Quick Transmigration: Saving The Crazy Villainess

If one's unfilial daughter ran away and stole his money, what should a poor father from a very remote village do?

Also, if malicious people abducted the children from their village, what should they also do?

Of course, report to the police!

For Zhao Guo, it did not matter that he was the head of a village full of sinners, or that everyone had indirectly cooperated with trafficking by being the buyers. He was wronged! They were deceived! So, justice should be demanded!

With this unreasonable logic repeatedly leaving the middle-aged guy's mouth, which was his excuse in leaving the village without the company of others, he managed to convince the villagers that he must go. 

Of course, he did after settling the matter with the owner of the barn and pigsty that got caught on fire. Throughout the process, his face was not good, because unlike the other family who lost a child bought only from traffickers, he lost, or rather, got betrayed, by a biological daughter. The pain on his face appeared greater than anyone else. At least, that was he showed everyone around him so they would listen to him and be more considerate of him. 

"We let those foreigners inside our village in goodwill but look at what they did! Those demons took away our children!" Zhao Guo roared at the entrance to the people who came to dissuade him from taking the trip. 

"I have to file a complaint to the authorities in the city!"

This happened a day after the escape of Fan Zheng's group. To his beautiful but idiotic words, not everyone really believed.

Not everyone in the village was an idiot who did not realize that letting those abducted kids slip away was a sure-way ticket to trouble. Many from the older generation wanted to move the whole village away, preferably deeper into the mountains. 

"I don't think going to authorities is a good idea. We could be investigated. It may lead to a development unfavorable to us." 

Quite a lot of women were nearby and they all threw a glance at the old man who stood before Zhao Guo. Although they immediately lowered their eyes on the ground or faked paying attention to their husbands' and kids' faces, if one looked closely enough, an odd glint flashed across their eyes. They were listening closely to the conversation.

The new ones badly prayed in their hearts for the police officers from the nearest town to come and take them away. Those who had been there for more than a year stared complicatedly at their kids. They remembered the paper that suddenly appeared under pillows like a work of ghosts. 

Their momentary daydreaming ended up when the old man spoke again.

"Chief, I really want to suggest we take advantage of the fact that it will take days to go here on foot even if outsiders march towards here the moment those foreign kids make a report. We should relocate." 

Zhao Guo glared at the old man, disregarding their age difference, and strongly replied, "Uncle Jing! What are you saying? No! We'll stay! If we do as you say, we will appear guilty and that is unacceptable! We are just honest people who paid in full what had been sold to us. Why would we move away to evade those outsiders? Did we steal the money we use to buy them?"

Silence reigned until a reply rang from the crowd, a loud and agitated one, "No!"

"Call me whatever they want, but I'm no liar nor a thief!" The same voice added.

Zhao Guo turned his head to where he heard the voice and with a face full of conviction, he nodded, "Right. You did not steal so you are no thief or anything. So did everyone here! We made money honestly off of the crops we harvested and the game we haunted. Why do we have to move locations and abandon the place built by our ancestors?"

The sun had just risen from the east but many locals were tired from the forest chase and the putting out of the fire last night. Perhaps that slowed down their cognitive function a bit so they only nodded at the words thrown at them. Well, if the first few phrases were analyzed, then it was true none of them stole anything or anyone. They only purchased those who had been stolen from their families by the syndicate. 

Zhao Guo continued his passionate speech, "I repeat, we did not take away what's not ours! If anything, we are the victims because when we bought 'them', those city people did not leave us any guarantee that we would not lose 'them'! On behalf of every victim here, I would like to find Mr. Feng to help us with this issue." 

The last name mentioned was the name of the middleman who usually talked to the villagers.

Zhao Guo did not say it specifically, but 'them' was referring to the women and kids. But, while he brought up the word 'guarantee', it was obvious there was no way to demand an explanation from those thugs since it was them who got careless in treating their guests.

Most of the locals were simple people who disliked wasting time thinking too much. They easily got riled up by Zhao Guo's words. 

They seemingly forgot that the women and children were humans and not goods, and that there was no way to ask for something like warranty or insurance. They also forgot they bought them not from legal sources. 

But once people of considerable authorities came over to question them, would they be able to say things like because they were at a remote place, they had no idea illegal trades like slavery were long abolished? Could they reason to them, with their village's detachment to technology as a reference that they had this impression that they were living in ancient times? 

It was hard to guess whether this bunch who were transacting with the traffickers were pretending to be ignorant. 

Yet, the agitated crowd did easily agree with their village head. Some of the wiser and sober men gave Zhao Guo a doubtful expression but because of the shouts distracting them, they failed to point out what was wrong. Swayed by the others, they began to think that Zhao Guo's statements made sense. 

