Why can't we catch a big fish? (Bonus chapter for reader "Poison in the lungs cannot compare to half the heartache" and their generous tip)

What was going on?

Zhang Youzhi froze at the scene before him.

"Robbery? Kidnapping?"

Inside a market, Zhang Youzhi had just noted the location of another missing-person notice when he turned and saw this.

A woman was dragging a little girl along, beating her and shouting, "I told you not to steal! I told you not to run around with other men! I'll beat you to death! Come home with me!"

The girl looked barely into her teens, perhaps not even out of elementary school. She already knew how to fool around with "other men"?

The little girl struggled desperately, screaming in terror, "I don't know you! I didn't steal anything! You're not my mom!"

"Still talking back? I'll beat you to death, you ungrateful little brat!" The woman gripped the girl's arm with one hand and grabbed her hair with the other, yanking hard.

The little girl bawled in pain.

The butcher shop owner nearby couldn't stand it anymore. "She's just a little kid. Whatever happened, can't you talk it out? Do you have to hit her?"

Hearing someone intervene, the woman promptly plopped onto the ground and wailed through tears and snot. "I raised her all by myself! Now I find out she's hanging around with shady people at school every day, stealing money from home every day! That's money I earned hauling loads on construction sites!"

A male onlooker appeared right on cue and pointed accusingly at the meddling butcher shop owner. "She deserves it! Stealing money, huh? Going bad at such a young age! Go home with your mom, you disgrace! And you, what business is it of yours how she disciplines her own kid?"

The butcher immediately picked up a knife. "Point at me one more fucking time. I dare you."

The onlooker's voice instantly dropped, and he sheepishly lowered his hand.

The woman still had a death grip on the girl's wrist as the child kept crying, "She's not my mom! I came to buy groceries for my mom! She's not my mom..."

Zhang Youzhi's spectral form flickered nonstop. Even someone as free of desires as him had been provoked into anger.

His spectral form had turned red with rage!

This old woman wasn't the girl's mother at all. Earning money hauling loads on construction sites? She didn't have a single callus on her hands. Who was she trying to fool?

The hot-tempered butcher didn't care about any of that. He pried the woman's hand loose in two quick moves, pulled the little girl behind him, and snorted at the growing crowd.

"I don't give a damn whether you're her mom. Hitting kids is wrong. Say one more fucking word. I dare you."

The gleaming boning knife in his hand looked downright menacing.

By then, someone in the crowd had also noticed something wrong. "Isn't that Old Li's kid? Old Li and his wife are both alive and well. Since when did she have a single mom?"

Everyone's eyes focused on the woman's face.

The male onlooker realized things were going south. He shot the woman on the ground a look and prepared to leave.

Just as he turned around,

a figure came charging in with a bang, suddenly appearing behind him and kicking him in the back. The man pitched forward a full two meters.

Even Zhang Youzhi was stunned.

"Goddammit, human traffickers, huh? I've been wandering around right in front of you forever! Why wouldn't you kidnap me? Do I look worthless?" A girl in a red school uniform pounced on him without another word and twisted his elbow backward. His bones made crunching noises that set everyone's teeth on edge.

"Little Jing, call the police."

Wen Xuanjing, dressed in a blue school uniform and looking every bit a middle school student, smoothly took out his phone and dialed 110.

"Yeah, it's me again. This is the third pair. One man, one woman. We're at the East Entrance Market. Hurry over."

The crowd finally caught on. These were human traffickers! Who didn't have a kid or two at home? The students' words left everyone breaking out in cold sweat. Then the enraged crowd surrounded the man and woman.

The fierce-looking butcher shop owner shielded the girl behind him and soothed her gently. "Oh, your name's Jingjing? Don't be scared. It's all right. Give me your mom's number, and I'll call her over. Don't worry. Your uncle here is one hell of a fighter. Oh, you go to Yucai Elementary School? My son's Song Dagang. If anyone bullies you at school, go find him. Tell him to stand up for you..."

Watching the whole scene left Zhang Youzhi utterly delighted. His spectral form turned a clear, luminous blue.

