scélérat

Chapitre 7

It's truly astonishing that such a village still exists today. It's not that the village is backward; I know that in some primeval forests, there are still tribes that not only lack roads and electricity, but their way of life is even more backward than Koujia Village. What puzzles me is the closed-mindedness of Koujia Village. Even though villagers go to town every now and then and experience modern civilization, why do they return still so conservative, even teaching the next generation themselves instead of seeking a better future for them outside?

In China today, the poorer the place, the more people hope that their next generation can go out and make their way in the world. But Koujia Village forbids its children and grandchildren from going out. This makes Kou Yun and Kou Feng have to leave a note and sneak away late at night if they want to go out and make their way in the world. What's going on?

If Kou Yun truly grew up in the village, then her deliberately concealed skill of retrieving a gun while running must have been learned there. This Kou Family Village likely harbors secrets unknown to outsiders.

This has nothing to do with me. My own situation is truly life-threatening. I'm embroiled in a bizarre murder case and am being pursued by the police... But after sitting on the stone bench for so long, I've already made some preliminary plans.

"Kou Yun, listen to me. You might not be in any serious trouble. You were supposed to be released in the next day or two, but I'll definitely be under special scrutiny. Although we get along very well, if you keep following me, you'll be in trouble along with the police when they catch me."

Kou Yun didn't speak. He blinked hard twice, and then his eyes became misty, quickly condensing and rolling around in his eye sockets.

I sighed and said, "You've called me 'brother' so many times, so I'm genuinely looking out for you. Find a job, have a stable income, and then try to find your brother. Once you've been to the police station, that's enough."

Kou Yun pouted, blinked again, and tears welled up in her eyes.

I shook my head: "Think it over carefully. If you really want to go with me, then so be it, but I just feel this is really..."

Before I could finish speaking, Kou Yun let out a joyful cry, grabbed my arm and shook it vigorously, her face beaming with smiles. Although there were still tear stains on her face, she showed no trace of sorrow.

"I'm very capable. Whether it's escaping the police or finding the real culprit and overturning the case, I can definitely help you."

"What's so great about you?" I asked, gently pulling my arm away.

The little girl opened and closed her mouth a few times like a goldfish, but couldn't say a word.

"Okay, you're smart and beautiful, you can definitely help me."

“Exactly, these are things that people themselves are too embarrassed to say.” Kou Yun’s face was full of smiles.

"Let's go, I need to make a phone call."

By this time, the sun had lost most of its heat and began to tilt westward.

There was a newsstand at the park entrance. As I passed by, I saw that today's Yangcheng Evening News had arrived and was placed in the most prominent position. A large black headline on the front page made my heart skip a beat, and I took out my money to buy it.

Unexpectedly, the Yangcheng Evening News reporter was so well-informed that he reported on the prison break case that same day.

After reading the entire report, a question that had been lingering in my mind for a long time was finally answered: Why did we escape so easily?

It turns out that today was the Guangzhou Public Security system's physical fitness assessment and skills competition, and failing to meet the targets would result in dismissal. So most of the police officers in the detention center went to run long distances and do obstacle courses. This detention center hadn't had a prisoner escape for many years, and even though the number of people had decreased by more than half, they hadn't been on high alert, which led to the incident.

Perhaps due to time constraints, the report was not very detailed, only stating that a total of twenty-three suspects escaped without publishing their names or photos, which greatly relieved me.

However, the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau chief, who was interviewed, said that a nationwide arrest warrant would be issued for key fugitives, which was truly bad news.

"Uh, this is Na Duo." I dialed Liang Yingwu's number, but hesitated, unsure how to continue. I was making the call from a public phone; I needed to think of how to phrase it so the phone shop owner wouldn't call the police.

"I heard you escaped from prison?" Liang Yingwu asked me calmly, which startled me a little.

"Ahem, I just accidentally... ran out."

"I'll wait for your call. I'll come to Guangzhou tonight and we can talk in detail when we meet."

Liang Yingwu spoke as crisply and efficiently as ever. I asked the boss over the phone for the name of the street I was on, and we agreed to meet at the intersection ahead. He had already found out that there was a flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou at around 6 p.m., so we set the meeting time for 10 p.m.

