Chapter 9.1 – Caught

Worried that Li Chuan would be frightened by the herbs on her face, Su Qin pulled the scarf up again before coughing lightly and asked in a slightly confused tone, “ …. Li … Teacher Li.”

“Was it you who wrote the Morse code?” Looking at the thin little girl in front of him, his throat bobbed as he asked her, “How do you know that I can read it? And how do you know my last name is Li?”

Feeling her throat parched, Su Qin swallowed and continued, “Teacher Li, as a legend in Yunyang’s campus, your name is well-known.”

Before she came squatting here, Su Qin didn’t think she might have a chance to get in touch with Li Chuan alone, but she still came since she couldn’t let go even a small chance.

Turning a blind eye on her, the old man keeping watch in the mountain temple also deliberately let her out to get in touch with those support teachers.

Su Qin knew that with Li Chuan’s character, he would definitely ask how she knew Morse code when he saw her. She continued to explain, “You are the striving goal of all the high school students in Yunyang. I worship you the same too, so I … research your major and also delved into Morse code. I actually only know a few words on the note and don’t know the rest … When I first heard your name from the villagers, I wasn’t sure if it was you, but I was 80% certain after hearing from the villagers that you are a postgraduate … As a matter of fact, I’m also taking a chance since I’m not completely sure.”

The girl’s voice was nervous with eyes lowered and youthfulness in her gaze.

Li Chuan looked at her.

On the girl’s long upturned eyelashes were some yellow pollen while her eyes reflected the spring color of the mountains.

Has she suffered a lot? He thought.

Reaching over unrestrainedly, Li Chuan’s fingers almost touched her cheek when the girl looked at him with a ‘surprised’ gaze.

The way she looked at him was unfamiliar, frightened, and even … treat him as a frivolous person?

Li Chuan sighed softly as his fingers brushed the pollen off the girl’s eyelashes. His voice was gentle yet firm, “Yatou[1], I will rescue you. You, leave with me now.”

The man grabbed the hatchet on the ground, ready to take her away.

He admitted that he was impulsive, but he could no longer bear to leave her by the devil’s side. He already felt uneasy even for a minute or a second.

The girl, however, crouched on the spot, shook her head and said, “Innocent people will be implicated if I leave with you. Teacher Li, I came to you because I expect you to report to the police.”

She briefly explained to him what she had seen these days. She also handed over to him the parents’ contact details and keepsakes of the other three girls.

Su Qin dared not count on her parents since her previous lifetime experience was still distinct. The one she could count on now is Meng Sisi’s parents.

Meng Sisi is a rich second-generation[2] whose parents are influential and powerful in the local community. If they know that their daughter has been abducted here, even if the police don’t come, they will bring people and rush over in rage.

She then slipped another piece of rough paper into Li Chuan’s hand and said, “Once the police arrive, the villagers will surely hide us in another place. You bring the police and go to look in these places. There are also good people in the village, regrettably for the sake of saving their own lives, there is only so much they can do to help us.”

Reaching out to take it, Li Chuan unfolded what was a drawing of a simple map in which the markings were done very clearly. It could be seen that she had some fundamental drawing skills.

Su Qin could absolutely pass this thing to him through Yun Fei, yet she didn’t do so.

There are risks in whatever one does and moreover, this is a dangerous matter, hence, Su Qin wanted to do it herself. Even if it was discovered, Feifei would not be implicated again.

Li Chuan didn’t know what had gone wrong. All inclinations seemed to have changed from the moment he entered the village. Everything did not happen according to his previous lifetime. Su Qin was not sold to Zhang Xing’s family, instead she went to the Fool’s, Yun Fei’s house

Su Qin of his previous lifetime didn’t know Morse code. But in this lifetime …

Everything has changed after he came to this village.

Could it be that since he entered the village 5 years earlier led to the changes of this Su Qin?

Su Qin didn’t dare to acknowledge him for fear of being treated as crazy or psychotic. Her predestined fate with Professor Li should commence after she graduated from college and it was too early now.

And Li Chuan thought the same too.

Right now, Su Qin is only 15 years old and still a child. Even if he told her about their past lives, normal people would not believe these kinds of absurdities. It may even backfire and scare the little girl.

Pondering for a while, Li Chuan asked her, “Are there any injuries?”

The man’s voice was as gentle as ever, even when he was dealing with an unfamiliar girl.

Li Chuan of the previous lifetime was probably an atypical protective man.

Pursing her lips, Su Qin shook her head and spoke in a little-girl-like tone, “Teacher Li, you must save us, we … wait for you.”

The hand that fell heavily on the girl’s thin shoulder gripped firmly for a minute when Li Chuan spoke seriously, “I will. I will bring you home.”

He said the same thing too in the previous lifetime.

And he did.

While the two of them were talking, a girl’s scream came from behind them.

“Ah – “

As the girl was walking down from the rapeseed field above, she didn’t see the path under her feet that she mis-stepped and tumbled from the top. Fortunately the height was less than two meters. Tumbling down painfully, the girl sat up after gasping a mouthful of cold air and saw the two people in front of her.

Since the two people were vaguely obscured by the dense rapeseed flowers, she couldn’t see clearly.

Lin Xiaoyin rubbed her knees and asked with baring teeth, “Who’s there? Is it … Teacher Li?”

There was not only Teacher Li, but another person too.

Fifteen minutes ago.

Lin Xiaoyin heard from the students that there were bears nearby, so she dragged Zhang Cheng to go find Li Chuan.

Zhang Cheng didn’t bother to pay her any attention and just waved his hand, “Go, go, go, women are really f*cking troublesome. Just speak frankly if you want to go peep on your male god, why speak so Holy Mother purely.”

“You! You are simply just as vulgar as the people here! Preposterous!” Lin Xiaoyin turned around and left in a huff.

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[1] 丫头 (Yātou) – Girl, servant girl or used deprecatingly, but sometimes also as a term of endearment.

[2] 富二代 (Fù èr dài) – children of entrepreneurs who became wealthy under Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms in the 1980s.