Chapter 30 – Not Sad
Shi Cha’s parents were usually very busy with work, and his older brother had already moved on to middle school, so it was the family driver who usually picked Shi Cha up.
After school, Shi Cha would always go alone to play in the sandbox at the park, while the driver watched him from not far away.
Shi Cha didn’t talk much. The other kids who often played there thought he was mute, so no one wanted to play with him. But there was one chubby boy, about the same age as Shi Cha, who often came up and talked to him.
For almost a month, the two of them played together nearly every day.
Even if Shi Cha didn’t respond, the chubby boy would still chatter away as if they were already close.
They built sandcastles together in the sandbox, or the chubby boy would watch Shi Cha draw pictures in the sand.
Though Shi Cha had never said a single word to him, he already considered the boy his friend in his heart.
Because of his quiet personality, Shi Cha didn’t have many friends at school. The other kids didn’t really want to play with him. So the chubby boy he met at the park became his one and only friend.
Then one day after school, the driver didn’t show up at the usual time because Shi Cha’s father had called him away for something else.
Shi Cha waited inside the school grounds along with the other children, watching for whoever was supposed to pick him up.
He looked out toward the school gate. Though he didn’t see the driver, he did see his friend, the chubby boy, waving at him.
There were a lot of parents gathered outside picking up their children. A teacher saw Shi Cha heading for the gate and stopped him, asking, “Has your guardian arrived?”
Shi Cha didn’t talk much in class either, and he didn’t explain anything now—he just nodded, indicating that he recognized someone.
The teacher had to keep an eye on the other students, so she let him go.
As soon as Shi Cha stepped outside the school gates, he was swallowed up by the crowd of parents.
The chubby boy squeezed over to him, took his hand, and said, “Come on, let’s go play at the park.”
Shi Cha glanced at the man standing next to the boy—the one the boy had once called “Dad“—and nodded in agreement.
He thought he’d call the driver later to tell him he was waiting at the park.
But as soon as he got into the van with the chubby boy’s dad, he realized something was wrong.
Inside the van, besides the chubby boy and his “dad,” there were two other men.
As soon as the door closed, one of the men turned to the one driving—the chubby boy’s so-called dad—and asked: “Boss, is this kid really mute? But a mute kid won’t sell for a good price.”
The man referred to as “Boss”—the chubby boy’s father—glanced in the rearview mirror at Shi Cha, who was clutching his backpack straps tightly and sitting silently in the back seat, his expression unreadable for the moment.
“It’s been a month and I haven’t heard him say a single word. He’s probably mute. But it doesn’t matter—look at that delicate skin, that pretty face. He’ll definitely fetch a better price than the other kids we’ve had. There might be someone who’s into this kind.”
“That’s true. I heard that school he came from has a lot of rich kids. Judging by his clothes, he doesn’t look like he comes from a poor family either.”
“Third Brother, don’t get any funny ideas. We’ve never done that kind of thing before—if you slip up, we’ll all be in trouble.”
“Alright, alright, I get it, Second Brother.”
“……”
Shi Cha had felt something was wrong the moment he got into the van. Now, after hearing their unfiltered conversation, he was certain.
He had been kidnapped by human traffickers. And the “friend” he had trusted all along turned out to be one of them.
Shi Cha pressed his lips into a tight line, his palm-sized face filled with seriousness.
He secretly reached for his wristwatch. It had a GPS tracker, and it could send messages and make calls.
But just as he was about to send a message, the man sitting beside him—Second Brother—suddenly frowned.
“This kid’s reaction is off. Even if he’s mute, he should be freaking out after realizing he’s been taken. But he’s just sitting there, not making a sound?”
Right after speaking, he noticed Shi Cha slipping one hand into his other sleeve, clearly doing something.
He immediately grabbed Shi Cha’s wrist and yanked up his sleeve—there it was, the watch, blinking with light.
“You little brat, trying to send out a message!”
