traces of all things

Saturday, Sichuan Province, Gao Lai Airport.

Bao Yuanjia was wearing a red T-shirt with the words "Baby Going Home" printed on the front, holding a sign that said "Lu Zheng" and waiting at the exit of the airport.

"Everyone who welcomes passengers, please note that flight KA8998 from the provincial capital of province A to Gao Lai has arrived at the airport..."

When the gentle female voice sounded on the radio, Bao Yuanjia quickly pulled himself together and took his eyes off the game on his mobile phone, sticking his head out to watch intently.

Not long after, the bustling crowd began to pour out from the narrow exit, and a tall handsome guy immediately attracted her attention. He was pushing a wheelchair in his hand, and an old man was sitting on the wheelchair. Proceed carefully in the crowd.Soon, a middle-aged man who was waiting outside greeted him, took the wheelchair he was pushing, and bowed and shook hands with him repeatedly.

"It's okay, no need, it's easy to do." Bao Yuanjia heard the handsome guy say: "There are still people waiting for me, so I'll go first."

After the tall handsome guy bid farewell to the old man, he walked in her direction. After seeing the cards in her hand, the baby showed a bright smile on his face: "Hello? Bao Yuanjia, is Little Sister Bao? I'm Lu Zheng."

Until he got off the car, Bao Yuanjia was still in the excitement of meeting a handsome guy and couldn't extricate himself.

"This is the office of our baby back home in Sichuan Province." Although she was excited, she still introduced it professionally: "It's a bit small, but it is already a relatively large-scale office for us, because of the history of human trafficking in Sichuan Province It’s still quite serious, there are often abducted children who grow up and look for relatives here.”

Looking at the group photos of family reunion hanging in the office, Lu Zheng couldn't help the tears in his eyes, and hope rose again in his heart.

After sitting down, Xiao Bao took out a map of Sichuan Province and spread it out in front of him.

"I... have heard of you." Miss Xiaobao looked at Lu Zheng a little cautiously: "I have a colleague who was looking for you in Huizhou with you before. But that was five or six years ago."

"I almost know all the people in all branches of your organization." Lu Zheng smiled, a little helplessly: "I have been tossing and tossing for more than ten years without any results, and I am probably the only one."

"There will be hope. Isn't there a clear direction this time?" Miss Xiaobao couldn't bear to see the sad expression on his sunny baby face, and encouraged her in a brisk tone: "Maybe in two days you will be able to meet with Dad." Mom and brother are reunited."

Lu Zheng couldn't help being happy when he heard this, his round eyes bent into two crescents: "Thanks to my good friend who invited me to eat Sichuan cuisine, there is a dessert in it called ice powder, I feel like it when I eat it. Very familiar, I have been living in Province A since I was adopted, and have never been to Sichuan Province, so I probably ate it when I was a child."

"It seems that God is helping you." Sister Xiaobao was also full of confidence.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Lu Zheng took out the old photos he had prepared: "Miss Bao, this is the photo of my age group that I lost, but it's not accurate. I was thrown at the train station when I was discovered by the police. The wound on the head was inflamed, and the high fever persisted. I woke up after being unconscious for a long time in the hospital. I couldn’t remember many things. Later, I was sent to an orphanage. I didn’t take pictures until I was adopted a year later. It’s a photo, so maybe the appearance is a little bit different.”

Miss Xiao Bao looked down at the photo in Lu Zheng's hand, and couldn't help but let out a low cry in her heart.

This is also... so beautiful!

Although looking at Lu Zheng's current appearance, she also knew that he must have been a cute baby when he was a child, but Yuxue was so cute, which greatly exceeded her expectations. The little boy in the photo was about six or seven years old, wearing a fiery red padded jacket, with hair on his head. Wearing a small hat of the same color, her small face is white and pink, her big round eyes are blingbling with special effects, and there is a cute little dimple on her face. Childlike.

Oh, what a crime, she thought, such a cute child, the parents will be heartbroken to death.

"Based on the information you provided, we found a few places that fit your description—a mountainous area, villages with tile-roofed houses, a small river, a large farmland, and a brick-concrete elementary school beside the river. There is a swing made of tires. But I contacted the local police station before, and the police station said that there is no relevant report.” Sister Xiaobao pointed to the middle place on the map and said: “But since you insist on taking a look, let’s You can leave in the afternoon."

Lu Zheng's eyes were touched: "Thank you, Miss Bao. In fact, I am a criminal policeman myself. I have asked my colleagues from all over the country to check the system, but I have not found any report records similar to my situation back then."

Speaking of this, his eyes still couldn't hold back, showing a hurt and confused look: "I... don't know what's going on, maybe my family doesn't know much about the law."

**

Before Lu Zheng left, he and Geng Zhizhong took two days off. Together, they could stay in Sichuan Province for four days.

In the first three days, accompanied by Sister Xiaobao and the volunteers who waited for "Baby Going Home", he had already visited the five towns and villages that were presumed to be his hometown.

But the hopes were shattered one after another-all the folks in these places have never heard of anyone who lost a child 25 years ago.

Miss Xiaobao was a little disappointed and frustrated with the naked eye.

At this time, the spirit is better, but it is Lu Zheng himself who should hang his head the most.

"It's okay, Miss Bao, there is another Wupu Township that we haven't been to." Lu Zheng's tone was very firm: "Maybe it's Wupu? It's not the last moment, I won't give up."

