Yun Linhai and the others rubbed their hands, feeling a bit awkward.
They hadn’t expected an official to witness their family brawl. Hopefully, they hadn’t made a bad impression.
In truth, Wang Jianlin wasn’t angry.
Even families living under one roof had their disagreements, so friction among villagers was even more unavoidable.
Although fighting was wrong, in a rural place like this, it was just plain weakness to let someone walk all over you without showing some backbone.
In fact, Wang Jianlin had little respect for the sort of spineless person who couldn’t even protect their own family.
Wang Jianlin, accompanied by his son who had insisted on tagging along, went to Yun Linhai’s home.
At the house, Yun Jiao and Grandma served the two guests sweet water.
Yun Linhai and Mr. Yun were both tense, struggling to make small talk with Wang Jianlin.
"The reason I’m here is to discuss the matter of the physical examination and test."
He shook Mr. Yun’s hand. "My apologies, Mr. Yun. Someone was indeed sabotaging things from the inside. The fault also lies with our inadequate oversight."
Yun Linhai’s face lit up. "Does that mean my sons were selected?"
Wang Jianlin nodded. "Both of your sons are outstanding. Their physical fitness is perfect. They both passed."
"Wonderful! That’s wonderful!"
Everyone was instantly overcome with excitement and joy.
Yun Chenxi, in particular, was so thrilled his face flushed red and his eyes were exceptionally bright.
"Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have known what to do."
Wang Jianlin quickly replied, "No, no, it’s my duty. It was our negligence that created this situation in the first place, and we nearly cost these two young men their chance to enlist."
"How could we possibly blame you for that?"
After they exchanged pleasantries for a moment, Wang Jianlin noticed Yun Chendong was absent and asked about him.
After all, both the Yun Chendong and Yun Chenxi brothers had been at the exam, and he remembered them well.
"Ah, you don’t know, sir, but we’ve got traffickers around here!"
Wang Jianlin immediately sat up straight, his expression turning serious.
"Oh? What happened?"
"It was actually our Jiaojiao who discovered it..."
So, they recounted how Yun Jiao had discovered the traffickers and what she had overheard them say.
They finished with conviction, "Those damn traffickers must have set their sights on our Jiaojiao. And it’s not just me bragging, but she’s the prettiest girl in all the surrounding villages."
Wang Jianlin was speechless.
’And you seem quite proud of that,’ he thought.
"Jiaojiao, come here."
Wang Jianlin copied the Yun family, calling her Jiaojiao. He’d taken a liking to the little girl.
But this business with the traffickers was no small matter; he had to question her carefully.
People say children don’t lie, but that wasn’t always true. Children were perfectly capable of making things up, and you couldn’t always trust what they said.
If her story was true, they would have to mobilize a significant number of people to investigate. If it all turned out to be a false alarm, it wouldn’t be good for anyone. He had to confirm it.
"How did you know those two were traffickers?"
Yun Jiao replied, "Because they wanted to grab me. I’ve heard the grandmas in the village say that people who snatch kids are traffickers."
"Do you remember what they said?"
Yun Jiao nodded and repeated the pair’s conversation in her childish voice.
"You were in the pumpkin patch at the time, and they didn’t see you?"
Yun Jiao said with great confidence, "There was some distance between us. They couldn’t have seen me."
Yun Linhai chimed in, "Sir, you don’t know, but our Jiaojiao has incredible hearing. She can hear things from very far away."
"Oh?"
Wang Jianlin called his son over and told him to go outside and say something.
Wang Yi asked, "What do you want me to say?"
"Anything."
"Fine. I’ll help you out, but you have to let me stay here and have fun for a couple of days."
He had already spotted the Yun family’s giant sea turtle and was eager to go out on the ocean to see the killer whales.
Unfortunately, it was getting late and wasn’t a good time to go out to sea.
Wang Jianlin shot him a glare.
Wang Yi ran outside. "Is this far enough?"
He was about ten meters away.
Wang Jianlin raised a hand to signal that was fine. "Just use your normal speaking voice."
Not knowing what to say, Wang Yi just started singing a song they often played at school.
Wang Jianlin listened intently. From that distance, he couldn’t make out the words clearly.
He looked at Yun Jiao.
Yun Jiao was already humming the tune Wang Yi was singing.
Her humming was exceptionally beautiful.
Wang Jianlin called his son back over. "Were you just singing?"
"Yeah. Could you hear me?"
"Was it this tune that Jiaojiao’s humming?"
Yun Jiao couldn’t remember the lyrics, but she had picked up the melody perfectly.
Merfolk were naturally gifted when it came to music.
"Yes, yes, yes... that’s the one!"
A flash of surprise crossed Wang Jianlin’s eyes. ’This little girl is incredible.’
At such a young age, she could pin a boy much taller than her to the ground so he couldn’t fight back. She spoke with clear logic, and her hearing was far more sensitive than an ordinary person’s.
It now seemed her story was almost certainly true.
"Mr. Yun, all of you, rest assured. The arm of the law is long. The People’s Police will definitely catch those traffickers!"
"That’s good, that’s good. Hearing you say that puts our minds at ease."
Just then, Yun Linhe arrived with two plainclothes police officers.
There was no need for further verification. Wang Jianlin stated his identity, and after the two officers explained what they knew, the conversation went smoothly. The police department agreed to send plainclothes officers to lay in wait in the village.
Now it was just a matter of when the criminals would appear.
Having run into this situation, Wang Jianlin decided not to head back. Instead, he took a room in town to follow the case’s progress.
This suited Wang Yi just fine; he was more than happy to stay here for a while longer.
It was Wang Yi’s first time beachcombing, and he was having the time of his life, wanting to pick up everything he saw.
When he saw Yun Jiao leading a line of little chicks and ducklings out to the tidal flats, he was especially delighted. He took out his prized camera and took several pictures with a CLICK, CLICK.
Wang Yi and his camera instantly made him the most popular person with the village children.
Every kid wanted to touch his camera, but Wang Yi wasn’t the generous type.
He treasured the thing himself, so he only let Yun Xiaowu and his brothers touch it briefly. The other kids could look, but not touch.
Yun Jiao was digging for mud snails for her chicks when a woman, dressed much like the other village women, sidled up beside her.
"You’re Yun Jiao, aren’t you?"
Although her clothes were similar, the woman’s hair was permed and she wore makeup, which clearly set her apart from the local women.
Most importantly, her voice was familiar.
It was the female trafficker.
The clever Yun Jiao didn’t expose her, just feigned ignorance and nodded.
"I’m a relative from your sixth great-uncle’s family! Oh, my, what a cute and pretty little girl you are. This auntie likes you a lot. Do you want some candy? Auntie here has some chocolate from a foreign country, you know."
Yun Jiao looked at her. "Let me see it first."
’Food was tempting, but liars could get lost.’
The woman actually produced a piece of chocolate.
Yun Jiao asked, "Is that all?"