirked, confident they wouldn’t find any evidence.

I had deleted my call record to Qu ge, and now, there were no traces to follow.

Ms. Song turned to the officers and said, "Officers, don’t you think this is suspicious? Xiao Ran was lost, yet she just happened to show up there, and coincidentally, that was where the human traffickers were."

"We’ve considered everything you’ve said," one of the officers replied, pulling out a document. "But there are witnesses who heard Xiao Ran shouting something like 'If you don’t give it, I’ll scream for help.' This suggests she tried to resist the traffickers. Additionally, there are witnesses who saw her being hit."

After hearing this, Ms. Song fell into thought. After a brief pause, she spoke slowly, "What if Xiao Ran and the traffickers are working together? Perhaps what she said was just an attempt to extort money?"

I had to admit, I had underestimated this woman.

"Perhaps you should detain her first. With some questioning, she’s bound to reveal the child’s location eventually," Ms. Song suggested.

The officer slowly raised his head after hearing her, then said, "We need to base our actions on evidence. Even arrests need to be supported by proof. Right now, there’s no surveillance in the alley, and whether Xiao Ran is an accomplice is still under investigation. For now, you’ll have to wait for further news. Our priority is to block off roads and conduct searches to find the child as quickly as possible."

They asked a few more trivial questions before allowing me to leave.

I walked out with Chen Ting and Ms. Song, and as we were leaving, we saw an elderly lady stumbling toward the police station.

She had a distinct, unpleasant smell of old age about her.

Disgusting.