Mynovel Chapter 529 - 232: I’ll Take This Girl; You Pick Another
Chapter 529 - 232: I’ll Take This Girl; You Pick Another
Yang Chen took the old man to a breakfast shop and ordered a table full of breakfast.
"Oh, I accidentally ordered too much. Uncle, help me eat some. Otherwise, it’ll be such a waste. When I was a kid visiting my grandma, I learned how hard it is for farmers to grow crops. We can’t waste food," Yang Chen said with a smile.
The old man’s stomach was growling with hunger, and he couldn’t resist.
Hearing Yang Chen say that, he quickly nodded with a smile and said, "Then... I won’t be polite. Thank you, young man."
Yang Chen: "I should be thanking you. If you don’t help me eat, I’ll waste too much food. It’s such a sin."
The old man chuckled honestly and started eating right away.
Yang Chen wasn’t hungry at all. He just took a sip of soup and ate a bun, mainly to let the old man have a full meal.
However, the old man was really hungry. Of the three baskets of buns, Yang Chen only ate one, and the rest were all eaten by the old man. He also drank three bowls of soup.
After eating, the old man contentedly loosened his belt.
Yang Chen called the waiter over to pay the bill, then took the old man to the car.
The old man handed Yang Chen photos of his son at a hundred days old and at ten years old when he had his braid cut.
After looking at them, Yang Chen had a bad feeling, but he hesitated to voice it.
A ten-year-old child has a sense of self-awareness, getting kidnapped and sold at that age seems unlikely.
In the earlier years, some criminals specialized in abducting children from remote rural areas to big cities, then making them disabled to beg on the streets.
The old man’s son had been missing for twenty years, and the timeline matched that era.
A ten-year-old child sold to Hai City and disappeared ever since, most likely due to that situation.
Otherwise, now that he’s thirty, he would have followed his memory from twenty years ago to search for his biological parents.
Yet, seeing this old man searching for twenty years, Yang Chen didn’t want to dampen his hope.
Feeling compassion for him, it’s better to help.
Yang Chen: "Uncle, I’ll enlarge the photos and make posters. I’ll get the platform’s taxi driver brothers to spread the word around the city. How does that sound?"
The old man: "Yes, yes, thank you, young man."
Yang Chen: "Don’t mention it."
Yang Chen found an advertising shop, got them to retouch the photos and enlarge them into posters, making a thousand copies.
Then, Yang Chen sent a message in the driver group chat.
Chairman Yang Chen @ all members: "Brothers, I met an uncle who’s been searching for his son for twenty years. He said the traffickers confessed they sold the child to Hai City North Gate District. He’s been searching alone for over three months with no leads. Let’s help him. I’ll send the location, whoever can come, please come and hang the child’s poster on your cars for a few days to try."
Driver Zhang Hu: "No problem! Send the location, I’m on my way immediately."
Driver Zhang He: "This is just too tragic. Ever since I became a dad, I can’t stand things like this. Brother Chen, send the location quickly, I’m coming over right away."
...
Seeing everyone so eager to help, Yang Chen felt very comforted.
Then he sent the location in the group chat, and the drivers quickly followed it over.
As each car arrived, the old man hurriedly approached to bow and thank the driver.
Very soon, all one thousand posters were hung on the cars, and a few hours later, everyone in Hai City knew about the old man’s search for his son who was abducted twenty years ago.
Nowadays in the short video era, many warm-hearted citizens and local influencers in Hai City also posted related videos, hoping to contribute to helping the old man find his son.
Subsequently, the "Xiaoli Helps" program team contacted Yang Chen, hoping to do an interview with him and the old man, using the program to promote and aid in the search on Hai City TV Station.
Yang Chen accepted Zhang Xiaoli’s interview invitation and cooperated with the old man to do an episode.
In the evening, the "Xiaoli Helps" program aired as scheduled.
Zhang Xiaoli: "This morning, a ride-hailing driver, Master Yang, encountered a special pedestrian in the tunnel, which led to the uncovering of a heartbreaking yet touching story spanning twenty years. Now let’s interview Master Yang about what happened."’
Actually, Yang Chen didn’t really like appearing in such situations, as it increased the chances of receiving negative ratings.
However, to help the old man find his son soon, he didn’t think too much about it.
Yang Chen: "At that time, I’d just dropped off a passenger and was returning to the city. In the tunnel, I saw..."
As the flagship program of Hai City TV Station, "Xiaoli Helps" holds considerable influence. Once the program aired, even some seniors not active online learned about the matter.
Thus, a city-wide "Love Spread Across Families, Support in the Child Search" campaign unfolded in Hai City.
At midnight, Yang Chen was already asleep when Qiu Yuhong suddenly called him.
Qiu Yuhong: "Mr. Yang, our brothers rescued a disabled man by the riverbank, and they caught two elderly people trying to push him down. The brothers mentioned that the disabled man vaguely resembles the missing child you’ve been searching for. I’ve already instructed them to take him to the police station. Will you bring the old man to take a look?"
Yang Chen promptly shot up from bed, saying, "I’ll take him there right away!"
Yang Chen quickly dressed and picked up the old man from the hotel before heading straight to the police station.
"Uncle, you need to mentally prepare yourself. If it really is your son, his condition might not be good," Yang Chen said with some sadness.
The old man paused for a moment, then tearily laughed a few times and said, "No matter how bad the situation is, at least he’s alive, right?"