The Mangdian Police Station is very simple, consisting of just a few small bungalows surrounding a courtyard.
Meng Yan asked Shi Dazhuang if he wanted to get a tetanus shot first. There were no hospitals in Mangdian, but the clinics did have tetanus shots.
Shi Dazhuang said this injury was nothing. Back then, when a grenade shrapnel pierced his stomach, he just dug it out with tweezers, applied some medicine, and that was it.
Meng Yan first had someone get a set of clothes for the mentally unstable woman, then asked Shi Dazhuang, " Captain Shi, how do you plan to handle this today? Should we follow procedure, or...?"
Shi Dazhuang said, "Of course we'll follow the procedures; we'll do what needs to be done."
Meng Yan said, "Okay."
He went out for a while, and when he came back, he brought paper and pen, saying, "I've written down everything you told me. Please check if there are any mistakes. If there aren't, please sign it for me."
Shi Dazhuang took it, glanced at it, nodded, and signed it while smiling, saying, "This counts as my confession, right?"
Meng Yan touched his short, flat hair and said sheepishly, "It's just a procedure, nothing more!"
Shi Dazhuang asked, "What do we do next? I can't stay here too long."
Meng Yan said, "Don't worry, once the situation is verified, you can leave. But those two women will have to stay for a few days; we need them as witnesses to investigate and arrest human traffickers."
Shi Dazhuang said with some concern, "I brought these people out here, so you have to guarantee their safety and freedom. Besides, I'm afraid this situation isn't limited to Kuaziba in Mangdian!"
Meng Yan said, "I know a little about this situation. When I first came here two years ago, I investigated it in detail."
"But it's tough!" he sighed. "As soon as we go, they hide their people in the mountains. If you can't find them, you have to call it a day and come back. Our station has less than ten people, including the household registration officer and the internal affairs officer. And the auxiliary police are all locals, fellow villagers. Who wants to offend anyone?"
Shi Dazhuang, aware of Meng Yan's predicament, said, "This isn't your fault."
Meng Yan said, "Actually, I know who the human traffickers are, but without solid evidence, it's not easy to catch them."
Shi Dazhuang, "Oh? This isn't like you at all."
Meng Yan smiled, his expression a little strange. "In your eyes, she's a heinous human trafficker, but in the eyes of the people of the three townships and twenty-eight villages of Mangdian, she's a wonderful person, a living Bodhisattva!"
At this moment, a police officer came in and reported, "Chief, all the statements have been taken." He then handed the statements to Meng Yan.
Meng Yan took the statement, read it through, and then gave the order, "Detain Han Bo! Damn it, causing trouble right under my nose!"
He added, "Go and fetch the Medicine Granny later. Remember, don't make a fuss about it, lest something bad happen."
The police officer said "Yes," and as he left, he had the same strange expression on his face as Meng Yan.
While the police went to fetch someone, Meng Yan explained the origins of this Medicine Granny to Shi Dazhuang and the others.
This woman was a herbalist with a shop on Tobacco and Hemp Street, specializing in selling folk remedies. It is said that her ancestors were military doctors in the Yunnan Army and were confidants of Tang Jiyao. After Tang Jiyao's downfall and death, she went into Mangdian, making a living by collecting herbs and treating illnesses. She was considered a highly respected person.
By her generation, little of the medical skills remained; she could only make a living with a few folk remedies.
But Mangdian was a poor place with poor medical conditions. When people got sick, they would often ask her for a folk remedy. If she cured them, they would say she was a miracle doctor, and if she didn't, they would blame their bad luck.
As word spread, her fame grew. Since she only sold medicine, everyone called her " the Medicine Granny," and over time, few people remembered her real name.
The Medicine Granny spends several months of the year traveling to collect herbs. When she returns, she often brings back unfamiliar women and children. People say she has a kind heart; she takes in and raises lonely, helpless, mentally ill women or beggar children she encounters. People from nearby villages who can't find wives or have children come to her for help.
"Don't laugh at us! People in the mountains don't know the law. They can even grow marijuana all over their own yards. What else can't happen?" Meng Yan said.
To verify these matters, Meng Yan, after taking office, led the household registration police to visit all the villages and found that most of those brought by the Medicine Granny in the early years were people from Mianyue.
The area is poor, so most of the women come here voluntarily. They secretly marry a man from this area, live there for a few years, and then, discovering that there is a better life in the north, they go north to marry a richer man.
With such incidents happening frequently, the mountain people kept a very close watch on their wives. If one of them ran away, the whole village would chase after her, catch her, lock her in the house, and sometimes she would inevitably get a beating.
These women crossed the border because they longed for a wealthy life. They were already married and had children, so the police couldn't easily interfere and mostly turned a blind eye. Sometimes they even had to help them get household registration.
Meng Yan had also heard that there were some women from the north, but most of the villagers kept quiet. The station's manpower and resources were really limited, so they could only let it go if the people didn't complain.
"Have you ever contacted this Medicine Granny?" Shi Dazhuang asked.
"I did look for her!" Meng Yan said, "But without evidence, there was nothing I could do. I even confronted her, telling her that as long as no one complained about the past, I could let it go, but I wouldn't allow a single instance of something like this to happen again. I thought this had stopped happening for the past two years, but if it weren't for Captain Shi, I would still be completely in the dark from these bastards!"
Just then, the police officer returned and said that the Medicine Granny had arrived and was waiting in the reception room.
Meng Yan stood up and called to Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu, "Let's go take a look together."
Upon arriving at the reception room, Qingmu saw a woman sitting there wearing a floral shirt. She had short, curly hair, a chubby face, and a rather kind appearance.
When the woman saw Meng Yan, she put her hands together in apology and said in standard Mandarin, "Hello, Chief Meng, what brings this old woman here?"
Meng Yan asked Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu to sit down, signaled the police officers who came in with them not to take notes yet, and asked, " Medicine Granny, what did you promise me back then? Why are you back to your old ways?"
The Medicine Granny said, "What is Chief Meng saying? This old woman doesn't understand."
Meng Yan slammed his fist on the table. "Don't play dumb with me! Tell me, how many people have you abducted to sell?"
The Medicine Granny said, "Oh, Chief Meng is trying to settle old scores with me!"
Meng Yan said, "What old scores are we talking about! Do you really want me to bring the witnesses?"
The Medicine Granny smiled, closed her eyes, and said nothing more.
Meng Yan snorted and told the police to bring Yang Lijuan and Xiaoqin to him.
Yang Lijuan was a little flustered when she came in, but seeing Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu there, she became bolder and pointed at the Medicine Granny, saying, "It's her! It's her! I'd recognize her even if she were ashes."
The Medicine Granny opened her eyes, glanced at her, then closed them again, and said, "I don't recognize you."