Chapter 37: Legal Child Theft! |
In the court lobby.
Li Youcai stood guard by the public telephone, pacing back and forth in anxiety.
His breathing was heavy and agitated. He was like a powder keg ready to explode, his forehead drenched in sweat.
''Impossible. When we left yesterday, the child was perfectly fine at home. How could he just disappear...''
''That lawyer and Wang Mei were in court all afternoon, and today is the first day of adjournment... no matter how you look at it, they shouldn''t have had time to go to Lijia Village.''
''There''s no way that lawyer went straight there after court adjourned...''
Li Youcai burned with anxiety. Every thought turned into a searing chain, mercilessly lashing at his heart.
He wanted his grandson.
He needed his grandson to carry on the family line! To inherit his ''family business''!
Thinking this, he hopped frantically from foot to foot like a fish in a hot pan.
A long while passed...
"Ring, ring, ring~"
The telephone rang again.
The sound struck a tense nerve in Li Youcai''s mind, making his heart clench. He instinctively brought the receiver to his ear.
"Hello!?"
"Youcai, I just went over to Erniu''s second uncle''s house."
On the other end of the line, Old Zhang''s tone carried a hint of confusion, and it was exactly this hint... that filled Liu Cui and Li Youcai with a profound sense of dread.
"And then?"
Li Youcai pressed, burning with impatience. "Did you see our Dahu!?"
Liu Cui chimed in urgently from the side, "Is Dahu playing at home!?"
Logic told them the child should be at home. After all, the timeframe was just too tight. It was impossible for the child to vanish after barely one night.
But the reality was...
"He''s not at Li Sheng''s house. His second uncle said the child went to find his mother," Old Zhang stated truthfully over the phone.
N-not there?
The child had already gone to his biological mother!?
How was this possible!!!
Li Youcai and Liu Cui felt as though they had been struck by lightning, freezing on the spot.
They had only arrived in the city yesterday at noon.
Everything had been fine before they left. Counting the trial, it hadn''t even been a full twenty-four hours... how could the child be gone in such a short amount of time!?
Unless...
The defendant''s group hadn''t even stopped for a meal after court adjourned, driving straight to Lijia Village instead.
Furthermore...
Li Sheng and Li Li must have received some sort of payoff to deliberately let the child go. Otherwise, they would never have spoken so decisively!
To think he had trusted them so much, frequently leaving the child in their care, only for them to ''sell'' him out in a single night.
Li Youcai''s face gradually flushed crimson. The veins on his forehead bulged, pulsing like a writhing earthworm.
Skipping meals just to run straight to his hometown and steal his child...
Was this a lawyer!?
What kind of lawyer would do such a thing!!!
Li Youcai''s face grew redder and redder. His breathing became labored, his chest heaving violently as blood rushed to his head.
He was furious!
Furious that the trial had ruined his dream of striking it rich!
Furious at their sheer shamelessness—he was still reflecting on the trial right after the adjournment, while the opposing side had driven straight to his hometown to steal the child...
And he was even more furious about that phone call in the hallway just now.
They had absolutely intended for him to hear that conversation!!!
"Animals..."
Li Youcai trembled with rage, forcing the word through clenched teeth.
He couldn''t even catch his breath. He was taking in more air than he was letting out. Shaking violently, black spots began to swarm his vision, and he started to stagger.
Beside him, Liu Cui noticed something was wrong and jumped in fright.
"Old man, old man, what''s wrong with you? Don''t scare me!"
Liu Cui wailed, but unfortunately, after Li Youcai used the last of his strength to roar out a single sentence, he collapsed stiffly to the ground.
"Animals!!!"
He bellowed.
The next second, his vision went black, and he crumpled limply onto the floor.
Liu Cui was terrified. She sat on the ground, her wailing growing increasingly piercing.
"Somebody come! Somebody come quickly!"
"Help! Help! He''s dying, come save us..."
Her shrill voice echoed throughout the entire lobby, drawing everyone''s attention.
In the distance.
Prosecutor Wang Wei, who was preparing to leave, noticed the commotion. Seeing someone collapsed on the ground, the faint look of bitterness on his face instantly shifted.
"What happened?"
He walked briskly to Li Youcai''s side and performed a quick check of his condition.
