Chen Lin's house was only three or four hundred meters from his second uncle's.
In less than two minutes, Chen Lin arrived at Chen Guofu's courtyard with Lao Qing and Friday.
The moment they stepped through the gate, an overwhelming air of despair hit them.
His second uncle, Chen Guofu, and his uncle's brother-in-law, Liu Desheng, both men over fifty, sat silently on stone stools in the courtyard, smoking cigarette after cigarette. The ground at their feet was littered with butts.
In the main room, his second aunt, Liu Shuqin, and Chen Qianqian stood on either side of a haggard middle-aged woman, supporting her and offering quiet words of comfort.
The woman was Liu Dayong's mother, Wang Guihua.
Zhang Ruoxi was there too, her eyes red as she silently handed Wang Guihua tissues.
As Chen Lin walked in, every gaze inside and outside the house instantly turned toward him.
They looked like drowning people who had spotted the only boat drifting their way.
Wang Guihua seemed drained of all strength. With the others supporting her, she shakily rose to her feet, her lips trembling, but she could not get a single word out.
It was Liu Shuqin who wiped away her tears and explained everything from beginning to end.
The factory where Liu Dayong worked in Guang Province had closed down. A supposed "fellow townsman" had introduced him to a high-paying job in Simple Village, claiming he would work as a casino dealer and earn tens of thousands a month.
But the moment he got off the plane, his passport was confiscated, and he was forcibly taken to a notorious scam compound.
That very morning, someone from the scam syndicate had called.
"They said... we have to pay two million... before they'll let him go." Liu Shuqin's voice shook uncontrollably.