SES Chapter 137 Part 1

Chapter 137

After rushing nonstop—by plane, shuttle bus, tractor, and motorcycle—Cao Yanhua finally reached a place where he could use a landline phone just before sunset the next day.

The spot wasn’t even a proper village, just a few houses along the roadside. One of them ran a tiny general store.

Trying not to attract attention, Cao Yanhua slipped inside to make a call. He pulled his collar up to his chin, as if afraid someone might recognize him—but honestly, he was worrying for nothing. When he’d left Caojiatun years ago, he’d been a scrawny, delicate-looking young man. Time had filled him out so much that hardly anyone would remember what he used to look like.

The shopkeeper, an old man of about sixty, was chatting idly with a neighbor who’d stopped by.

“They’re holding a big wedding banquet over in Caojiatun in a few days…”
“You going?”
“Yeah, I heard they’ve already booked a top chef and it’ll be a three-day feast. I went to the market yesterday and couldn’t even buy pork—they said the Cao family reserved it all!”

With his back turned to them, Cao Yanhua quietly dialed Luo Ren’s number. He spoke in a low voice, told him where he was, and asked if there was any news from Wan Fenghuo.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t.

After hanging up, he paid for the call, irritation flickering across his face. The old shopkeeper, thinking he looked unfamiliar, asked, “Where are you headed?”

Cao Yanhua raised his head and pointed vaguely in the direction of Caojiatun.

That immediately got the old man excited. “You from the Cao family? Here for the wedding? Lots of folks who work out of town have been coming back lately.”

Not wanting to risk saying the wrong thing, Cao Yanhua mumbled a vague reply and quickly left.

The neighbor watched his back as he walked away and said knowingly, “He’s definitely local. You can hear the accent. Just don’t recognize the face, that’s all.”

Before the shopkeeper could respond, a sputtering sound came from outside. A motorcycle pulled up in front of the store, belching black smoke, and a woman swung her leg off the back seat.

She was tall—maybe twenty-eight or twenty-nine—and a little on the plump side. Her knockoff Chanel-style suit was stretched tight across her frame, her wedge heels clicked against the pavement, and she carried a small designer purse. Oversized sunglasses branded “Lu” perched on her nose.

The shopkeeper frowned, squinting to get a better look.

Then she took off her sunglasses.

They say a woman’s three magic weapons are her mask, sunglasses, and back view—but that’s not always true. Without the glasses, her almond-shaped eyes tilted upward slightly at the corners. She was actually quite pretty.

Recognition dawned on the old man. “Aren’t you the eldest girl from the Cao family… Cao Jinhua, right?”

The woman’s smile immediately faltered. “Uncle, I changed my name. I go by Jenny now—Cao Jianni.”

Around eight that night, Wan Fenghuo finally got back to them—with relatively good news.

Simply put, his local contacts weren’t involved in anything illegal, but since their jobs required knowing what went on under the surface, they often kept tabs on shady dealings without interfering. According to them, human trafficking was almost unheard of in Kaiyuan or the surrounding areas. If it did happen, it was isolated—outsiders, rare cases, nothing organized.

He’d also sent someone to Caojiatun to check things out. They reported that the place was “full of peace and celebration.” Every household seemed to be connected to the Caos somehow, and the entire village was dressed up for the wedding—red banners, lanterns, flowers on every gate, even tents set up in the communal fields for guests. Migrant workers from out of town were returning home in droves.

In other words, whoever heard of a human trafficking victim being married off in such a grand, festive ceremony?

They didn’t get to see the bride, but apparently, Cao Yanhua’s younger cousin Qingshan and the girl were in love. They’d even gone to the county seat recently to take wedding photos.

For the moment, they couldn’t reach Cao Yanhua. Still, Luo Ren found all this new information troubling.

If there was no trafficking, and the story had just been bait to lure him home, why use something so outrageous—accusing your own villagers of such a crime? There were plenty of more believable excuses: a sick parent, a family emergency. Who on earth would pick human trafficking as their lie?

Yiwansan had another theory—something far darker.

Maybe the girl was free to move around, but she was being forced to pretend otherwise—to act happy, to smile, to fake being in love, all because she had no choice.

Maybe everyone around her was complicit, and in her desperation, she’d secretly reached out to Qingshan’s city-dwelling cousin for help—even though she’d never met him before.

If she couldn’t even trust her own fiancé, that meant she was utterly terrified and alone.

By the time Yiwansan finished laying out his theory, even he felt chilled.

Luo Ren could only give a wry smile. He couldn’t refute it—but with no contact from Cao Yanhua, they were completely in the dark.

Still, he said at last, “Let’s wait a little longer.”

One day passed. Then two. Then three.

Still no word.

Mu Dai was the first to lose her patience. Cao Yanhua had never formally bowed to her as his master, but he had acknowledged her verbally. If something really happened to him, she had every right to seek help from Senior Brother Zheng Mingshan or even from their teacher. As their master always said, “Disciples of the same lineage should stand together, even without blood ties.”

So she called the little general store.

“Cao Yanhua?” the shopkeeper said blankly. “Don’t know him.”

Mu Dai stamped her foot. “The cousin of the groom, Qingshan! The one who refused to marry Cao Jinhua years ago and climbed onto the roof banging a gong!”

That incident had become a local legend in the surrounding villages. The old man’s jaw dropped for a moment, then his face lit up with sudden excitement. “‘You mean Da Dun’er!?”

Da Dun’er…

The name hit Mu Dai like a slap. Was that really who they were talking about?

The old man’s eyes gleamed. “Of course! Cao Tudun—back then, that kid climbed right up on the roof banging a gong! His dad had to bring four men just to drag him down!”