The man and the old woman supported the girl surnamed Zhou between them and headed into the alley.
At first, the girl's cries were still audible, but she soon fell silent, her head lolling to one side.
Song Ning wondered whether they had drugged her unconscious.
The man wheeled a tricycle out of the darkness. Together with the old woman, he loaded the girl into its cargo bed, then covered her with several burlap sacks.
Then he climbed onto the tricycle and pedaled away with the old woman and the girl.
The whole thing took only a few minutes.
Song Ning followed at a distance.
Fortunately, the alleys had no streetlights and wound this way and that.
The tricycle couldn't go very fast, so she could keep up.
After passing through two alleys, the tricycle actually turned into a courtyard compound.
There were still quite a few people inside.
Some even greeted the man riding the tricycle and the old woman on board.
Song Ning stopped and didn't follow them any farther.
But she found it strange.
Normally, kidnappers would take their hostage somewhere secluded.
That would keep both the hostage's people and anyone nearby from discovering them.
Yet these two looked as though they were taking the girl home.
What was going on?
Were they so good at this that they had nothing to fear?
Or were they hiding in plain sight?
Standing in the shadows at a corner of the courtyard, she watched from afar as the man stopped outside one of the homes and carried the girl surnamed Zhou inside with the old woman's help.
She memorized the location of the door.
Then she turned and ran out.
After leaving the alley, she asked a passerby where the police station was.
It turned out to be close