By then, Nanmen Yingyun had also stood up, revealing the half-crippled man and handing him over to the enraged masses.

Naturally, the woman hadn't escaped either. A group of grocery-shopping aunties surrounded her, their gazes anything but friendly.

Everyone had heard about children being abducted countless times over the past few days, and they were already furious. They divided the work neatly: the men beat the man, and the women beat the woman.

Seeing the chaos, the market manager jogged over and shouted, "What's going on? Why all the commotion?"

Someone answered, "We caught two human traffickers."

The market manager's steps faltered. He shouted again, "Looks like the security cameras are broken. I'll go fix them."

With that, he turned and left.

Two newly arrived police officers were surrounded by stall owners at the market entrance.

"Folks, there are human traffickers inside. We need to arrest them. Please let us through."

"Oh, officer, you have no idea how poor this year's chili harvest has been..."

"A poor chili harvest? That's a real shame. Please let us through first."

"Oh, officer, look at this potato! Isn't it huge? Just one would make a whole plate of stir-fry..."

"Yes, it's huge. Huge! What a fantastic potato. It's really done us proud! How about this? We can discuss this wonderful potato later. Please let us through first. We need to arrest someone."

"Listen, officers, you work so hard responding to calls. We'll each give you some vegetables as a little token of our appreciation."

With that, everyone began slowly picking out cucumbers, gathering potatoes, and grabbing chilies, but no matter what, they wouldn't clear the way.

The two officers: ...

A long time passed-about the time it took to smoke a cigarette. Carrying a bag of vegetables, the two officers finally reached the two traffickers, who had been beaten beyond recognition. They were barely clinging to life.

"Well..." One officer scratched his head and asked his partner, "What do we do, man?"

The more experienced officer took a deep breath. "Check the security footage. Call an ambulance and see if they can save them."

Just then, the market manager took down a security camera and accidentally dropped it on the ground.

"Ah, we only replaced it a few days ago. Broken again."

Zhang Youzhi had been watching the two young people in school uniforms the whole time. From what he'd observed, they were probably adults. They were simply wearing school uniforms and had youthful faces, which had fooled even him at first.

Mostly, though, their conversation interested him.

The girl in the red uniform said, "Little Jing, what do we do? The big fish aren't biting. The main problem is that neither of us is actually a kid. We're not tempting enough."

The boy in the blue uniform said, "Let's try again tonight. Maybe your presence is too intimidating. Tone it down a little. This time I'll be the bait, and you can do the fishing."

The girl in the red uniform said, "They might not kidnap boys. Even if you're short, you're still about my height-one hundred sixty centimeters. The trafficking methods we ran into earlier might not work on you."

The boy in the blue uniform said, "It's fine. I look more frail. We have to give it a try. Sister Yu and A-Bai haven't had any results either."

Zhang Youzhi stood between them, looking at the girl one moment and the boy the next, as though trying to find some clue.

Who were these two? They clearly weren't with the police, yet they actually dared to seek out human traffickers?

Soon, the boy's next words answered Zhang Youzhi's question.

"I wonder how things are going on Si Weizhe's end. Hopefully he has a better idea."

"Si Weizhe?" Zhang Youzhi murmured.

The name sounded familiar, and Zhang Youzhi soon remembered.

Wasn't Si Weizhe the second relationship expert Number Two had sent him back then? The one known as a friend to women, who looked cultured and refined and wore gold-rimmed glasses? He seemed to be a lawyer, too.

So they were from the White Jade Capital Company? Since when had the White Jade Capital Company expanded its business to cracking down on human traffickers?

"No idea. Let's go. We'll bait the spot properly this time. We're sure to land a big fish." Nanmen Yingyun habitually linked her arm through Wen Xuanjing's, and the two walked away.

Zhang Youzhi was hesitating over whether to follow when the boy's voice reached his ears again.

"If only Li Douyu were willing to help us. She looks like she'd be really easy to kidnap."

Li Douyu?!!!

Zhang Youzhi's broad grin abruptly vanished. He froze in place, then decisively followed them.