Sister Xiaobao gave him a thumbs up from the bottom of her heart, and the driver turned the steering wheel, and the words "Wupu Township" appeared in front of their eyes.

Green mountains and green waters, piles of small tile-roofed houses, and many wells in front of the houses...

After getting out of the car, continue to move forward, and there is another clear river. There is a small wall on the opposite side of the river, and there are several small buildings with white walls and red tiles inside the wall.

"That's Wupu Township Central Primary School over there." Sister Xiaobao introduced: "The old school building was demolished and rebuilt five years ago, and the playground was refurbished, but according to the old photos, there was indeed a swing in the playground."

"How about it, does it look familiar?"

Lu Zheng's mind was running at high speed. The green trees and red flowers in front of him were no longer what he remembered, but he still felt vaguely familiar.

Suppressing the crazily throbbing forehead, Lu Zheng observed it again.

a little... something wrong...

The direction of this school seems to be inconsistent, but in his memory, he hadn't attended elementary school at that time, and he didn't have a deep impression of the two tile-roofed houses at home in his memory of school...

"Miss Bao, I look familiar, but I'm not sure." He shook his head slowly and said, "Can we ask the old people in the village to ask?"

**

With the help of the township police station, Xiaobao and the others soon found an aunt who had lived in Wupu Township all her life and was said to have the title of Wupu Know-it-All.

"25 years ago?" The aunt frowned slightly: "Hey, it's been a long time, let me think about it, it seems that there is such a thing, some people have lost their children."

Lu Zheng's mood also jumped along with it.

"Ma'am, the mistress of that house probably can't speak." He suddenly thought of something, and quickly added.

"That's right! That's right!" The aunt suddenly slapped her thigh: "The daughter-in-law of the old Liu family is just dumb. There are two children in the family, and the older one was lost when she was five years old! I haven't found it yet!"

In an instant, Lu Zheng felt that the blood all over his body rushed to the top of his head, and his whole body became a little top-heavy.

At the gate of Liu's small courtyard.

This family seems to be in good financial condition, the gate is brand new, and the repair is very elegant. In short, it is very different from the small courtyard with stone walls in Lu Zheng's memory. However, after more than [-] years, some changes are not unimaginable.

Lu Zheng took a deep breath, stretched out his hands and straightened his clothes.

Sister Xiaobao had seen a lot, and guessed that he must be a little timid because of being close to home, so she bravely stepped forward and knocked on the door for him.

"Are Sister Liu and Brother Liu at home?"

The doors of rural houses are usually not locked very much. Soon, a fat middle-aged woman walked out the door.

She has a delicate face, and her complexion is fairer than that of ordinary peasant women. Her eyes are round and kind, and she is looking at them curiously.

Lu Zheng couldn't help a lump in his throat.

Could this... be his biological mother?

On the way here, Sister Xiaobao found a volunteer who can use sign language to help. When she saw Sister Liu, she straight to the point and asked, "Excuse me, Sister, we are the 'Baby Going Home' public welfare organization, which specializes in helping trafficked people. I heard that a child in your family went missing 25 years ago, and we also have a little brother who also got separated from his parents 25 years ago, does he look familiar to you?"

Although Sister Liu couldn't speak, her hearing was fine. Seeing that she had a look of sad memories on her face after listening, she shook her head firmly, then turned her head to look at Lu Zheng in front of her, and wiped her face lightly. Wiping the corners of his eyes, he gestured flexibly with his hands for a while.

After reading it, the volunteer who invited to do the translation looked at Lu Zheng with pity, coughed and translated it again.

"Eldest sister said... her family lost a girl."

"She also said that if her eldest daughter is still alive, she should be about the same age as Brother Lu."

**

Lu Zheng didn't know how he got on the plane to the provincial capital of province A.

Perhaps because they sensed that he was in a bad mood, Miss Xiaobao and other volunteers watched him carefully before leaving, even speaking in a very low voice, and gave him a warm hug before leaving.

Lu Zheng slowly opened the notebook that he kept with him, flipped to the back, and added a line.

"Sichuan Province: Chunrui Village, Baihu Village, Ding'an Township, Fengjiang Village, Quhua Village, Wupu Township"

In the past 12 years, hope has been harvested again and again, and it has been shattered like soap bubbles again and again. His heart has long been used to the pain of hope shattered through repeated beatings. Fortunately, with the encouragement of these warm volunteers, he has accompanied him all the way. He moves on.

It's just strange that this trip to Sichuan Province seems to have exhausted him physically and mentally.

"...There is no disappointment without hope." He leaned his head against the glass window of the plane, closed his eyes slightly, and muttered to himself: "The expectations are too high..."

After comforting himself for a while, he still couldn't help turning his head slightly.

From an angle that the people sitting next to him couldn't see, he quietly wiped away the warm liquid that rolled down from the corner of his eyes.

The plane took off with a roar, and outside the small glass window of the cabin, there were gradually farther and farther away from him, the lights of thousands of houses in the capital of Sichuan Province.

Lu Zheng blinked, took a deep breath, and looked at the dark night sky outside the window again.

Under the reflection of the lights, there are no stars in the sky.

"Father, mother, Ah Zhi." He looked at the sky and asked softly, "Where are you?"

The fourth roll