The elderly woman took a step forward in response to her gaze, bent over obsequiously, and said with a smile: "Comrade, I’m so old now, I’m not a bad person."

Age has nothing to do with whether someone is bad or not; rather, the older a person is, the shrewder they become. However, Zhou Jiao had no intention of arguing with the other party, so she simply nodded with a blank expression, "What do you want?"

"Would you like some large lobsters?"

Zhou Jiao couldn’t ignore her inner irritation, frowned, and shook her head, "Speculation and profiteering will get you caught, old woman, you’d better not make mistakes."

"Hey, comrade. Don’t worry, my courtyard is just ahead. Do you want it for thirty cents a pound? They all weigh over a pound each."

Hearing this, Zhou Jiao was even more scared, and threw out a sentence before walking away, "I see you’re old, it’s not easy for you, but if you keep pestering me, I’ll shout for help."

No matter how the elderly woman reacted, Zhou Jiao kept walking quickly to the main street before turning around for a glance. She considered going back to follow her but thought better of it to avoid trouble.

She had always been confident in her premonitions.

The person just now was either a human trafficker or setting bait as a "fisherman." If she had been tempted, there would inevitably be a few tough guys waiting for her.

Damn lobsters weighing more than a pound!

Whoever smells of fish all over and yet has clean pants and shoes?

In the end, she couldn’t feel at ease, so she created a roundabout sketch, drew a portrait of the elderly woman, and sent an anonymous letter to the local police station.

As for the results? That wasn’t within her scope of concern.

Zhou Jiao, who was in Beijing, never expected that it was her anonymous letter that helped the local police solve a smuggling ring they had been struggling to track down.

The elderly woman in the portrait frequently used the excuse of having goods to chat with young girls and lead them to a courtyard not far away.

Inside, the cellar became where these young women, drugged and unconscious, were held. Once there were five, they would be shipped abroad hidden in the lower holds of fishing boats that very night.

The continuous reports of missing young women had the local police conducting investigations day and night in order to calm the public. But unfortunately, many victims’ families dared not reveal the truth.

This time, Zhou Jiao’s letter was like a ray of light that woke the officers up. They also suddenly realized why the families of those who reported the cases dared not speak the truth.

Speculation and profiteering are crimes, who would dare to confess?

With the vividly lifelike portrait, the police soon arrested the elderly woman at the dock area mentioned in the letter.

It’s scary if you don’t investigate. Even the most cunning fox will show its tail when under public scrutiny. The police, not taking the stubbornly crying woman lightly, discovered in their family check that she had a son who was a fisherman.

Thereupon, they tightly controlled the suspected criminal, and within a week, successfully rescued three unconscious young women from the cellar. Luckily, this group wanted to sell at a high price, so these three were spared from being harmed.

At this point, Zhou Jiao, not knowing, had successfully bought some discarded stamps from the post office’s little girl after mailing the letter, and she was quite pleased.

Her family had three large albums full of ping’an stamps that she hadn’t seen before. She supposed the child would jump with joy when she took them back.

In the room, Helan was eagerly waiting for her to return. Seeing her joyfully announce, "I was worried you’d get lost, I was just about to go out and look for you."

"I was just walking around nearby, didn’t go far." Zhou Jiao noticed she had one more piece of luggage, so she changed the topic, "Time for a meal, Aunt Lan, care to join us?"

"Sure, this is the last meal."

"Just a moment, let me wash my face."

Helan naturally had no objections and smilingly picked up her handbag.

This handbag, like a man’s briefcase, exuded a leather smell. On several evenings, Zhou Jiao almost couldn’t help advising her to replace it.

Lately, observing Helan walking with the handbag pressed under her arm, with a stern face and her head held high in public, showing an authoritative demeanor, Zhou Jiao finally began to grasp its meaning.

There are people who are both arrogant and self-abased; she... might truly want to match up with men.

As the two walked out, Helan mentioned the price differences between here and Beijing.

In Zhou Jiao’s experience traveling and traversing the country, there wasn’t much difference. After all, it wasn’t like the two places were separated by tens of thousands of miles. Under the planned economy, the uniform purchase and sale controlled prices.

"... A colleague who went on a business trip to Hai City last time bought a golden silk scarf for his family’s girl for five yuan each, they were beautiful. Unfortunately, I haven’t been there yet, or else I’d buy one for my family’s child too..."

"... Under the sun, the golden silk glows, that red suits a big girl like you so well. It can be used as a hair ornament on usual days, and as a mask when it gets chilly. Don’t mind that five yuan sounds pricey, it’s worth it."

Zhou Jiao nodded with a difficult smile. The person seemed a bit discordant with this image; could it be that even an iron lady has a princess heart?

"... this is the first time you’re on a business trip, right?"

As Zhou Jiao nodded and greeted familiar faces passing by, she didn’t pay attention to what Helan had said beforehand. But since starting work, this could be considered her first business trip.

She smiled and nodded.

"I guessed right." Helan smiled knowingly, "You’re still young, but once you have a family, you’ll never return home empty-handed."

Zhou Jiao had no intention of publicizing her personal affairs but didn’t want any misunderstanding, "Aunt Lan, I’m already married."

"Ah?" Helan shook her head, "What a pity..."

Zhou Jiao smiled and didn’t respond. As for what’s pitiful? She couldn’t care less. Apart from Zhang Guoqing, which man is worth a lifetime of love for her?

"Where’s your partner from? Is he also in Beijing?"

Mentioning Zhang Guoqing, Zhou Jiao’s smile blossomed, "From the Northeast, we’ve grown up together since childhood. I work, he enlisted, and now he’s a soldier."

"No wonder you settled down early." Helan nodded with understanding, "It’s good for a man to be a soldier, and even better if there’s no long-distance separation."

"Hehe..." Zhou Jiao wasn’t planning to boast the rest.

Before leaving, the five of them gathered to discuss work summaries.

It was then that Zhou Jiao realized that she had to submit a report to the unit before her vacation. Doesn’t this mean she had to write two reports?

"Hope we’re the same group on the next business trip. Remember to visit me when you’re free."

"Thanks, when we have time, we’ll definitely go to your unit for a meal. But we might not have the opportunity before the year-end, I heard there’s going to be some kind of inspection activity soon, I might have another task."

When Zhou Jiao heard that, she paused and looked towards the male colleague in the Secretary Department along with the others. Unfortunately, he just revealed that one sentence about major matters.

While the others were still pondering, Zhou Jiao had a rough idea. Judging by the timing, certain events were approaching.

Their family was not worried about being implicated, especially with Zhang Guoqing, it was impossible. As for her godfather, she wondered if he was aware of the news?

With a smiling face, Zhou Jiao quietly listened to everyone’s conversation, while in her mind, she went over all her close friends and family.

She didn’t know if Zhang Guoqing would rush back to the Northeast upon hearing this news? But as his wife, Zhou Jiao planned to lend a helping hand. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Fortunes and misfortunes go hand in hand; who knows if there will come a moment when she herself might need someone else’s assistance. Especially the publicly-minded Old Captain Uncle, Zhou Jiao couldn’t bear to see such a good old man get hurt.