Chapter 41

This time, however, Huo Jiu did not choose to earn his first pot of gold by playing Chinese chess with the old men. Instead, he set up a fortune-telling stall in the park. By reading faces and calling out the elderly men and women's names, ages, and what they would experience over the next half month, he smoothly earned his first pot of gold—then went to buy lottery tickets.

Huo Jiu had also wanted to open an account at a securities company. Unfortunately, he was under eighteen, and they would not let him open one.

Huo Jiu: "..." His plan to become the stock-market god Huo Feite died an untimely death.

With Nannan's disappearance still weighing on his mind, Huo Jiu had no interest in going to First-Rank Pavilion to compete in cooking this time. When he treated the elderly men and women to a meal, he chose Fresh Gathering Pavilion across the street instead. As a result, he missed his chance to meet Diwu Ling.

But Huo Jiu did not care. Timing it carefully, he ran into Granny Yang and Nannan at the market. Following the original plan, he arranged to meet Nannan at the square that evening and promised to treat her to boat-shaped pastries.

That night, Huo Jiu brought a carefully prepared lunchbox and waited in a corner of the square. To avoid drawing attention, he wore a baseball cap, pulling the brim low as he blended into the crowd and lay in wait.

At around seven twenty, Nannan, who had been dancing behind Granny Yang, suddenly seemed to hear something. She turned around and walked toward a corner.

Everyone around them was absorbed in dancing and barely noticed Nannan's movements.

Only Huo Jiu, hidden among the crowd, perked up and quietly followed after her.

He saw the person who took Nannan away—

It was a somewhat frail-looking middle-aged man. His hair was thinning, and he was plainly dressed. He crouched in the corner beside a large tree with a dense canopy. The dim yellow streetlight filtered through the shadows of the leaves, its light weakened even further.

It was too dark for Huo Jiu to make out what the man looked like. But he did not need to.

He only saw the man pick Nannan up and hurry toward the opposite side of the street beneath the faint cover of the tree's shadow.

Huo Jiu strode over, blocked the man's path, and grabbed him by the arm.

"Where are you taking Nannan?" As he spoke, Huo Jiu shouted, "Someone's stealing a child!"

The music and chatter in the square were extremely loud, but even so, someone heard Huo Jiu's shout. The people nearby instinctively gathered around.

Only then did Granny Yang, immersed in the square dance, realize that Nannan had nearly been carried away. She hurried over and snatched Nannan back. "What happened? What happened? What is going on?"

She carefully examined the middle-aged man who had carried Nannan away and found him familiar. He was someone who often came to the square to dance and stroll around. He had even given Nannan lollipops before.

Though Huo Jiu had stopped him, the middle-aged man did not look flustered. Hearing Granny Yang's question, he immediately smiled. "This child misunderstood. I saw Nannan sweating all over from dancing, so I wanted to carry her to the convenience store across the street and buy her an ice cream. This child seems to have mistaken me for a child-stealing bad guy."

"But you can't just carry Nannan away like that! It's dark out, and you didn't even tell me." Granny Yang was still shaken. As she patted the back of Nannan's head, she smiled at Huo Jiu. "Good thing this child saw it. If I turned around and couldn't find Nannan, I'd be frantic."

The man smiled at that. "I was careless. You can't blame the child for it."

One of Huo Jiu's hands still gripped the man tightly. "I suspect he's a human trafficker. I'm calling the police."

He had not forgotten what the police had said. Nannan's abduction was very likely the work of someone she knew. Besides, Nannan had been missing for so many days, and even before Huo Jiu Reloaded, this man had never brought her back. There had to be something wrong with him.

At those words, the man immediately grew anxious. "I'm not a human trafficker! You little brat, don't make false accusations! Nannan's grandmother knows me. How could I possibly be a human trafficker?"

As he spoke, he struggled hard to wrench his arm free from Huo Jiu's grip.

Someone nearby recognized the man and said, "I know him. He's always walking around this square. He's a pretty good guy and especially likes children. He often gives food to the kids in the square."

"Did you hear that? I'm not a bad person. I just thought this little girl was cute and wanted to buy her something to eat. It's hard being a good person these days!" The man struggled even harder. "Let go of me. If you don't, I won't be polite!"

"If you have nothing to hide, why were you hiding in a surveillance blind spot and deliberately avoiding the cameras?" Huo Jiu still did not let go. He took out his phone and called the police.

"If you're really innocent, explain it to the police. I'm not letting you go." Then Huo Jiu said to the passersby who were speaking up for the man, "Don't rush to make excuses for him either. Do you really know him? Do you know anything about his background? If I hadn't seen him today, he would've carried the child away. Sneaking around without saying a word—do you know what he was planning to do?"

His words left everyone speechless. Even those who thought Huo Jiu was making too much of it no longer dared to speak.

The police arrived quickly. Huo Jiu handed the man directly over to them, feeling that he had done a great deed. He immediately felt refreshed.

He still remembered what Granny Yang's son and daughter-in-law had said when Nannan went missing. After thinking about it, he still reminded Granny Yang, "There are too many people in the square, and the lighting is poor at night. Try not to bring Nannan out dancing. Or at least don't leave her behind you."

If she was in front, Granny Yang could at least keep an eye on her!

Granny Yang held Nannan in her arms and nodded with a frightened expression. Even her lips had gone pale.

Nannan herself did not seem afraid at all. She stretched out her little arms and smiled at Huo Jiu, still thinking about the pastries shaped like kittens, puppies, and ducklings that he had promised her.

Huo Jiu smiled and handed over the lunchbox he was carrying. Granny Yang slapped her forehead and took a food container from the little backpack she had brought. Inside was Osmanthus Red-Date Cake she had made herself.

After more than half a month, the pastries were finally exchanged. Watching Nannan happily nibble on the cakes, Huo Jiu felt completely satisfied.

Such a sweet little treasure should be cherished in her family's palms. Let the twists and hardships of fate, and the treachery and unpredictability of human hearts, be borne by grown-up treasures like them instead.