"Is your friend reliable?" I asked hesitantly after hanging up the phone.

More reliable than you... Of course, this is just something I think to myself.

“Very reliable,” I replied confidently.

"Can we have a nice meal tonight? He'll definitely lend you the money, right?"

I clenched my fists. I thought she was worried about something...

"We don't have much money. What would you like to eat?"

Kou Yun stared in a certain direction with shining eyes.

I turned around, my heart pounding. There it was—McDonald's…

What a simple and honest girl.

Kou Yun stared at the Chicken McNuggets meal in front of him, his expression already showing satisfaction even before he had taken a bite.

Fortunately, contrary to my initial worries, Kou Yun didn't eat much; a single meal was enough for her. I've seen people spend seventy or eighty yuan at McDonald's before.

Third, the mysterious younger sister who came up to us (4)

I'm just a Big Mac, that's enough for me.

I should still be frugal. Although I do intend to extort money from Liang Yingwu, I still have a long time to kill after dinner, and I don't want to stand on the street for hours in the cold.

"Here you go." I pushed a napkin in front of her.

"what?"

I pointed to her mouth. She had chicken nuggets in her left hand and fries in her right, with different colored sauces stuck to the corners of her mouth.

A piece of tongue quickly circled around the mouth, and the result of the cleaning made me frown.

"Let's wipe it together after we finish eating." Kou Yun waved her hand holding the fries at me, and a drop of tomato sauce "whooshed" onto the tip of my nose.

I was both amused and exasperated, so I had no choice but to use the napkin myself.

Watching Kou Yun put the last French fry into his mouth and even lick his fingers with lingering satisfaction, I pointed to the toilet: "You should just wash it with water."

Kou Yun responded and happily jogged into the restroom.

I suddenly realized that it would be nice to have a younger sister like this.

"How have you managed to get by all these days since you ran away?" I asked Kou Yun after she came back from washing her face and hands.

“When I first came out, I didn’t know anything. I wandered around the nearby villages, towns and counties for a long time and asked many people, but no one knew my brother.” Kou Yun smiled embarrassedly as she said this: “Now I realize that the outside world is so big and there are so many people. Since my brother ran away from home, of course he wouldn’t just wander around nearby. So much time has passed… Later, I met a person who said he could help me find my brother.”

"Oh? I've met a kind person."

"Yes, a kind person took me on a long train ride and sold me to a village."

I was startled. Although Kou Yun wasn't a stupid girl, on the contrary, she was quite clever and mischievous. But it was her first time leaving the village, and she knew nothing. It wasn't surprising that she was tricked by human traffickers with all sorts of tricks. "And then what happened?"

Kou Yun curled her lip: "And then? She ran away. That old man who wanted to marry me was disgusting to look at."

"You just ran away like that?" I stared at her, wide-eyed.

"Yes," Kou Yun said casually.

Girls sold by human traffickers all want to run away, but very few actually succeed. They are almost always caught, beaten, and beaten again until they resign themselves to their fate. These places are remote, the villagers are fierce, and neighboring villages are in cahoots. If you spend a lot of money to buy a young girl, you'll definitely keep a close watch on her.

However, considering Kou Yun's abilities, I felt relieved. Heaven knows what kind of training she had received. Those villagers who wanted to capture her, no matter how strong they were, were just ordinary farmers. They probably suffered quite a bit at her hands.

"After running away, I found out I was already in Guangdong, so I wandered all the way to Guangzhou. I didn't specifically look for my brother. The outside world is too big, I'd better have some fun first... umm, get familiar with it."

I watched her speak nonchalantly, but I knew in my heart that in a chaotic place like Guangzhou, it wasn't easy for a young and beautiful girl to survive on the streets. Kou Yun didn't complain to me, but the dangers and hardships she had endured in these three months were probably more than the total for an average urban girl over ten years. It was because of these hardships that, after being protected by a complete stranger like me in the detention center, she opened her heart and relied on me completely. She absolutely refused to leave alone, preferring to risk being caught by the police to stay with me; she was probably fed up with that kind of lonely, helpless life, having to be wary of everyone.