He reached to yank the watch off Shi Cha’s wrist.
Seeing this, Shi Cha finally began to struggle violently. But he was just a child—no match for an adult man.
The watch was ripped off, and the driver—the so-called Boss—immediately barked an order, “These things usually have a tracking system, and they’re hard to destroy. Just toss it. We’ll switch locations tonight.”
Second Brother quickly rolled down the window and threw the watch out.
At that very moment, a shadow flickered past the open window outside. Shi Cha struggled and managed to thrust his head out.
“Brother Lin Ran!”
That was the first time Shi Cha had ever called out Lin Ran’s name.
Lin Ran, who had been taking a shortcut through an alley with his backpack, suddenly looked up in shock when he heard the cry.
He saw a shabby van up ahead, with someone sticking their head out of the window—it was Shi Jian’s little brother, Shi Cha.
Shi Cha’s face only appeared for a second before he was yanked back inside.
In a flash, Lin Ran realized what was happening—Shi Cha was being kidnapped. After all, there was no way the Shi family’s driver would show up in a van like that!
He flung off his backpack and sprinted after the vehicle.
In the narrow alley, the van wasn’t moving particularly fast—but it was still faster than Lin Ran’s two legs could keep up with.
He quickly pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the van, focusing on the license plate. At least I’ve got that!
But just as he finished taking the photo and was about to call Shi Jian, the van suddenly came to a stop.
It turned out that after pulling Shi Cha back in through the window, Second Brother had seen Lin Ran photographing the license plate through the rearview mirror.
“Boss, what do we do? He got a picture of us.”
The boss hit the brakes without hesitation. “We can’t switch cars right now. We can’t let him call the cops. Go grab him too.”
Just as Lin Ran’s call to Shi Jian connected, Second Brother and Third Brother were already charging toward him.
Lin Ran shouted into the phone, “Your brother’s been kidnapped! Hurry—help him!”
But before he could say another word, one of the men snatched his phone and slammed it to the ground. It shattered instantly, the call abruptly cut off.
Second and Third Brother were experienced at this sort of thing—they’d done plenty of abductions before. As soon as they reached Lin Ran, they overpowered him in an instant.
And this was a remote alley, where no one was around to notice anything.
The van quickly reversed and rolled back toward them. Lin Ran, now bound at the wrists, was shoved into the vehicle.
Seeing Lin Ran get dragged onto the van, Shi Cha was overwhelmed with guilt.
He felt utterly stupid.
Because he had trusted the wrong person—he had mistaken a human trafficker for a friend—and in the end, not only had he brought trouble on himself, but he had dragged Lin Ran into danger too.
Since Shi Cha had previously tried to resist, his hands were now tied as well. At this point, he and Lin Ran were both thrown into the back seat of the van.
“I’m sorry.”
Shi Cha kept his head down, not daring to look at Lin Ran, who had been dragged into this mess because of him.
But Lin Ran didn’t seem the least bit afraid. He nudged Shi Cha’s face with his arm and teased with a grin, “Not looking down on me anymore, huh?”
Shi Cha, filled with guilt, looked up at Lin Ran in frustration when he heard that. He didn’t understand—was his brother’s friend not right in the head? How could he still be joking at a time like this?
When Lin Ran saw the child’s reddened eyes brimming with unshed tears, he quickly tried to comfort him. “Don’t be scared. Big brother Lin Ran will protect you.”
Shi Cha didn’t respond.
It was Third Brother, sitting in front of them, who turned around and glanced at the two before sneering, “Trying to act like a hero, huh?”
Then he turned back to ask the driver, “Boss, what do we do with the older one? He’s too big—hard to sell.”
The boss glanced at Lin Ran through the rearview mirror and said in a low voice, “We’ll send him to A-Cheng later.”
Hearing that, Third Brother slapped his thigh and grinned, “Right! This kid looks decent too. Break his legs, dump him at an intersection, and I bet plenty of people will donate just because of his face.”