Finding no external injuries, he reached out and pressed down hard on Li Youcai''s philtrum.
A few seconds later...
"Cough! Cough!"
A violent fit of coughing erupted. Li Youcai gradually opened his eyes, gasping for air.
"What''s the matter with you?" Wang Wei exhaled, frowning.
Li Youcai ignored him. He simply sat blankly on the ground, staring vacantly at the wall.
Ten years ago, he had finally managed to scrape together enough money, combining his savings with loans, to buy a daughter-in-law from human traffickers.
How did it all disappear in the blink of an eye?
His son had died because that daughter-in-law wanted to run away? He had paid money for her! A full five thousand yuan! She was bought by them, what right did she have to run away!
And now, even his only grandson was lost...
Why!?
Li Youcai felt that the heavens simply refused to let him have a good life. But the next second, an idea suddenly sparked in his mind.
"Prosecutor, you must get justice for us poor farmers!"
Li Youcai began to bawl loudly. Throwing himself forward, he hugged Wang Wei''s thigh, wiping snot and tears all over the prosecutor''s pant leg.
Meanwhile.
Wang Wei had seen the man ignore him and had been about to leave, only to find himself entangled the moment he stood up. He felt a bit anxious.
"Speak calmly. First, tell me exactly what happened!"
Li Youcai covered his face and cried bitterly:
"My grandson was stolen. Tell me, how am I supposed to live now..."
His grandson was stolen?!
Wang Wei''s expression changed, his spirit rousing. "Who stole him? Do you have any suspects?"
Li Youcai continued, "It''s that defense lawyer! It wasn''t enough that Wang Qiang killed my son, but now he''s stolen my grandson too! Tell me, how can I live like this!"
As he spoke, he wept bitterly, a ruthless determination taking root in his heart.
Stealing his grandson?
He had to report him! He absolutely had to report him!
That was his biological grandson! Stolen away just like being abducted by human traffickers, snatched the moment they let their guard down...
If it was anyone else, what would happen if he was bought by another family!?
Therefore... Li Youcai had to make Xu De taste what it was like to sit in prison!
Defending that ungrateful wretch, and even ruining his chances at compensation... and now, actually stealing a child right from under his nose. Li Youcai was going to make him eat prison food!
"Xu De?"
Wang Wei was stunned for a moment, then his expression turned solemn.
During a lawsuit, the defendant secretly stealing the plaintiff''s child to use as leverage—such things had indeed occurred before.
"Are you certain it was him!?" Wang Wei asked sternly.
"Yes, it was him! People in the village saw it!" Li Youcai didn''t care about the facts anymore, doing his utmost to smear Xu De.
"Alright, I understand."
Wang Wei''s face was solemn. He nodded and was about to walk briskly outside, but just as he took a step, before he had even gone two paces...
He suddenly stopped.
The expression on Wang Wei''s face was somewhat... blank.
Wait, the one who stole the child was Xu De? No, or rather... the defendant?
If it was the defendant, that meant Wang Mei was the one taking him. From a legal standpoint, a biological mother couldn''t ''steal'' her own son from the father''s house, but...
Then again, Li Erniu was dead. Sole custody rights lay with Wang Mei!
Wang Mei and her lawyer had brought her own child to her side during the night.
This...
Could this be considered stealing? Could they be considered human traffickers?
In a rare moment, Wang Wei''s brain short-circuited over a judicial issue. He stood frozen on the spot for a long time.
Beside him, Li Youcai, who had been imagining how he would accuse Xu De once he was caught, looked at him suspiciously and asked:
"Officer Wang, what''s wrong? Hurry up and arrest them!"
"If you get there too late, what if they run away!?"
Wang Wei came back to his senses and looked at him hesitantly. "Are you sure... the child was taken by Wang Mei and Xu De?"
"It was them!"
Li Youcai stomped his feet in anxiety, repeating, "The child must be with them right now. Hurry up and bring the child back!"
Wang Wei opened his mouth, unsure of what to say, hesitating for a moment.
Finally, he took a deep breath and spoke a sentence that even he felt was somewhat absurd.
"Mr. Li, although they may have taken your grandson, what they did..."
"Might be completely legal."
"I have no jurisdiction over this matter."
Li Youcai, Liu Cui: ?
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