Escaped

Chapter 32

Sha Niu’s Mother spent another sleepless night. Sha Niu couldn’t sleep either, crying with constant “ah-ah” sounds. As her mother tried to soothe her, she felt a total loss of hope.

Looking at her daughter, she thought of the Old Bachelor and the things he had told her before he died.

She thought of the way the others looked at her daughter now that Sha Niu had become completely senseless.

They said, “Sigh, I told you Sha Niu wasn’t truly a fool before.”

“This is for the best. At least she won’t give birth to a little fool in the future.”

She thought of all the suffering she herself had endured. What was the point of living like this?

How much longer could she protect Sha Niu? Was she supposed to watch helplessly as Sha Niu lived a life worse than death?

Sha Niu lay in her arms, her eyes closed. Having finally fallen asleep, she was no longer crying.

Sha Niu’s Mother remembered when the girl was first born.

She stroked Sha Niu’s face. In truth, she had never despised the child for being slow.

She had pinched Sha Niu and scolded her constantly, but it wasn’t because Sha Niu was simple-minded.

It was because she was afraid. She was afraid Sha Niu would run out and be locked away by some family. She was afraid that when Sha Niu grew up, she would be forced to bear child after child, never living a life that resembled a human being’s.

Every time she imagined that future and looked at her daughter’s innocent, unknowing face, she couldn’t control herself.

As a mother, she knew clearly what kind of future her daughter had in a place like this.

So she had to be fierce. Not just to outsiders, but to Sha Niu as well.

Now Sha Niu had a needle in her head. It hurt every day, and they couldn’t go to the city to have it removed.

Ming Wen had been her last hope, but Ming Wen had failed her tribulation. Ming Wen couldn’t even protect herself anymore.

All night long, Sha Niu’s Mother watched her daughter. Finally, she made a decision.

At dawn, Sha Niu’s Mother went to the door and grabbed the rooster that was about to crow.

She bled it, scalded it with boiling water, and plucked the feathers.

When Sha Niu woke up, she smelled the aroma of chicken. Chicken with mushrooms and vermicelli was stewing over the fire pit, and her mother was applying medicine to her.

The silly girl just stared blankly at her mother, her mouth making “ah-ah” sounds as if trying to say something.

Sha Niu’s Mother felt even more distressed. “Mama knows it still hurts. It won’t hurt much longer. Eat some chicken first.”

She fed Sha Niu a large bowl of chicken soup.

After eating, the pain in Sha Niu’s head became unbearable again. She didn’t know how to deal with the agony and tried to hit her own head.

Sha Niu’s Mother caught her hands, preventing her from striking herself.

“Ah… ah… ah…”

“Mama’s here. Sleep a little longer.” Sha Niu’s Mother held her head, soothing her in a gentle voice.

The struggling child eventually quieted down and slumped against her mother’s back.

Sha Niu’s Mother carried her on her back and began walking up the mountain.

She had carried Sha Niu along this same path when the girl was just an infant.

Back then, she had gone to pray to the Immortal Lady. At that time, she didn’t know anyone in the village and was afraid of everyone.

She only had her daughter. She had begged the Immortal Lady to let Sha Niu stay by her side. She had kept the child.

Looking back now, by keeping Sha Niu then, she had kept her only to suffer.

Now, she spoke to the grown child on her back. “Mama is sorry.”

“I made you suffer so much more.”

The child on her back could no longer respond.

“Mama is taking you to find the Immortal Lady. We’ll go to heaven together to enjoy our blessings.”

Sha Niu knew nothing now and understood nothing. She had become a true fool.

They climbed higher. The further they walked, the more sorrowful Sha Niu’s Mother became.

Unless driven to a dead end, no one would choose this path.

Meanwhile, the village was in an uproar.

“The Zhang Family’s daughter-in-law is missing!”

Sha Niu’s Mother hadn’t intended to pay any mind to the villagers. She was walking her own path, but the villagers had just learned the whereabouts of the mother and daughter from their house and had already caught up.

The Zhang Family arrived with a group of people.

“Where did you hide my daughter-in-law?”

“Hide her? Why would I hide anyone?” Sha Niu’s Mother had intended to go to her death with her daughter.

However, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t fight back if a group of people came looking for trouble.

Wanting to die on one’s own terms and having others want you dead were two different things.

Sha Niu’s Mother stood her ground with an imposing air, looking ready to fight anyone who challenged her.

Though the Zhang Family was unreasonable, they had no evidence. Moreover, now was not the time to argue with Sha Niu and her mother. After questioning Sha Niu’s Mother and getting no answers, they focused on searching for the missing woman.

The crowd split into two groups. One headed toward the town, while the other searched the mountain.

Sha Niu’s Mother instinctively felt that Ming Wen wouldn’t have taken the road to town. She entrusted Sha Niu to Li Qingqing and joined the others in searching the mountain.

From the first light of dawn until the sun was high in the sky, they searched.

Eventually, the group reached the summit.

At the cliff’s edge, they saw only a streak of red. It stretched from the top of the cliff all the way down, hanging against the precipice, a piercingly bright red.

It turned out that before Sha Niu’s Mother had reached the cliff, Ming Wen had already been there.

She had left a trail of red behind.

Sha Niu’s Mother remembered what Ming Wen had said to her the day before yesterday.

“Don’t lose heart. Sha Niu will be fine. I will return to the heavens. Even if I cannot become a god, I will notify the immortals in heaven to come and save you.”

Seeing the situation, the Zhang Family members immediately turned and ran back, heading toward the town.

Some people were already headed that way. The Zhang Family stood on the mountain peak and shouted to the people below.