Lin Ran didn’t know the full context, but he was starting to piece things together.
They were planning to sell him to an organized begging ring.
These kinds of operations often worked with human traffickers, taking kidnapped children, breaking their legs or making them deaf or mute, then dragging them across the country to beg on the streets.
From what the boss had said, it sounded like selling him was a backup plan. That must mean their original target was Shi Cha.
Though he had managed to call Shi Jian, his phone had been destroyed by the traffickers, and now there was no telling when—or if—help would come.
No matter what, they had to rely on themselves to escape.
Lin Ran didn’t show any fear or struggle to escape. Instead, he leaned against Shi Cha, closed his eyes, and appeared to rest, as if he hadn’t understood a word of the traffickers’ conversation.
The van continued heading out of the city, about to merge onto the highway, when it suddenly came to a stop. Up ahead, there was a long line of cars. Traffic police were blocking the road, stopping vehicles one by one for inspection.
Third Brother clutched the back of the seat, watching the scene ahead nervously.
“Boss, do you think the cops are here for us?”
“Probably not,” the boss replied, though his eyes flashed with a hint of menace. He immediately spun the wheel and turned the van around.
Even though that kid had made a phone call earlier, even if the person on the other end had reported it right away, there was no way the police could have responded this quickly—
Let alone set up a full roadblock.
However, given the scene inside their van, anyone who saw it would instantly know something was wrong—there was no way they could risk being inspected.
But no matter which route they took out of the city, they kept running into police checkpoints. By now, night had already fallen, yet the traffic officers and police were still on duty.
The boss made a quick decision: they would lay low for the night.
None of them were locals, and they didn’t have a place to stay nearby. So, they drove the van to an abandoned, unfinished building.
Shi Cha and Lin Ran were dragged out of the vehicle and thrown into a flat room on the third floor. Their ropes were re-tied, this time with their hands bound behind their backs, so they couldn’t try to untie themselves using their teeth.
The boss retrieved two rechargeable lamps from the car and tossed them to Third Bro.
“You stay here and watch them. Old Second and I will go buy something to eat,” he said, glancing at the two kids sitting quietly on the floor.
“Can’t have the little one starving—he won’t sell for a good price if he looks weak.”
Third Brother took the lamps and quickly nodded, assuring the boss he’d keep watch.
That chubby boy, the one called “Little Fatty,” was still tagging along, and now he was getting ready to head back to the van with his so-called dad.
Shi Cha, who had been silent all this time, suddenly called out to him.
“Little Fatty.”
The boy flinched and turned his head, but didn’t dare meet Shi Cha’s eyes.
His gaze darted away, and after a moment, he muttered, “I’m not called Little Fatty. And you’re not a mute. We both lied to each other, so we’re not friends.”
With that, he turned away without looking back and followed the man who was supposedly his “dad” waiting at the stairs.
Shi Cha understood what he meant.
“We’re not friends”—so he could betray him without guilt.
Shi Cha opened his mouth slightly, but no words came out.
Lin Ran turned to look at Shi Cha, who sat with his head down and a dark cloud hanging over him. He nudged the boy’s shoulder.
“That Little Fatty… he was your friend?”
At that question, Shi Cha couldn’t hold it in any longer. His tears fell, big and heavy, one after another.
That had been the only kid his age who ever showed him kindness. Even though he’d never spoken a word to him, Shi Cha had truly believed he’d finally made a real friend.
Third Brother, sitting cross-legged nearby and drinking from a bottle, scoffed when he heard the two kids talking.
“Friend, my ass. That chubby brat’s already lured in seven or eight kids just like you.”
Shi Cha still kept his head down, but the tears had stopped.
Lin Ran’s hands were tied behind his back, so he couldn’t reach out to pat Shi Cha’s head. Instead, he leaned closer and gently rubbed his chin against the boy’s soft hair.
In a low voice, he comforted him, “Don’t be sad. From now on, big brother Lin Ran will be your best friend.”