??Chapter 51: Chapter 50 Oh, if only soone could help
Chapter 51: Chapter 50 Oh, if only soone could help
“Granny, not every work has the sa the, and not all films need to be shot in the city.”
Wenyan gave Granny Zhou a brief introduction to the story of “Lost Voice.”
Then she said, “However, I can’t reveal the specific details of the filming. I’ve signed a confidentiality agreent with the crew. There are so things I can talk about and others I can’t.”
Granny Zhou nodded, “City folks sure have a lot of rules. But don’t worry, I won’t blab about what you’ve told . Yet what you’re acting out is quite realistic. Things like that have really happened here, and not just once or twice.”
“Not just once or twice?” Wenyan was sowhat shocked.
Just now, she had been telling Granny Zhou how she was playing a mute woman who was kidnapped by human traffickers into the deep mountains and, while attempting to escape, was captured and brought back!
“Yes,” Granny Zhou confird firmly.
“Years ago, it was difficult for n in the mountains to find wives. No one wanted to marry into a poor mountain area, so they bought wives. But if you think about it, no decent family would sell their daughters to soone else, so most of them must have been kidnapped.
“Just like what you’re enacting. Most of the won sold here were disabled, either unable to speak or couldn’t hear, had a limp, or were simply ntally unclear fools.
“The single old n in the mountains weren’t too picky. All they wanted was a wife that could bear children and carry on their family line. I rember there was a lot of wife buying in the mountains over a decade ago.
“There were also won who tried to escape as you portray, but those who were caught had a terrible fate. I’ve heard they might be stripped of their clothes and tethered inside the house, or had their legs broken. Over ti, especially after having children, they slowly gave up the thought of escaping.”
“……” Wenyan felt a chill, “Turns out the plots in films and TV shows aren’t entirely made up. Didn’t anyone report these incidents to the police?”
“What police report? Back then, we didn’t even have a phone. Besides, everyone around here is from the sa village. I’ve lived in these mountains for most of my life and never once saw a police officer co by. If you actually reported it and got soone’s wife taken away, they would kill you for it.
“However, there were also people who got the short end of the stick in buying wives. There was a ti when cracking down on human traffickers beca strict, so they started buying wives from Vietnam through middlen. But most of these were scams for dowries.
“They seed obedient, and after getting ahold of the family’s money, they’d say they wanted to go to the market. Once they reached a crowded place, they’d slip away, taking the family’s money with them.
“But such incidents are virtually nonexistent now. Aside from us old folks, who else lives in the mountains these days? The younger ones all go out to work. With money they earn outside, they can find partners on their own.
“But going out to work doesn’t necessarily an eting good people. Even though the outside world is big, people are shrewd, and there are plenty of swindlers.
“I rember five or six years ago, so factory owner ca to the nearby villages to recruit workers, claiming to need dozens of workers for a garnt factory. That boss didn’t want n, only won, and many desired to go.
“Three won from our village went, but not one of them has returned. So say they ran off with other n out there, others say they died. In any case, they couldn’t be found.
“In my opinion, that’s no garnt factory owner, but a swindler, a human trafficker. Otherwise, why would she only take won and not n? Her intention was to take the won out and sell them!”
The thought was chilling.
Unable to help herself, Wenyan asked Granny Zhou, “Didn’t anyone realize that the recruitnt boss was a swindler at the ti?”
Granny Zhou shook her head, “It wasn’t so much a realization back then. In those days, we hadn’t seen much of the world; the town was the furthest place we’d gone. When the factory boss ca, many called her a swindler and didn’t dare to follow. Those who went were the brave ones, looking to make a big fortune out there.
“One thing I clearly rember is that this boss ca with her family. She brought a daughter who seed about fifteen or sixteen, and very pretty at that. You tell , what kind of swindler takes her family along on a scam?
“That’s how she fooled us mountain people completely. We’re all won; how could a swindler be so heartless, especially targeting the inexperienced won from the mountains like us.”
“A woman? Granny, you’re saying this garnt factory boss was a woman? Did she by any chance have the last na Zhao?”
For so reason, upon hearing these keywords, information about Shen Zhirou’s foster parents instantly sprang to Wenyan’s mind.
Because they also happened to run a garnt factory.
Last ti in the supermarket, the man speaking the dialect had ntioned a “Boss Zhao” to Shen Zhirou.
He asked Shen Zhirou if she was the daughter of Boss Zhao, although he didn’t specify whether this boss was her father or mother.
And Shen Zhirou’s foster mother was nad Zhao Jing.
But with so much ti having passed and scarcely any contact between them, Granny Zhou couldn’t possibly answer this question.
“I don’t know her last na, maybe I knew it before, but now I really can’t rember. Why, do you know this person? I shouldn’t think so; back then you must have been around fifteen or sixteen, probably still in school.”
“Right, six or seven years ago I was still in high school.”
But as for where Shen Zhirou was six or seven years ago, she had no idea.
–
That night, Wenyan still had night scenes to shoot, but she was sowhat distracted while waiting.
On one hand, she was empathizing with her character and the real-life won who had been kidnapped into the mountains.
On the other hand, she hadn’t given up on trying to dial that phone number.
After being inford by the chanical female voice that the number was no longer in service once again, she couldn’t help but furrow her brow.
As she fretted, Shen Jinghe’s voice suddenly emanated from beside her.
“Who are you calling?”
Wenyan widened her eyes at him, “You startled , Teacher Shen!”
“Acting, keep acting!” Shen Jinghe sneered, “If you were really startled, the na that would have instinctively co out wouldn’t have been ‘Teacher Shen.'”
Wenyan thought, [Not only does this man have a sharp tongue, but sharp eyes too; he’s caught on.]
“So, who are you calling? If I rember correctly, this isn’t the first ti I’ve seen you with that expression while making a call. But it seems the person on the other side has never answered your call.”
[Sigh] Wenyan sighed deeply in her heart [Looking into these things alone can feel so helpless, how great it would be if Teacher Shen helped .]
[Too bad I haven’t even figured things out myself, it’s like a tangled ss.]
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