Suddenly, chaos erupted on the bus, as everyone, regardless of the moving vehicle, stood up to check their luggage, with the driver and the conductor shouting anxiously for everyone to sit down quickly.
But no one listened; in those days, everything was rationed, and no family was well off. Losing sothing ant a significant loss.
Strangely enough, after everyone checked, all their belongings were accounted for, except for Li Xianglu who first discovered her loss, and two other families.
The middle-aged woman had lost a brown leather suitcase over thirty centiters long, which was quite valuable. It was said to be soone else’s belonging she was taking to the Provincial City, and she imdiately burst into tears.
The other was a couple holding a child. The man was calm, but the woman was cursing and crying.
Li Xianglu looked aggrieved and said to the others, "I had a big bag of biscuits for eating on the train, and now it’s been stolen, what a pity! If I find out who took it, I won’t let them get away with it!"
Qin Xi twitched his mouth; he couldn’t recall buying any biscuits. At that mont, Qin Zhen also stood up from his seat and said, "When did you buy biscuits? I had no idea."
Li Xianglu blinked and said, "Brother Qin and I bought them together, a large bag. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you’d want to eat them on the bus."
Upon hearing this, Qin Zhen pouted towards Brother Qin in anger.
Qin Xi glared back; this was not the ti for such matters.
Their conversation drew the attention of others, especially when Li Xianglu ntioned beating up the thief upon discovery. Indeed, why not search for the missing items?
At that mont, the driver and conductor, who had finished discussing, restarted the bus.
The conductor, holding the handrails, told everyone, "Don’t panic. To avoid confusion at the station and possibly not recovering the lost belongings, we’ve decided to go directly to the nearby police station."
The passengers were in an uproar; so were reluctant, having trains to catch that afternoon, while others agreed, adamant about catching the thief.
Li Xianglu scrutinized the two individuals next to her who, upon hearing about going to the police station, began to look very uneasy, whispering to each other until the woman suddenly exclaid, "I haven’t lost anything; I’m not going."
Her statent was like dropping water into hot oil, sparking imdiate commotion within the carriage.
Li Xianglu, with a smug lip-curl, was now eighty percent certain that even if these people were not human traffickers, the child at least wasn’t theirs. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they dare go to the police station if they had lost sothing? They must be terrified.
The woman behind Li Xianglu suddenly shouted, "You clearly lost a package; I saw it myself. That blue bundle is gone, why are you denying it?"
Li Xianglu murmured quietly, "Unless it’s a case of the thief crying ’catch the thief’!"
This comnt struck a chord with the woman behind, who stood up and said, "Right, there’s sothing off about these two. I found them odd when we were on the road; they don’t seem like a genuine couple. Speak up, did you steal my suitcase?"
Following her words, the woman moved from her seat to confront the other woman.
At this point, the man and woman tried to make their way out but were blocked by Qin Xi.
Qin Xi, with a slight lift of his lips, said, "Hold on, everyone is a suspect since we’ve all lost property. We can’t leave until we clear it up at the police station!"
The man’s slick face turned anxious, and he quickly claid, "No, we can’t. Our child is sick; we need to take them to the hospital!"
Li Xianglu frowned. The child did look feverish, but it was absurd to take them to the hospital now. If they were traffickers, their priority would be to leave with the child. Treatnt could wait for a buyer; any delay could worsen the child’s condition. Saving the child was the most urgent matter.
Li Xianglu frowned and said to the man, "Uncle, you’re acting quite strange. You didn’t care for the child on the road, but now you suddenly claim the child is ill when we’ve lost sothing. How peculiar!"
The man glared icily at her, but Li Xianglu fearlessly glared back.
As the standoff continued, the bus stopped. The female conductor got off first, her footsteps hurrying away.
The doors closed again, and only then did everyone see that they were inside a compound, with a single-story building in the center labeled East Street Police Station.
The two, a man and a woman, panicked, the woman clinging to the child and the man insisting on getting off, while Qin Xi stood immovably in front.
Infuriated, the man raised his hand as if to strike out, only for Qin Xi to grab it and shove him forcefully back, saying coldly, "Calm down!"
Just then, the bus door once more swung open, and four officials in white uniforms with peaked caps stepped inside. Li Xianglu’s eyes widened; she thought, ’Police blue,’ recalling the white uniforms and blue trousers from spy movies of the ’70s and early ’80s she had seen in her past life.
The officers entered with stern expressions, and everyone, irregardless of their past deeds, sat quietly as a sense of fear arose at the sight of police.
Qin Xi stood up and gestured to the officers, to Li Xianglu’s astonishnt, one of them—a young man in his twenties with a vicious scar on his cheek—ran over with glee. The man had looked severe before, but his smile now was eerily peculiar.
Beaming, he squeezed past others to shake Qin Xi’s hand, exclaiming, "Hey, Qin Xi, why have you co to the Provincial City?"
Instead of answering, Qin Xi pulled him towards the front of the bus, whispering sothing.
The uniford man’s expression soured, and after a quick whispered exchange with his colleague who was about to inspect the bus, his deanor grew grave.
Upon Qin Xi’s return to his seat, the bus started again and stopped after four or five minutes. The scar-faced officer addressed everyone, "The lost items are very important, so we’ve decided to have everyone disembark first. Then we’ll thoroughly search the bus to facilitate everyone’s departure."
Hearing this, everyone agreed with the approach, eager to find the missing items.
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