From a distance, I couldn’t make out her features, but the woman was tall and fair-skinned, making her stand out conspicuously among the crowd of refugees with their ashen, dirt-streaked faces. The two passengers beside me were clearly interested, loudly discussing the woman’s figure. Without turning around, I could already imagine the lecherous glint in their eyes.

These people, I sighed inwardly, even in times like these, still thinking about women. Just as I was about to turn away, I suddenly noticed that there were two men standing next to the woman, seemingly talking to her. The moment I saw those two men, my heart sank. This is bad, I thought. I recognized them—anyone in Quanzhou who doesn’t know these two is bound for trouble, especially women.

Chapter Four: Encountering Scoundrels

These two, an uncle and nephew, the older fat one nicknamed Uncle Grant, and the younger, lazy-looking one called Henry Clark, were infamous in Quanzhou for being gluttonous, lazy, and utterly depraved. Their most notorious reputation came from being ringleaders among the human traffickers who specialized in abducting and selling young women.

They usually disguised themselves as kind, honest men, pretending to be wealthy overseas Chinese returning home to visit relatives, using this ruse to deceive and abduct women. Once a woman fell into their hands, locals would be sold to brothels in Southeast Asia, while outsiders would be sold to brothels in Quanzhou. A few years ago, there were even rumors that this uncle and nephew duo had lured many women and sold them to the bandit leader David Bolton, who was besieged by authorities in the western mountains of Dehua County. The women who were trafficked there would be raped by dozens or even hundreds of bandits a day, meeting a truly tragic fate.

However, in recent years, their infamy had spread so far that business became harder, and they hadn’t been seen for quite some time. I never expected to run into them here, and from the looks of it, they seemed to be targeting this woman. Judging by her attire, she was a well-bred lady from a wealthy family in northern Jiangsu, fleeing from disaster. She had probably never experienced the dangers of the world, and after making it all the way here, she likely never imagined that even her fellow Chinese could deceive her.

A spent arrow cannot pierce silk—normally, I wouldn’t want to provoke these two thugs, but now, with the country in crisis and all of us reduced to the misery of becoming refugees in a foreign land, they were still scheming to harm their own people. Anger flared in my heart. After a moment’s hesitation, I dashed off the boat and squeezed my way toward them.

There were people everywhere, packed tightly together. Without pushing hard, you couldn’t move at all. In my urgency, I didn’t care about anything else, muttering apologies as I forcefully shoved my way forward, eyes fixed on the woman in the qipao, afraid I’d lose sight of her in a blink.

The flow of people on the dock was like a current, all surging toward the ship, while I was moving against it, drawing curses from all sides. I kept apologizing, finally managing to push past a few more people and get closer to her. At that moment, I heard her soft, sweet voice: “Excuse me, sir, which side is the Fuchang ship docked on?”

From her accent, she was indeed the daughter of a wealthy family fleeing from northern Jiangsu. I sighed, thinking how difficult it must be for a beautiful woman to make it here alone in such chaotic times.

Come to think of it, she must have asked because she couldn’t understand the bearded man’s Minnan dialect. The chubby man across from her, in his forties, with thick lips and a simple, honest look, was Uncle Grant. The other, in his twenties, dark, thin, and seemingly honest, both dressed in clean Western shirts, was Henry Clark—in their line of work, appearances were everything.

After a few words in low voices, Uncle Grant raised his hand and pointed off into the distance, then pretended to pull Henry Clark away. The woman hurriedly stopped them, apparently pleading for something. Uncle Grant and Henry Clark kept shaking their heads, finally revealing greedy, lustful expressions as they turned and led the woman out of the crowd, heading toward the secluded Yu Hu area...

Chapter Five: Quick Thinking in a Crisis

“Are you going or not? If not, get out of the way!” Just as I was watching anxiously, someone behind me gave me a hard shove, pushing me out of the line. I cursed and ran toward the three of them. I rushed straight to the woman in the qipao, grabbed her wrist, and shouted in Quanzhou-accented Mandarin, “Grace Carter cousin, why are you wandering off again? The Fuchang ship is about to depart!” As I spoke, I pulled her back with me.

The woman turned, eyes wide in surprise, clearly at a loss. I was an honest person, not good with words, and Uncle Grant and Henry Clark were both sharp-tongued. I knew that by rescuing her, they might try to turn the tables on me, so if she spoke up now, things could go badly. I quickly shot her a look and immediately ran into the crowd, leaving Henry Clark and the others completely caught off guard.

As I moved toward the edge of the line, I felt my palms sweating—damn it, I really wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing.

My legs were shaking uncontrollably, and I couldn’t help but look back. Sure enough, Uncle Grant and Henry Clark were following us with dark, sullen faces. Uncle Grant was muttering something to Henry Clark, clearly having realized something was amiss. Only then did I notice I was still holding the qipao-clad woman’s soft, pale arm. I quickly let go and whispered to her, “Those two just now are human traffickers. There’s not a soul in Quanzhou who doesn’t know them.”