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Seeing Lin Yuan struggling to bear the weight, Xia Zheng promptly supported her arm and whispered in her ear, "Dad and Mom are not in good health, if you collapse too, who will go to find help?"

His words seemed to have a magical power that pulled Lin Yuan back from the brink of collapse.

In her past life, she had been an only child and left home early, never getting the chance to enjoy familial joy.

In this life, she finally had parents and a sister and cherished them deeply, focusing all her efforts on earning money to give them a good life.

When she suddenly heard her sister was missing, she truly felt as if the sky was falling down.

If it weren’t for Xia Zheng’s reminder, this family might indeed have fallen apart.

Lin Yuan looked at him gratefully, took a deep breath, and adjusted her mindset.

Xia Zheng knew she was only barely holding on and hadn’t recovered yet. Supporting her arm, he quickly inquired about the situation from Lin Wei. However, Lin Wei turned out to be of no use, endlessly repeating "It’s all my fault, I’ve lost my sister" and couldn’t get another word out of her.

Fortunately, it was a young man who was helping search, a builder, who told them what had happened.

It turned out that Lin Wei, along with Xiao Linshuang and Xiao Shitou, had been catching river snails by the puddle.

They had a good time and caught quite a few, but later realized they had rushed out and forgotten to bring a basket for the snails.

Lin Wei ran back home to fetch the basket, and while she was at it, she also wanted to check on her grandmother and mother, who were sewing at home, so she watched them for a while.

Though watching for a while was fine—the puddle wasn’t far from Lin Yuan’s house, there hadn’t been much rain recently, and the water was shallow—accidents still happened.

When Lin Wei returned to the puddle with the basket, she couldn’t find Xiao Linshuang and Xiao Shitou anywhere.

Initially, she thought the two might have gone to play somewhere else, but when she saw the river snails scattered beside the puddle, Lin Wei’s heart suddenly felt uneasy.

Her little sister had said she wanted big sister to make her stir-fried snails for dinner, so as a glutton, would she be willing to throw away the snails?

Xia Zheng’s brows furrowed tightly. Although he hadn’t known Xiao Linshuang for long, he understood her nature. Besides being fond of food, the little girl was sensible and wouldn’t disappear without a word. Clearly, she had been abducted by someone, along with Xiao Shitou.

"How are Dad and Mom doing?" Having learned about the incident, Lin Yuan had calmed down somewhat and quickly asked about Lin Jiaxin and his wife. Dad might be fine, but Lady Liu was in a delicate condition right then, and any trouble could be problematic.

The young man shook his head, "Chief Sun only shared this matter with the boss; he didn’t tell anyone else."

Lin Yuan nodded, relieved, as the boss referred to Lin Jiaxin. After all, he was a man and the head of the family, so he couldn’t be left in the dark. However, it seemed he probably hadn’t let Lady Liu know.

The most urgent task was to find the missing children.

Xiao Linshuang and Xiao Shitou had disappeared together, and it was apparent that they had been kidnapped.

But the question was, was this simply child trafficking or was it an act of revenge against someone?

If it was revenge, was it targeted at their family or Lin Ershuan’s family?

Actually, Lin Yuan already had a suspect in mind, Lin Dashuan. But after all, he was Xiao Shitou’s biological uncle; would he abduct his own nephew?

At that moment, upon hearing the news, Lin Wei’s third aunt came running from a distance with reddened eyes and immediately asked anxiously, "How is it? Have they been found? Have they been found?"

Upon seeing everyone shaking their heads blankly, the third aunt burst into tears, pounding her chest and crying, "What sins have I committed, oh Gui Zhi, Mom is so sorry to you!"

Liu Limin hurried to hold back her fists, consoling her gently.

Lin Yuan bit her lip and headed straight for Lin Dashuan’s house.

Xia Zheng saw her suddenly running off and quickly followed. Liu Limin and the others, thinking she had found out where they were, also ran after her.

Lin Dashuan’s house was right beside the main road, but due to the men’s improper conduct, the yard was incredibly dirty and disorderly.

Lin Yuan pushed open the already rickety gate and charged in, shouting, "Lin Dashuan, Lin Dashuan! Where have you taken my sister?"

Despite calling out several times, Lin Dashuan failed to appear. Only Xiao He, looking perplexed, walked out from the kitchen and said weakly, "He, he’s not at home."

Because Xiao He had been saved by Lin Yuan before and had eaten at her house, the ordinarily reticent Xiao He replied to Lin Yuan.

"Where’s your mother?" Seeing Xiao He come out, Lin Yuan, as if grasping at her last straw for salvation, clutched at her shoulders anxiously, and asked.

Xiao He felt some pain from the grip and awkwardly moved her shoulders. But what scared her more was fear; she had seen an angry Lin Yuan, a Lin Yuan who beat people but had never seen Lin Yuan with reddened eyes weeping.

"She’s gone to the fields. What, what’s wrong?"

Lin Yuan bit her lip and forced the tears back into her eyes, hoping Xiao He could provide some clues, "Lin Shuang, Lin Shuang and Xiao Shitou are missing. I suspect, maybe your dad has abducted them. Xiao He, do you know where your dad has gone? Please tell me, can you?"

Xiao He was stunned.

The words were overheard by the third aunt who had just come in. She shook her head and hands in disbelief, "No way, no way, Dashuan may be a good-for-nothing, but he wouldn’t possibly abduct his own nephew! Impossible!"

Lin Yuan, by now, had no patience to explain. She shook Xiao He’s shoulders, looking at her expectantly, "Xiao He, think carefully, has your dad said or done anything strange lately?"

Anything strange? Strange things?

Xiao He frowned and tilted her head to think, but couldn’t come up with anything useful. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell her; she truly didn’t know. To tell the truth, she was very fond of the Lin Yuan Sisters, and her own brother was missing too.

Just as Lin Yuan started to feel disappointed, the voice of Xiao He’s mother suddenly came from the doorway, "Xiao He doesn’t know, but I do."

Lin Yuan turned around abruptly to see Xiao He’s mother standing at the doorway, hoe in hand, but with no intention of continuing. Lin Yuan pleaded, "Please tell me, I’ll give you as much silver as you want!"

To her surprise, Xiao He’s mother scoffed, "What I want, you can’t give."

Just as Xia Zheng was about to switch from gentle persuasion to force, she spoke up on her own, "One night, that damned drunkard came home drunk, and I thought he would go into a drunken rage again, so I was about to sneak off to Xiao He’s room to sleep.

But unexpectedly, not only did he not go into a rage or beat me, he kept laughing, saying he’d soon have silver and that the place was already agreed upon, just waiting to deliver the person and collect the silver. "

"What place?" Lin Yuan already guessed that the person Lin Dashuan spoke of was Xiao Linshuang, but the place, she hoped she was wrong.

Xiao He’s mother looked at her disdainfully, "What place? What else could it be? A place that pays you silver for taking someone and also ensures you won’t be found—a fine place indeed!"

Lin Yuan’s legs went weak, a brothel!

Xiao Linshuang was only five years old, five years old!

Lin Dashuan, you beast!