The Instigator

"Who are you?"

"Open the door!"

"Wait, what are you doing?! Honey, say something!"

The residents in the apartment building were roughly pushed aside. At this moment, Bai Laoqi watched in disbelief as a large group of police officers appeared and apprehended his wife. Not only that, but in the very next second, he too was pinned to the ground.

"Wh-what are you doing?! We are just ordinary citizens!"

"Little brother, is it these two?" asked the police officer standing next to Ye Shuang. Initially, they had some doubts about the situation. After all, someone had suddenly run up claiming there were human traffickers. However, seeing the school uniform the young man was wearing dispelled their suspicions.

In this city, the uniform of First High School was the most prestigious luxury item one could wear. Furthermore, Father Chen had helped pull some strings behind the scenes, which was why so many police officers had been dispatched all at once.

Ye Shuang ignored the pinned Bai Laoqi and his wife. He rushed into the house, violently pushing open several doors before finally calling out,

"Yuyou!"

He paused,

"Yurou!"

When he pushed open the innermost room, he finally saw a petite figure.

She was kneeling on the floor of the dim room, her hands resting helplessly on her thighs. The moment the door opened, light instantly spilled over the little girl!

"You..." The girl looked up, revealing an adorable face that looked somewhat familiar. She seemed a bit bewildered, but in the next second, Ye Shuang pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Thank goodness, I finally get to see you in this timeline."

Ye Shuang held Bai Yuyou. She looked a little confused at the moment, but she still reached out her slender arms and gently patted his back with her palms.

"Don't be afraid, big brother."

For some reason, she felt that Ye Shuang's embrace was very warm.

"Silly girl, why are you comforting me?" Ye Shuang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He crouched down and said to the girl, "Don't be afraid. Big brother will take you home to find your mom, okay?"

Bai Yuyou tilted her head. She first looked at the police outside, then at Ye Shuang's face, before obediently nodding.

"Okay, I miss Mommy."

Outside, Bai Laoqi and the others were still resisting. Upon seeing Ye Shuang bring Bai Yuyou out, his face instantly turned ashen.

Bai Laoqi couldn't figure out why the police had shown up at his door so soon after he had brought the little girl back.

Seeing that the two suspects stopped resisting, the police immediately understood that the little girl was the abducted child.

"Wait a moment, officer, I still need something," Ye Shuang said to a nearby policeman.

Perhaps because it had been so easy to catch a human trafficker, the policeman seemed to be in a good mood. "Sure, little brother, go ahead."

"Give me the phone," Ye Shuang said, walking up to Bai Laoqi and holding out his hand.

"You, you... I, what phone? I don't understand." Bai Laoqi looked a bit surprised, but upon seeing Ye Shuang's gaze, he immediately spoke.

Ye Shuang narrowed his eyes, his tone cold. "Stop pretending. I know everything. Someone else ordered you to take this child. If you honestly hand over the evidence, you might get a lighter sentence... including the cash they gave you."

Bai Laoqi's eyes widened. How did this boy know about these things?

"The ph-phone is in my pants pocket."

Ye Shuang immediately reached into the pocket and quickly pulled out a Nokia keypad phone.

It was the same familiar phone, only looking much newer in comparison.

Ye Shuang searched through the contacts and then found the phone number in the text messages.

He walked to the side and started dialing the number.

Bai Laoqi was directly escorted away by the police. As for the remaining officer, he didn't interrupt Ye Shuang—he realized that this young man seemed to know something, and the number he was dialing might hold even more important clues.

Ye Shuang listened to the ringing tone on the other end of the line. Finally, the call connected.

Neither of them spoke.

Ye Shuang took a deep breath. This was a crucial clue regarding who had exactly ordered Bai Laoqi and his wife to abduct Yuyou back then.

Just as Ye Shuang wondered if the other party would hang up, a voice finally sounded from the other end of the line,

"What is it?"

Three simple words, yet carrying a familiar accent. Ye Shuang stood stunned for several seconds before hesitantly speaking,

"Bobo?"

The other end of the line went quiet, followed by the sound of the call being disconnected.

Holding the phone, Ye Shuang's mind was in turmoil. He was very familiar with this voice; it was the voice of Alice's bodyguard, Bobo. Although he couldn't be a hundred percent sure, still...

Ye Shuang took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

It was best to organize the clues right now. That voice...

Assuming it was Bobo, why would Bobo order Bai Laoqi to abduct Yuyou? And where did the money come from?

Wait... Bobo was Alice's bodyguard. If he did this, it was highly likely related to Alice...

And Alice was Yuyou's half-sister.

Ye Shuang: "..."

Could Bobo have done it for Alice?

That couldn't be right. How old was Alice right now?

Or rather, was she even born yet?

If Alice wasn't born yet, what exactly was Bobo's identity right now?

The more Ye Shuang thought about it, the more tangled his thoughts became. He could only try to gather as many clues as possible for now, but he simply couldn't understand Bobo's motive for having Yuyou kidnapped.

Furthermore...

Was that voice really Bobo?

Although it was very familiar, he couldn't rule out the possibility that someone from all those years ago had a voice very similar to Bobo's.

And after ten years, Bobo's voice might not even be exactly the same, right?

Just then, Ye Shuang noticed a tug on his pant leg. He looked down and saw Bai Yuyou tilting her small head up to look at him.

"Big brother, are you okay?"

At this stage, Yuyou had just been brought here. She looked completely clean, and her speech was exceptionally clear.

It was highly likely that being locked in the attic and deprived of human interaction for so long was what eventually caused her to lose her ability to speak.

"I'm fine. You'll be able to go back to Mommy very soon," Ye Shuang said, bending down to gently stroke Bai Yuyou's head.

Perhaps because he was looking at a miniature version of Bai Yuyou, Ye Shuang couldn't resist picking her up.

"Let's go home, okay?" Ye Shuang's tone was like coaxing a baby.

"Okay..."

Meanwhile, Ye Shuang's parents, who were sitting at home waiting for news, soon received word that their son had caught a human trafficker alongside the police. Not only that, but even Chen Qin and the others were in disbelief after hearing the news.

I mean, you can catch criminals just by going to school?!