Feeling a pang of sympathy, I casually asked, "How do you eat and sleep? How much money did you take from your family?"

Kou Yun puffed out his chest and said, "How could that be? I made my way in the world empty-handed. As for money, humph, there are bad people everywhere here, so I just rob the rich to help the poor."

I thought to myself, "That can't be true. If she only steals money from bad people, how did she get arrested?" Then I realized, she was arrested for stealing bread, not money.

When Kou Yun was boasting about "robbing the rich to help the poor," he didn't know how to restrain himself, which made people at the surrounding tables look over in his direction.

"Let's go." I quickly pulled her up and walked outside.

Kou Yun chuckled, and I opened the door to let her go out first.

She suddenly stood on tiptoe and gently pecked my cheek.

"Brother, you're the best person I've met in the past few months," she whispered in my ear, then floated away like an elf.

The wind outside blew on my face, making the damp areas feel slightly cool. I shook my head and went outside.

Just a short walk from McDonald's was the street corner where I had arranged to meet Liang Yingwu, but it was still a few hours until 10 o'clock. A short walk from the corner were several bars, and Kou Yun and I were sitting on the second floor of one of them. Through the railing was the first-floor performance pool, where sexy women dressed in three pieces of clothing were dancing energetically on two high platforms.

I had just enough money for two bottles of beer, and planned to dawdle until ten o'clock.

"A strange taste," Kou Yun said, smacking his lips.

"You've never drunk alcohol before?" I asked.

"I've tasted the grain liquor brewed in the village, and it tastes very different."

"Of course, how much can you drink? Drink less."

Kou Yun immediately took a big gulp.

"It's okay...actually, the taste isn't that great."

She clicked her tongue, then shifted her gaze to the two dancing girls, her eyes shining. I watched her sit there, her arms and legs swaying to the music, as if she couldn't wait to jump on stage herself—what a restless little devil!

The two girls danced for a good half hour before retreating backstage to rest. This kind of exercise, where every part of the body is engaged, would probably take me fifteen minutes to complete.

The music calmed down, and the volume wasn't so high anymore. Before, it was impossible to speak, so like Kou Yun, I could only stare intently at the two bodies flailing like water snakes while drinking ice-cold beer to soothe my lungs and calm my mind—it was actually quite refreshing.

"Brother, are we going to escape Guangzhou next?" The little girl asked me with great interest, her face covered in sweat from watching others dance.

I almost choked on my beer: "Although I don't plan to stay in Guangzhou any longer, could you use a nicer word? This isn't a game of hide-and-seek or a chase. Do you have to get so excited about escaping?"

"Oh," Kou Yun responded, but not long after, he couldn't help but ask me in a low voice, "Where will we be smuggled to? Will we be finding a smuggler and crossing the border by land, or will we be taking a boat?"

Third, the mysterious younger sister who came up to us (5)

Luckily, I wasn't drinking beer. I really don't know what she learned during her three months of wandering around. I replied, "So where do you think would be a good place to go?"

Kou Yun frowned, deep in thought, and muttered, "It needs to be hidden, so it can't be easily discovered. It needs to be lively, with lots of people, so it won't be easily noticed. It also needs to be comfortable, so I can't treat myself too badly." As she spoke, her voice gradually lowered, and I couldn't hear what she was muttering anymore. Suddenly, I heard a "gulp" as she swallowed a large mouthful of saliva.

"Have you decided where to go?" I urged her.

"How about we sneak into Disneyland?" she asked me with a lewd grin.

If I had a black pen, I would definitely draw three thick black lines on my forehead to reflect my current mood.

Kou Yun's eyes were full of dreams as she continued, "There are roller coasters to ride, cartoons to watch, lollipops to eat, and cotton candy."

Do you even know what illegal immigration is?

Kou Yun straightened his neck for a while, then finally shook his head: "I know a little, but... I don't know much. Brother, I'm hungry again."

I just ate McDonald's not long ago, how could I be hungry so easily? I guess I'm just craving cotton candy.