“Hey!”

“Hey!”

“The Zhang Family’s wife has run away! Quickly notify the station in the city!”

At the edge of the cliff, Sha Niu’s Mother picked up the red material on the ground.

It was the red cloth from the Bodhisattva Temple. The strips of cloth had been tied together and looped around the pillars of the temple, then extended all the way down the cliff.

Did she go down the cliff? Could she really get down from here? Hadn’t she lost all her merit? Wasn’t she just an ordinary person now?

Sha Niu’s Mother walked to the edge. She had never looked down from here before. Only now did she see that there were caves scattered along the cliff face below. Even on the smoothest parts of the steep wall, it wasn’t entirely without places to find a foothold.

Sha Niu’s Mother imagined it: in the dead of night with a bright moon hanging high, Ming Wen had flown down from this spot like a celestial being, becoming the Immortal Lady.

Not far below the cliff was a dusty yellow road. Following that road led to the city.

A few hours ago, at the town’s bus station, a woman held a child. Her stomach was flat and she walked with a brisk, steady gait. She spoke the local dialect fluently, looking exactly like a local daughter-in-law.

She asked for a ticket to the city, claiming she was taking her child to see a doctor.

She sat in the very last row, clutching the child.

No one noticed that her hands were shaking. Every moment was an agonizing ordeal.

She didn’t know how much time had passed; it felt like half a lifetime. Finally, the bus bid farewell to the mountains, and tall buildings began to appear.

Soon, she saw the sign for “Guangcheng Bus Station.”

She exited the station and found a public telephone booth. She made a call.

A haggard, elderly voice answered on the other end.

“Grandma, it’s me. I escaped. I don’t know when they’ll find me, so I’m going to the Hualu Police Station in Guangcheng right now. Go to the Ping City Police Station and ask the police for help. Bring the Ping City police here to pick me up.”

She paused, then added, “Make sure to bring as many police officers as possible.”

She was out now. She could never let herself be shoved back into that place again.

Sister An watched the old woman crying and laughing into her phone. The elderly lady said, “Let’s go, we have to get to Guangcheng quickly! My granddaughter is there. She’s out, she’s finally out!”

In all these days, this was the first time Sister An had seen the old woman so happy. She didn’t quite understand; hadn’t the old woman said before that it would take nine months for her to return?

“Xiao An, let’s move fast. She’s waiting for us there.”

Sister An thought about it. It was just a trip out of town anyway, and she wanted to see what was really going on.

Sister An quickly pushed the old woman along. The old woman kept muttering about calling the police and making sure to bring plenty of officers from Ping City.

Just then, that man—the one the old woman called a liar and a scammer—returned in his wheelchair.

The old woman began shouting at the top of her lungs, “Scammer! Someone catch this scammer!”

At that moment, the old lady seemed possessed by a sudden surge of strength, and she shoved the man’s wheelchair far away.

Sister An heard the man shouting behind them, “Grandma, do you really not recognize me?”

As other people began to gather around the commotion, Sister An took the opportunity to push the old woman away and run.

On the other side, Yun Song received a phone call.

“Don’t cry. I happen to be heading to Guangcheng to investigate a case. I’ll head over immediately.”

She hung up and immediately booked a flight to Guangcheng. Her destination was the Hualu Police Station.

Two hours later, Yun Song was the first to arrive at the Hualu Police Station in Guangcheng.

The station wasn’t large. Two large osmanthus trees stood outside. Yun Song walked in and saw a large desk at the main entrance with a visitor registration log on it.

A staff member asked, “What’s your business here?”

Yun Song pulled out her credentials and introduced herself, “Yun Song, Captain of the Ping City Criminal Investigation Detachment¹. I’m here to look into someone.”

The registration form required a name and date.

She wrote on the log: “Yun Song, 2024-05-05, 09:06.”

Reason for visit: “Case investigation.”

She was led into an inner room.

The registrar returned to the main hall.

Ming Wen, clutching the child, soon found the police station. She practically ran inside. She had been spotted at the station.

The human trafficking ring had likely received news of her escape and was searching for her in the city. Naturally, the first place they looked was the public phone booths near the bus station.

And they had indeed found her.

They had chased her all the way. Fortunately, she had participated in marathons in the past and possessed incredible endurance. She had managed to lose them quickly.

She had originally planned to wait until the Ping City investigators arrived before reporting to the station, mainly to ensure she wouldn’t be sent back to the mountains under the guise of a “family dispute².”

But she had no choice now. Wandering outside was too dangerous. She believed her grandmother had surely found the Ping City police, and those officers should have contacted the police here.

The officer who received her saw her panicked state. He glanced outside, saw no one, and asked, “What happened? Is someone chasing you?”

“Has the Ping City criminal investigation team arrived?”

The officer understood immediately upon hearing this. “So it’s you. Don’t worry, they’ve already contacted us by phone. They’re on their way and should be here in about two hours. Register your information first.”

Ming Wen looked at the log, which already had two lines of entries, and wrote:

Visitor Date:

“1994-11-04”

Reason for Visit:

“Reporting a crime”

Visitor Name:

Stroke by stroke, she wrote down her own name, a name she had learned to write back in kindergarten.

“Yun Song”

“Ming Wen” was just a name the traffickers had given to their “merchandise.” It wasn’t her real name.

She wasn’t the Immortal Lady Honggu from the cliff. She wasn’t a god, and it was impossible for her to ascend to the heavens.

She was just an ordinary human being.

Her real name was Yun Song.

A student of the 1990 clinical medicine class at Yuncheng Medical University—

Yun Song.

Translator’s Notes