Chapter 15: Tracking Down the Primary Human Traffickers (Part 3)

After returning to Auntie’s house, which was also Zhang Heng’s temporary residence in this city, Zhang Heng immediately called her. Once connected, he truthfully informed Auntie of the situation: his colleague would join him in handling this case. Moreover, they planned to launch a campaign against organized crime and corruption after resolving the Liang Lahua case.

Auntie’s response did not disappoint them; she agreed without hesitation.

With Auntie’s consent secured, Zhang Heng arranged for Liang Song to stay in his own room, solving Liang Song’s accommodation issue. After settling that, and at Liang Song’s request, Zhang Heng knocked on the door of Liang Lahua’s room next door and called her out.

The three of them then sat together on the living room sofa. In front of Liang Song and Liang Lahua, Zhang Heng began recounting the events of the past two days and his current findings regarding the case:

He first told them that upon arriving in Yuncheng, following the information provided by his superiors and the address on Liang Lahua’s ID card, he went to Yan Jing Village. He described how he took a train, then switched to a bus and a city coach guided by navigation to reach the town near Yan Jing Village. After buying some food and drinks from the town, he set off on foot toward the village. After trekking through mountains and valleys for hours, he discovered that Yan Jing Village was almost disappearing; a once-large village now had fewer than ten homes occupied, all by elderly residents. Through inquiries, he learned that Liang Lahua’s family had relocated to the town.

Helpless, he returned to the town. However, by the time he got back, night had fallen, and the buses had stopped running. He had to find somewhere to stay overnight.

He found a bathhouse, but upon arrival, he encountered a trap set by a gang. Fortunately, he managed to fend off the attackers, called the police, and ended up staying a free night at the police station, thus concluding the incident.

Then, changing his approach, he decided to investigate starting from the village chief’s home—that is, the house where they were now sitting.

Upon arriving and explaining his identity to the homeowner, he realized that Auntie had been severely harassed by local gangsters, something evident from the earlier visit by the first group of three thugs.

Later, after Zhang Heng personally dealt with these three troublemakers, not long after, their gang leader came looking for trouble again. Luckily, the gang leader was sensible; upon confirming Zhang Heng’s true identity as a police officer, they fled in disgrace.

Since then, no one had come back to cause trouble.

When Zhang Heng reached this point in his story, Liang Song interrupted him, pulling out his phone to call Brother Li. Once connected, Liang Song stated his purpose clearly: he asked Brother Li to notify their superiors to coordinate and provide them with contact details for the city’s anti-mafia and anti-crime offices. He also requested that local police assign protection for their investigation.

After explaining, he hung up.

This move left Zhang Heng stunned. Indeed, Liang Song was an experienced senior; just by hearing Zhang Heng’s report, he had already thought ahead and taken the initiative to apply for support. Zhang Heng felt somewhat humbled.

Liang Song then urged Zhang Heng to continue. Seeing this, Zhang Heng resumed his narration.

He explained that after dealing with the harassing thugs, he helped Auntie leave the city and travel to Beijing, the capital. The house was then left empty and entrusted to him.

Later, Zhang Heng decided to begin his investigation from where Liang Lahua and her family lived.

Following the clues, they found the residential complex where Liang Lahua lived. After extensive inquiries, they learned that people regarded Liang Lahua as a crazy woman, mentally unstable. Her descent into madness traced back to her husband.

Her husband was a typical example of a man whose family was destroyed by gambling, leading to wife and children being scattered. He gambled away all their assets and even sold their child to others in secret. Furthermore, he transferred ownership of their house to someone else without her knowledge, using it as collateral for debts.

Desperate to find her child, Liang Lahua reported the matter to the police and sought help online. Thanks to the power of the internet, she managed to retrieve her child, only to find the child horribly abused. Three days after the reunion, the child passed away. This tragedy caught the attention of police from the capital, Beijing, thousands of miles away.

News of her husband’s suicide was first conveyed to her by one of his friends.

Unable to bear such cruel realities, Liang Lahua lost her sanity and became mentally unwell.

The woman Zhang Heng had encountered yesterday afternoon in the complex was this very same Liang Lahua, the person she had become.

After hearing Zhang Heng’s full account of the Liang Lahua case, Liang Song was astonished. However, the current directive from Brother Li was to focus their investigation on the suspects involved in the child trafficking.

For Liang Song, the upcoming work seemed manageable.