svetikya Chapter 364 - 361: Vibrant with Life
Chapter 364 - 361: Vibrant with Life
Lin Lan hurried over. "Zhigang, how bad is your arm?"
Yang Zhigang grinned through the pain. "It’s nothing, just a cut."
A member of the Joint Defense Team said to Lin Lan and Yang Zhigang, "We’ll need you to come down to the station later to give a statement about what happened."
Lin Lan pointed to Yang Zhigang’s arm. "Before that, we need to get his wound taken care of."
The team member nodded. "Right. Hospital first to get that bandaged."
"Our bicycles are still over there." Lin Lan hurried back and saw that some good Samaritan had picked up her and Yang Zhigang’s bikes and leaned them against the side of the road. She was pleasantly surprised they hadn’t been stolen.
Two members of the Joint Defense Team went with Lin Lan and Yang Zhigang to the Workers’ Hospital. One of them got him registered and then took him to see the doctor.
Yang Zhigang had a large gash on his arm that required about ten stitches. The doctor told him not to put any strain on it and that it would heal in a few days with proper rest.
More than an hour later, they left the hospital. Lin Lan asked one of the team members, "How’s the child?"
The team member said, sounding relieved, "The kid was drugged, but the doctor gave him an injection and some medicine to counteract it. His grandparents are with him now."
Lin Lan said happily, "That’s a relief. I was worried the traffickers might have done something to permanently harm him."
The team member praised them. "It’s a good thing you were there. By the time the family realized he was gone, who knows where they would have had to look for him."
Lin Lan smiled. "I didn’t notice. It was Zhigang who sensed something was off."
The group went to the police station near the vehicle factory to give their statements, after which the trafficker was led away.
It was only then that Lin Lan learned what had tipped him off. During his days as a vagrant, Zhigang had heard stories of people using duffel bags just like that one to snatch children. When he saw the man hurrying by and noticed the bag’s odd shape, his suspicions were raised.
The officers at the station praised them profusely and even offered to award them a commemorative banner.
Lin Lan and Yang Zhigang smiled and politely declined. They hadn’t done it for thanks, but for their own peace of mind.
Just as the two of them were leaving the police station, the boy’s father and grandfather arrived.
The father and son bowed repeatedly to Lin Lan and Yang Zhigang. "Thank you, thank you so much. You saved our family. If it weren’t for you, our little Bao would be..."
Lin Lan was always awkward in these situations and quickly stepped aside. "Please, it was the right thing to do. We were just lending a hand, that’s all."
Yang Zhigang blushed. "Sir, you don’t have to do this. Everyone helped catch the guy. Besides, anyone who saw what was happening would have stepped in."
The old man, still shaken, said, "The boy was asleep. We’d put him in his cradle in the courtyard while my wife and I were planting seedlings in the vegetable patch. We never would have dreamed a trafficker could just snatch him like that."
The younger man pulled an envelope from his pocket and tried to stuff it into Yang Zhigang’s. "Friend, this is just a small token. Please, buy yourself something to help with your recovery..."
Face flushed, Yang Zhigang pulled the envelope out and pushed it back into the man’s hand. "No, really, you don’t have to. The doctor said I’ll be fine in a few days."
Seeing the two were about to insist, Lin Lan quickly intervened. "Please, just take it back. He just got stitches in his arm, you’ll make him tear them open."
At this, the father and son had to retract the envelope. They bowed to them once more. "Thank you. You’re the saviors of our Gu family."
Yang Zhigang smiled and gave a fist-and-palm salute. "Sir, you’re too kind. We have to get going, so we’ll take our leave."
"Alright." The Gu father and son agreed, watching the two of them leave.
They went back for their bicycles. Lin Lan said to Yang Zhigang, "Those jars aren’t light, and you can’t use your arm right now. We should go to the restaurant and ask my brother to come back and help."
Yang Zhigang smiled. "Sister-in-law, I’d better see you home first before I go get him. What if that guy had an accomplice?"
Lin Lan glanced around warily. "You don’t think so, do you? If he had one, they would’ve shown up already."
"Better to be safe than sorry." With that, Yang Zhigang gripped the handlebars with his left hand, hopped on his bike, and started pedaling toward the mouth of the alley.
’He’s right, better to be cautious,’ Lin Lan thought, and cycled after him.
Once they reached the gate of Li Guizhi’s house, Yang Zhigang turned back to fetch Lin Guoliang.
Lin Lan took out her key, unlocked the courtyard gate, and stepped inside. Wangcai immediately bounded over, tail wagging furiously as he circled her feet.
Looking at the enthusiastic dog, Lin Lan gently patted his head and laughed. "Alright, that’s enough, be a good boy. I’ll bring you a bone next time."
The ramie along the courtyard wall had grown tall. The gardenias transplanted from the old woman’s place last year were already budding. A potted sun rose vine spilled over the side of its container, showing off large, double-petaled, pink-and-purple blossoms.
In the eastern corner by the gate, a patch of hollyhocks planted by Little Douzi had shot up, nearly reaching the height of the wall. Rows of purple and pink blossoms bloomed on their tall, slender stalks, creating a vibrant sea of flowers.
In the vegetable patch, pumpkin, winter melon, muskmelon, cowpea, and green bean vines had already started climbing the trellises, their pale green tendrils straining upward.
A smile spread across Lin Lan’s face as she took in the vibrant little yard. She walked over to the vegetable patch and plucked a handful of tender water spinach and some just-budding choy sum, placing them in the basket hanging from her handlebars.
She then pulled up a few stalks of celtuce and several ’beauty heart’ radishes, leaving them at the edge of the patch. When she went to the kitchen to grab a knife, Wangcai followed at her heels like a shadow.
She stripped the old leaves off the celtuce, peeled the stalks clean, trimmed the roots from the radishes, and added them all to her basket.
She strolled to the backyard to check on the chickens, ducks, capons, and geese kept inside the newly heightened and reinforced fence. After returning, she sat for a moment before heading to the woodshed. There, she saw the large jars had been placed in one corner, with a stack of new baskets and wicker containers piled in another.
Seeing that Lin Guoliang still hadn’t arrived, she went out to take a look at their private plot of land. The potatoes and taro she had planted were growing vigorously. As she headed back, she saw Lin Guoliang cycling toward her.
Lin Guoliang shot Lin Lan a glare. "You two have some nerve. What if that man hadn’t been a trafficker? What would you have done then?"
Lin Lan smiled. "I thought about that. The worst he could have done was yell at us. But if that child had been taken, that family would never have known another day of peace."
Lin Guoliang rolled his eyes at her. "It’s a good thing Zhigang was with you. If you’d been alone, you wouldn’t have just failed to save the kid—you might have gotten yourself abducted, too."
Lin Lan tugged on his sleeve. "Come on, Brother. Don’t lecture me. You would have done the same thing if you were there."
Lin Guoliang froze for a second, then his voice softened. "Doing the right thing is good, but you have to be careful. If something had happened to you, what would the family do?"
"I know!" Lin Lan nodded emphatically.
The siblings brought out a flatbed cart and assembled it. They lifted the large jars onto it and secured them with hemp rope.
After strapping his own bicycle onto the cart, Lin Guoliang pulled it to the courtyard gate. He turned to Lin Lan, who was locking up, and said, "I’ll pull. You ride your bike behind and keep an eye on the load."
Lin Lan smiled and nodded. "Okay, I’ll be right behind you."