"Yeah, we should seek help from Mr. Feng to retrieve my son!" 

"And my daughter too!"

"It's unacceptable for me not to gain my child back! To buy her, I even sold two of my healthiest and fattest hens and five strong cows!"

The village head watched the expressions on everyone's faces and heard out their yells before raising a hand.

"Alright. I heard you all and understand that you are all with me in this. I need to go as soon as possible. I also need to ask for help to find my daughter. She might have been threatened by those ungrateful foreigners! As her father, it's my responsibility to bring her back too. As your chief, it's also my responsibility to bring your children back!"

Zhao Guo successfully left after getting the blessings of his fellow villagers. All he had in his person was a bundle of clothing hiding some paper bills and coins that Zhao Ai missed. He felt regretful that he could not sell his house to raise funds. However, he knew he should not wish for more now that escaping was the main priority.

Yes, he had no more plan to go back to the village. 

What a joke. The moment Zhao Guo realized the new kids were taken away by the group of students, he only foresaw troubles coming their way. 

He was clear that there was no chance their village would escape the eyes of the police after it was revealed that more than five abducted children were found there. As the village head, he would definitely become the scapegoat to shoulder a large part of the blame so that not many locals would be thrown to jail. He could not allow that to happen! 

Since Zhao Guo was very experienced in trekking the rugged paths in the forest and he was ready for the long trip, bringing a wooden bicycle with him, he reached the civilization before nightfall. It was not the town where he and his fellow villagers usually sell their produce. This way, he luckily avoided the ghost and the villainess who later appeared there.

Before passing the night in an acquaintance's house, he did report to the police about Zhao Ai, a theft case, not kidnapping or missing case. 

On the next morning, he went to the bank and inquired about his money where a teller perfunctorily told him, "Sir, your name and date of birth match with one of our accounts here. And there's nothing to withdraw from it since it has already closed yesterday."

Although the middle-aged man did some psychological preparations, he still couldn't help but ask dumbfoundedly, "There's no money left? Miss, can't you double-check for me?"

"I'm sorry, but the account has already closed. Even the deposit was taken away."

Zhao Guo became angry. "You let a minor withdraw from my account just because she has my passbook?!"

The teller looked a bit offended but still patiently said, "Sir. It's not because she's minor, but because she has proven that she is your daughter and that she has your written approval."

"Nonsense! That's impossible! I didn't give her my approval!" As he was clear about the amount there, which might seem unimpressive to city people but was a large one for poor people like him, he felt like it was suddenly so hard to breathe.

"She presented valid proof." The teller only shook her head and then presented a photocopy of the letter. When he adamantly refused to acknowledge it, she suppressed the annoyance in her face and called one of the security personnel who then showed him the footage on the day Zhao Ai made the withdrawal. 

There had been more exchange of words to convince the aged man. Zhao Guo could only leave dejected and furious at the mad girl that stole his whole savings. Not even learning the officers from the station had marched towards the village erased the uncomfortable ache in his heart. He only felt he did well in reporting his daughter as a thief.

A week later, when Zhao Guo was temporarily helping in the construction site to earn some money, he heard from his loud-mouthed colleagues that a dozen men was escorted outside the forest by the police officers of the neighboring town. A few women were said to be with them. He guessed they were the minority who wanted to gamble on their family's affection for them to be accepted back home despite having such shameful experience. It was said the ladies had once talked about some other women escaping prior with their kids.

The Zhao village had become infamous in the area. Zhao Guo was naturally incensed as he was not clear about the details.

But while he sympathized with his fellows, he was actually more relieved that he was not one of the men sentenced to prison service. It was a hassle to not have a house he could stay in for free and have no one preparing his meal, but it was way better than receiving the harshest sentence for getting caught. 

After work and the foreman distributed their pay, Zhao Guo hurriedly packed up to migrate to another county since there was a high chance the villagers not apprehended would seek him out.

He arrived at a town adjacent to City B where the cost of living was still quite okay for someone like him who could only work as a helper on fields.

There, he gradually forgot that he was supposed to look for Zhao Ai and beat her up for her unfilial deeds. That was until he followed his employer to sell their crops in City B where Zhao Guo coincidentally saw his daughter looking so pretty and happy while being accompanied by a rich-looking young man that was not Fan Zheng.

This happened on the day Gu Mochou went back to City B, on the day she reunited with Jiang Li who was wearing the skin of a narcissistic country bumpkin secretly observing her in the shadows, ready to rescue her from deadly encounters and punish her for the lightest misdeeds.